69: Chapter 69 Forbidden Secret Realm, Two Ancestors

The teleportation array lit up, and the space beneath Wang Pingan collapsed instantly.

The light did not travel upward, but downward, as if drilling deep into the earth.

He looked up at Clan Leader Wang Tianhe, whose expression was calm, yet he deliberately slowed his pace by half a step to let Wang Pingan step into the core of the passage first.

The spatial passage was extremely short, and in the blink of an eye, they landed.

Upon landing, Wang Pingan was taken aback.

This was not the ancestral hall, nor was it the Elder Pavilion; all around were pitch-black mountain walls, and a ball of dark golden light hung overhead, illuminating a radius of a hundred zhang.

Beyond the light orb, the darkness was too thick to see through.

The air was permeated with fluctuations of laws, layer upon layer, so heavy that his demigod divine fire wavered in response.

Wang Pingan opened his mouth to ask a question, but his own voice was stifled by the surrounding laws.

Clan Leader Wang Tianhe walked to his side, his tone a few degrees lower than usual.

"The outer perimeter of the Wang Clan's Forbidden Secret Realm."

"The clan only tells the outside world that our three Tier 4 Deity ancestors are our foundation, but the true core is not in the open."

Wang Pingan's gaze shifted.

He had long found it strange; the two major clans of Tianhai Star had been vying for centuries, and if the Wang Clan relied solely on three Tier 4 Deity ancestors, it would have been impossible to maintain a balance with the Lin Clan all this time.

On the Lin Clan's side, they also openly possessed multiple Tier 4 Deities.

Yet, the two sides had never truly engaged in an all-out war.

This indicated that both sides possessed something the other feared.

Wang Pingan did not ask further and followed Clan Leader Wang Tianhe forward for about three hundred steps until a stone gate appeared at the end.

The stone gate was about fifty zhang high, and its surface was carved with chains of laws, each emitting divine power fluctuations at the level of a Tier 4 Deity.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue was already standing before the gate.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue looked back at Clan Leader Wang Tianhe, who immediately stopped.

"I will wait here for you to come out." Clan Leader Wang Tianhe patted Wang Pingan on the shoulder, his tone devoid of unnecessary words.

Wang Pingan nodded and followed Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue toward the stone gate.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue raised his hand and pressed it against the gate surface, causing the chains of laws to unravel layer by layer, the dull humming sound shaking the ground.

The stone gate opened a crack, and the aura leaking from within pressed directly onto Wang Pingan's divine core.

That was not hostility, but pure power.

Heavier, older, and deeper than Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue.

Wang Pingan steadied his mind and stepped inside.

The stone gate slammed shut behind him.

There was no path in the depths of the secret realm.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue led him, stepping through the void as they flew forward, and with every step, the clear sound of laws colliding could be heard.

After flying for about a hundred breaths, an open space appeared before them.

In the very center of the space, two figures sat cross-legged with their backs to them.

One was draped in a gray robe, his back hunched, yet a mountain-like sense of oppression exuded from his body.

The other was dressed in white, his figure lean, his body suffused with pale golden mist, within which patterns of laws flickered in and out of existence.

The gray-robed elder moved first.

He turned slowly, his pair of cloudy old eyes looking toward Wang Pingan; there was no smile in his gaze, nor was any pressure released, yet all the blood in Wang Pingan's body slowed by a beat.

The white-robed elder turned next, his movements sharper than the gray-robed elder's, his face appearing to be in middle age, with a look of scrutiny in his eyes.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue came to a stop before the two and spoke with a much more respectful tone.

"Great Ancestor, Second Ancestor, I have brought him here."

The gray-robed elder nodded.

Without waiting for an introduction, Wang Pingan bowed directly.

"Junior Wang Pingan pays respects to Great Ancestor and Second Ancestor."

The Second Ancestor nodded slightly.

The Great Ancestor remained silent for a few breaths before speaking slowly.

