C3

One day later, Qin Lie returned to the Duke Palace and went straight to his residence.

Many people heard that Qin Lie had been killed by the Demon Beast, but they never thought that he would actually come back to life, and this caused a huge uproar within the Duke Palace.

Tu Mo and the others naturally would not believe that Qin Lie was still alive, but when they saw him in the courtyard with their own eyes, they were as shocked and terrified as if they had seen a ghost.

"This brat actually did not die, big brother Tu Mo, what should we do? "If that kid tells us that we secretly harmed him, I'm afraid …" Wu Fang looked at Tu Mo who had an extremely gloomy expression.

Tu Mo looked at Qin Lie sinisterly, and then laughed sinisterly: "What are you afraid of, Uncle Xia Heng has long planned everything beforehand, it's not a bad thing that he didn't die, tomorrow's Family Competition just happens to use him as a threat!" As they spoke, a tyrannical power at the ninth level of the Body Refining Stage scattered from Tu Mo's body.

Seeing the confident look on Tu Mo's face, Wu Fang laughed sinisterly.

On the opposite side of the courtyard, the sounds of wind and thunder could be heard incessantly. Dragon's Might and Elephant's Qi continued to rise, overflowing from within as beams of light shot out, filling the sky with clouds.

"Ah …"

A low and deep growl came out, the muscles and bones in Qin Lie's body resonated, creating a sound. With a boom, the soil and rocks in the courtyard cracked and turned into powder. Qin Lie walked out and released a strong aura.

In order to test his true strength, he walked to the edge of the Arctic Mountain Range, and took away all the low leveled Demon Beast at the edge of the Arctic Mountain Range. After a long while, Qin Lie retracted his aura, and revealed his true appearance as he smiled.

"Brother Lie, is that you?!" On the way back to the manor, Pang Bo's voice came from not too far away.

Seeing Pang Bo and Luo Hou running over while gasping for breath, Qin Lie laughed happily. Although these two were low level bodyguards of the Duke Palaces, he had always treated them as brothers, and the two of them were the same.

When they stopped, Qin Lie casually asked: "Why are you two here?"

"Brother Lie, the First Miss is back. Protector Xia Heng requested for everyone in the Duke Palace to go welcome her." Luo Hou said slowly.

"Eldest Miss? You mean Xia Menglan? " Qin Lie frowned slightly.

"That's right, hurry up. If you're late, you'll be punished." Pang Bo urged.

Hearing that, Qin Lie no longer hesitated, and followed the two to the entrance of the Duke Palace.

Just as he rushed over, Qin Lie saw a beautiful lady who looked like a fairy from heaven walking towards the palace entrance.

She was wearing a set of Red s, walking towards the end of the road, her entire body carried a transcendent aura, which could be sensed from far away. With each step, an invisible aura formed around her, causing everyone to prostrate down, not daring to raise their heads.

At the back of the crowd, Luo Hou and Pang Bo who were beside her naturally knelt down, but Qin Lie slightly bent his body and did not lower his waist. From the corner of his eyes, he shot a glance at the lady with an unparalleled temperament, and instantly felt a burst of awe.

A white veil covered her face, and the Red s continued to wrap around her, appropriately covering her exceptional complexion, which was better than snow. However, her pair of watery eyes were very bright, just like jade and celestial gold.

"Is she the daughter of the Demon Suppressing King, Xia Menglan? a woman whose entire Heavenly Dragon Empire has been overturned … " Qin Lie took a deep breath, feeling extremely unsettled in his heart. At first glance, it looked very illusory, but as it neared, it felt even more real. This feeling was very strange, as if a beautiful celestial maiden had suddenly come out of the painting.

"Welcome back, Eldest Miss!" Xia Heng who was in the inner courtyard had already been waiting for a while, upon seeing Xia Chu Lan walking closer, he immediately called out, and respectfully kowtowed to Xia Menglan.

