“Clarify,” I wanted him to get to the point, but not even I was fully prepared for the words that came out of his mouth next.

He put the teacup down whilst adopting a mysterious smile, “Your parent’s fate is a very fickle thing.”

****

Dum!

An invisible pressure swept out and bore down on everyone present. There was no change in expression on Long Di’s face, but there was now an iciness that lay within the depths of his eyes that frightened those present.

No cauldrons were summoned, only the driving of his spiritual qi warranted such a phenomenon. However, to bring them fully into being only required a mere thought from him at the moment.

“Careful…” was all he whispered. “Be very careful of the taboos you touch upon, Yang Fuyou. To stir the reverse scale of a dragon brings upon one swift destruction.”

Yang Fuyou messed up, he realised he misspoke. To Long Di, those words sounded like a threat! He had to correct himself!

“I-”

Boom!

“How dare you!?”

An aura even stronger than Long Di’s came crashing down as an old man appeared out of nowhere!

Seeing as Long Di dared to threaten Yang Fuyou, the old man moved without reserve. He reached towards Long Di as a powerful spiritual qi with vicious fluctuations encased his entire palm!

Yang Fuyou’s expression suddenly changed, “Hu Guan, no!”

Yet the old man, named Hu Guan, paid no heed to Yang Fuyou. His goal was to protect the latter no matter what! He was going to suppress this young child who didn’t know the immensity of the heavens and the earth!

Without waiting for him to get close, Long Di took out his saber and released a flurry of slashes in defence!

Hu Guan saw this and snorted in contempt!

Hmph! A mere two Star Core Flame Evocation realm expert dares to face him head-on!? He was courting death!

D-Dum!

His cauldrons burst into existence, all nine of them, and though they were all affixed with pearls, three, in particular, shone with a resplendent starry glow. This was an expert with three star cores!

It was this realisation that made Yang Fuyou want Hu Guan to hold back, but the old man didn’t seem to want to listen!

As of now, Long Di didn’t have access to his divine lightning, so his normal suppressive advantage was no longer in play. Although lightning element cultivators had an extremely high attack potential, that was only against opponents in the same cultivation realm.

However, did the absence of Long Di’s divine lightning signify that he was someone easy to bully?

No!

Yet, as Hu Guan closed in on Long Di, the former’s palm came into contact with the latter’s saber strikes.

Cling! Clang! Clink!

A sound similar to that of metallic clangour rang out as the saber strikes shattered upon contact with Hu Guan’s palm!

It was obvious that this was a powerful martial technique. This allowed him to close the distance even more. However, Long Di didn’t panic.

HIs cauldrons were already on full display as they were long since ready to erupt due to Yang Fuyou’s encroachment upon Long Di’s reverse scale.

Krrshh!

Long Di quickly focused himself once more as lightning engulfed his blade. He was going to hold nothing back!

“Humph!” With a grunt, he released another sequence of slashes!

Hu Guan’s sneer widened when he saw this, “Reckless fool!”

Who didn’t see Long Di’s earlier slashes appear like eggs thrown against a rock against Hu Guan’s palm!? Doing this again, was this not seeking your own humiliation!?

Unexpectedly, however, the scene of Long Di being suppressed and captured did not appear. Instead, another shocking one took place.

Pu Ci!

“What!?”

Shock appeared on Hu Guan’s face as Long Di’s seemingly insignificant slashes tore through the spiritual qi that encased his palm and drew blood!

Hu Guan was shocked at this, and not just him, Yang Fuyou, Huli Ruo and Yaomu Shou who retreated with the others were shocked as well!

How could Long Di wound someone obviously stronger than him? Fighting above someone’s cultivation realm was a privilege reserved only for those geniuses of sects that had a sea’s worth of cultivation resources poured into them!

“Saber intent!” Hu Guan’s expression changed as shock overtook his features, and it was this moment of shock that gave Long Di the chance to take the initiative.

He didn’t try to face the Hu Guan again; he was sure he could fight the latter head-on for a while, but that was more trouble than it was worth.

Instead, he turned his sights towards Yang Fuyou. The latter stumbled back in realisation at this, but after a moment’s hesitation, he remained still and allowed Long Di to approach without a struggle. He couldn’t fight Long Di either, so there was no need to make it any more painful than it had to be.

