Spread of the News

In front of the gate, the guards were laughing and drinking. No one knew anything that occurred a while ago, not even the guard captain. Moreover, they didn't know that the patriarch and the grand elder were headed towards them.

One of the guards spoke to his captain, "Captain, won't we get in trouble if we just fool around and not do our jobs?"

The captain looked at the guard and raised an eyebrow, "Are you new here?"

The guard replied, "Yes sir."

The captain laughed and spoke to the new guard, "Haha, so that's why you asked such a dumb question. Let me tell you something, in this manor, we gate guards have it easy. Literally, no one dares to offend the Long clan so no one will seek trouble. We can literally fool around 24/7 and we still won't get in trouble. I once heard from the previous captain that the patriarch setup gate guards just for show."

The new guard had an expression of being enlightened. "Ah, now I get it, boss! Pass me a cup too!"

Seeing the behavior of this new guard, the captain wasn't surprised. Whenever he tricks new guards with this semi-fake story, they always change personalities. At first, he was worried about being caught slacking, but now he wants to slack.

"That's the spirit! Now drink up!"

Outside of the guard post, two middle-aged men appeared. Both with long black hair, but the tall one had tan skin. The tall, who was the patriarch had an embarrassed expression. Who would've thought that the captain he handpicked would encourage others to slack off? When the captain was a guard before, he was the most disciplined and well-mannered guard amongst all. But to think all of that was just a facade to fool him.

The grand elder looked at his elder brother and couldn't help but giggle a little. "Hehe, I told you before didn't I? The captain you were proud of was just a fake one."

If it was before, the patriarch would've rebutted his brother for saying that, but seeing him relax a bit made him happy. It wouldn't be good if his younger brother began to worry so much that he causes harm to himself.

Both men pushed the door open and walked in. The captain who hadn't noticed them and had his back turned towards them continued to dance around. Meanwhile, the rest of the guards froze and looked at the two men who just walked in with both fear and reverence.

The captain who hadn't noticed what was going on grabbed a bottle of beer and turned around to greet the newcomers. He cheerfully said, "Haha, welcome back my fellow subordinates."

The moment he called these newcomers subordinates, the guards that were inside the guard post began to sweat really hard. How could he call these two leaders his subordinates? Did his balls grow too big?

"Come! Have a drink with us..."

When he turned around with the beer bottle, the captain froze in shock. The newcomers he thought were his subordinates turned out to be his bosses! How could he fuck up so bad? His back became drenched with cold sweat while his body began to shake in fear.

"P-p-pleased to meet you, Patriarch Long and Grand Elder Long!" Shakely, the captain was able to get out a greeting out of his mouth.

The patriarch was truly angry at his subordinate, but he didn't show it on his face. Calmly, he looked at the captain and said, "Have you seen Long Tian leave the manor today?"

The captain knew that the patriarch wasn't calm, but the opposite. He needed to try and bootlick the patriarch a little and dissuade him from firing him. He replied to the patriarch, "No, great Patriarch Long. I haven't seen Mr. Long Tian leave the manor at all. Did something happen?"

The patriarch wasn't surprised at all when he heard how the captain addressed him. Instead, he replied with, "None of your business. Also, go and pack your stuff."

The patriarch was semi-confused and asked, "Is there a mission you are assigning me great Patriarch Long?"

The patriarch only replied with three words, "You. Are. Fired."

Once the patriarch said that both he and his little brother left the guard post. Only the frozen captain and the guards remained in there. The captain was frozen by the last three fragmented sentences the patriarch said. H-he was fired? But how will he feed his kids?

"N-no! This can't be true! This must be a mistake! How could I be fired?" The patriarch lost his mind and began to scream around.

"Maybe it is because you were being a fool and was finally caught?" The one who answered his questions was the new guard he lied to a while ago. He felt ashamed for believing such a liar. Good thing the patriarch was lenient towards the guards an didn't punish them.

While the captain was having a meltdown, the patriarch and the grand elder appeared above a tower. The grand elder stared afar as he taught about his child. His face showed the worry and great sorrow he was feeling.

The patriarch mumbled to himself, "Where could you be my child?"

The patriarch was additionally feeling worried as his nephew was currently missing. Although he never showed it in public, he always spoiled his nephew in private. The reason why Long Tian could even have a court of his own was thanks to the patriarch. At first, the patriarch wanted to give Long Tian one of the big courts meant for elders, but the grand elder stopped him.

