Chapter 366: Overturned in an Instant
In the main hall of the Chen Manor.
A handsome young man dressed in pure white daoist robes, with gilded cloud crane patterns embroidered on his sleeves, sat on a guest seat beside the master's chair in the hall.
Seated on the master's chair beside him was an old man who looked to be in his sixties, with graying hair but a vigorous spirit.
Originally, Chen Zhengye had wanted Chen Yan to sit in the main seat, but Chen Yan had refused.
Chen Yan smiled as he looked at the expression on the face of his biological father in this world beside him—an expression feigning composure but actually filled with considerable panic.
He was, of course, terrified.
To be honest, Chen Yan's feelings towards his biological father and mother in this world were complex.
After all, for Chen Yan, the parents from his other world were his true, closest kin.
This also made it very difficult for Chen Yan to immerse himself in the roles of son and father or son and mother.
On the other hand, however, Father Chen and Mother Chen did indeed treat him as their eldest son, and he could feel the affection they poured upon him.
Therefore, although Chen Yan found it hard to step into the role of the Chen family's eldest son, he genuinely wished for the Chen family to have a better life.
But not in the way it was happening now.
Because right now, the Chen family was completely playing with fire.
Suishuo City was an inconspicuous small town, so small that there wasn't even a single cultivation family residing within its walls.
It was precisely because of this that the Chen family could lord it over others using such deceptive and fraudulent methods.
And the Chen family's current greed was simply too unsightly.
Even those cultivation families rooted in the mortal world would absolutely never gobble up every single industry in a city like the Chen family was doing. Those cultivation families exercised great restraint regarding mortal industries and would even actively share profits with the city's major clans and merchants.
But the Chen family's current approach was to wish that Suishuo City itself would bear the surname Chen.
A snake trying to swallow an elephant will have its bones pierced through.
If things continued like this, Chen Yan could already see the Chen family's future outcome clearly.
Therefore, he had donned the Kongshan Sect's daoist robes and come to the Chen Manor precisely to give the Chen family a stern warning.
"Immortal Master, may I ask... how has Yan'er been faring at the immortal sect these past years?"
Chen Zhengye asked with an ingratiating smile directed at Chen Yan.
"Passably. He is now close to Energy Channeling," Chen Yan replied indifferently.
In Chen Yan's first life, he had only broken through to the Qi Circulation Realm at the age of forty-one. Such talent was truly unremarkable within the Kongshan Sect's outer court.
Of course, there were those even worse than him.
"Good, good!"
Chen Zhengye nodded repeatedly.
Yet, beneath his smile, a trace of disappointment was hard to conceal, for he had always publicly claimed that Yan'er had long since become an Upper Immortal of the Qi Circulation Realm.
And his disappointment was soon replaced by an even deeper tension.
What Chen Zhengye feared most was the exposure of his forgery of Chen Yan's letters home.
He even suspected that the immortal sect had sent an Immortal Master this time precisely because they had already learned of this matter.
"Father!"
A young man dressed in luxurious clothes strode briskly into the main hall of the Chen Manor. He stood before the hall, first exchanging a look with Chen Zhengye, then letting his gaze fall upon Chen Yan.
This spoiled young master, who had never known hardship since birth in Suishuo City, immediately began sizing up Chen Yan from head to toe.
Chen Yan's eyes lowered slightly. Perhaps he could still show some face to Father and Mother Chen, but he did not acknowledge this younger brother he had never met before.
*Thump!*
Chen Hao's body immediately sank. An invisible force suddenly pressed down upon him, like a mountain toppling over, unceremoniously forcing him to his knees and pinning him firmly to the ground.
Kneeling on the floor, panic instantly flashed across Chen Hao's face.
This was a majestic power he completely could not comprehend.
"Squire Chen, this young master is..."
Chen Yan said with a light laugh, speaking slowly to Chen Zhengye beside him.
"My... my worthless son, Chen Hao..."
Seeing this, Chen Zhengye immediately began to stammer.
"Not bad. He just lacks some sense of rules and propriety."
Chen Yan then nodded.
Chen Zhengye quickly caught on and immediately shouted sternly in Chen Hao's direction:
"You wretched creature! Upon seeing the Immortal Master, why aren't you paying your respects promptly?"
Hearing this, Chen Hao hurriedly kowtowed:
"Ch-Chen Hao pays his respects to the Immortal Master!"
The invisible force pressing down on him instantly vanished.
"No need to kneel and kowtow. A bow with hands clasped will suffice."
Chen Yan said slowly.
