A few days ago, the Radiant Sword Sect dispatched several emissaries towards the others sects, including the Everlasting Star Academy.

They often held a secret meeting discussing not only territorial issues but also their future plans.

The alliance between these four has been going for over thousands of years and was unshakable, even after the decline of the Everlasting Star Academy they still held them in high regards.

However, each sect has their own personal ambition, that is to groom the ultimate disciple who will shake the world and bring glory to them!

This time, in the meeting, the Radiant Sword Sect proposed to hold the junior tournament a little bit earlier than the other years.

The reason was obvious, they wanted to show off their new genius disciple, the one who inherited the Sword God's legacy.

The rumors were heard from the others sects weeks ago, so naturally, they paid closed attention to this affair.

The emissary from the radiant sword sect proposed to hold the junior tournament a little bit earlier than scheduled. The others naturally complained and none of them accepted this at first, however, when he talked about the winning prize and some benefits the others sects couldn't refuse, they stayed silent and decided to accept this matter eventually.

Which sect wouldn't want to show off their own disciple? which sect wouldn't want glory?

The meeting ended after they spoke for about half a day... then the emissaries went back to their own headquarters to rely on the information.

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Back at the Everlasting Star Academy, Qianli and Xiao Feng packed their belongings and prepared to return to Cyan Bamboo city.

After notifying the academy's hall about their absence, they took off and started marching towards their destination.

The travel took them three days and nights, Qianli often trained Xiao Feng to perfect his spear movements and taught him from time to time some things about the world, the different ways of cultivation, some stories she heard before.

Finally, they arrived at the city, Xiao Feng couldn't hold it so as soon as he entered he ran directly to his home.

Qianli followed him without uttering a single word, but along the way, she calmly observed the situation and found something amiss. Nonetheless, she continued to follow him while trying to analyze the situation.

....

At the Li Clan's HQ,

" Father! Father! He is back! " Li Chen opened the library where his father the clan head was quietly reading a book.

The clan head tossed the book to Li Chen's face, and with that, he crumbled to the floor in pain.

" Ouch... "

" What did I tell you to NOT SHOUT IN THE LIBRARY?! " The clan head responded

" ... but father.... you are shouting too... " The poor bloody noised Li Chen responded in a painful manner.

" ?£§¨µ¨/mml:. !!! " The clan head didn't have any words to protect his dignity.

After some time he casually asked.

" ... so, who has returned? "

" It's that bast... I mean the young master of the Xiao Clan! The news is true, one of the servants which we left at their estate reported this several minutes ago! "

" What?! " The clan head's eyes glimmered for a second, then he took back the book he tossed earlier and sat down continuing reading.

" Eh.... father??? " Li Chen who did not expect this response asked in a confusion

" What? is that all? " The Clan head said in a carefree manner.

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" But ... "

The clan head didn't let him finish, he spoke in a firm tone

" The matter with the city lord was dealt carefully by your brother, and most of the clans in this city can testify that his death had nothing to do with us. Moreover, we didn't expect that he was still hiding his strength and that also his popularity within the kingdom was so great that even the emperor attended his funeral. We can't afford to start trouble now... "

Then his eyes glimmered for a bit with murderous intent

" At the very least, not until your brother's injuries are healed ... "

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At Xiao Clan's mansion,

Xiao Feng jumped through the wall since no one was there to open the front door. He wanted to yell the names of his old servants since the courtyard was deserted but a familiar figure flashed past him and called for him.

" Y-Young master! "

It was none other than the oldest of the three brothers who were in charge of finding him when he was with Qianli not long ago.

" You! Where is my father?? What happened to him??!! " Xiao Feng didn't care much about what happened to their mansion to be deserted this way, but he wanted to know who killed his father while he was at the academy training.

Who in the world had enough strength to defeat him in this small city?

" About that... I... "

The servant didn't finish his sentence, when he sensed someone landing next to them, he shot a glance and thought who would be so brazen to interrupt them at this moment, but then he nearly fainted.

It was that damn girl!!! Damn, it did she come again to finish off the clan while we are weak?!

Qianli who just landed next to them after jumping through the wall glanced at him, but didn't speak, she stood next to Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng, who understood his reaction sighed and said: " She is ... my master, anyway... quickly tell me what happened?! "

The servant regained his composure and told them

" It's better to come inside first... follow me, please! "

At that, the three of them left the courtyard and headed inside.

While walking through the hall, the attendant spoke in a low voice

" Little master, a few weeks before you came back, your uncle the grand elder came back from his travel... "

Xiao Feng surprised a little bit said in a joyful manner " Uncle is here?! That's great! "

As far as he remembers, his uncle was a person with great virtue who didn't bully the weak like the other members of the clan, he often stood by his side when he was young. Xiao Feng had a good impression of him.

The servant didn't say anything more than that until they arrived before a door, he spoke somewhat hesitantly.

" Young master, your uncle and the elders of the family are behind this door conducting a meeting.... please enter. "

Xiao Feng nodded, then with confidence, he pushed the door open.

As he entered he was shocked to see the scene in front of him: numerous people sitting around, some of them were laughing, others were drinking and chatting among themselves. The room was filled with happiness as if the clan was celebrating a joyful occasion, but what made Xiao Feng the most surprised was that the throne of the patriarch where his father used to sit, was occupied by another person, his uncle!

Just as he was about to speak, his uncle stood up and said with a shocked expression " X-Xiao Feng??!! Why are you here?? "

The elders who were laughing a while ago all turned around with a grim expression and unwelcoming faces, Some even snorted with disdainful gazes.

" The trash came back... "

" Ssshhhsss, don't speak like that or else ... "

" What's there to be afraid? His father died, he holds no power in the clan anymore. "

" Hahaha you're right, at the very least the grand elder is better than the former patriarch. He holds the interest of our clan first...."

Xiao Feng didn't even care about the commotion and the discussion about him and his father, after all,  these greedy snakes held them in contempt for a long time. If not for his father overwhelming power and his connections to the emperor, both of them would have been long ago banished from the clan.

In another perspective, even though his father didn't show him any love from a long time, he still protected him while satisfying the clan's greed all this time.

But what made Xiao Feng the most disappointed, was to see his uncle taking his father's place and drinking with these elders as if his own brother's death was a celebration to him.

Randoms thoughts began to surge inside of his heart, could it be that his uncle was hiding another facade all these years? Anyway, he had to make sure, so he asked in a serious expression " Uncle, what is the meaning of this? I was told that the clan was having a... "

His words were cut by one of the elders " Preposterous! how dare you trash address the Patriarch as if you were ... "

As if not minding the elder's words, the grand elder spoke in a slow and calm voice.

" Xiao-er, this uncle hasn't seen you for a long time, come here... "

Xiao Feng was a little surprised by his uncle calm and serene expression. He couldn't help but trust his uncle and slowly walked towards him unafraid.

Right when he was 2 steps closer to him, his uncle suddenly launched a fist with explosive momentum and killing intent, trying to blow his head off.

Xiao Feng was surprised, but since he was prepared and had doubts before, he evaded the incoming attack and stepped back ten meters away wearing a serious expression on his face.

Even so, Xiao Feng didn't understand why the sudden attack, was he trying to kill him right now instead of silencing him later? But what was the point?

Not only Xiao Feng but also the other elders wore a complicated expression on their face and gulped, one of them even tried to speak in his favor.

" My.. lord... maybe it's not the... "

The grand elder ignored the intervention and smiled as if he was satisfied with Xiao Feng's performance, he then sat back in the chair and said.

" Good to see that you haven't been wasting your time in the academy, welcome back nephiew "