One second.

Liang Chen felt something unfamiliar as he embraced Yan Ling, as he buried his face in her hair. There was none of the deathly coldness that he had gotten used to, no warm and wet splashes of blood, no smell of burning bodies and decaying lives. There was just a gentle warmth that slowly seeped into him and that familiar fragrance that soothed him, it was so far removed from what he had gotten used to that it was practically the exact opposite.

But perhaps above all, it was... quiet. There was no shrieking from the dead, no rumbling of thunder, no angry howls from the remnants that filled the land. When was the last time the world around him had been this peaceful, this calm and welcoming? He couldn't remember. It had always just been fighting and death, that was what he brought, that was what he dragged around. But right now, right here, he was allowed a measure of peace.

If there was an eternity that would be worth something then he felt like it would be this moment, this was something that deserved to last longer than time itself. But even with his law of time, it was impossible to achieve something like that so the embrace ended even though it felt far too short. The one who ended the exchange was Yan Ling, Liang Chen's gaze lowering to meet her eyes.

"Little Lan, she's with you, right?"

Her expression was soft, warm. It was an expression she usually reserved for special occasions when she decided to take a little break from her mischievous and teasing ways. And once again, it was an expression that Liang Chen had not seen from anyone in a long time, it was different from the twisted expressions of despair or anger as people died.

"Of course. You threw her at me so I had to take good care of her after all."

She herself may not be as appreciative of it, but Liang Chen had indeed done his best to take care of Lan Yun, she was practically their daughter after all. His finger touched his interspatial ring and drew out the one they were talking about, the blue-eyed and white-haired girl who barely looked 10 appearing at their side. Her hair was tied into the same type of braid as Yan Ling, it was just a fair bit shorter.

"Mamaran's back!"

Lan Yun's bubbly voice echoed out as she bounced forward and hugged Yan Ling's waist. Compared to him, she had spent far more time with Yan Ling so it was inevitable that she would be more attached to her. Looking at it from an outsider's perspective, he had done a terrible job as a father, his own father would surely be ashamed of him. But it luckily seemed like Lan Yun had no plans of saying anything about it, the two girls sharing a look as Yan Ling stroked the child's head.

"You remember what I taught you, right?"

"Of course course course! I made sure to remember it perfectly!"

Lan Yun pulled away from Yan Ling's waist and spun around to face Liang Chen, her lips curved up so far that it seemed like she wanted to split her face in two with her smile. Yan Ling also looked at Liang Chen, one hand on top of Lan Yun's hand as she smiled as softly as she did when she first helped Liang Chen sleep again.

"Welcome home."

"Welcome home, Paparan! We've been waiting!"

One spoke calmly while one shouted energetically, completely ignoring their surroundings and everything else. And then there was the one who was spoken to, the one who was welcomed back, standing there dumbfounded, his feet rooted to the ground.

"Ah..."

The words wouldn't come out. His throat felt stuffy and clogged, so warm that it was almost searing. His eyes hurt. He blinked rapidly, but the pain remained, the only thing the blinking achieved was making the rest of his face wet. Was he crying? No, that was a stupid question, he could tell even without looking at his own face, he was definitely crying right now. But that was fine, he saw that Yan Ling was also crying a little so it should be fine if he did the same.

"I'm home."

He finally managed to squeeze out the words, finally managed to move forward, his arms wrapping around the two in front of him. Home. When was the last time he had a home he could return to? For how long had he been wandering from one place to the next, from one battlefield to the next? How many years had it been, both in real-time and in time for him? How long ago had his parents died, how long had it been since he was chased out of his hometown and his house burned down.

"I'm home... I'm home..."

It didn't matter anymore. His home was gone, burned to ash along with his past. But he was home now, his new home. He had fought, he had killed, he had protected, and now he had earned his new home, his new family.

"Yes, you're home now, it's all right."