When Hu Guan saw what was happening, he became enraged once more.

“Little animal!”

“Stand down!”

The one who yelled was surprisingly not Long Di, but Yang Fuyou instead. Though the auction manager had a blade against his neck, he remained calm and collected as he stared Hu Guan down.

“But manager Fuyou-”

“Can you handle the responsibility for offending the power that lies behind this young man!? NO!” Yang Fuyou answered his own question as very few knew about Long Di’s situation as well as he did.

Naturally, he was incensed at the current situation. Long Di was supposed to be the person who would be able to help him rise to greater heights.

“Broth… I mean Long Di,” he was in no position to talk on familiar terms with Long Di at the moment. He would be far too shameless if he insisted on it, so starting over was the best path to take.

“I am truly sorry. I have failed in properly disciplining my followers.” Yang Fuyou bowed as he apologised.

Could one find a more bizarre scene anywhere? One person had a blade against his neck as he calmly sought forgiveness from another who could open his neck to the world.

It was an odd sight indeed. “Hu Guan is not a disciple of the Qian Dao Sect, he is my… bodyguard,” Yang Fuyou explained.

“You were able to hire a three Star Core Martial Master as your bodyguard?” Long Di couldn’t help but be impressed.

If there was one thing he knew since reincarnating in this world, and from his massive knowledge about all things cultivation related, it was that cultivators were proud beings; what more one that attained three Star Cores in the Core Flame Evocation realm.

The mere fact that the Qian Dao Sect had the ability to hire such a powerful person as a bodyguard for one of their disciples made one wonder just what offer did they make that could move such a person.

“Sir Yang Fuyou, whatever existence is it that is behind this boy, can it stand against the Qian Dao Sect!?” Hu Guan refused to believe that a genius with such a powerful background would appear in such a place.

“Are you saying that the Qian Dao Sect is able to stand toe to toe with the dragons?” Yang Fuyou asked with a grave expression.

“T-The d-d-d-dragons!?” The colour drained from Hu Guang’s face as he stared at Long Di in horror.

He quickly hurried towards Long Di, who tightened his grip on the saber as a result. However, Hu Guan didn’t attack. He slid towards the front of Long Di in a bowing posture, not daring to look at him.

“This humble one apologises to the young noble for the earlier offence!” Hu Guang was terrified.

Who was he kidding!? Who were the dragons!? They were an existence that made even those monsters in the central region wary! Would the Qian Dao Sect protect a bodyguard from the wrath of the dragons!?

Those beasts were unreasonable in every sense of the word and gave face to no one! Yet, he somehow managed to offend someone who was connected to them! Was he so tired of living!?

From Long Di’s group, only Yaomu Shou, Xiannu Liang and Zi Yu stared at wide-eyed Long Di in the face of this revelation. They were the only ones present that understood how earth-shattering this situation was.

If someone else were to tell them that a mere human boy had an intimate connection with the proud dragon race, they would slap that person with a dead rat! But this coming from not just anyone, but a disciple of the Qian Dao Sect.

Moreover, this was a disciple that the Qian Dao Sect believed was important enough to warrant the expenditure needed to hire a bodyguard. There was no need for such a person to lie. So it must be true!

Long Di didn’t pay attention to anyone else, not even the kneeling Hu Guan and turned to Yang Fuyou. “What do my parents have to do with the dragons?”

Long Di was well aware that the Long character in his family’s name stood for dragon, but as far as he knew, they had no relation to the actual legendary beast. Yet now, his parents somehow became connected to them post his disappearance? What happened?

“You don’t know?” Yang Fuyou was surprised. He didn’t realise that Long Di was in the dark about this.

Long Di couldn’t care less about Yang Fuyou’s current mindset, but he withdrew his saber and walked back to the couch he sat in before all hell broke loose.

In reality, though the fight between Long Di and the still kneeling Hu Guan had been intense, the radius of damage was relatively small.

As a result, the couch was still in good condition. Long Di sat back down in it and gestured for Yang Fuyou to do the same.

Yang Fuyou then looked to the floor and saw that Hu Guan was still kneeling on the floor, “Aren’t you going to tell him to get u-”

“Now,” Long Di didn’t give Yang Fuyou a chance to finish. “Tell me everything you know about my parents.”