“21,000 meters!! In the current generation of the Fang Clan, there aren’t even ten people who can cause a 21,000-meter Gatebeam to appear! Today… there’s one more! Who is this person?”

“It’s definitely someone from an auxiliary bloodline. I’m eighty percent certain that it’s Tao’er.”

The Fang Clan members outside East Heaven Gate were completely astonished. Meanwhile, back on Planet East Victory, seven bell tolls had rung out into the ears of all Fang Clan members. It was at this point that Meng Hao’s 19th Uncle, who sat by the lake drinking alcohol, suddenly quivered. He slowly put the flagon of alcohol down and looked up into the sky.

“Seven bell tolls…” he thought. “Who exactly is stepping into the Fang Clan’s gate for the first time. Could it be… that it’s Hao’er?!?!” 19th Uncle suddenly stood up and waved his hand. The young man who had been hanging there upside down let out a shriek as 19th Uncle grabbed him and flew up into the air.

“Dad! Dad, it was my fault! I really made a mistake….” 19th Uncle completely ignored the young man’s shrieks, simply carrying him along as he shot toward East Heaven Gate. He had to see if this newcomer… really was Meng Hao!

Meanwhile, in the Fang Clan ancestral mansion, there was another temple hall in which two people sat. One was an old man, the other slightly younger. They sat there cross-legged, listening to the tolling of the bell.

The old man’s eyes opened, and he coolly said, “Go see which bloodline this person comes from. If it’s ours, then it doesn’t matter. If not… ask that person to come here; I can always adopt another grandchild.”

The middle-aged man’s expression was dignified, and he actually somewhat resembled Fang Xiufeng. He nodded, then strode away and vanished. When he reappeared, he was up in the sky.

His eyes glittered brightly.

“Latent talent with a 21,000-meter Gatebeam. That’s only a little bit less than my boy, and makes this person worthy of becoming his little brother.”

At the same time, deep down in the earth beneath the Fang Clan ancestral mansion, there was an Immortal’s cave. It was filled with dense Immortal qi, the reason being that the entire Immortal’s cave… was made of Immortal jade!

A young, bare-chested man sat cross-legged in that Immortal’s cave, surrounded by nine wizened old men. The old men were bound with iron chains that were in turn connected to spell formations. The men howled shrilly as Immortal qi flowed out from them into the spell formations, and was then absorbed by the young man.

There were an additional three old men who stood in the cave, observing the process with slight smiles.

“Prince, your cultivation base is continuing to progress.”

“Considering your latent talent, Prince, you can definitely be reckoned one of the very best in all the Ninth Mountain and Sea. Soon, even the Chosen from the Three Great Daoist Societies will have no choice but to bow their heads in your presence.”

“Prince, you have incredible ambitions. It won’t be long before you reach true Immortal Ascension. Then, you will be able to sweep across all the Chosen in the Ninth Mountain and Sea.”

It was at this point that the tolling of the bells reached their ears, and the faces of the three men flickered. The young man, however, continued to meditate.

None of the non-Fang Clan members on Planet East Victory could hear the bells. However, more and more Fang Clan members were flying out and heading toward East Heaven Gate, gathering there to look at the boundless Gatebeam.

“Just who exactly is it…?”

“There’s no need to get excited. We’ll be able to see who it is soon enough. Pretty soon, this person’s rank in the clan is going to be very different from everyone else!”

Within the crowd, Meng Hao’s 19th Uncle peered toward the shadow in the Fang Clan’s gate, trembling. n.o.body else had ever seen Meng Hao before, and thus, wouldn’t recognize him. However, 19th Uncle could sense something familiar about the shadow.

“Who is it?” asked the young man next to 19th Uncle, staring with wide eyes. “Who has a 21,000-meter Gatebeam?” In response, his father smacked him hard.

“Dad….” grumbled the young man, scowling. He was just about to say something else when, all of a sudden, more rumbling could be heard, and the beam of light coming from the Fang Clan’s gate… shot higher once again.

RUMMMBLLLE!

It went from 21,000 meters all the way to 24,000 meters. The grand sight caused all the Fang Clan Members outside East Heaven Gate to stare blankly.

“Heavens! What’s… what’s going on!?!?”

“24,000 meters. I can’t believe… that it actually reached 24,000 meters! Prince Wei’s Gatebeam is also 24,000 meters! This person’s bloodline is actually as strong as Prince Wei’s!”

“Who is there in the clan that could pull this off? It’s impossible! If I remember correctly, there is no clan member at all who has a bloodline like this!!”

Amidst all the uproar, there were a few old men in the crowd from the Fang Clan whose expressions were grim and bitter, and who said nothing. There weren’t many people like that in the crowd, but they were all direct bloodline descendants of the Fang Clan!

Their glory was now a thing of the past. First Meng Hao’s grandfather had gone missing, then his father went to Planet South Heaven. After that, the direct bloodline Patriarchs all went into secluded meditation and wouldn’t emerge. The direct bloodline was in decline, and the situation was only continuing to grow worse.

When they saw the boundless light in front of them, they could only sigh.

“Our bloodline used to have someone who could considered a true Chosen!! It’s too bad… he was supposed to return last year, but… now we don’t even know if he’s alive or dead.”

There was another person in the crowd, a person who had just arrived. He was the middle-aged man who intended to try to acquire Meng Hao for his own bloodline. Originally, he stood there in the middle of all the other clan members, smiling broadly.

