Chapter 38: The Ancestors' Final Family Precept

Another ten-odd years passed.

The Tang dynasty's era name had changed from Jinglong to Kaiyuan.

The Prince of Linzi, Li Longji, who had turned the tide in the Tang Long coup, was now the reigning Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Under his rule, Tang swept away the chaos and decline of the Zhongzong and Ruizong eras, entering an unprecedented golden age.

History calls it the Kaiyuan Prosperity.

And Wang Jin had gone from a steady middle-aged man to an old man with white hair and a faltering gait.

He had long resigned his post as Minister of the Household Department, retired to his hometown, and was spending his twilight years at the Yi River Manor.

Now he lay on his sickbed, breath feeble, his life at its end.

Wang Xiu controlled this aged body, feeling no sorrow, only the relief of having fulfilled his mission.

Over twenty years, he turned an obscure Wang clan into a wealthy, renowned great family.

For this family he amassed wealth sufficient to last a century and established house rules that would endure.

His task was done.

Before his sickbed knelt a tall young man whose visage resembled Wang Jin's youth by seventy percent.

He was Wang Jin's sole son, Wang Hui.

Now Wang Hui, nearing thirty, had under Wang Jin's careful tutelage and Wang Xiu's secret planning become a versatile, steady, capable heir.

"Father…" Wang Hui gazed at his father, whose breath was like a silken thread, his tiger eyes brimming with tears, voice choked.

"Hui'er, don't cry." Wang Jin (Wang Xiu) slowly opened his cloudy eyes, his voice hoarse yet carrying an undeniable authority.

"Father… my days are few. I summoned you today to establish the Wang family's final, and most important, house rule."

Wang Hui hastily straightened, respectfully saying, "I will obey your teachings, Father."

Wang Jin gasped a moment, as if gathering strength.

He exerted all his strength, word by word: "Remember this, Father: my Wang descendants, no matter what office they hold or how great their power, must obey one iron law."

"Do not involve oneself in the heir position, do not contend for the great treasure!"

"Do not involve oneself in the heir position, do not contend for the great treasure?" Wang Hui stared, stunned.

He did not understand why his father would, on his deathbed, establish such a self‑binding house rule, for achieving greatness lay in joining the dragon and saving the emperor.

Even with the Wang family's present wealth and prestige, plus his own talent, should troubled times arise, he might yet have a chance to vie for the imperial throne.

"Father, why?"

"No why!" Wang Jin's voice suddenly grew stern: "This is an order! An iron law! Whoever dares to defy it is an unworthy descendant, to be expelled from the family and barred from the Wang ancestral hall after death."

Seeing his father's unprecedentedly stern gaze, Wang Hui's heart jolted; he dared not ask another word.

"Son… son obeys! I will engrave this precept on the ancestral hall, so that Wang descendants shall keep it generation after generation, never forgetting."

Only then did a hint of relief appear on Wang Jin's face.

He knew Wang Hui did not understand.

But Wang Jin, controlling Wang Xiu, understood this house rule's importance better than anyone.

Since ancient times, countless heroes and mighty families have ultimately fallen on the road of "contending for the dragon."

The lifespan of feudal dynasties was already set; a three‑hundred‑year cycle could not be altered by even the wisest virtuous ruler—this lay beyond human power.

Have you not heard of a hundred‑year dynasty, a thousand‑year clan!

What's more, when one reaches the peak, ten thousand bones wither.

To win is, of course, to enjoy boundless glory.

But once defeated, it means the extermination of the whole clan, an irreversible doom.

Wang Xiu's aim was not to produce an emperor for the Wang family.

What he wanted was a family that could endure a thousand years, standing firm through any dynastic change—an immortal clan!

To be immortal, one must understand reverence and know what to accept and what to reject.

Imperial power is like a high‑voltage wire that must never be touched!

"Hui'er, come here." Wang Jin beckoned his son.

Wang Hui hurried forward.

Wang Jin exerted his last strength, grasping his son's hand, his voice fading into a weak, drawn‑out whisper.

"Remember, our Wang family should be… be that thousand‑year‑standing evergreen tree, not… a fleeting blossom…"

"Overflow comes when water is full, waning when the moon is full. Never… stand at the highest point… the wind there is too strong…"

Having spoken those final words, his hand went limp and dropped.

His eyes also slowly closed.

In the tenth year of the Tang Kaiyuan era, the founding head of the Wang family, who had served as Minister of the Household Department and Guanglu Doctor, Wang Jin, died at the Yi River Manor in Luoyang, aged fifty‑two.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Li Longji, mindful of his earlier "Annan Strategy" merit, specially ennobled him as Prince of Taiyuan Commandery, posthumously named Wen Zhen, bestowing generous rewards.

The Wang family all wore mourning white.

And in the distant twenty‑first century, Wang Xiu took off the headset, exhaling a long breath of foul air.

His face showed a trace of fatigue, but more so a lightness as if a burden had been lifted.

Ancestors, go well.

Your mission is accomplished.

What comes next will be carried on by the Wang descendants, generation after generation, continuing to forge ahead.

Before his eyes, the game interface slowly appeared.

【The founding family head Wang Jin has passed. His life laid unmatched merit for the Wang family's rise; its prestige, influence, and assets all reached their peak.】

【Calculating the founding family head's achievements……】

【Achievement One: Minister Who Followed the Dragon (In the Shenlong Coup, played a key role)】

【Achievement Two: One Strategy Pacifies the South (With extraordinary wisdom, quelled the southwestern turmoil)】

【Achievement Three: Business Empire (Established the Wang clan's merchant house, richest in the region)】

【Achievement Four: Millennium Cornerstone (Established the Wang clan's family rules, laying foundation for family inheritance)】

【Comprehensive Evaluation: S+ (Unparalleled talent of the ages)】

【Reward: Spiritual power limit permanently increased by 50 points. Unlock new feature 'Family Talent Tree' can cultivate descendants in a specified direction.】

Wang Xiu gazed at this splendid settlement interface, his heart surging with excitement. He believed that with his efforts, his Wang Family would flourish everywhere—merchants, officials, scholars, even scientists—would emerge as history progressed.

Immediately after, a new prompt popped up.

【The first-generation family head Wang Jin has passed away. Please select the second-generation family head to start a new simulation.】

On the interface, Wang Hui's portrait and information appeared.

【Name: Wang Hui】

【Identity: Second-generation head of the Wang Family, son of Wang Jin】

【Era: Tang Dynasty, Year 10 of the Kaiyuan reign】

【Background: Born into a prominent family, accomplished in both civil and military affairs, steady in character. Currently holds the rank of Senior Fifth Grade, Gentleman of the Court, serving in the Secretariat.】

【Current State: Grief-stricken】

Wang Xiu, without hesitation, focused his consciousness on Wang Hui's portrait.

「Choose, Wang Hui. 」