The final moments of Hanyuan's cultivation cycle settled into his Dantian as he slowly opened his eyes. The room was cool, but a distinct excitement pulsed through the city walls, vibrating into the very stone of the estate. A servant bowed at the door, informing him that the bells for the Great Ceremony would toll in exactly one hour.
Hanyuan stood, washed his face with cold water, and strapped the Cold Cloud Spear to his back.
He met Qin Yu in the hallway. The usually composed youth was fiddling with his silk sleeves, his face a sickly shade of green.
"I... I think I have a fever," Qin Yu groaned, his knees visibly trembling.
Hanyuan raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You were fine five minutes ago. What's wrong?"
"The congratulations!" Qin Yu hissed, his eyes wide. "The Patriarch expects each child to give a public speech of praise to the second brother before the ceremony is finalized. There will be thousands of people, Hanyuan. Thousands."
Hanyuan chuckled, patting his friend's shoulder. "What's a few sentences of praise for your brother?"
Before Qin Yu could reply, two warm, slender hands suddenly covered Hanyuan's eyes from behind. A delicate, floral scent,lavender and biting frost,filled the air.
"Guess who?" a melodic, teasing voice whispered in his ear.
"Uh... Qin Meili?" Hanyuan said, a slight tremor in his voice. The memory of the 'suffocating' hug from the previous day was still very fresh.
"Incorrect!" she giggled, her fingers lightly tapping his cheek but not moving from his eyes. "The correct answer is: Big Sister Meili. Try again."
Hanyuan's face heated up. "B-Big Sister Meili..."
"That's my cute little brother!" She pulled her hands away, beaming as she twirled around to face them. She looked stunning in formal azure robes, a jade phoenix hairpin holding back her hair.
"Hey! I am your little brother!" Qin Yu shouted, pointing a finger at his own chest in indignation.
"You're my brother by blood, Little Yu, which means I have to love you," Meili said, sticking her tongue out. "Hanyuan is my brother by choice, which means I get to tease him! Now, come on! If we're late, Father will scold us."
The trio arrived at the Great Azure Plaza, and Hanyuan found his breath stolen away. The square was a sea of thousands,at least ten thousand merchants, city guards, branch disciples, and invited guests from surrounding territories filled the tiered stone seating.
As a guest disciple of the Mystic Sky, Hanyuan was ushered to a secondary row near a massive stone pillar, far from the elevated dais where the Qin Clan members would sit. Qin Yu and Meili offered him apologetic waves before taking their places in the front row.
Suddenly, the city's Great Bell tolled. Bong,Bong,Bong,
"The Patriarch and the scions of the Qin Clan are entering!" a guard at the gate bellowed, his voice amplified by Qi.
The crowd went silent. The pressure in the air changed instantly.
Walking first was a middle aged man with long, dark brown hair tied back with a golden ring. He wore a majestic dragon robe that seemed to shimmer with its own light. With every step he took, the very stone of the plaza seemed to hum. This was the Patriarch, a Nascent Soul cultivator. To Hanyuan, it felt as if a sun were walking into the plaza.
Behind him followed the sons.
First was Qin Feng, the Eldest. He wore scholarly robes and moved with a dignified, measured pace, his eyes calculating. Behind him was the man of the hour: Qin Ruo, the Second Son. He had short, camed back hair and moved like a unsheathed sword. Even from the back row, Hanyuan could feel the suffocating weight of his Aura.
Then came the Third Son, Qin Rong, with his silver spear held vertically against his shoulder,a mountain of a man who looked ready for war even at a banquet. Finally, Qin Meili, who offered a mischievous wink to a few young lords in the crowd, and Qin Yu, who looked as if he wanted to vanish into the ground.
The Patriarch reached the highest platform and sat upon a throne carved from a single block of sapphire.
"The Ceremony of Succession," the Patriarch announced, his voice vibrating through the soul of everyone present, "begins now."
