When she mentioned the Shui family’s heavenly genius, Shui Wuhen’s expression became a bit unnatural. It was only after she explained that everyone came to comprehend why.

In truth, the Shui family’s inner organization was rather complicated. Other than the head of the family, there were three late Sea Expansion experts, and Shui Wuhen was one of them. The future family head was supposed to arise from these three people.

But Shui Wuhen had no interest in becoming the family head. As for the other two, their power spheres were extremely large, and they fought intensely.

Both of them had tried to pull Shui Wuhen to their side. But Shui Wuhen loathed that kind of struggle.

She decided to separate herself from the Shui family, distancing herself from their struggle. She went to the thirty-sixth supermonastery and quietly acted as a monastery head.

She hadn’t expected that leaving would end up offending both sides. Now, one of them had finally become the winner. That was because a rank two Celestial had been born amongst his descendants.

That was a form of absolute power, and the struggle was immediately settled. As for Shui Wuhen, because she had refused to join hands with him, she was constantly rejected during these few years.

This was a reprimand, as well as a display of power. As for the current family head, he had long since viewed this as normal. If a family wanted to flourish, then at times when there was no outer battle, inner battles were a way to increase strength. Of course, that was on the precondition that the leader controlled the scope of the inner struggle properly and didn’t let it overturn the entire boat.

So those who could manage the position of the family head were all wily old foxes. Only such people could keep control of the overall situation and allow the family to steadily advance.

Whether inner struggle would benefit the family was all up to the family head. How much it would benefit would be up to their control. It was a reflection of their wisdom.

This was the ‘essence’ left behind by generation after generation of the Righteous path. Practically all large families were the same. This was for the continued inheritance and prosperity of the family. Of course, some people felt this manner was inappropriate. The slightest mistake might cause the entire family to fracture. But they were also unable to find a better method.

Large families were like this, and sects were also like this. The inner competition was for the sake of development and raising total combat strength.

“That person is called Shui Guanzhi. He is also a rank two Celestial, and he controls the water element. His combat abilities are strange, and he definitely isn’t lacking compared to the other heavenly geniuses,” said Shui Wuhen.

“Shui Guanzhi… Shui Guanzhi… isn’t that Water Pipe?”[1] Long Chen was startled. Who had come up with such a name?

Shui Wuhen was also startled for a moment. Now that Long Chen mentioned it, she found that this name truly was a bit odd. The others also felt this name to be outlandish.

“Cough, his name might be a bit strange, but you should still be careful around him. He is very strong,” warned Shui Wuhen.

“Isn’t he from your family? Why do we have to be careful?” asked Tang Wan-er.

Long Chen was speechless. How could she view things so simply? Any power, as long as it grew strong enough, would begin to give rise to endless internal conflicts.

Humans were very marvelous creatures. It was like it was in their nature to dislike beauty and peace. When they saw something beautiful, they had an urge to destroy or pollute it.

Even a nation, a family, a sect, any power, after undergoing the baptism of a fierce war, they would only be united for a short period. Once they enjoyed peace for too long, once they forgot the pain of their wounds, they would start an internal conflict again.

“Foolish girl, after we became acquainted in the 108th monastery, have you forgotten just how many pitfalls we ran into? You think the Shui family is a collective whole and should be united, but then wouldn’t others also think that our 108th monastery was a collective whole? Have you forgotten the truth?” asked Long Chen.

“Oh.” Tang Wan-er nodded with embarrassment. She suddenly asked, “Long Chen, do you think I’m very foolish sometimes?”

“No.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Really?” Tang Wan-er was delighted. This acknowledgment from Long Chen was good to hear. But his next words weren’t so delightful to her.

“It’s not that you’re sometimes foolish, but that you’re always this foolish.”

“Bastard!” raged Tang Wan-er. She looked just like an infuriated but beautiful tigress that wanted to take a bite out of Long Chen. But she was held back by Meng Qi.

“Wan-er, don’t make a fuss. The monastery head is trying to give us a proper explanation,” advised Meng Qi.

“Sister, Long Chen is bullying me!” cried Tang Wan-er resentfully.

“It’s not like this is the first time; he often acts like this with you. Once you get accustomed to it, you’ll be fine,” consoled Meng Qi.

Shui Wuhen sighed, a bit speechless. “You children really give me a headache.”

Shui Wuhen truly was worried. Out of these people, the only one who was rather normal was Meng Qi. She was much more dutiful and steady. The rest were all like Long Chen, a bunch of troublemakers.

Furthermore, all of them were incredibly daring. She had introduced these terrifying figures to give them a warning and make them reserve themselves. But it seemed she had wasted her efforts.

“Alright, you can continue here. I’ll take a rest.” Shui Wuhen stood up, said her goodbyes, and just left.

Everyone was startled. Meng Qi hastily gave Long Chen a glance, and he immediately understood and followed Shui Wuhen.

