Astral Pet Store (WN)

Li Yuanfeng?

Senior Feng had a hard time accepting that fact.

Li Yuanfeng, the forefather of the Li family.

Impossible!

The Li family had been wiped out five hundred years ago and that legendary battle pet warrior should have died in the Deep Caves. Did he come back from the dead? Senior Feng wondered. But Li Yuanfeng certainly was from the Subcontinent District, judging by his appearance and because he knew almost all the titled battle pet warriors at the peak of the Subcontinent District; Li Yuanfeng was not one of them.

Li Yuanfeng couldn’t have been a common, ordinary titled warrior.

A titled battle pet warrior able to overwhelm other battle pet warriors would have already earned a name a long time before.

Senior Feng was not the only one shocked. The onlookers were dumbstruck.

They had overheard the conversation. They had at first thought that Senior Feng was going to do something to that young looking man by suddenly approaching him, but the two ended up striking a conversation.

Did they have to stand so close to each other to talk?

Their faces are basically rubbing against each other!

The conversation and Senior Feng’s attitude were even more confusing.

Senior Feng spoke with respect.

That person claimed he was a legendary battle pet warrior!

Legend. That was a word that could astonish anyone!

They could tell from Senior Feng’s attitude that the young looking man’s claim was most likely true.

But…

Why did a legendary battle pet warrior come to see the Han’s Group?

All of a sudden, one of the onlookers said something, “Sir? Forefather?”

He could barely be heard at first, but he soon grew more excited. A middle-aged man dashed out from the crowd and ran to meet Li Yuanfeng; he looked at him, then dropped to his knees and spoke with a trembling voice, “Sir, it is my great honor to meet you. I am one of your unworthy descendants!!”

Li Yuanfeng was transfixed.

Senior Feng was, too. But he soon pulled a long face and shouted at the middle-aged man, “Go away! This is not a place for you to talk!”

Then, he turned to Li Yuanfeng and explained, “Mr. Li, sir, he is a member of our Han family. He must have lost his sense somehow; I think he’s just trying to chat you up now that he found out that you’re a legendary battle pet warrior.”

Senior Feng said to the girl called Yuqian, “Qian, get rid of this man. Be sure to discipline him!”

That girl named Yuqian was just as stunned as anyone else by that odd series of events. Like the rest of the onlookers, she had thought that Senior Feng was the one who had moved to intimidate that young looking man to teach him a lesson. But the fact was the other way around. It was even more surprising to find that Senior Feng had verified the young-looking man’s identity.

So, that person is indeed at the legendary rank!

“I understand.”

Yuqian darted a glance at Li Yuanfeng before she went up to capture that middle-aged man.

The latter shouted at once. “Sir, I am not a member of the Han family. I work here but I have the Li family’s blood in me!”

“Shut up!” Yuqian stopped the man, “Sober up. Han Jinsong, if you’re not part of the Han family, then who are you? Betraying your surname just so that you can butter up a legendary battle pet warrior? From today on, you do not deserve to stay with us. You will be eliminated from our family!”

Yuqian enjoyed a high status among the Hans and her verdict was final.

She raised her hand.

However, she suddenly trembled before she was smashed away, the repelling force making her fly for a dozen meters. Her fall was not a pretty one; blood was oozing out from the corner of her mouth.

That was unexpected. Yuqian got up, confused.

She didn’t even see how she had been struck!

“I can feel the Li family’s blood in you,” Li Yuanfeng said to the kneeling middle-aged man.

The man heaved a sigh of relief. “Sir, thank you!”

Senior Feng, on the other hand, did not like that result. “Sir, do not trust him. He’s a member of our Han family. Maybe someone in the branch of his family found some descendants of the Li family to marry, and that is how he has blood of the Lis.”

“No!” the middle-aged man protested.

He would have never mustered the courage to refute Senior Feng, the titled battle pet warrior who had the ultimate power of determining life and death. But he didn’t care about it that day. “Sir, I am from the Li family. I was forced to change my surname to Han. When we heard that you had died, other families soon came to strike us and the Tower no longer protected us.

“The other families began to covet our legacies since we didn’t have the Tower’s protection. All of them thought that since we once had a legendary battle pet warrior in the family, we would certainly have some treasures left.

