“What? Won’t give your favorite uncle a hug? Have you been practicing your swordsmanship? Maybe if you do, you will be able to be as good at it as your uncle!”

“Y-you…”

Long Shen, the oldest son of the Azure Emperor, looked quite dejected after Zhang Dong shouted out at him. There were other people around this place and also around this young master. They of course knew who the Golden Dragon was so they could not say anything without being talked to.

“What, you are so glad to see me that you are at a loss for words?”

Zhang Dong moved closer while somewhat strutting as if he was in a rush. His nephew recoiled in horror as he clearly wasn’t sure what to do. Previously he attempted to embarrass Zhang Dong but it all came to bite him and his siblings in the end. Now this man that his father held in high regard was before him again.

“Don’t be so stiff, are you worried about what happened in the past?”

“Well, I…”

“Don’t worry about it, we are family are we not?”

Zhang Dong slammed his palm against Long Shen’s back which made the young man stagger forward. The people in the back gasped out in shock as they couldn’t believe it. They somewhat expected their young master to recoil in anger but instead, he just fixed his clothes without saying much.

“Y-yes, we are family… Did you want something from me, uncle? If not, then I will be on my way…”

“Actually, I do need some directions and I think my cute nephew probably knows his way around this city!”

“C-cute?”

It was quite strange, in reality, Long Shen was older than Zhang Dong that was close to being forty. It was hard to measure the age of nascent soul masters that ascended in their early years thus no one made a fuss.

“Yes, now could you show me the way to one of those three elders? I think one of them should be able to guide me further.”

The three old bags that whined to the Azure Emperor were probably the best bet of him getting to that map chamber.

“One of the three elders? Ah yes…”

To Zhang Dong’s surprise, the young master didn’t seem that against showing him around. Either he was feeling forced due to his status or perhaps he had become a better person?

‘Probably closer to the first one, he isn’t that good at hiding his emotions.’

While he wanted to tease the man some more, it would be better to not go overboard. He didn’t want to waste any more time than he had to. If he continued to alienate Long Shen they might get into a fight which he would probably win but could leave the Azure Dragon’s son unable to continue.

“Ah yes, Elder Laixie should be close by.”

Without further ado, the two left while the young master's company removed themselves. While they could stick around him when someone like the Golden Dragon appeared they couldn’t just follow if he didn't tell them that they could.

‘Elder Laixie? It’s probably that old woman.’

Both Zhang Dong and Long Shen were nascent soul masters, it didn’t take long for them to cover a lot of space. Even then it was somewhat hard to maneuver through the large crystal tower that housed hundreds of thousands of people in it. While it was quite gigantic from the outside, it was even larger on the inside.

The elder that he was looking for was in one of the many chambers that had spatial technology on it. The area on the inside of it was many times larger than he had expected, it was somewhat similar to what the spot he met the Azure Dragon was.

The only difference was that it was obviously a fake environment. He could feel that the sky was just an illusion as well as the sun that was shining down on him. The whole place looked like a vacation villa with a forest around it but even though it seemed that it stretched for many kilometers it was about one in diameter.

‘I guess something like the Dimensional Regalia isn’t easily created even for the Long Clan.’

Keeping in mind that he was going to the residence of one of the top three elders, it meant that they probably were granted access to their clan's most treasured technologies and magics.

“This is where the elder lives, I’ll excuse myself then…”

“Ah yes, have a nice… and he is gone…”

Zhang Dong was stuck looking at the spatial magic and integrated formation that he didn’t react to that well. During this time that took only a few seconds, Long Shen decided to remove himself from the area. When using his spirit sense he could feel his nephew rocketing away at full speed.

“He must be shy…”

“Hello, is anyone here? Is Elder Laixie here?”

He talked while walking towards the building on the small hill. The people that lived here probably realized that he was here as he felt something scanning his body for clues as he entered. Of course, it wasn’t able to as he shrouded his body with a thin layer of protective Qi. The people here knew that someone entered but they didn’t know who exactly.

“Who are you? Long Shen already left?”

The voice that he heard belonged to the elder that he had met for a short time. Surprisingly she was the only person here and didn’t even bother to come to greet him.

