The walk with Bai Yijun was a silent but also long one. With how spacious it was, they also ran into few people but nonetheless, each one had respectfully greeted Bai Yijun. Before long though, they arrived at a rather secluded area within the territory of the main family. Oddly enough, it was an extremely forested area. Next to a large waterfall, a small house sat at the bottom of it. 

Walking towards it, Bai Yijun stopped at the front door before bowing down, “Bai Yijun greets grandfather. I have brought Qian Yu.”

Noticing his actions, Qian Yu quickly mirrored the bow. He had long heard about how much Bai Zedong doted on Bai Jia had so he couldn’t help but do his best to impress him. 

*Clang!* The door swung open, followed by a soft voice, “Thank you Jun’er.”

Hearing it, Bai Yijun walked out of Qian Yu’s way as he motioned Qian Yu to enter with the turn of his neck. 

Taking a deep breath, Qian Yu silently walked into the building. It was rather large, comfortable for many to live in. However, despite the furnishing fit for many, Qian Yu could tell they haven’t been used in a while. 

*Clang!* the door closed behind him and the voice resounded out from deeper in the house, “Come to the back.” 

Hearing the voice, Qian Yu continued walking down the main hall. Giving a glance at the rooms he passed along the way, he realized they were all empty. With no other choice, he headed towards the back exit of the house. 

The waterfall greeted him as he opened the door and in the distance, under a tree, he saw a man quietly meditating. 

Walking up, Qian Yu gave a respectful bow again before greeting, “Junior greets senior.” 

The whitehaired man opened his eyes and nodded before he motioned for Qian Yu to take a seat in front of him. 

“I have three things to discuss with you today,” Bai Zedong filled up the two cups of tea on the table before giving one of them to Qian Yu. 

“Thank you,” Qian Yu accepted it with two hands. 

“I’m sure you could guess the first one,” Bai Zedong said. 

“Yes… is it about Bai Jia?” Qian Yu answered. 

“Correct,” Bai Zedong nodded and took a sip of the tea. 

“May I ask what is going to happen to her?” Qian Yu asked, seeing an opportunity to speak up. 

“We had ordered her not to get involved in the war down there but she ignored it. Even though there were no repercussions because the World Congress had intervened and ended the war prematurely, we cannot ignore it,” Bai Zedong answered. 

A sigh escaped from Qian Yu’s mouth as he silently thought about the matter. 

“Of course, it will not be anything severe. The more important matter is you, who caused her to act as so,” Bai Zedong said. 

“... I know, I sincerely apologize for that,” Qian Yu bowed his head once more. 

“Before, your relationship had been relatively quiet and didn’t attract too much attention. Now though, her actions have spoken for herself. Clearly, she fancies you a lot but even then, we must see whether or not you are worthy of her,” Bai Zedong bluntly said. 

Hearing his words, Qian Yu’s hand balled into a fist. 

“With your background though, you are like a toad trying to eat swan meat,” Bai Zedong harshly stated.

“...” Qian Yu continued to look down as he bit his lips.

“That said, it was brave of you, maybe even foolish, some might say, to have come with her, especially after knowing that she will receive a punishment and also that you are the main instigator for her actions,” Bai Zedong said. 

Qian Yu’s heart suddenly turned cold as he felt sweat dropped down his forehead. Time seemed to stop as he felt his heart thump. 

“However, it does not change the fact that you have chosen to come along with her back. Braving dangers for her, shows that you are willing to protect her. If you had stayed back and left her, you would have been deemed not worthy of her and likely, never would have seen her again for the rest of your life,” Bai Zedong’s tone changed, contrary to Qian Yu’s expectation. 

“Thank you,” Qian Yu lifted his head. 

“Cultivation wise, you are nothing special but your fighting prowess is above average and your affinity with the soul technique is stellar. Additionally, you also cultivate a legendary grade cultivation technique that seems to be quite rare and interesting,” Bai Zedong continued the praise, leaving Qian Yu more and more surprised. 

“May I know its name?” Bai Zedong followed up.

Qian Yu fell silent as he thought about his request. “The name of the technique is Heaven’s Punishment, Annihilating Lightning,” He answered a few seconds later, realizing he couldn’t find a reason to say no. Instead, it could actually give him some answers to his master’s background, something he had always felt helpless about. 

“… I have never heard of such a technique. Do you have a master? They must have been a strong figure in the past! What was their name?” Bai Zedong closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds. 

“Tian Wei,” Qian Yu promptly answered. 

“Hmm… I will have to look into some old records. His name does not spark anything in my memory,” Bai Zedong replied. 

“I see,” Qian Yu forced a smile and couldn’t help but feel like he had made a mistake, not inquiring more about his master’s history back then. 

“Alright. Anyways, let’s move on to the second matter,” Bai Zedong decided. 

“Yes, of course,” Qian Yu nodded. 

“Wang Meilin, the eldest princess of the Dark Empire. She has quite the playful reputation but she is not as simple as it seems. Oddly enough, she has her eye on you,” Bai Zedong said as he gave Qian Yu a cold stare. 

“What!? H-how did you know!” Qian Yu jumped out of his chair. 

