271: Chapter 271 Whoever wants to be this grandson can be one.

Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was incredibly strange.

Meng Xiao's crisp cry of "Godfather" seemed to echo, leaving Chen You're entire body stiff.

And outside, there were countless players continuously shouting and cheering.

He really wanted to correct them; he wasn't impressive at all—the truly impressive ones were them.

It was simply a cow on a plane—utterly sky-high levels of 'awesome'.

“Brother Chen, you needn't be troubled,” Meng De Meng said, clearly misunderstanding Chen You's silence as he stroked his beard and smiled.

“Xiao'er has had a hard life, but she has a good eye. She knows who a true great hero is.”

I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense.

Chen You twitched the corner of his mouth, forcing a stiff smile.

He didn't want to speak right now. If he said one more word to this family, who knows what kind of ridiculous dialogue it would trigger.

The players on both sides of the street had completely fallen into a sort of fanatical collective frenzy.

Someone had even set up an altar on the spot, enshrining a live portrait of Chen You with three sticks of incense burning beside it, muttering prayers under their breath.

“Believe in Brother Chen, gain eternal life!”

“Worship the Big Boss, never fail an exam!”

Chen You: “...”

He silently pulled the curtains of the carriage window shut.

In this manner, under the nearly delirious gaze and escort of the city's players, this guard of honor—whose scale was exaggerated to the extreme—finally slowly drove out of Thousand Light City's West Gate.

Once outside the city, the field of vision suddenly opened up.

But the players following the convoy didn't decrease; instead, there were even more.

Many players who had heard the news and rushed over from other places joined the torrent, a mighty procession following at least a kilometer behind the convoy.

A dense, black mass of people—the scene was truly spectacular.

The convoy's destination was the Tomb of Thousand Lights outside the city.

Because of the anniversary event dungeon, the area outside the Tomb of Thousand Lights was exceptionally deserted at the moment.

Only a dozen or so solo players, seemingly camping for some elite mobs, were gathered together shooting the breeze.

“Damn, this godforsaken place is a wasteland. The elite mobs respawn so slowly, it's really boring.”

“Tell me about it. If I hadn't heard that rare materials occasionally drop here...”

Before the words finished, a sharp-eyed player suddenly stood up, staring into the distance in a daze.

“Brothers, look... what is that?”

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

On the distant horizon, golden light shimmered as an army that seemed to have no end slowly pressed forward.

Banners fluttered and armor gleamed in the sun. An aura of slaughter and majesty could be clearly felt even from miles away.

“Holy crap? Is... is this a war? Where did this army come from?”

“Wait, that armor is Thousand Light City's 'Thousand Light Gilded Armor'!”

“Why such a huge spectacle? Is the Meng De... moving his ancestral graves?”

Just as these dozen or so players were filled with doubt and even thought it was a system bug, the massive honor guard arrived at the huge open space before the tomb entrance.

The precious carriage came to a steady halt.

Meng De Meng was the first to step out.

He looked around at this land where the ancestors of the Meng Family were buried, then looked back at the incomparably luxurious carriage.

And then at the crowd of onlookers behind that stretched as far as the eye could see, his chest swelling even higher.

He took a deep breath and, with all his might, let out a shout that echoed through the clouds.

“I, Meng De, an unfilial descendant of the Meng Family, lead the entire clan, along with the sage of this era and our clan's supreme guest, Mr. Chen You, to pay respects to our ancestors!”

“Open—the—altar—!”

With the command, hundreds of golden-armored guards moved in unison, quickly clearing an area in the center of the clearing.

Following that, teams of attendants filed out, carefully carrying out the 'offerings' that Chen You had purchased earlier.

“Hiss—”

When those 'glittering and translucent' offerings were brought out, the dozen players watching from a distance all sucked in a breath of cold air.

“What... what kind of spiritual beast is that? Used as an offering?”

“Look at those fruits! They have a treasure glow! They're definitely spiritual fruits that can permanently increase attributes!”

“And that joss paper... am I seeing things? Why does it look like it's made of Golden Silk? Burning this? The ancestors' graves will probably have a hole scorched through them!”

The players' worldviews were being refreshed again and again.

They had seen the nouveau riche, but never anyone this 'rich'.

This wasn't ancestor worship; this was clearly using money to humiliate the ancestors.

