1: The strongest family patriarch in all time!

Consciousness, like a drowning person surfacing from viscous darkness, plunged sharply into a cold and rigid reality.

Pain!

It was like countless red-hot steel needles savagely piercing every inch of bone and every dried-up Meridian.

Every faint heartbeat dragged along a teeth-grinding groan emanating from the depths of his decaying shell.

His heavy eyelids felt as if they had been cast in molten iron, and after struggling for a long time, he managed to pry them open into a narrow slit.

The light was dim, carrying a strong, stale, musty odor of old dust mixed with medicinal herbs that rushed straight into his nasal cavity.

In his blurred vision, there was only the cold rock ceiling and the faint, struggling yellow light of an oil lamp in the corner.

Beneath him was a cold stone platform, hard as iron, whose chill was greedily sucking the already scarce warmth from this body through his thin clothing.

Who am I?

Chaotic memory fragments, like a disturbed swarm of bees, buzzed, collided, and forcibly squeezed into the depths of this unfamiliar body.

A torrent of information that did not belong to him violently washed over his consciousness—Jiuzhou Continent, Qingzhou, the Lin Family of Qingfeng County... and that long, suffocating, unforgettable period of ascetic meditation.

Lin Dao. A name surfaced from the mire of memory.

And... another identity.

The Lin Family Ancestor.

An old monster who had been in Seclusion for a century, already eroded by time and on the verge of death.

A heavy sense of despair seized him instantly.

A century of ascetic meditation, exhausting his Lifespan, just to charge at the illusory threshold of the Tongtian Realm, but what was the result?

Spirit Sea Realm Great Perfection was the limit this body could reach.

Decay, decline, the lamp running out of oil... this body was like a piece of pottery covered in cracks, liable to shatter completely at any moment, every inch exuding the Qi of death.

The beating of the heart in his chest was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind; every pulse was heavy and sluggish, weighted by powerlessness, as if it would stop forever in the next moment.

"Heh... how... ironic..."

A hoarse, dry voice, like sandpaper grating against dry bones, squeezed out from deep in his throat, sounding strange and horrifying even to himself.

This voice belonged to an old man completely abandoned by time.

Just as this desperate thought arose, threatening to drag him into a deeper abyss of darkness—

[Ding!]

A cold, emotionless metallic synthesized sound, yet clear as if struck directly in the depths of his Soul, suddenly tore through the suffocating silence of the Stone Chamber!

[Detecting Host Soul compatibility at 100%. The 'Strongest Family Old Ancestor System of All Ages' is officially activated. Binding successful!]

[Newbie Reward issued: First Cultivation Return initiated!]

Boom—!!!

It was as if a dormant volcano, silent for hundreds of millions of years, erupted violently within his body!

An indescribable, vast, and terrifying energy, powerful enough to burst stars, suddenly exploded without warning from the deepest part of his body, from the Origin of his Soul!

"Ugh ah—!" Lin Dao let out a low, inhuman roar, his body instantly taut like a bow!

That was not a power a body of flesh and blood could contain.

It was savage, violent, and carried a supreme will to tear apart and reshape everything.

His previously dried and cracked Meridians were as fragile as rotten wood and withered branches before this irresistible torrent of energy, instantly being stretched open, widened, and crushed, only to be brutally repaired and reconstructed by a purer, stronger nascent power the next moment!

His bones let out dense popping sounds like frying beans; every single bone was being repeatedly forged and tempered by an invisible giant hammer.

His internal organs violently squirmed and shifted under the scouring of the energy, as if an invisible large hand was frantically stirring and reshaping them inside his body!

Even more astonishing changes occurred on the surface of his body.

The loose, dull skin covering his arms, which resembled withered tree bark, was visibly becoming plump, smooth, and firm!

Wrinkles as deep as ravines, recording long years, quickly faded and vanished as if smoothed over by an invisible iron.

His head of withered, lifeless, pale long hair, starting from the roots, miraculously spread a rich, inky blackness. This black rapidly spread, reaching his waist in the blink of an eye, flowing down like the finest black silk, gleaming with the vitality of youth!

An indescribable, long-lost feeling of lightness, like a warm tide, quickly submerged every inch of his newborn flesh, bones, and Soul! Power!

An endless sense of power surged and roared through his limbs and body!

