Chapter 64 - Embarking

“I heard that when one enters the Lingwu family, they help new recruits remove any enemies. Although the Blood Saints are much stronger than us, they are probably too small to fill the gaps between the teeth of a beast like the Lingwu family.”

Every Yang family member listened to his every word.

That was when the Yang patriarch looked up and asked, “Chen’er, are you sure about this?”

Long Chen nodded solemnly. “I no longer have any peers in Baiyang Town. Going to Yuanling City will give me more space to grow and will help us deal with the Blood Saints. That is why I have made my decision.”

The Yang patriarch knew how powerful Long Chen was. In his current terrifying state, he was at least as strong as someone at the Human Core Realm, so he had no peers in this town anymore.

Prodigies could only grow in places that challenged them. If Long Chen continued to stay in a small place like Baiyang Town, he might stagnate at his current level forever.

He looked at the rest and saw unwillingness and emotion in their eyes.

Long Chen’s motivation to enter the Lingwu family was mostly to benefit the Yang family. He had worked very hard to save the Yang family, and now he was going to move far away for them. All of them had mixed feelings about receiving such large favors.

However, they all admired his ability to not hold grudges, considering how badly they treated him in the past. “If that is the case, when do you plan to leave, Chen’er?”

“The threat of the Blood Saints looms over us. There’s no time to waste. I want to leave tomorrow. Grandfather, you need to use the Ascension Fruit soon and reach the Human Core Realm as quickly as possible. If you do that, at least the Yang family will have some strength to fight back when the Blood Saints send people over to investigate. I will enter the Lingwu family as soon as possible.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?”

Yang Xueqing and Yang Lingqing could not bear to see him leave.

After the Ascension Fruit crisis, Yang Xueqing and Long Chen’s relationship had been completely mended. “The Blood Saints are in Yuanling City. I think going to Yuanling City will make it much easier to track their activities. That is why I have decided to leave tomorrow at dawn.”

The rest of the family nodded. Since Long Chen had made his decision, they would not object.

Although he was still no match for the Blood Saints, they felt more secure.

Night fell quickly.

Long Chen was packing in his room, but someone soon knocked on his door. He opened the door and saw Yang Xueqing standing there. “May I come in?”

Long Chen smiled. “Of course. Which mother can’t enter her own son’s room?”

The air between them livened with his grin. Yang Xueqing sat on the wooden chair, about to speak when Long Chen said, “You don’t have to apologize. I don’t care anymore, nor do I blame you now. I’ll be leaving tomorrow, but you don’t have to miss me. It’s just Yuanling City, right? I can come home any time.”

Yang Xueqing looked at the cheeky teenager and rolled her eyes. “What nonsense is that? The Lingwu family controls the whole Yuanling County and has strict rules for their family. Do you think you can leave whenever you want? Chen’er, I came here to remind you to try your best to control yourself when you go to the big city. If you become too high-profile before you get stronger, you’re only going to suffer.

“Rumors say that there’s a beast in the Lingwu family who has surpassed the Human Core Realm, an existence that can destroy the heavens and earth. You may be number one in Baiyang Town now, but you will be at the very bottom when you meet the Lingwu family. I really don’t want you to die, so you must be cautious ...”

Long Chen was very moved by the deep worry in Yang Xueqing’s eyes, and he took her words to heart. Someone beyond the Human Core Realm? Destroyer of heavens and earth? What level of terror is that? I have gotten a little too smug with myself with how quickly I’ve been improving recently. Looks like I’ve got to rein myself in. After all, I’ll be at the bottom of the food chain once more when I arrive.

Therefore, Long Chen nodded. “Mhm, I will remember that. Don’t worry, the Yang family has me. You all will be fine.”

When he said that, Yang Xueqing had the sudden feeling that she was looking at a grown man lifting the heavens on his back.

She was left in a daze, recalling the days Long Chen was in her womb. It felt just like yesterday, but it had all gone by in the blink of an eye. Long Chen was already grown, and nothing else mattered. “Alright, then I have nothing else to say. Rest early tonight, I’m going back now ...”

Yang Xueqing stood up to leave, afraid that she would miss him even more if she stayed any longer.

“Mother!” Long Chen blurted.

Yang Xueqing froze, then she smiled sweetly. “I came here to hear you call me that, actually. You haven’t called me that in a long time ...”

“We’ll have a lot more opportunities next time. In fact, you’ll probably grow tired of it.”

Yang Xueqing gazed at him lovingly and smiled. “I can listen to it until I’m old and die, and still I won’t grow tired of it.”

She started to head outside, but then she suddenly turned around and said, “I saw that girl Lingqing sneaking out of the estate just now. I don’t know what she’s up to; she said she was going to prepare a gift for you.”

Yang Lingqing?

That silly girl. Even Long Chen was shocked that she had mastered one of the Illusory Seven Killings Sword Techniques.

He and Lingqing were close. The girl would probably miss him a lot now that he was leaving for Yuanling City. What gift is she getting me? he wondered.

After Yang Xueqing left, Long Chen started to organize his belongings in the Universe Pouch.

