"It's simply absurd! Gu Nian, this girl, has really gone too far this time!"
"To claim that a Prodigious Realm cultivator with unknown origins is part of our Gu family—since when did our Gu family's bloodline become this cheap?"
"That's right! If we just needed Prodigious experts, we could've recruited a bunch of them from outside in the blink of an eye, not to mention that we old fellows aren't dead yet!"
In the Gu family's inner hall, a group of elders were sitting in a circle and voicing their dissatisfaction with Gu Nian's approach.
Gu Nian wasn't here, so in her place, a middle-aged man sitting near the door became the target of their "siege"—he was Gu Nian's father, Gu Mingyuan.
Gu Mingyuan was the current head of the Gu family. Ever since Gu Nian advanced, he had been gradually delegating power and handing over the Gu family's important matters to Gu Nian, while he concentrated on cultivation.
Power was the foundation of everything. The Gu family understood this very well, so it had developed such an inheritance model.
The Gu family had seven or eight old fellows just like him hidden away. They all possessed extraordinary strength and were the Gu family's true trump cards.
Except for sometimes wandering around outside, these people were usually in closed-door cultivation, but when they received news about Gu Nan, none of them could sit still anymore.
Gu Mingyuan's collar was held by an angry elder who was wildly criticizing him, but he could only force a smile. "Second Uncle, please calm down..."
"Calm down? How can I calm down!?" Second Uncle slapped the table in anger, making a handprint on the sandstone tabletop. "If I stay calm any longer, the Gu family will collapse in the hands of that precious daughter of yours!"
"How can it be that exaggerated? He's nothing more than a youngster who just entered Prodigious Realm..." This accusation was a little serious, so Gu Mingyuan hurriedly tried to gloss over the matter.
Second Uncle continued angrily, "The Gu family has survived for hundreds of years, but I've never seen us recruit a Prodigious cultivator with a different surname into the family! Outsiders will inevitably harbor ulterior motives. Don't you understand this? Have you forgotten our ancestral teachings?"
Gu Mingyuan was admonished so much that he didn't dare to refute anything, so he was forced to keep smiling. However, he knew that the elders' anger this time wasn't without reason.
The Gu family was a family that rose abruptly during an era of war. From its founding until now, it had seen too many tragedies caused by internal strife within families.
So the ancestors left behind ancestral teachings strictly forbidding internal strife within the clan while also prohibiting the Gu family from recruiting Prodigious cultivators with foreign surnames.
Once someone reached Prodigious Realm, they would be able to overturn a war situation with their own power. If traitors this powerful appear inside a family, then no matter how strong the fortress, it would still fall.
Seeing that Gu Mingyuan had stopped talking, the surrounding crowd of elders started quarreling once again.
"Everyone, everyone." Gu Mingyuan had no choice but to stand out. He clapped his hands and said, "Gu Nian did inform me about Gu Nan's situation. There's indeed no need to worry about his origins."
"Why? Don't tell me that a Prodigious powerhouse can simply appear out of thin air?"
"...That's more or less correct." Gu Mingyuan's expression looked a little strange as he took out several files and distributed them to all the elders. "Everyone can take a look."
Second Uncle grabbed the information from his hand and skimmed through with a single glance. His furious expression finally eased up a bit.
"So he's an ascendant? And even one that Gu Nian single-handedly brought up. That does make me more reassured." Second Uncle stroked his beard. "Wait, he's been to Radiant Tower?"
"That's right." Gu Mingyuan nodded faintly. "Something happened during his ascension, and he was kidnapped to Radiant Tower. They were most likely targeting Gu Nian's karma."
A person next to him frowned. "Radiant Tower… Will there be problems?"
Second Uncle waved a hand before Gu Mingyuan could reply. "Radiant Tower has never actively intervened in the major planes. Besides, a Star Ruler is standing behind Radiant Tower. Would they even need to play tricks like this if they wanted to deal with our family?"
"That's true…" The elder nodded thoughtfully.
