“Master, you…”

Cui Lao went speechless after he saw Ling Lie’s astonishing change.

“Hehe, my precious grandson is simply the incarnation of a demon. He managed to push me into Xiantian Realm Level Eight in such a short period of time…” Ling Lie told Cui Lao with telepathy. Ling Lie couldn’t stop gloating about Ling Yun now.

“Xiantian Realm Level Eight!” Cui Lao’s eyes nearly popped out. He knew better than anyone else what attaining Xiantian Realm Level Eight meant!

Whenever there was a dispute amongst the big families — no matter whether it was about power, money, connections, resources, and so on and so forth — the deciding factor would always be the strength of the core figures of the family!

Why was that so?

Take the Chen Family, for example. Chen Jingtian, the head of the Chen Family, had a cultivation base at the pinnacle of Xiantian Realm Level Seven. Ling Lie was now a whole level higher than Chen Jingtian. Would Chen Jingtian dare to attack the Ling Family?

Ling Lie could head to the Chen Family instead and beat Chen Jingtian up. Who in the Chen Family would dare to do anything?

The fundamental deciding factor was strength! Everything else could step aside!

Ling Lie had now attained Xiantian Realm Level Eight. He would be able to fend off five Xiantian Realm Level Seven ninjas all by himself. Everyone else would be killed instantly. How would the Ling Family perish then?

As far as Cui Lao’s knowledge went, only two of the seven big families in Beijing had masters above Xiantian Realm Level Eight! They were the Long Family, which controlled Huaxia, and the low-key but mysterious Ye Family! None of the remaining five had any!

The Chen Family was slightly stronger. Chen Jingtian had attained the pinnacle of Xiantian Realm Level Seven ten years ago, but he couldn’t advance anymore because of his age.

Now, the head of the Ling Family suddenly attained Xiantian Realm Level Eight! That meant that the Ling Family had entered the top three of the seven big families in Beijing!

This was just Ling Lie! There was also Ling Yun, who just returned to his rightful home!

Ling Yun was even more extraordinary!

Cui Lao might not have said anything, but he knew that Ling Yun must be on par with a Xiantian Realm Level Eight master immediately after he saw Ling Yun defeating the two Xiantian Realm Level Seven ninjas.

That was purely based on his cultivation. Ling Yun had so many other trump cards in his hands. For example, the Dragon Elephant Divine Force, which could increase his prowess to ten times its usual might!

Cui Lao felt like his brain was going to explode. He was too excited!

“Congratulations, Master, this is a joyous piece of news for the Ling Family!”

Cui Lao gave his blessings to Ling Lie through telepathy. At the same time, he couldn’t help but imagine what Ling Xiao could achieve if Ling Yun were to heal him after he was rescued!

Don’t forget, Ling Xiao was the genius of Beijing! Even the genius of the Long Family had to bow in comparison!

Ling Lie, Ling Xiao, and Ling Yun, if they were to use their force at the same time…

The Ling Family now had enough power to stand against the Long Family and the Ye Family to become one of the three big families of Huaxia once more!

Cui Lao nearly whistled in delight as he looked at Ling Yun’s four loyal Blood Clan servants!

The rise of the Ling Family was becoming a reality in the blink of an eye!

“Cui Lao, bring your people to clean up the battlefield. We’ll give every one of the men of sacrifice an honorable burial!”

Ling Lie wanted to give Ling Yong the job, but he was afraid that he might be too young to carry out something like this. He, therefore, delegated the task to Cui Lao.

“Yes!” Cui Lao took it up respectfully.

“Everyone, please wait, I have a few matters to announce!” Ling Lie stood in the middle of the sixth courtyard with a solemn expression. He used telepathy to transport his crisp and clear voice into everyone’s ears.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards Ling Lie respectfully.

“First, anyone who speaks about what happened tonight to anyone outside of us will be killed! No matter who it is!

“Second, Young Master Ling Yun has returned to his rightful home. This matter cannot be revealed to the outside world for the time being. Again, anyone who reveals such information will be killed!

“Third, men of sacrifice. From now on, you don’t need my permission to do whatever Young Master Ling Yun wants you to do, no matter what the task might be. His words are equal to my words. Anyone who dares defy him will also be killed!”

Ling Lie’s pair of majestic and unquestionable eyes swept over everyone in the yard. That included the current head of the family, Ling Zhen, causing Ling Zhen to panic and look down involuntarily.

“Do all of you understand?” Ling Lie concluded in a low voice.

Every man of sacrifice agreed. It was difficult to miss the excitement in their eyes.

