“Let uncle help you to your feet.”

Zhang Dong reached towards Long Fengge’s ankle and yanked him out from the ground that he was stuck in. After their exchange, the young man was submerged under the now destroyed stone slabs that were supposed to last through almost any attack.

“Up you go!”

The moment the young man was pulled out there was a clear focus at a certain part. The young man’s robe had been blasted to nothingness by Zhang Dong’s golden flames. This then caused Long Fengge’s family jewels to be seen by everyone that was there.

“Ack… It’s Lord Fengge’s…”

“Why does it lack any hair… did those golden flames burn them off?”

The women cultivators that were now regaining themselves started screaming out. Their young masters' lower regions were fully exposed to them now.

“Y-you l-let him go this instant!”

Long Yanyu called out from the upper booth that had survived the blast. She was covering part of the face with her hand while looking down. Zhang Dong on the other hand just looked up at her with a big smile on his face. The person that he was holding flopped around like a ragdoll as he was tossed about by his ankle.

“There is nothing to be shy about, we are all family here, aren’t we?”

Zhang Dong could see that the situation was slowly spiraling in a certain direction. The two young masters jumped down and their bodyguards moved with them. From all sides, he could feel that people that were late stage and above were gathering. Even though he was having his fun, he still made this young master look bad.

Most of the time this would be a death sentence to an outsider but for now, he had a large shield protecting him, that shield was the Azure Emperor. He looked like him and the golden flames that were surrounding him were very similar to the Azure flames that these clan members used.

From what he discovered through his own prodding and with some help from Bob, these flames did require a bloodline. There was a certain pivotal component to using them, sort of a key code that was somehow integrated into his own body.

He could only attribute it to being some kind of DNA requirement that this body he was given possessed. When he clashed with the core formation clan member he had Bob analyze some of his blood during the healing process.

Then after comparing his body composition there were a few spots that were identical. He was truly related to these Long clan members. It wasn’t a soul bond as his inner shell belonged to him.

The only conclusion he could come to was that this world's scenario had been programmed in and the person that was Zhang Dong had been a secret Long Clan member from the start. With this information now cemented, he didn’t think that he should fear these people anymore.

Instead, he could use this world’s logic to further his goal of defeating Wang Long and getting to the root of it. Who was making these planets with these game-like systems? Why did they allow people to run loose with no supervision and what really happened when they transcended the scenario.

“You approach me with malice and disrespect in your hearts?”

Fengge was surrounded by a golden light as he was healed by Zhang Dong’s energies. The young man had a couple of fractures after the exchange but he was not in any danger of dying. The infusion of his healing arts that had been improved caused the knocked-out Fengge to awaken.

“What is…”

Before he realized what was going on he was tossed by Zhang Dong towards his brother and sister that were coming this way. It was clear that the two wanted to intervene in this situation but their behavior was less than stellar considering that they were supposedly in the presence of someone above them.

While in some cultures the offspring of the emperor or a king would be above anyone else of the royal family, this wasn’t true here. Him being part of the Long Clan was only one reason to respect him while his personal strength would be the main one.

Thus he decided to act as a properly angry senior that had been disrespected for once. The golden flames that were around his body surged in all directions. A bright golden inferno filled the entire stage as his oppressive aura ballooned to staggering proportions.

“Juniors, you dare dissect your uncle? Even after I graciously agreed to give you pointers?”

Most of the people that were still on their feet were forced down to the ground while the whole training ground rumbled. Even the guards that were at the late stage of the nascent soul were shoved down to their knees as Zhang Dong’s aura exploded.

The only person that was managing to keep a somewhat straight position was an expert that was at the great circle level. To Zhang Dong this was probably the main guard that was responsible for the trio’s wellbeing.

The three were forced down to their knees and had to avert their gaze from the radiant glow that Zhang Dong was giving out. Even though this should be the point where they apologized, instead they continued with being little brats.

“H-how dare someone like you…”

“G-guards what are you d-doing, apprehend that man!”

The oldest son and the sister shouted out in indignation. This was probably the first time where someone was exerting their authority over them. They were powerless to do anything by themselves which caused them to call out to their retainers. These people would probably listen to them over him as he was still an unfamiliar element in this whole Long Clan.

