Chapter 36 – House of Yun

Under Li Zheng’s arrangements, half an hour later, Yun Xiguang boarded the vehicle that headed for the Yun family’s residence.

His expression was unusually rigid.

“Don’t be nervous, we’ll protect you,” Li Zheng said.

Yun Xiguang gave Li Zheng an awkward yet polite smile.

“I believe in Brother Yun, I’ll support Brother Yun spiritually!” Wu Ailang, seated on the other side, also chimed in.

Wu Ailang was just an intern; with his combat experience, he shouldn’t have been involved in this operation. But considering the perilous mission Yun Xiguang had to undertake, Li Zheng worried that Yun Xiguang might be too tense. He dispatched Wu Ailang to accompany Yun Xiguang to the Yun family’s main residence and planned to have him leave once Yun Xiguang was safely inside.

Wu Ailang didn’t know what was about to happen. All he was told was that Yun Xiguang would be executing a very important confidential task and that it was his duty to soothe Yun Xiguang’s nerves.

He watched many seasoned fieldwork team members moving around the car in an orderly yet solemn manner, and instinctively concluded that something significant was about to unfold!

He was incredibly excited!

Wu Ailang leaped around Yun Xiguang like a hyperactive monkey. Although the rear space of the transport vehicle was spacious, it still wasn’t enough for him to fully exert himself.

“Brother Yun, are you going to save the world with a divine beast?”

“Brother Yun, have you already tamed the people from the Special Affairs Bureau? Even Director Li has become your lackey?”

“Brother Yun, can you put in a good word for me and let me join this operation? I think my abilities aren’t inferior to those of a Grade B Spiritbond Master.”

Yun Xiguang: “…”

Li Zheng: “…”

Li Zheng had always liked Wu Ailang’s “naive and simple-minded” personality. Upon hearing these words, he didn’t get angry but instead pulled on Wu Ailang’s ear, saying, “Kid, I’m still here, you know? Your fieldwork team always makes up stories about the director and even spreads gossip about ‘Director Li’s Scandalous Affairs,’ but at least they do it behind my back. You really are a step above them, starting to spin tales right in front of me?”

“This isn’t spinning tales, it’s the truth!” Wu Ailang retorted, “Ow ow ow! Be gentler with my ear.”

Yun Xiguang looked at Wu Ailang and felt a considerable weight lifted off his shoulders.

They arrived at the foot of a large mountain after all the commotion.

The car stopped at the mountain base. Wu Ailang asked, “Why aren’t we moving forward? We’re still so far from the summit. I see there’s a road built up the mountain, an eight-lane highway.”

“We can’t enter the Yun family’s grounds without a permit, since the entire mountain belongs to them,” Li Zheng explained.

What a majestic clan indeed.

“You all disembark now, I still have some instructions for Yun Xiguang,” Li Zheng ordered everyone.

Everyone in the car, including the driver, got out. Wu Ailang tried to stay but was dragged out with his mouth covered.

Only Yun Xiguang and Li Zheng remained inside the car.

Through the window, Yun Xiguang saw signs erected outside the mountain perimeter, stating “National Rare Flora and Fauna Reserve,” “No Trespassing,” and similar warnings. In reality, this place wasn’t a reserve for plants and animals but rather the Yun family’s main residence.

Yes, this entire mountain belonged to the Yun family.

In normal circumstances, all land ownership belonged to the state. Ordinary people only had usage rights over the land, and these rights were time-limited. Places like mountains and forests were considered national resources and couldn’t belong to any individual or family.

But secular laws struggled to restrain the Spiritbond World.

This wasn’t merely because the Yun family’s Spiritbond Masters had rendered great service during the founding of the nation, but more so because a century ago, the Yun family widely recruited disciples, nurturing generation after generation of Spiritbond Masters for the country.

At that time, the location where the Yun family recruited disciples was this spirit-rich mountain.

One could say that this was the birthplace of the modern Spiritbond World.

