Swordholder

For a moment, I didn't know whether to comfort him or scold him for showing off and being ungrateful.

After a long while, he managed to steady himself. In addition to extreme shock, he felt a deep sense of worry.

He strode up to Chen Yuan, placed his hand on his shoulder, and slowly closed his eyes to examine his foundation and cultivation.

He had previously heard that Chen Yuan was going into seclusion to break through to the Yellow Court Realm, and he didn't quite believe it, but he still offered his resources to support him.

To everyone's surprise, this kid actually broke through in one fell swoop, and his physical foundation was even several times stronger than that of an ordinary Huangting Daoist.

A sense of worry arose spontaneously, fearing that his breakthrough was too rapid and his foundation too weak, which might damage his very essence.

Chen Yuan knew that he was examining his body, so he did not resist and quietly let him do as he pleased.

Seeing the old man's furrowed brows gradually relax, Chen Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"His bones and muscles were as solid as diamond, his blood and qi flowed with a hidden thunderous roar, and his magical power was vast and pure, without the slightest impurity..."

Chen Qingcang muttered to himself, and when he opened his eyes to look at Chen Yuan, his heart was already filled with turbulent waves.

He had cultivated for a hundred years and met countless people, but he had never seen a human cultivator with such powerful blood and physical foundation.

Even the legendary monsters recorded in ancient books are no match for it.

He withdrew his hand, rubbed his temples, and couldn't help but ask, "A-Yuan, how did you do that?"

Looking into his concerned yet curious gaze, Chen Yuan had also considered revealing the secret...

Three vortexes of spiritual energy in his dantian, and the mysterious jade slip left behind by Lu Chengfeng...

But after thinking it over again, he ultimately suppressed his thoughts.

Too much talk leads to mistakes!

There's no need to drag the old man into our hidden karma as well.

"Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't. Grandpa understands."

Chen Qingcang smiled calmly, patted his shoulder, but couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He had cultivated himself for over a hundred years, but it seemed like he had cultivated himself into a dog.

The sixteen-year-old Taoist Huang Ting...

Thinking back to my own cultivation speed when I was young, it's simply incomparable.

Seeing Chen Qingcang remain silent, sometimes frowning and sometimes sighing, Chen Yuan spoke sincerely and gently to comfort him:

"Old man, perhaps it's just that my talent for cultivation is slightly better, which is why I've progressed faster."

Chen Qingcang almost choked to death on a mouthful of phlegm.

"A slightly better talent?"

He glared at Chen Yuan with annoyance, "All 3061 spiritual apertures are fully opened, the Dharma Body Realm easily reached the Great Perfection, and he broke through to the Yellow Court Realm after only two months of seclusion..."

He took a deep breath, raising his voice slightly, "You call this 'slightly better'? Your talent is already unparalleled!"

"A peerless prodigy?"

Chen Yuan grinned. "Am I that strong?"

Chen Qingcang rolled his eyes helplessly, too lazy to argue with him.

Before long, Chen Zhaoning, Li Wei and others heard that Chen Yuan had come out of seclusion and rushed to the courtyard.

Everyone gathered together, and the atmosphere was lively and joyful.

Li Wei moved closer to Chen Yuan and whispered something mysteriously in his ear.

Chen Yuan's eyes gleamed as he listened, praising Li Wei as a talented individual who was quite capable.

Li Wei laughed heartily, hands on his hips, his face full of arrogance.

"Hmph, you young people chat, but this old man is ignored."

Chen Qingcang chuckled and cursed, then turned and left with his hands behind his back, full of joy.

"Grandpa seems to be in a good mood."

Chen Zhaoning watched his departing figure and smiled gently.

Then, looking at the cracks all over the courtyard, he couldn't help but smirk and joke:

"You rascal, you cause trouble the moment you make a move."

"But the destructive power is just too amazing!"

"Tsk tsk, as expected of the young master of the Chen family!"

Chen Yuan readily accepted Chen Zhaoning's praise, then looked at Li Wei and inquired about the changes in the external situation over the past two months.

With Chen Yuan's breakthrough, the aristocratic family assessment conference, which affected the entire Tianqing County, also began as scheduled.

