Here, an old man sat cross-legged. Upon closer inspection, one would see his face was a tapestry of wrinkles, his eyelids drooping so heavily they seemed incapable of opening.

Then, those same drooping eyelids suddenly began to flutter open slowly. Anyone witnessing it would likely get goosebumps; the sight was profoundly eerie.

Beneath those eyelids lay a pair of eyes utterly incongruous with his apparent age.

These eyes were crystalline and clear; judging only by them, one might easily believe he was barely twenty.

His eyes opened for just a moment before gently closing once more.

He softly murmured to himself, "He truly broke through. At twenty, the Fourth Layer. Perhaps, he truly has the potential to take that final step!"

This elder was the very ancestor of the Long family whose voice had been heard earlier. Few people knew his name now, save for the three Elders, the Patriarch Long Haotian, and Long Zheng, who was assigned to care for and guard him. No one else knew of his existence.

His real name was Long Ao—a man inherently imbued with arrogance.

But that was in the past. Two centuries ago, among the inner strength cultivators, mentioning Long Ao of the Long family would earn nods of respect from many. Currently, only a handful knew of Long Ao’s continued presence.

Outside, the mysterious elder who had been sitting also rose to his feet, his eyes alight with profound surprise.

He broke through. Zhang Yang truly broke through. That energy storm just now was the direct result of his advancement. The transition from the Third Layer to the Fourth was a watershed moment, signifying a substantial increase in Zhang Yang’s control over his inner strength—it could now be projected outside the body, not just contained within.

Long Yi, Long Gao, and Long Jiang gaped once more.

They all understood now: Zhang Yang had succeeded in his breakthrough, truly becoming a top-tier Fourth Layer cultivator.

Even though they had witnessed it firsthand, accepting it remained difficult. A young man of twenty had reached this height, genuinely catching up to them.

The elder from the Li family’s mouth hung even wider. Zhang Yang’s breakthrough solidified his prior intentions. He resolved to actively apologize and seek reconciliation, even if it meant losing face.

Face could never outweigh the value of life. If Zhang Yang could slay a Fourth Layer elder before his breakthrough, there was no telling what he could do now.

Long Haotian, Long Zheng, and the others felt the most complex emotions.

They were all late-stage Third Layer practitioners and knew intimately how arduous breaking through this barrier was. They had been stuck at this stage for years, unable to make that leap. Yet, a young man of just twenty had surpassed them all.

A sense of utter dejection settled in some of their hearts.

The other Third Layer inner strength cultivators harbored differing moods, but only Long Feng felt genuine happiness and offered sincere congratulations to Zhang Yang. Only Long Feng.

As the dust slowly settled, a lithe, upright figure reappeared before everyone’s eyes.

No one was unfamiliar with Zhang Yang. They had all paid close attention to him for a long time, yet seeing him again still stirred an unusual feeling within each person.

This young man before them had now surpassed them, becoming a true Fourth Layer master.

“Zhang Yang, congratulations on advancing to the Fourth Layer. You are now counted among the few masters in the inner strength cultivation world!”

Long Haotian recovered the fastest, stepping forward first to offer his congratulations. However, even his expression remained complicated. Zhang Yang was younger than his own son, yet his cultivation had already surpassed his. Even Long Haotian felt a sharp pang of jealousy at this moment.

“Congratulations!”

“Zhang Yang, congratulations!”

After Long Haotian, Long Zheng and members of the Li and Hua families stepped forward to offer felicitations. The feelings accompanying each congratulation varied widely; apart from Long Feng, most felt a degree of complex emotion.

“Zhang Yang, congratulations!”

Long Feng also walked over. He opened his mouth, intending to say more, but ultimately held back. Like the others, he offered the perfunctory praise.

What he truly wanted to say was that he too must work hard to reach Zhang Yang’s realm one day. But remembering the recent actions of the Long family, the words caught in his throat.

The things the Long family had done acted like a wall, physically separating him from Zhang Yang.

“You reached the Third Layer today, and I reached the Fourth today. This is a lucky day for you and me, brothers. Remember this day always. And yes, you truly moved one step ahead of me this time—I lost!”

Zhang Yang extended a fist and lightly tapped Long Feng’s chest, speaking with a smile. Long Feng froze for a moment, then his face broke into a look of excitement as he nodded heavily.

He hadn't expected Zhang Yang to treat him the same way he always had, despite everything the Long family had done to wrong him.

On the way here, they had chatted about who would achieve a breakthrough first—one was late-stage Third Layer, the other late-stage Second Layer.

Long Feng had confidently claimed he would break through before Zhang Yang, and they had made a small wager.

The bet was trivial; neither had taken it seriously. Yet, neither had anticipated their breakthroughs occurring on the very same day, one following the other.

“Brat, come with me!”

The mysterious old man suddenly spoke. Everyone immediately backed away. Zhang Yang paused but followed the elder’s lead, walking slowly forward.

With so many people behind them, they exchanged glances, but not a single person dared to obstruct the pair.

Even the Long family members allowed them to depart without asking why or where they were going.

