Main residence, banquet hall.
The hall was brightly lit, with long tables laid out and laden with a dazzling array of spiritual fruits and delicacies.
Yun Wangji sat in the primary seat with a calm expression, though a trace of an imperceptible smile lingered in his eyes.
The Matriarch, Shen Chujing—who was also Yun Heng’s mother—could not sit still and kept glancing toward the entrance.
The banquet was not particularly grand. In fact, there were no other elders present besides the parents; only eleven chairs were set.
In other words, this feast was for the “Nine Sons” and the Yun Wangji couple alone.
Amusingly, the juniors who had already taken their seats were all sitting perfectly upright. Their expressions made them look like generals about to march to the front lines to meet their deaths.
“Father, Mother.”
Yun Heng stepped into the hall and first bowed toward the primary seats.
“It is good that you have returned.”
Yun Wangji nodded, not saying much more.
However, Shen Chujing had already stood up. She walked over quickly to take Yun Heng’s hand, looking him up and down.
“You have grown thin, and you are tanner now. Did you not eat well while you were away? Stay for more days this time; Mother will nourish you properly.”
In reality, Yun Heng’s appearance had not changed at all.
After all, with so many miraculous elixirs cleansing his marrow and tempering his bones, it was difficult for him to be affected by normal environments. However, he simply said, “Alright,” and allowed his mother to lead him to his seat.
Yun Heng’s seat was arranged to the left, just below Yun Wangji, directly facing his younger brothers and sisters.
The family feast began. As cups were exchanged and toasted, the atmosphere gradually became lively.
The aroma of the spiritual food filled the air. After three rounds of wine, the juniors began to exchange meaningful looks.
Finally, Yun Hao could no longer restrain himself.
He suddenly stood up and “shrank” a large, exaggerated book out of his storage bag—it had a red cover with gold trim and five flamboyant characters written on it: **[Big Brother’s Debt Ledger]**.
“Ahem!”
Yun Hao cleared his throat. Under Yun Heng’s amused gaze, he braced himself and flipped the book open.
“Big Brother, you have been away from home for many years. There are some old accounts… Don’t you think we should settle them?”
The banquet hall fell silent as everyone looked at Yun Hao.
Yun Hao straightened his back and began to read aloud:
“Article One: Owed to Yun Hao—6,000 high-grade spirit stones and one verbal commendation of ‘Brother Hao is mighty.'”
“Interest: ten sparring sessions at a venue of my choice, and you are not allowed to go easy on me. Date of record: March 7, 6446, of the Profound Heavens Era.”
“Article Two: Owed to Sister Yun Zhi—three Green Luan tail feathers. At the time, you promised they could be replaced by phoenix feathers. As of now, the fulfillment progress is zero.”
“Note: Sister Yun Zhi says she can forgo the phoenix feathers, but she needs Big Brother to personally instruct her on the complete set of the Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix Sword Style.”
“Article Three: Owed to all younger siblings—the Mid-Autumn Reunion Feast, with a cumulative total of six absences. Six makeup sessions are required, and each must be accompanied by a gift no lower than a Grade 7 artifact.”
“Article Four: Owed to Second Brother Yun Feng—one copy of ‘Insights on the Emotionless Sword Dao.’ Promised after winning a duel back then, yet to be fulfilled.”
“Article Five: Owed to Third Brother Yun Qiuhong…”
As he continued to read, the contents became increasingly ridiculous—things like “using a dragon race’s reverse scale or the ashes of a phoenix race’s nirvana to replace a puppet’s heart,” or “one ‘Indistinguishable Puppet Substitute’ for Yun Shuo to use in the family grand exam,” or “teaching Yun Lu how to make a Mahayana stage Buddhist cultivator cry with a single sentence.”
He read over 100 entries.
With every item read, a burst of laughter erupted at the table. The siblings who were mentioned either blushed, snickered, or cheered in agreement.
Yun Heng listened, lightly swirling his wine cup, a gentle smile always on his face.
Once Yun Hao finished and looked over expectantly, Yun Heng finally put down his cup and spoke slowly.
“I acknowledge them. I acknowledge them all.”
Those five words brought silence to the room.
Yun Heng’s gaze swept across every young face before he continued.
“’Brother Hao is mighty’—I can shout that right now.”
He paused, and as Yun Hao’s eyes suddenly lit up, he leisurely added, “However, I feel that with your current peak Golden Core cultivation, calling you ‘Brother Hao’ seems a bit inappropriate. Why don’t we change it to ‘Grandpa Hao’?”
