The room descended into suffocating silence.
In just a few words, she had decided the fate of an ancient empire.
As for Tianlong, he was particularly excited about the prospect of learning runic formations.
He understood that his mother never forgot his wish of learning formations that he expressed when still a child.
From Long Qianmei's demands, it could be seen that she was doing everything for her son.
While Xia Youqing was extremely tempted by the offers, she didn't know if her brother would agree to give away the spear.
Finally, after lots of consideration, she made her decision. "Fine! Senior Long, I accept your demands. I hope that you can fulfil your end of the promise too!"
"Naturally!" Long Qianmei replied with a smile.
The tense atmosphere in the room vanished with her smile.
The Xia royal clansmen all felt a big burden getting off their chests with her promise.
Since there was nothing more to discuss, Xia Youqing made a series of hand signs and started to terminate the connection.
As her figure started to vanish, her eyes stayed fixed on Tianlong and didn't move. "Does senior Long wants him to join our sect?"
"Un."
"Very well, then I'll be waiting for you young man." Her illusory figure disappeared leaving only these few words.
The room descended into silence when she vanished.
Different thoughts were running in all of their minds, especially the youths.
Just now they had witnessed a deal that would determine the rise and fall of an entire empire.
It was hard for them to remain calm.
Despite the strange atmosphere between the youngsters, Long Qianmei wasn't affected.
She made a grasping motion and took the necklace from Xia Mengyi. As her spirit sense entered the small gem on the jewellery, a set of names emerged in her mind that filled her cold killing intent.
And unlike Tianlong who had always hidden his killing intent, she made no such effort.
"The two of you, go and stay in the adjacent room." Throwing the necklace back to the Xia Mengyi, she dismissed them.
The two clasped their hands and quickly scurried out of the room. They were almost suffocated by her killing intent.
Cold and brutal, this was the impression Long Qianmei had given them.
Once the two of them were gone, only the mother and son were left in the room.
Long Qianmei's killing intent was still present there and becoming even greater than before. Despite that, Tianlong wasn't feeling uncomfortable in the slightest because it wasn't directed at him.
"Tian Er, what does one mean by cultivation?"
Cultivation was a process that would lead to immortality and give one power to control all laws of the world.
This was what came to one's mind immediately.
But was that it?
Tianlong knew that ever since he had become a cultivator, his perception of the world had changed.
Time seemed to move much slower than when he was a mortal.
With his spirit sense, he could see things that he previously couldn't observe.
"Cultivation is a process of enriching the mind." With his limited experience, this was the best he could answer.
Long Qianmei had a smile on her face listening to his words. However, due to her overflowing killing intent, the smile looked extremely brutal.
"As expected of my son, your cultivation involves seeking knowledge." As she languidly spoke, her long voluminous hair started to turn the colour of blood.
Tianlong's eyes were fixed on her as he saw her transformation. Her nails, hair and eyes have all turned the colour of blood. Moreover, most of her face was covered in crimson scales. The mark of the Candle Dragon's lineage.
A thick smell of blood reeked from her body as if she had just bathed in the blood of others.
"This time when your father took you out, did he give you any magical treasures?" As she looked at her son, both of her eyes turned blood red too. It was strangely enchanting.
Anyone who looked at her right now would think that she has become a bloodthirsty devil.
"No. It was mostly cultivation resources and herbs." Tianlong's expression remained the same when he answered, however, all of his hairs were standing on end. This was an instinctual fear that he couldn't block.
Long Qianmei closed her eyes and went through all the names she had just read. After a minute of consideration, she finally chose her prey.
She gently pressed her forehead with her right forefinger. Immediately, a small crack that looked like a third eye opened up in her forehead.
A blood light spilt out of the crack and washed over Tianlong. In an instant, his hair turned blood coloured just like his mother's. However, it was slightly bland and not the enchanting shade of red of his mother's hair.
With the blood light washing over him, Tianlong could feel his murderous intent being released without restraint. It was completely different from his usual self when he tried to always keep his killing intent hidden.
Just as his eyes were about to turn blood red too, a candle flame ignited in his left eye that drove the red light away. A similar phenomenon appeared in his left eye, except that there was a silver bolt of lightning flashing through it now. It gave him a strange evil air.
"You might possess the strength of a dragon, but your nature is that of a vicious snake…" She spoke in a hoarse voice after seeing the changes in his eyes and feeling his killing intent.
