Seeing the four or five young men surrounding him, Li Ling smiled lightly and said,
"Who are you?"
"I'm your grandfather! Get him! If you beat him to death, I, Fang Yu'ai, will take full responsibility."
Before long, several battered youths were lying all over the ground.
Li Ling stepped forward, leaned down to look at Fang Yu'ai, and asked,
"Still want to go on?"
Another young man glared angrily at Li Ling and demanded,
"Who on earth are you? How dare you beat us? You must have a death wish!"
Li Ling smiled at the youth who had spoken.
"And who might you be?"
"My father is Cheng Yaojin! You'd better kneel down and apologize right now, or once the Imperial Guard gets here—hehe!"
"Bam!" A bruised, blackened eye was his only greeting.
The commotion had already grown too large, and someone had long since gone to notify the patrolling Imperial Guard.
Before long, a troop of guards rushed over, all of them looking at Li Ling with vigilant eyes.
"Audacious scoundrel! How dare you cause trouble in Chang'an City and beat the son of a duke? Take him down at once!"
The captain of the Imperial Guard, seeing these "little ancestors" battered and bruised from head to toe, immediately broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly ordered his men to seize Li Ling.
"Sigh! What a pain!"
Li Ling sighed, just about to make a move, when a majestic voice rang out.
"Stop!"
Li Ling saw a dashing, middle-aged man walking over, followed by several others of similarly extraordinary bearing.
One of them was none other than Fang Xuanling.
"Xuan..."
"Chumo, who beat you up like this?"
Just as Li Ling was about to make himself known to Fang Xuanling, a rough voice rang out and interrupted him. Then, a sturdy figure stepped forward and demanded of a young man on the ground,
"Father, it was that pretty boy right there who beat me."
The sturdy figure looked at Li Ling, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Kid, you look all soft and delicate, but I didn't expect you to know martial arts. Let me see what you're really made of."
Li Ling saw a large hand reaching out to grab him and gently sidestepped to dodge it.
"Xuanling, do you still remember me?"
Amidst the scuffle, Li Ling directly asked Fang Xuanling.
Everyone's gazes turned toward Fang Xuanling.
"Who are you?"
Fang Xuanling was also somewhat dazed; he found the young man before him vaguely familiar, but couldn't place him for a moment.
"More than a decade has passed since we parted on the water. Could it be that Xuanling has forgotten the bond of those years?"
"You... you are Li Ling?"
"Correct!"
As they spoke, Li Ling repeatedly dodged the large, grasping hands of the sturdy middle-aged man. Had Li Ling not wished to avoid hurting anyone, that sturdy fellow would likely have already been knocked flat.
Hearing the exchange between Li Ling and Fang Xuanling, the sturdy middle-aged man rolled his eyes and shouted,
"Yuchi Old Black, how much longer are you going to just stand there and watch? Your boy Baolin is still lying flat on the ground! Aren't you going to do something?"
"Hahaha, old thief Cheng, I never thought your martial skills had declined to this point! You can't even take down a single young man."
Li Ling saw a dark-skinned figure join the fray. Facing the combined assault of the two, Li Ling remained completely at ease.
Seeing this, Fang Xuanling grew extremely anxious. Although he knew Li Ling possessed martial skills, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong were top-tier generals of the age; it was inevitable that Li Ling would get hurt facing both of them alone.
"Your Majesty, please order old thief Cheng and Yuchi Old Black to stop."
Fang Xuanling respectfully looked toward the middle-aged man nearby who was watching the spectacle with great relish.
"No need, I see this young man is handling himself with ease; Zhijie and the other won't be able to hurt him for a while yet. By the way, Xuanling, who is this?"
Hearing Li Er say this, though Fang Xuanling felt somewhat reassured, his gaze remained fixed on the three figures.
"Your Majesty, this is the very Li Ling Your Servant mentioned before, who saved my life many years ago."
"Oh? Is this the Li Ling who opened 'Heavenly Realms' in Luoyang City back then, only to have it usurped by Yang Guang?"
"Exactly!"
Li Er's eyes narrowed slightly at this, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
In the arena, finding themselves unable to subdue Li Ling after so long, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong couldn't help but lose a bit of face.
