Followers of the storm.

Yan Ling didn't say anything as Liang Chen embraced her, she just quietly leaned her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Powerful and regal yet slightly erratic, the only sign that his emotions weren't as calm as he looked. She knew that his words weren't entirely wrong, what she was doing was cruel, cruel to both of them.

They had only just gotten somewhat used to being apart and alone, a drastic change compared to how they were earlier. So for her to visit and spark the hope that they would reunite, only for her to then state that they would split up again, this time ending up so far apart that the distance was impossible to calculate, was indeed cruel. She created hope only to then crush it mercilessly, a necessary but nonetheless painful act. With her choosing to not say anything, it was Liang Chen who ended up breaking the silence, ending the embrace.

"There's something I want to show you."

Liang Chen pulled away from Yan Ling and walked over to the black cocoon that covered Yumao, sliding off his interspatial ring and placing it on top of the cocoon. Like this, the energy radiating off of the cocoon would somewhat protect the ring, and if it fluctuated violently then Liang Chen would be able to sense it even inside the ring. Having placed the ring on top of the cocoon, Liang Chen stretched out his left arm and presented his hand.

"I'm terrible at these sorts of things, it was always meant for you, so I'm sure you'll like it."

Yan Ling couldn't help but tilt her head somewhat confusedly at Liang Chen's cryptic words, glancing curiously at his interspatial ring, which it seemed like he intended for them to enter. They had the same interspatial ring, they had received it during one of the trials of the Mystic's Hidden Realm, so she knew everything his ring was capable of, and it shouldn't be capable of holding living humans.

But she still stepped forward and grabbed hold of his hand, her curiosity piqued. And when she grabbed hold of his hand, his other hand touched upon the interspatial ring, a slight twisting sensation running through space around them as they were sucked into the interspatial ring. And before Yan Ling could wrap her head around how they could get sucked into the interspatial ring, she found herself standing inside a large and mostly empty city.

If her curiosity was piqued before then now it was completely aroused, her eyes practically sparkling as she swept them across the surroundings. The scene caused Liang Chen's lips to curve up softly, his grip on her hand tightening slightly as he started to pull her along.

"Come, this is just a small part."

Thanks to his connection with the ring, Liang Chen could sense the presence of everyone within the city even while inside it. So it was easy for him to guide Yan Ling to the plaza that had been transformed into a martial field by Yi Xue and the others, who were all currently training there. But Liang Chen noticed something strange before they even reached the martial field, the number of presences inside the city was greater than it was when he was here last.

And when they reached the martial field, the scene that he saw was also quite different from how he remembered it. The almost 200 disciples were split up into three orderly groups, the blue-haired and green-eyed Yi Xue keeping an eye on one group, the black-haired and bronze-eyed Liu San keeping an eye on the second group, and the brown-haired and yellow-eyed Tien Cui keeping an eye on the final group. The three people called out the occasional command, their respective groups following it and altering the moves they were performing.

It wasn't just the orderly manner of their training that surprised Liang Chen, the appearances of the disciples also caught him off guard. Several of them were clearly older than they had been last he saw them, and some of them had brought along young infants that hadn't been here earlier.

Liang Chen had a guess at what might be going on, but he and Yan Ling were spotted before he got a chance to voice his guess. The training was immediately halted, the people moving in such an orderly manner that Liang Chen couldn't help but find it slightly unsettling. The gazes of the people lingered on the confused Yan Ling for a second, drifting down to their enclosed hands as they seemingly understood something. And as they understood it, they moved as one and did the one thing Liang Chen had told them time and time to not do, they dropped into a kneeling position.

"We welcome your return, Storm Lord, Wolf Mistress!"

Liang Chen's lips twitched slightly at their respectful, and strangely excited, kneeling. But Yan Ling seemed to have guessed something from the titles, the sparkles in her eyes practically turning into tiny stars as she looked at Liang Chen. Liang Chen's twitching stopped when faced with that childlike and excited expression, a smile creeping up on his face as he nodded his head and gestured towards the kneeling people.

"It's just as you guessed, they're new members of the Storm Wolf sect, 168 people to be exact. Well, it was exact last time I was here at least, but it seems like there have been some changes since I was last here."

Liang Chen allowed his gaze to roam over the kneeling people, his eyes lingering slightly on the new infants that were looking at him with pure curiosity. He waved his hand at the kneeling people with some annoyance, a strong gust of wind forcing them up as he spoke to Yi Xue.

"Get up already, you know that I dislike all this kneeling, it's uncomfortable. As you guys guessed, this is my future wife, Yan Ling. She's the one who dragged me into the Storm Wolf sect in the past, and she's also one of the two other disciples I told you about when you first latched onto me. Yi Xue, I've been in... Unplanned cultivation for half a year, but how long has it been for you guys, and what changes have there been?"

For him, it had only been half a year, but the ring might have maintained a flow of time that was at least slightly sped up, that was the only explanation that Liang Chen could come up with for the strange situation he was facing. Yi Xue and the others were somewhat unsteady due to Liang Chen's wind so they needed a few seconds to balance themselves before they gave Yan Ling a bow, Yi Xue responding to the questions.