--------

The heartland of Tianqing County.

There is a vast and magnificent martial arts training ground here.

At the heart of the square stands a colossal statue.

It was a statue dressed in imperial robes, its face obscured, but it had nine heads.

Behind the statue are concentric rings of divine halos, each ring resembling a galaxy.

The entire statue is majestic and sacred.

In front of the statue of the god, there is an altar, with incense smoke billowing from it. Normally, countless people would be burning incense and praying there.

But today, there is no one in front of this altar; it is under the control of the Tianqing government.

In the vast open space in front of the statue, there is also an ancient and colossal teleportation array.

At this moment, the forces of the five great beast clans of Niu, Gou, Sun, Qi, and Lu have all gathered around the formation.

The young men from each family, all between the ages of fourteen and thirty, stood in neat rows, waiting for orders.

Each family sent two hundred members to participate in the battle, and the five major beast-eating families together had as many as a thousand people.

They gathered together, their energy surging to the heavens, their imposing presence awe-inspiring.

Of the four major human families, the Zhang, Tang, and Li families have all arrived, and their members are lined up, ready to go.

When the Chen family arrived, they instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Chen Yuan, in particular, could clearly sense countless eyes filled with chilling killing intent, locked onto him.

"Ha, there are quite a few people who want me dead."

Chen Yuan murmured to himself, his gaze sweeping indifferently over the surroundings before he curiously examined the statue.

Chen Qingcang stood beside him, hands behind his back, eyes half-closed, seemingly dozing lazily, but in reality taking in the entire scene.

During their journey, he had already explained the rules of the aristocratic family gathering to Chen Yuan in detail.

The Tianqing County Aristocratic Family Conference will last for thirty days.

Each family sends two hundred young disciples, each holding a unique token, to step into the ancient teleportation array before them. They will then be sent to a special secret realm within the ruins of gods and demons for training.

Once the thirty-day deadline is up, everyone will be swept away by the power of the token and automatically teleported back to this place.

Ultimately, the rankings and limitations on the qualifications for cultivation were determined by the number of surviving members from each family who returned.

As Chen Yuan silently memorized the rules, a magnificent flying boat sailed through the void.

Prefect Niu Sengru stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the boat, dressed in a scarlet official robe, exuding an imposing aura.

He announced the rules of the conference in public, which were exactly the same as those Chen Yuan knew.

"The rules are set, the Clan Gathering shall begin immediately!"

Niu Sengru looked down at the nine great families below and gave orders in a deep voice.

The other forces in the county town, the independent cultivators from all sides, and even the visitors from neighboring county towns all stopped and watched from afar, their eyes all focused on the direction of the teleportation array.

The crowd instantly became agitated.

The disciples of the five great beast-manipulating families took the lead and stepped onto the teleportation array one after another.

The formation is extremely spacious, more than enough to accommodate thousands of people.

They were unwilling to travel alongside the human cultivators and planned to activate the formation first and leave.

Many of the disciples of the Beastmaster Clan looked at the Chen family disciples with cold, mocking eyes.

More often than not, they looked at the dead or prey with greedy eyes.

Some people made provocative gestures, as if slitting their throats, in front of the crowd.

"You lads of the Chen family, the secret realm awaits you!"

"Wash your necks clean while you're at it, or we'll come to take your lives!"

"Heh heh, don't let your legs go weak and prevent you from even entering the secret realm!"

······

······

The group of beast-like disciples continued their sinister mockery.

The next moment, the array's spiritual light shot into the sky, and the figures of more than a thousand people instantly disappeared from their original positions.

The Chen family members followed behind Chen Yuan, Chen Zhaoning, Chen Jianchu, and others, many of them feeling tense and their bodies stiffening slightly.

Seeing Chen Yuan's calm and composed demeanor, a sense of security inexplicably arose in everyone's hearts, their eyes gradually turned cold, and their fighting spirit and cohesion quietly rose.

Among the crowd, Zhang Shan, Tang Hu, and Li Shouren were also quietly hidden.

They stared at Chen Yuan's retreating figure, their expressions dazed.

