"What did you do!"

A man clothed in an orange emperor robe yelled at a person kneeling below his throne.

The kneeling person was, of course, Zhou Qiang, and the person on the throne was Zhou Zhengsheng, his father.

Next to him were a couple of old men glaring daggers at the child.

They were the ancestors of the Imperial Family.

"love, let it go…"

A woman standing behind Zhou Zhengsheng said in a pleading tone.

Before he could answer, one of the old men spoke up.

"Can’t we just send his head to them? That might fix it."

"Yeah, that would work."

They said to each other, then one pulled out a sword.

"WAIT! We can’t do that. He is our child!"

The woman rushed in front of her child and stood there like a wall.

The man on the throne had a small smile on his face.

The ancestors frowned at the woman’s behavior.

"Do you think I would kill my own descendants for fun?!"

A hunchback old man in the back roared at her.

The woman flinched but still stood her ground.

"If we had another choice, we would choose that, but with the entire dragon race against us, it is impossible to win. They could probably wipe out every other Supreme force."

He said, looking like he was chewing something sour.

The woman was biting her lip so hard that she was bleeding.

She did not want to give up on her child, even though it was his fault.

When the ancestors saw she was still holding her ground, they were getting irritated at her.

"Give up on the child. I do not want to see the thing I build by hand be destroyed because of one stupid descendant!"

He spoke to her in a raised voice.

She looked at the Family head who was her husband.

What she saw surprised her. He was staying completely quiet and looked somewhere else.

"Give us the child and we can save the family, or we can make a trip to the Divine Dragon Clan."

He was trying to think about her feelings, but he can’t do any more than that as the clan is the main thing to protect over one of many children.

"We will make a trip to the Divine Dragon Clan. I will take my son with me."

Zhou Zhengsheng spoke up for the first time in the argument.

The people present looked at him and were contemplating if that was a good choice.

"You will not go alone. Me and a few others will come with you as security."

The hunchback ancestor voiced out.

"We will set out in 2 days!"

***

"Time for me to set off. I might meet you later in life. Take this as a meeting gift from me."

Xu Yuan said before tossing Huan a storage ring, then walking into a carriage.

The carriage started making its way away from the Red Rose Auction house.

Huan had a bitter smile on her face and checked the storage ring.

It was filled to the brim with cultivation methods and pills that would help people from the Nine-Tailed Fox Race cultivate faster and more efficiently.

'I hope I will meet him again some day.'

She thought as she turned around and walked away with a single tear rolling down her beautiful face.

Inside the carriage, Xu Yuan was sitting down drinking wine, and across from him was Shen Mei, who was glaring at him.

"What do you want, little Mei?"

Xu Yuan took the wine jar away from his face and asked.

She glared at him for a couple of seconds more, then spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were? And do I need to kowtow to you now?"

She asked with a pout on her beautiful pale face.

Xu Yuan started laughing when he heard her.

"Haha, no, that’s not needed. Keep treating me like a friend, but you might get scolded by your father."

He kept laughing.

Mei didn't answer and just kept looking out the window. Xu Yuan's face right then was dangerous for any woman, either god or mortal.

Time went by and they kept talking like old friends, but Shen Mei was blushing here and there throughout the trip.

After around an hour they arrived at a big beautiful courtyard and a magnificent mansion.

Everything was clad in red and gold, the houses, roofs and robes.

It was quiet, with good scenery, and pleasing for the eyes.

"Let's go in…"

Shen Mei said after getting embarrassed by the overly red house.

They started walking and the guards all bowed at their young miss.

After a 10 minutes walk, they arrived at a room with a luxurious door.

~Knock, Knock

"Come in."

An elderly voice was heard from behind the door.

They walked into the room, Xu Yuan behind Shen Mei to not show disrespect to the sick patriarch.

What they saw would make most people puke at the sight.

An elderly man sitting beside a man whose skin had rotted and his internal organs melted.

It was quite a gruesome sight. Shen Mei was in tears when she saw him again.

