Returning Home
Xue Bai knew that if he tried to get as close as possible to Huo Long extremely fast, it wouldn't cause any suspicions now. But after Huo Long picked up his master, Feng Huang would instantly know that Xue Bai was up to something.
So he decided to bring the protagonist over to the dukedom. Though a week was long, and they could possibly become friends in that short of a span of time if Huo Long came to the dukedom, they could socialize longer, and his chances would be higher.
Thinking this much, Xue Bai put on a smile.
–
While Xue Bai was feeling good about his intelligent move, back in the courtyard, Huo Long and Huo Ming were still in shock.
"Father, did the Young Duke just invite me to the Dukedom, or am I just hearing things?" Huo Long was the first to react.
"No, you heard right. The Young Duke did invite you. But why? Is he planning something?" Huo Ming couldn't help but mutter.
Huo Long looked thoughtful for a moment but then spoke, "No, Father, it shouldn't be anything like that. If the Young Duke wanted to do something to me, he could do it with a snap of his fingers. So inviting me to the dukedom just to kill me would be pointless."
The veins on Huo Ming's forehead bulged after he heard that, and he smacked Huo Long's head.
"I wasn't implying that, fool. What I meant is that if he wanted to recruit you early. Your Uncle Chen was recruited later in life, but maybe the Young Duke saw your potential and wanted to attach you to the Dukedom early on." Huo Ming felt his son had only been out to embarrass him.
'Xiao Long is usually so smart. So why the hell has he been so stupid today?'
Huo Long could see his father's anger, and instead of saying anything, he only held his head in pain. However, he didn't dare cry.
He had been smacked more times these past two days than in the past year. And crying would only make it worse, so he had learned to hold it in.
Huo Ming didn't care about Huo Long's plight and ignored him.
"Xiao Long, you must take this chance well. The Young Duke is a chosen child of the heavens. Whether you cling to this chance well will determine our clan's fate." Huo Ming said seriously.
Though Huo Long was still in pain, he did nod at this.
Though the Huo Clan was currently peaceful, he knew that there still were enemies lurking in the dark who wanted their downfall. That was the reason Huo Long wanted to grow so fast. He wanted to help his father shoulder the burden of the clan.
–
Xue Bai's next few days at the Huo Clan were rather peaceful.
He would wake up at his usual hour, eat a delicious breakfast, and then watch Huo Long suffer through an extremely grueling training session.
It was systematic but pleasing as Xue Bai learned how euphoric an emotion like schadenfreude was. Seeing Huo Long 'train' was fun.
Xue Bai also did deliver on his intentions and gave all of the treasures he brought over to Huo Ming.
The man accepted them with teary eyes.
Even though Xue Bai didn't give them much, everything he did give Huo Ming was something they desperately needed or something that could change their fates.
From the seeds that could grow spiritual crops perfect for farming to the Spiritual Qi Gathering Formation, nothing Xue Bai gave the man was useless.
Xue Bai waved off the man's cries and calmly pushed away his gratitude. It felt weird seeing a grown man on the verge of tears just because of a cheap gift. It was making him blush.
Other than that, Xue Bai became bored.
Huo Long couldn't entertain him all day long after all.
Thankfully before he got too bored, his time at the Huo Clan ended.
Now, at the gates of the Huo Clan manor, every Huo Clan member stood in front of Xue Bai and his entourage as they were preparing to leave.
As Xue Bai was waiting for the Wang twins to ready the mounts, he looked around for the protagonist.
Since they were leaving early in the morning, he hadn't seen the boy today yet, so Xue Bai assumed that Huo Long was already at the gates waiting for him. After all, Huo Long was training under Huo Chen, a known strickler for attendance, so how could he be late?
But weirdly enough, he wasn't here, and Xue Bai was curious as to where he was.
"Commander Huo, where is Huo Long? I thought that he would be here." Xue Bai asked the commander, who was only a few meters away.
"He was talking with his sister when I last saw him. So if I'm not wrong, he should be arriving soon." Huo Chen replied.
'Sister?' Xue Bai was confused at the reference, but he quickly realized who Huo Chen was talking about.
Huo Long's mother died very early on in his life due to an attack from the Xia Clan. But, of course, he didn't know this yet.
So since Huo Ming felt bad about Huo Long always being lonely at home, he adopted a girl named Siyan from Frontier City. Huo Ming had known the girl's parents to be a pair of lovebird hunters.
Sadly the parents died about 10 years ago during a beast tide, leaving the then 3-year-old Siyan alone.
And since Huo Ming couldn't bear to let the daughter of his friends become an orphan, he adopted her and gave her the surname Huo, letting her become a member of the Huo Clan.
Now thirteen years old, Huo Siyan was the unfortunate case of being born without Martial Veins and was destined to live the life of a mortal.