The Patriarch's eyes were like ancient wells, deep and unreadable, as he surveyed his children. Finally, his gaze settled on his second son. "Qin Ruo, step forward."
The air seemed to grow heavy as Qin Ruo moved.He knelt before the sapphire throne, his head bowed in a show of respect that felt more like a formal treaty between two powers than a son's obedience.
"Swear the Oath," the Patriarch commanded.
Qin Ruo placed his right hand over his heart. His voice was projected by Qi, resonant and clear, reaching the furthest corners of the ten thousand strong crowd. "As long as I draw breath and hold the title of Successor, I swear to the heavens and my ancestors that I will strive only for the prosperity of the Qin Clan. I shall not harm my kin, nor shall I let the azure flag falter in the face of the storm..."
The oath continued for three long minutes.
The Patriarch nodded, his expression softening with rare pride. He slid a ring from his own finger,a band made of Deep-Sea Cobalt etched with a silver dragon. "This is the Token of the Successor. To wear it is to carry the weight of Blue Dew City."
Qin Ruo took the ring and slowly slid it onto his finger. The moment it settled, every Elder, guard, and disciple in the plaza dropped to one knee.
"WE GREET THE SUCCESSOR!"
The thunderous shout was so powerful it shook the stone pillar Hanyuan was leaning against. Hanyuan felt a chill run down his spine.
Qin Ruo stood, the sapphire ring catching the sun. A thin, arrogant smile played on his lips. "According to tradition," he said, his voice cutting through the fading cheers, "the Successor may issue a challenge to prove his might is worthy of the seat."
His gaze scanned the rows of the elite. He didn't look at his siblings or the loyal vassals. His finger suddenly snapped forward, pointing toward a section where guests from rival cities were seated. "I challenge... Lin Qingyu."
A collective gasp went through the crowd. In the back row, Hanyuan saw the faces of the nearby merchants turn pale.
A man with long, jade green hair rose from his seat. His face was twisted with sudden, searing rage. This was Lin Qingyu, the successor of the Lin Clan,a long-standing rivals to the Qin Clan. He was nearly ten years older than Qin Ruo and was rumored to be half a step into the Nascent Soul Realm. To be called out by a "junior" at a public ceremony was the ultimate insult.
"Qin Ruo... if you wish for your succession to be a day of humiliation, I will be happy to oblige," Lin Qingyu spat, his voice trembling with Qi.
The two stepped into a secondary combat arena nearby. The moment they crossed the threshold, the protection arrays roared to life, a translucent dome of golden light sealing them in.
"You will regret your arrogance!" Lin Qingyu roared.
He unsheathed a saber that shimmered like a forest under a storm. He moved with a speed Hanyuan's eyes could barely track. "Thousand Wood Slash!"
Thousands of razor-sharp jade green blade shadows erupted, filling the dome like a falling forest, all aimed at the center of the ring.
Qin Ruo didn't even move his feet. His eyes remained cold as he gripped the hilt of his unsheathed blade. "A thousand sticks are still just wood," he whispered.
He drew his sword. It was a singular, elegant motion.
"Echoing Sword."
A horizontal wave of white Qi left his blade. At first, it looked meager compared to the forest of jade blades. But then, a strange sound filled the air,a humming vibration that tripled in intensity every millisecond.
BOOM!
The "Echoing" ray grew until it was a tidal wave of destructive force. It shredded through the jade blades as if they were made of dry leaves.
Lin Qingyu's eyes bulged. He tried to raise his saber in a block, but the sword ray hit him like the hammer of a god. The golden protection array groaned and flickered as the Lin Clan successor was launched through the air, crashing against the barrier so hard that blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the translucent wall red.
One strike. A half-step Nascent Soul master had been utterly defeated by a single strike.
Hanyuan's grip tightened on his own spear. He felt a drop of cold sweat on his temple.
The silence in the plaza was deafening until the Patriarch stood up, his booming laugh breaking the tension.
"The power of the Succesor is proven!" he announced. "Let the banquet begin!"