"Welcome back, Eldest Miss!" When Xia Heng shouted, the guards and Direct Vein disciples inside the Duke Palace also shouted out at the same time, and some of the disciples from the other branches also shouted. However, in the eyes of the Direct Vein, the standing of the other branches were almost the same as the guards. Since the important figures of Direct Vein had arrived, they all wanted to pay their respects and pay their respects.

Qin Lie couldn't suppress the curiosity in his heart, and was about to raise his head and enjoy watching the show.

"Shua!" Suddenly, Xia Chu Lan also happened to look over, her eyes were cold and sharp, causing Qin Lie's state of mind to be shaken to the point of dissipating, after that, he lowered her head slightly.

He only felt a fragrant wind, and felt Xia Chu Lan walk past him, only then did Qin Lie raise his head to look carefully.

She was born with a body full of beauty and wisdom, shining like a star in the night sky. Before she was even ten years old, she already has a Cultivation Level of the eighth stage of the Body Refining Stage, so forget about the disciples of the Duke Palaces, even the entire Heavenly Dragon Empire would be innumerable.

One year ago, an elder of the Primordial Ten Sects came here. When he noticed that Xia Menglan was not ordinary, he accepted him as a disciple, which meant to say, Xia Menglan was a disciple of the Ten Sects. When the ministers of the Divine Martial Empire saw this, they had to show great respect as well. Even the emperor had to respectfully call her "fairy."

These past few years, Xia Menglan had not been to the Duke Palaces for a long time, so many people guessed that she had gone out with the Ten Sects Elder to train, and also went to search for a natural treasure to forge the Autumn Frost Sword. This was the reason why Qin Lie and the others had spent forty-nine days to gather dew. But now, with Xia Menglan's return, the training had come to an end. After the coming of age ceremony, she would officially become a Ten Sects disciple.

The Primordial Ten Sects was a legend that had passed through the Archaeozoic Era. It had been standing here for ten thousand years, and to be able to attract the attention of an elder of the Ten Sects, it could be seen how terrifying Xia Menglan's Inherent skill was.

"Xia Menglan is here, Demon Suppressing King's Xia Hou is also here, right?" Qin Lie said to himself.

Sure enough, after a moment, another silhouette arrived in the horizon. His black hair was in chaos as he took a step forward, crossing over billions of mountains and rivers as he arrived here.

"Welcome back, Demon Suppressing King!" Xia Heng took the lead and shouted again.

"Welcome back, Demon Suppressing King!"

All the clansmen in the manor shouted in unison, resounding throughout the nine heavens and ten earth. In the midst of all the greetings, Demon Suppressing King's Xiahou came. Dozens of heavily armored followers followed behind him. Their movements were uniform as they clustered behind Xiahou.

"Get up!" He faintly spoke with a domineering aura.

Within the crowd, Qin Lie carefully sized up the entire person. His slender figure, untidy black hair, and terrifying eyes, seemed to be an ancient devil mountain as his entire person stood there like a wall. That aura was as heavy as a mountain and as deep as the ocean.

He stood in the center of the palace and looked at everyone. Amongst the crowd, Xia Menglan was also present.

Scorching gazes locked onto Xiahou Yuan, who was seated in the seat of honor.

In the end, he declared that the competition had begun!

Hearing this, everyone became excited.

This was the Family Competition, and it was the most lively festival in the past year.

The people that participated in the Family Competition all mustered their strength and went all out. They vowed to defeat all of their opponents one by one.

This festival belonged to the young generation of the Duke Palaces, and was an opportunity for everyone to prove themselves. In the past, there had been many disciples from other bloodlines who had become Direct Vein disciples, and a large part of the reason was because they had come from the Family Competition.

After the Family Competition had begun, all the young disciples and guards were led by the Kung Fu Hall Protectors to the center of the Palace's Martial Arts Practice Field.

Following the rules of the main branch, the main branch stood at the front, while the side branch stood at the center. Qin Lie and the other adopted sons only stood at the back, slightly above the guards.

