The Tragedy of Zhongyong

Chen Fan muttered a curse to himself, then with a thought, his Martial God- level Divine Soul subtly contracted inward.

The newborn body is too weak. If the Dragons and Phoenixes phantoms in the Firmament are allowed to continue resonating, the violent backlash of the dimensional laws will first crush this fragile Mortal Body.

Receive!

Chen Fan closed his eyes, Yin-Yang divine mark between his eyebrows quietly disappeared beneath his skin.

Above the Firmament, the golden dragon and the Nine-Heavens Mystical Phoenix seemed to have received an supreme decree. Their phantoms swayed for a moment, let out a lingering groan, and then quickly transformed into Stream of Light and disappeared into the Void rift.

The Golden Rosy Clouds and the Taiji Chi diagram slowly dissipated.

"Bang!"

The delivery room door was flung open again, and an old man with white hair and beard, exuding a decaying, deathly aura of a fully-fledged Golden Core, stumbled in.

The only pillar of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, the Grand Elder Mo Wendao, who had been in seclusion for three hundred years and had not shown his face.

At this moment, the usually dignified and solemn old man was completely unrefined, his robes were tattered, and he had even lost one of his shoes.

He stared intently at the baby in Chen Changqing's arms, and tears welled up in his eyes. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Our ancestral master has manifested his divine power... Our ancestors are above!!"

Mo Wendao up at the sky and roared.

"Dragons and Phoenixes pave the way, purple qi fills the sky, chaos reigns! This is True Immortal reincarnated! This is the Qilin Prodigy of my Qingyun Sect descended upon us!!"

Luo Qingxuan leaned against the headboard, weakly extending her slender wrist to gently stroke the baby's tender cheek, her eyes filled with maternal tenderness.

"Changqing, please give the child a name."

Chen Changqing took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his trembling heart, and stared into the baby boy's deep gaze, saying in a deep voice:

"This child was born with the power to overturn heaven and earth, capable of causing the winds and clouds to change at a mere moment. But as a tree that stands out in the forest, the path to immortality is fraught with difficulties... As your father, I do not ask that you shake the world with your might, but only that you attain the simplest path and live a long and prosperous life."

"Let's call him... Chen Fan."

Chen Fan blinked in the swaddling clothes.

After all the twists and turns, he's still Chen Fan.

The name doesn't matter; sooner or later, I'll just shatter this world anyway.

The morning light broke through the thick mist of Setting Sun Mountain and fell on a stone bench on the back of Azure Cloud Peak.

Six-year-old Chen Fan rested his hands behind his head, chewed on a sweet-tasting Spirit Thatch Grass, and squinted in the sun.

To outsiders, this young sect leader, who was born amidst a tremendous phenomenon, seemed dazed and silent all day long, like a lost soul.

Only Chen Fan himself knew the earth-shattering changes taking place inside this young body.

The laws of the Cangwu Realm are completely different from those of the Great Wilderness he had once traversed, and even the cosmic Dimensions of the Human Federation.

Cultivators in this realm draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their bodies, refining it into True Essence. From bottom to top, this is divided into four major levels: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul. Further up, one can reach the realms of Deity Transformation and Tribulation Transcendence Ascension.

Within Chen Fan's body, the innate Yin-Yang and Yang energies, separated from the Origin Source of the Divine Kingdom on the day of his birth, had already merged and solidified deep within his Qi Sea Dantian he was three years old, forming a flawless Black-and-White Inner Core that spun around endlessly.

By the standards of the Cangwu Realm, he had already reached the Third Tier Golden Core realm at the age of six.

However, Mortal Body is weak.

Even a tiny trace of the vast true meaning of the Divine Kingdom could wash away the still-growing flesh and bones of this child into dust.

To this end, Chen Fan used the true meaning of the Life-and-Death Millstone to set up thirty-six Spirit-Sealing Seal in his Dantian, locking the Golden Core's immense power, capable of shattering mountains and splitting the earth, deep within his bone marrow.

