“Congratulations!”

“Happy Birthday!”

“Can we eat the cake now?”

“Xiu’er what did you learn?”

“Uh… can we eat the cake now, please?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Ouch, my cheeks. Mother stop pulling on them!”

Zhang Dong was sitting to the side while looking at his wife stretching Xiu’s cheeks out. It was a joyous occasion as his son had reached the age of six. As a father, he was feeling proud but also sad. He had missed five of these birthdays already, previously he was teleported away into another world and this was the first time he was here.

The attention was pulled away from his son by his drooling sister. Apparently, the cake that was made from various delicacies was something that she desired. Cultivators teeth weren’t really affected by caries so there was no reason to deny his children from eating sweets. Before she could dig in the birthday boy still needed to make a wish.

“I should make a wish?”

“That’s right but you need to blow out the candles in one go first or it won’t work!”

To everyone's surprise, the ceremony was changed this year around. When Xiu was younger there wasn’t really any cake as people here celebrated things differently. Shoveling chocolate cake into a toddler was also something that he was concerned about. Now on the other hand when the kids were a bit older, it was fine for them to gobble down all these sweets.

This reminded him of when he was younger. His mother tended to always make a large cake that was usually made with a lot of chocolate. Cooking wasn’t one of his best skills so he just left it up to the sect chef instead. After describing to him what the cake should look like or taste he was given something that tasted quite similar.

Zhang Jun looked at the six candles in front of him as if they were some legendary treasure. It was clear to his father that the little boy was still reserved about their interactions. However, it was much better than when he first arrived in this world. Soon enough he was leaning over and blowing out the six candles in one go. It wasn’t really hard for someone like him who had a natural martial physique. His lung capacity was a lot higher than normal and almost caused the top part of the cake to fly away.

“Happy Sixth Birthday Jun.”

“Happy Birthday!”

People started cheering as all of the candles were blown out in one fell swoop. Jun smiled while looking at the people around him but his gaze mostly fell on his father which Zhang Dong noticed. Even though they had a rough start he could see that his child was interested in him. Probably being the Golden Dragon who was the most powerful cultivator around helped move things along.

“Good job my Son, now you can eat the cake.”

“Yay, cake!”

Jun’s sister saw that as a signal for her to get some of that yummy-looking cake. Liena that was next to her delivered some divine justice by bonking her on the head before she could get her hands on it.

“Calm down young lady, a daughter of mine will not eat with her hands, wait for the cook to put it on the plate!”

“I’m sorry mother…”

People laughed at his daughter that started rubbing her head. There were a lot of people from their inner circle here but they tried to contain everything. Zhang Zhi and his family were here, his wife had delivered two boys that were seven and five years old. Both of them were sitting to the side and eyeballing the chocolate cake that was getting passed around.

‘I hope they can form a relationship with my son but I don’t like how they are treating him…’

Zhang Dong had a few concerns with his children. Everyone was treating them a bit too well as if they were from some type of royal family that wasn’t that far off. He would have preferred it if his children were treated equally to the others but this was probably too much to ask from the cultivator nuts living in this world. Even though he tried to strip the cast system it wasn’t such an easy task to remove it.

Even now a group of kids was surrounding his son that was eating cake and unpacking some gifts. He was showered with expensive toys and adoration from his peers. It seemed that the parents of the other children had told their offspring to get closer to Jun. This was normal as being close to the child of the Patriarch was an obvious thing that could get them ahead in life. Pushing their daughters that were of similar age as him close was also something they were already thinking of.

‘What’s with those girls… there are so many of them there, did those sneaky elders talk them into it? This feels wrong.’

Zhang Jun was already surrounded by young girls. Some of them were smiling at him in an awkward fashion as if they were told to go along with whatever he desired. This was the part that he was worried about that could cause his son to go down an erroneous path. He was a young master now with the most powerful person in the sect as his father. It wouldn’t be strange if he started thinking that he was better than others or that he was some type of destined being.

‘I can’t let him become like those other idiot young masters… the same thing goes for my daughter…’

When looking at Xiu with cake on her face his sour mood quickly went away. However, soon he was thinking about the same thing. Many other kids were gathering around her as well. For the time being he was leaving his daughter up to her mother. She had informed him about some elders showing interest in presenting suitors for her but for the time being she denied them all. There were apparently even some that attempted to tie her into a political marriage with the Huo Clan. Perhaps this was one of the reasons that she seemed to dislike Qiang even more now than before.

Luckily for his offspring, he was not planning on letting them marry anytime soon. The two wouldn’t be burdened with a political marriage as long as he was in power. While his bond with his own wife was somewhat political and it worked out, he couldn’t imagine a life where no love existed. Liena was luckily interested in him beforehand which initiated a spark in him that continued to burn brightly to this very day.

“Is everything fine?”

“Yes? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You do have that look on your face, my husband.”

“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“No, you can not and you should stop trying.”

Liena approached him while he was staring at his children. Luckily his position was so high that he could forgo any mingling with the other elders. Being forced to converse with old farts about the state of the empire was not something he wished to do now. Thus he was left sitting in his throne-like chair with a good view of his kids that had gone away from the table to play.

“I was just thinking about the future of our children, sooner or later they will grow up and need to fend for themselves.”

“Oh? I’m not sure if there is anything to worry about, with how their father is now, no one would dare to stand in their way.”

“I guess you’re not wrong…”

While Liena knew somewhat about his real origin she was not informed about everything. After winning so many recent battles she might have assumed that her husband was an invincible master that not even the Azure Emperor could face. This would still need to be confirmed but as it stood now, there wouldn’t be any chance to prove this theory.

The war between empires was over now and the refugees poured back to the lands that were once in turmoil. People were singing praises of the Golden Dragon who was now the savior of the empire. His sect was now considered the owner of the western region with the Long Clan owning the middle and the Heavenly Crane Sect the east.

This didn’t mean that the way his sect acted didn’t have a greater impact on the population. Besides the old residents from the west, others from the east and even central regions started pouring in. The way Zhang Dong’s name was elevated to be on the same level as the Azure Emperor caused this.

The Emperor was an age-old name that no one could really touch. He on the other hand was more palpable and accessible. Spirit Spring City was his home ground and many people rushed over with hopes of joining his sect. The next time the sect pushed for a recruitment drive he expected the candidates to multiply by at least ten times. He was the hottest name on the tongues of everyone and would probably remain

“There is nothing to worry about, not even the Azure Emperor would be brazen enough!”

“Hey, it would be better if you didn’t say such things out loud…”

“What is there to fear?”

Liena shrugged as she was convinced of the power their sect had. In her and the elders minds, they had become a mountain amongst pebbles. The Heavenly Crane Sect was no match for them so they assumed that the Long Clan wouldn’t be that much of a problem either.

Some of them were even hoping that they continue on their warpath. Taking out three powerful beings skyrocketed their confidence. They were willing to believe that they could gain control over the whole Empire and become a new dynasty. The only reason they wouldn’t was due to their Patriarch not seeming to be interested in such a thing.

‘I hope they won’t try to plot something in the background…”

While the war was over it could be restarted at any time. The borders in the west weren’t really drawn out as there wasn’t anything done in an official fashion. The old sect that controlled the West was gone which would usually mean that the spot had become vacant. While the Heavenly Crane Sect accepted the United Element Sect as their equal, the Long Clan had reminded silent.

‘I hope days like this could continue for a bit longer… but sooner or later I’ll have to act.’

Zhang Dong peeked at his system screen where he could see a percentage counter that was slowly going up. The scanning process of the room she took from the water empress would still take some time, before it was completed he could only hope that peace would reign.