“Congratulations on awakening your ancestral marks.”

Long Chen’s words were very light, but they all heard them. Tang Wan-er and Ye Zhiqiu were looking at them in complete disbelief.

“Awakened... ancestral marks…?”

They couldn’t believe their eyes. At some point, a faint rune had appeared over Song Mingyuan, Li Qi, and Luo Cang’s foreheads.

Although they were a bit indistinct, that faint pressure coming from them proved that they were definitely ancestral marks.

Only then did Song Mingyuan and Luo Cang react. Glancing at each other, they saw the other person’s ancestral mark and went wild with joy.

“Hey, Li Qi, when are you going to stop biting my arm? Did you get addicted to it?”

Li Qi didn’t even hear Long Chen’s words. Holding Long Chen’s arm, his eyes were completely red and he had already turned into a madman, crazily biting down.

“Tch.” Long Chen swung his arm and sent Li Qi flying. But even as he was flung off, Li Qi bit down and tore off Long Chen’s sleeve.

Everyone was surprised and found that funny. Li Qi was still berserk, immediately charging back with his eyes completely red, he roared, “You want to kill my brothers? I’ll bite you to death!”

Song Mingyuan and Luo Cang immediately went over and grabbed him, shouting, “Hey, hey! Wake up! It’s already over.”

Being tightly restrained by the two of them, Li Qi gradually awoke, looking at them in confusion, ”What are you guys holding me back for? We’re on the same side.”

Long Chen shrugged his shoulders. On his bare arm were some bruises that Li Qi had caused.

“I didn’t think you were still hiding such a unique skill. Not bad.”

Looking at the bruised part of Long Chen’s arm, they couldn’t help but laugh. They were also moved by each other’s actions, as in the face of death, all of them had stood by each other.

“Long Chen, did we really awaken our ancestral marks?”

They could sense a new kind of energy flowing within their blood now. That was due to the ancestral mark. But they couldn’t believe it. Their families had spent a great deal of effort without being able to do this and had already given up. But now, in just the blink of an eye, they had awakened their ancestral marks.

Long Chen looked at the three of their disbelieving expressions and shook his head. “I’m also not too sure. Do you want to test it some more?”

Long Chen raised up his bone blade, immediately frightening the three of them into babbling, “No, no, stop! We’ll just believe this.”

They would rather face those crazy Corrupt path experts than face Long Chen again. They felt Long Chen was even crazier than them.

Most frightening of all was that despite how crazy he acted, his expression never changed.

Seeing the three of them frightened green, Tang Wan-er laughed. Even the always expressionless Ye Zhiqiu couldn’t help but smile.

It really was amazing that Long Chen could immediately switch from being a cold-blooded, merciless killer to a joking rascal.

“Haha, we three brothers have also revived our ancestral marks. Hehe, if my dad knew, he’d definitely be happy!”

The three of them laughed heartily, finally accepting this fact. This joy had come far too suddenly. Even the three of them were unable to remain calm.

Who knew how many generations of geniuses in their family had still yet to have anyone revive their ancestral mark?

“Long Chen, when can you revive your ancestral mark?”

“If you awakened your ancestral mark, just how powerful would you become?”

The three of them excitedly turned to Long Chen. Long Chen’s cultivation base was still only at the peak of Blood Condensation. If he awakened his ancestral mark, wouldn’t he be unrivaled in the future?

Long Chen smiled slightly, but his smile was somewhat pained. His Spirit Blood had been stolen, so there was not even a drop of ancestral blood within him. How could he possibly awaken his ancestral mark?

His Spirit Blood, Spirit Root, and Spirit Bone had all been taken. He didn’t even know who his own father and mother were. He didn’t even know if they were alive…

The only clue was the jade pendant. But Long Chen knew he was far from being strong enough to learn his own background. He had to keep accumulating strength.

Everyone saw the change in Long Chen’s expression and immediately shut their mouths. But Long Chen quickly laughed.

“My ancestral mark isn’t the same as yours. It’ll depend on chance.” Long Chen didn’t want to continue talking about that topic.

“Long Chen, did you long since know how to awaken a person’s ancestral mark?” Song Mingyuan was a bit curious.

Long Chen had said at the start that he would let them all awaken their ancestral marks. And his voice had been completely calm, full of confidence.

Long Chen shook his head. “I did think of a way, but I wasn’t too sure that it would work for any of you. I never thought all three of you would end up awakening it.”

“Long Chen, how did you do this? We still don’t get it.” Li Qi was still puzzled.

They had activated their ancestral marks far too suddenly. It was so fast they hadn’t even realized it; their ancestral marks had just appeared. That was too curious.

“First of all, I’d like to apologize for misjudging you. In the beginning, I said to treat the ones beside you as your own family because I was afraid you didn’t care about them enough.

“But then I realized I was wrong. You’ve long since begun treating each other as your fellow brothers. You care more about your brothers’ lives than your own. You would rather die than let them die in front of you. That is also why you were able to revive your ancestral marks so quickly.

“The method your families tried to stimulate you was wrong. They thought that when a person felt their life was threatened, that would cause them to explode with their full strength, activating their bloodline’s energy.

