The door to Long Chenâs room was pushed open. Long Chenâs mother and father walked in. Seeing that Long Chen was already able to sit up, they were extremely overjoyed.
âHowâs your recovery?â Long Tianxiao walked up to Long Chen and examined his complexion.
âIâm pretty much healed.â Long Chen shrugged. After his FengFu Star had advanced to become a true star, his recovery rate had grown to a shocking level. His body had already healed itself by the time he had woken up.
âRight, dad, how are your wounds?â Long Chen asked, concerned. Although Long Chen had experienced the most intense battle, his injuries werenât that severe. On the other hand, it was Long Tianxiao whose injuries were the most worrisome.
Long Tianxiao smiled slightly. âTheyâre already nothing to worry about. The alchemist guild sent me quite a few medicinal pills. The new guild chairman even treated my wounds personally. I should be fully recovered in just a few days.â
Saying that, Long Tianxiao was filled with pride. For an existence like the alchemist guild to treat the Long family so well was all because of Long Chen.
âChen-er, mom was worried to death these past few days. Let mom see if youâve become thinner.â Mrs. Long only had an opportunity to butt in now, and she came up to rub Long Chenâs cheeks.
Long Chen didnât quite know how to react to that. His father also had a strange expression. Long Chen laughed, âMom, if you want to know if Iâve lost weight, youâll probably have to lift me to tell.â
Long Tianxiao and Chu Yao both laughed heartily. Mrs. Long indignantly said, âThis child, when did you get so cheeky? You dare play jokes on your mom? Youâre no longer a baby. How is mom supposed to pick you up?â
Their small group laughed and conversed harmoniously. Long Tianxiao saw that Long Chenâs complexion was excellent, not at all like someone who had just experienced a great battle and was injured.
While he was gratified by that, he was also shocked inside. That recovery ability was too astonishing, practically comparable to Magical Beasts.
âRight, how are Little Snow and Wilde?â asked Long Chen suddenly.
âWilde, that child, is practically a freak. Even after having endured that many Bone Eroding Needles, he only slept for a single night before waking up. And as soon as he woke up, he was ravenously hungry and ate everything that could be eaten in our home. We already had to send him out to the pasture outside to get more food,â said Mrs. Long.
After this great crisis, Mrs. Long now already considered Wilde as her own child.
Long Chen smiled slightly. He knew it was because of the effect of the liquid given to him by the Spirit World expert. That liquid possessed extremely dense life energy and was exceedingly precious.
If Long Chenâs guess wasnât wrong, that was most likely a trace of that expertâs life essence. That kind of gift was definitely not a light one.
With Wildeâs unique constitution, recovering that fast was only within reason since his body had been given such powerful nourishment.
But although his body was recovering, he definitely needed to replenish a great deal of energy after being tortured for so long. He was probably crazily devouring meat right now.
âAs for Little Snow, we donât know how heâs recovering. We set him up in a room and he wonât let anyone near him,â explained Mrs. Long.
âHaha, letâs go take a look.â Long Chen tidied up his clothes and arrived at an outer room of the Long estate. One of the roomâs walls was torn down.
That was because Little Snowâs body was too big and he couldnât fit through the door. They could see Little Snow lying there even from a distance.
âWu!â
Long Chen had yet to even get too close when the dozing Little Snow blinked his eyes and charged over.
Mrs. Long was given a fright and almost screamed. Facing such a huge beast, everyone would instinctively feel fear. Even Long Tianxiao felt a powerful pressure.
Long Chen laughed and hugged Little Snowâs head. âLooks like youâve also recovered.â
His powerful Spiritual Strength swept out and entered Little Snowâs body. Little Snowâs broken bones had already mended back together. But there were still places where it hadnât fully grown back and so there were many cracks.
But Long Chenâs medicinal pills were all high quality, and so they were very effective. Adding on Little Snowâs powerful recovery ability, there was already not much to worry about.
âYour major wounds have only just healed. You have to take it easy and not make any intense movements, understood?â Long Chen affectionately rubbed Little Snowâs head.
âWu wu!â Little Snow rubbed his head against Long Chenâs chest.
Mrs. Long looked at that obedient and cute Little Snow that was practically acting like a puppy and couldnât help but curiously ask, âChen-er, can he understand what youâre saying?â
âYup, pretty much. He grew up with me from the size of a hand, so he understands my intentions,â explained Long Chen.
In reality, Little Snow was unable to understand Long Chenâs speech. But due to their spiritual connection, he could sense and understand Long Chenâs thoughts.
At the same time, Long Chen could also sense Little Snowâs emotions. But this communication wasnât through words and so it wasnât that precise.
âWhere did you get him? How come I didnât know about it?â Mrs. Long was startled.
âHaha, he was sent to support me by Meng Qi.â Long Chen replied without thinking, but as soon as he said that, he saw his mother doing her best to signal him with his eyes.
Obviously, she was warning him not to mention Meng Qi in front of Chu Yao. Mrs. Long already regretted her big mouth.
âMom, big sister Meng Qi sent such a precious Magical Beast to Long Chen. That is enough to prove that big sister Meng Qi has deep emotions for Long Chen. This is a good thing,â said Chu Yao.
âMom? Youâve changed the honorific so fast?â Long Chen felt it was inconceivable.
But as soon as he said that, Chu Yaoâs face turned completely red and Mrs. Long pulled her over to her side and fiercely told Long Chen, âChild, let me tell you, Chu Yao is the first daughter-in-law. If you make her feel wronged, I will not forgive you.â
Mrs. Longâs words were extremely clever. That âfirst daughter-in-lawâ was used remarkably well, causing Chu Yao to feel much more comfortable. Long Chen definitely admired his motherâs skill in this area.
