Tantai Wuji was still stirring up trouble from the shadows. By rights, Lang Jiuchuan should have had no time to linger at the Lang Residence — yet seeing the eager, expectant gazes of Great Uncle Lang and the others, she stayed for the family banquet all the same.

Night fell. In the Hall of Longevity belonging to the family matriarch, the lights burned bright. Masters and servants alike moved about with lively step — but no longer with the fearful anxiety of past days. Instead there was a spirited vitality born from having survived a great disaster, and a sense of anticipation for what was to come.

The eyes that turned toward Lang Jiuchuan were filled with reverence and a fervent, almost frenzied admiration.

A golden core Zhenren — from a house of nobility already teetering on the edge of irrelevance and obscurity, oh, not even a marquis’s residence any longer, there had emerged the only golden core Zhenren in a thousand years. This meant that from this day forward, the Lang Family would leap to become one of the most preeminent clans on this land — of extraordinary standing, or perhaps even beyond.

This was not empty boasting. The instant Lang Jiuchuan appeared, the Lang Family had already received countless visiting cards, along with offers of assistance — all of it overtures, all of it flattery.

Simply because of Lang Jiuchuan’s Immortal-level methods and power.

And she was born of the Lang Family!

Having produced a person who brought such glory to the clan, it was not only the Lang Family members alive today who could take pride in this — even the ancestors long gone to their graves had nothing but honor in it. And the families bound to the Lang Family through marriage would count only themselves fortunate and glad. How much luck had one stumbled into, to have formed a marital alliance with a family that produced an Immortal? The daughters who had married out would find their standing in their husbands’ households rising another tier, and even the children born of those daughters would carry themselves with more confidence than their fellow sisters-in-law.

In truth, those daughters had already begun making preparations to return to their maternal home for a visit.

The Lang Residence was bright with laughter and warmth. Cui Shi, with Lang Jiuchuan’s spiritual energy flowing into her, had the strength to attend the banquet as well. She looked as though her illness had made a full recovery — no trace of sickness visible, only a calm and gentle tranquility, the ease of someone who had set down every burden.

Everyone believed that Lang Jiuchuan had healed her. Only Lang Jiuchuan could see that the deathly pallor had not dispersed from her face.

Lang Jiuchuan did not stint on generosity either — she bestowed spiritual energy upon the family members assembled in the hall. With this spiritual energy entering the body, it would not make them remarkably gifted, but it would enable them to be vigorous and robust, to live longer, and to have a slightly higher aptitude for learning than ordinary people.

This was her way of giving something back to those who shared this bloodline with her — not a matter of debts owed or favors repaid, only an acknowledgment of the bond of fate that had led her to be born into this family.

Having given this much, she owed the Lang Family nothing further. Even when she eventually departed, the Lang Family members would live better for this heavenly gift.

In the midst of his excitement, Lang Zhengping still carried a trace of hidden worry in his brow. After the family banquet, he dismissed the attendants and sat across from Lang Jiuchuan in the study, each holding a cup of tea.

“Jiu Niang…” Lang Zhengping chose his words carefully as he began: “Now that you have achieved the golden core Zhenren stage and your name shakes the world, in your view — how should our Lang Family carry itself going forward?”

He feared that the family, having abruptly risen to great eminence, might lose itself — and that those who lacked the virtue to match their station would meet with disaster.

As for this great-niece Lang Jiuchuan, he harbored none of the presumptuous confidence that the Emperor’s mandate could keep her bound to the Lang Family and to the Great Phan forever. A dragon that had awakened would ultimately return to the depths of the sea to roam freely — it would not remain confined to a shallow beach. A true Zhenren would one day ascend and leave this world behind.

Especially now, with the great demon still unslain and the outcome of everything still undetermined — if something went wrong, they would have even less ability to withstand it.

Lang Jiuchuan looked at this great uncle of hers, her gaze warm yet clear with the penetrating lucidity of someone who had seen through the ways of the world. She said with a slight smile: “Great Uncle is worried that the family will grow arrogant because of me — that at the height of its glory, it will begin to decline?”

