Arriving at Qingxue's house, Tianlong was greeted with familiar faces.
Due to his different looks, he instantly became the centre of attention. Having experienced such looks from birth, he was already used to it.
"Hello, I'm Long Ding. What's your name?" one of the children asked him.
"I'm Yun Tianlong, nice to meet you." Tianlong nodded his head in greetings. "I'm ashamed to say this but I don't recognize any of you …are you perhaps from a different batch?"
"Yes, we are from the morning batch. You people are so lucky that you don't have to wake up early" he said in a slightly envious tone.
"I don't know about others, but I'll get a serious scolding if I'm not in bed before nine and up before four. Nowadays, it's already become a habit." He shrugged. "But of course, there are people like Qingxue who would sleep till noon if given the chance."
"Who's bad-mouthing me behind my back?", the irritated voice of a young girl sounded from another room.
"Hmph, I knew it would be you big-brother Tianlong. I think you are just jealous because aunt doesn't let you have as much fun as me." She stuck out her tongue and made a silly gesture towards him.
Tianlong and everyone else started laughing at her expressions and words.
The children soon started to gossip among themselves and lost track of their purpose of coming.
He sighed after seeing this scene. He gave a dry cough and reminded Qingxue.
Feeling ashamed, she immediately stopped the discussions and took out her notes. The other children followed suit and the scene became silent.
Occasionally they would discuss among themselves to clear their doubts. If the question was related to science or mathematics, it would go to Tianlong.
As for literature topics, he preferred not to answer them. Not because he didn't want to, but because his grasp wasn't that strong in those fields.
While they were studying, a gorgeous middle-aged woman came inside the room with a tray full of different snacks.
"Fufu~ it's good to see all of you studying so diligently for the finals. Start revising regularly from now and you won't have to face any problems later on." She kept the tray on a table and smiled. It was full of colourful pastries and cookies.
"Junior Tianlong greets senior." He immediately stood up and cupped his fists.
"Tianlong you are as courteous as ever." she ruffled his hair and looked at her daughter. "Qingxue, you should learn something from your friend! If you were even half as diligent as him, I wouldn't have to worry about you so much!"
"Mom! Stop saying such things in front of my friends!" Qingxue pouted at her mom's remark and stomped her feet.
She gave bell-like laughter after seeing her daughter's reaction. Tianlong's heart started beating faster as he heard it.
Ji Cangyue, a cultivation and alchemy genius. Barely over thirty years old, yet she had already achieved the middle stages of the Yin-Yang Cleansing realm and joined the ranks of third revolution alchemists.
Not only was her cultivation talent superb, but she also possessed immense beauty. Her skin was as fair as snow and her phoenix eyes and cherry lips could enchant most men at first glance. Her figure was tall, slender and graceful and radiated the beauty of a mature woman.
"Ok, you guys continue to study, I won't disturb you anymore."
Saying a few more words of encouragement, she left the room. Tianlong immediately felt an emptiness in his heart.
"What's with this strange feeling? I have never felt such looking at the other girls in my class… but then why does my heart start beating faster every time I see her?" Tianlong inwardly thought while tasting the cookies.
He was an intelligent child who was always perceptive about himself and his surroundings. Sensing the unrest in his heart, his mind quickly went through all the books that he has read.
"Aha! It's that phenomenon they call puberty! The body would start to grow at an explosive rate and one would feel attraction towards the other gender." His eyes shone with understanding as he finally figured out the reason.
"But why don't I get this feeling while looking at my female classmates? As far as I know, I get this kind of feeling only when looking at mature women." He furrowed his brows.
"This can't go on! The sages say that alcohol, women and gambling are three great vices. Among which, the women are most dangerous!"
"Their beauty is as intoxicating as alcohol and can leave men risking their entire fortune just for their simple glance. In a sense, they are the combination of all the three vices!"
Having read way too many classics. In some of the books he read, entire kingdoms went to war because of a single woman. This caused him to form his own notion regarding women.
He felt that one should only appreciate their beauty but never get ensnared by their charm.
Calming down his heart, he decided to think about it later.
After finishing the snacks, the children resumed their discussion. It went on for one more hour when suddenly a delicious smell in their nose. The children were mesmerized by the fragrance and some of them even began to drool.
"Seeing that it's already evening, why don't you all stay here and have dinner with us?" standing outside the room, Ji Cangyue asked them. The reactions of the children bought a smile to her beautiful face.
Cultivators could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which filled their body with energy, they barely needed to eat. And once they reached the Jade core realm, they could practise complete abstinence from food.
However, Ji Cangyue was yet not in the Jade Core realm and thus needed to eat occasionally. Furthermore, her daughter was still a mortal. This caused her to hone her cooking skills and being an alchemist, she was an excellent chef as well.
All of them cheered and couldn't wait to dig in the food. Some of them even gave Qingxue envious glances as she was able to have such quality food daily.
"Tianlong, aren't you joining us?" He didn't join the other kids but had started to pack his belongings.
"Senior, I'd have to reject your kind invitation."Hearing her question, he gave an embarrassed smile. "My father is back home after a long time and I just can't miss our dinner together."
"Oh, so Yun Dingxing is back?" The voice of a man came from outside the room.
Soon a handsome middle-aged man stood beside Ji Cangyue. Tianlong couldn't see how and when he had appeared. He was Long Zheng, the father of Qingxue.
Over a century old, he was one of those who grew up in the same generation as Long Qingxue. Blinded by her brilliance, he was one of her earliest pursuers and was heartbroken when he saw that the goddess in his heart was already married to another man.
Tianlong wasn't aware of any of these but he could still feel Long Zheng's dislike for him. Regardless, he didn't care. He was well aware that his parents were extremely fierce and all of the elders gave them respect.
"Replying to senior, he came back this afternoon."
"Hmm, he is always wandering outside so we never get to meet. It's been fifty years since we last exchanged blows, I wonder if he'll still be able to win against me." Although he tried to hide it, there was clearly a hint of provocation in his voice.
Tianlong didn't feel irritated due to the latter's tone. Instead, he was slightly surprised. "This confidence doesn't seem baseless. Did he broke through a new realm?"
Although Tianlong didn't say anything, Ji Cangyue felt discontented at her husband's question.
Be it male or female, most strong cultivators had multiple partners. She wouldn't have minded if her husband was taking in a new mistress.
But as facts stood, Long Qingxue had already rejected him and had a child with another man. She felt as if her husband was still stuck up in his past and couldn't get over his obsession.
Anyway, it was not a good idea to argue in front of children. "Dear, you were in seclusion for a long time and Qingxue was terribly missing you. Why don't you join her for dinner?"
Although he felt eating was a waste of time, he didn't refuse her and walked towards the dining room.
She put a hand on her chest and sighed in relief. Turning her head towards Tianlong, she flashed a brilliant smile.
"It's already dark outside. Come, I'll see you off."
"Thank you." He didn't reject her goodwill and walked off towards the exit. Just as he was about to step out, he turned back. "See you later Qingxue!"
"Mmwwh!" Her voice was choked due to having food in her mouth. Hurriedly drinking a glass of water, she waved back at him. "Goodbye!"