A Mere Trial—Why Would I Need Followers?

The conversation on Qin Hai's side was not deliberately kept quiet, so the surrounding clansmen heard it as well.

Qin Lang, who had been sitting cross-legged in meditation, calm and unruffled, opened his eyes too. A trace of disdain flashed through his blood-red gaze.

Shake his position?

Was that even possible?

Qin Lang's illustrious reputation had not been built on fanfare and flattery.

It had been forged from the age of three, by crushing his peers all the way!

Qin Jiuge was no stranger to him. How capable could he be? Did Qin Lang not know that already?

Perhaps to others, Qin Jiuge was already exceptionally outstanding.

With a Mystic Fire Body and Spirit Sea Realm cultivation, he could be considered remarkable among the younger generation of the entire Sky Profound Continent.

But who was he?

Qin Lang, possessor of the Nine Dragon Divine Body and Dharma Form Cultivation!

The unquestionable number one among the Qin Family's younger generation!

This time, he would use his strength to prove to everyone that he, Qin Lang, was the undisputed First Sequence and the only worthy candidate for the Divine Son Position!

Just as Qin Lang was gritting his teeth and preparing to make Qin Jiuge pay, Qin Yu, who had been seated upright in his chair, moved...

Without any visible movement, his body drifted like a gust of wind to the center of the training ground.

"Clansmen!"

Qin Yu spoke. His voice was clearly not loud, yet it carried an imposing force that struck straight at the soul.

The entire scene immediately fell silent. Countless eyes fixed on Qin Yu, waiting for him to continue.

"Today is the Divine Son Competition for our Qin Family's younger generation!"

"As usual, the rules of the Divine Son Competition are to enter the Secret Realm and slay Fierce Beasts! Different Fierce Beasts yield different points, and whoever has the most points in the end wins!"

"Within the Secret Realm, you Five Great Sequences may lead your own followers inside to slay Fierce Beasts together! The Fierce Beasts killed by your followers will count toward the Five Great Sequences' points!"

As Qin Yu's words fell, all the Qin Family clansmen present wore expressions as though this were only natural.

This had always been the Qin Family's tradition.

Put simply, the Divine Son Competition was the selection of the Qin Family's next Patriarch.

And to be a good Patriarch, one naturally needed a completely loyal and trustworthy inner circle.

Thus, the Five Great Sequences who wished to contend for the Divine Son Position all had their own followers.

These followers were generally talented young people from the various branches, but not talented enough to become one of the Five Great Sequences themselves.

As long as the Sequence they followed successfully obtained the Divine Son Position, their own status would rise with the tide.

Therefore, in every Divine Son Competition, these followers gave it their all, solely to help the Sequence they followed claim the Divine Son Position.

The moment Qin Yu finished speaking, several young people rose from the camps of the various branches.

Most of these young people were around the middle stage of the Spirit Sea Realm.

They rose and flew behind their respective Sequences, surrounding and protecting them at the center.

Then a wave of startled cries rang out.

"Why is there no one behind Young Master Qin Jiuge?"

"Yeah, why doesn't he have any followers?"

"That shouldn't be possible... Qin Hai is so fiercely protective of his own that he would have tied up a few followers and dragged them here for Qin Jiuge if he had to..."

"The Secret Realm is filled with peril. Without followers... is Qin Jiuge planning to give up on the Divine Son Competition?"

Listening to the discussions around her, Qin Manyu felt a somewhat smug sense of delight at his misfortune.

Although Qin Jiuge had not dug out her Supreme Bone in this life, the bone-deep agony of her previous life still left her with a lingering grudge against him.

Now that she saw Qin Jiuge did not even have a single follower, she could not help feeling pleased at his misfortune.

He must have been too arrogant and overbearing in ordinary times, so no one was willing to follow him, right?

But in the Qin Family's Divine Son Competition, the role played by followers was often even greater than that of the Sequences themselves!

After all, two fists could not defeat four hands. Without followers to assist them, the countless Fierce Beasts in the Secret Realm would exhaust the Sequences to death from sheer fatigue alone!

Moreover, while these followers were not as strong as the Sequences, they were still among the younger generation's foremost talents. They could certainly kill some relatively weaker Fierce Beasts.

That was by no means a small number of points.

Thus, even Qin Lang, who had always held himself in high regard, had carefully selected seven followers as his core group.

"Qin Jiuge... why don't you have any followers?"

Patriarch Qin Yu also noticed the anomaly on Qin Jiuge's side and could not help asking.

Facing Qin Yu's question, Qin Jiuge clasped his hands behind his back, puffed out his chest, raised his chin, and pointed his right thumb at himself.

"For a mere Secret Realm Trial, I alone am enough. Why would I need followers?"

The instant those words came out, the surrounding clansmen and elders were shaken.

"This kid is too ignorant of the vastness of heaven and earth... In all these years, the Qin Family has never had anyone enter the Divine Son Competition without followers!"

"Exactly... Has he gone mad? Or is he overestimating his own strength?"

"That's not right... Qin Jiuge has always been mature and steady, while that old fellow Qin Hai is even more shrewd and calculating. How could he possibly let Qin Jiuge fool around like this?"

"Could Qin Jiuge have hidden his strength, which is why he is so confident?"

Amid the discussions, Qin Lang raised his head. His blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Qin Jiuge, and only after a long while did he let out a cold snort.

Nothing but a jumping clown, putting on a spectacle to win the crowd's applause!

Qin Lang believed that among the Qin Family's younger generation, his strength stood head and shoulders above all others.

No one was his match.

Yet even with his strength, he still did not dare act so arrogantly as to say he needed no followers.

Looking at it this way... Qin Jiuge had most likely realized that he was no match for Qin Lang and merely wanted to use this method to draw the Patriarch's attention.

But would things really go as he wished?

As the First Sequence of the Qin Family for many years without change, Qin Lang believed that his vision and knowledge far surpassed those of others.

He understood the difficulty and danger of the Divine Son Competition very clearly.

Relying on one person's strength alone, it was simply impossible to win in the end!

"Very well... since you have made up your mind, I will not force the matter... Take care of yourself!"

Qin Yu had not expected Qin Jiuge to be so overconfident. He said nothing further.

With a flip of his hands, an exquisite Precious Pagoda appeared in his palm.

This Precious Pagoda was the mechanism for opening the Secret Realm.

By entering the pagoda's gate, one could travel directly into the Secret Realm.

Qin Yu held the Precious Pagoda in his right hand and formed a seal with his left, murmuring an incantation.

As Qin Yu chanted, the Precious Pagoda grew larger and larger, hovering above his right hand.

"Go!"

With a thunderous shout from Qin Yu, the Precious Pagoda, now several zhang tall, shot into the air and crashed heavily onto the ground.

A Golden Gate slowly opened.

The Qin Family Divine Son Trial had begun!