"I've done it."
Within a dim palace, an old man clad in a lead-colored Robe of Law coughed incessantly. He fumbled out a spark and lit a candle, illuminating the surroundings.
The hall brightened.
Without turning, he knew someone had arrived, and said indifferently:
"Changyan, what brings you to my Mysteries of the Bedchamber Palace?"
"Merely to visit you."
The visitor slowly emerged from behind the doorway. He looked middle-aged, with yin qi on his face and a vicious glint flashing in his dark-red pupils. This was none other than True Person Lingjing, An Changyan, who possessed four Ding Fire divine abilities!
"Father, you completed your final divine ability with Heavenly Inquiry's Summon the Soul Home. Naturally, I've come to congratulate you."
"Congratulate me?"
The old man finally turned. Unyielding yin qi had congealed between his brows, making him resemble a snake lurking in darkness. His divine abilities transformed lead and mercury and circulated water and fire, with a glimmer of distant, mysterious spiritual light among them.
"You probably wish I'd die sooner."
This man was the ancestor of the Dust-Sweeping An clan: True Person Fan Kui, An Kuiju.
According to the sect's generational sequence, "suffering, karma, dust, vexation; origin, yin, candle, darkness," True Person Fan Kui was not particularly senior. Both the Yin and Wei clans still had ancestors of the Karma generation alive.
"I wouldn't dare."
Lingjing's gaze flickered, amusement in his voice:
"Your acknowledging me as your son and bringing me into the sect was already a blessing from heaven. I feel nothing but gratitude."
"Gratitude."
The old man turned around, his gaze dark, and said each word distinctly:
"Back then, I happened to sire you while cultivating Mysteries of the Bedchamber. Had your elder brothers not all perished, I would never have chosen you to carry