"Understood... Ancestor..."
Zhang Yunshan nodded, then said, "Everything that happened in the Back Mountain today is to be classified as a family secret. Every elder and steward present must swear an oath upon their Inner Demon not to reveal a single word."
He paused and looked toward the trusted disciples keeping watch around the perimeter. "As for the strange phenomenon you just witnessed... tell outsiders that the Ancestor did it to cleanse the marrow of the younger generation of the family..."
The elders nodded one after another.
This would explain the source of the Spirit Rain while further lulling their enemies into complacency—a perfect case of killing two birds with one stone.
"Go take care of it."
Zhang Yunshan waved his hand. "Also, Chen'er needs time to stabilize his cultivation. Until he comes out of seclusion, everything stays as it is. If we need to show weakness, we show weakness. If we need to play the fool, we play the fool."
"Yes!"
As everyone dispersed, the "truth" behind the Spirit Rain quickly spread through the Zhang Family.
The family members who had been thrilled to receive such a boon heard that the Ancestor had traded his life for their good fortune.
One by one, their eyes reddened with grief and indignation.
The entire Zhang Family Courtyard did not grow restless with its newfound strength. Instead, it was shrouded in a tragic atmosphere of Victory of the Grieving Army.
And that was exactly the atmosphere Zhang Chen wanted.
Although the Zhang Family had sealed off the news, a phenomenon that covered a hundred miles of heaven and earth could not be kept secret forever.
In less than half a day, all sorts of rumors spread like wings across the East Mountain Islands.
Black Reef Island, Wang Family.
"You're saying golden rain fell from the sky over the Zhang Family?"
Wang Lie sat in his tiger-skin armchair, his brow furrowed.
The Iron Gallbladders in his hands clicked as he squeezed them.
The scout kneeling before him looked grave. "I report to the Family Head: it's absolutely true."
"I saw it with my own eyes. It was golden Spiritual Energy falling as rain, and many of the Zhang Family's low-level disciples broke through because of it."
"Family Head, there's definitely something strange about this."
Wang Lie's cousin frowned. "A phenomenon like that would be no less impressive than Nascent Soul Formation. Could Zhang Tianzheng really have regained his youth?"
"Absolutely impossible!"
Wang Lie flatly rejected the idea. "Nascent Soul Formation brings a Thunder Tribulation. Did any of you hear thunder? That Old Ghost must have used some Ancient Forbidden Art that burns through his potential."
He rose and paced back and forth across the hall. Finally, he let out a cold laugh. "Hmph. I think that Old Ghost knows he doesn't have much time left, so he's using this trick to forcefully raise the younger generation's strength. That way, they won't lose too miserably in the Arena Competition."
"This dying man's last flicker of life might fool outsiders, but fool Wang Lie? Dream on!"
"Pass down my orders. There's no need to pay it any mind."
"The more they show off now, the sooner that Old Ghost will die. We just need to keep to our plans and prepare for the Arena Competition."
"Yes!"
It wasn't only the Wang Family. The smaller families that depended on them, along with several Rogue Cultivator factions that remained neutral,
had all reached much the same conclusion.
After all, Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment was a myth found only in ancient texts and legends.
It was simply too far beyond the reach of these impoverished East Mountain Islands.
So far beyond it that no one even considered the possibility.
In their eyes, the Zhang Family was nothing more than a cornered beast struggling before its death.
Everything they did was an attempt to keep their soon-to-be-extinguished bloodline alive.
The mockery, speculation, and pity of the outside world did not affect Zhang Chen at all in the Secret Chamber in the Back Mountain of Dao Seeking Peak.
At that moment, he sat cross-legged on a massive Cold Jade Bed, his eyes tightly shut.
His mind was completely immersed in the world within his body.
Though he had been prepared for it, when he truly looked inside himself,
he was still stunned by the sheer scale of the change.
When ordinary cultivators achieved Foundation Establishment, the Spiritual Energy in their dantian liquefied into a lake, and their Dao Foundation was usually a crude spiritual platform.
Those with somewhat better aptitude might have a few tiers to their platform.
Its color would also be purer.
But in Zhang Chen's dantian, a nine-tiered purple-gold altar now hovered.
The altar was ancient and weathered, carved with countless Dao patterns.
Each one seemed to contain the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.
Beneath the altar, the Spiritual Lake had become a vast ocean. Its surface was calm and still, yet its depths seemed bottomless.
"So this is Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment..."
Zhang Chen tried to move a thread of Spiritual Power.
Boom!
At the mere thought, the vast ocean surged into towering waves.
Power so immense it left him breathless flooded his meridians in an instant.
It felt as though someone accustomed to steering a little wooden boat
had suddenly taken the helm of a Giant Warship.
"My total Spiritual Power is at least ten times that of a cultivator at the same stage!"
Zhang Chen's heart shook.
What did ten times mean?
It meant he would hardly ever need to worry about running out of Spiritual Power in battle.
It meant he could unleash high-cost, high-impact spells without holding back.
Even more terrifying was how quickly it recovered.
He tried circulating his power through one full cycle. The Spiritual Energy in the surrounding space seemed drawn by a Black Hole, pouring into his body in a wild torrent.
This swallowing-whole speed was more than a hundred times faster than when he had been at the Qi Refining Stage.
"With pills to help me, I'll practically be a tireless fighting machine."
Before you continue