Chapter 40: ATG 6

Carl arrived in front of a grand pair of gates. Above the gates was a sign board written with fine Calligraphy skill, proclaiming that it was the Yun Family. Carl spent a moment to admire the skill inherent in the writing. While he had become technically proficient in writing due to it being a necessity of Ancient Runes, and now Profound Inscription, he did not have the artistic ability to convey feelings and moods through Calligraphy as was evidenced by the signboard above the gate.

Yun Family. The words carried a sense of domination, as if they looked down on nearly every other existence. Carl could see how, when the scions of the noble families were raised with those kinds of goods and high expectations always around them, they could easily grow up to be arrogant toe rags.

He made his way to the entrance. There were a pair of guards stationed there, so Carl approached them.

"Halt! Who goes there!" One of the guards barked at Carl, while resting a hand on his sword and glaring suspiciously.

Carl rolled his eyes. "Seriously? Are you pretty green to the guarding post, or are you just an idiot?" Carl asked. Giving him no time to respond, Carl continued his monologue. "You must be an idiot because I'm sure your superiors have tried to train you how to be polite and respectful to anyone approaching on the off chance they turn out to be an important person. Just because you feel all special for being a guard for one of the 12 Guardian Families wouldn't mean the Yun Family wouldn't punish you heavily if you offended the wrong person and caused problems for them."

"Take this example, right here." Carl gestured to indicate their little confrontation. "I approached the gates openly while dressed in decently prosperous robes. I'm obviously not a beggar or thief. And you act all suspicious like you want to chop me up before I've even managed to open my mouth, let alone show you the invitation I have to come visit a member of the Yun Family. Especially since it is an invitation from your Young Patriarch to visit the Yun Family Patriarch. So you tell me, now that you've offended someone who is here to meet with your Patriarch, how much of an idiot you are being?"

"And you are hardly any better." Carl then directed his gaze at the other guard. "Instead of rebuking your fellow guard you took a lazy attitude of waiting to see if he made a fool of himself. Do you think the Yun Family would let you off the hook with some excuse for why you didn't do anything to stop the idiot from bringing them problems? No, they would punish you for not teaching him any better. So, tell me, two idiots, have you learned a lesson in how to be better guards and serve the Yun Family with honor and distinction, or not?"

The two guards flushed from anger and shame at being rebuked by a stranger. The problem was that what he said made a great deal of sense, and they knew it. The first guard, however, was willing to argue back, opening his mouth angrily to yell at Carl, when the second guard smacked him, shutting him up.

The second guard saluted Carl, which he accepted with a nod of his head. "I'm sorry sir. He's new and not very well trained yet. You said you had an invitation to visit, may I see it?" The guard was assuming a polite tone of voice and posture, which at least meant that he could learn.

Carl nodded, allowing a small smile of approval to appear on his face. "Yes, it's good to see you're a quick learner. You do the Yun Family credit with your actions." Carl stated as he handed over the invitation. Evidently the second guard was smart enough to learn from a small lecture, while the first guard would have needed a beating to get the Celestial Profound Basic Decency Inducement perk to finally work on him.

After looking over Carl's invitation, the second guard called a servant to guide Carl to a waiting room where he was served tea while waiting for Yun Xiao to show up.

Carl sat back and relaxed with his cup of tea, occasionally sipping. It was a pretty decent flavor. In his original life he'd thought teas were way too weak flavored, and always opted for stronger drinks like sodas or coffee. But ever since he'd gotten his senses enhanced, his sense of taste was more than strong enough to make even a weak tea taste strong enough for him to enjoy.

After some time, Yun Xiao arrived. Carl rose to greet Yun Xiao.

"Carl, I'm glad you could visit so soon!" Yun Xiao exclaimed. "It took me some time to convince mother and father to allow you to diagnose them. I just hope you can help." Yun Xiao trailed off, feeling somewhat unconfident about the chances Carl had of helping them.

Carl patted Yun Xiao's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry too much. Everything will work out." Even if he couldn't heal Yun Xiao's parents himself, he was sure his medical bay could. It was just a matter of how he would go about it. While he liked Yun Xiao, he'd only known him for about a year. Showing him the Warehouse so soon wasn't something Carl wanted to do. Maybe he could arrange it so they could visit his building and set up the portal to the Warehouse in a doorway so they didn't realize that his Warehouse wasn't a part of the building?

Carl shrugged the concern away for the time being.

"So, shall we make our way so we don't leave your parents waiting?" Carl suggested, breaking Yun Xiao out of his thoughts.

"Sure, follow me." Yun Xiao said with a strained smile.

Yun Xiao then lead Carl out and started pointing out notable things about the Yun Family grounds as they made their way to his parent's residence.

