There are no ancestors at all; I made them all up.

Chapter 252 Targeting Double Standards
The voice was clear and peaceful, as if it came from beyond the heavens, carrying a penetrating power, and resounding clearly in everyone's ears.

Before the words had even faded, a golden light suddenly shone forth, stretching across the distant horizon and arriving above the battlefield in an instant.

The golden light faded, revealing a middle-aged Taoist priest dressed in a black Taoist robe, wearing a jade crown, with a gaunt face and an aura as deep as the sea.

He possessed no imposing aura, seemingly blending seamlessly with the surrounding world. Just by standing there, he appeared to be at the center of the universe, causing even the raging tribulation clouds above to pause slightly.

The man's gaze was gentle. He first swept over the disheveled Lie Fenyun, Luo Shuanghua, and the others below, then looked at Chen Qing and bowed, saying, "This humble Taoist is Gong Zhen of the Tianji Martial Arts Hall. Greetings, Sect Leader Chen."

Hearing him introduce himself, many of the injured cultivators from the heartland breathed a sigh of relief.

Tianji Martial Arts Hall!
One of the thirty-three sects of Dongling, it has a profound foundation and a great reputation. It is said that it has connections with all sects and factions in Dongling Continent, and even has friendships with the royal families of the two dynasties in the north and south!
This Daoist Gongzhen, whose name is well-known even to the arrogant geniuses of Dongling present, is the Hall Master of the Law Hall of the Heavenly Mystery Martial Arts Hall, responsible for punishments. He is a recognized top-tier Golden Core cultivator and a veteran. Thirty years ago, he obtained the Primordial Qi and has been nurturing it ever since. He is now a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, lacking only the corresponding external realm pills!
His appearance here must be to secretly protect us!
Chen Qing looked at the newcomer and asked, "What brings you here, sir?"

Seeing Chen Qing's cold attitude, Daoist Gongzhen remained unperturbed and said with a gentle smile, "Sect Leader Chen's supernatural abilities are unparalleled, which I admire. However..." He pointed to the crowd below, "Nephew Lie, Nephew Luo, and Nephew Leng are all outstanding young talents of our Eastern Spirit Continent, with many sects involved behind them. If anything were to happen to them, it would likely cause unnecessary trouble, which would be unfortunate for both Sect Leader Chen and Mingxia Mountain. How about we, for my sake, show some leniency and turn hostility into friendship?"

As he spoke, he casually flicked his sleeve.

"Om-"

A pale golden, gossamer-thin light curtain silently spread out from its center, enveloping the injured people below, along with the open portal of the ruins.

Above the light screen, Daoist energy flowed, emanating a state of perfect harmony and invulnerability to all laws, subtly resonating with the laws of heaven and earth!

Immediately, Chen Qingxin sensed something and realized that the essence of this light barrier was a protective technique at the Nascent Soul level! Although it was only used for defense and not for attack, the level and power it displayed had already surpassed the Golden Core level!

He also understood the other party's thoughts: they hoped to use this to make him back down and give up.

Seeing this, Bai Qichen and the others who were watching from a distance felt relieved: "With Master Gongzhen personally stepping in and displaying such supernatural powers, this matter should be resolved, and there will be room for maneuver in the future!"

Then, excitement flashed in his eyes.

“I misjudged him this time, and underestimated the heroes of the world! The master I have apprenticed to actually possesses such abilities! A top-tier Golden Core cultivator, with a Nascent Soul protective technique! Amazing! My judgment is truly remarkable! This matter must be reported to Father! With such a close teacher and being so highly regarded by him, even without that marriage contract, my status in the family is already quite different!”

Beside him, Sect Leader Zhou, who had come along, chimed in at the opportune moment: "Seventh Young Master is currently helping Sect Leader Chen manage the sect and enjoys his deep trust. He is clearly being groomed to be the next sect leader!"

