"Aeon Clan Meeting Room"
The smell of Ichon tea permeated the room, light and refreshing. The reflective smooth curves of the expensive Red Maru wood presenting its quality of craftmanship in the elongated meeting table as well as the chairs to complement it.
No matter how beautiful the craftmanship is, it couldn't hide the tension and deathly energy clouding the atmosphere. No sound could be heard as people waited for the Ancestor to say something.
"Have you looked into it?", the Ancestor said. His voice hoarse and his eyes slightly muddled due to age.
"Its not a coincidence at all Ancestor. Too many things were in perfect condition for it to happen." said the West Guard Representative. Usually if meetings like this were held, the North, West, East and South Border Guards will send representatives. After all, the Captains cannot leave their post as they are the only ones who can hold or defend against Beast or hostile cultivators. Currently the
"Continue.", the Ancestor said, furrowing his white eyebrows.
"Prior to the incident, one of the border patrols said that he had seen a lot of movement nearby. It seems like he was telling the truth his records are clean. That's all from the West Point. Uncle Yong..." Ion's assistant said as his left eyelid twitched.
The old person nodded.
"Where there's smoke there's fire. We found something from west point a bit further than the border patrol. Quite far but its true, the kid's eyes are quite sharp just a bit unlucky this time it worked against us.", Yong said.
As the one assigned to lead the hunting, Yong was most familiar with moving in the forest namely Northwest Mountain Range or Beast Mountains. Despite being a generation older than the assistant, they look almost the same age. Benefits of cultivation, luck in getting a spirit root of course.
"The beasts from the north were quite irritated a day before that happened. We don't know what happened over there but that might have something to do with that. Captain Arid is currently checking it out." said the North Guard Representative.
'A conspiracy... Almost everyone knows my time is about to be up... however neighboring clans don't really have anything much to gain from our clan aside from territory which does not make sense either, after all I don't think they are lacking space to expand on.' Quite a few things were bouncing in the old man's head.
"Do we have any recent conflicts?" said the old man.
"..."
"Nothing comes to mind... we only had a few interactions with the other nearby clans. The Bai Clan has been hunting a lot more from the amount they are selling but they haven't really come close to us. Quite the opposite they are pushing north. Same with the Mui, they are buying crops a lot less from what I've noticed so they might have started planting their own a few years ago. There's no problem with the Sun Clan either, the price have been relatively stable the past few months." Soren said. As the person responsible with trading essentials, she is the most familiar when it comes to situation outside of the clan.
"So the Mui Clan started planting their own crops, I wonder if it works. We might as well do it too if its cheaper. After all our production has been going smaller the past decade.", said the old man before sipping his tea.
"Spiritual water's price have remained stable since White Lotus Trading Union put up a branch in the market, the seeds are not a problem but I'm worried about the success rate. None of us really know how to cultivate spiritual crops after all." Soren added.
"Ask your Uncle Ural about it, he's been farming all his life he might want to try something new. Although we will have to reduce the normal amount of crop we buy to buy some spiritual water. Use my portion, I don't have a lot left anyway, I have enough to maintain my strength till iI go.", the old man said. His mind going through loops after remembering the times when he carried his nephew Ural decades ago, making him remember how long he had been here.
"Are you sure about this, Uncle?"
"Yes. It's fine, if I didn't have a few things I would have lived in vain."
"I still don't see anything through this, is it really just a coincidence? Most mortal conflicts don't really come close to such retaliation."
'Mui Clan, we have been neighbors for 50 years but there have been no problems. Our mortal clansmen have been in-laws, the same is true with the Bai clan. We have been neighbors since the Jade Willow Sect opened up the way for this area.'
'My Ancestors were said to have come from a far place but they refused to say where, only saying they were originally mortals who were lucky enough to meet an immortal or a cultivator and started their own journey to find their own place in the cultivation world. I still have some doubts about it but there's no substance.'
"Send some people to probe the other clans, we might gain something. Leo is about to come out of seclusion, he will take Ion's place for a while. Ion will join in hunting. For now, the clan guards will keep searching for clues. That's all, dismissed."
'This kid needs to blow off some steam.'
...