Chapter 8: Supreme Ancestor?!

It came out!

The head appearing from the turtle shell, totally took Patriarch An Hong by surprise. Hands letting go of Xiao Mei, he jumped back in fright. Was it a Yin-element ghost? Nevertheless, he was still Absolute Aegis Sect’s Patriarch, he could not be so cowardly. Noticing the head was human, he shouted;

“Intruder, how dare!”

His hands moved in numerous incantation gestures, activating the formation within the palace. In a blink, he finished it. The palace formation activated around him, and ensnared the intruder while notifying guards all around the compound… Nope.

That was what supposed to happen.

“…Eh, eh?”

Nothing happened.

Yet he did not remain confused for long. He grabbed the Patriarch token by his waist. Using the token, he would directly activate a more powerful formation, alerting his protectors, palace guards and everyone within. Since the intruder breached this deep into his residence, he dared not underestimate him. The guy must at least have some confidence to take him down!

“Hmph, assassin! I’ll show you, my authority as the Patri… eh?”

His Qi embedded into the token, yet it did not activate. In fact, he tried it more than five times in succession, yet nothing happen. No defensive formation, no subduing formation, not even notification! How could this be, did the token broken? Where’s all the action?!

Whatever! He raised his Qi, intending to notify the surrounding protectors and elders. The patriarch always had protectors around him. However, in the palace, the protectors kept their distance away and relaxed for a bit. Due to the already existing security from ancient formations, them guarding the patriarch so closely was seen as redundant.

It was these fighting experts who An Hong wanted to notify. While he might be able to take down the intruder himself, it was protocol to announce the existence of an intruder publicly and get reinforcement, in order to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.

Yet strangely, his Qi stuck.

A formation emerged around him, sealing him in a green hexagon. It took him by surprise. He banged it, yet it was so tough, he could not get out! While he managed to raise his Qi to defend himself, the formation kept it sealed within. Not just his Qi, all sounds coming from it as well. Not to mention sensing it, people outside could not even hear the commotion. Soon, he saw various other formations appearing all over the room in colorful light, full of splendor.

His eyes widened.

Some he recognized, most he did not. Of those he did, half were Top-Tiers!

What shook him the most was one of them.

It was Absolute Aegis Isolation Formation, similar to the one belonging to the Ancestral Hall. This formation completely blocked Spirit Search from even Titan-Stars! Whatever happened within the formation, others outside would not know. No sound, not even light could escape!

If others were to see the room from outside, they could only see darkness!

Patriarch An Hong stumbled, falling on his butt, hands to his back. Seeing all these formations activated around him, his face lost all colors. When did anyone arranged these formations here, what powered them, and how could all of them activate in such a short time? What happened to the legendary palace formations made by the founding Ancestor, unrivaled in the continent? How could there be intruding formations over them? How could these go unnoticed…! How could—

His eyes went spinning. This situation was beyond logic! His brain fried!

My sister I never even see!

What happened here?!

Seeing him so perplexed like that, the head looking at him yawned. He was still sleepy, and this youngster made such a noisy scene when he barely got some sleep. His sensitive ears picked up the noise so well it shook him out from his sleep. The formations blocked noise from inside to outside, but within the formations, he could hear everything clearly.

“Pipe down will you, I’m not an intruder,”

“T-that’s right, dad! He’s not—”

“For failing your mission, Mei-er, I’ll spank you enough later,”

“Hiii— Mercy, Ancestor!”

Ancestor?

Little plum, what do you mean, Ancestor?

Xiao Mei’s word burrowed deep into his consciousness. The stimulation was too strong, his mind froze.

…

After awhile, it restarted.

It took him quite some time to register the whole event. Out of all eight ancestors of Absolute Aegis still around, his face was not one of them. Yet strangely, the young man did somehow look familiar. Still, An Hong did not get it. It was when Xiao Mei said this ancestor was ‘front-gate ancestor’, he slowly connected the dots.

Front-gate ancestor, who was it?

He recalled it. It was the nickname which little children of the sect were fond of addressing. While the elders did not consent to it, they did not quite forbid the children from referring him as such. Well, only young children had such privilege. They would play around the park with the giant statue of him, located in front of the sect’s main gate. Climbing on it, running around it, pissing below it… Those critters! Since it was in front of the gate, naturally the children knew him as front-gate ancestor.