“Big sister, are you angry?” Long Chen smiled.

“No.”

“Hahaha, big sister, it seems your words don’t match your heart,” laughed Long Chen.

“You… you little brat, if you laugh again, I’ll give you a beating,” raged Shui Wuhen.

“Alright, fine. Big sister, I know you told us all of that out of kindness. Look at me, I might be laughing, but I’m very clear on that. I’m not someone who doesn’t know what’s important and what’s not.” Long Chen knew Shui Wuhen had good intentions. But they had laughed it off, and that naturally did not give her a good feeling.

No matter how old you became, no matter how high your cultivation base became, such a thing would naturally make a person feel unwell. And compared to men, women liked to be more meticulous. She truly did feel a bit unwell inside due to their actions. Furthermore, she was their monastery head.

“Accompany me for a stroll,” sighed Shui Wuhen.

Of course, Long Chen didn’t refuse. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he wrapped an arm around Shui Wuhen’s arm, acting as if she were his sister. Shui Wuhen shook slightly, but she didn’t throw him off. The two of them slowly began to walk.

This was the thirty-sixth supermonastery’s camp, and their territory was extremely large. Long Chen and Shui Wuhen walked alongside each other to a small lake. The lakewater was extremely clear, and koi swam freely inside. It was extremely peaceful and comforting.

Shui Wuhen bitterly smiled. “Long Chen, you really are a demon. Sometimes you make a person so happy that they want to kiss you, and sometimes you make them so infuriated that they want to give you a beating.”

Shui Wuhen’s mood hadn’t been good, but with how obediently Long Chen was acting now, she didn’t have the heart to berate him.

“Hehe, I already have quite a bit of experience of big sister beating me, but it seems I have no memory of being kissed. Should we try it?” laughed Long Chen.

Shui Wuhen rapped Long Chen on the chest. She had an urge to rebuke him, but then seeing his smile, she also couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Only then did Long Chen get down to business. “Big sister, I know you were warning us for our own good. Although in terms of worldly wisdom, I’m not comparable to you, I have my own martial path. Since I’ve chosen that path, I can’t waver. If I do, I’ll never be able to advance again.

“My Dao is one of advancing forward no matter what. If mountains block me, I’ll split mountains. If rivers block me, I’ll split rivers. Even if mountains of corpses and seas of blood appear, I still won’t retreat, nor will I detour. This is my Dao; this is my conviction. Perhaps others aren’t able to understand it and will think that I am stupid. But I know what I’m doing. I would rather be a glorious firework than a long-lasting rock. In fact, we all feel that way.”

Shui Wuhen’s heart shook. She hadn’t expected Long Chen to be so obstinate. What he was describing was the Undefeatable Dao, the hardest path to walk. In order to maintain a bright Dao-heart, he could never suffer defeat in his entire life. But that was impossible.

A cultivator would run into countless experts in their lives. Who could possibly guarantee that they would never lose? Once they lost, their Dao-heart would waver, and their cultivation base would never advance again.

And it wasn’t just Long Chen. He was bringing with him a group of people to walk this path. That was too crazy.

But with her understanding of Long Chen, she knew he wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s advice. Thinking of that, she couldn’t help sighing. Everything would be up to him.

Long Chen didn’t dislike Shui Wuhen’s nagging. On the other hand, he appreciated it, because it meant Shui Wuhen truly did care about him.

“Is everything from that side handled?” asked Shui Wuhen.

“Pretty much.”

Long Chen gave her a general summary of what had happened in the Pill Tower. He didn’t need to hide anything from Shui Wuhen.

When she heard that the Huo family had been eradicated and that the Fang and Chai family heads had been killed by him, Shui Wuhen was shocked. If it had been someone else who had said this, she wouldn’t believe it even if they beat her to death.

“It really is unexpected that Fang Mingyuan and Chai Gaoyang would be blinded in the end. Regretful,” sighed Shui Wuhen.

“In truth, just how many higher-ups are able to keep their conscience? In their eyes, there is no right and wrong; there is only profit. When the profit is big enough, they won’t even hesitate. I’ve experienced far too much of that kind of thing.

“Let alone the Fang and Chai families, even if I joined the Shui family, I’m certain the Shui family head would also have made the same decision as them. That’s why I refused to join the Shui family back then. Unless you are able to become the family head, I have no confidence in the Shui family,” said Long Chen.

Hearing that he didn’t trust her family head, Shui Wuhen was a bit distressed. After all, that was her senior. But she had no choice but to admit that his words were extremely correct. And his last sentence and his trust in her warmed her heart.

“Alright, you can leave now. Go accompany those beauties and brothers of yours.” Shui Wuhen smiled.

“What about you?”

“Me? Forget about it. I really am unable to talk with you children.” Shui Wuhen shook her head.

[1] 水關志/水管子 Shui Guanzhi/Shui Guanzi. Shui Guanzi meaning water pipe.