Return Of The Demon

The clan gathering was held in a large ground at the center of the clan. The entire clan was not invited for the gathering, only the important members. The Bai clan was too large after all. If the entire clan was called, then there was no place in the Yellow City large enough for them to congregate. Even if there was, there was no way to hold a gathering with that many people.

Bai Yun went with Bai Mu and Xiao Mei-er and entered the grounds. Since he couldn"t see anything, Bai Mu was leading him by his arm. But it wasn"t too necessary. Due to Bai Yun"s great control over his perception and his recent training, Bi Yun could easily sense the short area in his surroundings. He could walk on his own even without help.

Bai Mu took Bai Yun and went towards the front of the grounds. Bai Mu was the only descendant of a grand elder as well as the most promising youngster in the clan. He was obviously well appreciated in the clan, and thus had a prominent position.

As Bai Mu walked up, a lot of people came up to him to say their greetings. As a rising star in the clan, people wanted to get close to him.

And Bai Mu did not decline anyone. He had an easy going personality and did not care much about these things. So Bai Mu simply replied to their courtesy and went on his way.

By the time the family had arrived at their spot, the grounds were mostly full. As they stood there, Xiao Meier- and Bai Mu started to chat with some of the people who were standing close to them. It seemed as if they had people they were close to and were socializing.

Bai Yun looked around him. Even though he could not see anything, due to his training, he could infer many things from the sounds here. He found that there were also a lot of children here. The parents were all in the same group, so the children were also forced to socialize with each other.

Bai Yun noticed that quite a lot of them were grouped together and were chatting with each other. Some of them had already formed their cliques and were happily chatting with each other. Some of the younger ones were even running around and playing with each other.

But there were also a few who stood around different from each other. Bai Yun could sense that there was a region that was mostly empty, but he could vaguely sense a presence standing there. Even though he could not see it, there was a slightly older young man who stood there with his head held high, ignoring everything around him. Even the other children seemed to be a little wary of him. He was isolated from the rest and no one would go near him. There was also fear in the eyes of anyone who looked at them.

"You know you should socialize a bit. Get to know your peers." Suddenly Bai Mu"s voice sounded out beside his ear.

Bai Yun smiled wryly when he heard this. He was over thirty thousand years old. He had no peers. To Bai Yun, all the kids he met seemed to be no different from toddlers. The only ones he saw who were mature enough for Bai Yun to tolerate were Bai Ling-er, Bai Shi, Bai Qing, and Zhang Zi. Most others, even Shadow One, still had childish tendencies. There was no way Bai Yun could socialize with them.

It seemed Bai Mu also saw the problem. He knew just how mature Bai Yun was and just how these kids behaved. Bai Mu did not push Bai Yun after that.

Suddenly Bai Yun felt a small tug at the bottom of his robe. Bai Yun felt a weak presence standing near him.

"Big brother I heard that you are r.e.t.a.r.ded. Are you okay?" A small voice sounded out. The moment the voice asked so, the hubbub in the surrounding area stopped. The people here were all cultivators and had excellent hearing. Bai Yun could guess that they were all staring at them.

Bai Yun could not see, but he could sense a small little lifeform standing near him. Bai Yun guessed that it was probably a little girl, maybe five or six years old.

"Who told you that?" Bai Yun asked gently.

"They did." The little girl said pointing to someone. Bai Yun could sense a group of children in that direction, though he couldn"t see anyone.

"No, I"m not." Bai Yu replied after taking a deep breath.

"Oh." The little girl said. "Big brother can I ask you one more thing."

"Sure."

"What"s r.e.t.a.r.ded?" The little girl asked innocently.

Bai Yun was stunned. Even though he could not see the look on the little girl"s face, he could imagine it. He felt that it was easier to engage in a debate with the unreasonable dragon emperor than to answer this little girl.

"Is your mother here?" Bai Yun finally asked after a while.

"Yup." The little girl replied.

"You should go ask her." Bai Yun said.

The little girl then nodded and ran away. Bai Yun quickly wiped the sweat off his brows. There were some mild chuckling from his surroundings. Bai Yun ignored them and stood there waiting for the clan meeting to begin.

And then a few people came flying over. For the Bai clan meeting, flying was strictly prohibited. Even Bai Mu had to come by walking after landing outside the grounds. So these people who just entered must be very important.

As soon as they entered, the hubbub stopped. Bai Mu and Xiao Mei-er came and stood next to Bai Yun.

