Heaven-Equaling Imperial Clan
"Descendants tend the ancestral flame through a thousand autumns; ancestors keep their lamps alight for ten thousand generations."
On the streets of Mystic City, thirteen-year-old Qi Lin carried incense toward an ancient ancestral hall ahead.
The Qi Clan's ancestral hall had a long history and housed ten ancient ancestral spirit tablets.
What Qi Lin had just recited was the Qi Clan's ancestral precept.
"The ancestral precept says that as long as the descendants keep offering incense, the ancestors will bless them with prosperity for ten thousand generations. But now... I'm the only one left in the Qi Clan."
Qi Lin found that a little puzzling, but he still persisted in diligently offering incense.
Heaven was vast and earth was vast, but the ancestors were greatest of all!
"After I offer the incense, I'll go buy a few meat buns from Sister Xiaoyu. Delicious."
Qi Lin was rubbing his growling stomach when a chilling declaration suddenly rang out ahead!
"We of the Divine Capital Xiao Clan are requisitioning the land in Mystic City in accordance with the law. Anyone who dares obstruct us will be killed on the spot."
The voice was like thunder exploding from clear skies, drawing many cries of fear and despair.
"What's going on?"
Qi Lin rushed forward and saw many unfamiliar martial artists at the entrance to the ancestral hall, wielding heavy hammers to demolish the houses.
Before them stood a crowd of Mystic City residents, plagued by poverty and illness and unable to fill their stomachs!
"My lords, these are the tax receipts for my shop. I pay every year, every month. Nine-tenths of the money I earn goes to taxes, and I've never dared miss a single penny!"
A plainly dressed young woman knelt on the ground, kowtowing as she cried in distress. "My whole family is sick, and they're waiting for medicine to save their lives. If you tear down my shop, how will my parents survive?"
"My lords, please have mercy!"
An emaciated old man also knelt and cried, "When I was young, I fought in the Nine Nether Purgatory for the Great Cang Kingdom and lost an arm for my country! All three of my sons gave their lives for the country! I beg you to leave me one ancestral home, a place for my sons' souls to return to!"
"Sister Xiaoyu, Grandpa Yang..."
The two pleading for mercy were named Lin Xiaoyu and Yang Ting, both neighbors of Qi Lin. After Qi Lin's parents and family disappeared, he had grown up thanks to their help and that of the other residents.
"My lords, please leave us a way to live!"
One after another, the residents followed their lead, bowing and kowtowing in tears.
At the sight, the face of the martial artist in the lead instantly darkened.
"You two rioters dare take the lead in resisting demolition?"
He ordered his men to seize Lin Xiaoyu and Yang Ting, then said coldly, "Parade these two rioters' heads through the streets as a warning. Anyone else who dares occupy my Xiao Clan's land will meet the same end!"
With that, he actually drew his saber and slashed at the backs of their necks.
"These people have gone too far!"
Watching the scene, Qi Lin's gaze turned icy in an instant.
His family's ancestral hall had stood here for countless years. How had it come to be occupying the Xiao Clan's land?
Sister Xiaoyu sold buns and worked herself to exhaustion from dawn to dusk every day to earn money for her parents' treatment. How had someone so kind become a rioter?
And there was Grandpa Yang Ting. Whenever he spoke of fighting for his country, he always looked proud and had no regrets. Yet now all his medals had earned him a blade to the neck!
Where was the justice?
Seeing that the two were about to lose their heads, Qi Lin suddenly rushed out and kicked the saber-wielding martial artist in the face.
Bang!
The martial artist cried out in pain, blood bursting from his face as he flew through the air.
He crashed to the ground, his head splitting open!
The blow stunned everyone present.
"Where did this little wild dog come from, daring to lay a hand on my people, Xiao Tianyang?"
But just as Qi Lin landed, a figure in purple robes suddenly appeared before him.
Boom!
The man casually threw a punch, sending Qi Lin flying into the ancestral hall!
Qi Lin smashed through a stone pillar. A mass of broken stones fell onto his back, pinning him down so he could not move.
"He's angered the young master. This boy is going to die horribly."
The Xiao Clan martial artists gazed at the purple-robed young man with reverence.
"A Mystic Sea Realm expert!"
Qi Lin's expression changed, and he spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
The first four realms of cultivation were Yellow Dragon, Profound Sea, Earth Yang, and Heavenly Dominion, each with five levels. The first characters of these four realms, read in reverse, formed "heaven, earth, mystic, yellow." It was said that beyond them lay the legendary realms of "universe, cosmos, primordial, and desolation."
Qi Lin had reached the fifth level of the Yellow Dragon Realm at thirteen, but he was still no match for this Mystic Sea Realm young man.
"You're the Xiao Clan's young master?" He stared fixedly at the purple-robed young man. "You keep saying you're requisitioning land in accordance with the law. What law allows you to seize our land by force?"
