Alex had never pretended to be a good man, but he wasn''t a viin either.
He understood the Wudang Sect had its own ns, ones that didn''t always match his own.
Over the years he had gained plenty from them-skills, respect, a ce at their table. Yet those gains had never been enough to chain him here forever.
"I need to leave this ce," he said.
He had unfinished business waiting in Estoria.
The Sect Master studied him for a long moment, then gave a slow nod. "When you be the young sessor of the Sect Master, you will be free to go anywhere you wish."
Alex hadn''t expected that offer. For a heartbeat the idea hung in the air like an open door he had never noticed.
"I don''t want to be the Wudang Sect Master,” he said, t and honest.
The Sect Master''s brows drew together. "Why?"
"This ce is too small for me."
A ripple of outrage swept the elders. One of them shot to his feet. “How can you speak so lightly of your own sect?"
Even the Sect Master looked startled. He leaned forward, voice low. "Are you certain this ce is truly too small for you?"
"Very small,” Alex answered again.
In his chest the truth burned clear. He already ruled Estoria, a country as vast as Xia itself. To a man who called a country his own, a single mountain sect felt like a cage.
The Sect Master searched Alex''s eyes and found no lie there. A quiet breath left him, almost like relief. "You are right. You have taken everything this sect can teach. Your path was always meant to be like our founder''s-undefeated beneath the heavens. This Sect really is too small for you."
Gasps broke across the hall. Disciples stared at one another in disbelief. Even the elders, still bristling, could not deny the weight of their leader''s words.
"Still," the Sect Master continued, his tone steady and proud, "you could be the sessor here. Then step into Xia, im the murim and the jianghu, and raise our name to the very peak of the martial world. Lead Wudang to glory."
Alex turned the Sect Master''s offer over in his mind.
The shortest route from Xia to Prussiay just beyond the mountains, but the borders were thick with guards and patrols. He still hadn''t recovered his full strength.
Walking straight into Prussia while they were still hunting him would be reckless at best, fatal at worst.
No. The only safe path was to return to Estoria first. He needed to warn them about the war that wasing and do everything in his power to stop it.
Only after that could he begin searching for a way to the Empire.
Carrying the name of the Wudang Sect would open doors across Xia and give him the cover he needed to find a route home.
Alex let out a slow, heavy sigh. No matter how badly he wanted to leave, he still owed this ce a debt for everything it had given him.
"I can only give you five years," he said.
"Five years is not enough," the Sect Master replied, his voice firm.
"It''s five years in Xia time," Alex exined.
The old man''s eyes widened slightly as the meaning sank in. He gave a slow nod. "That would be roughly a hundred years in this realm. Enough time, yes. But you must promise me something. In those five years, you will fulfill the founder''s long- cherished dream—make Wudang the undisputed number one sect in the entire murim. Though I suspect that goal alone may take more than five years. Perhaps five decades."
"Five years is enough," Alex said, his tone steady.
A broad smile spread across the Sect Master''s face. "I admire that youthful spirit of yours. Still, I would feel much safer with a firmer promise. If you cannot elevate Wudang to the top within those five years, you will stay and serve another five decades."
Alex''s jaw tightened. Five years he could give. But fifty?
Fifty years—whether in Xia time or Estoria time—felt like a lifetime. Far too long for
a man who already ruled a kingdom and had an empire waiting.
"I will make it happen in five years," Alex said firmly.
The Sect Master waited in silence, eyes steady, still expecting aplete answer.
Alex exhaled, the weight of the words settling heavy on his chest. "Fine. If I cannot do it in five years... I will serve the full five decades."
The Sect Master''s face broke into a wide, satisfied smile. "Then it is settled. I will announce to the entire murim that you are my direct disciple and the official sessor of the Wudang Sect. Word will spread across every corner of Xia."
With those words, Alex felt thest door to his old life m shut. There was no running from his destiny anymore.
In the days that followed, the mountain buzzed with preparations for the grandest ceremony the Wudang Sect had seen in generations.
Alex stood at the center of it all as he was formally named the sessor.
He took his ce in a solemn line beside the seven core disciples, the most gifted young martial artists on the peak.
