"Big Bro," Yun Feng came to Yun Ling after they had taken their breakfast.

Yun Ling looked at his younger brother and raised his brow as he asked, "What?"

Yun Feng studied his elder brother's face for a few seconds before saying seriously, "Since you didn't go to the Law God Sect even though the emperor ordered all of the top ten in the Golden Dragon Election to go there, you're essentially going against the emperor's order. What are you going to do about that? It is not only you that might get implicated... even our family might get into trouble for this."

That was what Yun Feng was worried about. He really didn't care whether Yun Ling went to the Law God Sect or not. But if Yun Ling didn't go there and their family would be in trouble for it, that was something he could no longer ignore.

Yun Ling looked at his younger brother in the eye and though Yun Feng was usually afraid of his elder brother, he looked back and didn't back down.

With that, the two brothers stared at each other for a few seconds: one with an emotionless look in his eyes; and one whose eyes were burning with anger.

"I can't blame you for being angry," Yun Ling started, breaking their staring contest. "I totally understand you. The me in the past would have certainly gone to the Law God Sect without any hesitation and leave you all behind."

"Then what are you doing now? Why didn't you go there? Why are you still here?" Yun Feng coldly asked.

"Because I'm no longer the me from the past," Yun Ling said with a sigh. Normally, he wouldn't tolerate Yun Feng speaking to him like that, however, he let him be because Yun Feng's anger was justified.

"What do you mean?"

With a genuine smile on his face, Yun Ling responded, "Right now, I am no longer just Yun Ling. I am not just your big brother anymore, father and mother's son, grandfather and grandmother's grandson... right now, I am Yun Ling, Xiaxia's father."

Yun Feng was taken aback by Yun Ling's words. Then, when he saw the look on his elder brother's face, he couldn't help but let go of all his anger as he sighed. He had never seen his brother smile like that in his life before. That was the first.

"You... so you did all this... for my niece?" Yun Feng said as he took a glance at Yun Xia who was resting along with the other children on the table. They had just finished eating breakfast whereas he and Yun Ling had long since finished theirs.

"If it were not for my daughter, I wouldn't have done this illogical thing."

Although Yun Ling said that, he had no regrets about what he had done. In fact, he would've felt immense guilt and regret if he went to the Law God Sect along with Tathagata, Monk Wang Yang, and the rest of the monks, and leave Yun Xia behind.

Yun Feng let out a sigh.

"Although I already noticed this before... it is only this time that I realized exactly just how much you have changed, Big Bro," he said.

"In the end, my heart won over my mind. I just can't bear to go away and leave Xiaxia here, knowing that doing so will make her sad," Yun Ling said with a bitter smile. Before, he didn't realize just how much he had made his daughter sad by leaving her behind. A few months ago, while he was doing his task in the Thousand Mountain Valley for the Golden Dragon Election, Yun Xia must've been extremely sad.

When he thought of that, his heart tightened, as if someone was clenching it. He felt guilty when he realized how sad his daughter must have felt when he left to accomplish his task.

"Then, what are you going to do if His Majesty finds someone accountable for this?" Yun Feng asked. He could somehow understand Yun Ling's reasons but that didn't mean the emperor would be as understanding as him. Who knew what he would do if he was displeased by Yun Ling's action? What Yun Ling did was basically desertion. Moreover, desertion didn't have a light punishment in the empire so he or their clan might not get off lightly from this.

"I will take all responsibility for what I've done," Yun Ling said without any hesitation. "This is just me being selfish. I will make sure His Majesty won't make any trouble for the clan because of my selfishness."

Yun Feng sighed once again.

"Hopefully, His Majesty won't pursue this too much since you're just a Fate Dominion Realm cultivator despite being a Divine Being. You're not one of the main forces which are the Sacred Kings so maybe he'll be lenient to you," Yun Feng said unsurely.

"Who knows?" Yun Ling shrugged his shoulders. "By the way, you should make some preparations because I will be training you all today. Since I'm staying here, I might as well make the best use of it and get you all to shape, especially you, Yun Feng."

"Ugh, seriously, Big Bro?" Yun Feng asked with a groan, finally going back to his old self.

Yun Ling just smirked at him.

"Weren't you the last one to climb the staircase? Moreover, you didn't manage to climb it within three hours so I'm going to be harsher to you. I'm no longer going to punish the children since the reason why some of them didn't manage to climb it within three hours was due to you, holding them back. They were being considerate to you. You should be ashamed of yourself," Yun Ling roasted his younger brother without batting an eye.

Yun Feng, on the other hand, felt like arrows were piercing his heart with every word that came out of Yun Ling's mouth.

...

World of Terra
Thousand Mountain Valley

The huge and extremely powerful Immortal Willow Tree looked down on a certain person, sitting cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed.

"You were that being who stopped my leaves a few months ago?" the Immortal Willow Tree spoke telepathically to the other through its Divine Sense.

"It is I, indeed," the other replied with an incredibly ancient voice before disappearing without any trace from the Immortal Willow Tree's view.

The Immortal Willow Tree went silent upon seeing that.