“The newcomer means trouble!”

Xiao Hei felt a chill in his heart, sensing upon their first encounter that the other party was no benevolent sort.

“Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Shen Family Ancestral Hall!”

Shen Changsheng responded calmly. He spread his arms and stepped forward, saying playfully, “Xiao Hei, don’t you recognize me? I’m Shen Lang~”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hei’s vertical pupils sharply constricted.

This person knows my name is Shen Hei, and even knows Shen Lang, but he is not the Shen Family Patriarch!

The Shen Family Patriarch still has a restriction I placed on him. If he reveals even a bit, I would surely sense it.

Could it be someone from the Upper Realm?

But I clearly haven’t left this underground cave. Logically, those guys from the Upper Realm shouldn’t be able to sense my presence here!

“Bah!”

“Do you take this old Xiao Hei for a fool? I am Shen Lang’s companion Immortal Beast. Would I not recognize whether you are truly Shen Lang?”

Xiao Hei tightened his long body, and a chilling aura began to surge from within him, clearly about to launch an attack on Shen Changsheng.

From his perspective now, Shen Changsheng was an enemy pursuing him from the Upper Realm, but the other party had come alone.

One must know that all living beings are bound by heavenly dao laws.

After an Immortal King from the Upper Realm descends to the Qingxuan World, they will be suppressed to the Questioning Divinity Realm by this world’s heavenly dao laws.

And in the Questioning Divinity Realm, this old Xiao Hei can also fight!

At this moment, Shen Changsheng was not nervous. He continued to tease, “I am indeed not Shen Lang. I wasn’t before, but I can be in the future!”

Xiao Hei felt bewildered.

“What do you mean by that?”

Shen Changsheng said, “Acknowledge me as your master, and I will spare your life.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hei’s mind jolted, and he suddenly realized that Shen Changsheng’s action had another calculation behind it.

He couldn’t help but constrict his pupils, re-examining Shen Changsheng.

As a result, his eyes quickly widened.

Just now, he had mistakenly thought the other party was from the Upper Realm, but upon closer inspection, it made him want to laugh.

“Ling Xu Realm?”

“Hahahahaha, I was actually bluffed by you just now, and it turns out you’re only in the Ling Xu Realm! It seems you are not from the Upper Realm at all!”

“Although I don’t know how you learned of my existence, I can simply swallow you first, and then interrogate your soul!”

Xiao Hei raised his head high, opened his gaping maw, and lunged directly at Shen Changsheng!

But at the same time, a green light flew out from between Shen Changsheng’s eyebrows. Its speed was not fast, yet it caused the pouncing Xiao Hei to suddenly freeze in mid-air!

“What?!”

He was like a startled cat, instantly arching his serpentine body and retracting his head!

“Immortal Artifact!”

“The aura attached to this is!”

“Is it an Immortal Monarch?”

“No, an Immortal Venerable!”

“No! No!”

Xiao Hei let out a terrified cry, his eyes fixed on the green light, showing extreme disbelief.

At this moment, his soul, under the influence of this aura, was twisted into an abstract form, like the protagonist in the famous painting “The Scream”!

“This is the aura of an Immortal King!!!”

His scales tightened to the extreme at this moment!

This was actually an unknown Immortal Artifact refined by an Immortal King!

“Who exactly are you!?”

Xiao Hei coiled himself into the corner of the cave, his gaze fixed in horror on the verdant bamboo strip.

The bamboo strip floated in front of Shen Changsheng, gently caressed by his fingertips.

“Qing Yi truly gave me a practical treasure!”

He had been reborn, and his divine soul had suffered considerable damage, but even so, his divine soul was far stronger than his current physical body.

This led to a rather awkward situation.

It was like putting an elephant into a thin cardboard box; a casual flick of the elephant’s trunk could shatter the box.

Therefore, this physical body currently did not allow him to exert himself greatly.

Shen Changsheng’s original plan was to use the Supreme Cauldron to intimidate this Xiao Hei, but considering the Supreme Cauldron was damaged and its power was only at the level of a low-grade Immortal Artifact, he feared it would not be enough to make the other party submit.

So he also intended to bring Xiao Chang Geng along.

In his previous life, his two brothers obtained a great opportunity, and Xiao Chang Geng consequently inherited a wisp of Dragon Clan bloodline.

As for the specific grade of this Dragon Clan bloodline, he still hadn’t figured it out.

But later experience proved that this bloodline was quite extraordinary, a divine-grade bloodline, possessing extremely strong bloodline suppression over beasts.

So the plan was to bring Xiao Chang Geng; just releasing a wisp of bloodline aura would stabilize the situation.

Who knew Qing Yi would leave such a grand gift.

“Now, I’m giving you a chance to rephrase. What am I to you?” Shen Changsheng asked him.

Xiao Hei was not unintelligent. He knelt without hesitation and replied:

“Shen Hei, greets Master!”

Shen Changsheng nodded and then asked, “What is my name?”

Xiao Hei was confused: “Huh?”

“Master, do you not know your own name?”

“Hmm?” Shen Changsheng glared at him.

Xiao Hei shivered, quickly understood the meaning behind the other party’s words, and immediately corrected himself:

“Your name is Shen Lang, you are my Master, the Ancestor of the Shen Family.”

“Hmm.”

Shen Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. After speaking, he flipped his right palm upwards, conjuring a small golden cauldron.

Upon seeing this small cauldron, Xiao Hei’s eyes widened!

“The Su-Supreme Cauldron?!”

Oh my goodness!

Another Immortal Artifact, and one ranked among the top three on the Immortal List!

Xiao Hei was again greatly alarmed, ignoring the obvious cracks on the cauldron.

“My Lord…”

“I have already submitted and acknowledged you as my Master. Are you still going to take my life?”

