What he heard were all unspeakably tragic events. The women of the clan were wantonly used by the Tianlan Clan cultivators to harvest their spiritual charm. Babies were kicked around in the air like shuttlecocks. The babies' painful cries and their parents' heart-wrenching pleas could not move a single shred of sympathy in the Tianlan Clan cultivators. The elderly were kicked to the ground, tied to the tails of horses, and dragged along, their skin torn and their guts spilling out…
More than half of these people were just mortals. Their mortal bodies could not withstand such cruel abuse. When they died, each one was in extreme pain! Perhaps in the hearts of these people, they would never want to be reincarnated as a living being in their next life. Until the moment they died, they would have memories that even Meng Po's soup could not erase.
The clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan's conversation with A Guxi lasted for a full three hours. Afterward, he left A Guxi in the secret chamber, and his own whereabouts were unknown. It was not until several days later, when A Guxi was brought out by the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan, that he learned that an earth-shattering change had occurred in the outside world. At the same time, he also learned the reason why the Giant Wood Clan on the Tianlan Prairie had fallen to such a state. In fact, it was not just his clan; the reasons for the other six clans were almost identical.
That day, when the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan saw someone attacking A Guxi, he immediately used the great formation to trap the several Golden Core cultivators of the clan in the great hall. At that time, he had a vague guess. It wasn't that they hadn't looked for the clansmen on the Tianlan Prairie back then. The disappearance of such a large clan was somewhat strange no matter what. But due to various reasons, in the end, this matter had a different outcome. Until now, very few people were willing to remember this matter.
However, as the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan, he of course knew this part of history very well. So when A Guxi mentioned the collateral branch on the Tianlan Prairie, and those two clan experts suddenly attacked, his mind was struck by a bolt of lightning. It was an extremely bad premonition. Although he was the clan chief and his cultivation had reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul stage, there were still four Golden Core cultivators in the hall, one of whom was already at the Late-stage Golden Core. If he made a move, it would cause a chain reaction. After all, some people did not know the inside story and would stop him from continuing to attack.
Fortunately, heaven was helping the Giant Wood Clan. This time, he had chosen to meet A Guxi in the clan's sacred hall, where there was a great formation that only he could control. He had managed to trap all four of them inside, so that others could not escape. Even sending a message was a fool's dream.
That day, after the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan had a long talk with A Guxi and came out of the secret chamber, he immediately entered a certain valley. An hour later, when he came out again, he had someone send a message down. In order to welcome the return of a collateral branch, he planned to gather several experts of the clan to refine a medicinal pill together. This medicinal pill would then be given to the Golden Core expert of the returning clan. Therefore, these few Golden Core experts of the clan would not be returning for a short period.
This matter caused a sensation in the Giant Wood Clan. Many of them did not know that a collateral branch was returning and inquired about the news one after another. Soon, they did indeed learn that someone had returned to the clan to seek their ancestors…
And after the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan had done this, he did not show his face again for the next three days. What outsiders did not know was that in the next few days, six experts had secretly come to the Giant Wood Clan. They were the clan chiefs or elders of the other six clans from the Tianlan Prairie. They had all rushed over after receiving a secret message.
With the gathering of the seven experts, the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan told them an earth-shattering secret that the other six clan chiefs and elders simply could not believe, or had always been suspicious of. After the shock, the several experts began to raise questions to the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan. But they still could not believe all of this. Finally, the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan took out another jade slip. After the few people had read the contents of the jade slip, they finally confirmed that there was indeed a big problem. Then, after comparing it with the situation in their own clans and verifying it one by one, the past came to light.
Back then, after the Tianlan Clan had regretted giving the southern part of the prairie to others, on the one hand, they had constantly recovered their strength, and on the other hand, they had begun to secretly and deliberately think about how to drive out the seven clans, including the Giant Wood Clan. In that ancient era of fighting with the demon clan, these seven clans still had several Spirit Transformation cultivators. The Tianlan Clan certainly did not have the ability to fight seven at once. But these seven clans were undoubtedly several sharp thorns stuck in the prairie that had to be pulled out.
Thus, in the long years that followed, the Tianlan Clan continuously used various means to secretly win over some of the cultivators in the seven clans. Finally, after continuous secret attempts, they had determined which cultivators in the seven clans were willing to abandon their own clan for the sake of profit. Thus, before launching the assassination of the Nascent Soul cultivators of the seven clans on the prairie, they had found those people and revealed their ferocious faces.
When the cultivators of the seven clans who had been won over first heard this, their expressions changed drastically. They all felt that the Tianlan Clan cultivators were crazy. But the Tianlan Clan cultivators had been plotting for so long and had already thoroughly understood them. After so many years of inducement, these won-over cultivators already had many handles in the hands of the Tianlan Clan.
Under the threat, the Tianlan Clan also spared no expense and took out a huge amount of cultivation resources, constantly tempting the greedy hearts. Those resources were enough to support the cultivation of these people and their descendants for more than a hundred years. Faced with such a huge temptation, as well as various threats, the won-over cultivators of the seven clans could no longer resist.
Thus, before the Tianlan Clan cultivators began to assassinate their own clansmen, the won-over cultivators had already led their own lineage back to their respective clans. The moment they returned to their clans, they all cried out in extreme grief, telling of the heartlessness of their clansmen on the Tianlan Prairie. It was said that they should have discovered a secret cave left behind from ancient times. Suddenly one night, all of them had fallen unconscious. When they woke up, many of their clansmen and a large amount of stored cultivation materials had all disappeared. No one knew where they had gone.