The invisible barrier that lay between the Spirit Sea Realm and the Tongtian Realm—a chasm he could not shake even slightly after exhausting a century of his Lifespan—was now as brittle as wet paper before the mighty power returned by the System, easily being pierced and shredded!

Buzz—

The Stone Chamber space abruptly trembled!

This was not a physical shake, but the low hum of higher-level rules.

An indescribable aura of majesty, transcending the mortal world, uncontrollably spread out from Lin Dao's rapidly transforming body.

This aura was ancient and boundless, carrying a hint of nascent sharpness, instantly penetrating the thick stone walls of his Seclusion chamber and silently spreading out, enveloping the entire Lin Family Manor, and even faintly reaching the skies above Qingfeng County!

The shackles of the Spirit Sea Realm Great Perfection... were broken!

Tongtian Realm! First Heaven!

The shackles of life were completely broken, decay vanished, and rebirth arrived!

Lin Dao slowly raised a hand; his five fingers were long and strong, his skin smooth and firm, his joints distinct, belonging to an energetic young man.

He flipped his palm in disbelief, feeling the terrifying power surging at his fingertips—enough to crush mountains—and the vast, roaring ocean of Spiritual Qi within him that seemed inexhaustible.

"This... is the Tongtian Realm?"

He murmured to himself, his voice having completely shed its dying hoarseness, becoming clear and magnetic, carrying a strange tremor of newfound life.

In his profound eyes, confusion and shock were replaced by a sharp light that controlled everything.

Just as his mind was stirred and he was immersed in this fundamental, transformative change—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of dull and violent roars, mixed with the harsh clatter of colliding energy, suddenly came from outside the Seclusion Stone Gate!

The loud noise was like a heavy hammer violently striking the Lin Family Manor's defensive Formation, shaking the entire underground space and causing dust to fall.

Immediately following, an overbearing, arrogant voice, like rolling thunder, pierced through the layers of obstruction and clearly entered Lin Dao's ears:

"You trash of the Lin Family! Get out here! Today is the day your Family is exterminated!"

"Brother Wang Mang is right! The Lin Family has monopolized Qingfeng County's resources for long enough! Today is the day of reckoning!"

Another slightly feminine, yet equally Killing Intent-filled voice followed closely.

"The Wang Family! The Zhao Family! You are going too far!"

A voice full of rage yet clearly tinged with weakness and despair roared—it was the voice of Lin Zhen, the Lin Family Patriarch, "The Old Ancestor is still here..."

"Hahaha!"

The overbearing voice interrupted with maniacal laughter, full of undisguised mockery and cruelty,

"Lin Zhen! Are you talking about that old fossil who has been lying in a coffin for nearly a hundred years and whose bones should have turned to dust? Relying on a dead man? What a huge joke! Today, even if the King of Heaven came, he couldn't save your Lin Family! Break the Formation!"

Rumble!

There was another, even more violent explosion! Accompanied by the desperate cries and screams of the Lin Family members.

Family Ancestor (Wang Mang). Family Ancestor (Zhao Wufeng). The Old Ancestors of the other two Families in Qingfeng County, both at Spirit Sea Realm Great Perfection!

Killing Intent, like a cold tide, instantly drowned the joy Lin Dao had just gained from his rebirth.

In the depths of the eyes he had just opened, the nascent sharp light suddenly froze, turning into a bottomless cold pool.

"Exterminate my Lin Family?"

Lin Dao slowly curved his mouth into an extremely cold arc. There was no hint of a smile in that curve, only Killing Intent, frigid as ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, silently spreading. "Very well."

With a thought.

Buzz!

The heavy Stone Gate of the chamber, covered in ancient runes, was gently brushed by an invisible giant hand; the Spiritual light of the Restriction flowing over it instantly extinguished and disintegrated.

The heavy Stone Gate silently slid inward, without making a sound.

Outside the door was a chaotic and bloody battlefield.

In the front courtyard of the Lin Family Manor, the previously imposing sight was long gone.

The light barrier of the carefully arranged defensive Formation violently twisted and trembled, like glazed tile repeatedly struck by a heavy hammer, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, its light flickering erratically, ready to collapse completely at any moment.

Several Lin Family guards lay sprawled on the ground, their blood staining the bluestones, their life or death unknown.

