"Father!?" The old man in yellow said.
Hearing him, Zhou Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had never expected that Xiaolong, who he had treated like a pet, treated him like a father.
"Don't call me that." Zhou Fan responded before he held his arms out. Without hesitation, Xiaolong ran forward and gave him a hug.
Although it was weird having an old man hug him, Zhou Fan felt less weird after remembering the old times with Xiaolong.
"We thought you would never come back. Where have you been?" Xiaolong asked.
"Not too far, but not that close for you all." Zhou Fan responded after thinking for a bit.
"How have you all been while I was gone?" Zhou Fan asked.
"Would you like to know everything or just the basics?" Xiaolong asked before he responded.
"Tell me everything, I've got plenty of time." Zhou Fan responded.
"In that case, I'll lead you to a more comfortable place." Xiaolong said.
He then moved at his full speed and almost instantly appeared in a room. He looked behind him to see if Zhou Fan was able to follow him, but was surprised to see Zhou Fan directly next to him.
'I guess he hasn't been idle.' Xiaolong thought.
"Take a seat." He said before he took one. Zhou Fan looked around the room. It was a carpeted room with a chimney not far away. There were two red seats and a table in between them.
Zhou Fan sat down across from Xiaolong and got comfortable.
"When you first left, everything stayed the same. After around a hundred years, the sect era started. Old Students from the Huang Long academy would open up sects across the world, eventually ending the mortal era. Each of the top ten empires kept their land and simply renamed their empires to sects. The other empires, however, were replaced by sects. As time passed, some sects stayed while some were forgotten or even destroyed. However, there were some sects that remained. The Huang long academy was one of them, of course. Some others were the demon sect, the barbarian sect, the fire sect, the water sect, and many others that represented races or elements." Xiaolong said.
"While some were stronger than others, the Huang long academy always remained at the top. Even if there were wars, we never interfered, unless we were provoked to do so. Eventually, people got stronger, and the earth stopped being big enough. Thanks to the chaos crystal you gave us, we were able to provide Qi for both the earth and the space surrounding it, but we all had our limits. Around 50,000 years ago, many who had reached bottlenecks or limits started to research other things. One of the greatest inventions was the floating buildings, which is what all the top sects live in above the earth, and the transportation ships that let those below the void traversing realm reach them. Since then, we have all been cultivating. Some died from exhausted lifespans, like din ren and the other first generation huang long academy students, but a couple people like me and the other three, survived." Xiaolong continued.
"Wait." Zhou Fan said before Xiaolong could continue. "What do you mean the other three?"
"Ohhhh. Right." Xiaolong started. "You weren't here for that. Instead of explaining, I'll let you see it yourself."
After saying that, Xiaolong pulled out a communication talisman and sent three messages. Soon after, 3 people entered through the door.
The first to reach, a woman with red hair and a fiery aura, looked at Zhou Fan with shock.
"Father?!" She said.
Once again Zhou Fan didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.
"Don't call me that. Come here." He said before opening his arms.
Zhuque imitated Xiaolong and gave him a hug.
By that time, two more people had entered the room. One was an old man with a head full of white hair. The other was a fairly young looking man with a head of half white and half black hair.
"Father?!" They said in unison.
This time, Zhou Fan was too stunned to respond. He was instead looking at the fairly young looking man.
"You have combined!" Zhou Fan said "Also, don't call me that."
It only took a couple of seconds, but Zhou Fan was able to tell that Xuanwu and Hanglu had combined into a single entity. It made sense since they had always stuck together and even had the same talent and affinities. It seemed that they were destined to end up this way.
"Indeed they have." Xiaolong said. "We don't know why, but they woke up like this one day. They have each other's memories, but are one person. Still, we just call him Xuanwu now."
"I think I know why." Zhou Fan said incredulously.
After he had looked at them for a while, he sensed something special. It wasn't quite affinity or talent, but something different within him. After a minute, Zhou Fan appeared next to him and looked closer.
He couldn't believe his eyes. After so long, he had discovered a new variable to cultivation. He decided to call them "divine physiques". They were something similar to talent and affinities, but also different. After he saw Xuanwus divine physique, he couldn't help but question if he had one.
"I think I know why they combined." Zhou Fan said, gathering the attention of everyone in the room. "It is the first one I have ever seen, but I believe they had a divine physique."
"What is a divine physique?" Xiaolong asked.
"I believe it is something like talent and affinity, but is more like a unique talent. Theirs should have been some divine physique that combined their minds, bodies, and souls into one." Zhou fan explained.
After hearing him, all of the beasts nodded. It was the first time they had heard an explanation that made sense.
As for what use the divine physique had, Zhou Fan was unaware for now. He could only guess that it increased fighting power or something similar.