The Xiao Clan's young master waved a folding fan and drawled, "For a wild dog like you, my word is law."
At that, the Xiao Clan members burst into laughter.
The laughter was so grating!
Requisitioning land in accordance with the law?
They were preying on the people and treating human lives like grass!
"This is your family's ancestral hall? The Qitian Clan?"
Just then, Xiao Tianyang suddenly saw the plaque above the ancestral hall's entrance and could not hold back his laughter. "Even we of the Divine Capital Xiao Clan wouldn't dare take such an outrageously grand name. Does some rustic ancestral hall in Mystic City deserve to stand equal to heaven?"
"You don't know shit!" Qi Lin glared at him, fire burning in his eyes. "The ancestors of my Qitian Clan were the Divine Scion World-Suppressing Imperial Clan!"
Xiao Tianyang laughed wildly. "Our Xiao Clan genealogy records a hundred generations, and every generation has had Heavenly Dominion experts holding down the fort! Our Xiao Clan residence is larger than your entire Mystic City! We also have more than fifteen hundred mineral veins, eighteen thousand shops under our name, over sixty-nine thousand clansmen, and countless geniuses and experts..."
With that, he punched through the air and blasted the ancestral hall's plaque to pieces!
"A clan like our Xiao Clan is what you call a world-suppressing clan. As for your Qitian Clan, your people have dwindled and your house is bare on all four sides. You can only be called lowly commoners, understand?"
He waved his folding fan, still sneering.
"Execute those two rioters and smash that rustic shrine."
At his command, those Xiao Clan members holding Lin Xiaoyu and Yang Ting moved to strike again.
"A pack of beasts dressed up like human beings!"
Qi Lin's face twisted, and countless blood vessels spread across the whites of his eyes!
He desperately heaved against the stone pillar on top of him, his back already a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
Hearing the commotion, Xiao Tianyang glanced at Qi Lin in displeasure. "You little wild dog, you've practiced martial arts for a few days and you really think you're a savior?"
Whoosh!
The folding fan in his hand suddenly stabbed into Lin Xiaoyu's mouth beside him!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The folding fan was made of blades. As he twisted it, it shredded the root of her tongue and her teeth, sending blood pouring out!
"You saved this female criminal once just now? How are you going to save her this time?"
Watching Lin Xiaoyu scream and wail, Xiao Tianyang laughed coldly.
Squelch!
He slashed fiercely at Yang Ting next, severing his remaining arm and both legs in quick succession!
Bone and flesh were severed. Yang Ting's face turned deathly pale, and his body convulsed, the pain robbing him of his voice!
"A veteran of the Great Cang Kingdom? Anyone who resists demolition is a rioter! I've cut him into a human stick, and he'll bleed to death any moment now. Why don't you come uphold justice? Come on!"
Having created this bloody scene, Xiao Tianyang looked thoroughly pleased. He raised an eyebrow at Qi Lin and said, "The Qitian Clan? Just a pile of shit in this world."
"Sister Xiaoyu! Grandpa Yang!"
At the sight, Qi Lin's eyes nearly split!
Blood and fire burned madly in his heart, burning through his chest, through his internal organs, and into the blood, muscles, and bones of his entire body!
"Ancestors above! Please show your descendant a clear path!"
The ten spirit tablets on the altar behind him swayed gently, as though the ancestors' eyes, ancient beyond measure, had pierced through space and time to watch Qi Lin in silence.
The spirit tablet of the first-generation ancestor, Qi Tiandao.
The spirit tablet of the second-generation ancestor, Qi Tianji.
The third-generation ancestor...
The fourth-generation ancestor...
"That's...!"
Qi Lin's pupils suddenly widened.
He saw that the characters on the first-generation ancestor's spirit tablet had actually caught fire, burning gold and black!
"The clan flame burns the heavens; Qitian returns once more."
Recalling another line of the ancestral precepts, Qi Lin's heart and blood blazed with fury!
"Xiao Tianyang!"
He abruptly raised his head, towering flames rolling in his eyes!
"Ten thousand years ago, the Heavenly Gate opened, and extraordinary beings who called themselves 'gods' descended upon the world. All living beings became slaves, the mortal world became a furnace, human bones paved the ground, human blood formed rivers, and human skins hung from the trees!"
His voice exploded like divine thunder, roaring deafeningly.
"My Qitian Clan's first-generation ancestor, Qi Tiandao, was the first godslayer in human history. At the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Plain, he slew the Hundred-Eyed God in wrath, and divine blood flowed across a full three thousand li of land!"
As soon as he finished speaking, flames surged from the first-generation ancestor's spirit tablet behind him. Thick smoke billowed in all directions, obscuring everything inside and outside the dilapidated ancestral hall!
When the flames fell, they burned the stones pinning Qi Lin's back to ash.
