Cave Refuge

Cultivation was different from martial arts practice; after martial artists improved their cultivation level, their combat power would leap qualitatively.

Yet Cultivation of Truth was different; every major breakthrough would extend a cultivator's lifespan. Under normal circumstances, a cultivator who practiced ordinary cultivation techniques would, after reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, have a lifespan of at most around three hundred years.

However, the Longevity Skill you two have been practicing happens to fall under those abnormal cases. The Longevity Skill I found for you two might not be very strong in actual combat, but with this cultivation technique, every breakthrough grants you much more longevity compared to other cultivators.

Hearing Dong Tianyu's confirmation once more, not only the already excited Mr. Thompson but also Mrs. Thompson, who had been quietly standing aside, listening to the father and son dialogue, now showed an excited expression on her face.

Then, Dong Tianyu gave Father Dong and Mother Dong a brief overview of the differences between Cultivation and the Martial Path. Under normal circumstances, over the same period of cultivation, martial artists could gain powerful combat abilities more quickly, but the enhancement of lifespan through the Martial Path was comparatively weak.

But the goal of Cultivation was for attaining immortality, and coupled with the Longevity Skill Dong Tianyu specifically selected for his parents, they would gain an even longer lifespan with each breakthrough.

As Dong Tianyu was giving his parents a crash course in the basics of cultivation knowledge, his Divine Sense suddenly detected someone knocking on the door from outside the Silent Barrier.

Upon realizing someone had arrived, Dong Tianyu immediately collected the Spiritual Stones that had been laid out on the ground for the array, causing the effect of the Silent Barrier and Spirit Gathering Array that had enveloped the room to disappear instantly. Now the sound of knocking reached the ears of the three people inside.

Using his Divine Sense to check, Dong Tianyu saw that it was Ye Liuyun who was knocking on the door, so after greeting his parents, he directly went to open the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Ye Liuyun's hand, which had been prepared to continue knocking, didn't stop upon noticing Dong Tianyu had opened the door but instead changed direction and forcefully thumped Dong Tianyu in the chest.

Then, somewhat complaining, Ye Liuyun said to Dong Tianyu, "Not only did you not contact me when you came back, but you also didn't reply to my messages. Have you stopped acknowledging me as your brother?"

Hearing Ye Liuyun say this, Dong Tianyu knew that the other party was just grumbling about not being contacted upon his return and wasn't truly wanting to cut ties.

"Alright, I've just come back, haven't I? I just arrived home and saw my place being renovated. If I hadn't run into my parents, I wouldn't even know what had happened.

You know I'm always worried about losing my tablet; I usually keep it in the Storage space, and I can't receive signals in the Storage space, so I didn't see the messages you sent me."

Hearing Dong Tianyu's explanation, Ye Liuyun recalled Dong Tianyu's past behavior and realized that perhaps because a tablet is much bigger than a phone, most people don't cling to their tablets every day like they used to with their phones.

"Alright, you always have an excuse. I won't keep you from chatting with your uncle and aunt anymore. The old man knows you're back; he's preparing to welcome you and rid you of travel fatigue this evening. You and your parents should come together; we haven't seen each other in so long, let's have a good gathering."

Hearing Ye Liuyun say this, Dong Tianyu subconsciously wanted to decline, as most people wanted to spend their first day back home simply with their own family and didn't want too many people getting involved.

However, Dong Tianyu realized they were staying in a hotel, which didn't have cooking facilities or tools for a small family gathering even if they wanted one. So, it might be better to accept the invitation of the Taylor family and go to their place for dinner.

Just as Dong Tianyu was about to go back and consult with his parents, he heard his father behind him agreeing, "We will definitely attend the banquet on time as a family of three this evening."

Father Dong had moved behind Dong Tianyu without him noticing and immediately accepted the invitation upon hearing it.

After hearing Father Dong agree, Ye Liuyun didn't wait for Dong Tianyu to reply and said, "Then, Uncle Thompson, come over earlier in the afternoon. My dad is looking forward to playing a couple of rounds of chess with you."

Hearing Ye Liuyun's invitation, Father Dong slightly nodded, "No problem, we will go over early in the afternoon to help out."

Upon hearing Mr. Thompson speak like that, Madeline didn't stay any longer, she simply bid farewell to the Thompson family and then left the place.

Once Zachary had closed the door, Mr. Thompson spoke softly, "Although Madeline initially borrowed a significant amount of goods from me when she started her business, the dividends she has given me these past two years have long since exceeded several times the value of the goods I provided."

Even though Mr. Thompson didn't continue, Zachary understood the meaning behind his father's words—Mr. Thompson felt indebted, but he himself lacked the ability to repay this favor. However, now that Zachary had returned, it naturally fell to him to settle this matter.

In fact, Mr. Thompson's intention was quite simple, to bring something impressive when they visited in the evening.

After grasping Mr. Thompson's thoughts, Zachary started to search through the storage space with his Divine Sense, looking for quite some time without knowing what exactly to bring for the evening.

After much deliberation, he eventually decided on the most commonplace of gifts, two cartons of Huazi cigarettes and two bottles of Maotai.

Noticing that the Maotai's case was slightly shorter than the two cartons of cigarettes in the carrier bag, any leader familiar with these social niceties would know that there wasn't anything else in the bag aside from tobacco and alcohol.

These two items, although somewhat common before the natural disaster, were tremendously useful in the majority of situations, and even now, they remained acceptable gifts to bring when visiting someone.

In the afternoon, around three o'clock, the entire Thompson family arrived at the Taylor residence.

Since the Taylor family had moved in later and housing prices had risen slightly at that time, they could only afford to live on a lower floor compared to Father Thompson and Mother Thompson.

However, because they had prepared well before leaving, they had packed up and taken all of the Taylor family's assets with them, so they were not short of money when they first arrived.

That allowed them to purchase a suitable property straight away with a full payment after getting a detailed understanding of the base when they first arrived.

Thanks to the presence of Robinson William, the Taylor family didn't fare too badly in the turmoil; they handed over their Enhancement Scrolls but weren't at a great loss, and they were very lucky that the neighbors on both sides moved away for various reasons.

Perhaps as a case of being closest to the opportunity, Madeline immediately purchased both of the neighboring houses in full when she learned they were for sale.

Perhaps due to the early renovation, overall, both houses were already fully furnished.

Upon entering the Taylor residence, due to the close relationship between the two families, Madeline naturally took the gifts from Zachary's hands without any pretense.

But even with the familiarity, Madeline still had good manners, first leading the three Thompsons to the living room, then placing the bag of gifts into the display cabinet.

At that moment, all members of the Taylor family were present. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Mrs. Thompson and the Taylor family's women headed to the kitchen to cook, while Mr. Thompson and Zachary were invited by Master Ye to the study room.

Seeing that Master Ye did not chat with them in the living room, but instead took them into the study, Zachary knew that tonight's dinner was not merely a welcome back celebration for him.

Once everyone was seated around the tea table, Madeline began to wash the tea set, and Master Ye didn't wait any longer before he spoke, "I'm very happy to see you safe and sound, Zachary. Today, I invited you over primarily to welcome you back and to cleanse away the travel dust. Secondly, there is something I want to ask you. If it's convenient, I hope you can tell me the truth."

Upon hearing Master Ye's question, Zachary instantly knew that aside from those secrets which must be kept hidden in his heart, most other matters should be convenient to discuss.

As a result, Zachary took a deep breath before slowly beginning, "What would you like to ask?"