Chapter 0661: The News Spreads

“This Long Xiaotian is truly lawless, arbitrarily framing family members?” Huang Long said indifferently.
Xil, the two-headed demon tiger lying beside Huang Long, knew his master had resolved to kill. Any ancestor who returned to their homeland and learned of younger family members oppressing their kin would be enraged.
Xil knew somewhat about the events of the Four Seas Empire back then.
Huang Yi said angrily, “Long Xiaotian dares to do this only because of those two old fools, Huang Heng and Huang Feng. At the family assembly, they often use their power to suppress those who refuse to obey!”
“Yi, don’t be rude!” Huang Fei scolded when he saw his daughter speaking disrespectfully of the current and former family heads.
After all, as a member of the Huang family, one must uphold hierarchical respect.
Huang Feng was the former head of the Dragon God Family, that is, the former head of the Huang family.
When Huang Yi saw her father scolding her, though dissatisfied, she stopped arguing and looked sulky.
“What’s this family assembly about?” Huang Long asked, intrigued. There had been no such assembly back then.
The Huang family’s assembly wasn’t a secret either. Seeing Huang Long ask, Huang Fei didn’t hide it and said, “Our Huang family holds an assembly every ten years to discuss major family affairs. Meanwhile, a ten-day competition in blacksmithing and alchemy takes place during the assembly!”
“Competitions in blacksmithing and alchemy?” Huang Long’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.
Back in the Four Seas Empire, he had passed on many insights on blacksmithing and alchemy. It turned out they hadn’t been lost over a hundred thousand years.
“Yes. Aside from the family elders, direct descendants and collateral descendants under thirty can register. The winners of the blacksmithing and alchemy competitions receive generous rewards from the family!” As he spoke of the rewards, Huang Fei’s face grew envious and eager—clearly, the rewards were tempting. Even Huang Yi beside him showed an eager expression.
After a while, Huang Fei regained his composure and shook his head at Huang Long with a sigh. “Sigh, actually, winning first place isn’t that easy. The Dragon God Family always wins the blacksmithing and alchemy competitions. So even though the rewards are generous, they’re only meant for them!”
Huang Yi also looked disappointed.
The other senior executives present simply lowered their heads in sighs.
Huang Long smiled silently. Blacksmithing and alchemy competitions? It seemed he really needed to see them—to assess the skills of the Huang family’s descendants after a hundred thousand years.

“How does the current head of the Huang family come to hold that position? Is it appointed by the previous head?” Huang Long thought about this question.
Huang Fei was momentarily stunned, not understanding why Huang Long asked this. Although Huang Long also shared the surname Huang, it seemed he was not from the Huang family. There were many people with the surname Huang in the Hengyuan realm, but that didn’t mean everyone belonged to the Huang family. Could he want to become the head? This thought flashed through Huang Fei’s mind, startling him. His expression changed, and after some contemplation, he said earnestly, “Lord Huang Long, I know you’re very strong, but becoming the head of the Huang family isn’t easy. First, one must become a family elder. After that, one must stand out among the elders to become the chief elder. Only then is one eligible to become the head of the Huang family!”
Seeing Huang Fei’s words, Huang Long realized he had misunderstood him as wanting to become the head. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly. The Ancestor of the Dragon God becoming the head of a younger generation? What kind of thing was that? But Huang Long didn’t explain further and asked, “Become the chief elder? Does that mean the chief elder becomes the next head of the Huang family?”
Huang Fei nodded. “That’s correct.”
At that moment, Huang Yi interjected, “Brother Huang wants to become our family’s head? But those who aren’t from the Huang family can’t become family elders, let alone heads!”
“Oh? Then how will you verify their identity and background? With so many branches in your Huang family, if someone wants to use a fake identity, it might not even be possible to detect it,” Huang Long asked with interest.
Huang Yi smiled sweetly and said, “Brother Huang doesn’t know that our family’s ancestral temple has a stone tablet specifically for testing family bloodlines. By testing the bloodline, we can tell whether someone is from the Huang family. It’s impossible to fake this. In the past, people from other factions tried to infiltrate our family’s leadership, but they were detected and killed on the spot!”
Worried that Huang Long might recklessly try to become a family elder, Huang Yi recounted an example from the past to show him the severe consequences of being exposed, hoping to make him back down.
Huang Yi addressed Huang Long as “brother,” while Huang Fei called him “lord,” which made Huang Fei and the other senior officials look puzzled. But since Huang Long didn’t seem upset by it, Huang Fei didn’t dare to scold his daughter at that moment.
“Brother Huang?” Seeing his daughter’s shy expression, Huang Fei felt something stir in his heart. If his daughter could marry this Huang Long, it might be a good thing after all.
He couldn’t assess Huang Long’s strength, but by his guess, it should be in the late ninth level!

