Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

"The Ling Family's inheritance is actually a willow tree…"

Ling Yun turned his head to look at the astonished Cui Lao as he chuckled.

Ling Yun didn't squander half his day away for nothing. Because he cultivated the Supreme Azure Emperor Art, he obtained several benefits. Not only did he reach the pinnacle of Physique Tempering Stage Eight, but his divine sense also became more proficient and could cover up to a radius of 35 meters.

Cui Lao was dazed as he mumbled, "Young Master, how… how did you do it? What was the thick yellow energy in the room earlier on?"

The Ling Family's men had to water this wood with their blood every month to provide it with Black Yellow True Qi. After a long 18 years, only a tiny shoot grew out of the wood.

However, Cui Lao had just pa.s.sed the wood to Ling Yun for a moment, and countless shoots started growing out of the same wood. In fact, there were even lush green leaves as the entire room was filled with exuberant vitality. How could Cui Lao not be shocked at such a sight?

"Eh, the yellow energy was the True Qi I cultivate on a regular basis. Normally, I'm not able to use it at all, so who knew that I could use it today, though it was all absorbed by it. However, the effect seems pretty decent…"

Ling Yun gave a casual reply as he shook the Divine Willow Wood with a bright smile.

"Flouris.h.i.+ng and exuberant vitality, translucent and sparkling green radiance… This wood is truly exceptional…" Ling Yun didn't hide anything from Cui Lao, telling him everything about this wood.

"Cui Lao, please take a seat…" Ling Yun returned to his seat and urged Cui Lao to take a seat. Following which, he helped himself to another cup of tea, and even though the tea was already cooled, Ling Yun wasn't too bothered by it.

Cui Lao nodded as he sat back down. However, he was once again dumbfounded when he saw the already cut cloth that was placed back in the bag.

"Eh… Young Master, how did you manage to cut the Golden Black Devilish Silk?"

Cui Lao was really starting to regard this Young Master as a G.o.d. He was only gone for a while, and yet the cloth was already cut out well.

"Using a secret technique…" Ling Yun wasn't going to let out the secret of the Emperor Brush, so he simply played dumb.

Cui Lao replied in shock, "Young Master is truly too impressive… Because I was worried Young Master wouldn't be able to cut or sew it, I even prepared a few medicinal drugs to help you with that. Who knew that you would have your own techniques…"

While Cui Lao was still in shock, Ling Yun was slightly dumbfounded as he scratched his head. "Drugs? What drugs?"

Cui Lao explained the method to cut the Golden Black Devilish Silk, which left Ling Yun with a gaping mouth!

Wow! Ling Yun wondered why Cui Lao didn't let him know about this earlier to save him from all the troubles that he went through…

"Oh… There's still such a method? Well, I guess they are different methods leading to the same result…" Ling Yun replied awkwardly.

Cui Lao continued to stare at Ling Yun. "Young Master, I don't think it's a good idea to leave so many items outside. Why don't you keep them? I know you have a s.p.a.ce to keep your items…"

Ling Yun nodded his head as he wasn't planning to hide from Cui Lao. He lifted his left hand to keep everything Cui Lao brought for him in his spatial ring, including the Divine Willow Wood.

"Cui Lao, now that I know I'm a descendant of the Ling Family and I accept my new ident.i.ty… Is it finally time for you to tell me something?"

After Ling Yun cleared the table, he finally lifted his head once more to bring back the topic of conversation.

Cui Lao didn't say anything and simply stood up to refill the teapot with hot water before sitting back down. He thought to himself for half a day before suddenly answering, "Young Master, this matter is simply too complicated and mournful… Logically speaking, I should bring you back to the family for the head of the family to tell you about it."

Ling Yun smiled faintly to express his understanding. However, he continued to say, "Cui Lao, over the past few days of interactions with you, I've treated you as my own grandpa. Now that I've made up my mind to return and acknowledge my family, it's natural that I should understand the matters of my family. This way, I can actually take on some of the family's responsibility. It shouldn't matter who tells me about these things."

Cui Lao still felt like he was in a difficult position, and he hesitated. "Young Master, I'm actually worried that after telling you these things, it will affect your college entrance examinations as well as cultivation. If that happens, I would have made a grave mistake, and I wouldn't be able to escape censure!"

Ling Yun smiled. "Cui Lao, don't worry about it. My college entrance examinations and cultivation won't be affected by any other matters! Moreover, everything that has happened is already in the past. I only want to know what happened so I can think of ways to deal with it."

Cui Lao was finally out of excuses as he asked once more, "Young Master, you really want to hear about it?"

Ling Yun nodded in a serious manner.

Cui Lao clenched his teeth as he nodded convincingly. "Since Young Master wants to know about it so badly, I shall briefly go through everything with you so that you can roughly understand the family's situation. As for the details, I would rather Young Master head back to Beijing to ask the family head about it."