If Long Tian received one of those courts, other inner disciples might harbor jealousy towards him and might even try to bully him. Although not publically shown, the competition among the inner disciples in the Long clan was immense. The top inner disciples could earn a seat for the 5 patriarch-candidates. If patriarch gifted Long Tian that court, then the inner disciples might think that he is being favored and try to get rid of him. the less competitor, the bigger their chance to earn a spot in the patriarch-candidate.

"Tian'er, where could you be?"

The grand elder stood up and his face showed a firm determination to find Long Tian. He turned around and said to his brother, "Elder brother... No Patriarch Long, May I get your permission to mobilize the top elite team as a search party?"

The patriarch looked at his brother and said, "I hereby grant you permission to do as you like, but you must find Long Tian no matter what. I have this hunch that Long Tian must've been kidnapped and the one responsible for it is part of the Long clan."

The grand elder nodded in agreement and said, "Understood."

|---|---|

It has been a week since Long Tian had been kidnapped. Although the grand elder and the patriarch tried to keep the news from spreading, somehow everyone in the city knew about it. Even people in other cities have already heard about it.

Inside the Xiao compound, two girls were chatting near a small pond. Both girls were stunningly beautiful with long silky black hair. Both girls were Xiao Yin and Luo Cui.

Xiao Yin began to speak as she played with Luo Cui's hair, "Have you heard about the kidnapping of that boy?"

Luo Cui shook her head slightly as to indicate that she didn't know. She replied, "No. Lately, I have been cooped up in my court practicing my sword art. Tell me more about it."

Then Xiao Yin began to speak, "The boy is that one retard from the Long clan, Long Tian. I heard that while the patriarch and the grand elder were away from the clan, some experts broke in and kidnapped the boy."

Luo Cui looked at Xiao Yin and asked, "Why do you call him a retard?"

Xiao Yin was somewhat surprised by Luo Cui's comment, but not too much as she is already used to it. She then answered, "It is not that I like calling him a retard, but a thing he is. Did you know that Ever since he was born, he barely ever left his court? Forget about outside the Long estate, seeing him outside his court is even a rare sight. Additionally, his cultivation has never surpassed the first stage of Qi Condensation. Furthermore, even his father disowned him and some say that it was probably due to Long Tian being a retard."

Luo Cui asked, "Why would he be kidnapped? If he is no longer considered the son of the grand elder, weak, and stuck at the first stage of Qi condensation, what uses does he even have? Was it to get rid of him?"

Xiao Yin answered, "There is more. The day that the grand elder came back from the meeting, he launched the Long clan's top elite clan to search for him. I believe that Long Tian wasn't actually disowned, but just to mislead the grand elder's enemies. If my speculations are right, the kidnapping might have some stuff to do with internal conflicts or something along the lines. How could those experts kidnap the boy without even being detected by anyone? There must be a mole inside their clan."

All of a sudden, a phone rang from Luo Cui's purse. She took out her iFohn X and answered. Xiao Yin stopped messing with Luo Cui's hair and stayed quiet while Luo Cui talked on the phone.

Luo Cui said to the person that called her,

..........

"Hello, dad."

"--"

"Yes, I understand."

"--"

"Ok, I will."

"--"

"Love you too, bye."

She then hung up the phone and looked at Xiao Yin and said, "Looks like I got to go. I need to buy some stuff and head back home."

Although a bit sad that her friend was leaving so early, she looked at her and smiled, "Ok, see you later."

|---|---|

Somewhere on the mountains, five men in black were running while one of the was carrying a leather bag. Behind them, multiple men were chasing after them. The five men that were running were the ones who kidnapped Long Tian and the ones that were chasing them were the top elite from the Long clan and the top elite from the royal family.

Wu Zetian, the empress of the Wu Empire, volunteered to help search for Long Tian. Although not a lot of people know about this, Wu Zetian was fond of Long Tian. She knew for a fact that Long Tian was no way close to a retard.

Although he never liked to show his emotions and never cultivated, he was just an adorable child. Whenever she sees him, she would bury his head between her Mt. Tai peaks and suffocate him. This was one of the many reasons why Long Tian was scared of the Empress.

Inside the leather bag, Long Tian was awake. Although he felt helpless and couldn't do anything, he did his best to try and slow down the one carrying him. Unfortunately for him, the captain got annoyed and elbowed Long Tian to the point it knocked him out.

One of the other four guys asked the captain, "Captain, what's wrong?"

The captain replied, "The kid woke up and was being an annoyance, so I knocked some sense into him. I think I used too much power and directly put him back to dreamland with a broken ribcage.

The four experts: "..." The captain was truly ruthless!