The Hefty Xiao Family

The Xiao family, a lineage with a thousand years of heritage and profound foundations, stood at the heart of the continent. The scenes surrounding it resembled a miniature version of countless worlds, together accentuating the Xiao family's bone-chilling pressure.

Gazing toward the Xiao family's territory from afar, the first thing that caught the eye was a towering mountain that pierced the clouds. This was no ordinary mountain range. Its body had been built from enormous, strange stones that radiated an ancient luster, every one of them carved with the marks of time and mysterious runes. Under the sunlight, those runes glimmered faintly yet unmistakably, as if recounting the Xiao family's ancient and glorious history. The mountain peak vanished into the heavens, and amid the swirling clouds, a grand palace could be seen flickering in and out of sight. That was the Xiao family's Ancestral Hall, where the spirits of successive generations of Xiao ancestors were worshiped. It was also the source of the family's power. The Ancestral Hall's architecture was solemn and stately. Lifelike divine beasts were carved atop its flying eaves and bracket systems, some baring their fangs and claws, others throwing back their heads in a roar, as if guarding the Xiao family's honor. The eyes of every divine beast seemed to contain boundless majesty, making people afraid to look directly at them.

Below the giant mountain stretched a vast plain, crisscrossed by fields and covered in ten thousand fertile acres. Every inch of land here was carefully tended by the Xiao family. In the rich soil grew all kinds of strange spiritual plants. These spiritual plants were not only one source of the Xiao family's wealth but also symbols of the family's strength. Some radiated five-colored light and contained powerful spiritual energy; one need only take a