Reflection

Yun Long slowly walked to the front of his family's grand mansion.

Li Pinghu and Shi Tie had already disposed of the uncollected corpses far away, their movements carrying a numb efficiency.

Even so, the bluestone-paved ground was still stained with large patches of dark red. The smell of blood had not completely dissipated even in the night wind; instead, it had become more stagnant.

He paused slightly underfoot.

Lifting his right foot, he stomped down lightly, as if casually.

"Boom!"

A dull yet extremely penetrating roar.

Centered on where his foot landed, the hard bluestone ground instantly turned to dust, mixing with the fresh soil that churned up from below.

An invisible shockwave quietly spread, causing several hidden observing presences in the distance to involuntarily falter.

As the amount of refined Vajra Primordial Qi within his body continuously increased, the amplification to his physical strength and defense had already reached an unbelievable level.

The power displayed by that light stomp just now was truly terrifying.

Yun Long shook off nonexistent dust from his clothes, as if he had just done something trivial.

He turned and walked into the Yun Family mansion through the still-open gates.

His figure disappeared behind the gates, before the brightly lit courtyard. His calm gaze seemed to sweep over the direction where Ning Yongrui and others were hiding, as if by chance.

The corner of Ning Yongrui's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Ever since he learned that Yun Long was a martial arts grandmaster who entered immortality through martial arts, he had gone back and dug up the ground three feet deep, poring over all the records in the Ning Family's collection related to such existences.

He had long expected Yun Long's strength to be terrifying, far surpassing ordinary Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

However, he never imagined it would be this terrifying.

As fellow cultivators in the Mid Qi Refining Stage, even cultivators like Lu Xingyun, who was at the sixth level of Qi Refining, were like clay chickens and pottery dogs before Yun Long, utterly vulnerable.

No one could withstand even one of his moves.

They couldn't even injure him in the slightest.

Of the two Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivators from the Lu Family, Lu Xingyun had fled in panic, and Lu Chengze was severely wounded and on the verge of death, almost crippled.

If it were in the past, Ning Yongrui would probably have unhesitatingly chosen to kick a man when he was down, using the opportunity to uproot this Lu Family's influence as well, completely clearing the obstacles in Wanfang Lake.

But now...

He watched Yun Long's disappearing back, and the decisiveness in his heart quietly wavered.

It was better to keep the Lu Family around.

At least, they could share some of the almost suffocating pressure that Yun Long brought.

Ning Yongrui had no doubt at this moment that even if all the Qi Refining Stage cultivators from the original three great families of Wanfang Lake were to combine their strength, they would still not be a match for Yun Long alone.

As for his Ning Family...

Ning Yongrui bitterly realized that he didn't even want to, nor dare to, make such a comparison of strength.

The Yun Family could not be an enemy.

With a figure like Yun Long guarding them, the rise of the Yun Family was a foregone conclusion, unstoppable.

In the ancient records he had consulted, without exception, any family that produced a martial arts grandmaster had, in the end, risen with unimaginable speed and power.

The Qi Refining Stage was simply not their limit, for these powerhouses who broke through realms through martial arts.

Yun Long actually no longer cared much about what choice Ning Yongrui would ultimately make.

Returning to his familiar home, with the faint scent of blood and earth mixed in the air, Yun Long's mood gradually calmed down.

He began to reflect on his actions since arriving at Wanfang Lake.

Upon first arriving, he had seemed overly cautious, even somewhat restrained.

But looking back now, Yun Long felt that such caution was the most correct choice for the Yun Family at that time.

The family's foundation was still shallow, their wings not yet full. They indeed needed more time to lie low, develop silently.

Today's battle, though seemingly thunderous, was actually a desperate measure.

To these so-called cultivation families of Wanfang Lake, he, Yun Long, was an unadulterated fierce dragon crossing the river.

Any of their schemes and tricks seemed so pale and powerless in the face of his absolute strength, losing their original meaning.

So, thinking in reverse.

To truly great powers like the Great Xia Dynasty and behemoths like the Qingyun Sect, a small family like the Yun Family, which was like an ant, would find any so-called foresight, any meticulous planning and scheming, to be nothing more than futile self-indulgence in the hearts of insignificant people.

Yun Long's mind suddenly cleared, and he understood a crucial principle.

A principle that finally made his constantly taut heartstrings feel a little lighter.

He had originally thought that the "peerless genius" persona he had painstakingly tried to cultivate would attract the close attention of those top powers, and thus they would likely not think of the family's cultivation techniques, making the existence of the family genealogy even more secretive.

Now, it seemed, they might not have paid much attention at all.

Even if the Qingyun Sect, or certain individuals from the Great Xia Dynasty, had guessed through clues that the members of the Yun Family did not enter immortality through martial arts purely based on their own talent.

Even if they guessed that the Yun Family's cultivation technique was unusual, allowing a mortal like Yun Ji, who had no Spiritual Root, to embark on the path of cultivation.

So what?

They weren't like the narrow-minded small families around Wanfang Lake.

Those high and mighty major powers were most in need of people who could cultivate.

What they truly craved was top-tier combat power, experts who could suppress a region or even turn the tide of a battle.

Furthermore, if the Yun Family possessed such a cultivation technique, wouldn't sects with long histories like the Qingyun Sect have similar methods?

Even if the Qingyun Sect didn't, wouldn't the Great Xia Dynasty, which ruled over hundreds of millions of miles of territory, have them?

Couldn't the Great Xia Ancestral Emperor and Emperor Yuancheng, who achieved immortality through martial arts, create such cultivation techniques?

Yun Long even had a bold thought.

If some important figures from the Great Xia Dynasty's officialdom came knocking, inquiring about the cultivation technique.

He would hand over the Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Classic without hesitation!

In exchange for the Great Xia Dynasty's protection, or some tangible benefits.

If he could gain the favor and appreciation of some truly influential figures through this, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous stroke of luck for the Yun Family, a definite win.

Ever since he shouldered the heavy responsibility of being the Yun Family Patriarch, Yun Long had been meticulously planning and contemplating day and night, his thoughts becoming far more detailed and thorough than before.

The Yun Family didn't have many members and its foundation was weak.

The so-called "Three Treasures" of Wanfang Lake didn't offer as much help to the Yun Family's future development as imagined; they were even somewhat dispensable.

What was truly important were cultivation techniques and scriptures that could enhance the family's foundation.

And the knowledge and understanding of the various common practices in this vast world of cultivation.

These were what the Yun Family needed most urgently at present.

Especially Yun Hu; his mysterious ancestor from Qingcheng actually demanded that he first learn ten thousand different mortal sword techniques.

Yun Long absolutely did not believe that a large number of identical or extremely similar sword moves would be allowed within these ten thousand sword techniques.

Collecting such a massive quantity of distinct sword technique manuals was destined to be an incredibly long and arduous process.