"Welcome home!" Those words sent a surge of warmth through Lin Lei's chest.
Feeling the caring gazes of the other Baruch Family members upon him, Lin Lei suddenly realized that all the suffering he had endured traveling from the Azalea Continent, across the Starfog Sea, to the Blood Peak Continent over the past seven hundred years had all been worth it!
After drifting through Hell for so many years, he was finally home!
Baruch released Lin Lei and looked at him, tears glistening in his fierce eyes. "Lin Lei, you've suffered."
"Mr. Haniman, thank you." Baruch turned to Haniman. "This Lin Lei is indeed from our Yulan branch."
"Haha, Baruch, congratulations. Here is the family emblem—have Lin Lei drip blood on it to bond." Haniman handed over an emblem, then chuckled. "I won't keep disturbing you." With that, Haniman flew away.
Baruch gave the emblem to Lin Lei.
"Drip blood to bond?" Lin Lei examined the emblem.
"It identifies family membership. Every member has one." Baruch explained. Lin Lei immediately dripped blood on it. The instant the blood touched the emblem, Lin Lei made a surprising discovery—
He could sense the emblems on all the other members.
"As expected—this makes it easy to tell whether someone belongs to the family."
"Lin Lei." Behind Baruch, a handsome young man grinned broadly. "Do you know who I am?"
Lin Lei was taken aback. He had never met any of these ancestors before—how could he possibly know their names and identities?
"I'm Ryan," the handsome young man said. "You were just talking about me."
Only then did Lin Lei realize, and he grinned. "The first Golden Dragon Holy Knight of our Baruch Family!"
"Haha, Golden Dragon Holy Knight—that's right!" Ryan burst out laughing. "You also mentioned me and Hasad. Hasad, come here." Ryan beckoned to a burly man with pale gold hair standing behind him.
"Hello, Lin Lei," Hasad said.
Lin Lei opened his mouth, but suddenly realized he had no idea what to call the man.
Great-great-great... grandfather Hasad?
Whether it was Baruch, Ryan, or Hasad—every single one of them was many generations above Lin Lei.
Seeing Lin Lei's expression, Baruch guessed what he was thinking and smiled. "Lin Lei, in material planes, human lifespans are short. Talking about seniority still has meaning. But in Hell, there are plenty who have lived for over a hundred million years—seniority has long since become meaningless."
"Look at our Azure Dragon Clan—we've existed for countless hundreds of millions of years. The oldest member and the youngest are separated by over a hundred million generations. Tell me, does that still mean anything?"
Once seniority becomes too vast, it loses all meaning.
Take the Yulan Continent, for example—the O'Brien Empire.
The War God had many descendants. After more than five thousand years of propagation, there were far too many—O'Brien himself no longer paid them any mind. Among the disciples he had taken in, the eldest was about his own age, the youngest was about Lin Lei's age. The gap between them was nearly five thousand years.
Yet despite such a vast difference, they were fellow disciples.
"The Azure Dragon Clan has now spread far and wide. Perhaps even two people born at the same time could differ by countless generations." Baruch smiled. "So it's not just our family—in all of Hell, discussing seniority is meaningless."
Lin Lei nodded in agreement.
"Boss, my grandpa Belute and I are separated by who knows how many generations, but I just call him grandpa," Bei Bei said. "And Belute's three sons—I call all of them by name."
Bei Bei was, after all, from the Belute family—technically a descendant of the three Hali brothers. But because the generational gap was so vast, Bei Bei simply called all three Hali brothers by name.
"Haha!" Ryan laughed. "Lin Lei, we used to find it a headache too, but everyone's gotten used to it by now. Anyone in the Azure Dragon Clan calls anyone else whatever they like. Status depends entirely on strength!"
Those with great strength become the clan's upper echelon. No matter how many generations senior you are—if you've cultivated for hundreds of millions of years and are still only a mid-tier god, while someone who cultivated for ten thousand years is a high-tier god, you still have to bow respectfully when you see them.
"Just call me Clan Leader. As for the rest, call them by name," Baruch said with a smile.
"By name?" Lin Lei still felt it was awkward.
"Of course by name," Hasad said with a smile. "You've cultivated to the mid-tier god realm—you must be at least a thousand years old by now. I had another daughter just a few decades ago. She's far younger than you. Would you want to call her an ancestor?"
Lin Lei could only laugh.
For those with unlimited lifespans, seniority truly was meaningless.
"As long as they're not close relatives within three generations, you can call them by name," Hasad said.
"Everyone, don't just stand around—let's head to the hall," Baruch said with a smile. Lin Lei followed the group as they walked toward the distant building, chatting as they went. Lin Lei introduced Dilia and Bei Bei.
"Clan Leader," Lin Lei asked, "how many people does our Yulan branch have now?"
"A few hundred," Baruch said, glancing around with a smile. "But other branches also live in this valley. Our Yulan branch is one of the smallest." There was something Baruch left unsaid—
Their branch was also the weakest.
"Baruch, you all seem quite cheerful?" A frivolous voice rang out.
The expressions of Baruch and the several dozen others turned ugly. Lin Lei turned toward the source of the voice and saw several people approaching from nearby. Leading them was a youth with long green hair, a mocking smile on his face. "What happy news do you have? Do tell—I'd love to hear it."
"Ignore him. Let's go," Baruch said in a low voice.
Lin Lei noticed that none of the other family members so much as glanced at the green-haired youth, continuing toward their residence.
"Baruch, I'm talking to you—what's with that nasty expression?" The green-haired youth furrowed his brow and barked.
Several other youths flanked the green-haired one, all equally displeased with Baruch. One of them snorted. "Baruch, what's this? You've got someone backing you now, so you've gotten arrogant? Won't even dignify us with a response?"
Baruch, Ryan, and the others looked utterly grim.
Among the Azure Dragon Clan, the Yulan Continent branch was the weakest. When they had first been brought over, they had all been merely Saint-level warriors. Through ancestral baptism and diligent cultivation, they had made significant progress. But it had simply been too short a time—only a few thousand years.