Chapter 574: A promise, forever and ever (1/2)
Chapter 574: A promise, forever and ever
Thanks to General Chu’s constant fanning of the flames, Chu Yunyi opened his mouth. “I will give this matter serious consideration.”
“Big bro, what time is it already? You still need to think it over? Now isn’t the time to be sentimental. You should know which one is more important between the Shadow and Di Clans!”
Yes, the Nether and Shadow Clans were sworn friends who’d defend each other to the death, while the Nether and Di Clans hadn’t reconnected for more than a decade. But the Di Clan was stronger and more powerful, even on par with themselves. It really wasn’t worth losing the entire Di Clan for the sake of a single Gu Beiyue.
Chu Yunyi knew this very well, but he still held fast to former ties of friendship. “If he can help with the Wood of Ten-Thousand Poisons, then we’ll drop the matter. For better or worse, we can still delay things on the Duke of Qin’s side. After all, this old man’s already gotten a three-month extension from him.”
“And if he can’t do it?” General Chu insisted on knowing.
Chu Yunyi didn’t hesitate. His voice grew cold as he declared, “If he fails, he can’t blame the Nether Clan for being heartless!”
General Chu was finally satisfied. “Alright! Tomorrow, I’ll send someone to find and bring him back!”
Once they were back at the Chu Clan, they received news from Medical City. Neither of them expected Lady Ling to invite Head Elder Ling of all people to help. Chu Yunyi rejoiced at the news. “Excellent, excellent! Head Elder Ling is personally making an appearance. There’s no danger of anything going wrong with him!”
As long as Chu Qingge could successfully birth her baby within three months, the Chu Clan would have another way out. Then they could wholeheartedly move against the Duke of Qin! Tonight’s visit to Long Feiye not only came from impulse, but also as a way to buy time. How could the Nether Clan ever willingly give up the Wood of Ten-Thousand Poisons, much less back off from a formidable adversary like the Duke of Qin?
By now it was almost daylight, but neither Han Yunxi nor Long Feiye had gone to bed. They were only given one room at the Court of Dependencies, so both of them were sitting on the bed as they chatted.
“Who told you that the Driving Arrow Arts was the secret of the Nether Clan?” Han Yunxi had been puzzling over the question the entire time.
Long Feiye sighed lightly before tossing out the book he always kept on his person—Annals of the Seven Noble Families. Before settling affairs with Mute Nanny, he’d always read this book while out of sight of Han Yunxi because of all the uncertain variables between them. Now there was no need to hide it anymore.
Han Yunxi flipped through a few pages, shocked by the contents. “Where did this book come from? Who wrote it?”
The volume had an extremely detailed description of all seven clans, as if someone had made a special investigation into them all. Without a doubt, it had to hail from the time of the Great Qin Empire.
“The author’s unknown, but I happened to come upon it by chance. I only flipped through it casually at first, but it actually had records of the Driving Arrow Arts,” Long Feiye intoned.
In truth, the book had been written by secret agents sent out as spies of the East Qin Dynasty. Even in the past, the East Qin had wanted to win the clans over to its side. Unfortunately, no one from the imperial clan ever got a chance to use the book until it fell into his own hands.
Han Yunxi didn’t think deeper about his words, but flipped straight to the section on the Shadow Clan. They had the sparsest description of all the families, consisting of only a single page. A few sentences only summed up two main points. One was about the Shadow Clan’s secret cheat technique—the shadow arts. Rather than an offensive skill, it was meant for protection and defense. Its strongest point was the ability to allow the user to shift locations instantaneously. The second was their targets of protection. Han Yunxi had always known that the Shadow Clan existed for the exclusive protection of West Qin royalty, but never expected that they could also protect their beloved the same way—with their very lives.
She couldn’t help but recall the airy, white-robed gentleman whom she hadn’t seen since the disaster regions of South Ning. After finding out that her mother was from Medicine City’s Mu Clan and her father from the Poison Sect, Han Yunxi had stopped suspecting any ties between her and the West Qin Dynasty. Still, she was ever curious about that white-robed man.
“According to custom, the Shadow Clan dies when the imperial clan dies. Could it be that the West Qin imperial heir is still alive somewhere?” Han Yunxi wondered.
“Not everyone follows the laws of their clan,” Long Feiye observed.
Han Yunxi felt that Long Feiye’s words made sense, but couldn’t help but feel that the white-robed man wasn’t the type of person to betray his clan’s beliefs. She had no idea of the Nether and Shadow Clans’ long friendship, nor how Long Feiye had already begun to sow seeds of discord between the two. She only remarked, “As I see it, that person could be our friend.”
She smiled and added, “In any case, Lil Thing’s already accepted a master, so he can’t steal it away even if he wants to.”
Long Feiye’s gaze grew complicated as he sat there in silence.
Han Yunxi kept flipping through the book until she got to the record on the Di Clan. They were the moneybags of West Qin and extremely loyal to the royal family.
“The Nether Clan killed the last prince of West Qin while the Di Clan are supporters of the imperial clan. Nether and Di shouldn’t be able to work together at all!” Han Yunxi looked doubtfully towards Long Feiye. In other words, if the Nether Clan really knew of the Di Clan’s whereabouts, they should’ve told Long Feiye easily. Why wait until Long Feiye asked them first? She expected that both Chu Tianyin and Chu Yunyi must have been telling the truth—they only knew that little bit.