In response though, Bai Zedong merely closed his eyes and stayed quiet. 

Realizing he had acted out of place and that Bai Zedong didn’t intend to answer, Qian Yu sat back down. 

‘Bai Jia would never tell them about this,’ Qian Yu was pretty confident in this matter. It was pretty clear that Bai Jia didn’t like her. 

“What does she want from you?” Bai Zedong continued asking. 

Hearing his words, Qian Yu couldn’t help but think of the inheritance realm she wanted him to partake in. Likely, it held a legendary grade cultivation technique, something that everyone wanted. 

“She asked me to take part in an inheritance realm for her,” Qian Yu answered after a few seconds. In the end, he barely knew the woman while the Bai Family was a completely different story. 

“An inheritance realm eh…?” Qian Yu noticed Bai Zedong’s brows move for the first time thus far. Falling into a trance, he only spoke up minutes later, “Ah, one last thing. It was reported that Jia’er had a spiritual beast but we know that she doesn’t. That qilin belongs to you right?” 

Qian Yu’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the old man talk. “Yes… you are correct,” Qian Yu weakly nodded his head. 

“May I see it?” Bai Zedong asked. 

‘Xinyi… what should we do?’ Qian Yu bit his lips as he stayed silent. The old man had been nice so far but with his age and wisdom, Qian Yu had no idea what his intentions were. 

“Sigh… I only have some questions for it,” As he finished, a large shadow appeared from behind him. Manifesting dozens of meters into the sky, it had rough and scaly skin with large sharp teeth and two long whiskers. 

‘Master!’ Tian Xinyi yelled, somewhat excited.

“A flood dragon!” Qian Yu’s jaw dropped as he fell backwards from the chair. 

Yet it only appeared for a short duration before its body shined and gradually shrunk to a human’s height. As it dimmed, a man with short spiky black hair and a pair of whiskers on his face appeared. 

*Swish!* Tian Xinyi quickly appeared by Qian Yu’s side. 

‘Xinyi! Why’d you come out!’ Qian Yu blurted out. 

‘Master… sorry, I just got too excited. I think they don’t have bad intentions,’ Tian Xinyi looked back at Qian Yu. 

‘Sigh. Alright then,’ Qian Yu shook his head and dropped the topic. 

“It really is a qilin, though quite a baby one that is,” the flood dragon had a very deep voice. 

“Truly, I’ve been enlightened today,” Bai Zedong stroked his beard as he observed Tian Xinyi. 

“What questions do you have for her,” Qian Yu abruptly asked. 

Bai Zedony stayed silent but the flood dragon didn’t, “Why are you here and not in the Beast Continent?”

‘My parents were being chased and I was born outside… I’ve never set foot into our mainland,’ Tian Xinyi stared at the flood dragon. 

‘What about you? Do you know anything about what has been going on in the mainland?’ Tian Xinyi continued talking telepathically. 

“Unfortunately, it has been centuries since I’ve left the continent. As for any news, information does not easily travel outside of the continent,” the flood dragon answered. 

‘I see…’ Tian Xinyi murmured. 

“Alright. That’ll be all for now then,” Bai Zedong said as he stood up from his seat. 

“Yes, junior bids farewell to senior then,” Qian Yu quickly gave Tian Xinyi a tap before he bowed to the man. As Tian Xinyi returned to his soul world, Qian Yu turned around and started leaving. 

‘You’ve been worrying about your parents and home huh?’ Qian Yu asked Tian Xinyi. 

‘Yes…’ Tian Xinyi sounded dejected. 

‘I’ve never noticed. I’m sorry,’ Qian Yu sighed. 

‘Hehe it’s okay master… there isn’t really anything we can do about it anyways… just feed me good food later!’ Tian Xinyi laughed and joked, lifting the heavy mood.

After Qian Yu returned to the front of the house, another man had appeared, taking Qian Yu’s seat in front of Bai Zedong. 

“Father, that kid sure is interesting,” the man spoke. 

“Yes, he’s an odd one. Jia’er has good eyes,” Bai Zedong replied. 

“I didn’t expect Wang Meilin to be in possession of knowledge about an inheritance realm though,” the man continued. 

“If that is truly the case, it makes sense why she asked to keep tabs on his whereabouts before she went into seclusion. He’s a good candidate, much better than any of the soul foundation cultivators in the side branch of our family,” Bai Zedong replied. 

“... she must have approached us with knowledge of his relationship with Jia’er right? Did she decide to ally with us after deciding on him as a candidate for the inheritance realm?” the voice asked. 

Bai Zedong fell silent for a few seconds before gritting his teeth, “I don’t know… that woman… I can’t read her at all.”

“Our alliance with her. Not many know of it but should we tell Jia’er?” the voice continued asking. 

“For now… let’s not. The less people that know, the better. Slowly start increasing the amount of supplies we can give Wang Meilin though. With an inheritance realm in her sleeve she deserves this much,” Bai Zedong said. 

“Lastly, what about the punishment for Jia’er?” the man asked. 

Bai Zedong shook his head as he heard his first son’s question, “I am no longer the leader of the family. As you are the current leader of our family, you should decide her punishment.”

“Very well… I will see to the matter in the upcoming days,” the man replied.