While Zhang Dong was concentrating on the battle he almost didn’t notice that he had a visitor. His wife appeared in the middle of what used to be his home. While he was a bit preoccupied with what he was doing and this was not the place for a family reunion, the moment she started shouting his emotions got the better of him.

While this place he was in was not really made for more than one person, he could squeeze in one caramel beauty in. It was a little funny to see her panic when she was submerged in the special fluid but soon he found himself opening up his arms to catch her.

It took a moment for it to sink in. Watching the people through the screen wasn’t the same as actually being right next to them. He could feel her body pressing into his which made him instinctively move them around her back. It was as if he feared that she would just vanish into tiny soap bubbles if he didn’t hold her tightly.

Soon he could tell that sight had returned to his wife. She could finally see him and it was clear that she was unable to mutter a word. A tiny moment passed between the two where they just kept looking at each other without saying a word.

If it was any other time he wished that this moment could continue to eternity. But fate was cruel and the sight of explosions and the chaos outside brought Zhang Dong to his senses.

“It’s been a while…”

He called out to her, Liena looked at him with even more intent before giving an answer.

“Is… is it truly you?”

“Who else could it be?

She narrowed her eyes and he could feel that she was using her spiritual sense on him. He was glad that she was not being too gullible as he could have truly been some other entity taking the form of her husband.

It was really him though so the spiritual scan was allowed as he dropped all of his defenses. Liena would soon find out that it was indeed her husband but he was not the same as before. The largest change was his cultivation level that seemed to have regressed.

“It is truly you… but... “

“Yes, my cultivation has changed slightly but I wouldn’t consider myself much weaker than what I was before, I just need some time to recover.”

He quickly replied to at least alleviate some of the questions. While his cultivation level had decreased, the improved version of the core formation realm was close to what his old nascent soul level was. If he managed to break through into the great circle he might actually be slightly stronger than before.

“Truly my husband has returned?”

“Yes, that’s what I… is something wrong?”

Soon he could see his wife's eyes closing. If this wasn’t inside of a special pod filled with liquid he would be seeing her tears streaming down her face. She suddenly slung her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. Her voice started getting more muddled as she started to sob.

Without being able to do much, he just returned the hug and started to rub her back. The embrace lasted for a few moments but soon he felt some resistance as she started pushing herself back. When she did he could see that her face was devoid of sadness which was now replaced by anger.

“Where were you?”

“Well… that’s going to be hard to explain…”

“You better have a good explanation!”

“My dear wife, I don’t think this is a good time to be arguing. I think we have more important matters to attend to…”

Zhang Dong backed away while trying to soothe his angry wife. It was understandable that she was angry as her husband just popped out of nowhere and seemed mostly fine. If he was in her shoes he would also be quite livid if a family member appeared out of nowhere after being seen as dead.

She looked back and could also see what was happening outside. While the automatic cannons could shoot at the invaders the other cultivators couldn’t. Without attuning their techniques to match the barrier they could just sit there and look at the enemies.

The biggest problem was the large number of nascent soul elders protecting their ships. Along with their soul beasts, they could protect those battleships from the cannon fire while also attacking the barrier.

It was turning into a battle of attrition, would the barrier give out or would the nascent soul experts run out of juice first? While Zhang Dong didn’t really know what the end plan of these attackers was, they certainly did seem like they were in a hurry.

The force that they brought over was quite large for something like this. It was excessive for going against a middle-sized sect. Either the Soaring Dragon Sect had a lot of resources to spare or they wanted to get it over with fast.

The best way to do such a thing would be to overwhelm their opponents with firepower. With ten late stage nascent soul elders and one at the great circle realm, they could steamroll any normal middle-sized sect.

They were out of luck with this one as with the system's help and Zhang Dong’s knack for crafting they were in for a prolonged siege. That was also not counting in all the buried escaped tunnels that blocked out spiritual sense from coming in. They would be in for quite a chase if they ever wanted to get to every last sect member that was here.

“I hope that you have a plan.”

“A plan…”

“If not… I could still try…”

“No.”

He shook his head while glaring at Liena that flinched.

“I’d rather die than have you go with that bastard.”

“But what about the Sect? What about…”

“What about you? What about our children? They need their mother!”

Zhang Dong shouted out but soon gave out a sigh as he caught a fearful expression in his wife.

“It doesn’t matter now, that bastard won’t let us go.”

He heard the one called Wang Long call out. It seemed that he was planning on getting rid of every male member from the sect and just taking all the women with them. Probably the less good-looking ones would follow in the footsteps of the men. The ones that made the cut could look forward to a life of slavery.

“But can we win? This is the Soaring Dragon Sect and you are also weakened!”

“Don’t worry, we have a chance of survival, luckily our opponent isn’t the brightest.”

Zhang Dong tried to calm Liena down, while it didn’t look good there was still a chance of walking out of this battle alive. This would be possible thanks to it being their home ground. The advantage was actually on their side as they were only involved in a defensive battle.

What was needed was just some bait and if their enemies took it, then victory was assured. Luckily the man in charge wasn’t really the elder at the great circle level. While he might have been the strongest of them, the person in charge was the otherworlder.

This person had many glaring flaws that could be used during this fight. It was clear to Zhang Dong that Wang Long lacked any real combat experience. Just like him before he received the system degrading he was very dependent on it.

His faction was also a big reason why he would fail. Being brought up in a powerful sect had its advantages but there were some disadvantages when being brought up as a young master. These he would now try to exploit along with the man’s pride. He knew very well how it could cause one to lose himself.

“So be it, I shall put my faith and the sect's faith in you my husband! If we fail, then we will fail together!”

He smiled at the proclamation from his lovely wife. While he was not interested in perishing here, he had a backup plan that would allow his wife and kids to survive. It was not much of a plan but at least his loved ones would be safe.

It was a strange feeling to finally have something that he wanted to protect. When he thought back to his old life that he lived in the modern world it wasn’t all that bad. While he didn’t have much going for himself he was still free and with no responsibilities other than himself.

Now, on the other hand, people's lives were dependent on his decisions. With a wave of his hand, he could decide if people lived or died. At first, he felt that he would be crushed under the weight of this responsibility but then he found something that he could fight for.

The selfish void in his heart was replaced by memories of his new family and friends. When he looked at the grinning expression of the person named Wang Long he could only pity him. The man clearly lost himself and was unable to find something that was above surface level.

The pity that he felt would not hold him back from ending his life though. He was still an opponent that made his decision.

“Hah, that’s why I love you.”

He smiled one last time before pulling Liena into a prolonged kiss. When their lips parted he could see her blushing which only made him want to protect her even more.

“While I intended to make this as a one seater, some more spiritual energy is always better.”

Zhang Dong said while stretching out his hand towards Liena.

“Will you lend me your strength?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

She just smiled and they both interlocked their fingers. Now with Liena sitting in his lap and lending him some of her spiritual energy the fortress exploded with even more energy. The cannon fire increased and the enemies from the Soaring Dragon Sect even found themselves being pushed back.

“Liena, help me talk to the other elders, they’ll probably listen to you more than me.”

Liena nodded while Zhang Dong used his connection with the system to contact Zhang Jin along with Huo Qiang. Both of them were very influential figures in their own right, with their help he would be putting his hastily put-together plan in motion.

“Hey there, gramps and you to Qiang, it’s been a while, I need you to do something for me…”

Even though he was inside this fortress and he couldn’t really see them, he could feel their gazes shooting towards the crumbling castle that he was in. It was finally time to turn this thing around, if everyone made it out alive would depend on how stupid and prideful their opponents were...