This clan had existed for many millennia, its power structure was unknown to him. He did not know how these people chose their next Azure Emperor. Probably one of the two youths here were brought up to take the position. To some, this would be enough to see them on the same level as the Emperor. They would push their way into their good graces at all costs.

From the oldest son of the emperor, a blue glint escaped. Some kind of strange seal appeared on his forehead and produced a blue shield that produced an image of a dragon’s head. It looked like the dragon swallowed up the three young masters but in reality, it was protecting them from his oppressive aura.

“But young master, the Azure Emperor stated that the guest should not be harmed…”

The man moved forward but still asked the question.

“That was before he blatantly attacked us, now carry out your orders!”

Long Shen shouted out while helping his confused brother up from the ground. The other nascent soul masters that were at the late stage also started to slowly get up from the ground. Even though Zhang Dong’s aura was immense, it could be canceled out if some effort was applied.

“Oh? You would attack this… Long Dong? Is this the renowned Long Clan hospitality?”

“That is…”

It was clear that these old martial artists didn’t want to have anything to do with this. They knew that their young masters could end this predicament with one head bow. Instead, they were being forced into a potentially deadly confrontation with a man that could be favored by the Azure Emperor.

“Are you really going to let this continue for longer?”

Zhang Dong found himself surrounded by a bunch of scary-looking cultivation uncles. While he was somewhat confident in his own strength, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to battle his way out if more people came.

The various formations that were in place here also gave his opponents an advantage that he wasn’t quite sure of yet. Thus he decided to play another card, calling out to the person that was watching this scene play itself out.

While others might have not realized it yet, he was well aware that somewhere the Azure Emperor was looking at them. He was also a father and he knew that no one would just leave their kids up to their own devices with an unknown element near them.

“Oh, I see that you have good senses, my brother!”

After a moment of silence, the voice of the Azure Emperor sounded through the whole training ground. Zhang Dong didn’t know where exactly he was hiding but he could feel some faint aura fluctuations around the area.

At first, he just thought it was the formations but after analyzing the Azure flames of his opponents, he realized that this was a cultivator hiding. The first possibility would be that it was another powerful bodyguard.

But he gave the fatherly Emperor the benefit of the doubt as he didn’t think he would let his kids just fight a yet unknown member of the family. During the exchange with the youngest son, he did finally spot the hidden Azure Emperor that leaked some of his power while probably ready to defend his son in a split second exchange.

“It’s fine, stand down.”

The Emperor appeared this time without his wife, the moment he was there the guards gave out sighs of relief while bowing.

“But father, that ruffian…”

“That ruffian is your uncle Yanyu, did you see it? Those radiant azure flames… no they were more similar to the celestial flames of legend!”

Zhang Dong’s aura subsided but there was apparently something that the emperor noticed about them. He did add ‘celestial’ to his punching technique but that was just a hastily put-together name with no deep meaning.

“Celestial flames? But father only the hidden ancestor… could it really be?”

“Um… hello?”

Everyone promptly ignored his call-outs as they began debating what had occurred at this very moment. He knew that his golden flames weren’t all that special but to these people, it seemed that there was more to it.

By the reaction of the young master trio, they were somewhat aware of these celestial flames. There could be secrets that only became clear to the innermost circle of this clan. It appeared that his little trick to garner attention had, in turn, worked to his favor. If he was taken as some reincarnation of the old ancestor, his status would probably rise even further, maybe even above the Azure Emperor himself.

“How could this person be related to the great ancestor?”

“You’re still talking like that? Go pay respect to your uncle or I will cut your allowance!”

“But father!”

The three kids started arguing with their father in front of everyone here. It was truly a strange sight to behold as they were not worried about hiding their emotions. The father was quick to smack the two sons around a bit for talking back to him. The daughter was the only sensible one as she didn’t raise her voice in the presence of her father.

“W-we apologize to senior uncle…”

Soon he had the three bowing before him while the Azure Emperor stood behind them with a raised fist. This apparently wasn’t the end of the journey as some more information was about to be revealed to him.

He had planned to use this dramatic fight to teleport away back home after having his pride trampled on. Now he decided to stick for a bit longer, maybe something that could get him through the hurdle that was this coming war and Wang Long waited for him inside this Long Clan.