Long Chen looked from his mother to Chu Yao and didnât say anything, only laughing foolishly. He laughed so much that Chu Yao wished she could find somewhere to hide herself.
âOkay, now that the crisis has passed and everythingâs fine, letâs properly eat a meal. After all, weâre finally all together,â proposed Long Tianxiao.
To Long Tianxiao who spent his days fighting, being able to eat a meal with his family was an extremely rare and precious opportunity.
Their servants quickly prepared a sumptuous feast for them. But Long Chen noticed that the majority of them were all new faces, so he couldnât help but feel astonished.
âYour father switched them all out,â explained Mrs. Long.
âWhat?â
âChild, normally youâre so smart, so how did you become so dumb now? They followed our Long family for so many years, always loyal and devoted. Having been implicated into such a terror, they almost lost their lives. Our Long family owes them far too much. Your father already gave each of them a huge fortune, enough to provide for them for a lifetime. That can count as compensation for them. But there was still a portion of them who didnât want to leave and so theyâre still working for us. In any case, we must remember this favor in our hearts,â sighed Mrs. Long.
Those people had been unrelated to their Long family, but when the Long family had been down and out, they hadnât abandoned them.
In comparison, his motherâs family, which were clearly her blood sisters, had decided to hurt her as they had.
Looking at his motherâs sullen expression, Long Chen and Long Tianxiao exchanged a glance and quickly changed the topic to something happier, quickly bringing her out of her sadness.
âDad, your son toasts you!â Long Chen raised a large cup of alcohol to Long Tianxiao. âTo our familyâs reunion!â
Long Tianxiao laughed heartily and also raised his cup, clinking their glasses. Chu Yao and Mrs. Long also raised their wine glasses. The four of them were all smiling happily.
Long Chen and Long Tianxiao directly emptied their cups in one go. As for Chu Yao and Mrs. Long, they obviously didnât have such a high tolerance for alcohol. Chu Yao only drank one gulp before her face flushed, making her appear even cuter.
âThat child Wilde still hasnât returned in two days.â Mrs. Long felt a bit uneasy that they were missing Wilde in their group.
âHaha, Wildeâs probably still busy eating. Donât worry,â laughed Long Chen. Pouring another cup for his father, he asked, âDad howâs the situation in the capital?â
âItâs somewhat tranquil. Phoenix Cryâs biggest competitor was the Grand Xia, but now the Grand Xia has become a complete mess. The other prince was assassinated and now all the officials are busy greedily fighting for the position of Emperor. Even if one of them eventually becomes the new Emperor, their empireâs power will have dropped greatly. Itâll be impossible for them to threaten Phoenix Cry. As for Phoenix Cry, the other princes have already withdrawn from the power struggle. The seventh prince was recommended as the crown prince and is now in charge of the imperial court.â Long Tianxiao drank a mouthful of alcohol.
The other princes might be greedy, they werenât stupid. They knew that none of them were able to compete with the seventh prince. That was because behind him stood a Tendon Transformation expert, his sister.
Furthermore, who didnât know of Chu Yaoâs relationship with Long Chen? With the backing of the Long family, no one would dare compete against him.
And since they couldnât compete, the next best thing was to curry favor. The other princes all loudly acclaimed their praise for Chu Fengâs ascension, acting as if it was only to be expected.
Long Chen glanced at Chu Yao and suddenly laughed naughtily. âHaha, the sister of the Emperor. Come, a toast for you! Being the husband of the Emperorâs sister really is exciting!â
âYou bad man!â Chu Yao glared at Long Chen prettily, causing the three of them to laugh.
âChild, youâre not allowed to bully Chu Yao!â Mrs. Long resisted laughing and lightly scolded him.
In order to not miff Chu Yao, Mrs. Long revealed some embarrassing stories of Long Chen from when he was young. This time it was Long Chenâs turn to be helpless as Chu Yao laughed endlessly. Their family ate together in peaceful happiness.
After eating, Long Chen hesitated for a while before summoning up the courage to say, âDad, mom, I want to go take a look at the outside world.â
Mrs. Longâs smile immediately disappeared. Chu Yao was also startled. Only Long Tianxiao had seemed to have long since expected that, his expression completely calm.
After a moment of silence, Mrs. Longâs trembling voice asked, âChen-er, you really want to leave home?â
Long Chen lowered his head, not able to look his mother in the eyes. Their family had only just reunited. It was cruel to separate them again.
But Long Chen truly did want to see the outside world. His lover was still in that outer world. The Spirit World, Pill Valley, and that figure from his dreams with the power to destroy the very world, those things all told him that he had to leave Phoenix Cry.
âIâm preparing to leave with Chu Yao and Wilde.â Long Chenâs voice was so quiet that even he could barely hear it. His heart was filled with pain.
Chu Yao clearly relaxed a breath when she heard that. But looking at Mrs. Longâs heartbroken gaze, she immediately felt sad again.
âOur child has grown up. We should let him decide his own future. We have to learn to let go,â said Long Tianxiao suddenly. He continued, âChen-er, since youâve decided, itâs time for me to tell you a certain secret.â
âLong Tianxiao, youâŚ!â Mrs. Long suddenly stood up and angrily glared at Long Tianxiao, giving Long Chen a fright.
As far as he could ever remember, his mother and father had always gotten along extremely well, never showing anger to each other like this. For his motherâs reaction to be so huge caused him to be at a loss.
âHe has the right to know the truth.â Long Tianxiao firmly looked back at his wife.
âYou⌠Long Tianxiao, I hate you!â Mrs. Long suddenly began to cry and ran out.
Chu Yao saw this situation and also left hastily, leaving behind only the two of them, father and son.