[Signed for a print edition, expected to release at the end of the year~]
(The readers here are half handsome guys, half darling girls. There are lots of girls shipping couples in the early paragraph comments, so guys who mind that, please turn those comments off while reading. Content warnings are in the author's note for chapter three [recommended reading]. Readers generally say it gets better and better! [Spinning 365° and bowing] Girls, come right on in~)
At the Cloud-Embracing Summit, ten thousand cultivators bowed their heads.
Two figures stood shoulder to shoulder upon the high platform. One wore black robes beneath ink-dark hair, his double pupils extinguishing all arts; the other's golden robes billowed, his radiant sun's might holding the eight wilds in check.
Below, a little child asked in a piping voice, "Grandpa, who's that person standing beside the Immortal Emperor up there? Why doesn't he have to kneel?"
The white-haired ancestor hurriedly covered the child's mouth. Reverence and remembrance filled his eyes as he lowered his voice and said tremulously:
"There are those born to serve as subjects, yet who ultimately stand beside their sovereign at the Cloud-Embracing Summit..."
"That is-the sovereign's other half, the emperor's untouchable reverse scale."
Time flowed on, and he seemed to see once more that eldest concubine-born young master from so many years ago, who had entered the game alone and had no choice but to tread with utmost caution before his younger brother, the reincarnated Immortal Emperor. Truly, the world remained, yet its people had changed. (The above is not the final ending.)
Among the three thousand great worlds, on the Heavenly Origin Continent, in the Eastern Region, lay the ancestral grounds of the ancient aristocratic Yun Clan.
Today was the Yun Clan's once-a-decade Spiritual Assessment Ceremony. It was both a ceremony to test the younger generation's natural gifts and an important opportunity for collateral descendants and concubine-born children to leap like carp through the dragon gate and win a greater share of the Lineage's resources.
What should have been a day of refined grace instead carried an inexplicably murderous chill.
A falling needle could have been heard within the enormous grounds. Dozens of floating spirit mirrors reflected every trace of aura within, leaving nothing concealed. Every gaze, openly or covertly, flicked toward the high platform from time to time.
Upon that platform, a youth sat alone in the seat of honor. He was none other than the Yun Clan's sixteen-year-old young Lineage head-Yun Huang!
What about the current Lineage head, you ask? He was not even qualified to attend. Everyone within and beyond the Yun Clan already knew that all authority rested in the young lord's hands.
Even seated in silence, the resplendent pressure emanating from his "origin radiance divine body" was like an invisible great sun, making the surrounding space tremble faintly. No one dared look its brilliance in the face.
Yun Huang's pale golden eyes swept over those below, carrying an innate majesty and aloofness.
He was not the only one. Everyone present was waiting for that name.
The Yun Clan's eldest concubine-born son, Yun Qing.
Today was the day he returned to the clan.
Among the Yun Clan's younger generation, the name Yun Qing was shrouded in mystery and controversy. It was said that world-shaking talent had been discovered in him at birth, whereupon the second elder had taken him into the secret realm known as the "Primordial Chaos Ancient Cave" for arduous cultivation. He had not shown his face in over a decade.
Yet the Lineage's resources had favored him year after year, and he had even long since been privately chosen as the foremost of this generation's "Twelve Young Masters." Even ordinary elders had to address him respectfully as "eldest young master."
On what grounds?
How could a concubine's son stand above every child of the principal wives? Just because of that "talent" the elders guarded so closely? The Yun Clan ranked first among the four ancient aristocratic clans-how many prodigies and outstanding talents did it possess?
"Hmph. After more than a decade of smoke and mirrors, today we'll lead him out for a turn and see whether he's a mule or a horse," a principal wife's son bearing the title of "Flame Mound True Disciple" sneered under his breath.
"If he can hold the position of 'eldest young master,' he's probably not all empty reputation. But the young lord despises arrogant concubine-born sons most of all. We're in for a good show today."
Indeed, the young lord who wielded the Lineage's supreme authority had one serious affliction:
"A hatred of concubine-born sons."
It was so severe that he had even established a clan rule: "A concubine-born son must kneel to answer when appearing before the lord."
Those who violated it met miserable ends.
A concubine-born son named Yun Li, confident in his own talent, had merely bowed instead of kneeling while reporting on a Lineage assignment. Yun Huang had driven him straight to his knees with a blast of radiant sun divine power. Not only had his dantian been injured, he had become the clan's laughingstock.
Yun Qing, you're finally going to show yourself! At the back of the crowd, Yun Li unconsciously touched his still-aching dantian, his eyes filled with fear and... anticipation.