Patriarch Lin Zhen, with disheveled hair and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, was being protected by several loyal Elders, desperately holding up a crumbling Defense Barrier.

Their faces were as pale as paper, and their eyes were filled with bloodshot veins and despair.

Opposite them, Family Ancestor Wang Mang was as burly as an iron tower, his face covered in a thick beard. He held a Mountain-Splitting Great Axe the size of a door panel, its blade still dripping with blood, and was raising it again with a sinister grin.

Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng, on the other hand, wore a Scholar's Azure Robe. His face was gaunt, but his eyes were sinister like a viper's. Standing with his hands behind his back, several Ice Spikes shimmering with cold light orbited him as he coldly watched the Lin Family members stubbornly resisting.

Behind them was a massive crowd of elite disciples from the Wang and Zhao Families, all brimming with Killing Intent, viewing the defenders like lambs awaiting slaughter.

“Lin Zhen, give up! Struggling will only make your deaths more painful!”

Family Ancestor Wang Mang's voice boomed like a great bell. His giant axe, wrapped in a terrifying Gale Wind capable of splitting mountains and rocks, was about to smash down violently onto the precarious Formation Light Screen again!

Just at this critical moment—

“Oh? Is that so?”

A calm, clear, and even slightly lazy young voice suddenly rang out.

The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to possess a strange penetrating power, clearly overriding all the clamor, screams, and energy explosions of the battlefield, entering the ears of everyone present and reaching deep into their Souls!

Family Ancestor Wang Mang's thunderous axe blow froze abruptly in mid-air!

Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng's sinister gaze instantly sharpened like needles, and he abruptly turned toward the source of the voice!

Everyone's gaze, as if pulled by invisible strings, simultaneously shot toward the deep, dark Seclusion Stone Gate that had quietly opened.

A figure slowly stepped out from the shadows of the Stone Chamber.

White robes surpassed snow, untouched by dust.

His posture was straight and tall like a pine and cypress, containing reserved yet immense power.

His face was incredibly young; his Sword Eyebrows slanted toward his temples, and his eyes were like cold stars, so deep they seemed capable of absorbing light.

A head of long, ink-black hair was casually draped over his shoulders, a few strands gently swaying as they were brushed by the breeze.

He merely stood there, without any unnecessary movements, not even intentionally releasing pressure.

But the instant his foot stepped out of the Stone Chamber and landed on the bluestone slab in the courtyard—

Whoosh—!

Within the entire Lin Family Manor, and even a hundred zhang above it, the Spiritual Qi wandering between heaven and earth suddenly boiled, as if summoned by a supreme monarch!

They were no longer docile and peaceful, but became violent and full of sentience, roaring like a muffled tsunami!

An invisible wave of Qi exploded outwards from him, sweeping up gravel and dust on the ground, forming a visible ripple.

Lin Zhen and the despairing Elders felt the terrifying pressure on them suddenly lighten!

They abruptly looked up at the figure—young and unfamiliar, yet carrying a strange sense of familiarity derived from the depths of their Bloodline—their pupils contracting to the extreme!

Shock, confusion, disbelief... all sorts of emotions intertwined like a storm on their faces.

“You... who are you?!”

The sinister grin on Family Ancestor Wang Mang's face completely froze, replaced by an instinctive wariness and solemnity toward an unknown powerful existence.

He stared intently at Lin Dao's impossibly young face, the veins bulging on the back of the hand gripping the great axe.

The aura of this suddenly appearing young man was like an abyss or a prison—unfathomably deep!

What made his heart pound even more was the style of the white robe the other man wore... it was extremely ancient, only seen in the portraits of the Lin Family Ancestor recorded in the Family Genealogy before he entered Seclusion!

Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng's expression was so gloomy it looked like water was about to drip off it. The Ice Spikes orbiting him spun rapidly and restlessly, emitting a faint buzz.

His senses were sharper than Family Ancestor Wang Mang's. From the moment the young man took his first step, he felt a terrifying suppression stemming from a fundamental difference in life level!

It was like an ant gazing up at the firmament!

This was absolutely not the aura that someone in the Spirit Sea Realm could possess!

An utterly absurd thought, one that nearly stopped his heart, slithered into his mind like a venomous snake.

“Impossible...”