Back then, the Yun family’s ancestors selflessly imparted their knowledge to others. Among these disciples, many established their own families, while others volunteered to serve the country, forming a special operations squad of Spiritbond Masters with their fellow students, becoming an invincible force in wars.

The Yun family thus grew and prospered in those turbulent times, filling the entire mountain with their homes.

After the founding of the nation, the Yun family sponsored several major Spiritbond academies and invited Spiritbond Masters every year to continue their education at the Yun family’s residence. They nurtured spirit beasts using the mountain’s spirit energy.

At that time, although the Yun family lived on this mountain, they truly opened it up selflessly to assist in the development of the Spiritbond World.

Thus, the Yun family obtained the usage rights to this mountain for a century.

Now, more than seventy years had passed, and the Yun family was no longer what it used to be.

After the hardships of a wandering life, the old generation of Yun family ancestors had passed away. The new generation of Yuns hadn’t experienced the turmoil of war and hadn’t personally lived through those days of mutual support. They only saw the respect the Spiritbond World held for the Yun family and took it for granted, believing themselves to be exceptional, growing arrogant.

They didn’t realize that the respect the Spiritbond World had wasn’t for the Yun family’s status but for the contributions made by the Yun family’s ancestors.

They didn’t understand that the treatment they received wasn’t due to their inherent nobility but rather due to the legacy of their ancestors.

They were arrogant, they were conceited, but they were also fearful.

They feared losing such preferential treatment, they feared plummeting from their lofty heights and being splattered with the mud of ordinary people.

Seeing that there were only twenty or thirty years left on the century-long usage rights, the Yun family gradually began to panic.

Determined to safeguard their position, they planned to incite trouble, compelling the state to depend on the Yun family and extend their usage rights for another hundred or even a thousand years.

Ideally, they wanted more spirit-rich mountains given to them, such as Mount Tai, Mount Huang, or Mount Lao, places brimming with natural beauty. How could they allow so many tourists to ruin the spirit energy of these mountains when they could be bestowed upon the Yun family?

Standing at the foot of the mountain, Yun Xiguang recalled his father’s assessment of the Yun family: “Arrogant to the extreme!”

From being the Yun family’s designated heir to the family head to becoming an outcast of the Yun family, Yun Xiguang should have been utterly dejected, unable to bear the stark contrast. Yet he felt no pain, accepting his fate calmly.

This was because Yun Xiguang never intended to become the head of the Yun family in the first place.

Yun Xiguang’s parents had long seen through the Yun family’s decay and recognized the Yun family’s ambitions. They themselves were trying to escape the Yun family’s control and didn’t plan on having their child become a puppet of the Yun family.

Originally, once Mother Yun became a Grade D Spiritbond Master, she would have been qualified to negotiate with the Yun family. However, a disaster disrupted everything.

Yun Xiguang had once suspected the Yun family.

Given the Yun family’s relentless pursuit and determination to eradicate him, if they knew about his parents’ intentions back then, they would have surely found a way to eliminate them.

However, Yun Xiguang soon dismissed this thought.

If it was the Yun family who harmed his parents, they wouldn’t have allowed him to live.

If he still had his spirit root, the Yun family might have concealed everything from him and continued to coax him into serving the Yun family. But since he had become an outcast of the Yun family, if his parents were also killed by the Yun family, the Yun family would have staged a tragedy long ago — of a child unable to bear the loss of his parents and committing suicide.

The fact that he was still alive proved that the Yun family, even if related to their deaths, wasn’t significantly involved.

“But to maintain their status and force the country to compromise, they are capable of doing such things,” Yun Xiguang informed Li Zheng. “The Yun family has probably been plotting these matters for over a decade. This mountain must be hiding numerous illegal activities. Perhaps some evil Spiritbond Masters that the Special Affairs Bureau has been unable to catch reside on this mountain.”

“What audacity!” Li Zheng exclaimed angrily.