In the center of the family grounds, there was a giant open spaced plaza with a stage called the Sacred Cloud Arena. It was a place where family martial competitions were held, and where family members could duel to solve issues between family members that couldn't be talked out. Behind the Sacred Cloud Arena was a tall monument that was constantly releasing purple light up into the sky.

"That's our Ancestral Monument." Yun Xiao pointed at the monument that was releasing purple light. "Every year on our birthdays, Yun Family members channel our purple profound energy from our cultivation art into the monument. It keeps the monument charged and continually emitting the light. The past hundred years, and especially the past 20 years when my parents have been injured, the brilliance of the monument has been dying down. It's a visible reminder of how our Yun Family is in disgrace and being punished by the Illusory Demon Royal Family."

"And you're the mascot of our disgrace, aren't you Yun Xiao!" An annoying voice shouted from the side.

Carl sighed at the sight of a dozen Yun Family members grouped up a few feet away with big grins on their faces. They were obviously coming to stir up trouble and bully the Young Patriarch while he had a guest, hoping to make him lose face.

'Damn am I glad I eventually chose not to pick that drawback I'm Surrounded By Assholes. I've run into plenty of them as is, since this world is chock full of them. Having a drawback to up my encounter rate for 10 long years would have been a nightmare.' Carl snorted in amusement.

The lead Yun family asshole bully glared at Carl for snorting. He thought, rightfully, that Carl wasn't taking him seriously.

Carl had trained his profound senses well over the past two and a half years. He could tell that the lead guy was at Tyrant 2, while the rest of the dozen Yun Family members were all Emperor 10 or Tyrant 1 level. Since Yun Xiao was Emperor 9 and Carl was only Emperor 3 level at the moment, they arrogantly thought that Carl should be cowering before their might.

"And just who do you think you are?" Sneered the lead moron.

"Me? I'm the Doctor." Carl blandly stated. He had always enjoyed the show, so now that he was an actual doctor…

"Doctor who?" The Yun Family bully had a questioning look on his face.

'Yes! I can see why Doctor Who always has fun with that gag.' Carl chuckled inside. He could see Yun Xiao next to him being amused and concerned at the same time.

"Yup. And you lot? Not a bit of manners among you. It is pretty rude to not introduce yourself first when asking someone else's name." Carl sniffed at the group, as if they were uncivilized barbarians.

"You can't talk to us like that in the Yun Family home! You're courting death!" The lead bully was evidently a hotheaded stubborn idiot.

"Oh, but somehow it's okay for you to verbally attack the young Patriarch in front of his guest? I guess you lot are the real despair of the Yun Family. It's no wonder you're declining if you can't understand such simple rules of etiquette. How about if you and I take this disagreement to the arena here and hash it out?" Carl offered with a sneer, just to be sure the brat knew how little Carl thought of him.

"Good! Don't cry to me when I break your bones though!"

Yun Xiao looked nervously at Carl. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Carl nodded seriously, smiling reassuringly at Yun Xiao. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." He then got on the stage, waiting for the idiot to join him. "By the way, the name is Carl. I never did catch your name."

"My name is Yun Kuo! You'll regret mouthing off to me, boy!"

Carl chuckled at Yun Kuo's attempts to rile him up by setting himself as the older. Carl then turned serious when Yun Kuo powered up in front of him.

Pulling up his own profound energy to be prepared for combat, Carl got in his ready stance. Since this wasn't a duel to the death, neither of them used a weapon.

Yun Kuo flew through the air at Carl, attempting to get the upper hand by striking first and striking hard. Carl didn't think too much of his speed, and used his profound energy to charge forward as well, but at the last second he used his wind movement skills to create a little wind stepping stone in front of Yun Kuo, who barreled into it face first.

Yun Kuo hadn't been damaged by the low end profound skill made of wind, but it was enough to cause Yun Kuo to flinch from having something unexpected smack him in the face. Carl was there in a flash, taking advantage of Yun Kuo's distraction to attack.

Since Carl didn't want to burn the brat to death, he restricted himself to physical attacks, making use of his medical knowledge to dislocate Yun Kuo's arms and block his usage of profound energy. After a couple seconds and a dozen strikes by Carl, Yun Kuo fell from the air onto the stage in a heap.

Carl landed nearby and summoned a fireball the size of a beach ball. The sheer heat of the fireball caused sweat to spring out on Yun Kuo's face as he stared at the technique, frightened at how close death felt to him.

"So, now that I have your attention, Yun Kuo, I'd like to address some of your issues and misunderstandings." Carl spoke loudly so the whole group of bullying lads could hear him. "You consider yourself a proud member of the Yun Family, do you not?" When it looked like Yun Kuo wasn't going to say anything, Carl motioned the fireball a little closer.