“The families fought us and they suffered some losses as well. The Hans took advantage of that and annexed the Li family.

“We were forced to abandon the Li surname and become part of them.

“We are too ashamed to meet you, sir. We deserve to be disciplined. We do have the Li family’s blood in us. We were forced to keep on with our lives with the Han family, but never have we given up on the idea of bringing back the Li family because we have a legendary battle pet warrior in our family!!”

The middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with unshed tears.

Li Yuanfeng clenched his fists when he heard that the Tower had forsaken the Li family and that the surviving members had been forced to take on the Han surname.

He did not die!

He might have been in great danger, giving the impression that he was going to die but he didn’t!

He couldn’t even remember how many fatal dangers he had gone through during the eight hundred years in the Deep Caves!

Maybe there was a time when news implied that and the Tower thought he was dead. It was possible that the Tower had stopped protecting his family because of it!

But when he went into the Deep Caves, the Tower had promised everlasting protection!

The Tower should have protected his family, even if he died in the Deep Caves!

After all, they braved the Deep Caves to fight the beasts, and the chances of death were great!

If their families would have to suffer when they died, which legendary battle pet warrior would willingly go and safeguard the Deep Caves?

The Li family didn’t vanish. It was still there, but the members had to give up the Li surname, which was something he could not accept.

“Tell me. What happened?”

Li Yuanfeng clenched his fists. Although furious, he was able to keep his voice calm.

The middle-aged man nodded and told Li Yuanfeng everything he knew.

Back in those days, the Li family began to gradually decline when news came out that Li Yuanfeng had died.

The first dozens of years were fine because Li Yuanfeng’s influence was still there. But many different families began to covet the Li family’s possessions later on. The Li family experienced a series of battles, spanning for several decades.

They had to deal with assassinations, spies, schemes and all sorts of strikes. The Lis were eventually unable to hold on.

That was the darkest moment for the Li family.

The Hans came and the Li family lost all dignity.

Fortunately, they had some members who were quite talented. There was a girl who was a genius trainer and she had sacrificed herself to develop a relationship with the then young master of the Han family; she provided benefits to the Han family with her training skills. She eventually bought a chance for the Li family members to carry on as part of the Han family.

That young master was the most talented of all and he had great powers. However, he then died shortly after he became the family head, right when he was contending against other families over a Mysterious Realm.

But the rules he had set up were still upheld.

Still, the other members of the Han family were still unable to accept the newcomers and eventually forced them to change their surnames.

The Li family members had a different surname, and they had been brainwashed by the Han family, but they still remembered. No one could erase the fact that the Li family had once had a legendary battle pet warrior. They were proud to share that bloodline!

The Han family indoctrinated them about the greatness of the Han family and their many great battle pet warriors, but none of that could compare to a legendary battle pet warrior!

Of course, some descendants of the Li family were fully assimilated to the Han family.

They became true members.

As time passed and they reached the present day, there were merely a dozen that still remembered they were from the Li family.

There would be less and maybe none in the future.

For all this time, there were some Han family members that still had a hard time accepting the former members of the Li family. That was why people like Han Jinsong, the middle-aged man, couldn’t have been promoted to a high position in the Han family. They were always tested, punished and they had to put up with all of that.

They had to, no matter how painful it was.

If they fought, they would be eliminated forever.

That flame was the reason why they had been able to be there. They had the firm belief that since the Lis had once had a legendary battle pet warrior, they could have another one!

That was their conviction!

Han Jinsong wouldn’t have stepped up if it weren’t for the fact that Li Yuanfeng looked like the legendary battle pet warrior from his family. He was afraid that it could be another test.

If he stepped into the Han family’s trap, all the sacrifices and efforts would have been in vain. The Han family would have detected all those who still clung to the Li family’s bloodline, and he would become the sinner who inadvertently had singled them out.

And yet, he could not allow himself to stay silent if Li Yuanfeng was present.

They had also heard the news from the Tower that Li Yuanfeng had died.

Han Jinsong didn’t think that the Han family would use that to set up a trap. That was one of the reasons why Han Jinsong had decided to step up and speak.