Chapter 2

In glory city, in the city lords mansion.

The city lord Ye Zong could be seen pacing back and forth nervously. Next to him was a slightly shorter man named Ye Lan with almost the exact expression on his face and pacing.

They were too nervous about speaking to the other and had lost track of how long they had walked over the same few meters of ground.

The big difference between the two was that Ye Lan was breathing heavily next to Ye Zong. It got so bad that Ye Lan couldn't stand it anymore.

"Brother-in-law, would you please calm down a bit? You're releasing so much energy that I can barely stand up anymore."

Ye Zong paused for a bit like his thoughts returned to him and could only give a small chuckle before closing his eyes and making a hand seal calm down his surging energy from his soul sea.

"I'm sorry, brother-in-law, my thoughts are hard to calm down at the moment."

"That I understand! If I, too, were at the black gold realm, I would most likely have leveled this entire yard by now." Ye Lan answered while laughing.

Ye Zong was about to answer Ye Lan when it was interrupted by a cry screaming out into the sky. Both men's heads snap towards the end of the yard, and Ye Zong turns into a blur as he speeds towards the door. When he was about to open the door, it was opened by a person from the inside. The woman who opened the door looked up at the two men and said, with a glowing smile.

"City lord, please come with me so I can introduce your daughter to you. And before you ask, since I know you will, both of them are doing just fine."

Before the woman could utter one more word, Ye Zong's face broke out in a Hugh smile, which absolutely stunned the woman who had never seen the stoic Ye Zong with anything but a smile. The next second, he ran into the room to find his wife and newborn daughter.

Left outside was Ye Lan, who could only stand there laughing at his excited brother, which helped him feel a little relief as he turned to the woman.

"How is Nuying doing?"

The woman turned away from the door and looked at Ye Lan

"She is doing fine. It's not done yet for her, though. It seems like it will be at least a few more hours for Ye Nuying. Why don't you try to get some rest, cultivate or maybe see if you could meet Ye Zong's new daughter."

"I'll try to rest for a bit. There really is no meaning in me cultivating..." Ye Lan said with a sigh.

The hours started to go by, and the first hour stretched into the second. When it hit the start of the third hour and still nothing, Ye Lan couldn't stand it anymore and started pacing like he and Ye Zong did. Finally, when it had gotten dark, a cry snapped Ye Lan out of his thoughts and worries.

Ye Lan rushed towards the door, and before anyone could do anything, he opened the door and ran inside.

"Nuying!" Ye Lan cried out when he got inside because of what he saw.

He saw his wife lying on a bed, looking completely spent. Next to her was a woman injecting spirit force into Nuyings body. Next to her was a woman wrapping up a baby in some blankets. The woman turned around and looked up with a glorious smile and said.

"I was just about to call for you. Please come with me to introduce you and your wife to your new son."

"Haha, I have a son!"

Ye Lan felt like he wanted to scream with happiness; nothing could stop this feeling. They walked to Nuying together, and the woman placed the bundled-up baby in Nuyings arms. Ye Lan felt that he had never seen anything more beautiful. He scooted in next to his wife on the bed. Embraced her as she leaned her head on his shoulders, and both cried silently, but there was no sadness in this room.

It only took a few minutes, but Nuying had fallen asleep. She had been in labour for over 48 hours even with her strong cultivation, which was at a 5-star gold rank. It still took a toll on her mind and body.

There was a knock on the door, and Ye Zong's head popped in through the door and noticed Nuying asleep on Ye Lans shoulder. So he chose to mouth the words.

"Is she okay?"

Ye Lan beamed back, made an OK sign with his free hand, and whispered back.

"She's just exhausted. Let's meet up tomorrow morning so she can rest for now. I don't want to wake her up just yet."

Ye Zong nodded and gave a thumbs up as he closed the door to let the new family rest for the rest of the night.

The next morning.

The baby was the first to wake up after sleeping for a few hours and acted as an alarm clock to wake up his parents. Ye Lan, who didn't even know when he had fallen asleep, looked down and saw his son in the light that had just risen over the horizon for the first time. He didn't have much hair, but it had his wife's white color. Not the white your hair turned by aging but pure white like it could shine by itself if they turned off every light around them. He could see that the baby had a few hints of himself, but Ye Lan guessed that it was more what he wanted to see, and the similarities would show themselves more as his son grew up. Nuying woke up to their son crying and looked at him with nothing but love in her eyes.

"It seems like our son is hungry, my dear," Nuying said and opened up her robe to feed their son.

"While you feed him, I'll go and look in on his cousin and see how they are doing. Is that okay, my love?" Ye Lan asked, and when he saw his wife nodding in response, Ye Lan carefully slid out of their bed to not disturb the baby and went to where Ye Zong was.