"Yes! Please don't burn me!" Yun Kuo yelled.

Carl nodded. "It helps when having a dialogue to actually answer the questions posed to you, Yun Kuo. I'm not going to burn you. But you will engage in this dialogue with vocal answers. Understood?"

"Yes." Yun Kuo gritted out.

"Good!" Carl cheerfully voiced. "We are having a good conversation already." He then turned sober. "So, since you consider yourself a proud member of the Yun Family, you should owe them your loyalty first and foremost?"

"Of course!" Yun Kuo shouted. "I'm loyal to the Yun Family!"

"That's good to hear. So why is it that you're acting like a traitor?" Carl dropped a bombshell on Yun Kuo.

"What!? No, I'd never be a traitor to the family! You lie!" Yun Kuo's anger was rising up at the accusation that he was despicable.

"Really? You truly believe that you're not acting like a traitor to the family?" Carl asked while looking out of the corner of his eye at the several elders that had been watching the fight and listening in on their conversation. Judging from their scowls, they too didn't like the question.

"Okay, let's go over some facts of life here for you ignorant brats." Carl said. "Up until a hundred years ago, the Yun Family was the undisputed number 1 family of the 12 Guardian Families. You ranked only behind the Illusory Demon Royal Family. What happens to such a family when they stay in the number one position for such a long time?" Carl asked.

"They're proven as the strongest?"

"They're renowned around the nation?"

Carl shook his head at the answers. It seems like his audience was stumped and not getting what Carl was pointing at. Carl decided to answer for them, since they didn't seem to be getting it on their own.

"When someone stays in the number one position for so long, there will inevitably be those that are jealous. They will stare enviously at the number one, wishing they had the resources, the money, the prestige of being number one themselves. They would even do anything to drag down the number one, so they can have a share of the resources that the number one family enjoys. Which means, the Yun Family has their share of rivals and enemies that covet what you have. Or had, up until recently."

Carl let them stew on that for a few moments, to let the idea sink in. "Now, that doesn't mean you don't have allies. From everything I've heard, you have very true and staunch allies. But that doesn't mean there aren't groups out there that would be happy to start schemes designed to hurt your family, your benefits, and your good name."

"How old are you, Yun Xiao?" Carl asked his friend a question.

"I'm 18." Yun Xiao answered calmly, yet in a voice that carried. He too was waiting to see just where Carl was going with this.

"So here we have Yun Xiao, who is only 18 years old. While the Yun Family has been in decline for a hundred years. So obviously young Yun Xiao here isn't the cause of the Yun Family's decline. The decline started long before he was even conceived."

"I've also seen what Yun Xiao has been receiving from the Yun Family as the young Patriarch of the family for his cultivation resources, and I'm amazed. He has received practically nothing. The Yun Family uses him as a scapegoat for their decline, cutting his resources to nothing, attacking him, and blaming him for things that aren't his fault."

"And yet, what is Yun Xiao's cultivation level? Emperor 9. Somehow a cultivator, who receives nothing from the Yun Family despite holding a prestigious title, had clawed his way up to Emperor 9 through his own blood, sweat, and tears. So you think about that. Is someone who receives nothing but accomplishes such an amazing feat really the disgrace of the Yun family? It seems to me he has quite the talent!"

"But he wasn't able to awaken his Profound Handle! That's why he's a disgrace!" One of the lads in the group yelled out in anger.

"So the fuck what?!" Carl yelled back at him, shocking everyone there.

The Profound Handle that the youth referred to was a special innate profound ability of the Yun Family. It was passed on through the bloodline and gave a Yun Family member a few special abilities. The family rules were laid out so that only a male that had a strong manifestation of the Profound Handle could step up and become the Patriarch.

"The Yun Family is surrounded by fucking enemies that love to watch you tearing each other apart!" Carl continued yelling, trying to hammer certain truths home to them. "You're on the decline because your family failed the Empire. That's not something that can be made right without extraordinary effort. But instead of pulling together and putting on a united front to outsiders and striving to recover your honor, you idiots go around in the market place bullying the person who has the Young Patriarch position. You belittle him in front of an outsider, one of his guests. Is it any wonder the rest of the Empire views the current Yun Family as a joke? You can't even keep your own house in order?"

"How shameful it is that scions of the Yun Family go around sucking up to members of other Guardian Families and Duke Palaces, hoping to beg some little bits of scrap, hoping to win their approval by bullying and belittling their own Patriarch's son. Where is your honor as a member of the Yun Family? Where is your pride as the number one fucking Guardian Family?"

"So, do you get it now? Do you understand your mistakes and how you need to find your damned backbone? You, Yun Kuo!" Carl directed his question to the young lad while getting rid of his fireball. "What are you going to do? Are you going to continue to be a disgrace of the Yun Family and fight your own family for the amusement of outsiders? Or are you going to man up and be the backbone of your Family as you regain your glory?"

