Ancestor's Rules

"I can joke with you, but I wouldn't dare joke with the ancestors," Li Muxiu said mildly.

The long-browed elder frowned slightly, thinking that was indeed true. Second Brother might usually be wildly unreliable, but in this ancestral hall, he had always been very proper.

He asked, "Could it be this child only looks young? Is he nine?"

"Eight."

"Eight?!"

The long-browed elder froze, waves surging up in his eyes. "You're saying he reached perfect Circulation at eight?"

"That's right."

After Li Muxiu finished speaking blandly, he walked to the prayer mat before the golden divine statue and knelt down.

"Hao'er, come here."

After kowtowing three times, he remained kneeling and called softly.

Li Hao immediately walked to his side.

"Kneel. Kowtow to the ancestors."

Li Hao did as he was told, kneeling on the prayer mat and kowtowing in turn to every spirit tablet.

Li Muxiu raised his head and said softly, "This descendant, Li Muxiu, has brought a junior here today to listen to the ancestors' teachings. May the honored ancestors bestow your inheritance!"

As his words fell, the many spirit tablets above seemed to tremble faintly.

When Li Hao finished kowtowing and looked up, he saw phantasmal figures appearing before each spirit tablet, seated upright in the void. Some of these figures wore Confucian robes and white gowns, some were draped in heavy armor, and some were missing half their bodies, wrapped only in a battle flag.

Clearly, these were all the forefathers of the Li Family.

"Tsk, another fine sprout."

"Perfect Circulation Realm, bone structure still young, only just over eight years old. Compared with that little fellow twenty years ago, he's three parts more impressive!"

"I never thought the Li Family's fortune over the past century would be so flourishing. We should warn those little fellows not to grow arrogant because of this, or that child will be their lesson."

The many ancestral phantoms conversed softly, each voicing his own view.

When Li Hao entered the ancestral hall, he had temporarily put away his Myriad Manifestations attribute. Though he did not know whether these ancestral heroic souls could ignore Myriad Manifestations' concealment effect, it was still better not to invite unnecessary trouble.

"This child has clever aptitude, so I won't join in. You all bestow it."

"With this aptitude, only the founding ancestor and a few of you are fit to grant him one."

After conversing for a while, many ancestral phantoms gradually dimmed again and returned to their spirit tablets, leaving only four phantoms still hovering above the tablets. They merely examined Li Hao in silence, saying nothing.

"I..." One spear-wielding phantom had just been about to speak when, all of a sudden, the golden statue in the center of the many spirit tablets shone with light, as if it had revived.

The other phantoms could not help looking over, then lowered their heads slightly and bowed.

The many other spirit tablets also trembled faintly, sending out an almost unified voice. "Greetings, founding ancestor."

Before the golden statue, the phantom of a middle-aged man with a tall, straight build and broad shoulders sat upright. Compared with the other phantoms, his figure seemed even more solid.

His features and appearance were exactly the same as the golden statue.

"If you can abide by my heart oath, you will receive my inheritance," the middle-aged man said, looking down at Li Hao. His expression was gentle and calm, unmoved by any ripple.

Li Hao could feel the old man beside him trembling faintly, seemingly quite excited. At the same time, he recognized this phantom as the Li Family's first-generation ancestor, Li Tianyuan! "Greetings, founding ancestor!"

Old Master Li Muxiu lowered his head and kowtowed.

Li Hao immediately followed suit, copying him exactly.

"In those days, I followed the Great Yu's Former Emperor on campaign, warring through the eight wildernesses of Eastern Brilliance, subduing countless demons and tribes. I once made two heart oaths to the Late Emperor, extending the Li Family's Millennial Glory."

The heroic soul of the ancestor Li Tianyuan spoke slowly. "The first heart oath is that those of the Li Family must vow to protect the Li Family to the death, sharing life and death together!"

"The second heart oath is to vow to defend the Great Yu Dynasty to the death, sharing the same boat in life and death with the Great Yu!"

"Can you do this?"

When he finished, Li Tianyuan gazed at Li Hao below.

Li Hao was slightly startled. Vow to protect the Li Family to the death? Did this Li Family refer to certain people, or everyone?

The ancestral hall was silent. Every gaze seemed to gather on that child, waiting for him to speak.

After silence stretched for a long while, Li Hao said in a low voice, "Founding ancestor, forgive this junior's stupidity. There is something I don't understand."

"Speak," Li Tianyuan's heroic soul said calmly.

"Protecting the Li Family, does that mean everyone, including branch clansmen?"

Li Hao asked carefully, "And does this protection mean safeguarding them, or that I cannot harm them?"

"Only protect the direct bloodline. Since it is protection, naturally you cannot harm them. Otherwise, cutting off their four limbs and leaving them with one breath could also count as protection," Li Tianyuan said. Clearly, this heart oath was rather rigorous.

Li Hao asked, "Then... if there is a traitor among the family's direct line, or someone plotting against me?"

"For scum like that, you may hand them over to those who have not entered the ancestral hall to inherit souls for disposal."

"But if scum like that actively attacks or ambushes me, wouldn't I only be able to dodge?" Li Hao said.

"One who inherits my soul shall be invincible in the same realm, aside from the imperial family!"

Li Tianyuan said indifferently, "If you wish to avoid them, it will be easy. If you encounter someone in a realm above yours, you only need to flee for your life. There is no need to foolishly attempt to counter-injure them."

"Then what if they die in front of me and I stand by with folded arms?"

"You must act to save them, even if they are scum," Li Tianyuan said. "But when scum are being punished by law enforcement, you may choose not to be present, and then your heart oath will not be broken and injure you."