Qin Lie looked around and saw many familiar faces, most of them were the guards of the Duke Palaces. Their relationship with Qin Lie was not bad and quite a few people came over to greet him.

"Qin Lie, the Family Competition is about to begin. Are you planning to go up?" A guard with a saber asked.

"That's right, I, Qin Lie, will not only participate in the Family Competition, but I will also become number one!"

"Haha, Brother Lie, although I feel that it's impossible, but I still hope that you can level up. If you can enter Kung Fu Hall, maybe you can protect us." The group of guards were half joking as Qin Lie replied with a faint smile.

At this time, Qin Lie noticed that an annoying face suddenly walked over from the right, it was Tu Mo.

"Big Brother Tu, have you thought of another way to kill me?" Qin Lie was the first to speak with a brilliant smile.

Immediately, Tu Mo's face revealed a vicious expression, but he immediately suppressed it, and a cold smile hung on his face.

"Qin Lie, you brat, you are truly tenacious, but this time you are not so lucky. There is no need for me to do anything, there will naturally be someone to take care of you for me."

After he finished speaking, Tu Mo left, and the moment he turned around, the corners of his mouth hooked into a sinister smile.

Qin Lie's heart tightened as a dangerous glint flashed across his eyes. He silently pondered on the vicious words that Tu Mo had said: "This guy has always been ruthless. I'm afraid the road ahead is not easy.

"Liang-ge, you're here." Just then, Pang Bo and Luo Hou's voices sounded. Qin Lie turned his head and saw Pang Bo and Luo Hou running over with incense in hand.

"Brother Lie, this is the fragrance from the competition. We've brought it for you." Saying that, Pang Bo handed over a large stick of incense.

"Thank you." Receiving the large amount of incense, Qin Lie punched Pang Bo gratefully. He suddenly shifted his gaze, only to see that Xia Hou had already walked up to the martial ring. The crowd instantly became silent. Hundreds of people immediately focused their attention on the top.

A huge copper cauldron stood in the middle of the palace. The copper body exuded an ancient and heavy aura that made everyone revere it. Beside the copper cauldron was Xiahou.

Xiahou Yuan stood in front of the cauldron and bowed. He looked up at the sky with a pious gaze and said, "Kneel before the heavens and sacrifice to the heroic souls of my clan!" The sound of his voice echoed down below. Everyone was bowing to the cauldron with the incense in their hands, just like how Xiahou had done.

As for why the Demon Suppressing King wanted to replace the heavens with the tripod, that would be going back to the ancient era.

At the beginning of the Primordial Era, there were thousands of clans and Demon Beast running rampant. The weak Homo Sapiens led a long life of slavery. It was only until a peerless expert walked out of the Homo Sapiens, swept across the lands of the nine heavens and created a cauldron that acted as the leader of the river. His head was hung with an ancient cauldron that suppressed all the spirits in the sky as he led the rise of the Homo Sapiens.

This person was the later Human Emperor, Shennong. He had tasted the Hundred Herbs Sect and had established the Great Way. The cauldron in his hand represented the entire world. From the beginning of Shennong, the cauldron represented power and the world. Every clan and clan viewed it as a totem!

No one dared to speak or laugh during the entire ceremony. Xiahou Yuan, who was in front of the cauldron, solemnly inserted three incense sticks into the cauldron. He then turned around and shouted, "Sacrifice, play the heavenly music, and welcome the emperors!"

Soon, a long, resounding bell sound rang out in the air above the estate.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!" A series of deep ringing bells rang out a thousand miles away. The birds and beasts all flew into the forest and rang out nine times before the large bell finally quietened down.

"Kneel!" Xiahou Yuan sternly ordered, leading everyone down to worship the giant cauldron. Cigarette smoke curled upwards from the enormous cauldron as the burning incense was ignited. It scattered along with the cold wind, covering a layer of extremely solemn fog. This kind of scene was extremely shocking.