Faced with such a tearful account, the experts of the clan who first saw the returning members did not believe it and immediately went to find the other six clans. And at this time, similar cultivators from the other six clans had also returned to their own clans one after another, and the situation they described was exactly the same as that of the returning cultivators of the other clans.
This time, the experts of the seven clans could no longer sit still. Immediately, some experts went to the Tianlan Prairie, but there, they did not find a single clansman. The Tianlan Clan had been planning for so long, how could they have left any traces? On the other side, the Tianlan Clan cultivators looked as if they were doing their best to cooperate with the search. The Tianlan Prairie was vast and boundless. After searching for ten days, they found nothing.
This time, the disappearance of the seven clans on the Tianlan Prairie had angered the experts of their own clans, who reprimanded the seven clans on the prairie for forgetting their ancestors. In order to monopolize the cultivation resources, they had not hesitated to abandon the bloodline inheritance of their own clan, and had even abandoned the close relatives they had left behind in the clan.
The appearance of this matter led to the suppression of the bloodlines of these people who remained in the clan from then on. But there were still some who felt that this matter was strange and worthy of suspicion, but without any evidence, they were powerless to refute it. From then on, the seven clans had cut off their feelings for the former collateral branches on the Tianlan Prairie. The other party must have found a shocking treasure. To be able to do so for the sake of monopolizing cultivation resources, what kind of kinship did they have?
Thus, after this matter caused a sensation for a period of time, it finally became a past event that the seven clans were unwilling to mention. And those cultivators who had colluded with the Tianlan Clan and returned, after returning to their clans again, also became silent and reserved, and they all buried their heads in cultivation without regard for anything else. In the eyes of outsiders, they were working harder to cultivate to prove themselves because they had been abandoned by others due to their poor aptitude and limited cultivation back then.
Sure enough, in the future, elite disciples from these returning cultivators emerged one after another. They were low-key but strong. They gradually showed their talents in the clan and made their own branch lineages stronger and stronger.
And in the Giant Wood Clan, the two Golden Core cultivators who had simultaneously attacked and wanted to kill A Guxi, their ancestors were the cultivators who had returned from the Tianlan Prairie back then. Generation after generation, their ancestors had later also produced a Nascent Soul cultivator, but he had long since ascended. The descendants they left behind were still firmly rooted in the Giant Wood Clan, prosperous and not in decline.
The clan chiefs or elders of the six clans and the Giant Wood Clan began to make an agreement. They would then return to their respective clans and use their means to confirm this matter. Three days later, regardless of whether the other clans had a final confirmation, they would act at midnight to kill the descendants of those returning cultivators, leaving no one behind.
The cultivation world had always been ruthless, especially for a sect or a clan. With too many disciples, one matter could affect the direction of the entire sect or clan. As the saying goes, without rules, there can be no order. Once rules were used, either it was a small punishment to avoid implication, or a great admonition would lead to the thought of killing. Not only would they kill the main person in charge, but they had to be eradicated by the roots. Regardless of whether they were willing or not, leaving behind the descendants of the other party would only leave behind a large number of enemies for themselves. That was the most unwise choice.
Thus, a ruthless slaughter began. Once the order was given, there was no longer any so-called kinship, only the high-held, snow-bright butcher's knife. Including the two Golden Core cultivators of the Giant Wood Clan who had assassinated A Guxi, their deaths were extremely tragic. Their heads were hung up in the clan the first moment. Then the clan chief of the Giant Wood Clan announced all the truth, and all sorts of voices arose one after another…
When Ai Ni and Ai Sang brought a group of clansmen who looked like beggars back to the Giant Wood Clan, it caused another commotion. There was sympathy, there was anger at the atrocities of the Tianlan Clan. There was also indifference and hostility. Although the seven clans had done their best to eradicate the two collateral branches that had colluded with the Tianlan Clan back then. However, too much time had passed. The people of these two collateral branches had already integrated with the other branches, intermarrying and having children, and the children had children, and so on for generations, and it was already complicated. It was already impossible to completely eradicate the treacherous bloodline.
Afterward, this remaining collateral branch of A Guxi's, with only a few dozen people, was protected and led away, and arranged in a designated area. The mortals among them also temporarily lived in this area and were not immediately arranged to live in the towns where the Giant Wood Clan's mortal clansmen lived. These people had been separated from the clan for too long and had suffered from slaughter. They had no life skills at all. This would require a certain amount of time to learn and to constantly adapt to a new life. This might be a relatively long process.
Now, once these mortals were placed in the ordinary towns of the Giant Wood Clan's mortals, their first reaction when hungry would be to snatch food, or even kill people. This was what they were best at!
Li Yan and Zhao Min did not appear in this small returning team. Or rather, their appearance could not be detected by these Giant Wood Clan cultivators at all. When Ai Ni, Ai Sang, and their group of clansmen were arranged by the Giant Wood Clan cultivators for a bloodline test, Li Yan and Zhao Min had already appeared in a great hall. It was the same place where A Guxi had angrily rebuked the clan chief a few days ago.
At this time, there were only five people in the great hall. Sitting high above was a burly man with long hair draped over his shoulders, wearing cloud-patterned battle boots. He was a full two feet taller than Li Yan. The originally very wide green long robe was stretched taut over his muscles, bulging and concave. Even the originally smooth green silk surface had lines of distinct muscles. A green light flowed in his tiger-like eyes from time to time, giving people an endless sense of pressure.
Below, two Golden Core cultivators were the same two who had not acted when A Guxi had come a few days ago.