At this moment, seeing Shen Changsheng display a second precious and extraordinary Immortal Artifact, he subconsciously thought Shen Changsheng was going to kill him and offer him as a sacrifice to the cauldron!

“No need to offer your life,” Shen Changsheng said.

Xiao Hei was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard the next sentence.

“However, if you’re getting on my pirate ship, you’ll have to pay a fare. How about this, you hand over your Inner Core.”

“Ah?” Xiao Hei was struck by lightning.

“Master, without my Inner Core, not only will my strength greatly diminish, but I will also become quite weak…”

He looked at Shen Changsheng’s expression and mumbled softly, appearing very unwilling.

“Then do you want your life or your Inner Core?” Shen Changsheng asked him.

Xiao Hei gave a bitter smile.

Clearly, he had no choice in the matter!

So he churned his belly, and a spherical object within his body, propelled by internal muscular force, was pushed to his throat, then spat out.

Xiao Ding buzzed twice, leaping from Shen Changsheng’s palm.

It received the extremely cold Immortal Beast Inner Core into the cauldron, absorbing it instantly.

Subsequently, one of the shallower cracks on Xiao Ding’s body began to heal, recovering a small section.

“It seems ordinary Immortal materials still can’t compare to a Destined One.”

Shen Changsheng mused to himself.

Previously, when the Supreme Cauldron swallowed a God, one of the two deepest cracks directly disappeared.

But now, having swallowed an Immortal Beast Inner Core, it only caused one of the three shallow cracks to recover a small section.

Having swallowed the Inner Core, Xiao Ding, still unsatisfied, began to fly slowly around Xiao Hei’s body, as if contemplating where to start devouring this Immortal material.

Xiao Hei was terrified to the extreme.

His entire body was tightly coiled, his head constantly swaying with the Supreme Cauldron’s movements, fearing that if he wasn’t careful, the cauldron would suddenly swallow him.

The Supreme Cauldron was famous in the Upper Realm, and Xiao Hei naturally knew its perverse nature—it could swallow and refine anything!

“Come back, its life is still useful,” Shen Changsheng said.

The Supreme Cauldron had no choice but to turn around and return to Shen Changsheng’s body along with the bamboo strip.

Shen Changsheng smiled faintly: “A wise man submits to circumstances.”

“Xiao Hei, you’ve broadened your path.”

“Next, I have some matters to explain to you. Listen carefully.”

……

……

An hour later.

In this underground ancestral hall of the Shen Family, Shen Changsheng sat on a stone chair, eyes closed in meditation, quietly waiting for the Shen Family bloodline to gather.

Those who were summoned arrived one after another, treading lightly, not daring to make too much noise, not even daring to whisper among themselves.

Among this group, many had not witnessed what happened to the Shen Family today, but on their way back to the ancestral home after receiving the news, they had been thoroughly informed.

Knowing that their lives were in Shen Changsheng’s hands, how dared they displease Shen Changsheng.

They only dared to take a few extra glances at this handsome man in black robes, quietly meditating, while he had his eyes closed.

Xiao Chang Geng was also brought by Shen Qingrong. Seeing his brother meditating, he obediently stayed in her arms, not disturbing him.

Shen Yingying was also there, hiding behind Shen Qingrong, not daring to speak.

Soon, Shen Xiao stepped forward, glanced at Shen Changsheng on the stone chair, deliberated for a moment, then softly spoke:

“My Lord, all the clan members who could be recalled have arrived. Please give your instructions.”

Shen Xiao’s tone was extremely respectful, even addressing Shen Changsheng as “My Lord.”

Hearing Shen Xiao address him this way, many of the Shen Family members present first showed strange expressions, but quickly reacted, and couldn’t help but feel a chill in their hearts.

Shen Xiao was implicitly telling the clan members that the person before them was no longer his son.

Shen Changsheng opened his eyes, which held a faint, profound light.

In the vast space within his gaze, the Shen Family members gathered into a group.

Men, women, old and young, a total of one hundred and twenty-seven people, all with cautious expressions.

The Shen Family was a fourth-tier family, considered upper-middle tier in the Qingxuan World.

However, two thousand years ago, the Shen Family was a seventh-tier family, a super large family.

A super large family, after two thousand years of continuous development, although it had declined considerably, its descendants should surely be more than just these hundred-odd people, right?

Of course, there were more.

But with generations of families splitting off and migrating, by the current generation, only these few were closely related by blood to the original Shen Changsheng.

Shen Changsheng scanned the crowd and finally spoke:

“You don’t need to be nervous. I summoned you here today not to harm you.”

“I believe most of you already know that I am a person who has taken over a body and been reborn, not your Shen Family Young Master. As for my true identity, there’s no need for me to hide it from you.”

“I am your First Ancestor, Shen Lang.”

As his voice fell, it was like a single stone stirring up a thousand waves.

The Shen Family members erupted in commotion.

They frantically looked at each other, desperately wanting to get a definitive answer from each other’s eyes, but all wore expressions of astonishment and bewilderment.

This news was truly shocking: the Ancestor who mysteriously disappeared two thousand years ago had returned? And in such a way, by taking over a descendant’s body?

Their faces were filled with suspicion, and Shen Xiao was even less calm.

This Ancestor identity, you say it is, and it is?

And your brother is from the Dragon Clan!

Xiao Chang Geng pouted, knowing his brother was about to trick people again.

At this moment, Shen Xiao’s mind raced, and he quickly thought of something, then hesitantly said:

“My Lord, this matter is of great importance. Please forgive me, but regarding your identity, we need to verify it.”

Shen Changsheng lightly waved his sleeve, showing no anger.

“Xiao Hei, right? He is closely linked to my divine soul, and is indeed the only one in this realm who can prove my identity.”

“Xiao Hei, come out.”