Book 5: Chapter 2: An Ancestor at Home
“Luo Li, what’s your system’s name? What is its number?”
“Number? There’s such a thing?” Initially, Chen Heng thought Luo Li could answer his questions, but she really did not know the answer.
“Luo Li, I told you before! I even told you several times! My system number is 2333.” Chen Heng could clearly make out an aggrieved tone in System 2333’s voice. As a system, this was truly embarrassing. Who knew how Luo Li managed it?
“Is that so? Never mind. It’s not important. Elder Brother Heng, why do you ask?”
“Ah! It’s fine. I just wanted to ask if this system knew System 10086.”
“I do! I do! Since you know System 10086, you must be from the Dimension Administrators Association, right? The other factions are unlikely to have heard of this newborn system. System 10086 came to this world previously. The fluctuations I gave off must have attracted it. Systems have a tendency to be drawn to what’s similar. Back then, I was on standby, so I missed it. I found out about it in the system group only after that. You must be He Who Knows Fate, right? That purple-haired lady was the temporary host of System 10086?”
“You guessed right.”
“Ah! The Dimension Administrators Association. That is a pretty good official organization, considered a public servant. The only downside is that you cannot transmigrate at will. Wait! That’s not right. Are you going to deal with re:lifers like Luo Li?” The system finally caught the critical point.
“I’m not bothering. The association did not issue any missions, so it should be fine.”
He Who Knows Fate! He Who Knows Fate! Go quickly! My superior has already agreed to your request. We will give you 1,000,000 and ten invitations. However, you will only get them seven days later. That is all we can give.
After saying that, Customer Service felt somewhat wronged. She had gone to her superior for instructions but ended up getting scolded. “Don’t you have any sense of urgency? Just give him what he wants. To think you came to seek approval for such an insignificant thing? Why do I need you, then?” Her superior had berated her excessively.
Sure. How do you want me to go over?
You…never mind. You don’t have to go. Your ancestor is coming to find you. Remember to say nice things. Get your ancestor to stop kicking up a fuss. As for that world consciousness…save it if you can.
The Multidimensional World Consciousness Conference had no way to resolve the issue with this world consciousness.
At the root, the world consciousness was indeed responsible for the Chen Clan being a single line of inheritance for 56 generations. Furthermore, it made many of the Chen Clan’s talented descendants die young.
Of course, if one looked from the world consciousness’s angle, it was quite tragic. It was sleeping, and a transcender suddenly yanked it out and nearly beat it to death.
OK.
Customer Service had just finished speaking when the space about three meters in front of Chen Heng shattered, forming a three-meter-wide black hole flickering with purple lightning; it looked awesome.
Then, a leg stepped out. A handsome youth, looking just a few years older than Chen Heng at most and wearing white robes, walked out of the black hole. This person also carried an immaterial figure in his hand. “Carried” was just a nice way of putting it. Actually, that youth dragged that immaterial figure out by the neck.
Chen Heng found this white-clad youth familiar, as he had used this image for his visualization training. This was the Chen Clan’s 30th clan head, Chen Xiu. This person looked ordinary, with the aura of an elder brother next door. However, on closer inspection, he seemed like a black hole; one could not look away after that.
There were three figures behind the Chen Clan ancestor—one man and two women. The man and one of the women wore robes in the ancient style. Furthermore, they looked very attractive. The man had an extremely peaceful air, while the ancient-robed woman seemed sharp; Chen Heng could not look at her directly.
As for the other woman, Chen Heng recognized her. She was Chen Heng’s younger sister in name, Ryougi Shiki. Wait, that was not right. Rather, this should be Root Shiki. Right now, Ryougi Shiki wore a kimono and held a katana in her hand.
Wasn’t Ryougi Shiki unconscious? Why did she wake up? Did she feel threatened?
“Chen Clan’s 86th inheritor, Chen Heng, salutes Ancestor!” When Chen Xiu stood two meters in front of Chen Heng, Chen Heng first performed a cupped-fist salute, then knelt and kowtowed three times.
[TL Note: The act of kowtowing is seen as showing obsequious deference, usually in homage, worship, or deep respect. For most ceremonies, kowtowing is done in sets of three. One would kneel and kowtow three times before getting up and repeating for the necessary number of sets. Here is the Wikipedia entry on kowtowing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowtow.]
Bang! Bang! Bang! Chen Heng used quite a bit of force. After all, this was a living ancestor with a 56-generation gap in between.
Although Chen Heng had mentioned wanting to gang up on and beat up his ancestor, those were just words. The Chen Clan had a rigorous upbringing; they had to be extremely respectful, especially to their elders.
“Hey! Get up!” The Chen Clan ancestor looked at the kneeling Chen Heng, and his expression changed slightly, turning uncertain.
“Thank you, Ancestor.” A man has gold under their knees. However, that also depended on the person. Kneeling to one’s ancestor was not embarrassing. Since Chen Heng’s ancestor already told him to get up, he stood up and went to the side.
[TL Note: As kneeling is seen as an act of deference, it is considered humiliating to kneel to someone undeserving. The saying “A man has gold under their knees” means that a man should have pride and dignity; he should not casually bow or kneel to others.]
“Hah…I let the Chen Clan down. The clan nearly got destroyed…. Humph!”
The more Chen Xiu thought about it, the more furious he got, so he tossed the world consciousness in his hand to the floor and kicked it back a few meters.
The kicked world consciousness struggled for a bit, but it did not stand up, slumping on the floor instead.
Chen Heng felt heartache. Of course, it was not for the world consciousness but for the furniture the world consciousness crashed into—especially the vase, which shattered.
“Big Brother Chen, calm down! Calm down! Your only descendant is watching. Mind your image.” Upon seeing Chen Xiu get angry again, the ancient-robed man quickly went forward and tugged on Chen Xiu’s arm, urging him to calm down.
“So, you know this is my Chen Clan’s only descendant? If not for this Ryougi Shiki stopping me, I would have chopped this world consciousness apart with a sword strike. If not for Ryougi Shiki giving my descendant the ability to change his fate, I would have cut her down together with the world consciousness.”
The more Chen Xiu spoke, the more agitated he became. Then he looked at the nearby world consciousness on the floor. After that, his expression changed again, giving Chen Heng the feeling that he wanted to attack it again.
Sirin, Jeanne d’Arc, and Fafnir, who were initially sitting on the living room sofa, noticed the commotion and wanted to come over. However, they somewhat did not dare to, as this seemed frightening. Eventually, Chen Heng signaled them to remain where they were.
Furthermore, Luo Li’s system, beside Chen Heng, had run very quickly, frightened into hiding in Luo Li’s body.
Chen Heng did not know why these systems did not seem to have much dignity. Was it because transcenders were too rare, so even systems feared his ancestor?
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