Every one of them was picked from thousands of candidates. They survived after layers and layers of elimination. They weren’t only loyal to the Ling Family, but they were also witty and hardy. All of them were elites.

These handpicked elites naturally admired the strong. Ling Yun’s extraordinary performance elicited the deepest respect from them. They were willing to follow him and die for him. Wouldn’t Ling Lie’s announcement excite them since they could now follow their hearts’ desires?

Ling Lie waved to Cui Lao after he was done with his speech, signaling for him to clean up the battlefield. Ling Yun spoke up at this time, saying, “Cui Lao, you need only maintain the bodies of the brothers who died for the Ling Family. Just gather the Japanese ninjas into a pile. I’ll deal with them later.”

Ling Yun brought the Corpse Powder along with him this time. It was made for this purpose.

Cui Lao smiled at Ling Yun before getting to work.

Ling Lie gathered Ling Zhen, Ling Yue, and his three grandchildren by his side. He smiled at the three of them and said encouragingly, “You have done well tonight. You didn’t embarrass our Ling Family. Grandpa will reward you after tonight…”

“Grandpa, we don’t need any rewards. We want Younger Brother Ling Yun to teach us martial arts…” Ling Feng quickly replied.

Ling Lie turned his head towards Ling Yun and broke into a hearty laugh. “That’s a matter between you cousins. There’s no use asking me. Ask Ling Yun if you really want to learn from him…”

Ling Feng tried to hug Ling Yun’s thigh and pretended to plead before Ling Lie finished. “Good brother, you have to teach me martial arts. Big Brother will do anything as long as you are willing to teach…”

Ling Yong and Ling Li naturally did the same.

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you as long as you aren’t afraid of hardship…” Ling Yun replied with a great smile.

Every one of his cousins was gifted and talented from his observations. They simply lacked a good teacher to lead them down the right path.

However, one wouldn’t be able to master martial arts just by talent alone. They would need patience. Ling Yun had to polish them and observe their attitudes.

All three of them patted their chests and replied that they weren’t afraid of hardship.

Ling Yun snickered to himself. “Don’t regret it when the time comes…”

The four of them joked around for a while before Ling Lie raised his voice. “My words just now were mainly for you three. Put a zip on your lips and don’t go around blowing things up, understand?”

Ling Lie was most worried about these three little guys.

“Grandpa, don’t worry, we aren’t stupid!” Ling Li smiled. This young chap was on the weird side, but he had a sweet tongue.

“Hmph! You’re the one I’m most worried about!” Ling Lie barked with a smile on his face.

Ling Li licked his thin lips in fear and didn’t dare to say another word.

“My eldest son!” Ling Lie finally looked towards Ling Zhen.

“Yes!” Ling Zhen lowered his head respectfully.

Originally, Ling Zhen was the one with the highest cultivation base in the Ling Family. He was at Xiantian Realm Level Two and was the eldest son, so he naturally had power. Over the years, he had developed his own style of leadership. He was still filial to Ling Lie, but he had stopped reporting everything to Ling Lie.

Ling Lie relied on this son most of the time when he was keeping a low profile. That was why he closed one eye to the things Ling Zhen did. Their relationship had become quite delicate.

Now that Ling Lie had attained Xiantian Realm Level Eight, his aura was overpowering. Ling Zhen was secretly afraid, not knowing what Ling Lie was going to tell him.

“Yun Er just returned home. Don’t give him any tasks and let him decide what to do himself…”

Ling Lie’s tone was light, as though he was talking about something trivial.

However, Ling Zhen and Ling Yue both understood the deeper meaning of his words. Ling Yun was free from the orders of the head of the Ling Family!

Ling Zhen bowed immediately, and he respectfully replied, “I understand!”

“Great…”

Ling Lie nodded before turning to Ling Yue. “Second Son, after tonight, chat more with Ling Yun when he’s not busy. Tell him everything he needs to know without missing any detail…”

Ling Yue nodded readily. “I understand!”

“Someone!” Ling Lie bellowed after he finished his arrangements.

Cui Lao was almost done with his clean up, so he sent six men of sacrifice to Ling Lie when he heard his cry.

Ling Lie pointed towards Chen Haizhen, who was lying in the corner, and shouted, “Throw him and the two Japanese Chuunin into the Ling Family dungeon!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The six men of sacrifice responded and split into three groups. Two of them carried one person each and walked towards the eighth courtyard. Obviously, the dungeon was in the eighth courtyard.

“Eh… We can’t get through…” The six men of sacrifice realized that a thick white fog had appeared in front of the door to the seventh courtyard. Where was the seventh courtyard?