Chapter 757 Strain in relationship  

?Even having fallen far from grace and already split into different groups, the Song family etching its survival on the hinterlands bordering the Deer Mountain Range to the north still had the reserves that one would expect of a former ruling clan of a rank 2 empire. They had two palace realm experts in their midst, and a few treasures and trump cards that gave them enough bargaining power against the four families i.e. the Zhou family, the Chu Family, the Meng Family, and the Shi family.

The four families each had at least one palace realm expert with the Zhou family having three, counting the Zhang clan's founder, who was their retainer at the time. Despite having more cultivators than the Song family, the four chose to ally with them rather than try and dominate them, owing to the family's capabilities.

While the report didn't have the exact details of their cooperation and vaguely pointed toward it, other than the abilities the Song family showed, the reason the other families chose to ally with them likely had to do with them neighboring the Deer Mountain Range. The Song family likely knew more about the area than they did, and having someone familiar with it would prove beneficial when venturing into it.

When it came to the agreement from the Song family's side, Yang Qing felt that they may still harbor thoughts of having a resurgence and reclaiming that which they lost, either by going back to the now Deng dynasty and taking the empire back or by building from scratch, using the Deer Mountain Range as their foundation.

There was no better place than it as its riches matched those of rank 2 territories. If the Song family hoped to establish another Song dynasty then there was no better place.

Yang Qing's eyes glittered as a thought struck his mind.

"The plan to conquer the range back then, was it the king's design or did someone fuel that desire in him?" muttered Yang Qing, as he scanned the jade slip to locate the information during that time.

"Mmh, it could have been them.." said Yang Qing as he finished through the information.

The king back then had also been one of the talents of the golden era, being a well-established spear user, whose spear intent was rumored to puncture through even the sturdiest of defenses below the domain realm, like a hot knife through butter.

From the slip, it described him as someone gifted with both the pen and the spear. The kingdom grew by leaps and bounds under his care, and it wasn't solely because numerous talents had appeared at the same time. He inspired all. The deep sense of togetherness, and patriotism that Yang Qing noticed when he was there had been forged by him as he bridged the gap between the commoners and the aristocrats of the kingdom making all sides feel integral to the kingdom.

However strangely enough as inclusive as he was, the slip suggested he had distanced himself from the Zhang family. It wasn't overly overt, but it was enough for those with keenness for such things to notice the difference in treatment he afforded them. The report didn't contain the specifics of why they were treated that way, but it did mention that the king was in turn shown to be close with the Song family at the time who also had a genius in their midst skilled with formation arrays.

He was born with stellar pathway physique that gave him a natural aptitude for the balance of energy which became a huge advantage for him as a formation master and by association the repair of the twilight sanctuary array that borrowed the force of the cosmos to sustain itself. The physique was especially effective when sensing the movement of the stars, which had been one of the guiding forces of the twilight sanctuary array.

On paper, it seemed like the king had been close with the Song family because of the abilities of that formation master, but knowing what he knew now about the Song family, he wondered if the Song family had baited the relationship to further their agendas, like let's say a full-scale subjugation war at the range.

"They really hid themselves well, but at least I have one less suspect to focus on.." muttered Yang Qing.

The Song family was clearly ambitious and they hid their ambitions very well. That ambition was what made Yang Qing feel like they were less likely to be the culprits he was looking for. They were less likely to collude with an infamous organization like the Blue Soul Flame Crow Syndicate and were even more unlikely to submit the kingdom to another all-out war with the rest of the range, not when the kingdom was in a weakened state.

Even though they may not hold much sentiment for the Kingdom as a whole and was nothing more than a tool to them, it was still an important tool to them, one that affected whether they reclaimed that which they lost or not. Yang very much had doubts if they would risk its decimation, or use some risky method like using the sacred graveyard torch as a lure. It was too risky, not unless they had a surefire way of handling the trouble that would come from such an act, but if they did, they would have long used it to dominate the entire range and bring it under their control.

