I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 903 Recognizing the Ancestor and Returning to the Clan
Zhang Chen presented Zhang Shi with the Three Lights Divine Water, instructing her to cleanse her body and repair her marrow. He then began to examine the three children's cultivation progress, explaining the key points of the profound techniques to them. At the same time, he secretly used his supernatural powers to carefully examine the three children's souls and bodies, preventing the Zhang family from secretly plotting against them.

Fortunately, Zhang Gaqi did not disappoint him; the three little ones did not have any of the Zhang family's hidden tricks.

Time flies, and the day of recognizing one's ancestors arrived in the blink of an eye. On this morning, Zhang Chen stepped out of the Xie family mansion and headed towards the Zhang family.

Zhang Chen's decision to acknowledge his ancestry was driven by the King behind the scenes, with the secret assistance of some elders in his family. No one could stop Zhang Chen from acknowledging his ancestry.

When Zhang Chen arrived at the Zhang family mansion, he saw that the side gate of the Zhang family had already been opened, and Zhang Gaqi was standing in front of the gate, looking at Zhang Chen with a complicated expression.

Zhang Gaqi hesitated before speaking to Zhang Chen, his unspoken words ultimately condensing into a sigh: "Let's go, let's go straight to the ancestral hall, the elders are already waiting for you there."

"I thought someone was going to block the door and not let me in today," Zhang Chen joked with Zhang Gaqi.

“The affairs of large families are not so simple. Even if there are a million conflicts, they will not make a scene in public to avoid being ridiculed by outsiders. For large families, reputation is more important than life. For a family with a continuous lineage, face is the most important thing.” Zhang Gaqi explained to Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen nodded upon hearing this and followed along into the depths of the mansion. The Zhang family ancestral hall was located deep within the mansion of the direct descendants of the Zhang family, which was the foundation and cornerstone of the Zhang family.

Zhang Chen walked into the mansion. Zhang Shenqi's mansion remained unchanged, and there were no special arrangements made for Zhang Chen's joining the Zhang family and recognizing his ancestors.

Upon arriving at the Zhang Family Ancestral Hall, Zhang Chencai couldn't help but show a look of surprise: "It's truly magnificent!"

The Zhang family ancestral hall is a four-courtyard siheyuan. At the entrance, there are strong and muscular martial arts masters who have cultivated their qi and blood. In front of the ancestral hall, there are four young men dressed in black tight-fitting clothes with black long swords at their waists, standing in front of the gate with meticulous attention to detail, like statues.

“These are all descendants of my Zhang family branch. Their families are struggling to survive, so they take turns standing guard at the ancestral hall every month. The ancestral hall provides them with a monthly subsidy, which can be considered as the clan’s support for the outstanding members of the family,” Zhang Gaqi said.

Zhang Chen nodded upon hearing this, actually finding this model quite good. After all, the Zhang family was a large clan with many members in need of assistance. Directly distributing money was not a good option; instead, arranging jobs for the younger generation in exchange for payment was the best choice.

Firstly, it can prevent people from trying to fraudulently obtain subsidies, and secondly, it can enhance the disciples' sense of belonging to the family.

As countless thoughts flickered in Zhang Chen's mind, the two passed through a series of gates and arrived at the ancestral hall. Inside, they saw dozens of elderly men with white hair and beards, discussing something.

There were also hundreds of vibrant young people standing tall and straight inside the ancestral hall, standing respectfully and meticulously.

“These are all connections left by your father in the past. They had the highest hopes for your father back then, but unfortunately, he was betrayed and his efforts were in vain. Even they were implicated.” Zhang Gaqi said, “You are a junior. Your entry into the ancestral hall is not a big deal. Only the connections left by your father in the past came. The rest did not come. Please do not mind.”

Zhang Chen nodded upon hearing this, and glanced around but did not find any trace of Zhang Shenqi. It was clear that apart from those close to his father's lineage, no one else from the Zhang family had come, as if this was a way of expressing their dissatisfaction with his recognition of his ancestral lineage.

Zhang Chen looked at the enormous ancestral hall, which was as big as a university playground in modern times, but only a few hundred heads were moving around. It seemed that most of the Zhang family members opposed his return.

"Don't overthink it. Everyone has their own things to do. You are a descendant of the Zhang family, so why wouldn't everyone welcome you back?" Zhang Gaqi explained dryly to Zhang Chen, though he himself wasn't sure how convincing his explanation was.

Zhang Chen ignored Zhang Gaqi's words and instead scanned the entire square with his eyes, finally settling on the tall building in the center. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes. Since entering the Zhang family ancestral hall, he had once again sensed the aura of reincarnation.

"It seems I'll gain a lot from this trip," Zhang Chen thought to himself.

Zhang Gaqi led Zhang Chen through the crowd to the elders. All the elders stopped talking and turned their gazes towards them. Zhang Gaqi addressed the leading elder:
"Third Uncle, Zhang Chen has arrived!"

The old man nodded, looked Zhang Chen up and down, his eyes filled with emotion: "You look just like your father. Welcome back home."

Zhang Gaqi, who was standing nearby, quickly introduced Zhang Chen: "This is Third Uncle."

There are eight direct uncles in the Zhang family. Now, Zhang Gaqi led his family to the third uncle. It seems that the eldest and second eldest brothers are not present. The third uncle has the highest status and position among them. "Greetings, Third Uncle." Zhang Chen quickly bowed.