Gu Mingyuan's expression finally relaxed a bit. When Gu Nian first told him about this plan, he also had the same reaction as Second Uncle, right until he learned about Gu Nan's origins.
Ascendants were indeed more reassuring.
These people came from smaller planes and were entering Star Realm for the first time.
It was impossible for them to be spies. Apart from their uncontrollable personalities, they weren't not too different from adopted children.
But Second Uncle was obviously more stubborn than Gu Mingyuan expected. "That won't work either. No Prodigious cultivators with a foreign surname may be recruited—this is the ancestral law!"
"Gu Nan is also surnamed Gu…" Gu Mingyuan argued weakly.
"Bullshit! Are these two Gu's the same?" Second Uncle immediately sprayed Gu Mingyuan's face with spit.
But his words reminded an old lady on the side. She suddenly interjected, "Since his origins are clean, why not recruit Gu Nan as a son-in-law?"
The entire inner hall suddenly fell silent, and after a moment, happy smiles appeared on the elders' faces.
Once people got older, they always liked to pair up their offspring. This would never change, no matter the world.
The Gu family was a major family, so there was no such thing as marrying for love. Arranged marriages were common and insignificant matters. It wasn't the first time they had done this.
"How about that girl Xingzhu? Looks like she's quite close to him."
"Her temper is a little fiery. I'm afraid there will be plenty of quarrels in the future... Gu Ying is better. Yes, Sixth Brother's child..."
"That's also true... Third Brother's granddaughter also works! She's fourteen this year, so it'll be good to settle her marriage early."
Gu Mingyuan's face twitched a little as he listened to such discussions.
He was about to speak but heard Second Uncle slap the table next to him. "What nonsense are you all talking about!"
Gu Mingyuan couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. 'At a critical time like this, Second Uncle is still the fairest…'
"At the very least, Gu Nan is also in the Prodigious Realm. He's also someone Gu Nian single-handedly brought up. If we want to arrange a marriage, we should be considering Gu Nian first!" Second Uncle knocked on the table and spoke, his beard shaking with each word.
Gu Mingyuan almost tripped and fell onto the table.
Second Uncle's words were unanimously approved by all the elders.
"Second Brother has a point. Little Gu Nian's marriage is also a difficult problem! If we miss this chance, who knows when we'll find a suitable candidate again?"
"A good point. We can also feel more at ease if Gu Nan joins the family..."
At this time, soft coughs suddenly came from the doorway: "Cough cough!"
The crowd was silent again and turned their heads to look. Gu Nian was somehow already standing over there, and next to her was a young man in white.
The elders, who had just read his information, recognized at a glance that this person was none other than Gu Nan, the one currently in the limelight.
The elders who had been discussing enthusiastically just now became very reserved all of a sudden. Second Uncle even put on a solemn expression as he gently stroked his long beard, looking like an immortal.
"So it's Gu Nian… When did you arrive?" Second Uncle asked with a smile.
Gu Nian looked at him somewhat helplessly. "Second Uncle… We heard everything just now."
"..."
...
No matter the society, it was a very common phenomenon that excellent women couldn't get married easily.
The current Gu Nian and the future Xu Feiyan would both face similar problems.
With their status, it was practically impossible to find a suitable marriage partner who had enough weight. And just marrying them off to some random person would be too much of a loss, so it dragged on.
Sometimes in novels, a large family would spend decades of effort to train an elite pupil but ultimately decide to use her as bait to hook a wealthy son-in-law… This is complete bullshit.
Any family with a brain wouldn't do so. What belonged to someone else would never be theirs. Relying on outside forces to support the Gu family's development was akin to putting their entire lifeline into someone else's hands.
People like Gu Nian—regardless of gender—would eventually wield power in the family as a leader and contribute their abilities to the family.
So she could either recruit a husband who would enter the Gu family and basically take the Gu surname, or she could enter a political marriage with someone who wouldn't be able to truly wield power in the Gu family, which would continue until the next generation grew up.
Gu Nan only understood the twists and turns of this matter after listening to the elders' conversation.
So he patted Gu Nian's shoulder. "You guys can continue the discussion. Come find me when you reach a conclusion."