Li Hao thought for a moment. That did count as a method.

"It's just, this seems a bit unfair?"

As a heaven's chosen, if he encountered a Li Family member of the same realm, he instead could only hide.

And if the other party met with disaster and he saw it, he even had to help? It seemed far too unreasonable.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Li Muxiu's expression changed slightly beside him, and he immediately spoke to Li Hao in a low voice.

Li Tianyuan's heroic soul, however, was not angry. Instead, he calmly glanced at Li Hao and slowly said, "It is indeed not fair. But do you know why I would make geniuses qualified to enter the ancestral hall and inherit souls suffer such grievance and establish such a heart oath?"

Though the Li Family had an ancestral hall and many ancestral heroic souls, not every Li Family child was qualified to come here and inherit a soul. These ancestral heroic souls had very high standards.

Li Hao shook his head. "I don't."

"Continuation."

Li Tianyuan said slowly, "The first heart oath is to prevent the family's geniuses from becoming spoiled by favor, disregarding the lives of the ordinary mediocre people in the clan, or even, after rising on the family's resources, breaking away from the family and soaring however they please."

"Therefore, this kind of restriction may not be fair to geniuses, but at most it is only a small grievance. The benefit, however, is that it can continue the family, passing it down generation after generation!"

Li Hao pondered it. From the ancestor's perspective, it was indeed so.

"And the reason my Li Family has continued for a thousand years without perishing, and has not suffered the imperial family's suspicion, is because of the second heart oath!"

Li Tianyuan said calmly, "Back then, there were twelve divine generals who followed the Late Emperor on campaign. Now, in the Great Yu's Divine General Residences, there are only five. Of those, two were later risers over these thousand centuries. The descendants of those old comrades from the past have long since had their lines severed and vanished. The remaining ones have all hidden their names and buried their identities, their whereabouts unknown."

"These two heart oaths seem like restrictions, like chains, but in truth, both are for the continuation of the bloodline!"

"Otherwise, my Li Family's thousand years, our accumulated military achievements generation after generation, our connections, our number of commanders and generals, our prestige in the army—how would the imperial family dare so easily to delegate power? How would they not use the arts of emperors to weaken and maim us?"

Hearing his words, Li Hao froze.

From this old ancestor's perspective, he had indeed accomplished it.

The benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

A thousand-year divine general family, able to continue on. It was a light, drifting sentence, but the difficulty of it was something ordinary people could hardly imagine.

Perhaps it was precisely because the imperial family knew that the Li Family's top geniuses would inherit souls in the ancestral hall, and would have these two heart oaths, that the Li Family had its present glory.

"Now, you understand everything. Are you willing to establish the heart oath?" Li Tianyuan asked calmly, putting him on the spot.

Li Hao pondered uncertainly, still unable to make up his mind.

He kept feeling that these two heart oaths were like the Li Family's curse.

Though they had continued a thousand years of glory, how was it not also a firm imprisonment? Generations of fame and honor, this hall full of heroic souls, six of the Nine Sons of the previous generation dead in battle—how many in each generation had died of old age?

On the contrary, those ordinary disciples within the family mostly received protection and could enjoy their twilight years in peace.

Geniuses... in the Li Family, it seemed, were the unlucky ones instead.

Because they had to hold up the entire Li Family on their shoulders! In that case, he might as well seek a soul inheritance from the Martial Temple. At least then, he would end up relaxed and easy.

Li Tianyuan seemed to see Li Hao's hesitation. A trace of coldness appeared faintly in his eyes, then his figure gradually sank away and dispersed, leaving only his lingering voice circling the hall:

"This child's talent is rare, but his character is not firm. Let him consider it further."

The other spirit tablets trembled faintly, as if seeing off the founding ancestor. Then they all fell completely still as well.

Li Muxiu was stunned, then could not help looking helplessly at Li Hao. Yet before these ancestral tablets, he said nothing more. Instead, he rose and gave a deep bow, then led Li Hao out of the ancestral hall.

Seeing this, Li Hao inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and walked out with Old Master Li Muxiu.

Before leaving, his peripheral vision unconsciously glanced at the chessboard. This could not be blamed on him. Possessing the Chess Heart was just like what Sword Wudao had said back then: one who loved the sword would spot the sword at first glance among a thousand weapons.

That was only the stage of love, much less when it had entered the heart.

Among ten thousand things, Li Hao could notice the chessboard at a glance.

"Old man, black stone to the seventh row, thirteenth line, and you can win."

After saying this, Li Hao followed Second Master out of the ancestral hall.

Outside, it seemed to have started drizzling, fine rain falling in endless threads.

Li Muxiu sighed. This was the best moment for fishing. New water melted into the lake surface, and fish demons liked to come out for air. But at this moment, he was in no mood.

"You, don't let your thoughts get too tangled. Think it over yourself again," Li Muxiu said. He knew Li Hao's nature was playful and that he was unwilling to be bound, so he had no way to persuade him.

The child was too young, so it was inevitable that he would occasionally be willful.

Li Hao nodded.

The old man had also inherited a soul in the ancestral hall. It could be seen that while he seemed casual and wayward, in truth, his heart was also tied to the Li Family.

Inside the ancestral hall, the long-browed elder withdrew his gaze. He was not familiar with Li Hao, so he did not care what the other party thought. In any case, he would come again sooner or later.

His gaze fell back to the chessboard. His fingers pinched lightly together, and he was just about to place a stone when he suddenly gave a soft exclamation.