Being his parent and teacher for years, she had grasped his personality.
Tianlong remained silent. In the end, he agreed to her words.
"Staying away from the strong, bullying the weak; Not drawing attention to myself while scheming against others to seek growth amidst their destruction… that's who I am. I don't think there's anything wrong with my ideology."
Understanding someone else was difficult, but understanding oneself was even more difficult.
Even if one understood themselves, would they be able to accept it?
"Who says that there's anything wrong with that?" She spoke in a ghastly voice. Her usual indifference was gone and she became much more talkative than before. "Some might value honour higher than their life, but I say it's only for those who can afford it!"
She grasped Tianlong's hand and dragged him forward. A red light surrounded them and the two vanished from the room.
...…
Yun Dingxing was sitting in the adjacent room while refining an artefact. His face was a bit pale as spatial energy rolled out from him distorted the surroundings.
When he felt that his Tianlong and Long Qianmei were gone, he looked towards the direction where they had gone.
Unknowingly, a smile crept on his lips as he focused his attention back on the treasure.
In the entire Long Clan, no one except the patriarch noticed that red streak of light. His room was dark as usual with a single burning candle in it.
"A devil bringing her son along to kill others…" His eyes opened into tiny slits but then soon closed again.
...…
Meanwhile as Tianlong was dragged by his mother, he saw the entire clan getting further and further away from him.
Although this was the second time he was flying, he couldn't get enough of the feeling. He longed to be able to fly himself.
The feeling of moving through the skies at unrestrained speeds was something that he craved from his bloodline. He could never forget the feeling of his father teleporting through the skies.
"How is my flight compared to his?" As if understanding his thoughts, she calmly asked.
Tianlong closed his eyes and sank into the sensation of flying. After a moment, he replied, "Slower and sharper."
He might not be able to fly himself, but as a Roc and a wind cultivator, he could compare their movements.
His honest reply made her smile once again. "I'm not a genius like your father who can grasp spatial laws and fuse with the void, nor am I a formation grandmaster like him… the only thing I know is to use my sword."
Touching her forehead once again, she widened the crack between her brows. A much more intense blood light came from her forehead as her aura started to grow at a breakneck speed.
An illusionary sea of fire manifested behind her in which a female statue wearing a palace dress and a crown could be seen. She was sitting on a throne with a long sword resting on her lap.
"Slaughter!" She gave a fierce shout and tapped her forehead once again. The crack widened once again and a blood-red sword started to come out of it. But before it could rush out completely, black tendrils crawled inside her body and gathered in her forehead to seal the crack.
Her current self looked very frightening. It was as if someone had pierced her skull with a sword and half of it was sticking out of her forehead.
"Hmph!" Tianlong gave a cold snort and manifested the Undying tree's roots in his body. Gathering them on his fingertips, he touched his mother's forehead.
In the past few months, he had extracted most of the black tendrils from Long Qianmei. However, no matter what he did, he couldn't extract the last few of them. He later understood that for the last few tendrils to go away, his mother needed to force them out on her own.
When Tianlong's finger touched her forehead, the black tendrils shivered and no longer tried to seal the crack.
"Slaughter!" Long Qianmei released a ferocious growl as she urged the sword to come out again.
Finally, with the help of Tianlong, a large amount of blood gushed out of her forehead as the sword was forcefully jolted out.
In an instant, her aura rose to a sharp peak and the illusory sea behind her back seemed to become corporeal.
"Slaughter – That's the name of my sword." The sanguine blade floated in mid-air and let out a sharp whistle. The sound of it felt as if thousands of people were howling at the same time.
As the whistle grew increasingly sharper, the sword started to enlarge. In just a few moments, it became a hundred times its original size.
Long Qianmei grabbed hold of its hilt and landed on its blade with her son, using it as a flying sword for travelling.
But unlike her, just as Tianlong came in contact with the sword, a stream of spiritual energy erupted from its blade and went inside his body.
Tianlong felt as if a sword had entered his body. With the sword energy cycling in his body, he felt his muscles being forcefully pierced and cut apart.
It was as if the sword energy was searching for something inside of him.
Tianlong could only grit his teeth and endure this excruciating pain.
Long Qianmei didn't seem to notice her son's suffering. Eyes fixed on the west, she spoke, "When one reaches the Nascent Soul stage, they can perform short-distance teleportation. It involves using one of the five earthly elements. Earth, Water or Fire escape techniques are related to this."