"Good child, don't be so polite. You've suffered these past years! Don't worry about things at home. With us old folks here, no one can bully you. Just openly acknowledge your ancestry. You are a descendant of the Zhang family. Who dares to make things difficult for you? We'll be there to protect you." The Third Uncle's voice was full of gentleness: "What's yours should be yours. You should boldly fight for it. No one can take it away from you!"

"Grandson will remember Uncle's teachings," Zhang Chen said respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Third Uncle nodded in satisfaction. Then Zhang Gaqi began to introduce the uncles to Zhang Chen. There were quite a few uncles present. Fourth Uncle, Seventh Uncle, and Eighth Uncle were all there. These were the direct descendants of the family. The rest of the old men were all collateral descendants, but they were very close. They were just collateral descendants of the same generation, but they still had considerable influence in the family.

Although the direct descendants of a large family can control the entire family, they cannot do whatever they want. There are also collateral relatives and older generations of collateral relatives watching over them. The entire family is a whole. Although each generation of direct descendants is in charge, if the direct descendants or the family has problems, those older generations of collateral relatives also have a lot of say.

“Zhang Chen, I’ve heard of your reputation for a long time. That son of a bitch, the King of Pingbian, actually dared to extend his reach to our direct lineage. He’s really lawless. We can’t tolerate him. Does he really think that by controlling the North, he can challenge our direct lineage and threaten us?” Uncle Ba looked at Zhang Chen, his voice full of admiration.

Zhang Chen was taken aback upon hearing this, and stared in astonishment at the old man in front of him: "You don't blame me for ruining the Pingbian Prince's grand plan of transforming the dragon into a dragon?"

Although the old man in front of me had white hair and beard, he was so energetic and robust that he didn't look old at all. His face was ruddy and he looked like he could live for several more decades.

"What a load of rubbish about the Dragon Transformation Plan! You can't even control a junior like yourself and easily ruin it. We might as well not have this Dragon Transformation Plan. You can even ruin the Dragon Transformation Plan, so don't you seem much more reliable than the plan itself? With you around, I'm not worried about the Zhang family's rise in the future! Besides, the King of Pingbian couldn't even handle a ten-year-old child and was overthrown by you, becoming a laughing stock. He's utterly disgraced, and he still has the nerve to talk about it!" Uncle Ba complained, his voice full of disdain.

Zhang Chen was speechless upon hearing this. He felt that the other party had somewhat wronged the Prince of Pingbian. If Prince Zhang Shicheng had truly succeeded in transforming from a dragon into a dragon and reached the legendary twelfth rank, commanding the demon race as a twelfth-rank true dragon, he would surely lead the Zhang family to great power and contend with the Great Victory Dynasty. Unfortunately, Zhang Shicheng had run into an insurmountable obstacle. It wasn't that Zhang Shicheng's plan was flawed, nor that he lacked ability; it was simply that this obstacle was too hard to overcome.

He's using way too much cheat code! His Soul-Stealing Technique is a natural counter to Zhang Shicheng!
As the Eighth Uncle finished speaking, a group of uncles began to criticize the Pingbian Prince's Mansion, directly calling it a useless piece of trash. The Pingbian Prince's Mansion was far too unreliable. It controlled the entire northern land, yet it couldn't even control a single child and was even humiliated by someone else. It had become a laughing stock.

After a group of uncles finished complaining, the ceremony of recognizing their ancestors and returning to their ancestral home began.

After a full hour of worship, the ceremony of recognizing one's ancestors was finally completed. Then, the Third Uncle looked at Zhang Chen and said, "Take a rest first and get to know the younger generation in the clan. This afternoon, we will preside over the awakening ceremony for you to help you awaken the Zhang family's innate talent."

Zhang Chen had long been curious about the Zhang family's innate talents, especially those related to the legendary Book of Life and Death. He was extremely curious and respectfully bowed, saying, "Grandson obeys."

Zhang Gaqi then led Zhang Chen to meet with a group of younger members of the Zhang family, but the attitude of those younger members seemed somewhat subtle.

"Among these juniors, Zhang Gaoling is the most outstanding. His bloodline power is comparable to that of a ninth-level expert. Among the countless disciples of my Zhang family, he is a top-tier existence." Zhang Gaqi led Zhang Chen to the juniors and pointed to a young man dressed in gold robes with a handsome face.

The young man was only a year older than Zhang Chen. He looked quite spirited and had an indescribable arrogance. Standing there, he resembled a proud peacock.

“You can call him Big Brother. I heard you’re going to study at the academy in the future, so you can ask Zhang Gaoling to take care of you,” Zhang Gaqi said.

"Greetings, elder brother." Zhang Chen bowed politely.

Zhang Gaoling gave Zhang Chen a cold look and gave a nonchalant "hmm," seemingly not intending to pay any attention to Zhang Chen, which surprised Zhang Chen.

Zhang Gaoling simply stared at Zhang Chen with a hint of coldness in his eyes, which startled Zhang Chen. He quickly regained his composure and began to speculate about the situation.

Although those who came here were all close to their fathers, that was just the thinking of the older generation. Among the younger generation, there must be some who disliked Zhang Chen's return, believing that his arrival would divide the Zhang family. However, due to pressure from their elders, they had no choice but to come. For example, Zhang Gaoling, who was exceptionally talented and ranked among the top in the Zhang family, harbored a subtle hostility towards Zhang Chen's return.

Where there are people, there is a world of intrigue. Although the older generation who came here acknowledged Zhang Chen's methods in the North and his existence, they could not force the younger generation to acknowledge him. Therefore, although these younger people came, only they themselves knew what they were really thinking.

(End of this chapter)