“But the matter of spirit energy is merely speculation,” Yun Xiguang said. “If you don’t find any spirit energy, just report to your superiors that I deceived you, that I provided false information, and that everything is my responsibility. Please don’t let it affect you.”

“That would be my mistake in judgment, unrelated to you,” Li Zheng smiled.

Seeing the troubled look on Yun Xiguang’s face, he comforted him, “Don’t worry, if the information you provided is true, there will certainly be evidence of the Yun family’s treason on the mountain. At that time, even if there’s no spirit energy, it will still be sufficient to settle the matter.”

After hearing this, Yun Xiguang felt slightly reassured.

Taking advantage of the absence of others, a pair of eagle wings sprouted behind Li Zheng. He gently flapped his wings, enveloping Yun Xiguang within them.

Destiny Exchange.

Yun Xiguang accepted Li Zheng’s plan, allowing Li Zheng to use Destiny Exchange to temporarily switch their fates, with Li Zheng replacing Yun Xiguang in entering the formation.

Meanwhile, Yun Xiguang would act covertly outside, dispatching the Crimson Chi to wreak havoc at the Yun family’s residence, allowing the outer perimeter team members to invade the Yun family under the guise of protecting them.

Li Zheng would have no protection whatsoever.

The Yun family’s formation could only be broken from the outside by a Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master. No one could save Li Zheng; he would have to find a way to break it from the inside on his own.

All the healing Spiritbond Masters sent by Zhuzhao Academy had been replaced with those skilled in combat, in order to subdue the Yun family’s experts immediately.

Once he was injured, there wouldn’t even be a proper healer available for him.

Yun Xiguang couldn’t let Li Zheng be placed in such danger.

He reached into his pocket, and the little spirit bird pecked him through the fabric.

This was a sign of agreement.

Before departure, the little spirit bird pulled out the phoenix feather that Yun Xiguang had carried with him at all times, honoring the contract.

The little spirit bird urged Yun Xiguang to use this phoenix feather.

Yun Xiguang wasn’t sure what use this tuft of feathers could serve, but he trusted the little spirit bird.

While Li Zheng was executing Destiny Exchange, Yun Xiguang extended his hand and pressed the tuft of feathers onto the pile of eagle wings.

As soon as Li Zheng executed Destiny Exchange, he heard the Golden-Winged Great Peng excitedly squawking nonstop in the contract space. Its originally sharp and fierce calls had somehow changed in tone, and at that moment, the Golden-Winged Great Peng sounded more like a clucking hen.

His spirit beast was acting up again.

Ever since the Golden-Winged Great Peng started spewing gibberish, it hadn’t acted normally.

It was uncertain whether this would impact its strength. If his power significantly decreased when he was deep within a life-threatening formation and he couldn’t escape, that would be a significant problem.

Despite feeling somewhat anxious, Li Zheng pretended not to hear the hen-like squawks coming from within the contract space, presenting a reliable adult’s smile to Yun Xiguang.

The two exited the car together, with the Special Affairs Bureau’ personnel surrounding Yun Xiguang. Meanwhile, the Yun family members guarding the mountain base trapped Li Zheng from either side.

Although there had been no change in their appearances, Li Zheng was still the middle-aged man in his thirties, but the Yun family mistook him for Yun Xiguang.

Only Wu Ailang stood there, looking from left to right, unsure of whom to approach.

Just as he was about to dazedly move closer to Li Zheng, the Snow Wolf suddenly appeared, biting his buttocks and dragging him toward Yun Xiguang, who was surrounded by the Special Affairs Bureau’ employees.

Others were misled by fate and couldn’t recognize Li Zheng and Yun Xiguang, but the Snow Wolf wasn’t looking at Yun Xiguang’s face or anything else. It recognized only the awe-inspiring aura of the Phoenix Venerable.

I must help my silly Spiritbond Master and ensure he doesn’t follow the wrong leader. I am truly a caring spirit beast, dedicated to protecting my Spiritbond Master. The Snow Wolf secretly mused.