"Home? But this place is our home."
Hu Liena looked confused. Young as she was, she did not yet understand the complexities of it all.
"I heard from Granny that you're going to this aunt's home, and you won't ever have to stay here again."
"You'll have your own toys, and people to take care of you."
The old woman continued to coax.
"But there are toys here too, and people who take care of us."
The old woman sighed and shook her head helplessly. Trying to reason with children of two or three years old was truly too difficult for her.
"Nana, do you want to know where your parents are?"
"And you two little ones as well."
The old woman looked at the three of them.
"Parents? What are parents?"
Having lost their parents while still in swaddling clothes, the three of them naturally did not know the meaning represented by the word parents. To these children who had lived in the Welfare Institute since childhood, the word parents was inherently the most unfamiliar of terms.
"Sigh, poor babies. How could there be children with such a bitter fate?"
"Those damned fallen soul masters are truly hateful, filthy rats in a ditch!"
Tuoba Yue'er cursed angrily. She was naturally a rather emotional person, and after seeing how pitiful these three were, her heart was stirred with compassion.
After all, if not for that, Qian Renxue and Jin Chen would not have called someone aunt at every turn back then.
"Let me do it."
Tuoba Yue'er gave the old woman a reassuring look.
"Your name is Nana, right? From now on, I will be your mother. And you two little ones, do you know what you should call me?"
The old woman's expression immediately turned joyful. Originally, she had only thought that the three children had caught the eye of a big shot and would be trained as domestic servants, but now it seemed far exceeding her imagination.
This was the rhythm of taking these three children in as adopted sons and daughters.
Ling Feng watched from the side with no objections.
With the reality of adoption, Hu Liena and the other two would be even more obedient to him when they grew up.
Adoption in this era was no different from a master-disciple relationship.
"Mom?"
Hu Liena tentatively called out.
"Ah, good daughter. From now on, you are Tuoba Yue'er's daughter."
"And you two little adults, you don't need to be so serious. You'll be my children just the same from now on."
Xie Yue and Yan nodded blankly, obviously not understanding the true meaning.
However, none of that mattered. As long as they came to Ling Feng's home, they would henceforth become the most loyal soul masters of the Qiangu Family.
Seeing that the adoption relationship was established, the old woman also nodded and casually pulled out a booklet.
"Lord Bishop, please register in this booklet. What is recorded in here are the adoption cases of the children from the Welfare Institute."
"Most of them are adopted and raised by colleagues of both parents. Spirit Hall will periodically check on them, which can also be considered a final layer of protection for the children."
These words were spoken by the Dean out of a sense of fairness for the three children, and even at the risk of offending such a massive family.
After all, you can know a person's face but not their heart. If Spirit Hall did not keep a slight watch after these children were adopted, heaven knows what they might encounter in the future.
"I am aware of this point; I won't make it difficult for the Dean."
Tuoba Yue'er registered according to the regulations. After the registration, she brought the three little ones and the three bigger ones back into the courtyard of the Qiangu Family.
As soon as she stepped inside, Hu Liena looked around.
"Wah... It's so pretty here! There are flowers, fish, and over there they're even raising little deer!"
The courtyard of the Qiangu Family was not small—in fact, it was exceptionally vast. Therefore, multiple areas served their own functions: a medicinal garden with ornamental and medicinal value, a lake raising spiritual fish decades or a century old, and deer-type soul beasts that provided meat for Ling Feng's family.
All kinds of facilities were readily available. For a high-ranking family of Spirit Hall, this could not be considered extravagant, and could even be called plain.
As far as Ling Feng knew, Jin Chen's family had a room made of pure gold, where the entirety of the room and even all kinds of furniture inside were cast by melting Gold Soul Coins.
This was precisely to allow Jin Chen to absorb as much golden essence into his body as possible before his awakening.
"It's getting late. I'll go prepare lunch. The six of you go play first. Xiao Feng, remember not to bully your younger siblings."
"I know, Mom."
Ling Feng curled his lip. With his past life and current life combined, he was already over thirty years old, so he naturally wouldn't take bullying children as a form of entertainment.
"Since you three little ones have come to my home, you must do as I say."
"I will teach you how to cultivate your martial soul, but correspondingly, you must also pay a price."
"I am the eldest son of the family. The three of you should call me Big Brother or Boss. Did you hear that?"
Hearing this, the three led by Hu Liena all nodded.
"I know, big bwother."
Hu Liena said indistinctly.
"Big Brother."
Compared to Hu Liena, Xie Yue and Yan were much calmer. As orphans who had never been cherished since childhood, their mental maturity was actually quite a bit higher.
Coupled with the fact that people on the Douluo Continent matured relatively early, they understood their own situation.
They had a greater backing, but correspondingly they also needed to provide returns.
"Then as your big brother, I won't be stingy with you either."
"If anyone dares to bully you in the future, drop my name—Ling Feng."
The three little ones nodded.
Afterward, the group of six children played around in Ling Feng's yard.
They picked flowers in the medicinal garden, jumped into the lake to scoop up fish, and even entered the habitat of the soul beasts to ride the deer.
This scared the hearts of the Qiangu Family's domestic servants into pounding wildly. If these little young masters and little princesses suffered even the slightest bump or scrape, they would lose their jobs.
Fortunately, with Ling Feng around, his dragon-type martial soul exerted a natural suppression on these low-tier soul beasts.
Therefore, whether Hu Liena or Qian Renxue wanted a certain pretty flower or wanted to ride that pretty little deer, Ling Feng could make it happen.
Yet in the process, he also discovered that although Qian Renxue felt some pity for Hu Liena's background, she only had Jin Chen take extra care of her.
Whenever Hu Liena tried to get too close to Ling Feng, Ling Feng would be pulled away by Qian Renxue.
Seeing the children playing happily, Ling Feng did not disturb them.
He found a large rock, lay down on it, and idly fidgeted with the Coiling Dragon Staff in his hand.
Indeed, this was a set of martial soul cultivation methods passed down in the Qiangu Family, and it was also the biggest sign that the Qiangu Family possessed the Coiling Dragon Staff martial soul.
That was, whenever they had free time, they would release their martial soul, transforming it into a pocket-sized Coiling Dragon Staff no longer than an ordinary embroidery needle.
Finally, they used their index finger to mobilize soul power to support the Coiling Dragon Staff, making it hover in their hand to play with.
Of course, this wasn't to show off, but rather a solid way to enhance one's comprehension of the martial soul and various techniques.
Although Ling Feng's Coiling Dragon Staff martial soul was born somewhat similar to a semi-divine artifact, he could still cultivate using this method.
Yesterday, when he awakened his martial soul and the two Title Douluo elders Qian Jun and Jiang Mo passed the secret technique to him, he had been constantly pondering over it.
Now, after merely a day's time, he had already managed to achieve mastery.
"Young master, young miss, Madam says to go have your meal first."
Before long, a young maid-dressed girl came over to call the children to eat.
"Alright, I know."
Before you continue