After completing his mission, Ye Lang found Third Brother to educate him on the procedures of formation activation. This was an issue involving the defense of the city, and the first person that came to mind was Third Brother.

Third Brother took over the leadership of the city’s defenses, and in the last few years had gradually solidified his place amongst the new generation of leaders.

Was it time to put it to the test?

Third Brother had once asked Ye Lang about testing his setup but Ye Lang convinced him that upon activation, the topography of the city would change, and the secret weapon would be exposed for all to see. It would no longer be a secret by then, which was why he made sure to note that it was only for the absolute emergency.

Topographical change? That was something the Third Brother was unfamiliar with. Would a defense formation really alter the ground?

And for that question, Ye Lang gave a blatant and clear cut answer: it does and it will!

As for how, Third Brother will have to see for himself!

After hearing his words, Third Brother really wanted to smack some sense into Ye Lang but tried his best to hold it in. After all, Ye Lang mentioned that a change was inevitable, so he had time to prepare at the very least.

……

“You little rascal, you leaving again?”

That night, Long Anqi knew Ye Lang was ready to return to self seclusion early the next morning so she took the trip to stop by for a visit. She planned to sit down and have a little chat with her son. Yes, little- at least for her.

“Yep! I’m going back to finish what I started. You miss me already?” Ye Lang asked.

“What are you talking about? You little cold-hearted brat, ever since you had your wife I’m sure you’ve forgotten about me already.” Long Anqi patted Ye Lang on the shoulder but ironically brought him closer for a heartfelt hug.

“Mum, no shame to admit that you miss me! I’ll come out every now and then to visit, this is already much better than my foreign excursions! To be honest, I have never actually had a real trip, because everywhere I go, something is bound to happen, how unlucky…” Ye Lang added while in her embrace.

“Unlucky? You have to appreciate what you’ve got! Look at you, look at how lucky you are. Even after all the things you’ve messed up, you still have the support of all these people, can you find this anywhere else?” Long Anqi slammed down his opinion as she explained.

“What support? Where?”

He was naturally not aware of it.

“That’s it, I can’t talk to you! This might just be the light of Lady Luck shining upon you…” Long Anqi decided not to dwell on this topic any longer as she moved on to the topics about casual household events.

That might seem like mundane events to Ye Lang but it wholly depended on who the person involved was, if it wasn’t Long Anqi, Ye Lanyu or Ye Chengtian, he would have left in an instant.

……

The next morning, as they departed from the Ye family estate, Ye Lang received a simple farewell from the family, but was confronted by a minor occurrence instead.

“Ye Lang, I’d like…I’d like to tag along, can I?” Ye Zhiqing abruptly asked.

No one expected the introverted Ye Zhiqing, the one who had never been close to Ye Lang, to choose to follow Ye Lang into self-seclusion.

Ye Lang’s site might be serene and quiet, but from Ye Zhiqing’s perspective, it was not the most favourable of places, so why would she choose to go?

At times like these, curiosity from the family and the townsfolk was unsurprising. It was well acknowledged that it was not much of a problem for Ye Zhiqing to do whatever she was interested to do, it would not affect the family as a whole.

“Alright!” Ye Lang nodded in agreement. He seemed to rather fancy cousin Zhiqing, and trusted her a lot. It didn’t seem to matter if she knew about his secret.

There was just an indescribable connection between two people, one that would make no sense on paper. Then again, nothing was too peculiar when it came to Ye Lang.

“Mhm!” Ye Zhiqing nodded as she made way towards his side.

Soon after, Ye Lang and his little party gradually vanished into the horizon, but it hardly meant that he had not encountered anyone else along the way to send him off.

Many of the townsfolk were still rather intrigued by Ye Lang’s Vast Moon Lake, which was why upon hearing that he was heading towards the Vast Moon Lake, many tailed behind him. Some might even describe their actions as blatant.

From the new Ye mansion to the Vast Moon lake, people started to gather behind Ye Lang, some even in front, seemingly to clear the path for a great presence.

More townsmen were grouped at the circumference of the lake’s outer ring, awaiting his arrival in anticipation.

“Thank you all!” Ye Lang couldn’t care less, but he nonetheless never forgot to offer a word of appreciation in return.

“No problem, Master Thirteen!” The crowd replied after a long pause.

“Pfft hah…”

Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess burst into laughter.

“What?” Ye Lang stared blankly at the girls, unsure of what they found humorous.

“You idiot, they weren’t here to send you off, they wanted to go with you.” The seventh princess sarcastically reminded Ye Lang of their true intentions, assuming that he was convinced the townsfolk were here out of goodwill.

“Well let them follow us then!” Ye Lang replied with a smirk as he strutted in.

The people at the back followed closely knowing that the only chance they had to reach their destination was to follow his lead.

Unsurprisingly however, they quickly realised that Ye Lang had vanished from sight.

“Brother, where did they go?” Not only did the crowd lose sight of Ye Lang, even Ye Lanyu was gone.

“This is a defense formation, anyone accustomed to this place will be sent out to the outer ring.” Ye Lang reassured them.

“I know, but you’ve brought them in before, right? And they were walking way further from you the last time, plus nothing happened to most of the crowd,” Ye Lanyu said.

According to the previous situation, these people shouldn’t be tossed out that quickly.

“Oh I forgot to mention that formation is manually controlled, I can modify or even expand its influence! If I want people to stay out, even if they have my tools, or even memorized every step, they’d still end up on the outer ring!” Ye Lang proudly chuckled.

“…” Ye Lanyu and the others were stunned.

“Also, there’s more than one path to the centre. The route we’re taking this time is different from the one before, you better stay close or you’ll end up with those people.”