Having drawn his conclusions, Yang Qing went back to read about the remaining family, the Meng family. Their leader at the time was sworn brothers with the then clan leader of the Zhou family. The two had bonded while exploring some ruin and ended up saving each other's lives in the process, and later even betrothed their grandchildren to one another.

Though the two clan leaders were close, the Meng family seemed to have joined the procession after the Zhou clan made some promises to them along with parting with a few worthwhile treasures.

As Yang Qing continued to read through the report he had his guesses on what some of the promises may have touched on. The Meng family seemed like the ambitious sort, though cautiously ambitious, similar to the Song family. However, unlike the Song family, the Meng family didn't have a deep background to support their ambitions, and could only use other means if they wanted to realize them, and Yang Qing guessed leveraging their help for a few promises from the Zhou family that had three palace realm experts was the best bet.

"It seems like none of these families were from the same place, bar the Zhang family.." muttered Yang Qing as he finished up on the report of the six families.

The Shi family though they had businesses all over, their main grounds were in the territory of the Blue Sapphire Empire, which was a rank 2 empire rich in spirit gems and mines, along with natural spirit fire viens that lured countless alchemy-

based organizations to lay their foundation there.

The Chu family on the other hand was located in the territory of the Diamond Body Sect, which bordered the Blue Sapphire Empire. The Shi family made a connection with them through the many dealings they had with the organizations located there. As for the Meng family, it belonged to an uncharted zone called the Palace Valley. It was formerly a place that housed a rank 2 clan, which ended up offending someone they shouldn't have, and had all their members slaughtered to the last woman, man, and child as a consequence of it. It wasn't only the clan members that were destroyed in the process, as their entire clan ground was destroyed to smithereens, turning it into a desolate place.

However, the rest of its territories were left untouched much to the joy of the countless organizations that paid tribute or were once surbodinate to that clan. With no one to lord over them, they sought independence, and domination over each other, giving rise to the Palace Valley, a place stacked with countless rank 3 organizations all trying to dominate the other of which the Meng family had been one of them, but decided to move when they created one too many enemies, and their survival at the area hanging on a thread.

And lastly, the Zhou family, who were prominent in the Plum Blossom kingdom, however, they ended up supporting the wrong prince for the throne which left them in a difficult position when the Emperor announced a different prince as his successor. Realizing the predicament they had been in, they decided to plan their exit fast, while they were still able to.

They had sufficient foundation to deter the crowned prince from acting against them, with the Emperor still there to keep him in check, but who knew when things would take a turn for the worse? Rather than wait for the inevitable blade that was hanging above their heads to fall, they decided to cut their losses, leave the kingdom, and start over somewhere where they didn't run the risk of being besieged and slaughtered overnight, as a lesson to others.

That was how they set their sights on the Deer Mountain Range, though Yang Qing still wondered if they had already decided on the Deer Mountain Range, or was that something they decided after they had left the Plum Blossom Kingdom.

His working theory on the mysterious figure lurking within the kingdom may have known about the true picture of the range, hence their reason to reside there, which was why he suspected the mysterious figure to be from one of the founding families, being one of the earliest people to have stepped foot in that place.

Yang Qing read through all the information on the Zhou family before he shook his head in doubt.

"It doesn't seem likely that it was one of them. Maybe the king's grandfather might know about how they came to decide on the Deer Mountain Kingdom. He was also alive during that battle back then, maybe he knows why the king from that time threw a cold shoulder to the Zhang family.

From what I've read about them, even after their founder was released from his service and allowed to start a family of his own, along with receiving a lot of support from the Zhou family, no matter how much their reputation grew, the Zhang family never stepped out of bounds, never showed any ambitions for the throne, through it all even if they were one of the most powerful families,I can't help but feel like they still acted like the retainers to the Zhou family, which explains why they have so many martyrs if compared against the other families.

Something may have happened back then..."