"I swear to be the backbone of the Family!" Yun Kuo yelled out hoarsely. "We will regain our glory!"

"Good! I'm glad to see spirit of the Yun Family I've heard stories about!" Carl said. He quickly fixed the dislocations and unblocked his profound energy. Carl then gave him a hand to stand up. "I'm quite pleased to meet a scion of the Yun Family." Carl smiled as he clapped a hand on Yun Kuo's shoulder. Yun Kuo visibly puffed up at the praise. And Carl saw many of the elders and other Yun Family members with deep thinking faces on.

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a meeting to get to. It was good to compare notes with you." Carl then gave him a salute, which Yun Kuo returned.

Yun Kuo and his group moved off with speed, probably to train now that their blood was pumping from Carl's rousing speech.

Carl turned to see Yun Xiao looking at him with almost stars in his eyes. "Did you mean what you said, Carl?"

Carl could see that Yun Xiao was talking about him calling Yun Xiao talented, since he hardly ever gets complimented. Carl nodded seriously. "I really mean it. You've got lots of talent. I've seen it as we've sparred this past year."

"But you always win." Yun Xiao complained sourly. Carl laughed at the expression on Yun Xiao's face, and clapped him on the shoulder in commiseration.

"Yeah, but I'm also a really talented freak. I've had to keep upping the ante while we fight in order to keep the same pressure on you so you'd grow more skilled faster. Now, let's go. I'm sure your parents are wondering what the delay is."

As they left the arena, Carl chuckled inside. His perk to induce decency was getting a workout today.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Carl greeted Yun Xiao's parents.

Yun Qinghong, Yun Xiao's father, looked like a feeble man in his early 50s with half of his hair turned grey. Which considering that most cultivators looked to be in their 20s or 30s at most for centuries really said something about his injuries. So did the way he almost hobbled when greeting Carl.

Mu Yurou looked to be in her mid 40s. She too had difficulty moving around. Her initial injuries weren't as bad as Yun Qinghong's, but she was a few levels below him in cultivation and seemed to be having a harder time fighting off the poison that both husband and wife were afflicted with.

Carl made a quick inspection of the couple, and determined that they were basically good people, upright and strong willed. Medically speaking, they were a mess. Many of their internal organs were damaged and on the verge of shutting down. 90% of their tendons were scarred and damaged, so they had a hard time moving. And they were inflicted with a poison that had permeated every part of their bodies, preventing them from accessing their profound energy and keeping them from healing.

"It's good to meet you too, Doctor Carl." Yun Qinghong greeted him.

"I'm so glad to finally meet Little Xiao's friend. I've heard good things about you." Mu Yurou added with a gentle smile.

Carl chuckled in response. "I'm surprised you have heard anything about me. I'd imagine most of his attention is on Seventh Sister." Carl threw Yun Xiao under the bus to his mother for no other reason than it was funny.

Mu Yurou chuckled while Yun Xiao's strangled coughs brightened Carl's day. Carl cheerfully ignored Yun Xiao's muttered "never should have brought him here".

"Oh, he doesn't say much about her, but I've seen that look on young men before, and could fill in the blanks." Mu Yurou said with a small smile and a gleam in her eye, while eyeing her own husband meaningfully. Yun Qinghong coughed in embarrassment at the inference.

After chatting for a while longer, Carl felt pretty good about deciding to help Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou. He quite liked them, and they kept up a good attitude in front of him, despite no doubt being in pain from their injuries and poison.

Eventually, Carl broke the subject that brought him there that day. "So, Yun Xiao has told you that I'm willing to try my hand at diagnosing your problems, yes?" At their solemn nods, Carl nodded back. "Shall I start with Yun Qinghong?"

Carl could see the struggle in their eyes. For 20 years they had been suffering from their injuries and the poison. Many doctors had come and gone, and none could help them. At this point, even allowing doctors to diagnose them felt like they were getting their hopes up for nothing, so it was a struggle to give it a chance.

Eventually, Yun Qinghong nodded after seeing the look of hope in Yun Xiao's face. Sighing, he motioned Carl to do his thing.

Carl gave a small comforting smile, and moved around the table to take Yun Qinghong's pulse at his wrist, while at the same time sinking a profound energy probe into his body. He soon verified what he knew from his initial visual scan, and added the knowledge that the poison was a Cold type poison that was permeated in every part of Yun Qinghong's body. Sword Energy from a cultivator that specialized in fighting with swords was what had cut through most of his body's tendons. His organs were on the verge of failure. It was only due to his high cultivation level that he survived.

