Lin Mu didn't know what to think. While he was surprised by their identities more specifically Duan Ke's he still had some questions.
"Go ahead, you can ask us what you want. You deserve that." Jing Wei said reading the expression On Lin Mu's face.
Lin Mu took a few seconds before he got all his thoughts in order.
"Who are the people you want to take revenge on and why exactly?" Lin Mu questioned.
~Sigh~
"There are far too many people that betrayed us. Some did it intentionally, while some were simply bystanders who decided to not interfere when they could. Though the ones that are the most guilty are none other than the cultivation sects.
In the past, my clan was very influential and we were the sole suppliers of peak grade spirit weapons and tools along with some pseudo immortal tools. We had contributed to defending against the invaders and the northern tribes for countless years.
Over time, numerous powers rose and fell, but we remained the same and even got more powerful. The cultivation sects were threatened by our influence and our skills in the refinement of spirit tools. The presence of our spirit weapons and tools could easily decide the winner of a war. The one who had our weapons had the highest chance to win.
But our clan had rules. While we would contribute fully in fighting against the invaders and the northern tribes, we would never provide the kingdoms or the sects with weapons that could decide the fate of a battle. If they wanted them, they had no choice but to pay a great price.
Things were fine when I became the sixth patriarch of my clan about fifteen hundred years ago. The kingdoms and the Sects respected our rules. But then came the time of peace. The northern tribes became silent and there were no more attacks. It was also during this time that the Great Zhou Empire had been fully stabilized.
The then Emperor had been able to cull all dissent and gained power over all the kingdoms making them his vassals. Still, the emperor had a few thorns left in his path. These were none other than the Eastern Ming Dynasty, The Duan Kingdom and my Jing clan.
The Eastern Ming dynasty of course had already suffered a lot and eventually submitted to the emperor under the prolonged oppression. This left the Duan Kingdom and my Jing clan, who were existing peacefully. While the Duan Kingdom also quite strong, they had long since submitted to the emperor. The actual reason behind the emperors thinking of them as a thorn was his paranoia.
The Royal family of the Duan Kingdom was blessed in the investigational and appraisal arts. Back during the times of the great war, they had been able to win battle by simply having excellent intel, which was obtained due to their executional investigational skills.
Still, because the Duan Kingdom had not directly opposed nor had any conflict with the emperor, he could not do much, and thus he had to bear with it. But my Jing clan was still something he was afraid of. We had enough power that we could potentially overthrow his rule if we allied with the other former powers and the sects.
The emperor kept on searching for avenues to harm us but failed at most attempts. eventually, a new emperor replaced him but he had the same paranoia as his father. It was not until about a hundred years ago that it happened. My daughter… my sweet precious Miao'er fell in love with the prince of the Duan kingdom.
I knew how the emperor could react to it, and thus I tried to stop it, but she ran away and eloped with the prince. Knowing that I could not do much, other than to suppress this news, I contacted a few of my friends. With their help, I was able to fabricate a story that my daughter died while cultivating due to heavenly tribulation.
The royal family of the Duan Kingdom tacitly approved of this, and Miao'er lived there with the prince by changing her identity. Eventually, time came and the prince ascended the throne, becoming the king Duan Chen. It was then that a clan rose in the Northern lands.
This clan was called the Gu clan and was a small clan. They were able to grow big in the span of a few years due to them finding the inheritance of a fallen expert. With the help of that, their people grew in strength.
But they were greedy and wanted more power. They were willing to do anything to achieve that and made a shady organization that did all the black deeds that the other organizations and sects needed to be done. They also sold information and intel, becoming the largest information broker on the continent.
It was this Gu clan that sparked the fall of my clan. They somehow discovered the fact that Miao'er was still alive and was actually the queen of the Duan Kingdom. The Emperor could not bear the news and entered a furious state.
He incited the sects and the powers that were under his control. While he was not able to convince them all to attack us, he was still able to make them take no action. The cultivation sects too wanted our secrets and the refinement skills that we had hidden away.
Then one day it happened, the emperor's men and cultivators swept the lands of my clan and killed every member. The same massacre happened in the Duan Kingdom, except there only the royal family was wiped out. In a single night, nearly the entirety of my Jing clan and the Royal family of the Duan Kingdom was wiped out.
This all happened over fifty years ago. The Emperor wiped out all the traces of massacre and made it look as if the Jing clan never existed. The commoners were never involved in the matters of the cultivators anyway, thus they had no problem with it, while the cultivators themselves were involved in the slaughter so there was no question there either." Jing Wei paused and let out another sigh while rubbing his brows.
