Gu Zhi and Gu Xiao immediately made their way to the flower garden estate. Being away for 2 years they didn't think it would change ownership, and hopefully the Gu clan was expecting their return.
"Young Miss?" A worker asked as she noticed Gu Xiao back with a baby in her arms and a giant wolf by her side.
"I'm back Yi Ruo, go tell my father I'm home and get him to come see us" she said.
"No need" a man said as he was floating in the air.
"Father! It's so great to see you".
"Come here Xiao'er" he said as he went to hug his daughter. "I haven't seen you in 2 years... oh and it seems I have a grandchild I haven't met yet". He picked up Gu Bo and started to pamper him with love and affection. "What's this young lad's name?" he asked.
"His name is Gu Bo, we had him in the city of love".
"A baby boy born from love, I hope you grow up to be big and strong... like your father" he said. He then looked over at Gu Zhi and noticed something strange. With his spiritual sense he could instantly tell what was wrong.
"What happened to you son?" he asked.
"It's a long story, I can tell you all about it over tea, at the tea house" he proposed.
"Sure thing, get Yi Ruo to brew us some of that good tea you have been saving, I want to hear all about how it took you 2 years to come back here" he said.
They made their way to the tea house as Gu Zhi and Gu Xiao went into great detail about their story, in particular about how he had to slaughter some 30 other people.
"Oh, I remember the incident, one lone survivor had commented about how one couple had slaughtered his group of 30 people banded together. It was quite the story as he called the person who did it "the butcher". Never the less, when the higher-ups realized no one matched the description, they called into question the validity of the persons testimony. One person no one knows about slaughtering an elite group of trained and raised rising stars seemed to be unbelievable. Truth crystals said he was telling the truth but with illusions commonly used against enemies in the palace, more of the higher ups thought it was a grand scheme plotted by one of their enemies. This caused a lot of internal and external conflict, making this last palace attempt one of the most brutal and violent ever recorded. It was only until new information brought out by other contestants that proved they saw you in the palace and matched your description did the fighting stop and the search for you began. Every power wanted to know who you were, who you were affiliated with and how you got so strong. With claims that you were some of the best contestants and highest earners in the palace the search only got bigger and bigger. But with no results in sight the fervor died down, as they got no new information about you. We made sure not to say a word and kept your affiliation under wraps but it wasn't easy. We had to make one of your old dormmates disappear as he knew who you were, and tried to leak the information. Information in the sect was kept under tight wraps as if they found out who you were, even the sect would be implicated. As a result of the lack of them finding a name or identification you were called "the butcher" by everyone who was searching for you. They not only wanted all the resources you could have gotten from the palace, but they wanted to restore their face as well. With many top sects from around this part of the world getting slaughter by one man... wasn't a good look for them. However you should be fine, as they couldn't stay in Yangoo forever and had to return to their sects. Now you have a bounty on your head so I would make sure you change your face when you leave the sect" elder Ming said.
"Yeah, we made sure to hide our identity, only releveling it when we made it back to the sect" Gu Zhi said as he sipped on some tea.
"You'll probably be put under house arrest by the clan for the time being. We would hate for you to lose your life to some bounty hunters and if people find out that we sheltered you our fate could turn for the worse. Although you got away using your own means to hide your identity, it won't hold up against experts and if they find your poster, they won't think twice before selling you out. The clan will also want some of the resources you brought back for a return on their investment." he said.
"That's fine, we have just the item to pay for our exploits and troubles" Gu Zhi said as he brought out a gourd. "This is nine heavens ambrosia, one of the 3 divine wines. With the amount in this gourd I think it will cover all the trouble we brought to the clan. However I ask that a little bit of it be left over for my own use" he said.
"I don't think that's a problem. I'm sure the clan will be happy with whatever they can get. It's not like they can sell you out now. Even if they hand you over they will only get yelled at, not rewarded." Elder Ming said as took the gourd. "Oh by the way, I should give you to this now" he said as he slid over a metal bracelet. "There is a new genius in the great earth sect, highly praised for her ingenuity and talent in crafting. She made this bracelet for foundation building cultivators rating their progress in the 3 foundations and giving them a grade and score. It lets you compare your progress to your peers and lets you know ahead of time if you can form a core or not. Somehow I bet you will be highly rated by the bracelet. They called it a "grading system" and our divination experts have already gathered that it will become widespread and revolutionary" he said with a smile on his face.