Lin Zhen stared fixedly at Lin Dao's face, his lips trembling. An appellation sealed for a hundred years, filled with endless reverence and unbelievable tremor, was painfully squeezed out of his throat:

“Great... Old Ancestor? Is that... is that you? Have you emerged from Seclusion?!”

These three words exploded like a sudden clap of thunder in the hearts of every Lin Family disciple!

Old Ancestor?!

The Old Ancestor who was rumored to have been in Seclusion for a hundred years and was long believed to have passed into Nirvana?

This person before them, who looked young enough to be their nephew or son?!

Upon hearing this, Family Ancestor Wang Mang and Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng trembled violently, the color draining instantly from their faces!

Lin Dao paid no attention to Lin Zhen's exclamation.

His gaze, like two cold, physical beams of light, slowly swept over the murderous members of the Wang and Zhao Families, finally settling on the wary and uncertain Family Ancestor Wang Mang and Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng.

That indifferent, placid gaze caused the two Overlords of Qingfeng County, both at the Spirit Sea Realm Great Perfection, to feel a chill shoot from the soles of their feet straight to their crowns, as if they had been targeted by a Primordial Behemoth!

He gently raised his right hand, his slender finger casually pointing at Family Ancestor Wang Mang's Mountain-Splitting Great Axe, which was suspended in mid-air, poised to strike. He pointed into the Void Realm.

The movement was casual, without a hint of fanfare.

Buzz!

A sharp Finger Wind, invisible and intangible yet containing terrifying intent, instantly tore through the air!

There was no earth-shattering display, only an ultimate will of “sharpness” and “annihilation”!

Crack!

A crisp, teeth-grinding sound of shattering rang out!

Family Ancestor Wang Mang's terrifying Mountain-Splitting Great Axe, forged from Deep Sea Sinking Iron and shimmering with spiritual light, began to shatter inch by inch, starting from the blade's edge, as if subjected to billions of invisible cuts simultaneously!

In the blink of an eye, the great axe, which symbolized the fierce might of the Wang Family Old Ancestor, turned into countless tiny, glittering metallic dust particles that rustled down right before everyone's eyes!

The entire process was unbelievably fast!

Family Ancestor Wang Mang only felt his hand lighten, immediately followed by a terrifying, irresistible force surging up the axe handle!

He let out a muffled groan, the Web of his Hand instantly split open and bled profusely. His burly body, as if struck by a heavy hammer, uncontrollably stumbled back more than ten steps, each step leaving a deep imprint on the hard bluestone slab!

Stabilizing himself, he looked up sharply. There was no trace of ferocity left on his face, only boundless shock and unbelievable terror!

He stared fixedly at his empty, trembling, and bleeding palm, then at the metallic dust floating down everywhere, finally fixing his gaze on Lin Dao's placid, young face, looking as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight!

“You... you...” Family Ancestor Wang Mang's voice was dry and hoarse, like an old bellows. Immense fear gripped his throat, preventing him from speaking a complete sentence.

The entire battlefield fell into dead silence!

You could hear a pin drop!

Only the metallic dust falling everywhere slowly settled in the silent air, making a faint rustling sound, like the tolling of a death bell ringing in the hearts of everyone from the Wang and Zhao Families.

All arrogance and bloodthirsty Killing Intent were utterly crushed by this single point! Only bone-deep coldness and uncontrollable trembling remained!

Lin Dao slowly retracted his finger, his movement still casual. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze finally landing on Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng, whose face was gloomy as water, whose eyes flickered, and whose body was subconsciously tensed as if facing a deep abyss.

A faint curve, enough to freeze the Soul, slowly appeared on his young, handsome face.

“It seems...”

Lin Dao's voice rang out again, still clear, but like a wind carrying ten thousand years of ice, it swept past everyone's eardrums, nearly freezing their blood. “This Venerable One has been in Seclusion for too long.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the two clansmen who were silent with fear and pale-faced, finally returning to Family Ancestor Zhao Wufeng's startled and uncertain face. The curve of his lips seemed to deepen slightly.

“So long that this small Qingfeng County seems to have forgotten...”

“...the name Lin Dao.”

As his voice fell, an invisible, terrifying pressure, originating from the Ancient Primordial Era, silently spread out and enveloped the surroundings, as if a sleeping Dragon had slowly opened its indifferent eyes!