Yun Ling felt relaxed as he let the water run down his body. Nothing beats taking a bath after spending fourteen days away from home. He felt clean, refreshed, and much more confident in his appearance by just taking one.

After taking a shower, Yun Ling went towards their clan’s hot spring and dipped himself down. He let out a sigh of relaxation as he leaned back towards the hot spring’s stone wall with the water just barely above his chest.

The hot spring was their clan’s exclusive property. It was by no means a natural hot spring. It was an artificial one powered by a spirit stone to heat the water up. There were also spiritual herbs mixed in the hot spring which was beneficial to a cultivator’s body. It was perfect for Yun Ling who had just come back from a rough journey from the Thousand Mountain Valley. The hot spring was able to soothe his mind and ease the remaining tension in his body.

Suddenly, the door to the bath opened, revealing his half-naked father and grandfather who had come inside. Both of them only had their crotch covered by towels.

“Oh?” Yun Zhan raised a brow upon seeing Yun Ling relaxing in the hot spring. He thought he and his father were the first ones to take the hot spring. Looks like Yun Ling had beat them to it.

Yun Ling noticed the door being opened. He looked behind him and saw both Yun Zhan and Yun Wei.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Good morning, son,” Yun Zhan greeted back.

“Hoho, it’s been a while since we three have taken a bath together,” Yun Wei said amusedly when he found his grandson in the hot spring.

Yun Ling didn't say anything. The last time they have taken a bath together was before he took the mission of killing the Core Formation Slayer which was months ago. All three of them loved to be the first one to use the hot spring early in the morning so it wasn’t unusual that they’d meet each other more or less at the same time in the bath. His cousin too loved taking a bath early in the morning so it wasn’t unusual for Yun Yi to join them regularly.

Yun Zhan and Yun Wei each went towards their respective showers as they cleaned their body up. After that, the two joined Yun Ling in the hot spring.

Yun Zhan frowned after dipping himself in the water for quite a while.

“The efficacy of the spiritual herbs had gone down. Looks like I’ll have to ask a servant to buy another batch of spiritual herbs for the hot spring.”

Yun Wei nodded. He noticed that the hot spring wasn’t as effective now as it was yesterday. Although it still was able to make their body relax, the effects weren’t as great as before.

Yun Ling, on the other hand, didn’t really care too much. What was important was that he was finally able to take a bath after a long while. Although he had the same preference as his father and grandfather, he was just glad that he could finally take a bath.

“By the way son,” Yun Zhan started as he glanced at Yun Ling. Yun Wei also set his gaze towards his grandson, knowing what his son was going to ask of him.

“Yes, father?”

“What happened in the Thousand Mountain Valley?”

Yun Ling sighed. He knew it. He kinda figured out that his father was going to ask him that. Well, it didn’t really matter since he was originally going to tell him after he’d taken a bath. It was also convenient that his grandfather was here. Now, he didn’t have to tell both of them separately and could just tell them about it at the same time.

He let out a sigh again as he looked towards the ceiling, wondering how he’d start about his story.

“I met an immortal,” Yun Ling told them straight to the point. He figured he’d tell them about the immortal first and just answer the questions they were going to ask him. It would be easier for him that way.

Yun Zhan and Yun Wei blankly stared at him for a few seconds before Yun Zhan managed to voice out with a strange expression on his face, “Come again?”

“I said I met an immortal,” Yun Ling said calmly, feeling a little funny inside. He’d rarely gotten the rise out of his father so this was quite amusing for him.

Yun Wei’s mouth was agape when his grandson repeated himself, finally realizing that he wasn’t just hearing things.

“Was this immortal an ally or foe?” Yun Zhan asked.

“It was an enemy. We were lucky to survive,” Yun Ling answered a bit depressed.

Yun Zhan and Yun Wei sighed. They already expected that answer somewhat. Yun Ling wouldn’t have acted the way he did last night if the immortal was an ally. The two had a complicated expression on their faces. This was something to be concerned about. There was actually an immortal in this world! The highest realm the people could achieve in this world was the Sacred King Realm. An immortal had a realm that was several times more than that. In the World of Terra, who could go against that immortal?

Yun Zhan clenched his fist. To think that his son encountered an immortal in his task which wasn’t supposed to be too dangerous to him, he was enraged.

He stood up from his position, revealing his entire self bare to Yun Wei and Yun Ling.

“I’m going to ask for an explanation to His Majesty about this,” Yun Zhan said with a cold expression as he tried to suppress the anger in his heart.

“Stop,” Yun Wei commanded with a tone of finality. “Calm down. His Majesty didn’t know about this immortal. If he did, he wouldn’t have sent Ling’er to the Thousand Mountain Valley.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he doesn’t want to make an enemy of us,” Yun Wei explained as he snorted. With a cold look on his face, he continued, “He’s not a fool. I might not be able to deal with him on my own but if you and I were to confront him together, we could fight him to a stalemate. Even if Yun Yinyi joins in the fight, your younger brother could handle him.”

Yun Zhan sighed. He was too angry for his son’s sake that he wasn’t able to think logically right away. Now that he thought about it, he understood what his father was trying to say.

“He doesn’t have anything to gain from making an enemy of us. If he really wanted to get rid of Ling’er, he would’ve searched for another way.”

“I understand, father.”

“Still, we couldn’t allow this to go unanswered. Ling’er”—Yun Wei looked at his grandson—“though there was an unexpected appearance of an immortal in the Thousand Mountain Valley, were you able to accomplish your task?”

Yun Ling shook his head. He didn’t even see a living lesser beast there aside from Snow Fang and his son, there was no way he could accomplish it.

“Go to the emperor. Explain everything to him and tell him to pass Ling’er. That’s the least he could do for him. Treat it as a reward for bringing valuable information to him. A piece of information much valuable than the corpse of the Trinity Giant Serpent,” Yun Wei ordered his son and then closed his eyes as he relaxed in the water.

Yun Zhan stared at his father for a few seconds. If only this retarded old man would act like this all the time instead of acting childishly like he usually did. It would’ve been much easier for him. His mental health mainly.

“Understood.”