Jealousy, curiosity, doubt-whispers of every kind flowed through the crowd.
On the high platform, the first elder, Yun Che, wore an expression as still as an ancient well. The other elders all had smiles at the corners of their mouths, looking utterly unperturbed. They exchanged glances, waiting for the show to begin.
"These little youngsters in the Lineage ought to learn that beyond every great person stands another, and beyond every sky lies a higher heaven."
The elders naturally knew this eldest young master's true capabilities.
Yun Huang's fingertips tapped unconsciously against the black jade armrest. Deep within his pale golden eyes lay the faintest trace of curiosity. Clearly, he was not entirely indifferent to this concubine-born elder brother upon whom the Lineage had placed such high hopes, and who was even connected to the "Soul-Tracing Secret Rite."
"Next, Yun Qing!"
As the officiating elder called out the name, unable to hide his excitement, the entire square instantly fell silent.
Every gaze shot toward the entrance at once!
Light and shadow stirred faintly,
And beneath the eyes of the assembled multitude, a figure slowly emerged.
He was around nineteen, his bearing straight and tall as a green pine on a cliff. His black cultivation attire was exceedingly simple, yet could not conceal his mountain-steady composure. A wooden hairpin bound his ink-dark hair, and his handsome features held a gentle, restrained grace. Most striking of all were his eyes: calm and deep, as though they held the sediment of years far beyond his age.
He walked toward them step by step, his pace unhurried, as though all those complicated gazes around him were merely a cool breeze brushing his face.
This was the Yun Clan's eldest concubine-born son, Yun Qing, who had been away from home for over a decade and had just returned from arduous cultivation in the Primordial Chaos Ancient Cave!
Half a step behind him followed an elder with lightly frosted hair and beard, his air carefree and unrestrained. This was the Yun Clan's second elder, Yun Yuan, who had personally instructed Yun Qing for over a decade.
After accompanying Yun Qing to the foot of the platform, the second elder turned toward it on his own and gracefully took his seat among the elders. He briefly met the gaze of the first elder, Yun Che, beside him, their understanding unspoken.
Yun Qing stood quietly in the grounds and raised his head, calmly meeting the golden eyes upon the high platform, their weight like deep abysses and towering mountains.
From the high platform, Yun Huang likewise scrutinized this elder brother whose reputation preceded him.
Today marked their first meeting.
No one present was unaware of this young lord's cruelty. Even Yun Qing, far away in the Primordial Chaos Ancient Cave, had heard of it.
Under the suppression of his absolute strength, the Yun Clan's concubine-born children increasingly felt as though they were treading on thin ice.
The atmosphere in the grounds grew stagnant.
According to the ironclad rule that "concubine-born sons must kneel before the lord," Yun Qing ought to have knelt in greeting at this moment.
Yun Li's expression held a sinister edge, and he could barely restrain the cold smile tugging at his lips. He waited to see how Yun Qing would handle this first ordeal. Yun Qing... it's time you tasted this too! We're all concubine-born, so why were you taken into a secret realm by the second elder to be nurtured from birth, while the rest of us had to suffer this humiliation in the clan and struggle through our days? If we have to kneel, we'll all kneel together!
Yun Huang's iron fist had long since struck fear into all the clan's younger descendants, and many were speculating just as Yun Li was.
Yet Yun Qing's bearing defied everyone's expectations.
He stood tall and straight as a mountain, without the slightest hesitation or timidity. With impeccable poise, he simply cupped his fist and bowed. His movements were fluid and natural, deferential without being servile. This was not submission, merely the respect and courtesy due to the strong.
"Yun Qing greets the young lord."
His voice was clear and even, like deep spring water striking stone. Not a ripple of emotion could be heard, yet it reached every ear distinctly.
He did not kneel!
"Hiss..."
"He actually dares not kneel?!"
"How arrogant!"
A wave of stifled cries and sharp intakes of breath immediately rose below the platform. Unbelievable, wild delight burst into Yun Li's eyes, as though he could already see Yun Qing being called to account beneath the young lord's wrath!
Yun Huang's fingers abruptly stopped tapping the armrest. He had imagined Yun Qing might endure the humiliation and kneel, or perhaps prove wild and defiant. He had not expected such calm acceptance, neither servile nor overbearing.
Such composure far surpassed his years.
As expected...
Yun Huang intended to see just how much substance there was to this concubine-born elder brother whom the Heavenly Dao had gone to such painstaking lengths to select.
Overwhelming pressure descended!
Before you continue