Douluo Continent: The Book of Witness and Peerless Tang Sect

"I did act impulsively, but the Third Elder's attitude was truly appalling..."

Forget it, I wasn't really planning on seeking justice or anything like that. I told Dad all this in detail to confirm whether the Third Elder's existence would affect my learning of soul tool making techniques from the other soul masters in Star Luo City.

"No matter what, our Long family is a well-known soul tool manufacturing force in Star Luo City, so this situation might very well occur."

"This was my oversight."

In the study of Long Ye, the head of the Long family, Long Ye, who habitually skipped work, applied another healing soul skill to Long You's palm while speaking without frowning.

"In the past ten years or so, our Long family has indeed seen some factional conflicts. There are many reasons for this, but I really didn't expect that the Third Elder would dare to disregard my orders."

In the course of our Long family's inheritance, there have always been two branches: the commercial branch and the official branch. Normally, the head of the family's lineage is the official branch. As for the commercial branch, part of it is genuine commerce, and the other part, to be more precise, is the agricultural branch.

The most important thing for a family head is to maintain the stability of the family's succession. What could be better than having someone in the imperial court to enable a family to change its development direction in a timely manner?

However, the development of a family cannot rely solely on the salary of an official. We need our own land to ensure we won't go hungry during famine years. We also need our own shops and caravans, since merchants are the most profitable.

Our Long family has a history of over ten thousand years. Although we have never been powerful, the family has always been harmonious. However, during the last period when my father was the clan leader, and during the period after I became the clan leader, the harmonious relationship between the two branches of the family did indeed become problematic.

Thinking back carefully, it seems that this situation only started after the Third Elder became the head of the Soul Guidance Device Department.

However, since I didn't understand soul tool manufacturing, and the Third Elder's skills were indeed quite excellent, I didn't interfere with anything that wasn't too outrageous. I just didn't expect things to be more serious than I imagined.

Normally, if it were merely a power struggle, the Third Elder wouldn't have acted so blatantly. Now it seems the Third Elder has someone backing him, and that backer is targeting our Long family.

Second brother, there are many suspicious points in this matter. I need to investigate carefully and at the very least find out who is watching our Long family. But before that, we can't alert them, so Xiao You can't seek justice. Not only can we not seek justice, but Xiao You will also have to take another beating.”

"Understood, don't worry, elder brother. Today's incident was just Xiao You being arrogant and ignorant. He'll receive the family discipline here later, and then I'll go apologize to the Third Elder."

"Yes, that's the idea. But be careful, don't apologize too 'sincerely,' make it sound like you're really resentful. Make the Third Elder feel that it was me, the incompetent clan leader, who forced you to do it in order to maintain the stability of the clan."

"Understood, brother."

"Xiao You, you don't blame your uncle, do you?"

"Don't worry, Uncle. I may be young, but I'm not really ignorant. It's just that, in this case, wouldn't it be better for me, who has 'broken the family rules,' to leave Xingluo City, or even leave the Xingluo Empire, and go to school in another city?"

"Well, it seems unnecessary, but if you think about it more deeply, it's just that the child feels wronged and has lost face, so he throws a tantrum, which is worth taking action on."

Second brother, let Xiao You go to school in Tiandou City. But this is something you and your wife need to handle; it's not convenient for me to get involved. There are still more than two months; there's enough time.

With things pretty much settled, Long Ye swung the teacup on the table to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

Upon seeing this scene, Long Lei and his son Long You raised their eyebrows in perfect unison, thinking to themselves, "The real drama is about to begin."

The master's courtyard was spacious enough that some servants who had appeared near it for some unknown reason could not hear what was happening inside, only the sound of arguing.

Shortly after, a loud voice proclaimed, "I am the head of the family."

Enraged, the patriarch Long Ye, carrying the obviously bound Long You in one hand, strode towards the family ancestral hall. Shortly after, Long Lei, his face contorted with resentment, headed towards the soul-guiding laboratory.

Leaving aside what Long Lei went through when he "apologized" to the Third Elder, and also ignoring what happened after Long You, lying on a stretcher and being carried back to his own courtyard by servants, happened to bump into Ms. Zeng Xianjun, who was returning home after handling matters related to the opening of the vegetarian restaurant.

In short, by the next day, the entire Long family compound knew that Long You, the little genius with a level nine innate soul power who appeared during the martial soul awakening this year, was an arrogant and disrespectful brat.

Three days after the incident, the Long family of three, who had just returned home from the Star Dou Great Forest, left the Long family compound again. However, compared to the light and quick feeling they had last time, this time the family of three seemed rather disheveled.

Because of the storage soul tool, there wasn't much luggage, but a person's spirit and energy can sometimes reveal a lot of information.

After the Long family left the main residence, various rumors began to circulate within the residence:

Some say that Long Lei is unlucky to have such a troublesome son as Long You, and now he can't even keep his position as a military clerk and has to resign.

Some say that Long Ye was heartless, banishing his own younger brother's family simply because a junior had disobeyed an elder. Although he gave Long Lei's family a nice carriage and provided some financial assistance, it was considered making a mountain out of a molehill, and losing the dignity of the family head in trying to please the Third Elder.

However, these rumors had no effect on Long You and his family of three, who had already left the city. The carriage traveled on the official road outside the city, with Long's father taking on the responsibility of driving. He would occasionally speak loudly to those inside the carriage, and it was clear that the Long family of three was quite relaxed.

"Brother Lei, you know what, this modified carriage is really different. It's so smooth when it's on the road."

"This carriage was modified by my father himself. Unlike my older brother, although my father was not a specialist in the path of Soul Master, he was skilled in making Soul Tools. Modifying a carriage was no big deal for him."

The carriage traveled happily along the official road. Before long, Xingluo City behind them became small, and sparse trees began to appear on both sides of the road.

It was summer, and through the carriage window, Long You noticed a number of poorly dressed commoners searching for wild vegetables and fruits in the woods to fill their stomachs.