A Ship on the Brink of Capsizing Welcomes the Dawn

...Outside the Moon Mantle Nightclub, a young man in a long gown and mandarin jacket, wearing gold-rimmed half-frame glasses, his face bearing an air of nobility, fixed his gaze on the street across.

A dense crowd stood there, mostly people from the Green Bamboo White Moon Hall.

The noble young man let out a scornful laugh, then walked into a nightclub called "Red Night" across from Moon Mantle, turning his head to ask:

"The Chen family really has fallen. To retrieve a single cursed object, they actually have Chen Jing come personally. Looks like that suit-wearing kid beside him is his backing."

Beside him, a stubble-faced man pulled a white sheet of paper from his bosom, densely covered in writing.

The noble young man took it from his hand, scanned the contents, furrowed his brow slightly, then let out a hearty laugh.

"The Chen family has transferred so many assets—looks like they don't plan to stay in Ping City. Tell the brothers to stay hidden and surround this place tightly...

Better not let that brat Chen Jing slip out!

I'll go back through the side door now to consult Father. We missed out on that fat piece of the Pei family, but this time, our Sun family can't afford to let it go..."

The stubble-faced man clasped his hands in a bow: "Rest assured, young master. I'll keep watch here. You can leave safely."

"Mm, I trust your work."

Chen Family Mansion.

In the reception hall, Chen Tianren brewed a pot of tea and poured it for the two people sitting on the sofa across from him.

"Is that thing by the Li River really that troublesome?" Chen Tianren's gaze fell on the suit-wearing man on the sofa.

His outer jacket was tattered, the white shirt underneath torn, with several bright red bloodstains showing through the clean fabric, but he seemed unharmed otherwise.

The suit-wearing man was Luo Wendi, who had just returned from outside the city. Yesterday, he had taken forty-eight men, equipped with eight heavy machine guns and forty standard rifled guns, to the Li River.

Only thirteen returned, all heavily injured.

Luo Wendi, who had maneuvered through the power struggles of Ping City's elite for so many years, never imagined he could be sold out so thoroughly...

The information from Green Bamboo Gang leader Ran Shaohua said that near the "Yin-Nurturing Ground" outside the city, the demonic beasts lurking were only about as strong as a Golden Skin realm martial artist, though possibly numerous.

But that didn't matter—the scale armor of first-realm beasts was far from enough to withstand heavy firearms like machine guns.

Yet when he led his men there in force, there wasn't a single first-realm beast. Instead, a massive black-scaled serpent appeared, about twenty meters long, its body impervious to blades and bullets.

Bullets struck the scales with a clanging metallic sound, then glanced off the sides, dealing no damage at all...

And the backup Ran Shaohua had arranged in advance was nowhere to be found. Even the small return path had been blown up...

Luo Wendi had now recounted the entire affair from start to finish to Chen Tianren, while Jiang Ling, sitting beside him sipping tea, remained silent.

"Ran Shaohua... let him be. After the old man passed, with my ability, I can't hold this vast mess together. But these people won't find it easy to bring us down either..."

As he spoke, Chen Tianren's gaze flickered past the unruffled Jiang Ling, hesitating as if to say something. The latter noticed, smiled faintly, took a sip of tea, and said:

"That kid Chen Jing picked up a martial talent compatible with the Primordial Stance at the Black Sheath Hall a couple of days ago. Do you, as his father, know about this?"

Luo Wendi's mind raced at the words. "Luo Bin?"

Chen Tianren frowned. These past few days, his priority had been handling the old man's funeral and then consolidating the Chen family's business scale. He'd had little oversight of that reckless brat Chen Jing...

"I did tell him to search for someone compatible with the Primordial Stance..." Chen Tianren said, brow furrowed in thought.

Now, the Chen family was in a time of turmoil. The once vast foundation, after Old Master Chen Shuo's death, had its hidden dangers gradually surfacing...