Ye Lan was just about to knock on the door when he heard Ye Zong behind him.

"Good morning, brother! Haha, and I should say congratulations!"

"Likewise, brother," Ye Lan answered back

"How is Nuying doing?"

"Oh, she is doing just fine. She was drained after such a long ordeal, so she fell asleep as soon as the baby was wrapped up and placed in her arms," Ye Lan laughingly said.

"How are your wife and daughter doing, brother?"

"Well, she is, of course, tired, but Nuying had it a bit harder, I would say. That it took that long for her. My wife was shocked when she learned she was still in labour when my daughter was birthed. Especially since Nuyings contractions started almost a day and a half before My wife."

Ye Lan could only nod in agreement and say.

"And here I thought my son would be a big brother, not the younger one."

"Hahaha, A son, you say. What is his name?"

"We couldn't agree on a name for 9 months, but now that he is here, we can't leave it for another time anymore, haha. Have you decided on a name for your daughter yet?"

"Well, I'm not sure we are the right word, but according to my wife, she will be called Ze Ziyun," Ye Zong answered with a smile.

"I'll bring them to your room later today when both of them have woken up."

Ye Lan nodded and excused himself, and went back to his wife. When he was close to his yard, he could feel the surge of energy in the surroundings. The epicenter seemed to be in the room Nuying was in, so Ye Lan dashed in. He could see the relief in her eyes when he returned to the room. Nuying urged him to take the baby still in her arms with her eyes when he was inside. She had been trying to suppress the surge of energy around her, but the enlightenment she received couldn't be stopped. She righted her position to sit in the lotus position, performed a few hand seals, and finished by sweeping her hands, which ended up by her stomach with cupped hands. The one on the top was cupping downwards, and the other was cupping upwards like she was holding a small ball between them. She remained like this for a while. But then a boom went out, and the energy was now visually circulating around her.

"Nuying, congratulations on breaking through to black gold rank!" Ye Lan said with a soft smile.

"Thank you! I've been stuck for a long while. This ordeal seemed as good as a battle with a hoard of monsters." Nuying answered as she took the baby back into her arms, hugged him, and kissed him on the forehead. The baby only laughed, making both parents laugh as well.

"Now Nuying, what should we call this little bugger?"

"Our son will be a dragon amongst mankind, so my wish is that we call him Ye Long."

"Ye Long." Ye Lan sounded it out and nodded

"It is a good name! I like it!"

"Then it's settled! Welcome to the world, Ye Long!" Nuying talked to her son and gave her another kiss.

Later that day, Ye Zong and his family knocked on their door and went in. After congratulation from both sides, one extra for Yuning on becoming a black gold spiritualist. They placed Ziyun and Long next to each other, and Ye Zong and Ye Lan excused themselves and left the room, leaving the sisters together laughing and chatting.

The two chatted for a while until Ye Zong finally spoke up about what he wanted to talk about.

"You know, I hope you will stay in the City lord's mansion. I know it isn't the home of our Ye clan, but it is as good as it, and I know my wife would really like it if all of you stayed here. We could go through this together, and our children would grow up together. What do you say?"

"Haha, brother. You know my stance on this. I can't contribute anything here. Nuying is now a Black gold spiritualist and could contribute, but I've been stuck in bronze rank for many, many years now, and if I can't break through to silver rank. what can I do here?" Ye Lan dejectedly finished.

"Ye Lan, there are more ways to help than having a strong cultivation. We both know that you worked on your proficiency in Languages to translate the works from the past eras since you sadly didn't have the talent for cultivation."

Ye Lan was a little surprised at that. He didn't know that The city lord knew that he had worked hard on just that.

"Okey, brother, we'll leave it up to Nuying. If she wishes to stay, we will stay."

"Haha, then I think it is more than settled since my wife has probably talked her into staying while we were outside," Ye Zong laughed.

"You two planned to do this since the beginning? Haha, well, I can't say I'm against it. I just feel inferior to everyone in this place."

The two went inside, just as Ye Zong had said, so an additional family was living in the city lord's mansion. They got their own yard, and Ye Zong set it up so Ye Lan had an office so he could focus entirely on his translations and his family. Like so, time went on with Nuying cultivating and Ye Lan with his research.

Three years later

Ye Long was now three years old and ran around like a bat out of hell around the yard where the little family lived Ziyun, and her mother had also moved there. Ziyun and Long could be seen together daily, playing and laughing. At the same time, their mothers tried to keep them in line since the two children usually tried to sneak out of the yard every chance they got. But their mothers were too quick for the two buggers, and they never got opportunities to escape the yard. It had now become a game for the kids to see how long it would take before they were caught. Every time they were caught, they would try to act slighted, but the laughing gave it away the next second and didn't fool the mothers, who loved seeing that their kids were such good friends.

