On the same square that Long Tian entered the sanctuary.
The teleporter at its center suddenly flashed and two people appeared.
One was in a strange attire, what looked like a camouflaged tight suit, but it was ever changing, making it hard to see her figure, even though it was day on Long Planet.
As soon as she appeared, she clicked a button on her wrist.
Less than a millisecond after she pressed it, a man appeared in the square.
As soon as he saw the state of Long Tian, his eyes widened a bit, and he instantly took the boy and disappeared.
...
In the Long Hall.
Long Rue was kneeling in front of the council. This time, there were 25 people, although 6 of them were holographic projections.
"Report. Now."
One of the elders spoke, an old man with a goatee and nicely styled hair. His skin was very smooth, and the thing that gave away his age was the color of his hair and beard, white as snow.
"Long Tian and his group were in the fourth ring of the Ten Rings Mountain Nest. After killing a Sacred Blood and making camp, they were attacked by a group of assassins. They approached without me noticing, and the only reason they didn't simply sneak up on the Young Master was because he himself detected them."
"After being alerted by the Young Master, I managed to notice someone and immediately killed them. After that, 24 people suddenly appeared, clearly exiting camouflage. The majority were between 25 and 30 of fitness, five had at least 35 and two of them were above 45. One was very close to 50."
"The weakest of these two did not have his face masked, but I could not recognize him. I already sent word for our people to recover the corpses."
"With the two of them holding me back, the others managed to kill the entire group of the Young Master, and the Young Master only survived because his fitness was approximately at 26, buying time for me to kill the two blocking me and save him."
"After killing all of the attackers, I noticed the Young Master was poisoned and immediately brought him back as fast as possible."
After reporting all that as fast as she could, she gritted her teeth and spoke,
"Long Rue clearly failed in her mission to protect the Young Master and is willing to shoulder any punishment."
At that moment, the patriarch spoke, his voice had much more weight and authority than when he spoke with Long Tian before he entered the sanctuary.
"The responsible will be punished after the investigation. For now, stand by and wait for orders. Dismissed."
Long Rue left the hall, feeling a multitude of things, mainly regretting that she almost failed completely in her mission, almost causing the Long Clan to lose their Young Master definitely for the first time.
Back in the hall, a discussion was occurring.
If anyone in the alliance were to hear any of the words being spoken, they would be shocked to their core.
"Patriarch, we know very well that there is only one force powerful and bold enough to try something like this. They have been trying to infiltrate us inside and outside the sanctuary for centuries. I think it's time the alliance has one less Tier 4 clan."
The one to speak was one of the only women on the hall. Her voice was so cold that literal ice formed at the ground, but it rapidly melted away.
After some more seconds of discussion, Long Han finally declared,
"Enough, you know very well that we cannot deal with them without enough evidence. If Long Tian had been killed, you would not have to say anything as I myself would go there and erase them."
"But Tian survived, so let's first gather the evidence, I am sure such an operation inside our domain in the first sanctuary must have left clues behind."
His next words caused a bloodthirsty smile to appear on everyone's faces, space itself suddenly straining to not break just from their killing intent.
"After that, we just need to tell the old man what happened, and he won't hesitate to bring us with him this time."
Long Han's eyes flashed as he said that, and this time, with he himself releasing his aura, space truly broke, but it rapidly reformed itself, as Long Han and the others controlled themselves.
...
Seven days later, after passing through surgery and a deep process of removing the poison, Long Tian woke up.
He had been kept asleep all this time as he was healed.
Opening his eyes, the first thing Long Tian saw was Bian Mei's head flying through the air as she looked at him. Long Tian was sure, he saw hope in her eyes, hope that he would save her. Not even realizing that she was already dead.
Long Tian screamed, as if he thought he was still in that dark forest.
"BIAN MEI!!!"
Just after he screamed, multiple people burst into the room he was in.
The room was mostly white, having a window that overlooked the lands of the Long Planet from up above the Long Mountains. The ceiling was very high, unusually so.
In the middle of the room, the bed that Long Tian was in was entirely black, clearly a Z-Metal alloy, and a high concentration one.
There were multiple technological marvels embedded in this bed that not even Long Tian's memories could explain to him what they were. Clearly, they were there to monitor him and his condition, but he could not discern more than that.
There were four people that entered the room.
First was his mother. Standing at 1,9 meters, she was considered a tall woman. Having a graceful figure, she appeared more like a top model than the daughter-in-law of a powerful clan. Her eyes were a deep azure, captivating anyone that looked into it.
Her hair was as black as the night and reached the middle of her back. She let it freely flow, letting it cascade back. She was gorgeous, not the unearthly type of gorgeous, just good genetics and superhuman fitness making sure these genetics were expressed to their full potential.
She was visibly very concerned, as she immediately appeared beside his bed, Long Tian never saw her move.
"Tian'er, thank god you are awaken. I thought I would lose you."
She said with her eyes red, clearly, she had been crying. After all, she almost lost her only son.
"Tian'er, are you okay?"
Came his father's voice, also looking concerned at him.