*Pfft—*
Someone sprayed their wine.
Yun Hao’s face turned beet red. “Big Brother, you!”
Yun Heng waved his hand and laughed. “Hey, calling me ‘Brother’ would be wrong. You are the grandpa, and I am the grandson.”
“As for those 6,000 spirit stones, how about I convert them into a secret method to help you break through to the Nascent Soul stage? It is worth more than spirit stones.”
Yun Hao opened his mouth but found no words.
The Nascent Soul bottleneck… He really had been stuck there for a long time. But that wasn’t what he wanted!
‘Big Brother is truly too detestable. Is it that hard to sincerely shout “Brother Hao is mighty” just once?!’
“I do not have Green Luan tail feathers, but I do have a clue regarding an Ice Phoenix Cold Feather.”
Yun Heng looked at Yun Zhi and flicked a jade slip toward her. “The map is in here. Whether you have the courage to go get it yourself depends on you, Seventh Sister.”
Yun Zhi caught the jade slip and scanned it with her divine sense. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she couldn’t help but act spoiled. “Thank you, Big Brother! Big Brother, you are the best!”
“As for the Mid-Autumn Feast…”
Yun Heng looked at everyone. “There is no better time than the present. For tonight’s meal, I will add a few signature dishes to count as one of the makeup sessions. What do you think?”
With that, he stood up and walked toward the kitchen. In less than 10 breaths of time, he returned personally carrying three jade plates.
One dish was called “Glazed Fire Jade Soup.” The broth was as clear as glazed glass, with red, fire-like jade lotus root slices floating within.
The fragrance was refreshing, and just smelling it caused one’s spiritual energy to ripple slightly.
One dish was called “Nine Revolutions Starlight Dew.” It was refined from nine types of astral spiritual fruits, condensing the dew into pearls that flowed in the dish like a starry river.
The final dish was the simplest: a plate of green pastries that emitted a dense aura of life—”Evergreen Cake.” It had the effect of strengthening the foundation, nurturing the origin, and delaying aging, making it most suitable for his parents.
“I obtained these ingredients by chance during my travels and have been keeping them.”
After Yun Heng finished his introduction, he placed the three dishes in the center of the long table. “Give them a try.”
Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and above practiced inedia, but the family style of the Changsheng Yun family had always emphasized “doing as one pleases.”
Not only the young people, but even many elders enjoyed stuffing things into their mouths from time to time.
They did not intentionally suppress the feeling, allowing the sensation of fullness and the hazy intoxication to sweep over them until their spiritual energy automatically decomposed the impurities.
The younger siblings could no longer hold back. With one comment and one pair of chopsticks after another, the food was quickly devoured.
As the spiritual feast entered their stomachs, warm currents surged. A few who had been stuck at bottlenecks for a long time could even vaguely sense the barriers at their dantian loosening, causing looks of pleasant surprise to appear on their faces.
“Big Brother, you are too much! Why did you only bring out such good things now?!”
“Is there more? Another plate!”
“I want to learn this! Big Brother, teach me!”
The atmosphere became completely lively. The laughter and shouting almost blew the roof off. Yun Wangji watched this scene, took a sip of his wine, and the smile in his eyes finally overflowed.
In the midst of this harmonious moment, Yun Zhi suddenly stood up.
Holding a delicate small wooden box, she walked up to Yun Heng with a sweet smile and gently opened it.
Inside the box was a palm-sized jade pendant. The material was ordinary, and the carving was not particularly exquisite—the patterns of the family crest, “Flowing Clouds Around the Sun,” were even a bit crooked, but one could see that every stroke had been carved with great care.
On the back of the jade pendant, eight names were carved in tiny script: Yun Feng, Yun Qiuhong, Yun Qiuming, Yun Hao, Yun Shuo, Yun Zhi, Yun Lu, and Yun Sheng.
On the red cloth holding the jade pendant, there was also a line of text:
「Big Brother, welcome home. This time, don’t leave, okay?」
The banquet hall fell silent.
All the laughter and noise stopped.
The siblings looked at the jade pendant and then at Yun Heng, their eyes without exception full of hope.
Shen Chujing lowered her head to serve food to her husband, while Yun Wangji put down his chopsticks and sighed softly, leaning back in his chair with a hint of exhaustion.
He suddenly felt a bit drunk.
The smile on Yun Heng’s face slowly faded.
He reached out to take the jade pendant, his thumb brushing over those crooked carvings, over every name, and every stroke.
He looked very slowly, very carefully.
