Chapter 0: Too Similar
Rewinding time slightly.
Within the sea of consciousness.
“Why have you gone silent?” Qin Gou’s scrutinizing gaze waited for the ancestral spirit’s response.
“From the very beginning, you have been disrespectful and rude to this seat! If one were to speculate with the utmost malice, such an absurd conclusion would naturally be reached. It is truly disappointing.” The ancestral spirit shook its head, a hint of melancholy in its eyes, and in a moment, turned its attention back to Qin Gou.
“Then immediately point out the best few stellar lights and the talent abilities they represent.” Qin Gou swiftly changed the subject.
The ancestral spirit froze for a moment, seemingly startled by Old Qin’s overly skilled and sophisticated, completely seamless change in attitude. Immediately, it revealed a mocking expression and chuckled, “In the end, this is your true objective? A decent provocation, but your methods are somewhat crude. And didn’t you just say you wouldn’t necessarily trust this seat completely? Aren’t you afraid I’ll deliberately mislead you?”
“Crude?”
Qin Gou smiled indifferently, “You’re mistaken. Whether I can choose a powerful Eternal Night Marquis talent is not that important to me. What truly matters is your ambition and origin. If you genuinely mislead me, won’t you be revealing your intentions yourself? The matter becomes simpler, so what if I make a small sacrifice for it? So, choose.”
The ancestral spirit was immediately astonished to realize it had encountered a master of eloquent speech.
It sounded plausible, but in reality, it was forcing the ancestral spirit to make a choice. And once it chose poorly, it would be deemed to have exposed its malicious intent. Most importantly, the right to judge what was ‘good’ or ‘bad’ was firmly held by Qin Gou. The matter would only be resolved if an exceptionally stunning talent ability, one that couldn’t be faulted, was chosen for him. In reality, this was a form of veiled threat.
‘Does this person, in addition to his cultivation, dabble in side hustles as a thoroughgoing scoundrel extorting people in the marketplace?’
The ancestral spirit grumbled internally, then gritted its teeth, “As I said, I will not make any choices for you.”
“You still haven’t explained any reason for your appearance here, other than my previous guess.”
“Youngster, I cannot speak, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed!” The ancestral spirit suddenly used this all-purpose response.
Qin Gou’s expression instantly darkened: “Every time I hear someone say ‘heavenly secrets cannot be revealed,’ I want to punch them. And now, it seems I can actually do it.”
“Ding!”
The system, which had been silent for half a day, suddenly spoke.
“What? Did you find something?” Qin Gou asked secretly.
“Host! Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, heavenly…”
“Stop!”
Good heavens, the system, which hated outsiders in its ‘home’ the most, now practically wished it could write “Host, let’s flip the table and deal with it quickly” on its face.
“Presumptuous! None of your ancestors would dare speak to this seat like this, and moreover…” The ancestral spirit cold-snapped, “Why, kid, can’t you just honestly complete your Talent Enlightenment ceremony?”
That was naturally because of his lack of trust towards the ‘ancestral spirit.’
Furthermore, whether from Gong Wumeng or the mouths of the Reverse Halberds clan members, Qin Gou had learned that the Eternal Night Marquis clan seemed to have been extraordinarily powerful in the past, but how had they declined to their current state?
Qin Gou currently noticed a major discrepancy: The Eternal Night Marquis, a race with a unique Talent Enlightenment ceremony that required making a choice, had almost no records in the ancient texts of the Reverse Halberds that were said to have been passed down to this day, detailing how to make this crucial choice better.
Each stellar light of talent presented a different sensation, like distinct symbols. In this way, the past generations of Eternal Night Marquises could have simply recorded which sensation or symbol represented the talent ability they awakened, thereby forming a very detailed record for future generations to reference.
Considering the abnormality of this matter, and in conjunction with the so-called ‘ancestral spirit’ who was said to be present at every Eternal Night Marquis’s talent awakening but not everyone could perceive its existence, Qin Gou naturally wanted to thoroughly understand the ancestral spirit’s situation.
However, since it refused to speak directly, he had to choose another way to obtain the answer.
“How about this, ancestral spirit? Although you cannot explain in detail, I only ask if your appearance is ultimately for the benefit of the clan?”
“Naturally,” the ancestral spirit replied without hesitation.
“Very good.” Qin Gou nodded with a smile and immediately stepped closer to the ancestral spirit, “But this is precisely why this Qin cannot let you go.”
“What did you say?!” The ancestral spirit’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Still don’t understand? Didn’t you say yourself that you’ve never seen a clan member as rude and strange as me before? Also, although you don’t mention it, you must have been wondering how, in your heart, this Qin achieved such cultivation? It’s too bizarre to be undergoing Talent Enlightenment at this stage?”
Qin Gou sneered with a playful glint in his eyes, “Ridiculous! What kind of bullshit Eternal Night Marquis clan is this? A bunch of half-dead insects, it’s better for you to be completely exterminated!”
As Qin Gou spoke, the azure color in his eyes representing the Eternal Night Marquis clan gradually dimmed. Though it hadn’t completely dispersed, what became more apparent were strands of evil demonic marks.
And this place was Qin Gou’s sea of consciousness. Even if a person’s Dao Body could be disguised, the aura of their origin sea of consciousness could not lie. After all, his bloodline as a Faceless Hermit was also genuine.
“This, this is definitely demonic energy! You are actually… from the Abyss?! This demonic mark, that’s it, the Faceless Hermit clan!” The ancestral spirit sensed it and was utterly shocked.
Qin Gou’s pupils were ice-cold, silently confirming. At the same time, he secretly told A Xi: better safe than sorry, they should both be vigilant, in case the ancestral spirit escaped on the spot.
“Ding. Host, from now on, perhaps you should try to reduce the number of times you impersonate fierce demonic madmen.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You were too convincing! This system was genuinely scared.”
“Nonsense…”
“Damn it, what exactly is going on! And who is the person behind you…” the ancestral spirit suddenly pressed.
And this time, it actually stumped Qin Gou. The ancestral spirit’s focal point was rather unusual; he hadn’t really thought about fabricating an identity for A Xi.
Then, as Qin Gou was quickly thinking.
A Xi’s voice sounded, utterly devoid of emotion, chilling to the bone, making one’s hair stand on end.
“My name is Zhenyu.”
