The room fell silent.
It was like a stone dropping into the lake, followed by a "bang," sinking rapidly to the bottom.
Ripples spread, then faded back into calm.
But in an instant, the wind arose again.
The wind that had once blown hundreds of years ago reignited a fire that had never been extinguished through the ages.
Under the seemingly calm lake, magma surged, light flowed, and the entire lake began to boil.
Inside the palace, everyone faced Li Zhiyuan and the statue behind him, saluting in unison.
The four families of the Old Heavenly Gate each had their own rituals, but at this mont, they were surprisingly uniform and orderly.
Old Mrs. Liu once told Li Zhiyuan: Tis have changed, we no longer follow those old rituals.
But the ritual was still the sa; in this era, how many people could truly recognize it.
Inside the palace, the ancestors of the four big families of the Old Heavenly Gate simultaneously ended their salute and bowed again.
Li Zhiyuan instinctively turned to look at the statue behind him, the one that belonged to Qin Kan.
They were still worshipping you.
"Crack..."
The statue split, from the forehead, the arms, the chest, spreading like a spider's web.
It cracked so suddenly, without any warning.
In just a few blinks, the statue, though originally old yet dignified and elegant, shattered all over the ground.
Li Zhiyuan stared blankly at the ground, as if the statue was telling him:
No, they were actually worshipping you.
At the sa ti, as if responding to those unspoken words.
Inside the palace, everyone maintained their bowing posture, and shouted in unison:
"We obey the Dragon King's Order!"
Imdiately, everyone inside the palace flicked their sleeves lightly, a short bamboo pole slipped into their hands, and with a swift motion, the bamboo extended.
They were corpse drivers, the bamboo poles were both their identity and lifelong companions.
Many bamboo poles in their hands bore marks of dense repairs from previous cracks.
Each of them tucked the bamboo pole under their arm.
They were heavy, the imnse curse power weighing down and restricting their movent.
Thus, they began to march using their expertise in driving corpses, except this ti they were driving themselves.
There was no one carrying the poles from the front or rear, yet they stood very steadily, and one by one they erged.
The four leading figures wore four different outfits, representing the four families of the Old Heavenly Gate.
They stood side by side, arms extended, their bamboo poles interlocked to form a solid pair.
Even though Li Zhiyuan was not blind yet, his vision was filled with deep red, but he could clearly hear their movents.
Four people, two in front, two in back, in front of him,
they squatted down,
side supports.
"Inviting the Dragon King of Qin Family, please board the carriage!"
Hundreds of years ago, they had honored Qin Kan in the sa way.
They did not see carrying soone as a hierarchy of inequality; they simply understood that as a Dragon King who had already succeeded in controlling the river, there was no need to get involved.
But the Dragon King ca, willing to lead them in battle to protect the holand from Evil.
The person cos out of righteousness, treating them with courtesy.
Li Zhiyuan stretched out his hand, fumbling to grasp the bamboo poles, then sat on them.
The four stood up, lifting the young one's form.
The procession began to move.
Outside, everyone closed their eyes, heads bowed.
The overwhelming pressure of such a massive force of curse power was exceedingly terrifying.
Except for one person, Jie Shun'an.
Those not to be looked upon were all invited out by Li Zhiyuan.
He knew his plan had completely collapsed.
Yet at this mont, rather than being as frantic and hysterical as before, he just murmured in astonishnt:
"Why is the only heir of the Dragon King Qin family surnad Li?"
Actually, earlier by the large pit, when Li Zhiyuan swore an oath to the White Crane Child, he had shouted out his na.
Lihua had heard it, and the keen-eared Jie Shun'an could not have missed it.
He also wondered why the young one claid to be the inheritor of two Dragon King families, but focused mainly on the Qin family.
However, the sole heir of the current generation of the Qin family versus the only heir are entirely different concepts.
It was not unusual to have an heir with a non-Qin surna under the Dragon King family.
For example, Xiong Shan and Lihua dreamt of sending their child to be fostered by the Dragon King family, following the path of fortuitous opportunities without needing a na change.
Or prodigious talents might co or be taken in to nurture, in which case there's no need to change the surna either.
In every big family, outsiders' presence is common.
But for the sole heir of the current generation of the Qin family not to have the Qin surna, there is only one possibility.
That is, the Qin family mbers have dwindled to a terrifying extent.
Yet the Qin family is a large clan, so... are almost all Qin family mbers truly deceased?
The fact is indeed so—before Li Zhiyuan entered the fold, the only real Qin family mbers wearing ceremonial red robes at the ancestral rites were Uncle Qin and Alii.
Uncle Qin, a house-born child, referred to a servant's child born in the master's house in old tis, granted the surna Qin but not of Qin bloodline.
However, the old lady raised and cultivated Uncle Qin by her own hand, a privilege even direct descendants rarely enjoyed, so their relationship seed one of master and servant, but was effectively mother and son.
Furthermore, Uncle Qin, having failed in controlling the river, belonged to the previous generation.
As for Alii, even though she had Qin blood, because of illness, she never entered the fold; before she could enter, those sordid things had co to disturb her, and if she truly entered, things would only beco more chaotic.
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