Under Meng De Meng's 'enthusiastic' support, Chen You stepped out of the carriage. Looking at this busy and absurd scene, he felt his secondhand embarrassment had reached a terminal stage.

He just wanted to finish the process quickly, trigger the quest, and then find a quiet place where no one was around.

Meng De Meng, however, was clearly excited to the extreme.

He personally directed the attendants, placing the priceless offerings one by one on the massive, temporarily constructed altar.

With each item placed, he would chant loudly, announcing the origin and preciousness of the offering to the heavens, the ancestors, and the countless players watching from behind.

“One spiritual beast, the Black Zhi! In gratitude for the ancestors' merit in blazing the trail!”

“One plate of Hundred-Year Vermilion Fruits! Praying for our clan's bloodline to flourish endlessly!”

“Ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine Golden Silk Mithril Treasure Coins! For the ancestors' comfort in the underworld!”

His voice was loud and full of emotion; at the most moving parts, his eyes even turned red.

It was as if he could already see the ancestors below being so moved that they were shedding tears of gratitude.

Chen You stood to the side expressionlessly.

He even felt a bit of sympathy for the Meng Family ancestors.

With such a one-track-minded descendant, they probably couldn't rest in peace down there.

Wait, the ancestors also came up with that Blood Sacrifice Contract... this Meng Family itself is toxic!

Finally, all the conventional offerings were in place.

The entire altar radiated treasure light and spiritual mist; anyone who didn't know better would think some heavenly treasure was about to emerge.

Meng De Meng took two steps back, looking at his masterpiece with satisfaction. Then, he turned to Chen You, his expression becoming more solemn and devout than ever before.

“Brother Chen,” he whispered, his tone incredibly grave, “everything is ready. All we lack is... the Heaven-Reaching Incense!”

Chen You's heart stirred, and he gave a faint nod.

He took out the long, narrow, dark-red wooden box from his backpack.

The moment the wooden box appeared, the surrounding air seemed to freeze for an instant.

A faint, ethereal aura of the underworld emanated from the wooden box, causing everyone present to feel a sudden, inexplicable palpitation.

“Present the sacred object!”

Meng De Meng shouted again.

Two elders wearing sacrificial robes walked forward tremblingly, taking the wooden box from Chen You's hands as if they were holding a priceless treasure.

They placed the wooden box flat in front of the incense burner at the very center of the altar.

One of the elders took a deep breath, pressed his hands on one end of the box, and while muttering under his breath, slowly pulled it open.

Then he took out the Jade-Gold Incense.

With a thought from Chen You.

“Click.”

“Click.”

Accompanied by strange, crisp sounds, the massive dark-gold incense slowly extended.

One meter, two meters, five meters...

Finally, under everyone's upward gaze, the tip of the giant incense stopped steadily at a height of ten meters, like a golden spear pointing straight at the sky.

On the surface of the incense, dark golden liquid flowed slowly within the dense grooves, emitting an indescribably eerie fragrance.

【Heaven-Reaching Jade Gold Incense (Unique Custom Edition)】

When this thing was revealed, forget the distant players—even Meng De Meng himself was dazed.

He knew the specifications of the offerings Chen You prepared were extremely high, but he never expected them to reach this level.

This incense... if lit, wouldn't it really poke a hole in the sky?

“Bro... Brother Chen...”

Meng De Meng's voice was trembling. He looked at Chen You, and in his eyes, besides admiration, there was now a hint of fear.

“Such a divine object should be... lit by your own hand, to reach the heavens and console the ancestors!”

Again?

Chen You frowned.

He didn't want to kneel and bow before a bunch of NPCs' ancestral tablets.

However, as the words of refusal reached his lips, he hesitated again.

This hidden quest would trigger a monster siege. Looking at it now, the monsters would most likely come from this Tomb of Thousand Lights.

Those inside the Tomb of Thousand Lights were the ancestors of Thousand Light City; why would they attack their own city?

If an outsider were to offer the first incense, would that be considered disrespectful?

In that case, would it cause the ancestors to be dissatisfied?

And then they'd attack the city at the slightest provocation?

It felt very likely to be the case!

Thinking of this, Chen You couldn't help but frown.

Did he really have to play the role of the filial descendant?

No!

He couldn't!

Chen You couldn't help but turn his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd of onlookers.