Yan Ling wrapped her arms around Liang Chen, whispering gently. She could feel his back as they hugged, she could feel his spine and shoulder blades. She hadn't seen it from a distance, but now she was confident that he had gotten thinner. His life was eating away at him, his choices were grinding him down. What sort of life had he lived while they were apart, what had he seen, what had he done? She didn't know any of it, but she could feel it as she embraced him, the weight of it all.

She held him close without saying anything else, Lan Yun sandwiched between them, uncertain how she could possibly hug both of them at the same time. Yan Ling could feel her hair get wet as Liang Chen buried his face in it, but something as small as that was far from enough to wipe the smile off her face. He wasn't the only one who came back home. Her mother had betrayed her, her brothers had died, her father had sacrificed himself, her sect had perished. Only she and her older brother remained, everything else had been lost. But now she was home, now everything was possible.

"So I take it this was the purpose of the groom selection? A farce meant to draw out a single person?"

But in the end, no matter how cut off they felt from the rest of the world, the surroundings were still there, the other people were still there. The voice that cut through the tender moment had accurately understood the situation and acted as the mouth for those who had waited here in hopes of marrying the Wolf Queen.

Liang Chen and Yan Ling both drew in a short breath and separated, wiping away the tears that still lingered on their faces. They looked at each other somewhat bitterly, while also somewhat amused. Of course they would be interrupted here.

Liang Chen turned around to the source of the voice, a muscular youth with a head full of golden hair like a mane. Contrary to expectations, his dark brown eyes were calm and his demeanour relaxed, he didn't look particularly offended at having been involved in this farce. Liang Chen nodded his head, he didn't bother mincing his words and stated it plainly.

"Yes, I am afraid that is the case. My wife is a bit mischievous like that, and was probably annoyed at my silence. But I can understand it if some of you are offended at that, you've wasted a bit of time here after all. So, if anyone actually wants to fight to expel that annoyance, then I will humour you. But I have no intentions of handing over my wife, so you'd best be prepared."

It was just to be expected that they would end up annoyed after having wasted their time here, it had been three years for some of them after all. So if they wanted to fight, be it to protect their pride or for a chance to win the maiden's hand, then he would join them, and he would crush them. His gaze was calm as he spoke and locked eyes with the youth, completely unaware of the fact that he had done a complete 180 on his earlier words that they would play his game, not Yan Ling's.

"Hmm. No, I'm good, I just wanted to make sure I got things right. I have no interest in fighting over someone else's woman, it's a waste of perfectly good emotions."

The man scoffed slightly at Liang Chen's words. Yan Ling was hailed as one of the youngest Sovereign Gods, those who could come to this groom selection weren't foolish children who thought with their groins. They had lived and fought for many years already, they had experienced and learned many things so they weren't the type to lose their heads in anger or shame over something like this.

Liang Chen's gaze slid away from the man as he stepped back, slowly moving across the other people that had revealed themselves from their courtyards. Some of them looked a bit exasperated, but none of them were too angry at the scene, some even treated it as a little show, an interlude to add some humour to their lives.

"Fuck it, I'll give you a go."

A man raised his hand just as Liang Chen's gaze was about to reach the last few people. The man had slicked back blue hair and light yellow eyes, his body looked a bit thin but well balanced, his lips slightly curved. He took a few steps forward, stretching as he did so.

"The name's Shaoya, wandering cultivator. I specialize in speed so I'm itching to see which of us is faster. Don't bother holding back and just go full force, otherwise I won't be able to determine a thing."

Shaoya wasn't angry or annoyed, just curious. He hadn't gotten to see everything, but he had heard something cut through the wind so he was certain that Liang Chen was fast, faster than most normal cultivators. So he wanted to see, who was faster, who had specialized harder? He finished stretching and brought out his weapons, two shortswords, one a glittering red while the other a cold blue. Liang Chen gave a slight nod and then turned his head, flashing Lan Yun a small smile.

"Can you do Paparan a favour and close your eyes for a second?"

He preferred the cheery and bubbly Lan Yun who took after her mother, there was no need for her to see too much of things like this, it might twist her mind like it did his. But it seemed like he had done similar things a bit too often in the past, Lan Yun simply puffed out her cheeks and latched onto Yan Ling's thighs.