In terms of finances, he only had one divine jade. This was considered rich in Baiyang Town, but he would be as poor as a beggar in Yuanling City.

He had a few demonic cores too, but they belonged to the Devil Groundhound and the Constellation Demon Wolf, so they couldn’t sell for much money either.

The only thing of value was the Ascension Fruit. “I am still at the Eighth Draconic Stage, so I can't use the fruit yet. I can’t fight the violent Blood Saints either. But once I reach the Ninth Draconic Stage, I can immediately eat this fruit to ascend to the Human Core Realm. With my Dragon Soul Qi and Dragon Soul Transformation, I’m sure my strength will rise greatly!

“The Blood Saints ...”

The Yang patriarch initially wanted to give Long Chen more divine jades, but he had declined them. There were only a few of them, so they would be much more useful to the Yang family than Long Chen. “Hey, how long can your Dream Lingzhi Mushrooms last you?”

Ling Xi calculated for a moment, then she said worriedly, “We had a total of six in the beginning, but that incident used up three. If everything goes as usual, then they should be able to last about two months ...” Long Chen knew that with Ling Xi’s concern for his safety, she would come to his rescue whenever he faced an attack he couldn’t withstand. However, three mushrooms were only enough for her to help him one more time.

Long Chen, in his heart of hearts, did not want her to use her power. “I’ll try not to get myself into extremely risky situations in these two months. I’ll also need to search for more divine soul-nourishing herbs ...”

Long Chen grew increasingly worried as he thought about it.

Protect the Yang family. Keep Ling Xi alive. These were the two things he had to accomplish soon. Ling Xi isn’t doing too well right now. It looks like I need to invest more effort into this. I couldn’t bear to see her leave me ...

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The root of the problem is that I, Long Chen, am far too poor ...

Time passed as he mulled over matters and arrived at this conclusion. Long Chen packed more clothes and other belongings, then he opened his door. There was already a group of Yang family members waiting outside this early in the morning.

Looking around, he realized that Yang Lingqing wasn't present, so he asked urgently, “Where has Lingqing gone?”

Yang Yuntian shook his head with a bitter smile. “The girl said she was going to prepare a gift but hasn’t come back. If you leave now, I’m afraid she won’t be able to see you off.”

“We’ll see when we get to the gates.”

Long Chen didn’t know what Yang Lingqing was up to either. He quickly walked out of the Yang residence with the rest of the family, receiving words of care and advice from them all. The sun had just risen, covering the lands in a layer of faint gold until it reached Long Chen’s feet.

The group waited for a while, but Yang Lingqing still wasn’t back. Just as everyone was growing a bit worried and the Yang patriarch was about to tell Long Chen not to wait, the cry of a horse sounded from the horizon!

Long Chen looked far ahead and saw the girl riding urgently on a two-meter-tall wild horse, soon arriving in front of the group.

The group looked at the tall, black horse. Its rippling muscles bulged all over its body and its legs looked powerful; it seemed to breathe raw power. A long, black mane grew on its neck with an arrogance and refusal to surrender in its red eyes.

It was covered in black scales from head to toe, similar to Long Chen post-transformation. “Isn’t this ... a Category Five Yellow-tier Black Scaled Dragon Horse?”

Long Chen didn’t expect Yang Lingqing’s gift to be a Black Scaled Dragon Horse.

He was very happy with this dignified, majestic demonic beast. The killing intent and bloodlust radiating faintly from its body was exactly to his liking.

He then thought about how Yang Lingqing not only knew him so well, but also how she had spent the night in the Desolate Mountains just to tame this demonic beast for him. Everyone watched the disheveled and dusty girl descend from the horse. They could tell that she had suffered to bring it here.

The Yang family had already prepared a steed for Long Chen, also a good horse, but it was no Black Scaled Dragon Horse.

Yang Lingqing quickly came up to Long Chen. She looked at him excitedly and cried, “Big Brother Chen, this is my gift to you! Do you like it?”

Long Chen was moved as he looked at the silly girl’s pretty face that was smeared with some dirt. He laughed and pulled her into his arms, then he pinched her cheeks and exclaimed, “Girl, how nice would it be if you weren’t my cousin? I would’ve taken you to bed already!” Long Chen’s face did not even turn the slightest hint of red when he said this in front of his elders, but it embarrassed Yang Lingqing so much that she shoved him away and ran to her father. Her face turned as red as an apple when she saw everyone looking at her.

“Alright, Chen’er, don’t bully my daughter, or I’ll need to come for your head again,” said Yang Yuntian with a chuckle.

Long Chen looked at the Black Scaled Dragon Horse, then at the Yang family whose eyes were filled with longing, then at the embarrassed Yang Lingqing, then at Yang Xueqing, who was gazing at him gently. Without a word, he mounted the horse.

The Black Scaled Dragon Horse was too afraid to move when it sensed his powerful aura.

Taking a deep breath, Long Chen waved at the Yang family, then he turned the horse around to head towards Yuanling City.

As the sun rose further up into the sky, its bright light swallowed Long Chen whole as he rode off into the sunrise.