Chapter 58: New features, excavating.

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: New features, excavating.

Far away from the battlefield, several hundred kilometers east of Blue Cloud Mist City, another scene was unfolding deep beneath the earth.

Near the eastern border of the Great Yan Kingdom, which faced the Thousand Wind Mountains, a large underground chamber had been excavated several hundred meters beneath the ground.

The place was hidden from the outside world, with only a narrow entrance leading down into the depths.

Inside, Chen Yuan and Chen Feng were busy preparing the place.

The stone floor around them had been carefully cleared, while piles of excavated rocks had been pushed toward the sides of the chamber.

Chen Feng was examining one section of the underground chamber while Chen Yuan worked on another, occasionally moving a pile of stones out of the way or inspecting the walls to make sure everything was suitable.

"This place should be large enough," Chen Feng said as he looked around the chamber. "But are you certain we need to make the maze this complicated?"

Chen Yuan glanced toward him before looking back at the surrounding walls, "It doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to look old enough and confusing enough that anyone who enters won’t immediately find the center."

"So we’re making a maze around the tomb?"

"Exactly."

Chen Yuan picked up another large stone and moved it aside with his spiritual energy, "The maze should be around ten kilometers wide. The tomb will be at the center."

"The entrance will be hidden somewhere inside the maze, and we’ll leave traces along the way to make it seem as though someone deliberately built this place to protect whatever is inside."

Chen Feng stared at him for several breaths.

"T-ten kilometers?"

"Yes."

Chen Feng was speechless.

Seeing Chen Yuan’s completely serious expression, Chen Feng could only sigh inwardly at his increasingly ridiculous ideas.

"And the tomb itself?"

"We’ll make it look ancient, don’t worry about the minor details, I am very good at detailing."

Chen Yuan paused before adding, "There should be an empty stone coffin in the center, along with a few inscriptions and some old formations that have already lost most of their power."

Chen Feng looked at him, "So the coffin would be empty or not."

Chen Yuan’s expression remained calm.

"A cauldron."

"A cauldron?"

"Yes. A cheap one. I’ve already bought it."

Chen Feng stared at him for several breaths.

"You excavated hundreds of meters underground just to put a cheap cauldron inside?"

"It’s not about the cauldron itself." Chen Yuan shook his head. "It just needs to look like something that could be mistaken for an ancient treasure. If someone finds the tomb, they’ll naturally assume the cauldron has some connection to the Ancient Lord."

Chen Feng was completely speechless.

A ten-kilometer-wide maze, an ancient tomb, a fake coffin, meaningless inscriptions, and finally a cheap cauldron that was supposed to be mistaken for an ancient treasure.

He genuinely didn’t know what to say anymore.

"So we’re creating an entire ancient ruin around a cheap cauldron."

"Not an entire ancient ruin. Just a convincing tomb. Once we have enough witnesses to increase its credibility... This entire place will become... True."

"The important thing is that everything has to look natural. The maze shouldn’t appear newly constructed, and the tomb shouldn’t look like we dug it out yesterday."

Chen Feng glanced around the chamber.

"Then we still have quite a bit of work to do."

"That’s why we’re here."

Neither of them paid much attention to the passage of time.

They continued working for several hours, carefully preparing the foundation for their next plan, when a familiar notification suddenly rang inside Chen Yuan’s mind.

[Ding!]

[A fictional ancestor has been successfully recorded.]

[Name: Undecided]

[Title: Ancient Lord]

[Current Story Credibility: 0]

[Family Trust Value: +501]

[Requirements to manifest: 500% Credibility + 100,000 Family Trust Value.]

"Huh?"

Chen Yuan paused, the stone in his hand remaining suspended in midair as he subconsciously blurted out the word.

He did not say anything else after that. Instead, he simply stared ahead for a few breaths, silently reading the information that had appeared within his mind.

A fictional ancestor has been successfully recorded?

He was at a loss when he saw the sudden panel appearing before his eyes. Slowly, he lowered the stone and continued working without saying anything to Chen Feng.

Yet before he could think any further, a sudden gush of memories flooded into his mind.

His vision blurred, and the memories appeared as flashes of images being played through his mind like a videotape.

The underground chamber disappeared from his perception, replaced by a completely different scene.

He saw the Royal carriage speeding through the sky, with Zhao Linger, Zhao Lianyu, and Qingxue inside while Chen Yan fought a masked figure nearby.

’What is this?’

The scene shifted, and he saw the masked man pursuing the carriage while countless creatures emerged from the Great Divide, their monstrous bodies tearing through the mist as they chased after the fleeing group.

Then the masked man turned his head toward the carriage.

"Tell me, Second Princess, have you ever heard of the Ancient Lord?"

Chen Yuan’s hand stopped moving completely, and the memories continued.

He heard the man speak of the approaching darkness, the ocean of blood that would bathe the world, and the divine that would never stop bleeding.

Finally, he saw the golden spear descend toward Chen Yan.

Snap!

The memories abruptly ended there, and the underground chamber returned to his perception.

Chen Yuan stood completely still for several breaths, his expression slightly strange as he processed everything he had just witnessed.

Since when did the system possess this feature?

He was completely shocked by the sudden discovery, and most importantly, he now understood how the story had suddenly been registered.

His gaze shifted toward the invisible system panel in his sight.

The story was actually registered because of the two?

He had not expected it to happen so quickly. If anything, he wasn’t expecting this at all.