"Alright!" Ling Yun continued to nod his head.

"To be completely honest, our Ling Family is in an incredibly unstable state where danger is almost inevitable!

"Even though the seven big families in Beijing sounds very impressive, our Ling Family is nowhere near any of the six other families in terms of strength and resources. In fact, even some of the second-tier families in Beijing are catching up with us!"

Cui Lao started his explanation with these two sentences, and Ling Yun already felt as though someone struck his head with a pole!

How could the Ling Family have fallen so much? He couldn't help but frown.

"Just take the five hundred million USD that I just gave you… That is already half of the entire a.s.set left in the Ling Family. Besides this five hundred million USD, the sum of all the properties we own as well as the money in the bank is around two hundred million USD!"

Cui Lao clenched his teeth as he dropped a truth bomb of such magnitude.

Ling Yun was astonished! How could a mighty and renowned family like the Ling Family of the seven big families in Beijing have less than seven hundred million USD in a.s.sets? Four billion RMB? That was even less than half of what the Zhuang Family had…

"How did this happen?" Ling Yun asked in shock.

Cui Lao tried to smile as he replied, "For the past 18 years, we haven't been earning much as all the businesses and properties that we used to own were divided equally among the other families. Currently, we are barely hitting our break-even point and have been losing money year after year!"

"If it wasn't for the fact that our Ling Family still has three Xiantian experts and a partially-inducted Xiantian expert like myself to keep watch after the family, our Ling Family would be worse off than many third-tier families!"

Ling Yun felt chills down his spine when he heard this, and he couldn't help but ask, "So why did Grandpa give me this five hundred million USD? I'm not in need of money, so shouldn't he keep this money for his own use?"

"Haha! Young Master doesn't know everything… Even though our Ling Family isn't in a great state, the few hundred million USD that we have is enough for us to live more comfortably than many ordinary families. However…"

"However?"

Cui Lao suddenly felt infuriated when he thought of the missing Ling Xiao and Ling Yue. "However, your father and your second uncle went missing about one month ago! Even now, they are still nowhere to be found!"

"What!"

Ling Yun immediately jumped out of his seat when he heard this! He was fuming!

Naturally, Cui Lao stood up as well as he tried to calm Ling Yun down. "Young Master, don't be anxious. There's no point in being anxious when we cannot find them. Listen to what I have to say."

"Earlier on, you asked me why your grandpa didn't come down personally? Or why didn't your parents come down?

"About a month ago, I reported the news of your whereabouts to the family head. Master was so happy that he couldn't sleep for a few nights. Even though he knew the dangers, he wasn't bothered as he was determined to meet you personally at Qingshui City!"

"Danger? What danger?" Ling Yun questioned.

However, Cui Lao shook his hand. "We can discuss this later on."

He continued, "Back then, you hadn't set out to sea, and it only takes a few hours by plane for him to reach you. Therefore, meeting you wasn't difficult at all. However, just when he was about to set off, an unforeseen event happened!"

"Both your father and second uncle went missing together, which caused Old Master to grow extremely anxious. He instantly canceled his trip to Qingshui City and called me back to Beijing.

"Because I had to leave in a hurry, I didn't have the chance to bid you goodbye…"

Ling Yun slowly sat back down as he furrowed his brows. "I see…"

With both his sons going missing mysteriously, it wasn't a surprise that his grandpa got worried. Without many capable men back at home, it was natural for him to call Cui Lao back.

"But Cui Lao, what is the danger you mentioned earlier?" Ling Yun was desperate to know everything.

Cui Lao didn't try to hide it and said, "Everything that is happening now is related to the disastrous event 18 years ago…"

"Eighteen years ago, your father fell in love with a woman he should never have fallen for. That woman was your biological mother, and she was exceptionally gorgeous. In fact, her martial arts were even more universally shocking to everyone, and she was dubbed as the number one beauty of the ancient world of martial arts. Your father was also a heaven-defying genius with breathtaking talent. The two of them were a perfect match in heaven, but the pity was that her ident.i.ty decided everything that happened!

"Young Master, your biological mother was the previous generation's Holy Virgin of the Devil Sect!"

What!

The previous generation's Holy Virgin was actually his biological mother?

Ling Yun was dazed, blanking out entirely. Even with his insane imagination and extraordinary inference skills, he would never have imagined that his own mother was a member of the Devil Sect!

However, Ling Yun managed to speculate about several issues instantly.

As Cui Lao recalled the tragedy 18 years ago, he started tearing up as his eyes grew red and blurry.

"Your father and mother were deeply in love, but they knew that their feelings would be detested by many figures in the martial arts circle. However, they didn't care and didn't tell anyone about it…"

"However, your mother became pregnant with you, and being eight months pregnant, there was no way to continue hiding it. Rumors started spreading across all the various ancient sects as well as secluded sects!"

Ling Yun clenched his teeth, already knowing what was going to happen next!