“Yes he did, it is me, Long Dong, you know, the Golden Dragon…”

While the woman didn’t tell him that he could go in he continued to slowly walk towards this large mansion. The woman was a top elder of the clan but she was in theory below him in status. Even though it was only on paper, she would normally have to lower her head before him.

“I don’t think we had an appointment…”

He continued to move forward, the gate was wide open and on the inside, he saw the old woman wearing a more traditional robe. She was tending to her garden of spiritual herbs but mostly just looking at some that were radiating Qi.

“Yes, I must apologize for that but I need someone to help guide me, I would like to…”

As he tried to continue he saw the old woman look at him sternly. She moved her finger to her mouth as if she wanted to tell him to be quiet. Then he also realized that she had been whispering while looking at a certain closed flower.

“That flower is… a spiritual sunrise lily?”

Thanks to his deep knowledge of all things thanks to all the books he read, he was quickly able to identify the plant. The woman was a bit surprised and this was probably due to this flower being mostly mistaken with a similar one named the sun lily that was slightly different.

Now that he looked back to the fake sun above, he could spot that it was certainly more red than usual. After adding two and two together it was clear what the woman was doing.

“Ah, is the elder Laixie trying to grow the sunrise lily?”

“I see that the Golden Dragon is very knowledgeable, you probably know that this flower needs to be brought up in near silence and tranquility to develop the sunrise seeds inside.”

“Ah yes, they are quite the rare seeds that can be turned into various elixirs to nourish the fire aspect.”

“Yes, I’m not sure what you came here for Golden Dragon, but I must remain here because this is a critical point in the life cycle of the sunrise lily.”

He could tell that the old woman was nourishing the plant with some of her Qi. This also explained why this place was deserted a loud noise could cause the flower to not produce any seeds. It took many years to just grow one flower as it wouldn’t bloom if there were more of its kind around it.

“That is true but…”

It was clear that he wouldn’t get the woman to budge from this place. Then when he tried to explain himself the woman continued to sush him. It didn’t seem that the war that was here made these elders worry too much for some reason. They were certainly convinced that even if all failed they would be safe in this fortress of theirs.

Thus the only way to make this old lady move was to bring this flower to bloom. Thankfully with the amount of knowledge that he had gained he would be able to do such a thing. The biggest problem would probably be to make her agree to it.

“Ah yes… her isn’t that the Azure Dragon? oh no, why is he wearing that alluring dress?”

Zhang Dong pointed into the distance behind the old woman. She of course was taken aback by something so preposterous but was also unable to not look in that direction. The notion of seeing the handsome Azure Emperor in some kind of dress was probably too much. While curiosity got to her, he quickly went for it.

“There is no one there… wait w-what are you doing!”

The old woman screamed out in shock as she saw Zhang Dong quickly pluck the flower from the ground. To her knowledge this would certainly make the plant die, it was something that she had nourished for many years but before her eyes, it was now gone.

“Oh don’t you worry, just give me a second I’ll have it bloom before your eyes.”

She was furious with him and even though he said that it would be fine, she pulled out a sword instantly.

“I don’t care who you think you are!”

“Now let's not be hasty grandma, just give me a moment…”

The flower was out of sight in his hands as he started nourishing it with a combination of select elements. He was sure that it would work even after plucking it from the ground but the old woman went crazy.

“Hey now, that was dangerous…”

He dodged a swing from her blade while flying away. The woman started chasing him around this area and he was even forced to leave it. Soon the whole crystal tower where the main long clan was based was in an uproar. Mentions of their grand elder chasing after the emperor’s brother quickly reached everyone.

“It’s hard to concentrate like this, if I didn’t know better I’d think you really wanted this lily to die!”

“Stop with the excuses!”

They flew long and wide. Even other elders and clan members started chasing after them but soon they all stopped as a strange phenomenon occurred. The area was covered in a crimson-like haze that resembled a rising sun.

“T-this is… the rising of the heavenly lily? But it was only a regular sunrise lily…”

The old woman stopped flying while her jaw dropped, from within the palms of the man she was chasing an unbelievable phenomenon was taking place which prompted her to pass out on the spot.