The hallways were mostly empty now since night had already fallen and most people had gone to bed, but a butler still bowed in front of Yin Long and the others when they turned a corner. He accepted the robe that Yin Long had worn while training, bidding the young children a good night's sleep before heading off to get the robe cleaned.
After the butler took the dirty robe off their hands, the children didn't encounter any other people in the mansion before they reached the double doors to the room. The doors were already open so the kids simply walked right and headed directly for the two couches, Tang Fen and Lang Huo presenting their catch.
"We've brought over the prey!"
"Look look, see what we caught?"
Yin Long was pushed forward, his mother and father turning towards them and smiling softly at them. Compared to how they looked four years ago, his parents had started to change a bit. Their skin had started to lose a bit of its color and wrinkles had started to appear on their faces, a tired look starting to creep into their eyes. They were already approaching the end of their lifespan when they birthed Lang Ru, now they had gotten even closer and the long years they had lived were starting to catch up with them.
The Lang couple smiled at the kids, Lang Hua beckoning over Lang Ru and Lang Huo while Lang Meng beckoned over Yin Long and Tang Fen. The four children sat down on the couches next to the adults, cuddling close to them as Lang Meng pointed out through the large window, towards the four tall mountains visible in the distance.
"Tomorrow, when the first light of dawn touches the city, we'll take a spatial array and head to those mountains. The climb might be a bit tiresome, but there's something at the top that we want to show you all. So make sure you get plenty of rest tonight, don't play for several hours again. Don't come complaining to me when you get sleepy during the walk."
The four kids hurriedly gave overly dramatic salutes while puffing out their chests, the Lang couple chuckling softly as they looked at them. The group of six remained in the room for a little bit longer, just aimlessly chatting and telling each other about their days before the kids were brought to their rooms and laid to sleep for the night.
Once the first light of dawn touched the edges of the city, the Lang family and Tang Fen were already fully dressed and equipped for trekking. They left the Lang clan's mansion, and for the third time since their birth, Yin Long and Lang Huo left the Lang clan estate and entered the larger city. But they didn't stay within the city for too long, Lang Hua guided them through the wide streets for about two hours before they reached a circular plaza surrounded by guards.
The guards stood in groups of four and each group had a nearly one-meter tall pitbull with lightly red-tinted fur chained up next to them. These Pitbulls were known as Firefang Hounds, a type of Demonic beast with a bite that felt like fire. These Demonic beasts could only ever grow as strong as someone at the 7th Immortal Door, but they grew fast and could reproduce almost as fast as normal dogs so they were well suited to be guard dogs.
The guards all stood at rapt attention when Lang Meng and the others arrived, allowing them to enter the circular plaza, which Yin Long discovered was split up into several sections. Each section was split up in a clear manner by having the tiles on the floor be a different color, making it easy to see where each section started and ended. The various sections all contained red lines that spun and coiled around each other, forming nearly 10-meter wide images that radiated very faint energy. Lang Meng brought them all over to a section where the tiles were white in color, pointing at the lines as he brought out a few grape-sized Spirit Stones that he placed into various grooves that were scattered around the lines.
"This is a spatial array, powering it with our own Qi or Spirit Stones will allow it to teleport us to a pre-determined location. I've heard that there are spatial arrays that can bring you to a vast number of different places based on where in the array you insert your Spirit Stones, but our Lang clan doesn't have anything like that. This is your first time, so I would suggest letting out all the air in your lungs and holding your breath."
The lines started to light up with a soft light when Lang Meng finished his words, Yin Long and the other kids scurrying to let out a deep breath before holding their breath. The light from the array rose up slightly and surrounded the Lang family, a strange restrictive force surrounding all of them. Yin Long felt a weightless sensation shortly after they were surrounded by the restrictive force, it almost felt as if they were flying through the air.
Lang Ru, Lang Huo, and Tang Fen looked rather uncomfortable, almost as if they were about to throw up. But Yin Long found himself unable to understand their discomfort, he didn't feel the slightest bad right now. On the contrary, he felt like a fish that had just entered water, as comfortable as he could be. But that comfortable feeling could only last for a few seconds, the restrictive force and light around them vanishing along with the comfortable feeling.
