After cupping his fist, the middle-aged man that stepped out of the void bowed and greeted the Patriarch and Grand Elder before he said.

"On the way back from the Central Continent there were two Sage Realm experts that were planning an ambush in secret, but I killed them before they got the chance to."

"Did you find out who sent them?"

The Patriarch looked relatively calm but a tinge of killing intent was behind his words.

Shaking his head, elder Sun answered.

"No Patriarch. They were dressed as rogue cultivators and when I perform a soul search on them their memories about their origins and backgrounds were already erased, it also seems like they were being controlled like human puppets."

Hearing that, the Patriarch's eyes turn cold and the killing intent he was suppressing erupted. An intense and chilling sensation immediately enveloped the main hall, causing the temperature in the room to drop.

"Someone actually tried to harm my son?"

Feeling the intense killing intent being released by the Patriarch, elder Sun took a step back while his face sported a nervous expression.

He knew that the Patriarch was very protective of his firstborn son. And it was to the point where everyone on the Wu Continent when seeing Longwei at auction houses or strolling in the streets with the Wu Clan's guards, would put on big smiles and greet him, but all the while keeping their distance not daring to offend him.

And that was because of an incident that happened three years ago during a Martial Arts Competition that's held every 5 years on the Continent.

This was a competition where hundreds of disciples from the various Sects would compete for ten spots which can give them the chance to enter one of the three lesser Pocket Realms on the Wu Continent.

A Pocket Realm was a small dimensional space that not only has rare and valuable treasures but also has cultivation grounds suitable for cultivators in the Qi Gathering Realm, all the way up to the Core Formation Realm.

In the battle to determine the top ten, the person who got knocked out of the arena first or becomes unconscious would get the tenth place and the lowest level cultivation grounds. Going by this, the last person standing would be the winner and would get the highest quality cultivation grounds.

Wu Longwei, the firstborn son of the Patriarch was only 12 years old at the time and had just started cultivating for a little over a few months. He had decided to enter the tournament, not for the cultivation grounds, but only to temper himself against the various Sects' geniuses.

To enter the Competition, one had to be fourteen years old or below, and because of that, the highest cultivation base in the Competition was around the 5th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.

So, one could imagine the shocked reaction the Sects representatives had when they saw that Longwei, who was only emitting the cultivation aura at the 3rd stage, suddenly burst out with the cultivation base at the 6th level in the match to determine the top ten.

In less time than it took to make a cup of tea, eight of the nine disciples in the arena were on the floor beaten to near death. Only when the ninth disciple, a prodigy from one of the top three Sage Sects, the 'Crescent Moon Sect' took action did his onslaught halted.

That disciple was actually at the 6th stage of the Qi Gathering stage almost entering the 7th stage, and hid it at the peak of the 4th level. He had intended to shock the crowd and the other Sects by revealing his cultivation and get an overwhelming victory, but Longwei's performance had spoiled that dream of his.

It would have been fine if that disciple had just beaten Longwei to win, but even when the match was decided, that disciple who was angry about Longwei's display continued to attack until elder Sun himself had to intervene from the shadows. Longwei had several of his bones broken and received minor internal injuries.

In his anger, the Patriarch went to the Crescent Moon Sect in person and crippled the disciple's master and his master's master as punishment in place of their disciple/grand disciple. If that disciple's great-grandmaster hadn't died due to Qi deviation, the Patriarch would have seriously continued down the line.

The other eight Sects that had their disciples almost crippled by Longwei chose to keep silent in the face of the Wu Clan's Patriarch's enraged actions.

That incident happened nearly two years ago, and now a Power, possibly from another Continent, had secretly sent people to ambush his son.

Is a storm brewing?

While being indifferent to the source of the killing intent beside him, the Grand Elder spoke in a condescending tone.

"It doesn't make sense to set up an obvious ambush like this. This is just a blatant provocation from those lowly animals on the Demonic Beast Continent"

After calming down, the Patriarch turned to look at the Grand Elder who in turn looked towards him.

"The Demonic Beast Continent is known for using human cultivators as puppets. Even if it was some other force on a different Continent that was trying to frame them, the lives of two Sage Realm Cultivators aren't worth the price just to only provoke us. Besides, they're the ones with the vile techniques and spells that specialize in controlling human cultivators."

After the Grand Elder finished his reasoning, the Patriarch fell into deep thought for a moment before he turned his head slightly to the left and spoke.

"Tell the Battle Pavilion's Head Elder to increase the number of Nascent Realms and Core Formation experts at the Continent's border."

Below the steps to the left, a silhouette suddenly appeared and disappear just as quickly. The Patriarch then looked in elder Sun's direction.

"You can leave, and the next time my son leaves the clan his safety is your top priority."

Elder Sun saluted before he took a step back, this time he entered the void and disappeared.

"Are you planning to delay an imminent conflict? It will eventually happen whether we try to avoid it or not."

"Something doesn't feel right about this sudden attack. I'm only being cautious for now, just until our clan solidifies its strength a bit more after what happened. At the level we’re at now, our clan members won't get the experience in battle they'll just be slaughtered."

The Grand Elder shook his head at those words before saying.

“You’re too soft and it's making you indecisive.”

“Hm, maybe so, but don’t forget who was on the front lines when it all happened. If waiting a few years to go through the pain of seeing my clan members being killed in front of me once again is me being soft, then so be it.”

“*Sigh* Those that die were my family too, we were all affected.”

The Patriarch didn’t respond to the Grand Elder and only looked towards the closed doors of the Ancestral Hall.

His gaze seemed to pass through it and fall on his son that was walking down the steps of the mountain. Suddenly, his focus shifted slightly as he looked towards the Wu Clan's training grounds to see another youth there.

A deep-rooted emotion of loss and sadness appeared in his heart as he saw this youth before he hurriedly looked away unable to bare it.

While Longwei was walking down the steps, unaware of his father's gaze, he was mumbling with displeasure.

"That stupid brother mine. I sent word two days before my return and he didn't even come to welcome me home.

"No, first of all, where the hell is my welcome back celebration?!"

Afterward yelling, he started running down the steps madly towards the training grounds as if on a hunt.