Chapter 3

The faint starlight adorned the cold night, the dark sky resembling a maiden untouched by men, making the world's night seem particularly lonely.

Tonight, countless people were destined to be unable to sleep.

Inside the ancestral hall of the Ningcheng Hu family, the lights were bright, and all the elders were gathered. Each of their faces was filled with fatigue and solemnity.

With too many clan members present earlier, even though everyone had many questions, they could not discuss them on the spot. Now, sitting down, they had to seriously deliberate and come up with a response.

"Regarding the Guardian God, from now on, it will be the highest secret within the family. If anyone leaks the information, the entire branch will be eradicated!

Additionally, Hu Gao will be temporarily placed in the forbidden area, protected by the Guard Elder's squad. I also suggest activating the clan's secret techniques to enhance the strength of some people. The clan leader should lead a part of the clan's elite to launch a counterattack against the Lang clan at the Qingyuan mine vein. This will boost the morale of the clan members!"

The High Priest of the Hu family, Hu Jiuzhan, slammed his staff on the ground, his beard flying in all directions, his expression fierce, a stark contrast to his frail appearance during the ceremony.

His words immediately received support from the other elders, even the white-haired elder who had been mocking and criticizing during the ceremony did not oppose. With the clan in crisis, he was always in favor of war. The High Priest's agreement to let the clan leader take the initiative to attack was also a compromise, which he naturally welcomed.

"But how do we explain this to the clan members?"

"That's simple. Just announce to the clan that the Guardian God was injured upon arrival and needs to recuperate in the forbidden area!"

"Fine, let's hope the successor can recover his strength soon." The elders all agreed; they had no better way to deal with the current situation.

At this moment, the green-haired elder, who had helped Hu Gao earlier, suddenly stood up. "High Priest, I dare not question your words, but Hu Gao is also part of our Liqing lineage. I just want to ask, did we really succeed this time? Does Hu Gao still exist?"

The ancestral hall immediately fell silent. Although many people did not voice their concerns, the bizarre scene during the ceremony left everyone puzzled, especially the last part where Hu Gao emitted a regal aura, which was simply mind-boggling.

The High Priest fell silent for a moment before saying calmly, "He must be the successor, and can only be the successor. From now on, the original Hu Gao no longer exists!"

...

"Ah ha"

Inside the forbidden area of the Hu family, Hu Gao stretched lazily and yawned happily. In his view, anyone who could perform these two actions well upon waking was someone who truly knew how to enjoy life.

Unfortunately, reality was too harsh. When he opened his eyes and saw the dark cave, he felt terrible.

Yesterday, when the Judgment Elder was questioning him, he had intended to feign ignorance and get away with it. However, his head suddenly felt as if it was being pierced by needles, causing excruciating pain. The pain was so intense that it spread to his limbs, making them numb. He couldn't bear it and fainted.

"This body is really not up to the task. It seems the night life wasn't very regular, and it was probably a result of gambling, drugs, and prostitution." Hu Gao couldn't help but sigh. He weakly supported his slightly numb thighs and stood up.

The cave in the forbidden area wasn't very high but looked very deep. No light from outside could penetrate, making it extremely gloomy.

Hu Gao was completely unafraid. Since the clan's Guardian God was placed here, it must be extremely safe. Since there was nothing to do at the moment, he boldly felt his way deeper into the cave.

Before he had even finished a prelude, the cave gradually became brighter. As he continued, the walls of the cave were illuminated by spherical objects, somewhat like the night pearls from his previous life, but much larger, each about the size of a ping-pong ball!

He didn't expect the Hu family to be so wealthy. These objects didn't seem cheap at all. Hu Gao leaned in to take a closer look, almost trying to pry them off. If he could somehow find a time tunnel back to China, wouldn't he be making a fortune?

However, he had already been injured by the restrictions when he first entered the forbidden area. Thinking of that bone-deep pain, Hu Gao forced himself to continue forward.

After about three moments, the cave gradually widened, and soon Hu Gao arrived at a large hall, about the size of a small concert venue. Various strange patterns were carved into the stone walls around the hall.

Hu Gao carefully examined the patterns from left to right. He had studied history well in school and knew that various races throughout human history had the habit of creating murals. For example, the reason early humans were considered to be part of a matrilineal society was that murals from the same period in different places all featured large-bellied women, highlighting the status and importance of women and childbirth at the time.

By extension, patterns that repeatedly appeared in murals were usually important things in the race at the time. However, what made Hu Gao feel disheartened was that he found most of the murals here depicted creatures similar to snakes on Earth. In one mural, a snake-like creature was even being worshipped by a group of fox-like beings.

Why would such strange patterns appear in the Hu family? Could this be a form of their belief or totem?

Speaking of which, in China, snakes are also a very mysterious totem. Even the creator is depicted as a snake-human hybrid. Could it be that he had traveled to a prehistoric civilization?

Hu Gao gritted his teeth and continued to look, but the more he saw, the colder his heart became. The murals in the cave did not feature a single human-like creature, only various bizarre animals, some similar to those in China, and others he had never seen before.

The most peculiar was a mural that was vivid and lifelike, starkly different from the rough lines of the others. In this mural, various creatures lay dead, blood flowed for miles, and the sky was filled with light, resembling an apocalyptic scene.

When something is abnormal, it must be a demon. Hu Gao opened his eyes wide and stared at the mural again, not wanting to miss any detail. To his surprise, he really did find a small green dot amidst the countless waves of red blood. If it weren't for the color difference, it would have been hard to see.

Hu Gao leaned in to examine it closely. The small dot looked like a carved jade pendant? And there seemed to be a picture inside it, but it was extremely blurry.

Wait, a jade pendant? Hu Gao suddenly felt a chill on his neck and instinctively touched it with his right hand. His fingers touched a square jade pendant about an inch in size.

"When did I get this thing on my neck?" Hu Gao felt his heart start to beat wildly!