It was an invitation to disaster to stop such a powerful, possibly monstrous, figure. Such old monsters often had erratic temperaments, and if killed by one, the death would be utterly meaningless. The demeanor of the elders clearly illustrated this point.

Only one shadow followed swiftly: the spirit beast Heavenly Steed, carrying the Fox-tailed Sable and the rat-like spirit beast, chased after them. They were spirit beasts, not human, and bound to Zhang Yang; wherever he went, they naturally followed.

No one yet knew of Shadowless’s true identity, save for Long Feng and Li Changfeng. Its combat skills utterly surpassed everyone’s understanding; nobody had anticipated the Treasure-seeking Rat possessed combat capabilities.

Zhang Yang followed the mysterious elder. At first, he could easily keep pace while walking. But soon, he had to jog to maintain the distance.

A little later, he was forced to run at full speed just to stay near the elder’s stride.

This shocked him profoundly. His rapid running speed was inadequate, yet the elder continued to walk along casually. From his appearance, the old man seemed merely to be strolling, yet his pace was astonishingly fast.

Before long, the elder arrived at a house located at the edge of the world boundary and simply pushed the door open, stepping inside.

This had been one of the former residences of the Long family servants. It had been vacant for many years, and this was where the elder had resided since infiltrating the Long family plains, keeping close watch on Zhang Yang’s progress.

“Sit!”

Upon entering, he acted as if he were back in his own home, gesturing toward a nearby stool for Zhang Yang to take a seat.

Zhang Yang hesitated, then chose not to sit. Instead, he bowed deeply to the elder and spoke softly, “Junior Zhang Yang dares to ask the senior a question: Who exactly is the senior?”

The elder’s identity was Zhang Yang’s foremost curiosity. This man had been secretly trailing him, yet seemingly without malice—more like a form of protection. When Zhang Yang faced his greatest danger, the elder had appeared directly, stunning all the Fourth Layer elders and subtly advising him to use the Hua Gong Technique to absorb the inner strength of the Hu-yan family elder.

The elder himself had consistently identified as a member of the Zhang family. Yet, among the Zhangs, Zhang Yang could not fathom who this man could be.

By age, his maternal grandfather, Zhang Daofeng, should be around this age, but Zhang Yang had seen photographs of Zhang Daofeng, and this man was clearly not him. This left Zhang Yang utterly perplexed. All the other ancestors should have long since passed away.

“This old man is Zhang Pinglu. Have you heard of me?”

The elder sat down casually, making no further offer for Zhang Yang to sit, and accepted the deep bow directly.

Zhang Pinglu?

A flicker of confusion crossed Zhang Yang’s eyes. The name was utterly foreign; he had never heard it before.

“It’s normal that you don’t know my name. I haven't died yet, so my name hasn't been entered into the memorial hall. Has anyone ever told you about the Martial Dao Guardians of our Zhang family?”

The elder shook his head slightly, and confusion washed over Zhang Yang’s eyes again.

Martial Dao Guardians? Did the Zhang family possess such people? Neither in his past life nor this one had he ever known.

“It is normal that you don’t know. This is a profound secret of the Zhang family, not to be revealed to anyone under the Third Layer of inner strength or under the age of thirty. Although your inner strength is formidable, your age is too young. I suspect Daofeng and Yun’an kept this from you because of that.”

The elder continued speaking to himself. The Daofeng he mentioned, Zhang Yang surmised, must be his maternal grandfather, Zhang Daofeng. It seemed highly likely that the elder was aware of the fabricated background story Zhang Yang had created.

At this moment, Zhang Yang genuinely worried about what would happen if his yet-unmet maternal grandfather actually appeared. How would he ever maintain the lie?

Far away in Siberia, amidst the frozen, icy wastes, a man who looked to be in his early sixties was sprinting across the snow, clad only in a leather coat, a bow and arrow in his hand.

About two hundred meters ahead of him, a blood-red fox was running; its speed was phenomenal.

He was fast, but the man’s speed was no less impressive. They were both running faster than an automobile.

“Achoo!”

The man suddenly sneezed. The sneeze momentarily caused his speed to drop slightly. The blood-red fox seized the opportunity, darting into a clump of snow-covered bushes nearby, and vanished in an instant.

“Damn it, who is thinking about me? That blood fox got away again! My Blood Fox Elixir—I don't know when I’ll ever be able to formulate it!”

The man stopped in frustration, rubbing his nose, muttering angrily. He lowered the bow and arrow in his hand, then slowly sat down to the side, pulling out an ice-hardened steamed bun to gnaw on.

If Zhang Yang were present, he would have been even more astonished. He had seen this man before—in a photograph. This was his maternal grandfather, Zhang Daofeng.

“Although your age doesn’t meet the requirement, your inner strength standard is already achieved. You are qualified to know about the Martial Dao Guardians. Sit down. I will tell you about this matter now!”

The elder spoke again. This time, Zhang Yang offered no objection and obediently sat down beside him.

He had a premonition that what this elder was about to reveal was something unknown to him, something he had never encountered—a secret of their Zhang family. (To be continued)RQ

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