Once he finished his scan, Carl sat back down and gave the three a small smile of comfort. "Well, the good news is that I'm sure I can treat you, and get you back on your feet, as good as new." Carl said, and then had to pause at their exclamations of disbelief.

"Are you serious? How can you do it when no other doctors could help us?"

"I have had a most excellent master. He was the most skilled doctor, bar none." Carl chuckled. While not strictly true, the Jumpchain could be considered a teacher and master in a way, so he wasn't completely lying.

"Now, I have three methods available to heal you with. The first is the longest, most expensive, and most difficult to accomplish. I won't even go into details of the treatment, since I wouldn't recommend it. It would take at least seven years. Too long."

Carl smiled inside at their automatic nods. He could tell they were still struggling to whether to believe him or not about his words of being able to heal them.

"Now, the second method is something that I couldn't have done before a couple months ago when I finally made my own breakthrough in a cultivation technique given to me by my master. With it, I can cleanse your bodies of the poison, and help you heal in only a month." Carl had to pause and wait out their exclamations of disbelief once more.

"Carl, you're not lying, right? You can really heal my parents?" Yun Xiao exclaimed in question. Carl nodded in affirmation.

"I hope you are for real. We don't need any false hope or boasting since we are well aware of just how bad our condition is." Yun Qinghong seriously said, while Mu Yurou remained quiet.

"I could administer the first treatment right here and now so you can judge whether my words are true or not." Carl offered.

The family of three exchanged looks for several moments. Yun Xiao was so obviously urging them to take a chance that it almost broke his parent's hearts. Mu Yurou gave a firm nod to Yun Qinghong.

"Fine." Yun Qinghong sighed. "Let's give it a try. There's nothing to lose anyway by taking a chance." He muttered at the end.

Carl nodded seriously, and placed his hand on Yun Qinghong's shoulder. He pulled up his energy from the Great Way of the Buddha and began channeling it through Yun Qinghong's body.

The two things needed for the treatment were the regeneration abilities of the Great Way of the Buddha, and an extraordinary knowledge of the human body. If Carl didn't have the medical knowledge given to him from his perk, he wouldn't have dared to chance attempting this procedure. The energy from the Great Way of the Buddha technique without precise directions would have run wild in Yun Qinghong's body and caused more damage than it healed, likely killing him.

Carl used his nature and regenerative energy to push the cold poison before it, moving the poison to Yun Qinghong's left hand. With his other hand, he pulled out a flask from his spatial ring and handed it to Yun Xiao.

"When I tell you, cut a one centimeter cut on his middle finger, and catch the poison flow in the flask. Keep your hands steady, and don't spill it." Carl warned the suddenly nervous Yun Xiao.

After a few moments, Carl glanced at his friend. "Now, Yun Xiao."

Yun Xiao barely hesitated, only enough for his father to give him an encouraging nod, before he made the cut.

Black, ink like substance poured out of Yun Qinghong's finger to fall into the flask. Carl returned his full concentration on herding all the poison out of Yun Qinghong's body. The poison seemed to fight against being pushed out, but Carl was relentless. Several minutes passed, and when the poison was finally out of Yun Qinghong's body, his red blood started leaking out.

Carl quickly directed some energy to seal up the cut. He then directed his energy to work on healing some of Yun Qinghong's body, a bit at a time. Now that the poison was gone, his body started the healing process for the first time in 20 years.

Carl finished up, pulled his energy back, and released his hand from Yun Qinghong's shoulder. Despite how amazing the nature energy was from the Great Way of the Buddha technique, channeling it in that manner was bloody exhausting. Carl had sweat rolling off his face and felt like he'd run a marathon with his original out of shape body. The one he had before the Jumpchain.

He pulled out a pepper up potion and downed it. After the quick energy rush, Carl felt a lot better.

"Father, how is it?" Yun Xiao was anxiously asking.

Yun Qinghong responded by laughing out loud boisterously, which shocked Yun Xiao. As loving as his parents were, he'd never seen his father that happy and celebratory before.

"I can feel it! My profound energy! I thought I'd never feel it again!" Yun Qinghong crowed.

Yun Xiao jumped up in excitement. "That's wonderful, father!" After a moment of celebration, he turned to Carl. "Thank you so much Carl. Can you help my mother now?" He anxiously asked.

Carl smiled at his friend. "Sure thing."

Carl then repeated the same steps he had with Yun Qinghong on Mu Yurou, flushing out the poison and starting the healing process once more. Afterwards, Carl felt wiped out as he collapsed in his seat. He wouldn't be doing that again anytime soon. But now he had two samples of the cold poison to study.

While Carl sat back and watched the family celebrate, he relaxed and recovered his energy without the pepper up potion this time. He was pleased to see that Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou were already moving better as their profound energy was trickling back into their bodies.

