The atmosphere in the secret chamber reached its peak with Qin De's mention of the "Flying Eagle Plan."
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng's eyes were bloodshot, their breathing rapid, as though they could already see the day the Qin Family's iron cavalry trampled through the Chu Dynasty's capital and slaughtered every last member of the Xiang imperial family.
Six hundred years of humiliation and lying low turned, at that moment, into a blazing fire of vengeance.
Yet Qin Chen, standing at the center of this fervor, remained as calm inside as ten-thousand-year-old ice, though he outwardly put on a show of boiling blood, looking as if he wished he could draw his sword and march into battle at once.
The Flying Eagle Plan... it certainly sounds overflowing with might. Unfortunately, Father, you're still taking the Xiang Family far too lightly, Qin Chen sighed inwardly.
Knowing the original story well, he understood better than anyone that the Xiang Family had not held its throne securely for six hundred years merely through mundane armies and a handful of Xiantian experts. Hidden within its unfathomable imperial forbidden grounds was an old monster who had lived for centuries-the Xiang Family's ancestor, Xiang Yang!
He was a genuine Nascent Soul stage cultivator! In a mortal realm like the Qianlong Continent, an old monster at the Nascent Soul stage was an existence akin to an attack from a higher dimension. Never mind the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence's current forces-even if they doubled, they would be no more than clay chickens and pottery dogs before Xiang Yang's flying sword.
Should I tell Father right now that Xiang Yang is still alive? The thought flashed through Qin Chen's mind, only for him to swiftly reject it.
Even by the most generous count, he was not yet ten. Although he had displayed astonishing Late Xiantian strength, if he rashly revealed top-secret information that even the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence's highest-level intelligence network could not uncover, he would have no way to explain his source.
If he spoke up, it would most likely be treated as a child's innocent chatter.
Forget it. A meal must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and a road walked one step at a time. Since I can't say it outright, I'll take practical action to raise the Qin Family's overall fighting strength. Once its top-level fighting strength rises, what would there be to fear from a mere Xiang Yang?
Having made up his mind, Qin Chen drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and interrupted Qin De, who was immersed in his grand vision of revenge.
"Father, since our Qin Family is going to raise the banner of rebellion, I also have a great gift to offer the family," Qin Chen said.
"Oh? A great gift?" Qin De paused briefly, emerging from his impassioned mood, and looked with some curiosity at this third son of his who kept creating miracles.
The strategist Xu Yuan, his eldest brother Qin Feng, and his second brother Qin Zheng all turned their gazes toward him as well.
Without wasting words, Qin Chen took a slightly worn-looking thread-bound booklet straight from inside his robes.
Naturally, this was no ancient tome. He had written it out from memory with a brush the previous night.
On the booklet's cover, five large characters in wild cursive boldly proclaimed: "Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art"!
"This is..." Qin De accepted the booklet, his brows creasing slightly.
Why did this name sound so similar to the "Ancestral Dragon Art," the supreme Internal Cultivation method passed down through generations of the Qin Family?
"You'll understand once you read it, Father." Qin Chen gave a mysterious smile.
Full of doubt, Qin De opened the booklet to its first page.
After only a few lines, his previously calm expression changed drastically. His eyes flew wide, as though he had witnessed some inconceivable miracle.
"This... how is this possible?!" Qin De cried involuntarily, his hands beginning to tremble beyond his control.
"Your Highness, what is it?" Seeing Qin De lose his composure so thoroughly, even Xu Yuan, the strategist who could remain unruffled if Mount Tai collapsed before him, could not help leaning closer.
When Xu Yuan's gaze fell upon the formulas and circulation diagrams on the page, the composure he took such pride in crumbled like earth and shattered like tiles.
He sucked in a cold breath and seized a tuft of beard on his chin, actually tearing out several hairs without even noticing.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! This cultivation art... it practically wrests creation itself from heaven and earth! Your Highness, the circulation routes in this art are seventy percent similar to our Qin Family's 'Ancestral Dragon Art,' but their intricacy, and the methods of purifying and compressing true qi, surpass the 'Ancestral Dragon Art' by far more than a hundredfold, a thousandfold!" Xu Yuan was so excited that his words tumbled over one another.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng exchanged looks. They had never seen their father and Uncle Xu lose their composure like this.
Struggling to contain the towering waves surging in his heart, Qin De seized Qin Chen's shoulders, his voice hoarse with excitement. "Chen! This... where exactly did you get this 'Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art'?!"
Qin Chen had prepared his story long ago. Without blushing or his heart skipping a beat, he slipped into award-winning actor mode.
He tilted his head up slightly, a hint of "recollection" and "reverence" showing in his eyes, and said slowly, "Father, the truth is, I've never known how to tell you about this. About a year ago, while I was sleeping at Cloudmist Manor, I had an incredibly vivid dream."
"In the dream, I came to a void of primordial chaos. There was an old man with a white beard, an immortal's bearing, and the air of a sage, riding a purple-gold divine dragon. He looked at me and sighed, saying that our Qin Family carried the primordial True Dragon bloodline, yet we were like a bright pearl cast into darkness. The 'Ancestral Dragon Art' we cultivated was incomplete-it was simply a wanton waste of heaven's gifts."
"Then that old immortal touched a finger to the space between my brows and passed this complete 'Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art' on to me. He also said that as long as I cultivated diligently, I would surely lead the Qin Family to restore its primordial glory someday. The only reason I could break through to Late Xiantian before the age of ten was the sheer power of this divine art!"
Qin Chen spun his tale with vivid color, even bringing out such mysterious terms as "purple-gold divine dragon" and "primordial bloodline."
Under ordinary circumstances, old foxes like Qin De and Xu Yuan would certainly have scoffed and dismissed it as nonsense.
But now, the ironclad evidence stood like a mountain!
Qin Chen's Late Xiantian cultivation before the age of ten was real, and so was the "Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art" in their hands, a hundred times more advanced than the "Ancestral Dragon Art"!
Apart from "an immortal visiting a dream" or "the ancestors manifesting their spirits," they could find no reasonable explanation whatsoever!
Thud!
Qin De's knees suddenly buckled, and he dropped straight to his knees before the map of the Qianlong Continent, tears streaming down his aged face.
"Our ancestors have blessed us! Heaven blesses our Qin Family!" Qin De threw back his head and cried out, his voice filled with the release and wild joy of six hundred years of repression. "The Xiang Family is so unjust that even heaven can no longer bear to watch! It sent an immortal into a dream to bestow a supreme divine art! With this 'Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art,' why should our Qin Family fear being unable to sweep all beneath heaven!"
Xu Yuan, Qin Feng, and Qin Zheng also knelt in excitement, and the secret chamber immediately filled with the repeated sounds of foreheads striking the floor.
Standing to one side, Qin Chen rubbed his nose and muttered inwardly, This reaction... did I lay it on a little too thick?
After calming his excitement, Qin De impatiently pulled his two sons and Xu Yuan down to sit cross-legged in the secret chamber, then and there, and began trying to circulate true qi along the routes prescribed in the "Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art."
Before you continue