Both men were renowned military commanders of their era; they exchanged a glance, and their attacks grew even more ferocious.
"You two, that's enough."
Seeing that the two men still showed no intention of stopping after he spoke, Li Ling decided to hold back no longer. He directly reached out with both hands, grabbed their wrists, and flung them outward with force.
Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong felt as though they had been yanked by a warhorse; their bodies staggered backward uncontrollably for a dozen steps before they managed to steady themselves.
At this sight, everyone present was astonished.
Cheng Chumo and Yuchi Baolin, who had originally been lying on the ground, scrambled up in a panic and hurried to their respective fathers' sides.
"Dad, are you alright?"
Cheng Yaojin was also inwardly shocked. This young man possessed immense strength—even greater than Yuwen Chengdu in his prime.
Yuchi Gong shook off Yuchi Baolin's supporting hand and laughed heartily,
"Hahaha! Splendid! Truly, heroes come from the youth. For such strength, this old man must bow in inferiority."
Li Er was also inwardly astonished; this young man was actually able to fend off the combined attacks of Yuchi Gong and Cheng Yaojin at the same time, and even defeat them.
Li Ling, meanwhile, looked completely unfazed, a faint smile hanging on the corners of his lips as he stepped forward toward Fang Xuanling.
However, before Li Ling could get close, several guards instantly drew their blades and blocked his path.
"Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?"
Fang Xuanling looked at Li Er and asked in puzzlement.
"Junxian, stand down!"
"Your Majesty, this person is extremely dangerous, please be careful."
"Stand down!"
"Yes!"
After the guards withdrew, Fang Xuanling hurried forward, looked at Li Ling, and said,
"More than ten years have passed, yet Brother Li's demeanor remains unchanged."
Hearing this, Li Ling smiled faintly without a word, while Li Er chimed in,
"Xuanling, are you going to leave your savior standing outside the estate?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Your Majesty, Brother Li, please come in!"
Inside the Fang Estate, once everyone had taken their respective seats, Fang Xuanling finally asked Li Ling where he had been all these years.
Li Ling merely replied that he had been cultivating the Dao in the mountains all this time, and said nothing more.
When the conversation turned to Yin Wenjiao and the eldest son of the Fang family, a look of profound guilt washed over Fang Xuanling's face.
"Brother Li, back then our child with Wenjiao was lost during the chaos of war. Wenjiao fell deeply ill out of longing and eventually passed away. It is all my fault for failing to protect our mother and child."
Hearing this, Li Ling nodded and smiled.
"I came here this time precisely because of your son's affair."
Li Ling's words instantly stunned everyone present, and Fang Xuanling even more excitedly stepped forward and grabbed Li Ling's hand.
"Brother Li, do you know where my son is now?"
"Indeed! Within Jinshan Temple, there is a young monk whose Buddhist name is Xuanzang. That is the child you had with Yin Wenjiao."
Upon hearing this, Fang Xuanling did not doubt Li Ling's words in the slightest. Overwhelmed with emotion, he stood up and began pacing back and forth in the living room.
"Men, prepare the carriage! This old man is going to Jinshan Temple myself to bring my son home."
"Hold on!"
Li Ling spoke up to stop Fang Xuanling. Looking at Li Ling in confusion, Fang Xuanling asked,
"Brother Li, why are you stopping me from going?"
"If you go like this, Xuanling, I'm afraid you won't be able to bring him back."
"Oh? Why? Could it be that Jinshan Temple would dare forcibly detain my son?"
"No. Xuanzang has grown up in the temple since he was a child and is well-versed in Buddhist teachings. I fear he has no desire to return to this world of mortal dust."
"This..."
Hearing Li Ling's words, Fang Xuanling didn't know what to do for a moment. After a long while, he looked at Li Ling and said,
"I beg Brother Li to guide me."
At that moment, Li Ling glanced at Li Er, who was watching the show off to the side, and said,
"If Your Majesty issues an imperial edict inviting Xuanzang to come and lecture on the scriptures, then Xuanzang will certainly come. Then, slowly, you can let him experience paternal love step by step..."