But Chen Hao remained kneeling on the ground. The invisible pressure from just moments ago had been far too shocking for a pampered young master like him, leaving him not daring to move a muscle.
"Didn't you hear what the Immortal Master said?!"
Chen Zhengye hurriedly said.
Chen Hao, startled by his father's shout, quickly scrambled to his feet, then bowed towards Chen Yan with his hands clasped:
"I pay my respects to the Immortal Master!"
Chen Yan did not speak, only giving a slow nod.
He had heard of Chen Hao's deeds within Suishuo City. All he could say was that this kid was also a scourge to the Chen family and needed to be warned as well.
Immediately after, an even younger girl, who looked to be only about seventeen or eighteen years old, stepped into the main hall. She first glanced twice at her rigidly stiff older brother beside her, then looked up in confusion towards her father and the handsome young man nearby...
"Lan'er! Pay your respects to the Immortal Master!"
Chen Zhengye immediately barked.
Startled, Chen Lan immediately bowed her head in salute:
"I pay my respects to the Immortal Master!"
This time, Chen Yan said nothing.
He felt the pressure he needed to exert on the Chen family was sufficient. Now it was time to discuss serious matters.
"Squire Chen, I have heard that Kongshan Sect disciple Chen Yan often sends you letters. I wonder if this is true or false?"
After a few breaths' time, Chen Yan asked.
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhengye's face immediately changed drastically, and cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
"... It is true."
Finally, Chen Zhengye answered, steeling himself.
He decided to stubbornly cling to his lie.
Chen Yan sighed lightly in his heart. How truly foolish.
Since he had asked such a question, the truth was already completely clear. Clinging stubbornly to the lie would only invite harsher punishment.
Come to think of it, if he weren't foolish, he would surely know to quit while he was ahead and wouldn't have made such a grand display.
"According to my sect's precepts, it is a major taboo for a disciple under our gate to have unresolved mortal attachments. If Squire Chen insists on this, then I will naturally return to the sect to verify this with Chen Yan. If you admit it now, things can still be discussed. However, if after verification, it is found that Squire Chen's words are false... then Squire Chen, you must be prepared to face punishment."
Chen Yan said.
Hearing this, Chen Zhengye raised his eyes slightly:
"May I ask, Immortal Master, what punishment refers to..."
Amusing.
Wasn't this tantamount to a confession without being pressed?
Chen Yan thought to himself.
"Extermination of the entire family."
Chen Yan then said casually.
This was something he just made up on the spot. The Kongshan Sect couldn't be bothered to include chapters for mortals in its legal codes.
But Father Chen believed it to be true.
"Spare me, Immortal Master! Spare my life, Immortal Master!"
Chen Zhengye immediately slid from the master's chair, knelt on the ground, and begged for mercy frantically.
Such a strong reaction was completely within Chen Yan's expectations.
Because over these years, every time Chen Zhengye forged a letter, he had likely been under considerable pressure. It was just that greed had blinded him, preventing him from stopping.
And the moment Chen Yan appeared, his psychological defenses were already on the verge of collapse.
...
Chen Yan did nothing.
His purpose in coming this time was solely to deliver a warning.
And Chen Zhengye also promised him that from now on, he would never forge any more letters from Chen Yan; furthermore, he would sell off all the industries he had swallowed up in Suishuo City to other major clans and merchants, keeping only the foundation of the cloth business.
With such an outcome, Chen Yan was still somewhat satisfied.
Do what one must, then leave the rest to Fate.
From now on, the Chen family's future would be left to its own devices, to thrive or perish on its own.
After leaving Suishuo City, Chen Yan hurried to Fushan Prefecture.
There were still eleven days left until the time agreed upon with Li Haowen.
Chen Yan sat in an immortal's tea house in Fushan Prefecture. The tea house's storyteller stood on the stage, narrating the recent incident in the Northern Region where over three hundred disciples of the North Pass Sect had mysteriously died.
Chen Yan simply sat expressionlessly in his chair.
He could probably guess what had happened at the North Pass Sect.
But the tea patrons surrounding him were only making all sorts of nonsensical speculations, which gradually irritated Chen Yan. He set down his teacup and stood up, intending to leave.
However, just before Chen Yan left the tea house, an uproar suddenly erupted behind him, with everyone loudly discussing something.
Chen Yan stopped. As a cultivator of the Myriad Transformations Realm, his spiritual sense far surpassed that of ordinary people. He quickly discerned what the people in the tea house were discussing.
After clearly hearing what people were talking about, Chen Yan's expression instantly froze, then revealed a look of incredulous shock—
The Mirage Palace, destroyed.