"Do you know why the Wang Clan is willing to exhaust its foundation to support you?"

This sentence carried an invisible pressure of laws, causing the air in the entire space to freeze.

Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue stood to the side, with no intention of interjecting.

Wang Pingan raised his head, meeting the Great Ancestor's cloudy yet sharp eyes.

There was no standard answer to this question.

But Wang Pingan knew very well that the ancestors did not want to hear about superficial things like talent, championships, or being seeded.

"Because I can win. In my hands, resources can be transformed into combat power that crushes those of the same rank, forging a path to the heavens for the Wang Clan."

His voice was neither servile nor overbearing, his speaking pace neither fast nor slow.

The entire secret realm fell silent for three breaths.

A trace of a smile suddenly appeared on the Great Ancestor's aged face, which was almost devoid of expression.

He turned his head to look at the Second Ancestor.

The Second Ancestor nodded as well, his tone revealing a measure of approval.

"Arrogant enough, but also clear-headed enough."

"Ordinary geniuses, upon being gifted heavy treasures, are often self-satisfied, but in your eyes, there is only victory and combat power."

Wang Pingan stood where he was, his expression composed.

The Great Ancestor raised his hand, and a massive curtain of light appeared out of thin air in the center of the secret realm.

The light curtain lit up, and images from the Seventeen Stars assessment were reflected within.

The first segment was a slow-motion playback of Wang Shan shattering Xiao Xuan's divine core projection with a single punch; the crimson qi solidifying into a fist, the spreading cracks, the shattering divine core—every frame was slowed to the extreme.

The second segment showed one thousand extreme-realm elites breaking through simultaneously, five hundred crimson pillars of light and five hundred giant spirit qi swords piercing the firmament in unison.

The third segment showed a ten-thousand-li spirit cloud vortex pressing down, with the dual phenomena of Immortal Martial intertwining and colliding within the clouds.

After the three segments played in sequence, the Great Ancestor retracted the light curtain.

"A Divine Being defying the odds to slay a demigod, a thousand people breaking through without a single loss, and added to that, this ten-thousand-li spirit cloud dual phenomena pressing down."

"You have accomplished what no one in the Xuanyuan Star Region has done in one hundred thousand years."

With every word the Great Ancestor spoke, the corner of Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue's eye twitched.

Coming from the Great Ancestor's mouth, these words carried more weight than any commendation document.

The Second Ancestor stood up and paced two steps with his hands behind his back.

"Your Great Ancestor and I have discussed this."

"Wang Pingan, you are not only the sole Dao Child of the Wang Clan in this generation, but also the core spark of the clan's Star Region Ascension Plan."

These words landed with such weight that even Third Ancestor Wang Xuanyue drew a sharp breath.

The Star Region Ascension Plan.

This was the highest-level strategic plan within the Wang Clan, meaning the clan was no longer satisfied with the positioning of being the hegemon of Tianhai Star or a third-rate clan in the Federation.

They wanted to push upward.

To reach the sequence of hegemon clans of the Xuanyuan Star Region.

A second-rate clan in the Federation.

The Second Ancestor looked into Wang Pingan's eyes.

"If you do not perish prematurely, within a hundred years, the Wang Clan will have a chance."

The Great Ancestor added from behind, his voice slow but extremely heavy.

"The prerequisite is that you must live to step into the realm of a Tier 6 Deity."

"From now on, all strategic resources of the clan will prioritize your Divine Kingdom."

"What the Wang Clan values is precisely your ability to transform the foundation into peerless combat power."

Upon hearing this, the heat in Wang Pingan's chest was even more intense than when he received the one billion Source Power points.

It was not because of the resources.

It was because of the solemnity with which these two ancestors, who had lived for one hundred thousand years, wagered the clan's destiny on him.

Wang Pingan bowed again.

"Pingan will not let the Wang Clan down."

The Great Ancestor waved his hand.

"Don't be in such a hurry to make declarations; secure what we are about to give you first."