Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Yes, not afraid, I'm no coward!
[Level: Foundational Energy Level Five]
[Techniques and Martial Arts: Azure Cloud Unfallen, Shadowy Heaven Steps, Thunderous Golden Scripture]
The talents of Blackwood's fifth generation descendants were mediocre at best, with only Nicholas being slightly better, possessing a dual Psychic Constitution.
They weren't like the first three generations, nor did they have access to Ethan's top-tier 'Heavenly Mechanism Psychic Enhancement Pills'.
The potions Amelia concocted to enhance the quality of the Five Elements in their Psychic Constitution only slightly improved their talents.
The worst part was that they weren't nurtured by the family from a young age.
You see, the fourth generation kids basically grew up living with mystical beasts, and when they had nothing else to do, they would even enter the Deathly Coffin to battle.
[Your descendant Olivia has important matters to discuss.]
Time sped up, and about three days passed. Edward hadn't even returned home when Olivia's message arrived.
After switching the screen.
Olivia saw the shimmering Cards and quickly knelt, "Forebearer, I have heard that Edward has gone to meet the County Prince."
Ethan seriously suspected that Dawn's people had infiltrated the royal residence...
"Michael gave us twenty years, and this is also an opportunity for us!" she exclaimed.
"What he meant was for us, Blackwood, and Edward to achieve something together, there's an implication in his words."
Hearing this, Ethan slightly raised an eyebrow.
He had sensed something amiss when he heard Michael speak, especially since Michael, a man of such high status, had done nothing since Betty became pregnant, which was quite odd.
"My child has checked, and in fact, for tens of thousands of years, the successive County Princes of the Duke's Mansion did not lack the intention to care for the people of Cloudview County."
" However, whenever the Duke's Mansion was about to act, forces like the Azure Cloud Pavilion always seemed to be forming alliances."
"Michael's deeds over the years have shown me his extraordinary nature. He is a great man who loves his people like his own children, which is also why the county town is increasingly thriving. He is also the most distant from the sect powers among all the County Princes in history. "
"When the two sects fought, the common people suffered, and I heard that Michael was so angry that he couldn't sleep for three years. Whenever the major powers caused trouble, he was always furious."
"Our family... when our family was slaughtering all around, Michael both laughed and raged."
As Olivia recounted, Ethan understood.
The reason Michael hadn't moved against Blackwood because of Betty's issue was not as simple as Betty threatening with her life; he also wanted to use Blackwood, to turn Blackwood into a weapon in his hands to completely reshuffle Cloudview County!
Now, not only was Blackwood powerful, but they also had good relations with Sky Sect and even the Black Tortoise. The two sects had thus ceased fighting and formed an alliance.
"By forming a marital alliance with the Duke's Mansion, our family could gain the most powerful ally."
"I've got a plan..." -mpyr.
"..."
Ethan ignored Olivia's scheme.
Well, that was to sell off the Duke's Mansion and then profit from the chaos, while pinning the blame on the neighboring county.
"Stop scheming, will ya? If we actually did that, who knows if the imperial court would come knocking, or if we'd get busted. If Nathan heard about this kind of backstabbing, he'd definitely give her a thrashing."
After clearing up Michael's intentions with Olivia, Ethan cracked a smile.
When the scene switched to Edward, Ethan suddenly felt a warm familiarity.
Soon, Dennis brought Edward back to the ancestral hall.
Nathan also heard about Michael's words from them, which made the honest and straightforward Nathan muse, "Twenty years? If it's about finding a prodigy, why would it take twenty years? With the grandeur of the Duke's Mansion, why should they give my Blackwood a chance?"
"Forebearer, I understand now!"
Nathan immediately knelt down, joyfully saying, "It's not that Michael thinks our Blackwood isn't worthy of the Duke's Mansion, but rather they need something from our Blackwood. They can't lower their pride, so they resorted to this tactic! He's trying to win over our Blackwood."
"If it weren't for needing a legitimate reason to show the other major powers, he'd probably push his daughter onto our Edward right now!"
Ethan took a sip of water, suddenly recalling Michael's angry yet composed demeanor in the scene just now.
Hmm, he really looked dignified.
But now that old man, it seems like he's been stripped clean by the Blackwoods. Edward looked like a ghostly youth, with the ghost fire stopping at his doorstep, just waiting for him to send his daughter on a broken motorcycle.
Hearing Nathan's words, Edward, who had been nervous, suddenly became excited, "Great-grandfather, so I haven't brought trouble to our family? Am I about to marry Betty?"
At these words, Nathan's face darkened. Although he was the great-grandfather, he couldn't understand for the life of him how that girl Betty could fancy his no-good grandson?
He immediately took out a rattan cane.
"Kneel down!"
As Edward was being punished, the Blackwood elders had already planned his training regimen.
Twenty years, to beat all the prodigies under fifty in the entire Cloudview County, was indeed a challenge.
Just after being beaten.
[Your descendant Edward has been thrown into the first layer of the Dire Death Coffin.]
Nathan was fair to all.
[Your descendants Nicholas and Donna, enjoying the spectacle, have been thrown into the Dire Death Coffin.]
...
...
[In the year 93 of Blackwood, your descendants Edward, Nicholas, and Donna, after enduring six months of constant death in the Coffin of Dire Death, have improved their martial arts and psychic techniques, significantly enhancing their combat experience.]
It was only their martial arts and psychic techniques that improved; when they emerged from the coffin, their eyes were vacant, nearly broken.
"Our great-grandfather said that our ancestors all cultivated their psychic powers coming out of that coffin."
Edward rubbed his face, "I didn't expect it to be so terrifying."
Right?
Their strength was merely at the fourth or fifth level of Foundational Energy. In front of the endless zombies in the Coffin of Dire Death, they were basically dying every three seconds. Even after spending six months inside cultivating psychic powers, they never survived past thirty seconds.
"I can feel my psychic abilities getting stronger, I'm not scared anymore!" Donna puffed her cheeks, the eleven-year-old dressed in a sleek black outfit, standing about 4 feet 7 inches tall, slim and rather cheeky in appearance.
She remembered three years ago when Dennis took her to the Fist of the Hundred sect, and Grandpa Dennis had her kill the nursemaid and the wife of the sect leader of Fist of the Hundred.
But facing those who had bullied her before, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. After killing zombies in the Coffin of Dire Death for half a year, she felt sure she wasn't afraid anymore!
"Yes, not afraid, I'm no coward!"
Nicholas, also just eleven, a dashing young boy dressed in fine clothes, flashing a big white smile, "The Divine Tree Grandpa called me a coward, I want to prove him wrong!"
Amidst their conversation.
Nathan's voice startled them, "This is just the beginning."
Edward turned around, "Great-grandfather, is there more training? Let us rest..."
Before he could finish.
The three youngsters suddenly felt a heaviness in their heads.
A figure in black appeared behind them, bowed to Nathan, flashing the Dawn badge, and with Nathan's nod, whisked the three youngsters away on a cloud.