Over a hundred years ago, the Jing family's fortunes were completely different.
Back then, their ancestor Jing Chuan, wielding a Tidal Life Pattern of the White Fang grade, miraculously condensed a Dharma Manifestation and cultivated to the great achievement realm of the Dragon-Elephant. Later, in the Dragon Boat Race, he seized first place and leapt directly into the position of head commander of the Hunling Ship!
It was a complete and total leap in class. The entire Jing family soared alongside him.
From then on, the family thrived, training disciples, seizing profits, and building influence was no challenge at all.
But all of this came to an end when the Hunling Ship was lost.
"As swift as its rise, so sudden was its fall."
From that moment, their fate was sealed.
For Jing Qian at this time, bearing the Tidal Life Pattern meant he could perfectly blend into Jing Qian's (the heir's) identity.
And he understood clearly how important such a "pureblood" family background was for his future, whether for avoiding calamity, seizing resources, or pursuing higher cultivation. He needed a platform like the Jing family.
But first, he had to solve the Jing family's crisis, cutting down their enemies; this was the very first challenge awaiting him on Hunzhou Island.
That was why he now ran at full speed: to strike at the root of the problem.
The reason these people dared to act so brazenly, ignoring the status of the Jing family's descendants of merit and martyrs, trying to "feast on an orphan's inheritance"…
…was because the Jing family's cultivator lineage had been completely cut off.
Among all the male descendants, only one frail young heir remained.
In this cultivation world, might decides all.
A mortal like Jing Qian, unable to advance, didn't even possess basic human rights. Others wouldn't even need to strike; just a stray breeze could wipe him out.
The entire Jing family's final breath hung on a single female cultivator at the Fatebinding Realm.
No wonder greed drove others to act against them.
But Jing Qian intended to change this situation completely.
He would use the most legitimate, upright method, facing every obstacle and every doubt head-on to achieve his crucial breakthrough. Then, with a new identity, he would reappear before everyone.
He left Hunzhou Sea Market, sprinting thirty miles along a wide, dried-up riverbed, until he reached a massive stone platform.
At its edge stood a small bronze gong, beside which hung a little jade hammer.
Without hesitation, Jing Qian stepped up, grasped the hammer, and struck the gong.
Clang!
A crisp, ringing sound spread outward, echoing through heaven and earth.
Then he stood before the gong, silently waiting.
...
Meanwhile, a ninth-rank Fatebinding Realm cultivator was riding a massive ram also at ninth rank, leading a squad of armored cavalry, tailing Jing Qian's movements.
In everyone's eyes, Jing Qian was just a child who hadn't even set his Destiny yet. Sending a Fatebinding expert after him guaranteed success.
But halfway along, they too heard the resonant chime ring out across the skies.
The sound seemed soft, yet it carried across the entire island of Hunzhou, echoing for thousands of miles.
The ninth-rank cultivator's face changed drastically. He couldn't help but cry out:
"Who gave him the guts to strike the Dragon-Drinking Gong?"
"If he wants to kill himself, it saves me the trouble!"
"Withdraw!"
He immediately turned his mount and led the cavalry back toward Hunzhou Sea Market at full speed.
As they fled, he sneered to the knight riding beside him:
"That Jing brat striking the Dragon-Drinking Gong, no one saw him die, so they can't blame me. And as for your Qian family's gold… I'm not refunding it."
The mortal knight curled his lip at that but said nothing.
...
On the cavern wharf, boats moved in endless streams, day and night, without pause. It was as bustling as any ordinary day in the past.
But when the chime of the Dragon-Drinking Gong rang out, everyone froze as though time itself had stopped.
The next instant, however, they all seemed to be struck by lightning, springing up in fright and scattering like startled birds and beasts!
As they fled, voices cried out in panic:
"It's over, it's over, we're doomed, we're doomed!"
"Did someone strike the Dragon-Drinking Gong? Am I hearing things?"
On the lake, every boat rushed toward the distant shores.
Many large ships unloading cargo at the docks abandoned their goods on the spot, pulled up their anchors, and fled in haste.
Moments later, the entire cavern began to shake violently. A sudden earthquake no weaker than magnitude eight erupted out of nowhere!
And it wasn't just there.
All across Hunzhou Island, wherever the sound reached, there were reactions, and almost all of them were filled with shock and fear.
Meanwhile, the one who had caused it all still stood silently before the stone platform, as if awaiting something.
This was Jing Qian's first time setting foot on Hunzhou Island, yet the moment he arrived, he stirred up a storm.
His reckless decision came entirely from a sliver of memory he had inherited from Jing Ran.
It was a vivid recollection, a conversation that had once taken place here on this very platform:
"Little sister, don't worry for me. Yes, delivering goods in an unlucky year carries five times more danger, but the Qian family is paying far too much. As long as I complete this trip, I'll have enough for your cultivation, for mine, and even for little Qian's breakthrough to Dragon-Elephant!"
"You stay behind in the market and guard the household. If anyone dares make trouble for you… Then just strike this Dragon-Drinking Gong!"
"Our Jing family, blessed by the ancestors, can strike the Gong once, paying only half the cost of loss."
"What's more, that price was prepaid by our forebears. The descendants needn't worry."
"When the time comes, you just strike it!"
"The one who strikes the Gong, so long as the cost is covered, can request the Prefecture Office. As long as it isn't excessive, they won't refuse."
"This is the Jing family's final trump card. On the whole of Hunzhou Island, only the Island Lord and the officials of the Three Divisions and Two Bureaus know of it."
"I tell you this today, but you must never speak of it to anyone else."
It was only because Jing Qian had stumbled upon this ultimate secret of the Jing family that he now stood before the Dragon-Drinking Gong.
Having struck it, all he needed to do was wait for the Prefecture to send someone. Then, in Jing Qian's identity, he would demand the ancestral compensation.
He waited quietly… until the violent tremors reached him from afar.
And though he had crossed vast seas, claiming to have seen the great and the strange, Jing Qian found himself once again stunned by the sheer enormity of what he now witnessed.
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