When the light vanished, Yin Long saw that they had arrived at the foot of the four tall mountains that stood to the north of Wolfsoul city. Yin Long couldn't help but raise his head to look at the snow-capped peaks of the mountains, his mouth hanging open as an extended exclamation of amazement rang out. Lang Huo and the others were no better, this was the first time any of them had left the city, much less gotten so close to these massive mountains.
Lang Meng and Lang Hua allowed them to marvel at the sight for a bit, gentle smiles on their faces. Once Yin Long and the others finished marveling at the mountains and lowered their heads again, they noticed that the area where they had arrived was actually surrounded by small houses and guards just like the plaza had been. There were also a few more spatial arrays here, Lang Meng leading them over to one that was a few tens of meters away.
"Hold your breaths again."
The array lit up after he inserted the Spirit Stones and finished talking, the restrictive force and light surrounding them once again. Yin Long relished in the comfortable feeling for the two seconds that it lasted, the group arriving at the halfway point of the rightmost mountain this time. Lang Meng once again allowed the children to marvel at the surrounding view for a bit before clapping his hands and pointing at an earthen path that led up the mountain.
"We'll have to walk from here, that path will take us all the way to the peak."
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The children nodded their heads with serious expressions, they had already reached the halfway point, but the rest of the way would not be a quick walk. Yin Long waited for his parents to turn around and then sneakily took off his shoes and socks, hushing Tang Fen and the others so that they didn't snitch on him right away. He placed the shoes and socks by the array so that he could pick them up again on the way back, quickly following the others as they started the trek up the mountain.
There were no dangers along the trek, the only problem they faced was the length of the walk. Lang Huo and Yin Long could easily manage it, one had excellent cultivation talent and the other was used to getting beat up for training every day. Lang Ru was a bit worse due to her weaker cultivation talent and lazier personality, and Tang Fen was similar to her, although a bit less lazy. Lang Huo was quick to grab onto Tang Fen's hand, beating her own chest while puffing it out.
"I'll help you, Sister Fen! You can just lean on me, I'm strong enough to support you the entire way!"
Lang Huo blushed slightly while bragging so loudly about herself, but Tang Fen grinned widely in response, sticking close to Lang Huo so that she could lean on her. Lang Ru turned her gaze onto Yin Long, flashing him puppy eyes until he extended his own hand to offer his support. Like this, the group of six slowly ascended the mountain, the earthen path slowly getting covered in snow, cold winds occasionally whipping it up.
Lang Meng took out a few brown fur robes from his own interspatial ring and placed them on the kids, tactfully remaining silent in the face of Yin Long's bare feet. Yin Long had barely ever worn shoes and socks outside since he first learned how to walk so the skin on his feet had long since become so durable that he could even walk on snow like this without a problem. And then, after walking for nearly five hours, they all reached the peak, which was surprisingly flat and even had a round table and two chairs built into it so that one could sit there and enjoy the view.
Lang Hua walked a bit forward and took out a large blanket from her own yellow interspatial ring, placing it on the ground next to the table so that they all had a place to sit together. She and her husband then took the lead in sitting down, hiding their somewhat heavy breathing after having exerted themselves a fair bit to climb the mountain. They then beckoned over the children, Lang Men gesturing towards the grand view all around them.
"Come, this is what I wanted to show you."
Yin Long and the others sat down next to Lang Meng and Lang Hua, turning their heads as they gazed at their surroundings. This mountain was the tallest around, from its peak they could see all the way to the edge of the Underearth Forest and the Skywater Marsh that bordered their city. They could even see the massive Bluelord's Ocean that stretched out behind the mountains and served as the border of their Sunsong Province. Lang Meng and Lang Hua wore emotional expressions as they looked at the scenery, as if they were reminiscing about their past.
"Everything you can see is our territory, from the edge of the Bluelord Ocean all the way to the ends of the Underearth Forest and the Skywater Marsh, all of it belongs to our Lang clan. And in the future, it will belong to you, it will be your duty to protect the people living in it, and it will be your duty to punish those who would break the rules."
