Transform into ancestral tablets and create a supreme immortal clan.

Inside the ancestral hall, Shen Xiao "watched" the slowly rising offering value on the system panel and listened to the gratitude of his clansmen, but he felt little joy.

The successful diversion of blame only solved the immediate crisis.

If the Bei family survives this calamity, they will remain locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Shen family.

Within the Shen family, Shen Changqing remains a thorn in their side, and Shen Jiuyang's lifespan is nearing its end, so the Shen family's future crisis persists...

The family's predicament is far from over, and it's too early to breathe a sigh of relief.

With the offerings increasing and decreasing, he now has 52 points left, so he must be even more careful with his spending.

The next step is to address Shen Changqing's problem.

Shen Xiao's spiritual sense slowly swept over the dilapidated but fortunate Shen family, then swept towards the chaotic Bei family in the distance, and finally landed on the broader, perilous world of cultivation.

The road to the revival of the Shen family is long and arduous, and he, the "ancestor," has a heavy responsibility to bear.

The head of the family, Shen Shichu, tied up Shen Changqing and temporarily imprisoned him.

As long as Shen Changqing is under control, he will not pose any threat to the Shen family for the time being.

As for the curse on him, we can only ignore it for now.

This was also Shen Xiao's intention!

The most important thing for the Shen family right now is to have the next Foundation Establishment stage combat power.

In this way, by activating the talisman to fight the enemy, even an ordinary late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator can contend with them.

This is why other cultivation families in Mingzhou have not dared to confront the Shen family head-on.

The next day, news finally arrived from the Bei family.

Bei Qingshan, a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator whose neck was practically buried in yellow earth, forcibly swallowed the Exploding Yuan Pill.

By burning his own essence and blood, he increased his cultivation and magical power several times over, briefly possessing strength comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He then severely injured the Blood Corpse, and finally, exhausted and dying, he passed away peacefully.

The blood corpse, now only half its body remaining, escaped using a blood escape technique and its whereabouts became unknown.

Although the Bei family's foundation remained intact after this battle, it was also severely weakened.

One Foundation Establishment cultivator died, more than half of the Qi Refining disciples in the family were lost, all the spiritual fields were destroyed, and the ancestral temple was reduced to ruins.

Shen Zhe was quite satisfied with the result.

As a family with a cultivation tradition spanning hundreds of years, they always have some trump cards up their sleeves and cannot be easily crushed.

Just like the Shen family now, they seem to be on the verge of collapse, but they still have trump cards that make people wary, preventing other forces from making any rash moves.

With the crisis averted, everyone in the Shen family felt as if they had escaped a calamity.

Shen Shichu happily led a group of family members to the ancestral hall once again, where they burned incense and kowtowed.

This was not the annual ancestral worship ceremony, so the ritual was relatively simple.

However, Shen Xiao also gained 50 offering points, which made Shen Zhe very satisfied.

Now, his offering value has become 102 points, and his life value is 30 points.

Although he was still penniless, Shen Xiao was in an exceptionally good mood at the moment.

After all, for him, it's like doing business. Regardless of profit or loss, there should always be income and expenditure to give him hope.

Suddenly, a servant rushed in and whispered a few words in Shen Shichu's ear.

Shen Shichu's expression changed drastically.

"Wasn't the Ancestor in seclusion? Why did he emerge at this time?"

This ancestor is now the pillar of the Shen family in public, so we dare not be careless.

If anything were to happen to them now, the Shen family would be in grave danger.

Although the ancestor Shen Xiao is mysterious and unpredictable, he is ultimately just a memorial tablet.

After all the disciples had finished paying their respects to Shen Zhe, they all came out of the ancestral hall to greet him.

Shen Xiao, whose memorial tablet was also very curious about this Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Shen family.

Although Shen Jiuyang was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stage, he had damaged his foundation a hundred years ago.

However, the fact that the other party was able to protect the Shen family for a hundred years with his own strength and crippled body clearly indicates that he is not a simple character.

A figure dressed in green with white hair emerged from the secret chamber behind the mountain and headed straight for the ancestral temple.

In a short while, it landed on the square outside the ancestral hall.

This is an elderly woman with white hair, who looks frail, but her eyes are bright and piercing.

There was a deathly silence outside the ancestral hall.

The disciples stood with their hands at their sides, deliberately keeping their breathing slow and gentle.

The lingering scent of burning sandalwood still lingered in the air, wisps of it mingling with the dust, floating in the thin sunlight streaming in from the doorway.

All eyes were lowered, cast in awe at the figure slowly entering the ancestral hall.

She walked very slowly, almost unsteadily.

A slightly faded yet impeccably clean blue Taoist robe draped loosely over her gaunt body. With each soft cough, the fabric undulated gently, revealing the emptiness and weakness beneath.

Her sparse white hair was barely tied into a simple Taoist bun, secured with a dusty gray wooden hairpin.

His face was ashen, as if he had never seen the light of day. His skin clung tightly to his bones, and his wrinkles were deep and etched with the marks of over a hundred years of hardship and chronic illness.

However, no one dared to be negligent in the slightest because of this appearance of aging.

When she raised her eyes and slowly swept them over every face and every memorial tablet in the ancestral hall.

An invisible, heavy pressure silently spread.

That wasn't a deliberately emitted spiritual pressure, but something deeper—the majesty accumulated over a century of life and death, holding power, and bearing the weight of a clan's rise and fall.

It is an aura that remains firmly etched into one's very bones even when the foundation is damaged and the vital energy is depleted.

Those disciples whose gaze fell upon her felt a slight tension in their spines and instinctively lowered their heads even further, including the family head, Shen Shichu.

Shen Jiuyang's gaze finally fell on the top of the incense table, on the wooden tablet that shone with spiritual light and was completely different from the many old tablets around it—Shen Xiao's tablet.

Her eyes were completely still, like a deep pool, with a barely perceptible glimmer of doubt and scrutiny.

She did not bow immediately like the others, nor did she utter a sound.

I just watched quietly, as if trying to pierce through that layer of spiritual light and see what truly existed within.

The coughing started again, muffled and oppressive, and sounded particularly clear in the ancestral hall where you could hear a pin drop.

Shen Jiuyang covered her lips with a plain white handkerchief, and then, very slowly, bent her long, straight back towards the memorial tablet.

The movements were not standard, and even had the stiffness characteristic of an elderly person, but every arc conveyed an undeniable solemnity.

"Unworthy descendant Shen Jiuyang." Her voice was hoarse, like rough stones rubbing against each other, yet every word was clear and steadily delivered to everyone's ears.

"Being in seclusion to heal his wounds prevented him from personally witnessing the family's previous calamity, which allowed villains to run rampant and caused the deaths of his descendants."

I have disturbed the peace of our ancestors; I, Jiuyang, am ashamed before them.

She didn't mention her injuries or the dangers of her seclusion; she simply took the blame lightly.

The weight and sincerity in his words brought tears to the eyes of some of the young people below.

Shen Shichu quickly stepped forward, wanting to explain something: "Ancestor, this matter..."

Shen Jiuyang slightly raised her hand, stopping him from speaking.

Her gaze remained fixed on Shen Xiao's memorial tablet, the scrutinizing intent growing ever more pronounced.