However, now that the Gatebeam had reached 24,000 meters, his eyes widened, and deep therein could be seen a flicker of killing intent. It didn’t matter who this person in the gate was, the fact that they had caused a 24,000-meter Gatebeam to appear meant that they were a threat to his son.

Grand Elder Fang Tongtian’s pupils constricted imperceptibly. However, his expression was one of kindness, and even more so, excitement.

“Wonderful! It appears that the Fang Clan will soon have another almighty Chosen like Fang Wei!”

The Fang Clan was in an uproar. On Planet East Victory, the bell had tolled eight times, and the clan members who had not already flown up into the air were astonished. Whether it was the young man in the blood-colored desert, or the middle-aged man practicing cultivation in the volcano, or anyone else, they all flew up.

Back in the ancestral mansion, the old man who had sent his son to East Heaven Gate suddenly opened his eyes, and they shone with terrifying light.

“24,000 meters. Other than my grandson, there is no one in the current generation of the Fang Clan who has such a strong bloodline. This person must not be from Planet East Victory!

“It’s him… it must be that d.a.m.ned son of a b.i.t.c.h!! He’s not dead after all!” At first, killing intent flickered in his eyes, but then he frowned, and felt fear welling up in his heart. This was Planet East Victory, and because of the Fang Clan Dao Reserves… it didn’t matter how high up he was in the clan, he didn’t dare to publicly break clan rules.

“Dammit, he’s making such a big scene! You can tell he’s a profound schemer!”

By now, everyone in the Fang Clan was shaken. Meng Hao’s Gatebeam put him on par with the number one Chosen in the clan, Fang Wei. The strength of such a bloodline was completely terrifying.

The ordinary clan members were all excited, but those clan members with deep cultivation bases or otherwise held significant influence watched with various expressions. They were happy to see a Chosen appear. However, if that Chosen’s power reached a terrifying level… then it wouldn’t actually be a joyous occasion.

If this person threatened Fang Wei’s status, a fight would surely break out like that between a dragon and a tiger, the result would be a clan member dying, and would affect the struggle for supremacy by the various sub-branches in the family. In-clan fighting was a very complicated thing.

Meng Hao stood there in the Fang Clan’s gate, his eyes closed but his blood surging. As it flowed through his body, he could sense that… there was still more power locked in his blood.

He took a deep breath and then suddenly opened his eyes.

“If I’m going to make a big scene, then I might as well go all out!” His cultivation base exploded with power, his blood flowed, and the entire gate began to shake. The Gatebeam outside once again shot up higher into the sky.

25,000 meters. 26,000 meters… 27,000 meters!

A buzz of conversation rose up, but was quickly silenced as… the beam continued to climb higher!

28,000 meters. 28,500 meters… 29,000… All the way to…

29,900 meters!

30,000 meters!! [1. In the original Chinese, 30,000 meters is written as 10,000 ‘zhang.' When the two characters '10,000' and ‘zhang’ are combined into a word, it also means “extremely high/deep” or “lofty"]

All of the Fang Clan members were completely shaken to the maximum. Although Grand Elder Fang Tongtian’s pupils dilated with shock, his face was plastered with a huge smile. The older members of the clan were frowning, but the ordinary clan members were shouting out in happiness.

“30,000 meters!! That’s even more than Prince Wei! This person’s bloodline purity is unprecedented!!”

“A 30,000-meter Gatebeam! In the tens of thousands of years of recorded clan history, there has never been something like this before!!”

“According to the legends, only the early ancestors of the clan had a 30,000-meter Gatebeam. That means this person’s bloodline… evoked an Ancestral Awakening!!”

Meng Hao’s 19th Uncle was incredibly excited, and his eyes shone brightly.

“It’s definitely Hao’er. Only a grandson of the direct bloodline could have blood like that!!”

On Planet East Victory, the ninth bell tolled, and then a tenth. As they echoed out, the old man in the ancestral mansion suddenly shot to his feet, an expression of disbelief on his face. Deep beneath the surface of the ground, the young man in the Immortal’s cave who was absorbing the Immortal qi from the nine old men suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were violet, and shone with a strange glow.

“So, has he returned…?” the young man murmured.

On this day, the Fang Clan members were sent into unprecedented astonishment.

On this day, the crowds were packed tight outside East Heaven Gate.

On this day, all of the powerful experts of the Fang Clan flew out to East Heaven Gate.

On this day, the cultivators who had lined up outside East Heaven Gate experienced something they would never forget.

On this day, Feng Xun saw something that he would remember for his whole life, something like a dream. A cultivator he knew as Meng Hao… stepped into the Fang Clan’s gate, and a 30,000-meter Bloodline Gatebeam shot up. It was the stuff of legends, and perhaps, the foundation of a myth.

Rumbling echoed out from the Fang Clan’s gate as the brilliant light slowly faded away. The eyes of all onlookers, of all the Fang Clan members, were cast toward the gate. Gradually, what became clear was an unfamiliar young man who walked out to stand in front of everyone.

He was tall and slender, and wore a long blue robe. His black hair drifted about in the air around him, and his face was somewhat sallow and thin. However, as he stood there, he looked like he was standing on top of the sun.

His eyes shone brightly, like stars, and as he stood there, he looked around at everyone a bit bashfully.

“My father is Fang Xiufeng. My mother is Meng Li. My big sister is Fang Yu. I took my mother’s surname, and my name is Meng Hao. Grandfathers and Grandmothers, Uncles, Brothers and Sisters... greetings!”

Meng Hao clasped hands and bowed deeply.