"Good! Good!" Bai Qichen immediately beamed with joy. "My little brother has done a good deed without saying a word. In the future, if he needs anything, he won't need to ask his family. They can just allocate it to him directly! By the way, didn't Sect Leader Chen ask him to investigate the origin of a mountain?"

Manager Zhou replied, "I have already informed my family."

Bai Qichen immediately said, "Urgent! Find out the truth as soon as possible! Convey my message to me again right now!"

"Here!"

Many others, like him, were now at peace with themselves and were considering other matters.

However, Chen Qing looked at the golden light screen, then at Daoist Gong Zhen, and suddenly asked, "Master Gong Zhen, why are you only coming out now?"

Daoist Gongzhen was slightly taken aback, not expecting Chen Qing to ask this question. He then smiled and said, "I happened to be nearby and sensed the violent fluctuations in the energy here. Fearing that it might cause a great disaster, I rushed here. Fortunately, it has not yet reached the point of no return."

He felt that his explanation was reasonable.

But Chen Qing shook his head and asked again, "I'm asking why you came out at this time?"

The smile on Gongzhen Daoist's face froze, a sense of unease creeping into his heart, but he still forced a smile and said, "What do you mean by that, Sect Leader Chen? I don't understand..."

"Don't understand?" Chen Qing interrupted him, directly asking, "Where were you when they were running rampant outside my mountain gate, unleashing their supernatural powers and threatening to burn down the mountain and destroy my sect's spiritual foundation? Did you step in to stop them then? Did you display your Nascent Soul Protection Technique to safeguard my Mingxia Mountain Range?"

Upon hearing this, Daoist Gongzhen stopped smiling and frowned.

Chen Qingze said, "You stood by and watched them commit violence, and only after I took action and defeated them all did you, the 'nearby' Master Gongzhen, finally 'rush over' to act as a peacemaker, first offering a way out, pretending to be a good person, and then displaying your supernatural powers to make me 'go easy on you'?"

He shook his head and said, "You're the one who does the good deed, but I'm the one who suffers the consequences? Master Gongzhen, you're really messing with me! If you have a bias, there's no need to pretend to be neutral."

Gongzhen Daoist's smile vanished, and his polite demeanor disappeared. He said indifferently, "Then what do you intend to do? I'll say it again: all my words are for your own good. You do have some talent, and your supernatural abilities are astonishing, but your foundation is too shallow. You're just a small sect on the outskirts, and you can see the end from the beginning. There are some things that people from the major sects in the heartland can do, but you can't."

Crack! Crack! Crack!

At this moment, the two had clearly abandoned their superficial politeness, and their auras began to clash head-on. The distinct areas of their presence compressed and collided, unexpectedly erupting into a powerful force.

The crowd below, whether they were the Eastern Spirit Prodigy, the Demonic Path True Person, or those watching from afar, all heard the conversation between the two clearly. Their expressions varied, but most of them showed alarm and worry!
Bai Qichen's expression changed slightly, and he thought to himself, "This is bad!" He then glanced at Bai Shaoyou standing next to Chen Qing, and was about to send a message.

However, Chen Qing was faster than them!
"Boom!" As the clouds in the sky churned, the thick black clouds pressed down even further, as if the entire sky was about to fall. The terrifying sense of oppression even made Daoist Gongzhen change color.

He said in a deep voice, "Sect Leader Chen! You need to think this through. I may have selfish motives, but it is inevitable for people to have selfish motives. Lie Fenyun and the others are my juniors. Can I just stand by and watch them suffer?"

“You’re right.” Chen Qing nodded, then asked, “But what does that have to do with me? Why should I understand your thoughts and wrong myself?”

Before he finished speaking, he pointed his fingers like a sword at Daoist Gongzhen and the golden light screen he had erected!
"boom!!!"

The long-brewing, pitch-black calamity clouds suddenly began to boil!

Countless jets of black lightning, as thick as buckets, leaped and converged into a massive, terrifying bolt of lightning, like a pillar of heaven. It tore through the sky, carrying a terrifying aura that suppressed the entire world, and struck down towards Daoist Gongzhen and the golden light curtain behind him!

