Unlike ancient China, in this world’s ancestral halls, memorial tablets for women are also enshrined, since there are just as many female cultivators.

At the very top sits the memorial tablet of the Chen family’s first matriarch, 【Grace Bennett】.

At this moment—

The young clan leader, Brian Brooks, his temples streaked with gray, held his father Ethan Brooks’s memorial tablet. With every three steps, he bowed, finally placing the tablet at the highest position, and enshrined Ethan Brooks’s mid-grade spiritual weapon—the 【Xuanmo Spirit Sword】—behind the tablet.

At the same time, he continuously chanted, “May Father’s heroic spirit return to its place.”

Behind him, all the clan members—men, women, young and old—knelt on the ground, chanting in unison, “May the ancestor’s heroic spirit return to its place.”

Amidst the chorus of voices calling for the heroic spirit’s return—

Suddenly—

The Xuanmo Spirit Sword behind the tablet trembled ever so slightly, then emitted a gentle glow.

But all the members of the Chen clan were kneeling, and no one noticed this scene.

“Boom!”

Ethan Brooks felt as if something exploded deep within his mind, and he suddenly became clear-headed.

He looked around and found himself seemingly inside a sealed sphere.

He couldn’t get out, but through the crystal wall of the sphere, he could “see” the distorted light of the outside world.

Beyond the crystal wall, it appeared to be the ancestral hall he had personally built. Dozens of filial descendants, dressed in mourning, knelt on the ground, chanting words about the return of the heroic spirit.

What was going on?

Ethan Brooks was filled with shock and doubt.

Having lived nearly two hundred years over his past and present lives, he truly had never seen such a scene.

“Wasn’t I dead?”

Ethan Brooks was stunned for quite a while.

That’s right, wasn’t I already dead?

Chapter 2: The Ancestor’s Spirit Manifests

After a moment of dazed contemplation, Ethan Brooks finally figured out his current situation.

He had died, yet was alive again.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a resurrection.

Rather, he existed in a peculiar heroic spirit state, attached to the spirit pearl within the Xuanmo Spirit Sword.

This mid-grade spirit sword was forged when Ethan Brooks was at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

At that time, he gathered materials and asked the Yunyang Sect’s Artifact Hall to forge the sword, spending a considerable amount of sect contribution.

To embed the Fortune Pearl, he even left a special groove at the end of the sword’s hilt.

All along, the Fortune Pearl that had accompanied him through his transmigration had always been a dull, lusterless glass bead, never bringing him any benefits.

Ethan Brooks embedded the Fortune Pearl simply as a keepsake.

Unexpectedly, only after his death did the Fortune Pearl take effect, turning him into a heroic spirit.

Inside the ancestral hall—

As Ethan Brooks’s descendants continued their kneeling worship, it seemed to create a resonance and connection with the Fortune Pearl.

Wisps of faint purple energy drifted from their bodies, flowing into the Xuanmo Spirit Sword and gathering within the Fortune Pearl.

Gradually, the purple energy inside the Fortune Pearl accumulated—one strand, two strands, nine strands, then a wisp…

The amount of purple energy generated by each descendant varied. The eldest son kneeling at the front, Brian Brooks, produced the most, followed by the youngest son, Eric Brooks.

The further back the descendants knelt, the thinner the purple energy they produced.

At this moment—

Ethan Brooks, peering through the crystal wall of the Fortune Pearl, looked down at his descendants, his heart filled with emotion.

He and his wife Grace Bennett had together borne four sons and three daughters.

Now, only the eldest and youngest sons before him were still alive.

As he sighed with emotion—

The purple energy stopped spreading, having gathered about seventy or eighty strands within the Fortune Pearl, forming a faint ball of purple light.

The Xuanmo Spirit Sword also seemed to have been baptized, subtly elevated.

At this point, the ritual was drawing to a close.

The eldest son, Brian Brooks, paid respects to heaven and earth and reported to the ancestors. Surrounded by the clan, he officially succeeded as the second-generation head of the Cangyi Chen family.

After the ceremony—

Some women, children, and younger clan members left the ancestral hall one after another.

The relatively senior second and third-generation men were kept behind by the new clan head for the first family meeting in the ancestral hall.

Since there were only seven qualified members, the gathering seemed rather sparse.

The new clan head, Brian Brooks, sat at the head seat, while the others took their places according to seniority.

The youngest among them, the third son of the fourth branch’s third generation, Frank Brooks, only in his twenties, respectfully took the last seat.

“Ahem!”

Brian Brooks cleared his throat. Seeing everyone’s attention, he spoke in a solemn tone, “Fellow clansmen, with the passing of the old clan head, I need not say how dire the situation our Cangyi Chen family now faces, do I?”

Everyone’s expressions varied.

The atmosphere in the ancestral hall instantly became grave and heavy.

Especially the fourth brother, Eric Brooks, who sat lower down, his face full of shame. “It’s all my fault for not living up to expectations and failing to reach Foundation Establishment. Otherwise, with two Foundation Establishment cultivators in our family, even if we couldn’t match the glory of Father’s time, at least we could barely maintain our current situation.”

He had been sent to the Yunyang Sect from a young age, receiving resources from both the sect and the family, and had reached the peak of Qi Refining before the age of seventy.

Later, when Ethan Brooks sensed his end approaching, he used his connections and a large amount of family wealth to secure a Foundation Establishment Pill for him.

In the end, Eric Brooks failed to break through to Foundation Establishment, causing all the investment to go to waste.