Having said that, he turned around to leave, but Gu Mingyuan next to him suddenly called out, "Mr. Gu, please wait a moment."
Gu Nan turned his head but didn't say anything. He just gave Gu Mingyuan an odd smile, but his steps didn't stop.
Gu Mingyuan frowned and stretched out a hand to stop him.
But just when his hand was about to fall on Gu Nan, Gu Nan's whole person unexpectedly disappeared without any sound.
Gu Mingyuan was stunned and was about to step out to investigate, but Second Uncle pressed a hand on his shoulder.
"You can't catch up." Second Uncle shook his head slightly. "That is the law of shadow… The fastest law out of all three thousand laws."
Gu Nan's skill made many elders' faces turn serious.
One of them asked, "Isn't the law of wind the fastest one?"
"Of course not. The fastest thing in the world is light, and where there's light, there's shadow."
...
"That's pretty much it." Gu Nian slowly spoke, "We'll provide him with all the requirements for reincarnation, and he will support the Gu family."
They had to rope in Gu Nan—since the crowd of elders could think of this, Gu Nian had naturally thought of it as well. In fact, she had already planned to do so a long time ago.
She had Gu Nan appear as a member of the Gu family's branch family, after which she recognized him as her brother. This was tantamount to elevating his status to that of a main branch family member.
And it was only from Gu Nian's mouth that the crowd of elders learned of Gu Nan's true value—many of the details couldn't be described in the files. Only Gu Nian herself knew those things.
"Advanced to Prodigious Realm in just a few months? Even for a reincarnator, this speed is quite excessive…" An old lady sighed softly.
She was also a reincarnator when she was young and had to fight to the death in different realms before successfully advancing to Prodigious Realm.
So she was very clear about the risks and benefits of reincarnation. Reincarnation wasn't a shortcut, but a dangerous path.
The elders weren't dissatisfied with Gu Nan's condition. In their opinion, this much resources was nothing at all in order to recruit a Prodigious powerhouse.
After all, no matter how frequently someone wanted to reincarnate, they still had to take the state of their soul into consideration, so in reality, the actual resource consumption was very limited.
"It's not a big deal if he's merely keen on reincarnation," Second Uncle concluded. "But he should participate in family affairs and not be isolated from the family."
For an outsider, the easiest way to integrate into a group was to have him take over certain affairs.
If he wanted to accomplish those tasks, he would have to come into contact with people both above him and below him inside the family, so he would naturally become familiar with them after a while.
"The Martial Arts Competition will start soon. I plan to have him participate as a judge," Gu Nian had been prepared for this and informed them of her previous idea.
"Feasible!" The elders looked at each other and nodded immediately.
That old lady thought for a while, then asked tentatively, "Little Nian, you really won't consider marrying him?"
Gu Nian's face turned a little dark. "Grandmother, I've already recognized him as my younger brother…"
"What's wrong with that!" The old lady waved her hand overbearingly. "Who would dare to gossip about the affairs of two Prodigious cultivators?"
Gu Nian rubbed her brow, feeling an incoming headache. She hurriedly dropped a rubbish excuse of "I still have matters to attend to" and fled.
...
Gu Nian didn't go too far before she met Gu Nan again. The latter had been waiting for her here.
"The elders have no more objections." Gu Nian spoke up first, "What other requests do you have? We might as well put them forward together."
Gu Nan and Gu Nian's goal here today was to introduce Gu Nan to the elders while showing off his skills in passing in order to give the elders an idea, but they didn't expect that the elders would be too satisfied…
"Requests, huh…" Gu Nan rubbed his chin. He really didn't have any requests for the time being. "Let's discuss it later."
Gu Nian's expression darkened slightly again.
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Gu Family's residence, Ruby Fish Star
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Infinitesimal Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: Ruby Fish Star's Martial Arts Competition. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: On Going
→ Side Quest Objective:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 1500
Overall Evil Points: 3775, Overall Evil Value: 97
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 2 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2..｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ Weapon
-— Four Element Crossbow. ｢A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ None.