The plan had been for Chen Yueran to create an encounter with the Royal Family delegation, reveal a small portion of the Ancient Lord’s existence, and then withdraw.

It was supposed to be nothing more than the first step in spreading the story, and it was several stages away from the point where the story would be spread to the family.

And yet, the system had already recognized it, saving him more than enough time to prepare for the other stages

Chen Yuan’s brows slowly furrowed.

So that meant Chen Yan and Chen Yueran could also spread the stories on my behalf? Is it because their souls are still inherently a part of me?

That explained why the system had accepted the story.

Anything his avatars did could apparently be considered something he had done himself. The system did not distinguish between Chen Yuan and his avatars when it came to spreading the fictional ancestor’s story.

Chen Yuan’s expression gradually became thoughtful. He had always assumed that he needed to personally create and spread the stories for the system to recognize them.

Apparently, that was not the case. From now on, as long as his avatars carried out the actions, the system could recognize their actions as his own.

That’s useful.

But then another detail caught his attention as he noticed something amiss. His hand stopped again.

’But there were no Chen Family members there?’

’So how did the Family Trust Value increase?’

That was what truly confused him. There had been no Chen Family members in the carriage.

Zhao Linger.

Zhao Lianyu.

The two Royal guards.

And...

Qingxue.

Chen Yuan’s eyes narrowed.

’Chen Yan doesn’t count. He already knows the truth, and he was part of the plan from the beginning.’

So why had the system rewarded him with Family Trust Value?

Unless...

His thoughts suddenly stopped.

Qingxue.

The answer seemed obvious now, but Chen Yuan still found it difficult to accept. But that shouldn’t be possible.

By blood, Qingxue was not a member of the Chen Family. She had been born into the Luo Family and had only become part of the Chen Family after marrying Chen Haoran.

Yet by identity...

Chen Yuan’s expression gradually changed.

She was part of the Chen Family. She had lived among them for years. She treated the Chen Family as her own home, and the Chen Family treated her as one of their own.

More importantly, she herself believed that she belonged there.

Chen Yuan slowly narrowed his eyes.

Could the system recognize that? As long as someone joined the family, would they automatically be considered a part of the family?

He thought about the wording carefully.

Family Trust Value.

’Family.’

Chen Yuan’s expression became increasingly thoughtful.

’Perhaps I’ve been misunderstanding what the system considers a family member. It doesn’t have to be blood-related, huh?’

That would explain why Qingxue’s presence in the carriage had been enough.

He slowly exhaled. The realization made the system seem much more flexible than he had previously thought.

But before he could think about it any further, another memory resurfaced, bringing with it the image of Chen Yueran disguised as the masked figure, the battle that followed, and the chaos that unfolded across the Great Divide.

Chen Yuan’s mouth twitched.

Although... that woman is insane. What’s with her? She is intentionally making things hard for Chen Yan.

Let’s just pray Chen Yan survives that woman’s improvisation.

Chen Yuan remained silent for a few more breaths, allowing the information he had just received to settle in his mind. Then, with a thought, Chen Yuan raised one hand and casually waved it through the air as the system panel appeared before him.

[Heavenly Ancestor Maker System]

[Current Fictional Templates]

[Name: Chen Feng] [+]

[Title: Swordsman of the Leaf]

[Status: Completed]

[Current Realm: Peak Foundation Establishment]

[Name: UNDECIDED]

[Title: Ancient Lord]

[Current Story Credibility: 0%]

[Current Realm: Half-step Nascent Soul Realm]

[Family Trust Value: 501]

[Requirement to manifest: 500% Credibility + 100,000 Family Trust Value.]

Chen Yuan’s gaze moved slowly down the panel, taking in every detail before settling on the second template. He then looked back at Chen Feng’s name, where the small [+] remained.

After what he had just discovered, Chen Yuan was even more curious about it. Since Chen Feng’s template was completed, perhaps this was related to his future growth.

He focused his attention on the symbol and mentally tapped it.

[Ding!]

[Insufficient.]

[A Golden Core character must be manifested first before the host can upgrade this template’s strength to the next realm.]

"What?!"

Chen Yuan blurted out again, and this time, Chen Feng decided that he wouldn’t pretend not to hear it again.

Chen Feng stopped what he was doing and approached through the air with a confused look on his face.

"What’s the matter?"

To that, Chen Yuan shook his head and smiled.

"N-nothing, I was just thinking about something."

Chen Feng gave him a second, longer look, and after several breaths, he finally nodded.

"I hope whatever it is, it should be good."

"It is..."

Chen Yuan drifted his gaze back to the notification and immediately understood what the plus icon meant.

’So that’s how it works.’

The [+] wasn’t simply a button for viewing additional information. It was an option to increase the strength of a completed fictional ancestor.

Chen Feng had already been manifested at the Peak Foundation Establishment Realm, but his strength was not permanently fixed there.

Once Chen Yuan manifested the next ancestor, the system would allow him to upgrade Chen Feng’s strength to the next realm, perhaps following the next Ancestor’s template.

In other words, their strength could continue to increase even after manifestation.

A faint smile appeared on Chen Yuan’s face.

He dismissed the panel with another casual wave of his hand and turned his attention back to the underground chamber.

There was still plenty of work left to finish. And judging from the system’s requirements, he had a feeling that creating more ancestors would only become more complicated from here onward.