"We greet you, Sect Mistress, we are new disciples who Storm Lord saved and picked up, giving us the grace of techniques and resources so that we can achieve our desires. As for your questions, Storm Lord, we last saw you five years ago. There wasn't any word from you for so long that we assumed you had either gotten into a dangerous situation or had sped up time in here as much as you could to give us more time to train, but it seems like it was neither. As for any changes, it is as you can see. We've got some new pairings, some new members, and thanks to the techniques and resources you left us, we've managed to cultivate our strengths quite adequately."

Liang Chen listened to the explanation in silence, it was about what he had expected. The ring had probably reacted to the influx of Qi all around him and uncontrollably activated the time-altering array engraved in it. But since it was an uncontrolled activation it didn't seem like it sped it up by too much, Liang Chen didn't even want to think about what might have greeted them if the ring had activated to its full potential.

He also noticed that the way Yi Xue spoke was fairly different from how it was previously, it seemed to have lost that slightly childish naivety and general bubbliness that it once had. Clearly, having spent five years helping the other disciples train had altered her at least somewhat, something that was to be expected, time changed most people.

Liang Chen listened quite calmly, but each word spoken caused Yan Ling's eyes to just shine even more, the exact result that Liang Chen had desired. He still remembered what she had told him when she said that they were perfect for the Storm Wolf sect, how it would be perfect if they were called Sect Mistress Ling and Sect Master Freak. She spoke about it in a silly manner, but he could still tell that she truly wanted to take over the Storm Wolf sect, how she desired the title of sect Mistress.

Liang Chen let go of Yan Ling's hand, unleashing her so that she could spring forward like an excited child. She practically jumped on Yi Xue, chatting with her and introducing herself to the other disciples, doing her best to quickly learn about all of them. And while she was excitedly running about to get familiar with the new members of her sect, Liang Chen stood a short distance away and smiled softly at the scene.

It was just like he said earlier, he was terrible at these sorts of things. He wasn't someone who belonged in a sect, he wasn't a leader, he had never been suited to those things. He was a solitary butcher, moving from battlefield to battlefield and simply racking up more corpses along his path. And yet, whenever he turned to look behind him, there would just be more people gathering there, following right behind or beside him.

Liang Chen continued to look on as Yan Ling went up to each of the new disciples and introduced herself, spending a few minutes to learn a little about them. She would occasionally turn to look at Liang Chen with either a surprised expression or a smirk so he could guess that they were telling her about things he had either done or said.

These people were practically blinded by when he had rescued them so he was certain that they were highly exaggerating whatever they were telling him, he was far from as good or great as most of them believed. Yi Xue moved closer to Liang Chen while Yan Ling continued introducing herself, her gaze following Yan Ling for a bit as she smiled.

"So that's the one who's snatched your heart, no wonder you never really looked at anyone else, she's certainly charismatic, far more charming than you."

Liang Chen glanced sideways at Yi Xue, the girl who still didn't know exactly how bad the relationship between her father and him was. He also had no intention of ever telling her, it wasn't something she needed to hear, and knowing would certainly not bring her any benefits. Yi Xue wasn't bothered by Liang Chen's silence, her gaze drifting over some of the other disciples as she continued to talk.

"It's only been half a year for you, but five years for us. For some cultivators, five years might be nothing, but to us, it is a fairly long time. As such, we've had plenty of time to talk, and we've come to a decision. It is time that we leave. There is a limit to how much we can learn here, a limit to how much we can hone ourselves. So now that you've returned, we want to leave, we want to travel through the greater world to continue honing our skills. Of course, some of the newer people you picked up want to head out to get their revenge, but for us older members we can't really do that, being in a different universe and all. Is that fine with you?"

It was a conversation that Liang Chen had expected to take place sooner or later, what he had to offer these people was extremely limited. Of course, he hadn't expected it to happen this early, but the unexpected events taking place had ended up leading up to it. But he wasn't bothered by it, casually nodding his head.

"I already told you didn't I? Flee by yourself, fight those who enslaved you, follow me, you are free to do whatever you want. I never planned on putting limitations on what you can and can't do, you are free to leave and do whatever you want. Of course, depending on what you do then there is a chance that I might appear before you again someday, but at that time our meeting probably won't be as joyous for you as it was last time."

Those were the exact words he had told them when he rescued the 150 newest members of the sect, and he had truly meant them. They now had the freedom to do whatever they wanted, they just had to live with the consequences of their choices. Yi Xue smiled slightly at Liang Chen's words, which some might consider somewhat cold and callous.

"Don't worry, none of us will do anything that might make you come for us, there's no way we'd survive an encounter like that."

She chuckled for a short moment at the thought before she started to walk back to the others, casting a glance back at Liang Chen as she walked.

"You know, you should value yourself more, you're greater than you think, your hands can hold more than you think. She's seen it, we've seen it, and we're sure that there will be countless others in the future that will see it. You've saved all of us, so even if we leave, we'll always be members of the Storm Wolf sect, we'll always be spreading that name. And above all, we'll always follow the Storm Lord."