Lang Zhengping nodded, giving a wry smile. “I know the quality of our own people. There are hardly two among them who are truly capable of making a name for themselves.”

“They are not necessarily as inadequate as Great Uncle makes them out to be. After all that has happened, they too will gradually grow. Daring to pick up a weapon to defend the home — that is already taking a first step. What I fear most is meeting adversity and only knowing how to hide in the back waiting to be rescued. If you lean on a mountain, the mountain may fall. If you lean on a person, that person may flee. Leaning on anyone is not as good as leaning on yourself. Let the Lang Family be united, and you can twist into one cord — and have the strength to face wind and wave.”

Lang Jiuchuan said slowly: “Does Great Uncle know what it truly means to be a great clan? It is not founded on the power of a moment, nor can it be forcibly elevated by the strength of one person. The true foundation of a great clan lies in heritage and virtue.”

Lang Zhengping sat up straighter and listened with care.

“For a great clan to be born, it must have both roots and a soul. The roots are the continuity of the bloodline — and also the family’s scholarly tradition, the accumulated depth of knowledge and resources that enables clan members to secure their footing in times of chaos and to forge new ground in times of peace. That depth includes wealth, connections, and cultivation knowledge — but all of these are secondary. More important is cultivating the abilities and character of the clan’s people.”

Lang Zhengping nodded. “What you say is true. Looking at the three great clans — Qian, Li, and Yang — all of them placed great emphasis on the moral cultivation and proper conduct of their members.”

“Even among the great clans, not everyone can be cultivated into good character and proper conduct — there will always be one or two bad eggs. This is where the clan head’s courage and method matter. A qualified clan head has the vision to survey the whole situation and the backbone to lead everyone — not merely by virtue of being born the main line heir. What matters most is ability. A clan head without ability, even if the sole heir of the main line, is unfit to lead the clan. Once the family is brought to ruin, that is a sin upon his head.”

She spoke with measured gravity, and Lang Zhengping felt a jolt of realization — she was saying that the selection of the clan head must not be based on favoritism, but on ability. Just as with choosing an emperor: if a foolish and incompetent one were selected, the entire clan might collapse.

Seeing that he had taken this in, Lang Jiuchuan continued: “As for the soul — that is the clan’s backbone, its guiding principle for standing in the world. It requires a resilient and unyielding character that cannot be shifted by poverty or hardship, cannot be corrupted by wealth or high station, cannot be bent by power and force. It requires the sense of responsibility to broaden one’s concern for all under heaven when one has achieved success. And it requires the integrity of knowing what a person of noble character must do, and what they must not do. When this backbone has taken shape — even if the family suffers a great calamity, so long as the ‘soul’ does not scatter and the backbone still stands, the family will not truly fall. There will always come a day of restoration.”

Lang Zhengping felt a surge rising in his chest. “Can our Lang Family people truly develop this kind of backbone?”

“A great clan does not come into being overnight — three generations make a household, five a lineage, seven a family, nine a clan, and twelve generations are needed before one may be called a true great house. It must weather countless storms before it can become a true great clan.” Lang Jiuchuan’s gaze was steady and burning as she looked at him. “Let me say something presumptuous: the standard, the roots and soul of the Lang Family — I have already set them in place for you. Whether this heritage can be carried forward, and whether the Lang Family can become the great clan people look up to in reverence — that can only depend on whether the backbone of the Lang Family people can take root and grow.”

“Great Uncle — there will come a day when I leave. Not now, but one day in the future. If the Lang Family holds to self-examination and self-strengthening, if its people have backbone and the clan has a soul, then even when I am gone, the Lang Family will not fall. So — if you do not wish to become one of those families that blazes brilliantly only once and then fades away, you must begin now: establish a clan code, set standards for the younger generations, cultivate virtue and uphold moral teaching, accumulate good deeds widely, and build the foundation deep. Forge the backbone of the clan. In doing this, the Lang Family may flourish without end, earning the respect of all — and not have people say of it only: that is the Lang Family that could do nothing but rely on their Immortal ancestor.”

Though having such a guardian protector was certainly worth boasting of with pride, if one could also earn a more worthy name — why not pursue both?