Bai Yn looked towards the people who entered. He could sense that there were over twenty of them. They were led by a middle aged man wearing a dragon robe. The others stood behind the middle aged man looking majestic. A small but powerful and majestic presence was being emitted by them.

Bai Yun silently chuckled when he felt their presence. He knew that they were knowingly emitting this presence in order make the members of the clan, especially the younger members who don"t know much, feel awe at them. This way their feelings towards the clan would increase. Unfortunately, Bai Yun had felt the presences of truly terrifying and awe inspiring people. Bai Yun almost laughed when he felt their attempt to awe them.

"Who are they?" Bai Yun quietly asked Bai Mu.

"The man in the middle who is leading the group is Bai Chen. He is the leader of the clan. The people around him are some of the elders of the clan. Not all of the elders are here. Only a few important ones and those whose descendants have done something commendable in the past year are here." A sound transmission from Bai Mu sounded out in Bai Yun"s ear.

"What about great grandfather. Why isn"t he here?" Bai Yun asked.

"This kind of annual clan gathering is too small for the grand elders to attend. They would only attend the great clan gathering held once a century." Bai Mu replied.

Bai Yun nodded when he heard. Considering the life span of dao flower realm cultivators, a year was only the blink of an eye.

Once the clan leader arrived he quickly became the center of attention. He looked around the grounds and gave a small smile.

"I am glad to see that there are so many people from our clan who have come together to celebrate yet another glorious year for the clan." The clan leader said. "Many of you have worked hard for the clan. Due to your efforts, the Bai clan remains one of the strongest forces in the world. You should take a moment to celebrate this fact."

As Bai Yun listened on, he realized that most of what the clan leader was saying was propaganda. It was mostly to instill in the populace a feeling of dependence and awe towards the clan. Most of the people here had a prideful look in their eyes. Not just the adults who have been here for a long time, even the children had fanatical look in their eyes.

Suddenly Bai Yun understood the reason for these clan meetings. Most of the important members of the clan would most likely come out of this group of people. Even if there were some others who showed potential, they would quickly be added to this group. As a result, they would all have to undergo this round of brainwashing.

Bai Yun could feel that some of the children were looking at the clan leader with stars in their eyes. He had said that they could become the clan leader if they could work hard. That had stirred their ambition.

"What do you think?" Bai Mu asked.

"Its a nice brainwashing scheme." Bai Yun replied.

Bai Mu lightly chuckled. "It is good that you understand that." Bau Mu replied. "You should take all of these in stride and not fall for it."

The clan leader continued his talk for a while longer. The members of the clan quickly got riled up by the speech and cheered for him when he ended.

After this, there were short speeches by a few of the elders of the clan. They also declared the major events that happened in the clan in the past year. Bai Yun was definitely not mentioned, but Bai Mu was. His record of being the youngest dao step cultivator was announced with great pride. The rest of the clan applauded and cheered for Bai Mu, but he simply smiled in response.

The various speeches and so on lasted for hours. There were many things that were happening in the clan. A few of the promising youngsters of the plan were specifically noted and they were encouraged by the clan. One of the promising youths mentioned was Bai Yun, but his name did not set off any waves amidst the rest of the names.

Finally, the clan also named a new prince of the clan. This new prince was named Bai Jingchen and was at the nascent soul state. Even though becoming a prince was a great honor, becoming one at the nascent soul was not as big a deal as becoming one at the qi condensation realm like Bai Qing. So while the youngsters all responded to him enthusiastically, the older members were more lukewarm in their reception.

Bai Yun felt that the whole thing was rather droll. He had to fight off sleepiness due to boredom. He nearly nodded off at one point and Xiao Mei-er had to wake him up.

Once the various shows were held, finally the meeting came to an end. As it ended Bai Yun could feel that the energy in the grounds rise up quite a bit. Many of the youngsters in the clan were quickly becoming more restless and excited. Some of them had registered for the fighting tournament, while most of them had not. But they were still excited to watch. After all, fighting was what interested youngsters in this world.

The clan leader saw this and smiled. He quickly got up and spoke a bit more about the need for unity in the clan. After this he quickly ended the speech and declared the gathering over, leaving immediately.

The moment the clan leader and the elders left, the clan members, especially the younger ones, almost ran out of the grounds and into the fields where the fighting tournament was being held.

Bai Mu held Bai Yun"s hand and walked him out to the field.

Bai Yun felt excited as he felt the oncoming fight.

He had been preparing for this for months.