“But in reality, they didn’t know there was another kind of power that could let someone erupt with even greater power, far surpassing that full strength from when only their own lives were threatened. That thing is what I said when I fought with Gui Sha: a will to protect.

“That is a kind of sacred power. In order to protect the ones in your heart, you’re able to give up even your own life. That is your absolute strongest state.

“Because the ones in your heart are even more important than your own life, you need an even greater power to protect them.

“When you have that kind of thirst for power, your body will automatically bring out all your potential. At that point, your bloodline strength will begin to revive, and your ancestral mark will be awakened.”

Hearing this, everyone’s hearts beat wildly. Back when he had mentioned a will to protect to Gui Sha, they hadn’t really understood what he had meant.

But now that he explained it again, they realized his theory was absolutely correct. The freshly awakened ancestral marks were absolute proof.

“Long Chen, if you sell this secret to those families, you’ll definitely make a huge profit,” said Li Qi.

Long Chen shook his head and laughed, “It’s not so simple. Did you think that just by learning this technique, you could easily awaken a person’s ancestral mark?”

“What? Why not?”

“People are all selfish, especially those pampered disciples. They are pampered to death as soon as they are born.

“The absolute majority of people love themselves the most. How could they give up their life for someone else? If someone didn’t truly care about those close to them, how would you trigger that thirst for greater strength?

“So although the principle is simple, it’s extremely difficult to put into action. And so all of us brothers will become true brothers from now on.”

Long Chen extended his hand. Song Mingyuan, Li Qi, and Luo Cang also extended a hand, putting them on top of each other.

“Brothers together are undefeatable!”

The four of them shouted together. Then they looked at each other, deep affection emanating from their eyes.

“Ugh, can you four old men stop being so disgusting. Never make that kind of expression again,” said Tang Wan-er to the side.

The four of them immediately laughed. Three of them had revived their ancestral marks today. That was an incredibly joyous occasion, and they all returned to the monastery to celebrate.

When the news of them reviving their ancestral marks spread, the entire monastery was shaken.

Even Tu Fang personally came to take a look. Long Chen didn’t hide any of it, explaining the whole story to him.

Looking at Long Chen, Tu Fang didn’t even know what to say. Then, looking at Song Mingyuan and the others, he was filled with praise.

To be willing to sacrifice themselves for their companions required more than just bravery. Even Tu Fang was moved by the camaraderie between them.

But he also knew that even if people knew this method, it wouldn’t be that useful. Not every person was so big-hearted and brave.

To most people, Song Mingyuan, Li Qi, and Luo Cang’s actions were completely foolish. It was just like how they had still decided to ally with the Heaven Earth Faction despite Long Chen being exiled. Back then, the chance of him returning alive had been slim to none. But even after being suppressed by their powerful opponents, they hadn’t abandoned the Heaven Earth Alliance.

Those kinds of ‘fools’ really were few and far between. But Long Chen’s method would only work for such fools. Those ‘smart’ people would never be able to use this method.

Once the three of them awakened their ancestral marks, they stayed within the Heaven Earth Faction. That way they could stay with Tang Wan-er and Ye Zhiqiu and borrow their assistance to quickly learn how to properly control their ancestral marks’ power.

As for Long Chen, he didn’t stand on courtesy and took all five factions’ points to go the Xuantian pavilion and buy a huge amount of medicinal ingredients.

During the next period of time, Long Chen essentially never parted from his furnace. Each day he would constantly refine medicinal pills. He only left his immortal cave after half a month.

He had refined over five hundred Yuan Spirit Pills. They were third tier medicinal pills, but they were top-notch even amongst the third tier medicinal pills and extremely precious.

They could allow Tendon Transformation experts to advance one whole Heavenstage without needing to worry about any sequelae or repercussions. It was especially useful to those who had only just solidified their realm. It would allow them to directly step into the first Heavenstage.

Furthermore, all of Long Chen’s pills were high grade. With the assistance of the spirit stone formation, the medicinal effect would be complemented perfectly. It would be no problem to advance just one Heavenstage, and as for whether it could allow you to advance even more, that would have to depend on each person’s talent.

When Song Mingyuan and the others heard him explain the Yuan Spirit Pill’s effect, their eyes almost popped out of their heads. That was practically cheating!

The monastery also possessed Yuan Spirit Pills, but they were all low grade. They were also extremely expensive, just one being over five thousand points. Even with the increase in resources, they were unable to buy it.

Furthermore, you would need to consume three low grade Yuan Spirit Pills to advance one Heavenstage.

An ordinary medicinal pill could be absorbed perfectly at the first time of consumption. The second time you consumed it, the effect would be cut in half, and that would be halved again the third time. By the fourth time, your body would have formed a resistance to its medicinal nature and it would be essentially useless.

Long Chen said that once they completely refined the Yuan Spirit Pills’ medicinal energy, he would see if he had enough time to refine another batch for them.

That caused everyone to go crazy with joy, and they all entered seclusion. Long Chen then spent another three days refining a great deal of medicinal powder.

Three days later, Long Chen left the monastery with a huge amount of Ten Thousand Beast Essence Blood. Now that everyone else’s matters had been resolved, it was time for him to quickly increase his own cultivation base.