The elderly man looked back at them, and when he saw Xu Yuan, he reacted.

He got into battle position right away and was releasing his spiritual pressure.

"Grandpa Delun stop!"

Shen Mei shouted at her grandfather, who was ready to fight.

He was wary of everyone, even people of their own clan.

Delun was rightfully so, as people would take advantage of the injured patriarch.

"Please be at ease. I have come to help the patriarch."

Xu Yuan stated with a warm smile on his face.

Delun did not feel any ill intentions, so he withdrew his pressure and inspected Xu Yuan.

He was impressed by what he saw, a perfectly defined face, hair as white as snow, a sculpted body hidden by clothes but most of all. The two majestic golden horns and the violet eyes that anyone can get lost in.

There was one thing that he didn’t like about Xu Yuan

He had a vague feeling of instant death when he was releasing his pressure.

He gave up and didn’t think of it anymore.

"If my granddaughter trusts you, I will too."

Delun sat down in his chair next to the bed and said in a defeated tone.

Shen Mei smiled and then walked up to her dad and leaned into his ear and whispered something.

There was a reaction from the patriarch, but nobody except Shen Mei could understand what it was for.

Xu Yuan had limited his senses to not ruin his adventure, so he did not know what she said either.

"I will start now. It would be better if you leave."

Xu Yuan said, walking up to the bed next to the man.

"It's fine grandpa, lets go."

Shen Mei reassured Delun and started walking out of the room with him.

After they were out, the door was closed after them.

Xu Yuan could start the treatment now.

He looked at the Patriarch and smiled at him.

"There is no need to be like that. I’m friends with your daughter and you are my descendant."

The patriarch’s eyes calmed down, and he relaxed.

"I could feed you a pill to save you right away. But I don’t want to, so I will use acupuncture."

Xu Yuan said whilst rummaging thru his storage ring.

The eyes of the patriarch went wide open for a second, but then went back to normal.

After Xu Yuan had searched through his massive storage ring, he brought out a massive needle.

It was around 20cm long and thin as paper.

"I will start now. It will hurt a lot, but it will be over in a matter of seconds."

He then quickly stabbed the needle down in his glabella, after that it went towards where his heart is, then between his lungs, then all the different internal organs.

Under the few seconds this went on, the patriarch was screaming his lungs out, it was a wretched scream that did not sound like it could come from a human.

Shen Mei was holding on to Delun as he was ready to rush into the room the entire time.

After about an hour, the door was opened.

What they saw shocked both people to the core. The person who walked out of the room was none other than the patriarch, as good as new.

It looked like he was never sick in the first place.

His hair was crimson red and skin pristine white with a slightly red accent. His eyes were shining red like ruby and his horns slightly darker red than his hair.

He looked like an older copy of Shen Mei.

This stunned both Shen Mei and Delun.

'Why does this person look so much like my son?'

Thought Delun as he stared at the man that walked out of the door.

The man started sprint-walking towards the pair and when he arrived.

He hugged both of them with a bear hug, tears streaming down his face.

They both were startled at this, they pushed him away and yelled at him.

"Who are you! Identify yourself!"

The patriarch was shaken by this response.

He turned around and looked at Xu Yuan smiling at him.

It shouldn’t be anything wrong with him, so why are they acting like this?

"Why do you look so much like my father before he was poisoned, and where is he!?"

Yelled Shen Mei with tears in the corner of her eyes.

'Ah!'

He finally understood why they were acting like this.

"Little Mei, it’s me, your father."

He spoke in the most gentle tone he could muster.

Shen Mei jumped back a few meters and took a battle position.

Delun had not moved yet.

"Why are you trying to impersonate my father!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

'What is his goal? Is it to take over the clan? I must stop him.'

She thought, then took up her burning spear and charged at him.

The Patriarch was completely startled and didn’t know what to do.

What had he done? Why do they not think it’s him he clearly stated so?

Whilst all this was happening, Xu Yuan had a small, sinister smile on his face.

He found this situation to be hilarious and had no reason to stop it.

~Clang