Yang Family

The Yang Family Patriarch and Elder Yu were teleported to a spot five li from the Secret Realm entrance.

Night had already fallen outside. They did not dare linger in the slightest and immediately hurried toward the Yang Family.

The Yang Family was located in Willow Leaf Town.

Though it was called a town, it had actually already reached the scale of a small city.

Willow Leaf Town lay under the jurisdiction of the Tiger Chasing Dynasty, located in the mountainous Eastern Region.

The Yang Family Patriarch was named Yang Guanfeng. He was currently at the mid-stage of the Fifth Level of Qi Gathering.

Because of his presence, the Yang Family had become the foremost Lineage in Willow Leaf Town, second only to the town magistrate's faction.

The town magistrate was a cultivator sent by the Dynasty, and his realm was comparable to Yang Guanfeng's, though his actual combat strength was somewhat inferior.

However, he commanded troops and bore the protective talisman of a "Dynasty cultivator," so his status still surpassed Yang Guanfeng's.

Using the cover of night and the detection abilities of Elder Yu's formation disk, the two avoided several groups of Rogue Cultivators who might have caused conflict along the way.

It was not until the second watch of the night that they finally neared Willow Leaf Town.

At the sight of those familiar walls, the two exchanged smiles, both letting out a sigh of relief inwardly.

The Secret Realm held countless opportunities, but one needed to stay alive to enjoy them.

This treasure hunt in the Secret Realm had been exceedingly perilous. Had Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu not prepared so thoroughly beforehand, they might very well have perished inside.

Six fire talismans, three Thunderfire Pellets, and one use of the flying knife—this had consumed more than half of Yang Guanfeng's fortune.

Fortunately, there had been danger but no disaster, and the outcome was good.

Exchanging those things for a spirit plant and a spiritual treasure was already an absolute bargain.

As they approached Willow Leaf Town, the two did not enter through the main gate. Instead, they concealed their auras and quietly climbed over the southern wall.

Aside from each other, no one—not even within the Yang Family—knew that they had gone to the Secret Realm. Everyone believed the two ancestors were cultivating in seclusion within the Forbidden Ground.

This had been their joint decision. To avoid attracting the prying eyes of others, they had chosen to leave the city and act in secret.

Crossing over rows of connected houses, one could see the Yang Family estate, built against the mountain in the northern part of Willow Leaf Town.

The Yang Family estate was laid out in a neat square, divided into four sections.

From the outside in, they were the outer courtyard for receiving guests and holding banquets, the inner courtyard for residence and daily life, the Lineage Council Hall, and finally the Forbidden Ground, which only Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu could enter.

The two finally landed within the Yang Family Forbidden Ground.

The first thing they did upon returning was hurriedly replant the Four-leaf Spirit-Nesting Grass.

Spirit plants differed from ordinary vegetation. If planted in common soil, they would lose their spirituality and gradually degenerate.

Only within a spirit field could they grow normally and yield produce.

Yang Guanfeng had truly possessed foresight to become the head of a Lineage.

Several years ago, even when there was not a single spirit plant in the family, he had prepared for a rainy day and begun opening up spirit fields together with Elder Yu.

After several years of effort, they had now created the perfect environment for the Four-leaf Spirit-Nesting Grass to grow.

Once the Four-leaf Spirit-Nesting Grass had been replanted, the two began nurturing it with their own spiritual power.

They continued for an entire hour, only stopping once the spirit plant's aura had stabilized.

Only then did Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu let out long breaths.

"Elder Yu, you have worked hard on this journey."

"Not at all, Patriarch. You give me too much credit."

Elder Yu waved his hand. "Had the Patriarch not saved me back then, Yu would have long become food for the fish in the river. How could I have had these years that followed? I have merely fulfilled my duty."

"Come to think of it, fifteen years have passed since you and I first met..."

Hearing their conversation, Chen Yang finally understood why this old man was so fiercely loyal to the Yang Family.

In his youth, Elder Yu had also been a sect cultivator. Later, his sect was destroyed by its enemies, and he himself had been grievously wounded. He fled from elsewhere into the territory of the Tiger Chasing Dynasty, eventually falling into the Yuling River.

At death's door, he had been fished out by Yang Guanfeng, who paid a great price to save his life.

Though his realm and cultivation had fallen far below what they once were, Elder Yu asked for nothing more after recovering his life.

From that day onward, he had followed Yang Guanfeng with wholehearted devotion.

Yang Guanfeng had been able to embark upon the path of cultivation and become the Yang Family Patriarch largely because of his help.

"It is late. Patriarch, return to your room and rest. This old man will watch over the Four-leaf Spirit-Nesting Grass."

"Alright. Then I will leave it to you."

After returning to his room, Yang Guanfeng took Chen Yang from his sleeve and held him in his hand.

He sat upright on a meditation cushion, silently gazing at the Spirit Gathering Stone.

At that moment, he felt as though everything were unreal.

His expression seemed to say that he could hardly believe the Yang Family had obtained such a tremendous opportunity.

After a moment, Yang Guanfeng came back to himself. He placed Chen Yang on the table, then turned and removed his upper garments.

The sight of Yang Guanfeng's upper body made Chen Yang unable to suppress a jolt of shock.

Across his chest and back were more than a dozen scars of all sizes—blade wounds, sword wounds, burns, and many others.

It was enough to show that Yang Guanfeng's years of struggling outside for the Lineage had been anything but easy.

"As the head of a Lineage, being able to do this much for his family truly counts as giving his all."

Chen Yang felt a measure of admiration for Yang Guanfeng.

At the same time, he felt that he had not chosen the wrong person.

Coming to the Yang Family seemed not to have been a wrong step.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, every member of the Yang Family was summoned to the Council Hall.

There were three seats at the head. The central one belonged to the patriarch, Yang Guanfeng, while two men in their thirties sat on either side.

They were Yang Guanfeng's two younger brothers, Yang Feiyun and Yang Xiaolei.

Below them, relatives from each bloodline branch stood in orderly rows, hands folded and eyes lowered as they waited for the patriarch to arrive.

From this alone, it was clear that Yang Guanfeng commanded immense prestige within the Lineage.

He had always been exceptionally capable and possessed the air of a leader. After cultivating under Elder Yu, he had swept aside all other competitors within the Lineage and taken the position of patriarch ahead of time.

Moreover, he deeply understood that for a Lineage to prosper over the long term, the most important thing was unity.

Thus, from the moment he took power, he and Elder Yu—one in the light, the other in the shadows—had set about building a stable foundation for the Lineage.

After ten years of management, the Yang Family's internal structure had become as solid as an iron plate.

There was no discrimination among the different bloodlines, no distinction between high and low. Whether close or distant kin, all were chosen according to merit.

It was precisely because of this fair and impartial manner that Yang Guanfeng had become the most widely respected patriarch in the Yang Family's history.

Before long, a light breeze swept into the Yang Family Council Hall.

Everyone looked up. In the time it took to blink, Yang Guanfeng was already seated in the place of honor.

No one present had been able to see his movements clearly, and the reverence in their hearts grew even stronger.

Because of Yang Guanfeng's emergence, coupled with his thunderous methods, the Yang Family had leaped from an ordinary household in Willow Leaf City to a top-tier power in just ten years.

They had personally experienced the enormity of those changes. Thus, their reverence for this ancestor came wholly from the heart, without the slightest falsehood.

"Yang Feiyun!"

"Yang Xiaolei!"

Once Yang Guanfeng had taken his seat, the two Lineage elders rose first and shouted in unison, "Descendants of the Yang Family, pay respects to the ancestor!"