Their eyes stayed locked on him—some wide with surprise, others narrowed with quiet wariness.
"Don''t look at me like that," Alex told them, voice low and steady. "In five years I''ll hand the position to whoever wants it. I don''t y politics."
A few of the core disciples who had once dreamed of iming the role themselves looked momentarily stunned. But they knew the truth.
Alex had refused the burden of leadership from the start, and he meant it. He had no desire to be chained to the mountain. Because of that, none of them saw him as a real rival.
When his name finally rang out across the peaks, a thunderous roar erupted from every disciple in attendance.
Alex walked forward with measured steps toward the Sect Master.
Thousands of voices shouted his name in unison, the sound rolling like a wave across the ridges.
Never in the sect''s thousand-year history had one man risen with such total, unanimous support. For the first time ever, all thirteen peaks had agreed on a single sessor.
Usually the honor came only from Sword Peak or one of the peak, while the rest settled for lesser roles. Today was different.
In this moment, Alex stood as the true leader the Wudang Sect had waited a millennium to see.
Every disciple present felt it. They roared his name with fierce pride, hearts burning with new hope. For the first time in centuries, they believed the sect was about to enter its golden age.
Right now he was still only the sessor-second in line. But if anything ever happened to the Sect Master, Alex would step forward and take fullmand of the entire Wudang Sect.
The celebrations stretched across three full days and three long nights.
Alex moved from peak to peak, meeting every leader and shaking the hands of countless disciples who now looked at him with something close to reverence. Laughter, music, and the sharp scent of incense filled the mountain air as the entire sect honored their new sessor.
When thest banner finally came down and the grand ceremony ended, the Sect Master drew Alex into a quiet chamber for ten private days.
Behind closed doors, Alex taught him the profound insights he had mastered from the first rank-the ancient, wless knowledge that had once made the Wudang founder undefeated beneath the heavens.
The old man listened in silence, nodding slowly as each revtion settled deep inside him.
The very next morning, without any warning, the Sect Master stood before the gathered sect and made his announcement.
He would enter closed-door cultivation for the next several years. All authority over Wudang would now rest in Alex''s hands.
"This cannot happen," the elders erupted at once, their voices sharp with outrage. "We cannot hand the future of a thousand-year-old sect to someone who has barely lived among us."
For ten tense days they confronted Alex as a united front, cornering him
in the great hall, pressing him with hard questions and cold demands. They wanted every secret he possessed, every technique, every hidden principle.
To their surprise, Alex felt only a quiet wave of relief wash over him.
If any of these elders truly wanted the heavy crown of leadership, he would dly step aside. He held nothing back.
With calm patience andplete honesty, he taught them the highest martial arts the Wudang Sect had ever guarded—the lost forms, the forbidden strikes, the very pinnacle of their tradition.
The elders, who were martial artists to their bones, became utterly consumed the moment they glimpsed techniques that promised greater power.
Within days, every single one of them chose to retreat into closed-door cultivation, desperate to master what Alex had given them.
Alex had almost forgotten how it worked.
No matter how old or respected they appeared, they were still cultivators who lived and breathed for the next. breakthrough. The instant they saw a path to true strength, politics, duty, and everything else simply vanished.
And just like that, the entire Wudang Sect fellpletely into his hands.
"Senior Sister Li Qingxue," Alex called softly one quiet afternoon.
She turned, waiting.
“I need you to return to my old residence in Qingshui City. Beneath the floor tiles in
my room you will find a small wooden box. Inside is my storage ring. Bring it back to
me."
He needed that ring now more than ever. If he was truly going to reshape Wudang
into the ideal he carried in his heart, he would have to bring his hidden world into the
open.
He would need the Al running at full power and Gaia fully upgraded.
androids stored
The dozens of and
inside the ring would let him
introduce the revolutionary Prussian
l.ne
methods he had once mastered-advanced cksmithing,
precision metal refining, systematic
teaching halls, evenrge-scale medicine factories.
It would spark an industrial revolution the murim had never imagined, powered by
robotics and cold, wless efficiency.
For the first time in years, a real spark of excitement burned in Alex''s chest. The mountain was finally his to change.