"I'm glad to see you two feeling better." Carl said when the family had finished their emotional moment and turned their attention back to him. "With the poison now removed from your bodies, even if I did nothing else to help you, you would recover about 70% of your full capacity over about three years. It's unlikely if you didn't accept more treatment if you would ever get to 100% though."

Carl paused for a bit to let what he said sink in. Just when it looked like Yun Xiao would burst and demand he do something more, Carl continued with a small hint of a grin for having tweaked his friend.

"But if I continue coming around for another month of similar treatments that I just performed, then you will be 100% in just a month." Carl grinned at the rush of hope and ambition he could see in the couple, especially the Patriarch Yun Qinghong. Being crippled for 20 years and forced to watch helplessly as his clan continued to fall apart must have been especially maddening for him.

"We are already in your debt, Carl. If you would continue the treatment, we would owe you even more." Yun Qinghong gave Carl a salute, being very serious.

Carl casually waved it away. "I realize you feel strongly about this, and I'm not dismissing your feelings. But I did this for my friend's parents, not so that the Patriarch of the Yun Clan would feel he owed me one."

"Nevertheless, you must accept our thanks for giving us this opportunity to retake our lives." Mu Yurou spoke up in a soft tone, with many emotions underpinning her words.

Carl gave back a salute to the two. "As a proud cultivator myself, how would I dare be too full of myself. But I accept in the spirit in which it was given."

Carl then coughed to move on and deliberately break the touchy feely moment. "So, before the treatment I said that there was a third method of treatment. Understand that the only reason I dared mention it was that over the last year I've come to trust and admire Yun Xiao's character, which is a direct reflection of how his parents raised him. Otherwise, I would keep this secret and never reveal it to anyone."

Carl had decided that he would go ahead and offer the use of the Medical Bay to heal them up in a day for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that he didn't want to have to spend a month coming to treat the two until they were completely healed. The chances that the Yun Family's enemies were keeping a close eye on them was practically 100%. He didn't want a hint of what he was doing to help the Yun couple heal to leak to their enemies until the Yun couple had a chance to rebuild their control and powerbase and start to enact plans to deal with their enemies.

The second reason was that even though he had helped them quite a bit, as a Patriarch of such a large family, Yun Qinghong had to be feeling uncomfortable owing such a huge favor to an outsider. The worry that Carl might come back later to ask for repayment of the favor in a way that might be detrimental to the Yun Family would be a niggling worry at the back of his mind.

If Carl gave them a secret of his own that could hurt him if the Yun Patriarch let it out, then it would act as a sort of guarantee and reassurance that they would be considerate of each other. His secret would act as collateral of their cooperation.

The information that Carl possessed a miracle healing device that could heal the crippled Yun couple near instantly is something that would destroy Carl by instigating a world wide hunt of Carl as the strongest cultivators around the world would do anything to control him or his healing device.

At least, in the minds of the Yun couple it was a huge secret. For Carl, in reality, if they screwed him over and let the cat out of the bag, he could simply disappear for seven and a half years before leaving the world and no one would ever see him again in this world.

Added on that he knew through his Heart of Snow Glazed Glass ability that the Yun family in front of Carl was inherently good and wouldn't betray his trust unless he gave them reason to, and Carl didn't think he was really taking that big a risk by letting them in on the secret.

"I have a healing device that can heal you up in one afternoon. It is a lifesaving gift to me from my master, and I am willing to use it to unsure you two are on your feet as soon as possible." Carl shared the secret. "I didn't mention it before the treatment because now you have proof that I can back up my words, and they aren't just empty boasts."

Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou's body language told Carl that the Yun couple, at least, caught all the implications and unvoiced messages that Carl wanted to send them. Yun Xiao was still a little young and unused to dealing with politics so he missed some of the unspoken messages.

"We couldn't possibly use up your life saving treasure gifted by your master." Yun Qinghong replied.

"Yes, well I assume by now you know that I am quite a competent healer in my own right. The device is not a single use device. It is basically a device my master built to ensure that if I was ever injured too much that I couldn't heal myself, then I would still be able to use the device to receive treatment. Be assured that using it to speed up your own healing will not deprive me of its use."

Carl saw that Yun Qinghong still had some reservations about just why he was offering them the use, what he could possibly benefit from revealing the existence of the healing device, if it was so miraculous. Carl sighed inside. Just because Yun Qinghong was a good man, didn't mean he was not also shrewd. Especially after seeing the true faces of so many people that simply abandoned him and his wife when they came back from the Sky Profound Continent crippled. Carl knew he would have to elaborate more if he was to convince Yun Qinghong.

