Ultimately, the Army of Despair submitted to Xiang Shaoyun. After all, Despair had a high prestige among the bandit group. If even he had submitted, the others would unhesitatingly submit as well. This was especially true after they learned that Xiang Shaoyun was ranked first on the Saintly Forest Ranking.
This was a young king among Saints. He once slaughtered Great Saints. He was also someone who had fused nine different powers to create a never-before-seen physique, someone with boundless prospects.
“Since you have decided to follow this overlord, you’re my brothers from now on. If you work hard enough, I can easily help you grow in strength. You will also enjoy more cultivation resources,” said Xiang Shaoyun.
The 49 bandits he had subdued were pretty impressive. With these new members, Ziling Sect would only need a slight additional expansion before they could attempt to advance into a tier-8 organization. He had decided to personally complete the task his father hadn’t been able to complete.
“Thank you, overlord,” the 49 bandits answered together.
“Good. All of you will still remain under Despair’s command. You’ll be my personal guards. Apart from me, nobody can command you to do anything,” said Xiang Shaoyun.
The 49 bandits were overjoyed to hear that. Since they wouldn’t be separated and would remain under Xiang Shaoyun’s sole command, they wouldn’t need to worry that they would be greatly restricted upon joining Xiang Shaoyun’s forces.
Next, Xiang Shaoyun brought all 49 of them toward the Holy Earth Hall.
The Holy Earth Hall was basically an underground city led by the Holy Hall. After the hall master broke through into the Rebirth Realm, the Holy Hall stabilized considerably because their subordinate organizations had all settled down and become even more obedient than before. One could say that the Holy Hall was akin to a newly formed kingdom. With time, they would eventually develop into an imperial dynasty.
When Xiang Shaoyun had been accused of being a devil, Tuoba Wan’er had returned to the Holy Hall with her Tuoba Lingtian. She tried to ask for the hall master’s help, but it was unfortunate that the hall master had gone to an unknown location for cultivation purposes. Only a clone was left behind to protect the Holy Hall. The clone alone was not enough to provide Xiang Shaoyun any help.
Thus, Tuoba Wan’er became incomparably anxious. Fortunately, Purple Lightning Marquis had brought news of Xiang Shaoyun to her, finally allowing her to calm down. However, Tuoba Wan’er and Tuoba Ling had also been forced to remain in the Holy Hall. They weren’t allowed to return to the Ziling Sect.
Within a courtyard in the Holy Hall was a boy of about five or six years old. Dressed in simple martial attire, he was performing the horse stance. Hanging on both his arms were two buckets of water. Each bucket was 50 catties in weight, a weight enough to crush any boy to death. However, the sturdy boy in the courtyard seemed completely unaffected by the weight. Rather, he looked calm and composed, displaying the presence befitting of a martial artist.
Standing in the corridor connected to the courtyard was a beautiful woman. She was looking at the boy with a gratified look. Beside the woman was a maid who was speaking in a low voice, “The young hall master is truly impressive. He is already a sixth-stage Basic Realm cultivator at such a young age. It won’t be long before he reaches an even higher height.”
“Um. He is exceptionally talented. Even if he didn’t catch up to his father in the future, he wouldn’t be weak. But he will have to suffer a lot of hardships when he’s young,” said the beautiful woman. She was none other than Tuoba Wan’er.
For the past few years, she had been focusing on Tuoba Ling alone. Thus, her own cultivation had not progressed much. She had only managed to reach the eighth-stage Sovereign Realm.
At this time, someone rushed over and said, “Princess, the holy son-in-law has returned.”
“The holy son-in-law has returned?” A smile bloomed on Tuoba Wan’er’s face. She hurriedly rushed outside the courtyard.
Soon, she saw Xiang Shaoyun coming over with 49 riders behind him. Tears dripped from her eyes as she shouted, “Husband!”
Prior to this, she had thought that Xiang Shaoyun had been killed, and she had been greatly saddened upon hearing this news. Now that Xiang Shaoyun was standing before her yet again, she couldn’t help but get emotional.
Xiang Shaoyun dashed forth like a gust of wind and embraced her in his arms. He lightly wiped the tears off her face and said, “Wan’er, it has been hard on you.”
He could imagine how worried those who cared about him had been during the time he was being accused of being a devil. Tuoba Wan’er was definitely one of them. After all, she was his wife.
“I’m fine. Everything is fine as long as you’re back,” said Tuoba Wan’er as she hugged Xiang Shaoyun in a contented manner.
Xiang Shaoyun stroked her hair gently and said, “I’m fine. Let’s go in. We will turn into a spectacle if we continue staying here like this.”
After having some people arrange the accommodations for the Army of Despair, he returned to the manor with Tuoba Wan’er.
When passing by the courtyard, he saw his son, who was still training hard. A gratified look covered Xiang Shaoyun’s face. Just as Tuoba Wan’er was about to call out to their son, Xiang Shaoyun stopped her and said, “Let him train a bit more.”
“Are you really that cruel?” said Tuoba Wan’er as she pinched Xiang Shaoyun.
Xiang Shaoyun pretended to be hurt and said, “Ouch! My son is someone whose name will spread throughout the world. If we don’t let him build a strong foundation from a young age, how can he inherit the Holy Hall in the future?”
In fact, Xiang Shaoyun was envious of his own child. A tiny boy like that was actually the Holy Hall’s young master. With such a powerful organization waiting for him to inherit, he no longer needed to struggle as much as his father.
“Both you and Grandpa are too cruel!” said Tuoba Wan’er, who was still unhappy.
Xiang Shaoyun merely smiled and said nothing. Of course, he wanted his son to train less and live an easy life. But when he thought of the chaos that was about to descend upon the world soon, it was important for his son to also train hard and gain the ability to protect himself.
After about half a day, Tuoba Ling was finally done with his cultivation session. When he saw Xiang Shaoyun, he exclaimed in joy, “Father! You’re finally back!”
Xiang Shaoyun gave his son a hug and rubbed his head as he said, “Yeah, your father is back. Your father has missed you greatly.”
“You’re lying. If you would really miss me, why would you leave for such a long time?” said Tuoba Lingtian with a pout.
“It’s my bad. From now on, I’ll visit you frequently,” said Xiang Shaoyun.
He felt somewhat ashamed. Since Tuoba Lingtian’s birth, he had spent way too little time with his own son. Fortunately, Tuoba Wan’er had put a lot of effort into their son, making sure their son wouldn’t forget his father. If this was any other child, the child would have forgotten his father already.
“Pinky promise! You can’t lie to me!” said Tuoba Lingtian.
Xiang Shaoyun laughed and gave his son a pinky promise. A sense of joy wrapped around his heart as he said, “No matter what, I will protect every single person around me. I won’t allow anyone to harm them!”