A committee member of the Southern Democratic Alliance was about to make a northern tour, Green Bamboo Gang's Ran Shaohua had turned traitor, demonic calamities were erupting everywhere—Ping City was on the verge of collapse.

Jiang Ling added another remark at the right moment: "This young man named Luo Bin has some merit.

I know an official from the former dynasty's Imperial Observatory. He once taught me a Qi-Gazing Technique.

When I used it on Luo Bin, I saw only a faint, clear golden aura, indicating his character and integrity. The Chen family can trust him..."

Chen Tianren felt a surge of inexplicable anger. "Jiang Lao, does this young man have anything to do with the tangled mess of a situation before us?"

Luo Wendi, however, caught a whiff of something unusual. He sat quietly on the sofa, docile as a large cat before the restrained and profound Jiang Ling.

It was hard to imagine this was a hardened man who had spent years walking the edge of a blade, shedding blood for the Chen family...

Jiang Ling knew the moment was right, so he said: "Yesterday, his understanding of the Primordial Stance was still shallow and unfocused. This morning, he broke through to the second layer and entered Golden Skin..."

"How is that possible?!"

"What?"

Chen Tianren shot up his eyes, his fingertips freezing on the teacup, pupils contracting slightly as he stared at Jiang Ling's clear old eyes, his breathing quickening.

Luo Wendi's eyes widened, and he turned to Jiang Ling, seeking a reliable answer...

The eldest young master, Chen Du, had brought this technique back from Jinmen. After three years of practice, he had only barely reached the third layer. As for the other Chen juniors, none could grasp the essentials, making no progress at all.

How could someone go from knowing nothing to entering the second layer overnight? That was essentially skipping the first layer of cultivation...

A smile suddenly crept onto Luo Wendi's lips: "So you're saying that the 'Eight Great Miraculous Arts' in the hands of that old gentleman in Tianhai can now be inherited by one of our men?"

Jiang Ling gave a noncommittal, slight nod.

Chen Tianren trembled all over. After searching for so many years without finding a single person compatible with this technique, it appeared now, right in the midst of this great crisis.

Heaven had not abandoned the Chen family!

Chen Tianren suppressed the excitement in his heart, gripping Jiang Ling's hands as he said:

"As long as we can keep this young man named Luo Bin here, the price my Chen family pays is nothing worth mentioning. But after obtaining that [Yellow Court Inner Landscape Origin-Returning Technique], people like us still find it difficult to cultivate... However, according to the description of 'active factors' in the [Commentary on Extraordinary Techniques] from the former Great Li dynasty, this essential factor for cultivating extraordinary techniques will be passed down through bloodlines to future generations..."

"In that case, wouldn't my Chen family thrive for another hundred years?"

Luo Wendi suddenly looked up, as if struck by a thought.

Jiang Ling was still sipping tea with a faint smile, chiming in at this point, "Not entirely dull-witted."

Chen Tianren cast off his gloom. He had once seen in ancient texts the might of that extraordinary technique, especially its strong suppression over evil beings like demons and specters. The overall ceiling the technique brought was extremely high... Generally, anyone who could master the [Yellow Court Inner Landscape Origin-Returning Technique] would grow into a super martial house of their own.

This alone was enough for the Chen family to carve out a foothold in this era overrun with monsters, and even to stand firm in Tianhai, the so-called "Demon Capital" where evil spirits roamed everywhere!

Now all that needed to be done was to firmly bind this "martial talent" to the Chen family's war vessel.

Chen Tianren asked impatiently, "Elder Jiang, where is he now?"

"Right now... he should be surrounded on three sides by the traitorous Green Bamboo White Moon Hall members, the Sun Family's private troops, and a single specter... It's not too late to go now. I can still sense Luo Bin's qi—it remains steady and balanced, meaning he and Chen Jing are not in mortal danger."

Chen Tianren shot to his feet, eyes wide: "What?!!"