"I'm sure you know that I've only been in the capital for about two and a half years." At their nods, Carl continued. "One of the things I've been doing was learning everything about the city I've decided to spend my time in. Less chance of being blindsided by surprise politics if I stay in the know."

Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou exchanged significant glances. Even Carl's Sherlock like abilities didn't help him parse out the meanings behind their concerned looks. So, he simply continued on.

"After learning the recent history of the capital and the Illusory Demon Royal family, I have concerns. One of the things that I find incredibly suspicious is how the Demon Emperor disappeared. I've heard the stories about how he was ambushed by the Four Sacred Grounds from the Sky Profound Continent, but how did they know to ambush him?"

"And when your own father, Yun Canghai, took 10 late stage Monarchs to find him they were also ambushed before they could accomplish anything? Well, it made me wonder. Just what could stop 11 late stage Monarchs?"

"There is a saying from my home town. Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. And so when the Little Demon Emperor suddenly left his bride on their wedding night before ensuring the continuance of the lineage of the Illusory Demon Royal Family, a family he was reportedly proud of, and he too disappeared. Well, it just solidified my opinion that there is an enemy of the Royal Family. They are also an enemy of the Yun Family. And they are somewhere in the dark, plotting."

Carl was glad that the furious and murderous looks on the Yun's faces wasn't directed at him. Apparently the Yun and Mu families took their responsibilities to guard the Illusory Demon Royal Family and the Empire very seriously.

"How could we not have seen it?" Yun Qinghong whispered angrily. "There must be a traitor in the Empire. But who? That must have been why it was so easy for them to find our trail and hunt us down when we too went to the Sky Profound Continent." Yun Qinghong looked apologetically to his wife for leading her into a trap.

Mu Yurou grasped Yun Qinghong's hand and smiled in reassurance that she didn't blame him.

"I have my suspicions as to who they are, but we'll get to that later. After the treatment." Carl flatly told them. "I told you all this now, so you understand why I'm offering the use of my master's healing device. The Yun Family enemies are without a doubt closely watching who comes and goes in your family. If I were to come regularly for a month, and your health continued to improve over that month, then they might act against me to prevent your recovery."

"If you conceal the fact that you are healed however, and continue to pretend to be crippled? Then you have time to solidify your position in your family, contact your allies, and set up a counter trap."

"As for the reason I'm helping you?" Carl asked when he saw there were still questions in Yun Qinghong's eyes. "I've made friends with your son, Yun Xiao, so I am on your side. And I hate traitors." Carl flatly declared.

Traitors that would betray everything they should stand for just because they have a lust for power, or wealth, or whatever deserve death. Yun Qinghong saw that sentiment in Carl's eyes, and finally seemed satisfied that he had Carl's measure.

"Okay, young man. We trust you." Yun Qinghong smiled at Carl. "So, let's get this treatment out of the way, and we can then talk more about what we'll do in the coming days."

Carl let a smile grow on his face too. He internally shrugged at showing them the warehouse. From his explanation of the healing device, they would be suspicious of he couldn't access it with him. And since cultivators were no strangers to pocket spaces, it's not like he needed to even explain the Warehouse. They would draw their own conclusions.

So he pulled a large door on a frame out of his spatial ring. It was just a simple free standing door on a base that he had crafted to cover his use of a portal into his warehouse just in case. Opening a portal into the Medical Bay, Carl preceded everyone as they followed him inside.

He soon had Yun Qinghong on the medical bed. After a quick scan, he configured the healing bed to do what he wanted it to. While he was at it, he decided to go ahead and open all of Yun Qinghong's profound entrances.

If they were going to be Carl's allies, he wanted them to get as strong as they could until it was time to take action against their enemies.

A short time later, Yun Qinghong was bouncing in place, laughing aloud at the glorious feel of being physically whole for the first time in 20 years. He was soon eagerly ushering Mu Yurou onto the bed, anxious that his wife also be healed.

Carl complied and had Mu Yurou healed, also opening up all of her 54 profound entrances.

"Okay, your turn Yun Xiao." Carl said after Mu Yurou was done.

"But I'm not sick or injured or anything?" Yun Xiao said in confusion.

"Ahh, but that's not the only thing this device can do. Yun Qinghong, Mu Yurou, how many profound entrances of yours were open?"

"I had 36 open. My father was quite proud!" Yun Qinghong answered.

"I had 33." Mu Yurou answered.

"Check out how many you have open now." Carl said with a smirk.

"W-what?! All 54?! But this is the legendary Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins! How?!" Yun Qinghong gasped. Mu Yurou and Yun Xiao just gaped open mouthed.

"Like I said, my master was a medical saint. There was practically nothing he couldn't do. He taught me the skill to open Profound Entrances, so I could have done it myself. It was just easier to do so while you were being healed. This way, you can get much stronger for the day that we inevitably face our enemies."

