Chapter 3

"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"

The loud bell sounds rang out.

"Alright, it's time. Women, take your children and stand back, move to both sides to let the old patriarch in." With the voice, the women, holding their children, moved back and stood on both sides of the gate. At this moment, a group of people escorted an elderly man in his sixties, dressed in blue, into the gate.

"Old Patriarch!" Qin Shuwen stepped forward to greet him.

"Patriarch?" Qin Chao's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at the old man. In this era, the head of a clan was like a tribal chief in Africa from his previous life; within the clan, his power was supreme, and his word was more authoritative than the emperor's. Sometimes, he could even decide the life and death of clan members.

The old patriarch nodded slightly and asked lightly, "Are all the people here?"

"This year, a total of forty-five children are all here, just waiting for the old patriarch." Qin Shuwen said with a smile.

The old patriarch nodded again, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, pausing on Qin Long's face, and then he smiled kindly at Qin Chao before walking toward the staircase. The staircase was made by tying wooden planks to suspended ropes. The old patriarch did not stop when he reached the staircase; instead, he stepped onto it normally, and the other foot followed.

"Huh?" Qin Chao's eyes widened.

"Step!" "Step!" "Step!"

He saw the old patriarch walk up the rope ladder as if he were walking on flat ground, without holding the ropes on either side to prevent falling. The rope ladder seemed lifeless.

"This..."

Qin Chao's mouth gaped open. The other children didn't understand, but he knew what would happen if one stepped on the staircase. Even a strong wind could make it sway, let alone a person walking on it. Now, there was no movement at all. After the old patriarch walked up the rope ladder, Qin Shuwen, Qin Shuhai, and the other elders followed, walking as if on flat ground, making Qin Chao doubt whether he had seen or remembered incorrectly. Then—

Offer the three sacrificial animals.

Light the incense, set off the firecrackers.

A series of complex rituals followed, and after the final incense and prayers, the old patriarch waved his hand and laughed loudly, "Alright, we've come to this ancestral worship early in the morning. The children must be hungry. Set up the banquet, serve the dishes. It's rare to have a meal together in the ancestral hall." Immediately, Qin Ledao, Qin Lequan, Qin Lewen, and other men busily set up long tables and placed the already steamed, hot, and sumptuous banquet. The men and children sat at one table, while the women sat at another. The martial arts practitioners from the training ground also came to drink and eat, and the ancestral hall was soon filled with the sound of people.

At a table on the east side, Qin Ledao, Qin Lewu, Qin Lequan, Qin Lewen, and other close clan brothers were seated.

"Ledao, you are a good man, but your son Xiaochao looks so weak and frail..."

Qin Long's father, Qin Lejin, after drinking a large bowl of wine, said with a wine breath, "Xiaochao is so thin that he could be blown over by the wind. He will definitely fail the bone examination. As for the ritual of the clan tablet, he has to cut his finger and let blood. Who knows if he has the courage? He might cry, ha ha. My Long is naturally brave and has even killed chickens with his own hands."

"This..."

Qin Ledao looked worriedly at the young Qin Chao, who wasn't eating much.

The bone examination was to determine one's martial arts potential. Good martial arts potential was often associated with tigers, apes, bears, cranes, and eagles, while weaker ones were like wolves, jackals, deer, and horses.

Of course, there were also superior bones, such as dragon bones, immortal bones, and daoist bones.

There were also inferior bones, such as those of pigs, dogs, sheep, and chickens.

Qin Chao had been weak since childhood, and everyone had long known that his bones were not good. There was nothing to say about it; bones were ultimately innate, and if they were poor, they were poor.

But the ritual of the clan tablet.

This required cutting a finger to let blood, and the blood was not from someone else but from the owner of the tablet. This was the best way to test one's courage.

If a child cried when cutting their finger, it would be very embarrassing, but the embarrassment would not be for the child but for the parents.

Qin Ledao knew that young Qin Chao was sensible and obedient and usually had a big heart, but he had never seen him let blood, so he couldn't be sure how he would react.

"What, is Xiaochao weak in courage?" Qin Lejin laughed.

Qin Ledao slapped the table, his face red, and shouted, "Weak? My son is so sensible, how can he be weak? No more talk, Brother Lejin, you'll see. Xiaochao is so sensible, he will definitely not be weak. Ha ha, right, Xiaochao." He looked at young Qin Chao and said in a low voice, "Xiaochao, remember, no matter what you are asked to do, do not cry. You didn't cry much when you were born, so don't embarrass your father this time."

