Xu Lai smiled and continued to sweep the snow from his doorstep.

At breakfast, Ruan Tang announced she wanted to take Yiyi for a haircut and a photoshoot. The heavy snow in East Sea was perfect for pictures. Witnessing his daughter's growth was not something Xu Lai could miss.

Yun Jin, ever perceptive, excused herself, claiming to feel unwell.

After all, she couldn't disturb the sweet daily routine of The Supreme Emperor's family of three. Besides, the games were far more fun!

Blissfully content, Yun Jin stayed behind in Haitang Court to play video games, sipping cola and munching on potato chips.

Meanwhile, Yiyi had a whole series of photos taken at the studio Ruan Tang had booked in advance. Some were of her acting cute and coquettish, some showed off her maturity in a child-sized cheongsam, and some featured her clutching onto Xu Lai's leg, refusing to let go.

As the shoot went on, Xu Lai and Ruan Tang were also forced to join the pictures.

The photographer was filled with envy as he took the pictures. He had been in this business for some time, but he rarely saw a family so sweet and warm. Most other parents treated it as a perfunctory task, eager to finish quickly and go home. Only Xu Lai and Ruan Tang looked at their daughter with eyes brimming with a gentleness and love that was impossible to fake. This inspired him to put even more effort into his work.

"The photo album will be delivered to your home before the New Year," the photographer said. But after taking down their address, he inhaled sharply.

This family of three… they actually live in that legendary 500-million-yuan mansion?

His gaze instantly became more respectful. This handsome and talented couple must have a frighteningly impressive background; he had to treat them with the utmost care.

"Let's go home!"

A full and heartwarming day passed quickly. On the way home, they saw an advertisement playing on the giant screen of a shopping mall.

"The 27th Annual Junior Martial Arts Competition of East Sea City starts tomorrow."

The ad showed a little boy and a little girl glaring at each other murderously.

Xu Lai glanced at Yiyi.

The little girl snuck a look at Ruan Tang, who noticed her daughter's gaze and smiled. "What, you want to go too?"

"No, I don't," Yiyi said, flustered. "I have school tomorrow."

"It's okay if you want to go," Ruan Tang said, pinning up her hair. "Wait a year or two, and have your aunt teach you some taekwondo before you join."

In her mind, this martial arts competition was just a friendly event involving things like taekwondo, judo, and sanda. She hadn't thought about actual Martial Artists. To ordinary people, the world of Martial Artists was still somewhat mysterious.

Yiyi mumbled without answering. She had the puffed-up feeling that her aunt probably couldn't even beat her.

"Are they finally going public?" Xu Lai narrowed his eyes.

He looked up, and it was as if, behind the thick clouds, there was a little boy in a red bellyband who loved candied hawthorns.

Xu Lai had long since discovered that while Earth's Spiritual Energy was scarce, too much of it had been deliberately sealed. If the restrictions were lifted, it would be enough for at least one hundred thousand Martial Artists to embark on the true path of cultivation.

It was the Heavenly Dao... that had sealed everything! That's why later generations were forced onto the path of the Martial Dao. Whether it was the supposedly severed Ancient Immortal Path or Xu Yanyang, who had been granted an opportunity by Xu Lai and realized the path lay at his own feet, they were all deliberately sealed by the Heavenly Dao, or they carried shackles left within them by the Heavenly Dao. "You won't let me interfere in the war between Earth and the Moon Clan, you refuse to let Spiritual Energy be restored, and you're even more unwilling to let true Cultivators appear on Earth... What exactly are you plotting? Or rather, what are you afraid of?"

Xu Lai withdrew his gaze. It was laughable. He found that, as a mighty Emperor Realm expert, there were too many things he couldn't see through since arriving on Earth.

The Heavenly Dao. Jing Ke and the Nine Kings' Palace. He didn't even have a single clue about the owner of that mysterious, unknown hand. Everything was shrouded in layers of mist. As an 'outsider' who had only been on Earth for a few months, he couldn't see through any of it. But now, it seemed this group of cultivators, the Martial Artists, was about to be slowly revealed to ordinary people. Was this a coincidence, or was the Heavenly Dao manipulating things from behind the scenes?

Xu Lai didn't dwell on it; he couldn't be bothered to think about it. Since he was here, he would take things as they came.

No matter how cunning the Heavenly Dao's schemes were, it couldn't possibly pose the slightest threat to him. If the Heavenly Dao showed any signs of stepping out of line, he would simply annihilate it!

With his hands behind his back, his eyes were filled with calm and pride. He had the strength to be invincible throughout the Universe and the confidence to face any unknown with composure.

...

「Solar Calendar, January 6th. Minor Cold.」

It had snowed all night again in East Sea City.

When Xu Lai was taking Yiyi to school, Yun Jin, who was completely absorbed in her game, insisted on tagging along to the kindergarten. Ruan Tang mistakenly assumed Taotie's younger sister was simply eager to go to school.

Only Xu Lai knew exactly what was going on: the two little girls were planning to team up for that youth martial arts competition.

After dropping them off at the school and taking Ruan Tang to her company, Xu Lai parked the car and, in a flash, appeared above the clouds. He watched as his daughter, Yun Jin, and Qian Xiao furtively left the school and took the subway to the competition venue.

"Are you sure there won't be a problem with the school?" Yiyi asked worriedly. "You used my dad's birthday as an excuse. What if Teacher Miao contacts him..."

"Don't worry!" Qian Xiao assured her. "Teacher Miao always makes a point of not contacting any of the male parents."

"But wouldn't it be even worse if she called my mom?"

"Teacher Miao doesn't have Auntie Ruan's number," Qian Xiao said confidently. "Everything is under my control."

"Impressive." Yun Jin gave him a sincere thumbs-up.

"There's more where that came from," Qian Xiao said conspiratorially. "I got some inside info yesterday. Apparently, there are a lot of strong opponents today."

Yun Jin nodded seriously. The next moment, her expression stiffened as Qian Xiao continued, "There's Haohao from the kindergarten next door. I heard his Iron Head technique is superb. And Xiao Ming from South City Kindergarten, who can supposedly recite pi to over three hundred digits! And..."

"..."

"Enough, enough," Yun Jin interrupted. "Let's just talk about how we're splitting the 200,000 yuan prize money."

Qian Xiao frowned. "Yun Jin, you may be strong, but you can't get arrogant. Remember, there's always someone better out there!"

Yun Jin: "…"

She had to admit he had a point. This was Earth, after all! It was the native home of the Heavenly Court's Supreme Mother and Princess, and even her distant ancestress, Liu Wan, was from Earth. Plus, The Supreme Emperor himself was content to live here. This planet was terrifying; she absolutely could not afford to underestimate it! The only thing that still puzzled her was the strange feeling she always got about the relationship between her distant ancestress and her distant ancestor, Taotie…

Full of doubt, the three of them quickly arrived at the competition venue: a martial arts arena in the suburbs belonging to the East Sea Wushu Association.

The grounds were huge, roughly the size of twenty football fields, and were currently packed with people. There was a ten-year-old girl with delicate features dressed in a Daoist robe. There was a fifteen-year-old boy with a fierce expression dressed in animal skins. There was also a punk with green-dyed hair and his hands in his pockets, blowing bubble gum, looking like some kind of flamboyant "noble."

In short, it was a hodgepodge of all sorts of people.

Yun Jin released her Divine Sense, her eyes scanning the crowd. She did, in fact, sense more than a dozen unusual auras among them.

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