“Young Master Yun Ling has arrived!” one of the Yun Clan’s nightwatchman loudly announced, informing everyone in the clan.

It was already midnight. The entire Yun Clan was quiet. Some of the clan members have already gone to sleep while some were diligently cultivating in their room in silence. Some were studying scriptures while some were reading cultivation books to increase their knowledge and aid them further in their cultivation.

However, the moment they heard the servant’s announcement, all of them immediately cast aside what they were doing as they scrambled out of their rooms.

In just a few seconds, the already quiet clan was suddenly filled with activity. All of the servants who were about to turn in for the night quickly went into their respective positions as they waited patiently for their young master to arrive.

Meanwhile, one of the servants came into Yun Zhan’s office and the rest of Yun Ling’s direct family member’s room to inform them of Yun Ling’s arrival. Their rooms were the farthest away from the gate and were reinforced with silencing seals so they won’t be disturbed by the noises coming from outside.

“Clan Master, Young Master Yun Ling has come back from his task,” the servant paid his respects to Yun Zhan before telling him of Yun Ling’s arrival.

Yun Zhan smiled as he nodded his head. He already sensed Yun Ling coming even before the servant had come to inform him. He also felt two more presence accompanying his son.

“Alright.”

The servant paid his respects to him once again before leaving Yun Zhan’s office to tell the others of Yun Ling’s arrival.

Yun Zhan set aside his work. He stood up from his seat and slowly headed towards the clan’s main gate to wait for his son.

It had been thirteen days since Yun Ling had left for his task— no, fourteen days if he had to count today since it was already midnight and now another day.

For cultivators like them, it was just a small amount of time in their incredibly long lives. Merely two weeks had passed yet these two weeks felt so long. Yun Zhan smiled wryly at the thought of his granddaughter. For Yun Xia, these two weeks must have felt much longer than it was to them since she was greatly missing Yun Ling the whole time.

A few minutes later, all of them had gathered right in front of the main gate of the clan compound. Most of the clan members were waiting at the sidelines while the servants faithfully stood behind. The ones in front were Yun Zhan, Li Jing, Yun Wei, Ye Lin, Yun Yi, Yue Dongmei, and lastly, Yun Xia, who was excited to see her father after so long.

She was originally sleeping before she was woken up by Yue Dongmei. She was tired and still sleepy when she woke up then and was about to go back to bed when her caretaker told her that Yun Ling was coming home. The little girl’s drowsiness actually disappeared upon hearing that. Her body was filled with energy as she quickly hopped out of her bed and ran towards the main gate in haste. Yue Dongmei could only smile as she remembered that scene.

“Ling, that child. It’s already late at night. He should’ve waited for the sun to rise first before coming home,” Li Jing said worriedly.

Traveling at night was more dangerous than traveling at day because there were more lesser beasts roaming around at night than during the day. The reason was that most lesser beasts were nocturnal with some being crepuscular. At night, one would encounter more lesser beasts because of the nocturnal, crepuscular, and cathemeral lesser beasts looking to hunt some prey, or just find another beast of their species to mate with. That was why it was advisable to travel during the day than at night.

“Don’t worry. With Ling’er’s cultivation realm, most lesser beasts in the Jin Empire wouldn’t dare touch him.” Unlike Li Jing, Ye Lin was confident of her grandson’s capabilities. That wasn’t to say that Li Jing didn’t believe in Yun Ling. It was just in her nature to get worried easily for her children’s well-being.

Yun Zhan gently squeezed his wife’s shoulder as he gave her a reassuring smile, only to receive a glare from her. They have never seen eye to eye with each other when it comes to stuff like these.

After seeing that look from his wife, Yun Zhan wisely brought his hand away from her lest he incurred her wrath more. Though they always quarreled because of their children, Yun Zhan didn’t want to argue with her mainly because it was annoying. He would rather save himself from that annoyance if he could help it.

Yun Wei, who saw what happened, snorted at his son, unimpressed.

“Wimp.”

Upon saying that, Ye Lin glared at him, instantly making him shut up.

The previous and the current clan master of the Yun Clan were giving a dirty look to each other, itching to smack the other to oblivion. It wasn’t unusual for the two to fight because of petty things like this despite being highly regarded by the rest of the clan members and the outsiders as wise and powerful individuals.

Yun Yi looked at Li Jing and Ye Lin before looking at Yun Zhan and Yun Wei. He didn’t want to follow in these two’s footsteps and let other women boss him around.

He then looked at Yun Xia with a complicated gaze. Now that he told the fourth prince about her being Yun Ling’s weakness, he was wondering what the fourth prince was going to do next. Would he take Yun Xia’s life to mess with Yun Ling’s mind or would he kidnap her to make Yun Ling submit to him? Whichever of the two it was, Yun Ling would surely be enraged.

Yun Yi tightly clenched his fist. It had been a while since he and Yun Ling fought. The last time they did, there was no clear victor since they stopped just before things got serious between them. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t really call that one a fight but merely a spar. He wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted to fight Yun Ling seriously in a match where they wouldn’t hold back against each other.

Even if he were to die…

Even if Yun Ling were to die…

Just once. A fight like that was what he desired.

Yun Yi sighed as he looked up at the sky.

‘I really hate you, Young Master’

“Yi’er, are you okay?” Yun Wei asked as he and Yun Zhan looked at him worriedly.

Yun Yi smiled at them brightly.

“Clan Master, Grandfather, I am fine. I was just thinking of something,” Yun Yi said with the same smile he always had.

Yun Zhan smiled at his nephew.

“If something’s troubling you, don’t hesitate to come to us. Your father is always busy because of me, the least I could do is look after his son out.”

Yun Yi nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that, Clan Master.”

Yun Wei laughed out loud as he patted Yun Yi’s back. “You’re too stiff, Yi’er! Don’t be too formal to this fool. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Although Yun Wei only patted Yun Yi, Yun Yi felt that his grandfather might have as well smacked him at the back. That might only be a pat but the force behind it was great. He staggered a few steps forward because of that, making him annoyed at the old man.

Yun Zhan’s eyebrows twitched. Why does he have such an annoying father?

“Young Master is here!” one of the servants announced as they saw Yun Ling arrive on top of a majestic snow-white wolf with a lion cub sitting right in front of him.

The servants immediately bowed down while the rest of the clan members paid their respects to him.

“Welcome back, Young Master Yun Ling!”

Yun Ling’s expression was serious as he spoke in a steady voice, “You may all rise.”

The servants did what they were told while the rest of the clan members went back to their original positions, “Thank you, Young Master!”