Inside the ancestral hall.
Listening to the footsteps of the few people outside gradually fade into the distance.
Hu Zhenkui stood with his hands behind his back.
He turned and looked at the many memorial tablets in the center of the ancestral hall, as well as the six-meter-tall statue of their founding ancestor.
He seemed lost in thought.
"I didn't expect two people to emerge with Innate Divine Strength this time. Both can muster a thousand catties of force.
"It's a pity that although Hu Long has excellent aptitude and a good temperament, he's already a little old. It'll be much harder for him to go far now that he's starting to cultivate Secret Martial Arts. If only his talent had awakened earlier."
Hu Li shook her head regretfully.
There was a golden age for cultivating Secret Martial Arts.
Generally speaking, the best time was between the ages of fifteen and eighteen.
By then, the bones had fully developed, while the body's functions were still improving.
"That's not necessarily true. They say great things come to those who wait. There have been cases like this throughout history. No one can predict the future."
Hu Zhenkui smiled.
"In any case, with talent like that, as long as he's willing to devote himself to training, reaching Skin Grinding or even Bone Tempering isn't impossible."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted to a member of the clan standing nearby.
With a flick of his hand, a single strand of hair appeared silently between his fingers.
"But before that, there are some things we must guard against. Take this hair for a blood test and comparison. If the results show he isn't one of our clan..."
Hu Zhenkui's tone was indifferent, but a cold glint flashed through his eyes.
"Kill him on the spot. No need to report back."
"Understood!"
The clansman bowed in reply, his expression unchanging. He took the strand of hair and quickly withdrew, disappearing outside the corridor in an instant.
"Clan Head, could it be that you suspect..."
At Hu Li's words, his expression shifted slightly.
"It's nothing. Better to be cautious, that's all."
Hu Zhenkui waved a hand and said no more.
The changes in Hu Long were certainly abrupt, but in the Hu Family's six-hundred-year history, there had been precedents.
Some people's talents awakened late, only beginning to show their brilliance after the age of twenty.
Three hundred years ago, the clan had produced an ancestor just like that.
He hadn't revealed his aptitude until he was twenty-five. Afterward, he advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching Organ Strengthening and nearly breaking through to Blood Exchange.
If he hadn't been surrounded and killed by his enemies, he might have achieved a Blood Exchange body and led the Hu Family to even greater heights.
It was because of that ancestor's precedent that the clan rules had later been revised, raising the age limit for judging aptitude from twenty to twenty-five.
Secret Martial Arts were countless and varied, and some included secret techniques capable of altering one's appearance and disguising one's identity.
In the past, it really hadn't been easy to tell truth from falsehood.
But times had changed.
With DNA comparison, confirming someone's bloodline was no longer difficult.
No matter how strange or extraordinary one's Secret Martial Arts were, unless they had reached the Blood Exchange Realm, the very foundation of their flesh and blood was difficult to alter.
And if the other party really was a Blood Exchange expert...then whether they were genuine or not hardly mattered.
Someone of that stature could destroy the Hu Family with a snap of their fingers. Why go to all that trouble to disguise themselves as an ordinary clansman?
As for the even more elusive notion of "soul possession"...
Hu Zhenkui had never even considered it.
Not to mention in this present-day era of spiritual decline, an age of the end of the Dharma.
Even six hundred years ago, when the Old Arts had not yet completely fallen into decline and legends abounded, there had never been any record of someone using a technique to reverse life and death and seize another's body.
He gathered his thoughts and looked back at Hu Li.
"You've been stuck at Stone Skin for quite some time, haven't you? The Southern Province Alliance is in half a year. Are you confident you can break through?"
"Well..."
A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Hu Li's mouth.
"I'm only missing one last opportunity, but this hurdle...is truly difficult."
The further one advanced along the path of Secret Martial Arts, the harder it became to make progress.
With her aptitude, she had been able to advance rapidly in the Body Casting Realm. But once she entered the Skin Refining Realm, it was like rowing upstream. Every step forward took a long time and countless hours of hard work.
To have reached this point already made her one of the outstanding figures among her peers. She didn't know how many people were still stuck in the middle and late stages of the Body Casting Realm, unable to make the slightest progress.
Everyone said that hard work was admirable, but only those who had truly embarked on this path understood: before the gulf in natural aptitude, effort alone often seemed so utterly powerless.
"Very well."
Hu Zhenkui considered for a moment, then took a small jade box from his robes and handed it to her.
"Take this. It may help you."
Hu Li accepted it with both hands and opened it. Inside lay a fruit, its skin patterned with faint, natural markings that seemed to flow across its surface. It looked quite extraordinary.
Her heart jolted, and she blurted out, "Is this...an Earth Pattern Fruit?"
"Exactly. This fruit is of great benefit to cultivation in the Skin Refining Realm. Take it and use it carefully."
"Thank you for this generous gift, Clan Head! With this treasure to help me, I'll definitely break through before the alliance!"
Joy showed on Hu Li's face as she carefully put the fruit away. Earth Pattern Fruits were not only costly but also incredibly rare, often impossible to buy at any price.
She suddenly remembered something and asked,
"By the way, Clan Head, will the clan heir be attending the alliance this time?"
At the mention of him, a genuine smile finally appeared on Hu Zhenkui's face. He was clearly very satisfied with him.
"Lin is still in seclusion. There's no need to rush this.
"If he successfully breaks through this time, the Hu Family may be able to raise its standing among the clans even further."
Inside the bedroom, the lights were bright.
After briefly dealing with Hu Chengwen, He Yanling, and his older sister Hu Zhao,
Hu Long returned to his bedroom and sat alone at the table.
He thought back over everything that had happened that day.
If his guess was right, his blatant display earlier would certainly have drawn the attention of Hu Zhenkui and the other members of the main family.
But it probably wouldn't cause him any trouble.
A clan depended on unity. If displaying his talent led them to target him, the clan could never have lasted until now; it would have died out long ago.
More likely, they would suspect his identity.
But he wasn't too worried about that. This body carried the Hu Family bloodline.
Unless they could extract his soul, they wouldn't be able to find anything wrong.
But the chances of that were extremely low—almost nonexistent.
If they really had that ability, they wouldn't be unable to deal with the curse on him.
He gathered his thoughts and turned on the computer.
His fingers tapped rapidly across the keyboard.
Soon, a special blue page appeared on the screen.
There were no unnecessary graphics on it.
It featured only a white cloud icon.
Two characters appeared on it: Pivot Court.
It was a special website.
To gain access, a current member had to generate a one-time invitation link or code before a person could register.
Without that code, one couldn't even find the login page.
Its powerful concealment and limited authorization formed its first line of defense.
It could keep out 99.9 percent of ordinary people and hackers.
But that didn't make it absolutely secure.
Against a well-funded, highly skilled, and exceptionally patient attacker, any system could theoretically be infiltrated.
Given enough time, Hu Long could crack it too.
But that would inevitably draw attention. Only if he raised Network Offense and Defense to perfection might he be able to do it without a trace.
If he got the chance in the future, Hu Long wouldn't mind trying.
Of course, that was secondary.
What Hu Long cared about was the content displayed before him.
The site was divided into several sections.
But with his current access, the only section he could see was the database. He didn't have permission to access the others.