Later that day, when the two kids were taking a nap, Ye Long started to twist and turn in his sleep. he abruptly woke up breathing as if he had run a marathon.

Wait, a marathon? Ye Long rubbed his temples. Marathons don't exist here. Alex had a rush of emotions. My memories are back. Looks like it was much sooner than 6-7 years. I wonder how old I am now. I do have to remember that my name is no longer Alexander, though. That will take some time to get used to, but I have answered to Ye Long in this life only till now, so it will most likely be fine. Ye Long laid back down to go through his memories. Now that his memories are back and what looks like his intellect. He also went through his time in his previous life. More importantly, what has happened here in this life up until now. What he found shocking was that Ye Ziyun was now his cousin on his mother's side, which was a pleasant surprise. I wonder which of the timelines we are in if this is Nie Li's first or second time.

Ye Long continued his thoughts on his previous life and froze when the thoughts of his parents and close friends came to his mind.

I will never see them again, will I?

I didn't have many friends before, but the friends I had were true friends. I hope I will meet them again in the next life. Since God existed on Earth, maybe heaven or something like it exists.

Ye Long's mother entered his room to give her sister some privacy since she had a guest in the yard and noticed Ye Long lying beside Ziyun. When she approached him, she saw that he was silently crying. She lifted him up out of bed which startled Ye Long, but when he felt his mother's embrace and kiss his head, he opened his eyes and smiled at his beautiful mother.

"mom"

She looked down at him and asked

"did you have a bad dream?"

"mhm," he answered and gave his mother a hug. He didn't want to let her go. He wanted to stay like this for as long as he could. It felt a little wired since he had his memories back from his previous life, but a mother's love truly transcends everything.

Nuying was about to speak when her sister came back through the door with a smile.

"Look, sister, look what Chen Hong gave me. It's my belated gift for becoming a black gold rank."

"You should be careful of that man. You do know he cuvets you." Nuying answered her.

"Nonsense, he is an old friend to me and Ye Zong. But how about you call Ye Lan, and we have a small toast before Ziyun wakes up."

Nuying agreed and got her husband. They filled up 3 cups of wine and toasted to Ziyuns mothers progress. Ye Long fidgeted in his mother's arms and stretched for a cup. The three adults only laughed, and Nuying said

"Fine, you can have a taste, but you can't have much since it is wine, even if it is weak wine."

Ye Long nodded. He just wanted to know what it would taste like. If it were different from what it tasted like on Earth. However, the taste was the same, which disappointed him but was still good. It didn't take long, however, before he reacted to it. He started to cough uncontrollably and felt a cold shiver running up his back. Ye Long told this to his mother as best he could. Nuying frowned and sent some soul force into him. It only took a few seconds, but she could feel the color drain from her face when she noticed it.

"poison" was the only thing she could say. Nuying started to try and expel it from her son.

She became pale at her sister's words and looked down at her own cup before standing up and hurrying over to Ye Long to help her sister out. Both of them stood on either side of Ye Long, and it looked like they had the poison at bay, but it wasn't over yet. Nuying could see and feel with her senses that Ye Lan was having a hard time breathing, but she could only focus on Ye Long for now. It didn't take long before Ye Lan collapsed to the ground and was unconscious. Nuying felt desperation set in and looked up at her sister with panic in her eyes. The only thing she could see was that her sister was having precisely the same expression as her. They couldn't do anything to warn others. If they stopped keeping the poison at bay which took every ounce of concentration they had. Ye Long would most likely die. Both sisters started perspiring, and their breathing became heavier as time passed.

At Last, the color on Ye Long's face started to become rosier, and he became more relaxed in his expression. Nuying turned and said to her sister with a heavy tone.

"Try and get help. I can manage now."

Watched her sister look at her for a second. She nodded as she went to the door. She collapsed when she got to the door and, like her husband, was unconscious.

"dammit. I'm sorry, Ye Long. I don't even know what poison this is, but I think you will be okay. we managed to expel most of it." Nuying bent down to her son's ear and whispered.

"I'm sorry your father and I can't watch you grow up to be the dragon amongst men we dreamed of seeing. We love you so much and will watch over you even if you can't see us."

Ye long, who couldn't open his eyes, could still hear everything, and tears formed in his eyes and ran down his face.

Nuying saw this, and tears started to well up in her eyes as well. she kissed him one last time and whispered.

"I love you!" then she collapsed next to Ye Long.