And letting the Yun family members know just how valuable Carl is wouldn't hurt his standing with them at all.

"So, no more dawdling, Yun Xiao! Get on the bed." With even his parents urging him, Yun Xiao got on the medbay bed.

A short time later, Yun Xiao too had all his Profound Entrances open and had some minor issues, like old bone breaks, fixed. Carl had also made sure that all three of their Profound Veins were reinforced and upgraded as much as he could.

After which, Carl ushered the three outside his Warehouse and put away the door in his spatial ring once more.

"Carl? Do you think you can open Seventh Sister's Profound Entrances too? I really appreciate what you've done for me, don't get me wrong!" Yun Xiao hastily said when Carl just stared at him for a moment. "It's just, she's been so good to me, helping me get resources and all, that I don't want her to lag behind, and I want her to be her best too, and-"

Carl interrupted Yun Xiao's babbling with laughter. "Ahh, don't worry, Yun Xiao. I had planned on it already. I was just wondering how long it would take you to ask on her behalf. I would have been disappointed in you if you didn't ask for something nice for you sweetheart!"

Carl could see Mu Yurou go on point in the way only a mother could when she was interested in who her son dated, which caused Carl to grin inside.

"Giving you resources?" Yun Qinghong on the other had grasped onto something else. "Why would Number Seven need to give you resources?"

Yun Xiao got a wide eyed look as he realized what he had let slip. He had been so happy about his parents being healed, he hadn't been as cautious about not talking about how he was treated by the Yun Family.

Seeing Yun Xiao struggle to come up with an explanation, but not being stupid and could guess correctly, Yun Qinghong snorted. "Well, we'll talk about that later then." It was an internal Yun Family matter, so it was shelved for later.

Yun Qinhong then turned to Carl. "You said you had some suspicions about who is behind the attacks on the Illusory Demon Royal Family, as well as our Yun Family?"

Carl noticed how he placed the Illusory Demon Royal Family first, even before his Yun Family. This was a man that placed a huge amount of importance on his duty and responsibilities. Carl decided that he admired that trait in the man.

"Well, I don't have any hard evidence of who is a traitor. But I have noticed quite a few trends over the past two and a half years that is very suggestive and requires follow up. Let me show you what I've seen in the way some of the 12 Guardian Families and several Duke Palaces have been acting…"

Carl had just left the Yun Family after presenting his evidence and suspicions and passing a couple more gifts designed to help his allies. Yun Xiao had been sent off to allow his parents some alone time.

Yun Qinghong grabbed his wife from behind and sat down on a chair, placing her in his lap while he hugged her to him. It was almost like a dream, to be healthy once more.

Mu Yurou giggled at her husband's forceful actions. She too was just so happy to finally be free of the pain. And the cuddling was doing amazing things to her, feelings that she thought she would never be able to feel again in this life.

Yun Qinghong suddenly stilled though, and in a serious tone of voice, asked his wife. "Did you feel it in him too? His bloodline?"

Mu Yurou nodded. "Indeed. I almost didn't believe it at first, but he has the Golden Crow bloodline. It is very strong, too. How he got it is a mystery, since he obviously isn't related to the Royal Family."

"We'll keep his medical device secret, of course. But the Little Demon Empress needs to know about his bloodline. Without the Little Demon Emperor, Carl is now the hope of preserving and strengthening the bloodline of the Royal Family."

Mu Yurou nodded seriously. As a member of one of the 12 Guardian Families from birth, they were trained to take their duty to the Royal Family seriously. "Thankfully he gave us these communication devices. They are a wonder." She grabbed up one of the communication mirrors that Carl had gifted them. "How are we going to pass these to our allies and the Little Demon Empress without letting our enemies suspect anything?"

"Hmm." Yun Qinghong nodded while thinking. "Well, the Mu family will be easy. You can visit home one of these days in the next week."

Mu Yurou nodded, then got a brilliant smile on her face. "I think you need to visit the Under Heaven Family soon. A betrothal between the Elf Clan and the Yun Family would help our two families draw closer. And I like that girl, Number Seven, for Yun Xiao." A thought crossed her mind and her smile fell away.

Yun Qinghong, seeing her falling mood, hugged her closer. "He's fine. One of these days, after we settle all the issues here, we'll go look for him. My brother Xiao Ying will have watched out for him in our place, just as we are doing for Yun Xiao for him."

"I know." Mu Yurou said softly. "I just miss our baby boy. I love Yun Xiao like he is my own. But I just wish things hadn't happened like they did."

"Me too, my love, me too. Everything will work out, though. You'll see."

Mu Yurou settled back, letting herself be comforted as the two enjoyed the first night of being healthy after so very long.