Chapter 61

After the shock, Hu Laosan knew that Laoer's reinforcements had arrived, but he was not afraid. This was a family matter, and no one else should meddle in it. Calming himself, Hu Laosan bowed to Long Zaitian and said, "It turns out it's Brother Long. I apologize for not welcoming you properly."

Long Zaitian said with a sinister smile, "I met an old acquaintance at the foot of the mountain just now. We chatted for a while, and I forgot to inform you first."

An old acquaintance? Why did he bring this up?

Hu Laosan had a bad feeling. As expected, Long Zaitian glanced at Hu Laowu and Hu Laosan and said, "Can you guess who this old acquaintance of mine is?"

Even Hu Laowu felt there was something fishy about Long Zaitian's words.

Seeing the panic on these two old men's faces, Long Zaitian chuckled and said, "I have some business dealings with this boss."

Hu Laowu immediately felt guilty and exchanged a glance with Hu Laosan. They didn't want to verify who this old friend of Long Zaitian was and decided to retreat for the time being.

Hu Laosan said with a forced smile, "I guess Brother Long is here to catch up with Brother Laoer. We won't get in your way."

Although Hu Laosan had the support of the Xuanyuan clan, he didn't dare to act rashly because of Long Zaitian's words. He was afraid of being accused of colluding with outsiders, which would make his actions unjustified. He decided to go back and discuss with the elder of the Xuanyuan clan before making a decision.

Seeing his brothers retreat, Hu Laozong pretended to be confused, bowed to Long Zaitian, and said, "This is a family matter, and Brother Long has seen it. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Long Zaitian chuckled and said, "Not at all, we haven't seen each other in years. Let's have a drink."

Long Zaitian and Hu Laozong were sworn brothers; otherwise, Hu Laozong wouldn't have been able to form an alliance with the Long family.

Hu Laozong said heartily, "Brother, let's drink to our heart's content. Please."

With that, Hu Laozong led the way out, and Long Zhaorong followed behind Long Zaitian.

Long Zhaorong felt both relieved and excited by his father's arrival, chirping away like a little bird. Behind him, Hua Yinglong greeted once and then remained silent, as he was not a talkative person.

Long Zaitian glanced meaningfully at this nephew and then left the Hu family ancestral hall, holding his daughter's hand. He had several sons but only one daughter, whom he adored.

Hu Laosan came with a show of force but retreated in fear, which caused a chorus of jeers from the young men who had come to besiege the family. Hu Laosan didn't know how to explain and quickly left with Lao Si and Lao Wu.

The internal conflict in the Hu family was temporarily quelled by Long Zaitian's appearance.

The sky before dawn was especially dark, and the forest twenty kilometers north of Tianchuan City was deathly silent, with no insects chirping or wind blowing.

In the middle of the forest, a large man was sitting cross-legged on a desolate flat ground.

When Hero was in the ethereal realm, his body did not remain idle. The gourd heart instinctively began to circulate the foundation-building breathing technique, with countless roots penetrating the plants within a kilometer, turning the area into a massive spiritual energy funnel.

The sudden counterattack against the earth spider had consumed eighty percent of his pure yang inner breath, which was now rapidly recovering.

As the pure yang inner breath washed through his body, layers of black impurities were expelled through his pores.

When the first ray of sunlight hit Hero's head, he finally opened his eyes and murmured, "The Great Way is formless, and it is vast. What can be used by me is my way. I am a Life Master, but who says a Life Master must be weak and powerless, and a Life Master cannot possess powerful destructive forces!"

Hero finally understood the way of power and realized his own path. He broke free from the constraints of the Great Way, and the cultivation insights from the earth spider and Qian Nv 7 were completely extracted, with the residual effects of the life creation pills in the gourd heart quietly released.

Hero would not miss the process of the life creation power taking effect.

This bit of medicinal power transformed the cultivation insights of the earth spider and Qian Nv 7 into natural patterns, which fused into his soul. When this bit of life creation was completed, Hero's soul emblem gained several additional cards, and the eyes of the bear in the soul emblem seemed to flash with a hint of enchanting light.

He had gained another means of self-preservation, an additional trump card that he would not use unless necessary.

In addition to these gains, the loyalty oath curse of the Netherworld Guard was swallowed by Hero's soul, disguised as a new loyalty oath curse with natural patterns. The loyalty oath curse of the Hu family was also replaced by natural patterns.

He truly treated oaths as if they were nothing.

After a deep breath, Hero finished his cultivation.

His power realm rose to the eighth level of awakened abilities, thanks to the Solar Holy Elixir. Using such a miraculous elixir on Hero was not a waste; the unmanifested effects were converted into pure yang inner breath through the foundation-building breathing technique.

Taking a small half of the Solar Holy Elixir allowed him to advance from the seventh level of awakened abilities to the eighth level, which made Hero grin with excitement. He then thought of Grandpa Turtle, a powerful meat shield. If he shared these benefits with Grandpa Turtle, it would make Grandpa Turtle stronger, increasing his safety.

Grandpa Turtle, sensing something, finally woke up groggily, yawned, and muttered, "It must be you, you little brat, plotting against your grandpa, making me sneeze even in my dreams."

Hero could only shrug. When Grandpa Turtle woke up and realized he was still alive, with his birds still hanging, he thanked heaven and his ancestors.

Hero briefly recounted the events and the loot to Grandpa Turtle. When he heard that Hero had become a Netherworld Guard for no reason, Grandpa Turtle was stunned: "I am your guardian, but you became someone else's guard. This world is upside down."

But when he heard that Hero had defeated the hateful earth spider, although Hero concealed the part about the loot, this was the meat of the matter for Grandpa Turtle. After repeated questioning, Hero still shared a small portion of the loot with Grandpa Turtle.

There was nothing to pack up. Hero transformed back into the Hu Yingxiong living pattern and left. He didn't know that the internal conflict in the Hu family had been forced to resolve due to his absence. Unfortunately, the credit for this went to someone else.

The sun was high in the sky, but Hua Zhilong in the side hall had a face as black as ink. He grumbled at Hero, "Tell me, where did you run off to last night? Do you know that the old man was worried all night and sent people to look for you?"