Young Qin Chao nodded slightly and said in a childish voice, "Only the foolish Qin family members die, not the scared ones. Don't worry!" Qin Ledao laughed and patted the table, saying, "That's right, my Qin family members don't die from fear. This... the foolish ones are few. Xiaochao really knows how to speak. Yes, make your father proud today!"

After the meal.

In the ancestral hall, the old patriarch stepped up the ladder to the high platform, and the other elders also ascended one by one.

"May our ancestors bless us. May the Qin family flourish and prosper. This time, we can add forty-five brave men." The old patriarch's voice echoed in the air, and his eyes suddenly looked at Qin Chao's side. "Qin Ledao, your son Shengqi is the leader of these new children, and you are the head of the Le generation of the Qin clan. The ritual of the clan tablet will start with your son Shengqi."

"Yes, Old Patriarch!"

A tall man standing to the left of Qin Chao responded loudly.

"Sound the drum!" "Ancestral worship!" "Bring the red paulownia wood!"

With the chanting, the drum beats sounded urgently. In front of the ancestral tablet, the large piece of fresh red paulownia wood that Qin Chao had seen earlier was placed. The old patriarch and the other elders knelt before the tablet, praying silently and bowing nine times before standing up.

"Ritual of the clan tablet!"

The tall man, Qin Ledao, stepped forward and climbed the ladder to the red paulownia wood.

"Huh? Where is the clan tablet?" Qin Chao's eyes were fixed on the high platform. In his memory, the ritual of the clan tablet should have a prepared clan tablet, but on the altar, there was only a clan genealogy and writing tools, nothing else.

"Could it be..."

Qin Chao's eyes fell on the large piece of fresh red paulownia wood and the tiger-headed knife on the knife rack.

The wood was from a hundred-year-old tree.

The knife was bright and heavy, with five tiger heads connected from the blade to the handle. Such a knife was also in the old ancestral hall of Qin Chao's previous life, representing the clan's power and not used for combat.

Qin Chao even found that the tiger-headed knife on the rack was identical to the one in the ancestral hall of his previous life, as if it were the same knife.

Qin Ledao knelt on a cushion in front of the altar.

"Bring the knife!"

Qin Ledao stood up, reached out, and grabbed the tiger-headed knife. His eyes flashed, and the knife glinted as he chopped at the fresh red paulownia wood over a hundred years old.

"Indeed, it's made on the spot!" Qin Chao felt his mind was a bit numb. In his previous life, the Qin clan's ritual of the clan tablet was made by his father, but it took a whole week to complete, and various professional wood carving tools were used. But this...

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The knife flashed, and it was only seven cuts.

A two-inch wide, five-inch long red wooden block fell from the air. Qin Ledao reached out to catch the small wooden block and began to carve it on the spot with the large tiger-headed knife.

Qin Ledao carved the clan tablet, and Qin Chao was nearby.

"Qi, listen carefully to what your mother says next." Qin Ledao's wife, Lady Huo, sternly instructed her three-year-old son, "Now you go there, and you must slowly climb to your father, and do whatever your father tells you. Remember, you must not cry or be afraid. If you cry, your parents will be laughed at. Alright, go, hold the rope and don't cry!"

After Lady Huo's repeated instructions, the three-year-old Qin Qi walked toward the ladder. He was not afraid of the ladder, as the old patriarch and others had walked up and down it many times. But his parents had instructed him to hold the rope and climb up, so little Qin Qi held the rope and climbed up.

"Huh?"

Qin Chao had been watching Qin Ledao's knife, and he was surprised to find that the large tiger-headed knife was being used like a small dagger. The tip of the knife moved quickly, and in a moment, one side was carved.

"Ha ha, don't be envious. My knife skills are even better than Uncle Ledao's." Qin Ledao saw the shocked look in young Qin Chao's eyes and said proudly, "You'll see your father's skills later. In our Qin family, learning the knife is not just about chopping and cutting; you have to use the knife as flexibly as your own fingers."

Qin Chao nodded, "It seems the Qin family also understands the importance of the basics, but the sword is much harder to practice than the knife." As he watched the carving of the clan tablet, he noticed that little Qin Qi had already climbed to the high platform. Although the rope ladder was dangerous, as long as one was careful and followed the rope, nothing would happen. Even if something did happen, with the martial arts skills of these people, they could catch a falling child.