Amid the thick smoke, Qi Lin's eyes were dark red as he braced himself against the ground and rose.
"My Qitian Clan's second-generation ancestor, Qi Tianji, fought seven alone at the Northern Darkness Sea and slew seven Hun Dun Gods in succession!"
On the altar, the second-generation ancestor's spirit tablet also burst into blazing fire.
"What kind of fairy tale are you telling?"
Seeing the change, Xiao Tianyang's expression shifted slightly, but his words remained defiant.
Qi Lin did not stop. With every ancestor he named, another ancestral spirit tablet blazed with flames that reached the heavens!
The third-generation ancestor, the fourth-generation ancestor...
Every one of them had defied heaven and slain gods!
Amid the smoke and shadows, where the blood of gods flowed in rivers, Qi Lin rose fully to his feet.
"My Qitian Clan fought bloody battles against the gods for ten generations of ancestors."
"In the final battle, my Qitian Clan's tenth-generation ancestor, Qi Tianmo, led a billion human warriors ready to die into the Heavenly God Platform, sealed the Heavenly Gate above, and slaughtered every god in the world!"
Hum!
All ten ancestral spirit tablets burned. The thick smoke seemed to form an ancient battlefield, where a billion warriors ready to die unleashed a heaven-shaking roar and followed a black-haired figure in a charge into the clouds!
Furious as thunder and lightning, Qi Lin suddenly roared!
"The mortal world has enjoyed ten thousand years of peace, and your Xiao Clan has been able to pass down its legacy for a hundred generations, oppressing men and preying on women, only because the forebears of my clan fought and died for humanity down to the very last! What right do you have today to desecrate the Qitian Clan before my ancestral hall?!"
As Qi Lin's furious voice rang out, the flames from the ancestral spirit tablets spread to Xiao Tianyang.
The flames burned into his dantian and consumed every bit of his Mystic Sea Realm cultivation!
"My true essence!"
Xiao Tianyang screamed, and his expression finally changed drastically.
His true essence had burned away, leaving him without any fighting strength!
Everything before him had shattered his view of the world.
Had such a world-suppressing clan really existed ten thousand years ago?
"Someone! Someone, come!"
Xiao Tianyang scrambled backward in a panic.
Boom!
Just behind him, the ten ancestral spirit tablets came together from top to bottom, forming a black wooden sword that flew into Qi Lin's hand.
Sword in hand, Qi Lin abruptly raised his head. In his eyes, the clan flame of the Qitian Clan burned madly.
"A true world-suppressing imperial clan lies not in vast wealth or great numbers, but in an undying clan spirit, in burning its blood for all living beings and opening the heavens for humanity!!"
Hum!
Holding the black wooden sword, he caught up to Xiao Tianyang and stabbed him in the back, straight through his heart.
Squelch!
Xiao Tianyang's face turned deathly pale in an instant. He looked down at the black sword protruding from his chest.
The wooden sword burned with flames that swiftly devoured his internal organs, making him convulse in pain.
"You vile criminal, the countless millions of my Xiao Clan will surely destroy-"
Before he could finish, Qi Lin abruptly pulled out the sword and slashed at his neck!
Crack!
Blood spurted from his neck, and his head left his body!
"When you bullied me, you called me a commoner. Now that I've fought back, you call me a vile criminal! Who is truly vile here?"
Qi Lin held up his head and demanded angrily.
Xiao Tianyang's eyes were wide open, even in death.
His headless corpse also fell to its knees and burned to cinders and ash!
"Young master!"
The Xiao Clan martial artists were all caught in the thick black smoke, so frightened their souls nearly flew away!
The residents looked at Qi Lin with tears welling in their eyes, then hurried to save the injured and stop the bleeding.
"The legend of the Qitian Clan was actually true..."
At that moment, the belief Qi Lin had held since childhood had come true, and tears filled his eyes.
It had been ten thousand years!
For some reason, the people of the world had forgotten the Qitian Clan!
But how could its descendants forget?
Qi Lin's eyes trembled as he looked at the black wooden sword formed from the ten ancestral spirit tablets.
Rumble!
At that moment, everything before his eyes suddenly shifted.
Qi Lin suddenly found himself on a battlefield of corpse mountains and seas of blood.
Ahead stood a colossal pitch-black sword that propped up the heavens.
The dark sword rose from the earth and reached the heavens, piercing a bloody hole through the sky.
Blood now gushed from that hole in torrents. The black blood poured like a waterfall, thundering down the relief carvings on the surface of the sky-propping black sword.
On the bloodstained blade, a scarlet couplet gradually appeared from top to bottom.
First line: Divine chains bind the primordial age and swallow the sun and moon.
Second line: Demonic shackles imprison purgatory and bury the Nine Netherworlds.
Horizontal inscription:
Heaven-Equaling Imperial Clan!