And this front-gate ancestor, An Hong as the Patriarch, surely knew who he was.

Relating to his situation, it made sense.

The current situation, where he was made absolutely defenseless. The Palace Formations did not activate, they did not follow his will as the Patriarch. With all these new Top-Tier Formations in place, what level of expertise needed to achieve this? Even intruding Soul-Titans could not do this. Even for top experts, they simply lacked information to bypass the palace’s formations. And while other ancestors in the sect could overrule him, it would not be to this degree.

The Patriarch’s token completely ignored him, it was illogical. However, thinking about it deeply, only one person could do this. That person would be the original owner of the formations, owner of the palace.

Founding Ancestor, of the Absolute Aegis Sect!

…

He came to such conclusion. Plus, that amazing turtle shell he used to sleep… Could it be the Black Turtle Imperial Clan’s legacy treasure, the Life-Force Chamber? Then, the story that Emperor Hei Man lent Absolute Aegis their most prized personal legacy, was true?

Even with all these information coming together, his tongue was still too stiff to speak.

A good ten minutes had passed, all the while An Shan was snoozing. Barely his head was out from the turtle shell, it was so damn comfortable being inside, afterall. Why bother coming out? Unbeknown to him, he had taken the habit of being a shut-in!

Yet a stuttering voice knocked him out from sleep.

“S-su, su, su, su—”

“Susu?”

“—Supreme Ancestor?!”

“…Un? I don’t like that name, don’t call me,”

“So it’s really you, Supreme Ancestor!”

“What’s with you father and daughter pair… I said, don’t—”

“Supreme Ancestor, this one didn’t know it’s you! This one deserved a thousand deathhhh!”

“…”

An Shan just observed him as he kowtowed on the floor. Hearing him mentioning death, perhaps he would grant him one, afterall? Surely one out of a thousand would be okay?

He sighed. Apples would not fall far from the tree, a tiger would not bear a mutt as offspring. So how come his younger generations became like this? Thinking of this, he felt his heart being pricked. Oh well, even a wealthy self-made merchant would have spoiled youngsters after several generations.

No, this one’s not spoiled. It was more than that. What was it called, brain-dead?

Aii, since An Hong already there, he decided to do what ought to be done.

He came out from the shell. His hand passing the restricting formation, he tapped An Hong’s forehead. An Hong’s soul trembled, a lot of information emerged within his mind. It was the details of the formations and the memory of the founding of Absolute Aegis, the 12 Imperials' Swearing of Brotherhood, to the vicious events during the war, to the recent event concerning Ling Shuren’s treatment. An Hong’s eyes spinned, it was too much to comprehend in such a short time. It was as if someone shoved a giant lobster down one’s throat!

While he could not confirm many of them yet, he was convinced they were true. Soul Link like this could only be done by a Soul-Titan, and he was confident since the memory was in great details. With this, An Shan had established himself as the genuine one, perishing any lingering doubt An Hong might have.

After awhile, An Hong introduced himself. Hearing him, An Shan did not wait;

“Hong-er, your ancestor would love to chat, but now he needs information. Fill in the details,”

“Yes, Supreme Ancestor!”

“Stop it, just Ancestor is fine.”

“Y-yes, Ancestor…”

The very first information he got, was the time. He had slept for over 2000 years! Not to mention his son and other second generations, even his third generations had departed the world. It seemed An Hong here was his sixth generation, while the eight ancestors in the middle of Soul Severing were roughly from the fourth generation. The strongest of the ancestors still around, Ancestor An Aomi, would be his great granddaughter.

Hearing this, he recalled.

‘Ah, that girl? That one half-step to Soul-Titan…’

To him, she was a girl, not a grandma. At the time, An Shan did not use his Soul Search to its full extent to avoid being noticed. Thus, he did not know she was his descendant. He was aware of her cultivation from the fine vibration coming from her.

From his explanation, it seemed the current Grant Elders and even An Hong was not aware that he, An Shan, was still around.

From what the public knew, An Shan’s whereabouts had become a mystery after the war. Many speculated he had gone into isolation to recover his injury. Meanwhile many more said his injury was too much, so he had perished, yet the Alliance Leaders did not announce it to the world. Experts agreed it was for fear that the two invading superpowers would again move against them. He was afterall, the one who had put the once-belligerent Imperial Clans together.

