Zhong Hui was lost in thought when she suddenly saw a black dot appear in the azure sky.
The black dot drew closer and closer, growing larger and larger.
At last, the outline of a human figure took shape.
Only then did she realize what it was.
"A cultivator! That's a cultivator riding a flying sword!"
Though she had little contact with cultivators despite living in a cultivation Lineage, she still knew something about them.
Zhong Hui sprang to her feet and turned to the maid beside her.
"Quick, inform the master! A cultivator is heading our way!"
The maid had only just hurried off when the immortal riding the sword stopped directly above the courtyard.
More than one person stood on the sword.
There was a child as well.
He looked two or three years old.
The contours of his face, the handsome cast of his brows and eyes, and the angles of his nose suddenly brought a name to Zhong Hui's mind.
"Xing'er!"
Yet something made her hesitate.
How had he grown so big?
Only half a year had passed!
Just then, a figure with a babyish voice dropped from above.
"Mother!"
Zhong Hui finally knew she had not mistaken him.
That was her Xing'er.
Tears immediately welled at the corners of her eyes, and a delighted smile spread across her lips as she instinctively opened her arms toward the sky.
"Xing'er!"
Lu Chenxing leaped off Lu Changfeng's shoulder, unable to wait any longer.
He jumped straight into Zhong Hui's arms himself.
His mother in this world could be called the person he was closest, closest, closest to.
Seeing the tears at the corners of her eyes, Lu Chenxing could not help feeling a pang in his heart.
"Mother, don't cry. I'm back, aren't I?" As he spoke, he raised his soft, fair little hands and began wiping away her tears.
Zhong Hui did not notice anything amiss at all.
She hugged Lu Chenxing tightly, her tears giving way to a smile.
"It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back!"
After a long while, Zhong Hui suddenly remembered something.
Wasn't her son only eight months old now?
Never mind an eight-month-old baby growing this big-he could even talk?
Was that normal?
Thinking back now on what Lu Yunzhao had said before...
Her Xing'er really did seem a little different from ordinary people.
But no matter how special he was, he was still the Xing'er she had carried for ten months and given birth to, her dearest and most beloved.
In just a short while, Zhong Hui had convinced herself.
As she looked at Lu Chenxing in her arms, the affection in her eyes was almost thick enough to draw into threads.
Meanwhile, Lu Changfeng also rode his flying sword down to the ground.
He came over to them.
Noticing him, Zhong Hui immediately bowed in greeting.
"This junior, Zhong Hui, pays her respects to the immortal!"
The Lu Household's cultivators often saw their patriarch, but many of its mortal clansmen never had the honor of seeing him even once in their lives.
Thus, Zhong Hui did not know which senior of the clan he was.
She could only address him as an immortal and greet him respectfully.
Lu Changfeng hurriedly waved his hand. "No need for such ceremony."
"The Lu Household could never have achieved its present prosperity without clansmen like you quietly contributing behind the scenes. For giving the Lineage a heaven's chosen like little Chenxing, I should be the one thanking you."
"Thank you for your efforts!"
Those words left Zhong Hui at a loss for how to respond.
This immortal elder of the clan was thanking her?
For giving birth to a heaven's chosen like Xing'er.
From the sound of it, Xing'er's talent seemed quite remarkable.
Just then, the maid led Lu Yunzhao into the courtyard. The moment he saw Lu Changfeng, he moved to kneel, only to discover a force holding his knees in place.
Left with no choice, he could only clasp his hands and bow.
"Disciple Lu Yunzhao pays his respects to the patriarch!"
Zhong Hui's eyes widened.
The patriarch!
The man standing before her was actually the patriarch of the Lu Household, the Lu Immortal Clan!
She immediately prepared to pay her respects again, but Lu Changfeng spoke first, cutting her off. "I merely came to bring little Chenxing back to see you. Staying here only makes you uncomfortable, so I'll go have a look around nearby."
"Three days. I'll return in three days to take little Chenxing back to Heavenly Traversal Peak."
With that, Lu Changfeng rode his sword into the sky and vanished from the Lu Household's sight in the blink of an eye.
Such was an immortal, coming and going like the wind, free and unrestrained.
It inspired endless envy.
After Lu Changfeng left, everyone in the Lu Household indeed breathed a sigh of relief, feeling considerably more at ease.
As mortals, they were bound to feel uncomfortable under the invisible pressure an immortal brought.
No one knew.
There was actually another cultivator present.
That was Lu Chenxing.
His tiny body contained incomparably powerful strength.
Yet he blinked his bright, wide eyes and said in his babyish voice, "Father, Mother, let's talk inside!"
Outside offered no privacy.
Once they entered the room, Lu Chenxing wriggled out of his mother's arms and hopped onto a chair.
Before Lu Yunzhao and his wife could ask any questions, he volunteered everything, his face full of a desire to show off.
"Father, Mother, let me tell you-your son is already a powerful cultivator!"
Lu Yunzhao and Zhong Hui both froze.
The two of them did have some basic knowledge of cultivation.
After all, mortal clansmen of the Lu Household were entitled to one Spirit Root test once they turned ten.
That meant they could only begin cultivating at ten.
This was essentially their fixed understanding of cultivation.
But Lu Chenxing...
Zhong Hui quickly came to her senses. In truth, she was not all that shocked.
She smiled and pinched Lu Chenxing's cheek.
"Well done, Xing'er!"
"Our Xing'er is the best!"
Lu Yunzhao smiled too, very happily.
"To think two cultivators have appeared within three generations of our family. Alas, why didn't your father have that good fortune?"
His father was a cultivator, and his son was a cultivator.
Yet he alone was a mortal.
Zhong Hui rolled her eyes at him.
"I hear even the lowest-ranked cultivators can live to a hundred and fifty without illness or calamity. What, are you hoping to outlive me so you can marry some other vixen?"
"What are you saying? How could I? Xing'er is still here. Rein it in!"
"Hmph, I doubt you'd have the nerve anyway. Since Xing'er came home today, I won't hold it against you. Hurry and send someone to Old Zhang's on the east side of town to get some fresh mare's milk. That's Xing'er's favorite."
"All right, I'll arrange it right away."
Lu Chenxing's little eyes moved back and forth between his father and mother.
He seemed to see shadows of his parents from his previous life in them.
Whether in his previous life or this one, he had a happy, harmonious family.
All he could say was that it was wonderful, and he was truly fortunate.
The more this was so...
The harder he had to strive to climb higher.
Only with powerful strength could he protect everything he wanted to protect.
The moment the Dayun truck struck him in his previous life, Lu Chenxing had thought he would never again have the chance to honor his parents and care for them in their old age.
He had never expected the system to be able to connect to Great Xia.
In this life, he would never allow another accident to happen.
He wanted to become stronger, so strong that he was invincible throughout the world.
So strong that every living being beneath the stars would tremble upon hearing the surname "Lu."
That beautiful scene suddenly kindled an extraordinarily powerful conviction in Lu Chenxing's heart.
His Dao.
Was protection.
From his previous life to this one, from beginning to end.
It always had been!