The towering stone guards, these silent warriors stepping out from eternal darkness, were kneeling on one knee before them in the most humble posture imaginable.
No, not before them.
Before Chen Guan.
Hong Yuan looked at the bowed stone statues, then turned her head to look at Chen Guan, who stood at the very front of the group without even shifting his stance. She felt her entire understanding of reality undergoing an unprecedented shock.
"Hey..."
Hong Yuan's voice broke the frozen silence, sounding particularly abrupt in the empty corridor.
She swallowed hard, trying to make her tone sound normal. "Chen Guan, what's going on? Do you know them? Or... did you secretly cast some kind of illusion on them?"
"Do I look like someone with that kind of ability?" Chen Guan finally spoke, sounding exceptionally helpless.
Who could cast an illusion on a bunch of rocks anyway?
He turned half-way around, his gaze sweeping over the faces filled with astonishment behind him.
"Then explain, what on earth is going on?"
Hong Yuan slammed her giant axe onto the ground, the thud making everyone's heart skip a beat.
"Just a moment ago they looked ready to tear us to pieces. Why is it that the second they saw you, they acted like mice spotting a cat?"
"It's not mice spotting a cat."
Yin Chen's calm voice rang out. He lowered the hand holding his short staff, though the frost shield surrounding him remained active.
"Their posture, just as Su Yuehe said, is a gesture of submission. It's not fear, but reverence."
"Like believers revering a god."
This was even more unexpected than Chen Guan taming the cheetah. Taming an incredibly fierce beast was at least within the realm of comprehension—it just meant he was a bit of a monster. But the submission of these guards right before their eyes carried a vastly different significance.
It gave off the absurd feeling of seeing Emperor Qin Shi Huang riding a polar bear.
"I don't know," Chen Guan gave an answer that caught everyone off guard.
"You don't know?"
An Changqing frowned. He knew very well that this kind of unknown goodwill was sometimes more terrifying than direct hostility.
Because the rules it represented were completely beyond their understanding.
"I really don't know," Chen Guan repeated. "I just feel that the aura here is very familiar."
Chen Guan chose to tell the truth. An Changqing and the others were reliable enough, so there was no harm in being honest.
Besides, he also wanted Su Yuehe, someone well-versed in ancient and modern history, to tell him what was going on.
Familiar.
That word made Su Yuehe's body tremble slightly.
But it was out of excitement.
She stared intently at Chen Guan's back, countless disconnected clues rapidly weaving together in her mind.
Su Yuehe knew exactly what familiar meant. Furthermore, An Changqing had seen Chen Guan's file before—the answer was that Chen Guan was just an ordinary student. This made everything about him inexplicably baffling.
She once thought that Chen Guan was connected to a scandal in her own family, which accounted for his strangeness.
But now, everything seemed to have a different answer.
"An Changqing, do you remember Chen Guan's file that you read?"
Su Yuehe didn't turn around, but her words were directed at An Changqing. "A family as ordinary as can be, with no family history related to Espers. Yet, his strength, his talent... none of this can be explained by the word 'ordinary'."
An Changqing naturally remembered.
And precisely because he remembered, the turmoil in his heart right now was more intense than anyone else's.
Everything about Chen Guan was a mystery, and now, the answer was right in front of them, revealing itself in a way that surpassed everyone's imagination.
"You mean..."
An Changqing followed Su Yuehe's train of thought, a bold guess taking shape in his mind.
"Exactly!" Su Yuehe whipped around, her eyes astonishingly bright.
"We've all fallen into a cognitive trap, always trying to use the existing system to explain Chen Guan's uniqueness. But what if the source of his power doesn't belong to this era at all? What if he himself is a piece of living history?"
She reached out, pointing at the stone guards still kneeling on the ground, then pointed at Chen Guan ahead.
"These guards are following orders from an ancient civilization. In their eyes, we don't exist; there is only their king. The familiarity Chen Guan feels isn't a familiarity of memory, but a resonance of bloodline. He is a remnant of an ancient civilization, the descendant of a lost kingdom!"
Su Yuehe's conclusion was like dropping a bombshell into the dead-silent corridor, leaving everyone somewhat stunned.
"A descendant... of an ancient civilization? A king?"
Hong Yuan, carrying her axe on her shoulder, looked at Chen Guan, then at Su Yuehe. Her mouth fell open and stayed that way for a long time.
How did a perfectly normal commoner student suddenly turn into a prince?
Damn it, what would it cost the world to make me a second-generation heir too?
Her only commoner friend had defected. Hong Yuan looked heartbroken.
"I actually find this explanation very reasonable."
Yin Chen's voice chimed in at the right moment. He dimmed the overly bright light on his staff, softening the ice-blue shield.
"It explains why the magnetic suppression of this place has minimal effect on him, and it also explains why these creations of uncanny workmanship are full of hostility towards us, yet bow in submission to him."
He looked at Chen Guan with a hint of envy in his eyes.
The power of a bloodline inheritance was far purer than Esper abilities cultivated later in life.
"A descendant..." Long Ao muttered the word under his breath. His constantly tense body relaxed a little at this moment.
He looked at Chen Guan's back with a complex gaze.
He had always viewed Chen Guan as a partner and an opponent with unfathomable strength, but he never imagined that the other party's background was this massive.
Su Yuehe's deduction echoed through the gloomy corridor, causing everyone's thoughts to stall momentarily.
Words like king and descendant, which usually only existed in epic legends, were now vividly applied to a classmate they spent day and night with, bringing about a strong sense of absurdity.
Hong Yuan reached out and gestured at the surrounding stone carvings.
"This is honestly even more outrageous than the stories they tell in our academy's history classes."
Yin Chen glanced at her, for once refraining from making a snide remark.
He looked past the crowd at Chen Guan's back. A royal descendant—if word got out, it would be a huge deal.
"I'm more inclined to believe that, whatever the reason, Chen Guan is the only key to this ruin."
Yin Chen pointed at the stone statues with their heads bowed.
"These guards don't recognize strength or weakness; they only recognize authority."
An Changqing slowly let out a breath of stale air, trying hard to suppress the surging waves in his chest.
He took a step forward. "Chen Guan, what do you think of Su Yuehe's guess?"
At this moment, everyone's eyes converged on Chen Guan.
Facing their burning gazes, Chen Guan finally ended his long silence.
He turned around, a hint of helplessness appearing on his usually expressionless face.
"I don't know."
It was the absolute, unadulterated truth.
He wanted to know too. He had just come out for a trip, so how did he inexplicably become some royal descendant?
Suddenly gaining an ancient ancestor out of nowhere—it was all just very sudden.
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