In the later stages of Level 9, how formidable he is! Thinking about how he had worked hard for over forty years yet was only at the middle stage of Level 8—this was still thanks to his decent cultivation talent. To have such a talented young man as a son-in-law would indeed be a great fortune. With his judgment, Huang Long would surely break through to the Holy Domain. With such talent, he was probably only slightly inferior to that War God Sect’s Void Heaven. Huang Fei wandered in his thoughts, glancing at Huang Long and then at his daughter, feeling even more that the two were a perfect match—handsome and beautiful. If Huang Long knew what Huang Fei was thinking, he would likely be speechless. Seeing her father’s expression, Huang Yi seemed to guess his thoughts and gave him a reproachful glance with her beautiful eyes. In fact, Huang Long was highly skilled and had an extraordinary demeanor. What was rarer still was that he wasn’t arrogant or presumptuous, but rather graceful. His daughter Huang Yi was now of marriageable age, so it wasn’t surprising that Huang Fei had such thoughts. Although many noble families had come to propose marriages over the years, they paled in comparison to Huang Long. The more Huang Fei thought about it, the happier he became. In his excitement, he couldn’t help but chuckle, and his sudden laughter drew everyone’s attention. “Father!” Huang Yi called out, her voice a bit louder, which finally brought Huang Fei back to his senses. When he regained his composure, he saw everyone around him staring at him in shock. He grew embarrassed and said, “Everyone, continue. Where were we? Ah, right, what were we talking about?” Huang Yi was speechless. Huang Long also smiled. “Sir, we were talking about the family elders,” said one of the senior attendants cautiously to Huang Fei. Although Huang Fei governed Qingfeng Town, he wasn’t a family elder, so these senior attendants addressed him as “sir.” “Oh, right, right. We were talking about the family elders,” Huang Fei said with a smile, then added, “Actually, to compete for the position of family elder, besides being a member of the family, one must also be a powerful being in the Holy Domain!” To become a family elder, one had to be strong in the Holy Domain, and to stand out among the elders and become the chief elder, one’s strength had to be at the later stages or peak of the Holy Domain! Huang Long nodded. Such a rule also prevented the possibility of each successive head of the Huang family being weak. Whether a family could thrive depended heavily on the strength of its head. In a way, the head represented the family, not to mention those who held positions as kings or emperors in kingdoms and empires. Next, Huang Long asked some questions about the Dragon God Family, and Huang Fei answered every question respectfully, showing great deference. He certainly wouldn’t dare neglect Huang Long as a potential son-in-law.

After talking for over an hour, Huang Fei ordered someone to arrange a courtyard for Huang Long to rest in. Once everything was settled, Huang Fei left Huang Long’s courtyard and went to the hall, where he saw his daughter. He immediately grabbed her and said with a smile, “Yi, what do you think of this Lord Huang Long?” His expression was suggestive.

Huang Yi was both amused and annoyed. “He’s not bad. What’s the problem?” she asked.

“Then you must seize this opportunity. If you’re too shy to speak up later, your father will speak for you!” Huang Fei said bluntly without beating around the bush.

Huang Yi’s face turned red as she snapped, “What opportunity? Who said I want to get married? If you want to marry, go ahead and marry!” Without paying attention to the stunned Huang Fei, she turned and left.

Huang Fei stood there, pointing at his daughter and stammering, “You, you little girl! Who said I should marry? What kind of talk is that? Well, fine—this girl isn’t in a hurry, but her father is!”

Furious, Huang Fei stood there glaring at nothing, his beard flapping in the wind. “I’m so angry!” Finally, he muttered that and returned to his own courtyard.

In the courtyard arranged by Huang Fei, Huang Long retracted his divine hearing ability and shook his head with a smile. Who would have thought he’d become so sought after?

He focused his mind again and remembered what Huang Fei had said in the hall—the Huang family’s family assembly was scheduled in five days, and tomorrow Huang Fei would take his daughter and others there. Huang Long intended to attend this assembly. Since the matter of going to the Demon King’s Temple wasn’t urgent either, he thought of the stone tablet used by the Huang family to test bloodlines and smiled secretly. He wondered what his own bloodline as the ancestor of the Dragon Gods was.

Since the events at the Divine Wind Academy hadn’t reached the Dragon God Mountains yet—less than a day had passed—news of them hadn’t spread, but the elite of some countries near the academy were already aware of it. Sande, a powerful figure in the Divine Realm, had been killed by a young man with black hair!

When the news spread, it caused a massive upheaval, filling kingdoms, duchies, and powerful families with fear and panic.

In the palace of the Tanghai Empire…

“What? That old bastard Sande was killed?!” In the grand hall, Emperor Tang Haiyun of the Tanghai Empire suddenly stood up, dropping the documents in his hands.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” replied a tall old man below the hall respectfully.

This old man was Lord Lodar, the current head of the Lodar family, the most powerful family in the Tanghai Empire. He was also the grandfather of Ip from the Divine Wind Academy and a high-ranking marshal in the empire.