Yin Long and the others nodded their heads solemnly, one of them was to take up the mantle of clan leader in the future and the other two would have to support that person, there was no escaping this fact. Lang Meng allowed the children to take in the grand sight for a bit before he and his wife turned to look at Yin Long, lowering their heads apologetically to him.
"My son, please forgive us, we have not done justice by you. We have guided your sisters' cultivations, it is only you that we have neglected in this aspect, only you have we left without a cultivation manual. I know you must feel that this is unfair, and I know that saying we haven't found a manual that suited you might be no more than an excuse, so I hope that you can forgive us."
This was one of the greatest agonies of the Lang couple, the fact that they had been unable to give their son a cultivation manual, forcing him to only be able to look at his sisters cultivate. Their son was a mere seven years old now, he was far from old enough to look for his own cultivation manual. This, coupled with that they were his parents meant that it was their duty to find it for him, failing to do so was their failure as a parent, it meant that their son might never be able to leave the city on his own. Yin Long was completely caught off guard by his parents lowering their heads, his body moving on its own and doing the first thing that came to mind, patting them on the head.
"Mama, Papa, please don't lower your heads! It's not your fault, it's my fault my body is too picky. So please, don't worry about it, Uncle Xiang said that everything will work out in the end!"
This was the only thing that Yin Long could tell them, he could only throw it all on Bai Xiang. And the reason behind this was simple, he couldn't tell them the truth, he couldn't tell them the secret he had been keeping since last year, that he had found a way to ever so slowly absorb the surrounding Qi. This fell under his powers and abilities so telling them would make Bai Xiang leave and take his gifts with him, it would be a devastating blow to Lang Huo, so Yin Long had to remain silent.
Lang Meng and Lang Hua raised their heads, but the guilt and pain in their eyes didn't lessen as they looked at the cramped smile on Yin Long's young face. The couple exchanged glances for a second, resolving themselves as they turned to face the children again.
"My son, our failure towards you has not yet ended. As our sole son, you should have become the future head of the clan, but the clan leader needs a certain level of strength, so we cannot make you the head of the clan. Even if we could, you would end up getting taken advantage of by the ambitious people in the four villages, or even the clan itself, I fear for what might happen to you then. As such, we have decided that in the future, it is your sister Lang Huo who will take up the mantle of the clan leader. You can hate us if you wish, but your sister is the one who is strong enough to inherit the mantle without being abused."
The Lang couple lowered their heads again once they finished making the declaration that they had spent five years mulling over. This was the most reasonable choice, Lang Huo was blessed by flame and had an excellent cultivation manual, at a mere seven years of age, she had already reached the 5th Mortal Door. In the future, she even had a hope of reaching the realm of the Skyborne Doors, the fourth cultivation realm and the realm above Lang Meng and Lang Hua. Yin Long could once again only reach out with his hands and pat his parents on the head to calm them.
"No, Bad Papa, Bad Mama! I said that shouldn't lower your heads! Don't worry about it, you are right, Little Huo is stronger than me and far more suited to taking over the mantle of leader. Please raise your heads, there is nothing wrong with being the aid of a clan leader, I can even teach Little Huo how to fight with the sword so that she can't be bullied by anyone!"
The Lang couple raised their head slightly, looking deeply into Yin Long's eyes. It was only upon seeing the purity in them that they could let out a tiny breath to somewhat ease their hearts, at least their son didn't blame them or look at them with hatred.
While this went down, Lang Ru didn't look too perturbed, she knew that she would never receive the mantle of clan leader so it didn't matter too much to her which of her siblings inherited the title, all that mattered was that she would aid them with all her heart. Lang Huo on the other hand, sat there with her mouth agape, excitement flickering within her eyes.
Becoming the Lang clan leader, how grand wouldn't her status be? If she got strong enough, she could even expand the clan so that she could make her parents proud. She was so excited that she tightly grasped Tang Fen's hand, who returned the grip and flashed Lang Huo a wide smile.