Daoist Gongzhen's pupils shrank suddenly, revealing a look of horror!

"You actually dared to lay a hand on me?!"

He felt a deadly threat!

"The Great Void Spiritual Jade is impervious to all magic!"

He roared and pushed his Golden Core to its limit, unleashing his Nascent Soul technique without reservation!
The golden light curtain shone brightly, with countless mysterious runes flowing wildly on its surface, trying to withstand this earth-shattering blow.

however--

"Crack!!!"

Before that mighty thunderous aura, the seemingly indestructible "Tai Xu Ling Bi," which contained the Daoist essence of the Nascent Soul stage, only lasted for less than a breath before shattering!

The crack spread instantly across the entire light screen, centered on the point where the lightning bolt struck!
"puff!"

Daoist Gongzhen trembled violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with shock: "This power... this shouldn't be the performance of a Golden Core cultivator activating a Nascent Soul protective technique..."

next moment!
"Bang!!!"

The entire golden light curtain shattered with a deafening roar, turning into countless golden specks of light that vanished into the heavens and earth!

Although the power of the lightning pillar was largely neutralized by the light barrier, the remaining lightning power still swept across like an angry dragon!
"Ugh!"

Daoist Gongzhen was the first to be hit. His protective spiritual light flickered and dimmed. He was blasted backward, leaving a trail of afterimages and bloody light in the air, before crashing heavily onto a distant mountain peak, kicking up clouds of dust!

"boom!"

The next moment, he exploded through the mountain peak and took off again, but was immediately suppressed by a beam of bloody light!
"A second type of Nascent Soul protection method? This is... the Blood River Incarnation?!"

Those Eastern Spirit prodigies who were originally protected by the light barrier were not directly hit by the lightning pillar, but they were still swept by the shattered shockwave and scattered lightning. They were injured and rolled away, leaving the scene in a mess!
"Zzz..."

However, the tribulation clouds in the sky seemed to have exhausted their power, and began to twist and tremble.

Chen Qing raised his hand and the tribulation clouds dispersed instantly. Dark lightning fell into his palm, leaping and erratically, and emitted a sword cry like a dragon's roar!
This sword, fed back from the Thunder Pool of the Immortal Dynasty in the Dream, is showing signs of transformation!

A thought struck him: in his dream, his body was still trapped at the bottom of hell, while his natal lightning sword was floating and nurturing in the lightning pool, absorbing the thunder of eternity. If his body in the dream could not escape for a long time, what would the true form of the lightning sword be like when it emerged after decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years of immersion?
I'm afraid even that Thunder Pool will be drained dry?
As he pondered, his gaze swept across the ravaged battlefield below. Seeing that the Eastern Spirit prodigies were all wounded and looked terrified, he considered how to deal with them.

"Om-"

Just then, a tremor suddenly arose in the Niwan Palace, and Chen Qing abruptly looked up at the now-open gate of the Taiyin Palace.

Behind the deep crack in the door, a clear and bright moon hung high, its light like silk, shining through the crack and falling down in strands, resonating with the energy around him!

The feeling of being called was more than ten times stronger than before!
It was as if something deep within the moon palace was intertwined with his life, earnestly calling him back to his rightful place!
"It's almost certain that these ruins were left behind after the Nascent Soul cultivators of Yuehua Mansion laid a trap. It's amazing that they haven't been completely destroyed and have formed ruins that have survived to this day. But I escaped as soon as I had the chance; how could I have left anything behind? This feeling is so strong; it must be a trap! This place is indeed strange. I need to get rid of it quickly and go find that strange mountain..."

"I found it!"

At this moment!

A sharp cry broke the silence!
But Bai Qichen arrived in a flying boat, his voice preceding his arrival: "Sect Leader Chen! We've made progress on the mountain you're looking for!"

(End of this chapter)