And because of that, the girl would also look melancholy and desolate. But thankfully, she had Huo Long. And when the boy was around her, her expression would liven up, and she would truly act like a girl her age.
But Huo Long was a protagonist, after all, so how could his adopted, non-blood-related sister have such a simple background?
And it went without saying that Xue Bai knew who the girl truly was. But revealing the information now would most likely cause his death, so rather than saying anything about it, he shut his mouth and nodded at Huo Chen's words.
'Huo Long can talk to that demon for as long as he'd like. Anything to pacify her.' Xue Bai shivered inwardly.
That girl was a demon in human clothing.
Huo Long thankfully didn't waste much time pacifying Huo Siyan, and after another 10 minutes of waiting, he arrived.
Huo Long eventually entered the group's line of sight, running as fast as he could. And while Xue Bai was quite a distance away, he could see that Huo Long was obviously out of breath, but since he had already wasted so much time, he didn't stop running until he reached the group.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Chen, Siyan was too much earlier. I wasn't able to escape her claws until I promised to shop with her when I came back home." Huo Long spoke through deep breaths.
Huo Chen didn't respond to Huo Long and just glared at the boy.
Then without any words, he turned to the Wang twins.
"Alright, Wang Shu, you can start to fly. We are leaving." Huo Chen ordered the older twin.
Making two grabbing motions toward Xue Bai and Huo Long, Huo Chen manifested two large hands of Spiritual Qi, which he then promptly used to carry the boys onto his mount.
After he jumped onto it himself, Huo Chen flew off, leaving the Huo Clan for good.
Big Wang saw this and didn't dare to dally. Motioning at his younger brother, the two jumped onto the Bear Griffin and quickly followed after the man.
Soon after, the two Bear Griffins left Frontier City's airspace, reached their cruising speed, and started the long flight back to the dukedom.
Xue Bai, as he did before, didn't talk and instead went right to sleep. He was about to talk to Huo Long, but right before he could, the boy turned to Huo Chen, fascination plastered on his face.
The two then started to talk about the spear once again. It seemed that they never ran out of topics to talk about.
Xue Bai couldn't understand, nor did he wish to. So instead of third wheeling, it was better to sleep for the day.
Thankfully unlike on Earth, Xue Bai could sleep for an entire day without any health risks. It was a shut-in's dream.
Xue Bai quickly fell into the land of dreams, Huo Chen and Huo Long continued to talk about the spear, and the Wang twins did what the Wang twins did and cultivated peacefully.
The trip was peaceful as they soon reached the Dukedom without encountering any troubles.
Whether it was because Huo Chen or the Wang twins sent a message ahead of the, once the group reached the Duke's estate, a large crowd stood outside of the estate, prepared to receive them.
The crowd was composed mostly of soldiers under Xue Feng, but at the helm of the crowd were two men in the same armor as Huo Chen. However, the two had their helmets on, making Xue Bai unable to guess their identities.
On a side note, Li Rou was also there, standing a few meters ahead of the group with a broad smile on her face.
When he saw her smiling at him, Xue Bai reciprocated, and quickly, a smile appeared on his face.
Ever since he came to this world, his mother has been helping him. While he wasn't sure if his previous life was true or just some random memories that he somehow obtained, his mother still treated him as her own son. And he was grateful for her existence.
"Commander, land the Bear Griffin. I don't want to keep Mother waiting for us." Xue Bai told the commander.
Huo Chen nodded and then told his mount to go ahead and land just outside the estate. They were close to the estate anyway.
After the two Bear Griffins landed on the ground, Huo Chen once again used the same move as when they first got on the bear and conjured two hands made of Spiritual Qi.
Using them, he grabbed Xue Bai and Huo Long and helped them dismount off of his mount.
Xue Bai only quickly rubbed the fur of his robe and then ran up to his mother.
There, he gave the woman a quick hug.
"Who's that extra boy you brought along with you?" Li Rou laughed as she gave her son a pat on the head.
"Even though the Huo Clan is our subordinate, we don't interact with them and have given them the cold shoulder these past few years. So to fix that, I have decided to bring over their most talented youngster to the dukedom for extra training." Xue Bai explained.
"You're getting smarter every day, Bai'er!" Li Rou praised, pride apparent on her face. "But that still doesn't explain who the boy is."
"The young boy is the Young Master of the Huo Clan, Huo Long. Commander Huo looked highly on his potential, so I decided to bring him to the Dukedom for extra training." Xue Bai explained as he let off the hug.
Li Rou's eyes flashed for a moment after she heard that name.
'This was the person Bai'er wrote about in his journal.' Li Rou thought as she narrowed her eyes and looked at the boy closely.
However, she kept her thoughts to herself and instead welcomed the boy inside the estate.
He would be staying here for a while. And Li Rou planned to be rather accommodating to the boy. Even though Li Rou had no idea what the cryptic words in Xue Bai's journal meant, it wasn't her place to mess up his plans.
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