Going Back

In a dimly lit room, one can see a middle-aged man wearing a grand robe signifying his glamour to everyone as he reads notes from bamboo slips that contain sensitive information about the ongoing war on the west border of the Clear Lake Kingdom.

He opened another bamboo slip with a serious look on his face as someone opened the door without knocking in.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you have to knock before you enter a room? You are already old so you should have known that as a basic etiquette."

"Royal Father, is it true that Zhou Mengyao killed someone and he managed to have qi in his body even with his trash body?"

Hearing the question, the middle-aged man stopped what he is doing as he stared at her daughter, Wei Meixu.

"Indeed, you have been late to the news. Your little sister has confirmed it herself."

"How did that happen? Isn't it said that he will not be able to cultivate qi his whole life? Why did he suddenly gain qi and it turned out that he even killed some of the students in the academy?."

His daughter asked curiously, she has been fighting and commanding the cultivators in the frontline of the war so she has not heard plenty of news other than intel and news about wars.

"I don't know either. You just need to remember that the son of a dragon will always be a dragon, even though Zhou Mengyao is an injured dragon, he nevertheless is still a dragon so it is only natural for him to get back on his feet and become the dragon that he is."

"It will be a shame if he did not, his father is very strong when he is in peak after all."

"Stay here for a while before you return to the border, the patriarch of the Zhou Family is going to have a banquet to celebrate his birthday and the long legacy of the Zhou Family. I will send you there to be my representative."

After saying that, Wei Zemin the middle-aged man gets back to reading the bamboo slips one by one with utmost focus.

Seeing that her father is already reading the reports and intel about the prolonged war, she left and closed the door of the room. She plans to rest for now since the war has brought her too much stress.

...

In one of the secluded mansions that are being encircled by the huge mountains, one can see a middle-aged man lecturing a young man.

"Father, why are you still not doing anything despite knowing that Zhou Mengyao is getting stronger and stronger every passing day. The guy that we sent to test him has even died and the gap in their strength is pretty high so we have to do something now in order for the Xie Family to overpower the Zhou Family."

"We don't need to rush this type of things, when scheming one must know that you have to be patient. Although it looks like he is in a very vulnerable state since he is still weak right now, there should be someone strong guarding him."

The middle-aged man explained as he drinks tea while his son, Xie Long did the same with him as they both sat on the ground with a small circular table in their front as they sips their tea while appreciating the beauty of the mountains.

"Then is someone strong guarding him? Can't we just do what we did back then when he is still young?"

"Send an assassin to cripple him? It might have worked back then since the Zhou Family is very arrogant and they have given him poor security due to their overwhelming strength in the past."

The middle-aged man sips tea with a calm expression on his face as he recollects his memory.

"Now that they have learned their lesson they naturally will not let it happen twice. You might have not known it but a Core Formation Realm Cultivator died when he tried to assassinate Zhou Mengyao."

"That assassin is sent by your aunt, it is easy to guess by now that the assassin is already dead. There has been no news of what happened so that just means that the Zhou Family already cleaned up the mess."

"To kill such a cultivator without anyone noticing and leaving a little bit of clue, who else can do it other than a Core Formation Realm Cultivator or someone who has an even higher cultivation base? This is enough proof that someone strong is always hiding in the shadows ready to protect him."

The middle-aged man, Xie Tengfei voiced out his thoughts and conclusions with his huge amount of experience as he looks at his right arm. His right arm is cut off and there is just no way for him to heal it.

He remembered how Zhou Mengyao's father cut off his right arm easily when he fought him, it was not even a fight it is just a brutal beating as he lost his dominant arm. He hates the Zhou Family but he has already learned plenty of things and he isn't the hot-headed youth that will just go to any fight.

His right arm being cut off is already enough reason for him to mature and think about his actions properly. That is the reason why he never likes solutions that can be implemented fastly since he believes that being hot-headed is not the way to go.

One must think properly and patiently to deal with a devastating strike when an opportunity showed up, unfortunately, there are none yet since the Zhou Family has never shown a weakness just yet.

"What did I tell you when you are still very young?"

"To always use your head and not decide rashly in things that will affect us way too much."

"You always have to remember that, the world is cruel, and being smart and strong is the only way for you to survive and stood up at the top."

Xie Tengfei pats his son's head as he retold him his story about how his right arm got cut off because he is impatient and is not using his head properly.

...

Three days have passed since Zhou Mengyao has left the cell that he is confined with. They have traveled from the capital of the kingdom to Ning City.

The Ning City is one of the biggest cities of the kingdom and it is located northwest of the capital. The overlord of the Ning City is naturally the Zhou Family, they have been the overlord of this huge city ages ago, and this city is capable of rivaling the population of the capital.

The journey to Ning City is very smooth, Zhou Mengyao and Zhou Yanyu did not encounter any problems along the way. Even if they did, Zhou Yanyu will just deal with it.

Although she looks like a harmless little girl, she is actually a trained cultivator that is good at escort missions, assassination, and espionage. With her looking very harmless and average no one will truly expect her to be an actually strong cultivator.

They are just near the outside of the huge gate of the city which towers about 30 meters tall and the material used is not just a simple stone, it is created with black metal. Black metal is one of the strongest materials in creating products and it is a mineral unique to the Ning City.

The mining industry in this city is very huge in comparison to the other cities. Most jobs that can be found in the Ning City are related to either mining or the production of various merchandise, especially weapons.

The Zhou Family has always been the number one in weapon creation in the kingdom and even neighboring kingdoms and factions alike due to the unique material that can only be found in the Ning City.

Zhou Mengyao is in a carriage with the banner of the Zhou Family, Zhou Yanyu is the coachman and there are 4 white horse pulling their carriage. The horse is not a natural animal, it is a magical beast and its cultivation is already at the Foundation Establishment Realm so it naturally is a fast transportation.

Without the said beasts then they might have not arrived earlier. The beasts are very fast, it is said that no one within the Foundation Establishment Realm and below can ever catch up to its speed.

It can't fight though as its nature is very timid and gentle hence they are very easy to raise but not easy to find. One must be a Core Formation Realm Master in order to even catch up to its speed so it is very hard to catch in the wild.

"Everyone! Make way! Make way! Don't make me repeat myself!"

"Get in here! Don't block the way! That is the insignia of the main family of the Zhou family. If you wanted to enter the city you better be obedient to them!"

The guards who are at the top of the city gate spotted Zhou Mengyao's carriage from afar, the carriage is created by a good crafter and its design can only be said to be extraordinary so the guards naturally spotted them.

Other than that, they also receive a signal from their superior to let the carriage in without any inspection to be done since it is someone who has a very high standing in the Zhou Family.