The thought that this Dragon Mountain continent would have its Supreme Protector no more, indeed shuddered many Alliance Leaders at the time. Yet they knew the Alliance Head at the time, Emperor Hei Man of the Tranquil Age Empire, kept it a secret even from them for a good reason. No matter whether he was alive or not, the fact that the information eluded the two superpowers, became a deterrence.

They had already suffered twice humiliating defeats, so having no information whatsoever of their most troublesome adversary was a solid deterrence for war. So all the while, they had to wait… And for two thousand years, as far as this continent was concerned, the two superpowers were quiet. No invasion force whatsoever was assembled. Perhaps, they had given up.

Hearing this, An Shan also knew of another fact.

‘The Ice Emperor upheld his promise, eh.’

He recalled his agreement with the Ice Emperor, the Supreme Ruler of the North. He was a bitter adversary to the Grand Order, one of the invading superpowers. The agreement was that he would attack the Grand Order on the other side of the world, with the condition that An Shan’s Continental Alliance proved itself in the war. While An Shan was not sure whether he could uphold his promise, he was confident of the man himself.

He had met him, and his track record proved him to be reliable.

With him attacking the Grand Order, the order had no means of continuing this faraway invasion. Its leaders had to concentrate their resources in defending their immediate interest. With that, the Ice Emperor bought time for Dragon Mountain Continent to recuperate.

‘Thanks, old buddy,’

It was an old story, but he thanked him nonetheless. The Ice Emperor attacking the Grand Order, and the missing information on An Shan, these were two powerful deterrences for any further invasion.

‘Really, second brother and Tian-er did well, even my own sect members did not know,’

Yet surely, not everyone would not know he was around. He was certain the eight Ancestors, or some of them would know. An Hong thought so as well.

Sleepiness took over him, yet he shook his head.

As much as he wanted to sleep, he dared not. His initial observation was that Absolute Aegis had declined in quality, so it was not quite the time for him to go for a long sleep. Soul Severing would have to wait, he had to do some things. In order to fully grasp the situation, he ordered An Hong to brief him of what happened to the sect after he disappeared.

“What of Tian-er? What happened to him?”

“Ah, Ancestor Tian…”

An Hong explained what happened to An Shan’s successor, An Tian.

He was his only son, a Soul-Titan which governed Absolute Aegis and soon succeeding An Shan’s sworn brother Hei Man as the Alliance’s Head. The sad news was however, he did not stay around for long. He passed away from a soul injury, yet even on his deathbed, he refused to divulge what happened.

All An Hong knew was that, he and the rest of the ancestors had gone with the Ancestors of Soaring Dragon Imperial Clans to another location. At the time, it was an emergency. Not much details of it was recorded, as it was treated as top secret.

And after he returned, many other ancestors had perished and seriously injured. Even the Soaring Dragon Sect’s ancestors had casualties. While suspicions fell on them, An Tian denied it was their fault. Not too long after, he left the world at the young age of three hundreds.

His will before he departed, was to keep the sect and the alliance together.

Never, antagonize each other.

‘Was he attacked by people he trusts, or at least, those in disguise as them?’

An Shan contemplated. Nonetheless, with so little information, he could not come up with possible explanation. What he could conclude was only this one fact;

‘He did not say who, even when he met them, possibly… Compromised information? Is it for fear of breakup in unity? Suspicions are dangerous, and it could very well split the whole Alliance apart. If that was so… Well done, my son!’

After hearing some more from An Hong, he had enough history lessons. To his side, Xiao Mei had already fallen asleep on his lap, drooling. How envious! No, wait, how disgraceful!

Anyway, anymore history lesson would not get him anywhere right now, he was too sleepy to keep himself around for long. He would have to approach them a little bit at a time later. The most important thing for him to address right now was this one fact;

The Sect had become weak!

It was time for him to get to the current affairs. With him telling An Hong to show him the utmost important documents, he led him to his study… The very place where this drooling Xiao Mei stole, um, borrowed the ancestral token.

…

Chapter 8 ‘Supreme Ancestor?!’ End.