"Who are you?" Qin Yang asked.
The young man snorted coldly. "I'm Qin Lie, the sole heir of the Qin Family!"
Qin Yang was instantly bewildered. Could there be other survivors of the Qin Family?
Jin Wanshan fell silent. He had always assumed Qin Yang was pretending to be the Qin Family's heir to pursue Lou Mengyu. Now the imposter had met the real thing...
Lou Mengyu's mind was in turmoil. "Are you... truly the Qin Family's heir?" she asked. "How can you prove it?"
Qin Lie frowned. "Why should I prove anything?"
"If you can't prove you're the real heir, your claims are baseless," Qin Yang sneered. "Who would believe you?"
Jin Wanshan and Lou Mengyu exchanged glances. Aren't those the exact words you used to challenge others before?
"People of the Qin Family don't need proof for our actions!" Qin Lie laughed heartily. "Believe me or don't - it makes no difference to me!"
A fleeting glint of calculation flashed in his eyes.
"The Heavenly Secrets Sect prophesied the Qin Family's heir would appear during the beast tide..." Lou Mengyu murmured.
Qin Yang cut in sharply. "If their prophecy's so accurate, why didn't the sect just find the true heir themselves?"
"But..." Lou Mengyu's gaze shifted to Qin Lie. This man before her seemed far more genuine than Qin Yang.
And he appeared at the Qin Family's ruins...
Qin Lie turned to Qin Yang and asked, "Why do I feel like you're hostile towards me? I can prove I'm a member of the Qin Family."
"Oh? How would you do that?" Lou Mengyu asked eagerly.
Qin Lie looked at Lou Mengyu and countered with a question, "But first, you must answer me: Who are you?"
"I... I'm from the Lou Family. Lou Mengyu," she replied truthfully.
A flicker of joy crossed Qin Lie's eyes before he quickly masked it. "So you're from the Lou Family! Excellent! I'll prove it right now! Please follow me!"
With that, he turned and disappeared into the thick mist.
Lou Mengyu moved to follow without hesitation, but as she took a step forward, Qin Yang grabbed her hand.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Don't trust him. I sense something's off about him," Qin Yang warned.
Jin Wanshan, who seemed to relish chaos, chimed in, "Actually, you're the one with more problems here."
Qin Yang glared at him, but Jin Wanshan continued muttering under his breath, "I'm telling the truth..."
Lou Mengyu tried to pull her hand free from Qin Yang's grip, but he held firm. "The true Qin Family heir has appeared," she said. "How much longer will you keep pretending?"
"He's the fake, I'm the real one," Qin Yang insisted with unwavering conviction.
Moments earlier, the Dragon Jade had confirmed beyond doubt that Qin Yang was the true heir of the Qin Family, while Qin Lie was merely an imposter.
As a super-grade treasure that could only be activated by true Qin Family blood, how could Qin Lie have failed to sense its presence if he were truly of the Qin lineage?
Lou Mengyu shook her head gently. "I hope you won't renege on your previous words."
Qin Yang froze. Had Lou Mengyu decided to sacrifice herself for her chastity again? And this time, was she dragging him—the destroyer of her purity—down with her?
"Since I've already said it, I won't go back on my word," Qin Yang countered. "I just don't want you to be deceived. You'd believe anyone claiming to be a Qin descendant, yet you refuse to trust me?"
He sighed, cutting off Lou Mengyu's response. "You want proof? I can provide it."
Jin Wanshan stood to the side, bewildered. "What proof can you possibly offer? That you're not actually a Qin descendant?"
"..." Qin Yang's face was covered in black lines of frustration.
Through the swirling mist, Qin Lie returned. "Why are you still here?" he asked. "Lost in the fog? No problem. I'll slow down. Just stay close."
Jin Wanshan suggested, "Why don't we follow and see what happens?"
Qin Yang chuckled, "Good idea. I want to see how this guy plans to prove himself!"
The three of them followed Qin Lie into the thick mist. As they walked, Qin Lie suddenly vanished from their sight.
The trio walked shoulder to shoulder, maintaining only a few body lengths behind Qin Lie. His sudden disappearance left them utterly perplexed.
They continued walking, but Qin Lie remained nowhere to be seen. Instead, the mist began to thin.
A rich fragrance filled the air, and the ground beneath their feet was perfectly smooth.
"This..."
"My God!"
"Are these the Qin Family's ruins?"
As Qin Yang and his companions emerged from the mist, the scene before them left them utterly speechless.
A grand cluster of palaces stood before them, their ancient age evident in the weathered stones. Among the ruins, traces of a fierce battle between powerful cultivators could be seen. A ten-zhang palace had been sliced in half by a single sword strike, its cut edge still gleaming like polished jade.
Everywhere they looked, they saw evidence of combat - each scar and fracture in the stone sending shivers down their spines.
"What kind of cultivator could have done this?" Jin Wanshan marveled. "This is just the residual damage!"
Lou Mengyu now fully believed in Qin Lie. "So this is the true Qin Family relic! For a thousand years, everything people have seen was actually a fake!"
Qin Yang's heart filled with unease as he glanced at the roadside. What appeared to be ordinary weeds were actually high-grade spirit medicines!
Could it be he's the real one and I'm the fake? Qin Yang wondered.
"Bullshit! You're the real one!" Dragon Jade scorned. "You ungrateful bastard, the heroic souls of your ancestors rest here! Aren't you afraid they'll flay you alive?"
"But Qin Lie brought us here..." Qin Yang protested.
Dragon Jade roared within Qin Yang's mind, making his head ring with the force of the outburst.
"Bullshit! I'm the one who brought you in!"
"What?" Qin Yang's mouth gaped. "Why?"
"Why do you need reasons? I'm the fucking key to the Qin Family's fake secret realm! Because I exist, you idiots walked right in!"
"Fake secret realm?"
"God Emperors can create small worlds. When they perish, these worlds merge into the greater cosmos. Over time, their power degrades..."
"A fake secret realm is an independent space, but not a true small world. It was born tethered to the greater cosmos from the beginning..."
"But aren't you the key to the God Realm? One of the eight keys that unlock it?" Qin Yang was thoroughly confused.
Dragon Jade explained, "Your Qin Family ancestors were brilliant beyond measure. They created this formation and designated me as the key. Is that not permissible?"
"Permissible, absolutely!" Qin Yang nodded vigorously.
This makes proving my lineage far too simple! Qin Yang thought. He had been contemplating how to reveal the truth about Dragon Jade.
"What about Qin Lie?" Lou Mengyu asked.
Jin Wanshan peered around, still unable to locate Qin Lie's figure.
"He's not of the Qin Family, and I don't care for him. So I didn't let him in." Qin Yang chuckled heartily.
"What do you mean?" Lou Mengyu asked, perplexed.
Qin Yang shrugged. "Didn't you doubt me? This proves everything!"
"You're saying... you brought us here?" Jin Wanshan's eyes widened.
Qin Yang nodded. "Want to find Qin Lie? Easy. I'll take you there now."
With that, he mentally communicated with Dragon Jade.
The scene before them vanished, and they found themselves back in the thick mist.
"How did you get lost again?" Qin Lie approached. "Let's walk side by side. The Qin Family's old residence is just ahead."
The corner of Qin Yang's mouth twitched slightly, while Lou Mengyu and Jin Wanshan exchanged bewildered glances.