Before setting off, Chen Yuan had met with them alone, and his words resonated deeply with them, lingering in their minds for a long time.

"If I help you seize the position of family head, do you dare to accept?"

These words echoed repeatedly in the minds of the three, like a curse.

"Don't think too much for now. Just get through this aristocratic family gathering and survive first."

Zhang Shan took a deep breath, lowered his head to avoid the gaze of his superiors, and stepped into the teleportation array with the crowd.

"If Chen Yuan can truly help us take control of the family, why wouldn't I dare accept? If they can be the head of the family, why can't I?"

Tang Hu's gaze suddenly hardened as he looked at Zhang Shan and said in a deep voice,

"Our family no longer considers us family, so why should we hold back?"

Zhang Shan was taken aback, and then a glint of ambition flashed in his eyes.

"yes."

Li Shouren nodded slightly. "From the moment that old man killed my mother, he was never my father!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a shimmering light appeared on a talisman he was rubbing inside his sleeve.

Chen Yuan seemed to sense something and turned around to give the three of them a brief, indifferent glance.

The next moment, a soaring spiritual light enveloped everyone, and the figures of the Chen family members all disappeared into the teleportation array.

···········

Watching the departing figures of the Chen family members, Prefect Niu Sengru narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice, "Are you confident?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Qingcang, who remained calm in the distance, and a sense of unease crept into his heart.

The Prefectural Magistrate Gou Zongdao, standing to the side, had a cold glint in his eyes and said with certainty, "Don't worry, I have already made full preparations to wipe out the Chen family."

Gou Zongdao straightened his back and continued confidently, "Young Master Niu, Sun Wu of the Sun family, the Lu family's hidden hand, and Li Xing and others from Chunmeng Tower—each of these Huangting Realm Daoists is a catastrophic disaster for the Chen family's disciples."

"Moreover, I have tampered with the teleportation array. Once they are teleported there, they will fall into a strange forbidden area."

"Heh, I'm afraid they won't even be able to escape the eerie forbidden area before they all perish... In that case, we won't need the manpower we left behind, and this matter can be easily resolved."

"What? You tampered with the teleportation array?"

Niu Sengru looked at Gou Zongdao in astonishment, "Which strange forbidden area did you teleport them to?"

A cruel glint flashed in Gou Zongdao's eyes as he said, enunciating each word clearly: "Evil—Blood—Demon—Cave."

Niu Sengru's eyes widened suddenly, staring at Gou Zongdao with a look of astonishment.

Holy crap?

That kid is too insidious.

Niu Sengru couldn't help but take a deep breath, and his gaze toward Gou Zongdao became more wary.

······

At the same time, Chen Qingcang and Chen Guohai were also talking in hushed tones.

"Father, the destination of this teleportation is Evil Burial Mountain."

Chen Guohai lowered his voice and spoke with a solemn expression.

"What? How did I end up in such a dangerous place?"

Chen Qingcang frowned.

His gaze toward Niu Sengru and the others in the distance instantly turned hostile.

"Yes, there is a mountain god temple on Evil Burial Mountain, and that mountain god temple suppresses the Evil Blood Demon Cave..."

At this point, Chen Guohai's expression grew even more solemn. "I hope A Yuan and Xiao Ning will not climb to the top of the mountain and stay away from that mountain god temple."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qingcang felt a sudden sense of foreboding.

His fist clenched tightly in his sleeve, and his gaze gradually turned fierce.

"Get ready. If these members of the Chen family are tricked to death by them, I will make them all pay with their lives!"

Chen Qingcang's tone was fierce, and his eyes were filled with a terrifying killing intent, causing the temperature in the space where the Chen family members were located to drop sharply!

The three elders, Chen Qingtian, Chen Qingfeng, and Chen Qingyun, gradually exuded a terrifying killing intent.

Jiang Shangwu, the Hall Master of the War Martial Hall, was taken aback for a moment, but had no objection and immediately turned around to make arrangements.

Although they were worshipped by the Chen family, they were orphans raised by Chen Qingcang since childhood!

He was also a treacherous servant of the Chen family.

I'm ready to risk my life for the Chen family at any time!

……