Building a Martial Dao Celestial Family by Laying Low

The scene before them suddenly blurred and shifted.

The next moment, Chen Shouheng, Chen Shouye, and Chen Shouyue were back in their familiar training courtyard.

The Ruins Realm had been forcibly terminated.

The three of them froze, their faces filled with disbelief.

Ever since they began using the Ruins Realm for Cultivation, their father had always been the one to end the session when they ran out of strength. It had never collapsed on its own before.

They all turned their heads in unison to look at Chen Li, who was sitting cross-legged in the courtyard.

They saw Chen Li’s brow slightly furrowed, his eyes gazing into the distance.

"Father, what happened?"

Chen Shouheng noticed the unusual expression on his father’s face and quickly asked.

Chen Li didn’t look away, his voice grave. "Three auras have trespassed. They’re very strong."

After forming his Primordial Spirit and stepping into the Guiyuan Pass, the range of his Divine Sense could now easily cover all of Lingxi.

Even without deliberately probing, he could perceive any slight change in the surrounding auras.

Chen Shouheng’s expression changed slightly. He knew that for his father to call an aura "very strong," its owner had to be extraordinary.

"I’ll go take a look!"

Chen Shouheng’s face had already become incredibly solemn.

Chen Li glanced at his eldest son and nodded slightly. "Shouye, Shouyue, you two stay here at home."

Chen Shouye and Chen Shouyue nodded in agreement, knowing that their Cultivation was still too low to be of any help.

「At the same time.」

Lingxi, Sanglin.

Inside a simple shack, a dim oil lamp was lit.

Chen Dalin, a man in his sixties with graying hair, sat hunched over on a wooden plank bed covered with dry straw.

His wrinkled hand fumbled inside a nearby bamboo basket and pulled out a few small, purple mulberries. He tremblingly brought them to his mouth and chewed slowly.

As the fruit entered his mouth, a barely perceptible sweetness mixed with the sour tang.

These were fallen mulberries from Sang Tian, one of the few snacks a long-term laborer like him could find to fill his stomach during the night watch.

Chen Dalin was an old hand in the Chen Family, and also one of Chen Li’s elders.

Now that he was older and could no longer handle heavy labor, Chen Li had given him the light duty of watching over Sanglin at night, providing him with a place to stay and food to eat.

He had raised two sons in his lifetime.

His older son had been conscripted for labor by the Government Office years ago. They said he was sent to guard the Border Region, but he was never heard from again. No one knew if he was dead or alive, and they never even saw a single coin of pension silver.

His second son was ambitious and wouldn’t listen to his advice, insisting on studying for the imperial exams. He left home a few years ago to make his fortune and had also vanished without a trace.

Now, only he and his wife were left, depending on each other for survival while raising the grandson and granddaughter his eldest son had left behind.

Thankfully, Chen Li’s family was kind. The old couple and the children could just barely scrape by.

For this life, Chen Dalin was grateful.

He was squinting his eyes, slowly chewing the mulberries and savoring that tiny, insignificant sweetness.

Suddenly, the light at the entrance of the shack dimmed.

Chen Dalin’s cloudy old eyes blinked as he looked up.

Where the doorway had been empty, three figures had now appeared without a sound.

The three were dressed in black, and the sabers at their waists made Chen Dalin instantly wary.

One of them, who seemed to have a faint, constant smile on his face, stepped closer. He casually waved his fingers in front of Chen Dalin’s eyes, his tone surprisingly polite. "Old timer, we’re looking for someone. We’ve come to find Master Chen, Chen Li. Which way is his house? Would you be so kind as to point the way?"

It was Wu Mou, one of the three from the Garrison Command.

After they had snuck into the village, their leader, Sixth Brother, had done a quick scan with his Divine Sense and felt a chill.

In this small village, there were actually several places emitting powerful auras.

One residence even had more than one of these auras, indicating multiple masters. He couldn’t help but feel a mix of doubt and shock.

’The Chen Family is a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons?’

The three immediately decided against a rash intrusion, opting instead to find a villager and get a clearer picture of the situation.

Chen Dalin squinted his failing eyes, studying the three men carefully, especially the sabers at their waists. His heart skipped a beat.

He had lived a long life and seen a thing or two. These men did not look like good people.

"Who are you people? What do you want with Master Chen?"

Chen Dalin didn’t answer directly, retorting with a wary question of his own.

Wu Mou smiled warmly at Chen Dalin. "We’re business partners of Master Chen. We’ve come from out of town for an urgent meeting with him."

Chen Dalin was skeptical, but he pushed himself up from the edge of the plank bed and brushed the straw from his clothes. "Alright, you wait here then. My legs are slow, but I’ll go announce you. If Master Chen agrees to see you, I’ll bring you over."

As he spoke, he started to walk out. ’I have to tell Master Chen right away,’ he thought to himself. ’Strangers showing up in the dead of night, and armed too. He needs to be on his guard.’

The smile on Wu Mou’s face faded slightly. He blocked the doorway, though his tone was still cheerful. "Old timer, you’re getting on in years, and your legs aren’t what they used to be. No need to trouble yourself in the dark. Just tell us how to get to the Chen Mansion. We can find it ourselves. No need for you to make the trip."

Chen Dalin looked at Wu Mou blocking the door, then at the two silent, cold-eyed companions behind him. His suspicion hardened into certainty.

He spat fiercely on the ground. A fire lit up in his cloudy old eyes as he pointed at Wu Mou and cursed, "Pah! My eyes may be old and blurry, but my heart isn’t blind! It’s obvious you lot are up to no good. Business? Who are you trying to kid!

"You sneak around in the dead of night, armed, you’re clearly rotten to the core, probably planning to murder and burn. You want me to tell you where Master Chen lives? In your dreams! You’ll have to step over my dead body first."