To outsiders, his meridians appeared blocked, and not even the faintest trace of spiritual energy could be sensed.

"A tragic loss to a promising talent..."

Six years ago, Dragons and Phoenixes appeared, and the withered tree protecting the mountain was reborn. Who would have thought it would turn out to be just an ordinary mortal that couldn't gather spiritual energy?

"I heard that the Mysterious Sword Sect is secretly laughing at our Qingyun Sect, saying that our sect leader has given birth to a pretty but useless son."

Under the corridor not far away, two gray-robed outer sect disciples responsible for sweeping whispered among themselves, then shook their heads and sighed as they left.

Chen Fan didn't even lift his eyelids.

Why would a dragon care about the whispers of ants?

The sound of footsteps grew louder as they approached.

Chen Changqing, dressed in a faded blue Daoist robe, strode through the moon gate.

The Golden Core Sect Master, who was usually so dignified and imposing in front of his disciples, looked at Chen Fan with eyes full of tenderness and heartache.

He took out a warm oil paper package from his sleeve, inside which lay two golden and crispy Hundred-Spirit Crisp, and handed them over.

"Fan'er, have some snacks."

Chen Fan sat up, took the pastry, and took a bite. It tasted sweet and refreshing, and contained Spirit-Nurturing Ganoderma that was quite old.

He could smell the faint, burnt herbal odor lingering on Chen Changqing's fingertips.

In order to prepare Marrow-Washing Decoction to nourish his body, this cheap father has blown up countless alchemy furnaces over the years.

"Father, you don't need to keep getting me these spiritual herbs. You need to stabilize your own cultivation level," Chen Fan said calmly.

Chen Changqing paused for a moment, then rubbed Chen Fan's head and laughed heartily.

"Silly boy, what father would neglect his son? Today is your sixth birthday, and the sect's triennial Enlightenment Instruction Day is today. If you don't want to go, I'll just push you away. Anyone who dares to gossip will have their mouth torn off."

"It wouldn't hurt to go take a look." Chen Fan patted the crumbs off his hands and jumped off the stone bench.

Lying around on the back mountain all day was rather boring, and he wanted to see just how crude the basic cultivation techniques in this world were.

In the Transmission Hall, at the White Jade Plaza.

Hundreds of children from various peaks of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect and its affiliated cultivation families stood in neat rows, their expressions ranging from tense to excited.

On the surrounding high platforms stood dozens of deacons from various peaks and elders from both the inner and outer sects.

When Chen Changqing led Chen Fan into the square, the previously noisy crowd paused slightly, and countless eyes turned towards them.

A mixture of emotions—scrutiny, sighing, and schadenfreude—was present.

"That was the young sect leader back then?"

"She is indeed as beautiful as a jade sculpture, but unfortunately, she has no spiritual aura whatsoever."

"My ancestor said that the strange phenomenon back then was most likely a chance occurrence caused by a battle between powerful beings passing by, and had little to do with this child. Otherwise, even a spirit pig would have absorbed qi in six years."

Several disciples from cultivation families, dressed in fine clothes, whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with undisguised arrogance.

Chen Changqing's expression darkened slightly, and he used his large, warm hand to shield Chen Fan behind him.

Chen Fan remained calm as he surveyed the high platform for transmitting martial arts techniques directly in front of the plaza.

In the center of the high platform hangs an ancient bell, about the size of a human head, covered in greenish-blue patina.

The bell is carved with intricate sword patterns and is as silent as rotten wood. It is said to be a relic passed down by the founder of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect. For thousands of years, it has only rang softly when a peerless sword embryo appears.

"Quiet!"

A deep shout, like thunder, resounded across the square.

The Grand Elder of Transmission, dressed in a dark blue Daoist robe, descended from mid-air on auspicious clouds and landed steadily in the center of the lecture platform.