After a long time, he raised his head. His gaze swept across the expectant faces of his brothers and sisters, across his mother’s lowered but reddened eyes, and finally landed on his father’s calm face.
“I accept the gift.”
His voice was soft, yet it reached everyone’s ears clearly. “And I truly acknowledge the debts.”
Yun Heng carefully tucked the jade pendant into his robes, wearing it close to his chest.
“But returning this time was indeed specifically to handle some matters.”
His tone was steady, yet it carried a solemnity that could not be mistaken. “By tomorrow night at the latest, I will be leaving again.”
The atmosphere at the table plummeted at a visible speed.
Yun Hao opened his mouth to say something but was held back by Yun Qiuhong’s hand on his arm. Yun Zhi leaned into Yun Lu’s embrace, her lips pouting.
Yun Qiuming dipped his index finger in his wine twice and flicked it at Yun Shuo’s face, only to be hit by a grape thrown by the latter. Yun Feng gazed into the distance, rubbing the hilt of his sword in silence.
Yun Heng took in everyone’s reactions and continued:
“However, I promise—”
He held up three fingers.
“First, regardless of where I am in the future, I will send a message via jade slip at least three times a year. I will report my safety and listen to your nagging.”
“Second, if any of you encounter a true crisis—remember, a *true* crisis—contact my jade slip directly. I, your big brother, guarantee I will arrive within 10 breaths.”
“Third, I will leave some things at home.”
He looked at Yun Wangji and then at his siblings. “I will provide some of my proposed improvements for the manor’s defensive formations.”
“Cultivation insights, pill formulas, and clues for secret methods suited to your respective Daos—I will organize them all into jade slips. The Changsheng Yun family will always be my roots.”
Once he finished speaking, the banquet hall fell into silence once more.
There were no complaints, no noise.
The juniors looked at each other. Finally, it was Yun Qiuhong, who was relatively skilled in social etiquette, who stood up and raised his wine cup. “Big Brother, your third brother toasts you.”
With that, Yun Qiuhong drained the white liquor in his cup in one go.
‘I suddenly resent being a cultivator. Why must spiritual energy automatically break down alcohol? Why can’t I just get drunk easily like a mortal and have a long dream? Why does it feel like we can never go back to those childhood days of laughter and joy?’
The world knew the Changsheng Yun family as a gathering of eccentrics—from a Patriarch obsessed with playing cards to an Eldest Young Master obsessed with wandering through mountains and rivers.
But that was because they did not understand Yun Wangji, nor did they understand Yun Heng.
If anyone with a heart were to investigate the Yun family’s development in recent years, it would not be difficult to find that every town and wasteland Yun Heng had traveled through during his six years away would, after a period of time, be “re-traversed” by people sent by the Yun family.
Seemingly aimless, yet every step was a calculated move.
This was the true “soul” of the Changsheng Yun family.
If it were not for this, how could an Eldest Young Master who had remained at the Qi Refining stage for years obtain the support of the other high-level members of the Yun family besides Yun Wangji?
How could artifacts and spiritual herbs be supplied to him endlessly, allowing him to stir up the clouds and rain outside as he pleased?
Following that, Yun Feng, Yun Zhi, Yun Hao… everyone, including Yun Wangji and Shen Chujing, raised their wine cups.
“To Big Brother.”
Yun Qiuhong bit his lip but still managed to voice his blessing: “…May Big Brother’s journey this time bring everything he desires.”
Yun Heng looked at his brothers and sisters, smiled tenderly, and raised his own cup as well.
“I will not wish you a smooth path in your cultivation—that would be too boring and too illusory.”
“I wish instead… that every time you fall, you manage to trip in a new way; that every time you cause trouble, you find a more cunning angle; and that every time you feel ‘this is it, I’m dead for sure,’ you look back and find that there is always a home behind you.”
“And in that home, there will always be fools to help clean up your mess or get beaten up alongside you. Keep track of the interest; keep it as high as you want.”
“As long as you remember that no matter how high you fly, how far you walk, or how fast you run, when you look back, there will always be a nest of damn scoundrels chasing after you.”
His words, mixed with the burning wine, scorched a path straight to their hearts.
The threat of Xuan Sun remained, A Xiang’s placement was not yet stable, the dragon race’s conspiracy needed investigation, and Ling Yao… was still somewhere searching for clues.
Therefore, Yun Heng had to leave as soon as possible, no matter what.
But regardless, at least for today, at least for this moment, this heavy and burning familial love was tucked away safely into the softest depths of his heart.
It was enough.