Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Qianhe Town.

In the dim morning light, a dense fog still shrouded the riverside town. Suddenly, a burst of rapid hoofbeats quickly shattered the tranquility of the small town.

A horseman from the north arrived along the straight and spacious official road and stopped in front of a tea pavilion.

Usually, these tea pavilions by the roadsides and in front of markets also served breakfast, and there were already early risers inside, eating hot tofu brains and freshly cooked buns.

Seeing the splendid horse stationed in front of the tea pavilion, the people inside cast their astonished gaze.

Wang Chen jumped down from his horse, led it over, and tied it to a nearby hitching post. Then he said to the owner of the tea pavilion, "Shopkeeper, bring me a basket of buns and two bowls of tofu brain, salty ones. Also, feed my horse a bundle of hay and some fresh water, and remember to add extra soybean meal and eggs."

The owner of the tea pavilion greeted him with a smile, "Right away. Please take a seat; your buns and tofu brain will be ready soon."

Seeing all sorts of people in his line of business traveling from south to north, the owner had developed a keen eye for discerning people accurately.

Although Wang Chen's attire was ordinary, the splendid horse was clearly not something an ordinary person could possess.

Moreover, the horse had obviously run a very long distance, panting heavily and covered in sweat, yet it still retained its majestic spirit!

The tea pavilion owner did not dare to neglect him. He called his wife to take special care of the splendid horse, while he himself delivered a basket of buns and tofu brain to Wang Chen.

Wang Chen picked up a bun with chopsticks and swallowed it down in a few bites.

A familiar taste from Ling Zhiyuan's memories!

After Ling Zhiyuan began his enlightenment in martial arts, Ling Hongyun would take him hunting in the wild every so often to cultivate Ling Zhiyuan's martial spirit.

They would always start hunting early in the morning, and then Ling Hongyun would eat breakfast at this tea pavilion in Qianhe Town.

As the head of Ling Family, he very much liked the buns and tofu brain here.

However, for the then-young Ling Zhiyuan, waking up early to hunt was a particularly painful experience.

But the taste of the buns was still quite good.

After finishing the breakfast and feeding the horse, Wang Chen left a few pieces of Broken Silver and proceeded on his way.

Qianhe Town was only ten miles from Anyang City, and it didn't take long to travel by horse. However, after passing through the small town, he did not head straight for the distant city but turned into another small path.

Before long, a cemetery nestled between green mountains and clear waters appeared in front of Wang Chen.

This burial ground was none other than the Ling Family Cemetery, where the bodies of generations of clan members lay.

Wang Chen tied his horse at a secluded spot and silently slipped into Ling Family Cemetery without alerting the tomb keeper.

The arrangement of the graves in the cemetery was very particular, and since Ling Zhiyuan visited annually with his father for ancestral rituals, he was very familiar with the place.

He quickly found a newly built tomb.

The name on the gravestone was indeed Ling Hongyun!

Wang Chen stood silently in front of the grave for a moment and then took out the offerings he had prepared from his storage space and set them down.

After lighting the incense candles, he held three sticks of incense in his hands, knelt in front of the stele, and bowed deeply to the father of this body.

In his heart, Wang Chen silently vowed, "A blood debt must be paid in blood. I will surely avenge you and ensure that the instigators receive their due punishment. If I break this oath, may I be struck down by heaven and earth!"

After making his vow, Wang Chen knelt and kowtowed again.

When he stood up, a surge of Life Qi within him seemed to break through some barrier, removing any obstruction between him and the surrounding world, his consciousness becoming exceptionally sharp.

Wang Chen's eyes flickered, sensing something subtly profound.

As an explorer from the Upper Realm, his path in this world was clearly unlike any other.

Wang Chen believed that other cultivators from the Haotian Realm who descended after him could not possibly blend in with the earthly realm as he did.

If it were another Golden Core cultivator inhabiting Ling Zhiyuan's body, would they, like Wang Chen, specifically come to pay respects to the original body's father and even kneel to kowtow?

The pride of a Golden Core cultivator wouldn't allow it!

But Wang Chen carried no such mental burden; he genuinely immersed himself in this identity and this world.

And indeed, Wang Chen's approach proved correct.

After lighting the paper money on the ground, he quietly left.

Wang Chen wasn't worried this would expose him.

By the time the cemetery caretaker noticed the anomaly and came to check, they would just think it was one of Ling Hongyun's old friends who didn't want any trouble coming to pay respects.

Having left the cemetery, Wang Chen retrieved his mount and hastened toward Anyang City.

This time "going home," he certainly didn't use his original appearance to avoid being recognized before even entering the city.

Although Wang Chen had now become a Third Order peak martial master and also a member of the Blood Cloak Guard, he didn't feel capable of confronting the current head of the Ling Family and the mastermind behind the scenes.

After all, Ling Hongyun, who had been ambushed, was a Fourth Order Martial General!

Wang Chen put on the mask previously given by Wei Zhengxiong and made meticulous disguising efforts.

After three months of learning, his skills in disguise had improved dramatically compared to the first time he used the human skin mask, enough to deceive the vast majority of people.

Moreover, Wang Chen didn't plan to meet with the Ling family members.

After entering the city, he stayed in an inn not far from the Ling Residence until the dead of night when he quietly went out.

At this time, the streets were deserted. Dressed in a black night suit and covering his face with a mask, Wang Chen used the cover of darkness to rapidly sneak through the shadows in front of and behind the houses.

Soon, he arrived at the Ling Clan Ancestral Hall.

The Ling Clan Ancestral Hall was adjacent to the Ling Residence, but it enshrined the tablets of the ancestors and founders of the Ling family and had no defensive presence other than a single caretaker.

After all, there wasn't much for thieves to steal here.

Therefore, Wang Chen easily climbed over the surrounding wall and infiltrated the ancestral hall.

The Ling Clan Ancestral Hall was quite large; the front housed a large hall, while the back consisted of a courtyard and side rooms.

Most of the rooms in the back courtyard were empty, at most storing some miscellaneous ritual objects.

Using the moonlight, Wang Chen found one of the rooms.

Though the door was locked, Wang Chen easily picked it with a piece of wire.

Upon entering, his gaze fell on the floor to the right of the room, silently counting, "One, two, three…"

As he counted, Wang Chen stepped on the floorboards.

When he stepped on the seventh board, a light "click" sounded, and simultaneously, five floorboards on the left side sank, revealing a pitch-black hole in an instant.

Success!

A thrill went through Wang Chen's heart as he leaped down.

Below the mechanism was a pit surrounded by hard stone walls, and four bronze lamps hung above.

Wang Chen stretched out his hands, grabbing the bronze lamps on the left and in front, and twisted them in different directions.

The rock wall in front of him suddenly shook, and countless particles of dust fell.