Chapter 722: Chapter 733 Two Chen Families

“What secret?” asked Chen Pingan.

“I don’t know the earliest details, but what I do know is that the Chen Family owned a precious item called the Sun Totem, an heirloom with the ability to foretell the future. It also contains various cultivation techniques within it, thus making it a treasure among all treasures!” explained Gu Yuehong.

“Chen Diancang might have known something via the Sun Totem, which was why he then disappeared unexpectedly from our sight. I had gathered many families of Inner Energy practitioners to hunt him down, but all attempts failed in the end. However, after 20 years had passed, a new Chen Family suddenly appeared out of the blue, controlling the whole economy by owning half the Earth’s assets!”

She then continued with a mocking expression, “At the time, many of us suspected Chen Diancang to be the person behind the founding of this new Chen Family, but he went missing when we wanted to investigate him. We knew the Chen Family was headed by Chen Jindong back then, but we knew nothing about Chen Jindong’s father. Oh, and of course, I must mention to you that Chen Diancang wasn’t your father’s real name at that time. His real name was Chen Long!”

Then, she added, “Chen Diancang is indeed a clever one. Had the Gu Family not met the King of Nine Doors later, we would still be fooled by him, especially since he was so talented at making up stories.

There are many secrets about Chen Hao, of which Chen Diancang must have known a few. Of course, there would only be a handful of people who know what exactly the secrets are, but we’re not one of them.”

Chen Pingan frowned; her words seemed to explain everything, especially some details that he had never mentioned to Chen Hao. While he was spying on Chen Hao, he noticed a mysterious man, who had also been spying on Chen Hao for an unknown period of time. He had not found out who the man was until a random opportunity came when Chen Pingan accidentally exposed his whereabouts, so he decided to fight the mysterious man and stripped the man of the veil that was covering his face.

Although the man covered his face immediately, Chen Pingan was able to recognize his eyes and his expression at a glance, and he was thunderstruck. “Dad!”

How could this man in black be Chen Diancang, my father? Have I made a mistake? I must have made a mistake! Chen Pingan seriously doubted himself.

He was very sure of his father’s fighting skills when he was younger, not to mention he had achieved a high cultivation base after having escaped from the Border Realm, yet his father’s abilities had greatly surpassed him. How could this be possible?

With these questions unsolved, Chen Pingan continued to conceal his identity while investigating in secret whether his father had been kind or hostile toward Chen Hao. He had the suspicion because he had discovered earlier that his father had sedated Chen Hao multiple times. For this reason, he stayed undercover beside Chen Hao and examined Chen Hao’s body, only to find out that there weren’t any changes.

Perhaps that was the reason Chen Pingan hid from Fang Jiannan the fact that his face wasn’t disfigured. He could not fathom his father’s intentions until the tragedy that happened at the Holy Water Ritual, where many people were killed, except for his father, who was missing. It was only then that Chen Pingan felt he might have realized something, but he was baffled at the same time. Why would his father be so cruel? Why was he doing all this?

“So, what do you think? Has my story enlightened you on Chen Diancang, your father’s real character?

Judging from your expression, I suppose you must have noticed something odd before this. Am I right?

Hahaha!” said Gu Yuehong as she burst out laughing.

“I did notice something odd, but I really couldn’t fathom the reason behind your schemes. What are you people aiming for by killing so many innocent people with this giant scheme? Why must their lives be manipulated in the hands of yours?” shouted an extremely indignant Chen Pingan, for he himself was one of the people being sacrificed in this giant scheme. Then, he added, “Besides, you just said that you don’t quite understand the secrets about Chen Hao, but I’ve heard a different story from Goddess Ziyan—you people knew very well that Hao is the reincarnation of a great god!”

Gu Yuehong shook her head. “Both Luo Ziyan and the King of Nine Doors had indeed claimed that Chen Hao is the reincarnation of a great god, yet this is nothing but a rumor that had been circulating in the Border Realm. The King of Nine Doors had personally told me that this rumor had tempted many, yet even he couldn’t be sure if it’s true. The only fact we’re sure of is that Chen Hao possesses a fearsome force, which would enable anyone who owned it to move freely between the Three Realms.

Many in the Border Realm called it the Essence of Nine Cycles and made up an interesting story for it.”

Then, she continued, “The secrets about Chen Hao, on the other hand, was unknown, but Chen Diancang had possibly found out the secrets and taken actions, which was why many forces had turned against the Chen Family in recent years. He knows there’s no way he could deal with so many forces alone, so he hid himself all those years and showed up only now!”

“I got it now! My father had mentioned it once—the Sun Totem had foretold that the Chen Family would meet its doom. Was he referring to this incident?” said Chen Pingan in revelation.

“You’re right. The Chen Family is destined to meet its doom, for it must pay the price sooner or later, and the price will be huge!” said Gu Yuehong. “Of course, Chen Diancang, the sly old fox knew this very well. Being circumspect and farsighted as he is, he built not one, but two Chen Families to divert people’s attention by having lots of children with different women! Haven’t you asked yourself why you have never met your uncles or heard about your grandpa despite your family being described as a legendary one with many branches? You’ve never even met your mother, have you? The Chen Family has many branches, but most of them are adopted by Chen Diancang, and your branch is his sole direct descendant.”

Chen Pingan was dumbstruck at Gu Yuehong’s words. Two Chen Families? And she’s right—I’ve never met my mother nor heard about her, but is there another Chen Family in this world? This is much more terrifying! “How could there be two Chen Families?” asked Chen Pingan in disbelief.

“Yes, there are two Chen Families indeed. We only discovered this second Chen Family a few years ago. Chen Diancang was clever enough to have diverted our attention. While everyone was having their eyes fixed on Chen Hao and his Chen Family, the other Chen Family had grown so much that it had put the Gu Family in peril. Had the King of Nine Doors not interfered, the Gu Family might have already been long gone,” said Gu Yuehong with a trace of lingering fear on her face. “Therefore, we must get our hands on Chen Hao too—as well as all the secrets about him—and destroy Chen Diancang’s plan. That’s because we have a distinct feeling that we would lose the ability to protect ourselves if things were to continue developing the same way…”

She then continued, “We had even suspected that Chen Diancang had gotten ahead of everyone else and succeeded in communicating with the forces in the Border Realm!”