"Nuh uh! Whenever Paparan says something like that I end up getting tucked away!"

His smile cramped slightly as Lan Yun practically hid behind Yan Ling. He only had to raise his eyes slightly to see that Yan Ling's lips were twitching somewhat, she was probably just an inch away from laughing at him. He crouched down so that he could lock eyes with Lan Yun, smiling gently

"I promise I won't do that this time, really. Look at me, do I look like a liar right now."

Lan Yun stared at him intently, scrutinizing his gaze and the curve of his lips. She raised her head to look at Yan Ling, who simply smiled at her calmly and left the decision up to her. In the end, she ground her teeth slightly and huffed as she relented.

"Gunununu... Fine! But Paparan only said a second, so I'm only going to close my eyes for one second, hmph!"

She couldn't not trust him when he was looking at her like that. But she still had to teach him a lesson so she had no intention of doing anything more, or less, than what he had said. One second, that was all she would give him. But to Liang Chen, that answer was more than enough.

"That's fine, one second is enough."

The corners of his lips curved up as he straightened his legs and stood up, ruffling Lan Yun's hair to thank her. He locked eyes with Yan Ling as he stood up, her own lips curved up in an amused arch.

"Hoh, you've gotten cocky while we were apart."

One second is enough. Those were very arrogant words for a fight like this, they were not words that Liang Chen would ever have said in the past, it just wasn't in his nature. He simply smiled at her statement and turned around, his gaze landing on the distant Shaoya.

"No, I've gotten strong."

The two men locked eyes, Shaoya letting out a deep breath as he readied his weapons. He could see it in Liang Chen's eyes, he wasn't going to play around with him. And how could he, his wife and daughter were right behind him, looking at him. His home was behind him. The two men looked at each other in silence, the somewhat cheeky voice of Lan Yun serving as the starting signal as she closed her eyes.

"O..."

Liang Chen's energy burst forth the second Lan Yun opened her mouth, the air in the area groaning as he stepped forward. He cut through the air as he vanished from sight and instantly appeared in front of Shaoya, the man who specialized in speed barely able to raise his two swords in defence.

Liang Chen's knee rose without mercy and smashed into the two weapons from below, pushing them upwards and leaving Shaoya's chest unguarded. He straightened his already raised leg and smashed his foot into Shaoya's chest, sending him flying backwards.

"N..."

He kicked off the air and shot after Shaoya, arriving just beneath him and punching upwards, his fist crashing into the man's spine. Shaoya wasn't even able to react as he was launched into the sky, towards the ceiling of the defensive dome. Liang Chen chased after him again, too fast for most people to even follow with their senses.

He arrived next to the ascending Shaoya and sent out another kick, his foot smashing into Shaoya's chin and halting his upwards rise, sending him flying sideways again. The empty air was like solid ground for Liang Chen as he chased after Shaoya, once again instantly arriving at his side.

"E..."

For the first time since he awakened after absorbing Purgatory, Liang Chen was using most of his powers, used one of his greatest advantages. Lightning law cultivators were said to be as fast as lightning, but was that really true? The Qi they unleashed, the attacks they launched, all of them were controlled by their thoughts and their senses, and could such a thing ever be as fast as true lightning? The answer was no.

But Liang Chen didn't have those restrictions. Liang Chen was lightning, he was the void, he was the wind, and they were him. If lightning wanted to move, why would it not move as fast as lightning did?

He arrived above Shaoya and smashed down with his foot, his heel slamming into his abdomen and sending him crashing down to the earth, embedding him in a crater in the ground. He then kicked off from the air again and returned to his previous position, right next to Lan Yun and Yan Ling, his home.

"Done! That was a one second Papa...ran?"

Lan Yun's eyes opened with a triumphant and cheeky sound, but her words trailed off as the sound of Shaoya crashing into the earth reached her. And there stood Liang Chen, right by her side as if he had never left, smiling at her like a reassuring father.

"See, I told you Paparan wasn't a liar."