His father embodied the looks of the Long Clan, a little over 2 meters in height, an extremely fit body, without any excess fat or muscles. He had a handsome face with sharp features, his eyebrows naturally made him transmit a sensation of authority and power.
His eyes were a deep red, a signature feature of his clan, albeit not exclusive to them. His father appeared to be in his thirties, even though Long Tian knew he was in his forties.
"Yes father, I feel physically fine."
Long Tian told his father, but his voice betrayed a sense of grief and guilt.
"Tian'er, we heard what happened. It was not your fault. It was ours; the clan is supposed to protect you. Even more so when it limits what you can do so severely. It was our fault, not your own, what happened."
The one speaking was his grandmother. Her voice was gentle, trying to soothe him.
She basically looked like a slightly older version of his mother, albeit her facial features were a little different. His mother and grandmother were clearly related.
Two things that were very unusual about her were her height, that seemed to be almost 3 meters, which curiously explained why the height of this room and multiple others in the Long Clan were high. And her stomach, that even through her clothes he could see a bump there.
This was due to her Gene Core. This thing could grow to be 1 meter in diameter, so it made sense why she altered her height and even then, there was still a noticeable bump.
Long Tian nodded weakly at her words. This brought even more pain to his mother's face. She hugged him, telling him everything would be alright.
"Tian'er, you can rest assured that we will make sure the ones responsible for this pay with their lives."
Next came his grandfather's voice.
His grandfather looked like a slightly older version of his father, having a majestic beard that he took pride in.
His grandfather had clearly changed his height to enter this room, as instead of the five meters he usually went with, he was only standing at three and half. Due to this, he almost looked fat, as there was a noticeably bump, much bigger than his grandmother's, in his stomach.
What his grandfather said caught his attention, and also finally made something click inside him.
Right, he was the Young Master of the Long Clan, who could be so bold as to try to kill him. Clearly, the enemy was extremely powerful.
With his thoughts turning to revenge, Long Tian remembered what he knew about his clan's power.
Ranked first in the Heaven List. Aside from the government of the alliance, it was the most influential force. Among the top in pure strength.
He knew that the clan had at least 20 Gene Generals, all extremely powerful and in the Dragon List, the list of the 1 million strongest in the human race.
Besides that, he knew that his clan also was the largest producer of guns and weapons, being the main supplier to the military, meaning that besides martial power, it also had technological power.
He also remembered what he knew of the ancestor of his clan. Long Tianan, a legendary figure of the human race. He was the one to invent Gene Arts and also one of the strongest humans.
Apart from that, the only thing he knew was that he was obsessed with dragons and that his alias was "The Dragon", especially among his enemies.
However, revenge did not change the fact that the Green Arrow Hunting Group, the first friends he made in this world, had been killed because of him.
Seeing him looking so dejected, his father decided to motivate him.
"Tian'er, I know that you blame yourself for what happened. I won't enter into the merit of what the clan and your protector should have done."
Long Ming's voice, serious this time, caught his attention. He clearly was giving him a lecture on something important.
"But I will say this to you. This only happened because you were weak."
His mother and grandmother immediately turned to him, clearly having something to say about that. But his father just raised his hand, signaling for them to let him finish.
"You might say that this is not fair, or that someone failed you. But the truth is that while you are not completely at fault for what happened. You could have prevented it, had you been strong enough."
"Remember my son, what I told before you returned to the sanctuary. Only power is absolute."
"We are the richest clan because we are powerful, had we not been, it would have been taken from us."
"We have the best inheritance of Gene Arts because we are powerful, otherwise it would have been taken."
"We are allied to the strongest clan because we are powerful, had we not been, we would not have been worthy."
This last part made his mother and grandmother truly turn silent, not even opening their mouths to try and disagree with his father.
"So, Long Tian. Remember, we are first and foremost powerful. And you, my son, as part of this clan, and, more importantly, as its Young Master, must be powerful above all."
"Only this way, can you protect not only yourself and those that you love, but also what you consider important and those that you are responsible for."
After his father finished speaking, the room stayed silent. The four of them letting Long Tian process what was said, as all of them knew it was true.
Long Tian was a mess inside. At the same time he blamed himself for their deaths, now doubly so, for being the target and involving themselves in this and also for being weak.
He understood that this was also a wake-up call, and possibly the last one he would have. Someone was targeting him, and even if the clan dealt with it for now, there would always be the next one, coveting his clan's riches, inheritance and influence.
This time, it was a group of friends who he knew for less than a month. Next time, it could be his family. His mother, his father or any other clan members, who, he, as the Young Master and heir to the main family, is responsible for protecting.
"Thank you for your concern, mother, father, grandmother and grandfather. I think I need some time to think."
Long Tian raised his head and spoke. Although there was still pain and self-blame in his eyes, there was also something else.
A spark, a wish for power, something essential in this world.
The four of them left the room after telling Long Tian to call them if he needed something or to call the staff of the Long Hospital.
They left hoping that spark would ignite ambition in him, so that one day he would not have to go through this again.