Passing through the halo, they arrived inside the space where the Heavenly Hall was located. Inside was a forest, and at the end of the forest was a large clearing. The clearing was overgrown with flowers and grass, with butterflies fluttering and birds taking off and landing.
In the very center of the clearing was a massive plaza. Numerous profound iron pillars stood on the plaza, each as thick as an ancient tree, their surfaces covered with dark red patterns. Iron chains crisscrossed between the pillars, the heavy chains swaying slightly in the wind, emitting a grating metallic friction sound.
At the end of the plaza was a magnificent hall. The hall was entirely paint black like ink, as if carved from a single piece of profound iron. The hall body was over a hundred feet tall, with layers of flying eaves and brackets, each corner as sharp as a blade, glinting with a cold light in the dim illumination.
The surface of the hall walls was covered with intricate dark patterns, resembling both runes and totems, with faint dark red streams of light flowing within them, like slowly circulating bloodlines.
There was none of the eerie feeling of the Human Hall that they had been to before; instead, it was filled with solemn majesty and a sense of profound age.
Passing through the bronze-cast gate and walking through a long corridor, they arrived in a large hall.
Xiao Yu and the others had parted ways with them at the previous fork in the road. Only Xiao Zhan and Xiao Yan remained. Father and son looked at each other, a sense of estrangement and unfamiliarity naturally arising.
Looking at his son, who had grown up but still had vigilance and suspicion in his eyes, Xiao Zhan felt both relieved and a little sad. He broke the silence and said softly:
"Ask whatever you want. I will tell you everything you wish to know."
"Everything. Everything the Xiao Family has experienced these years," Xiao Yan said.
Xiao Zhan organized his thoughts and slowly said, "These years, the Xiao Family has also experienced many things, and indeed, there was a crisis where we almost faced extinction…
"The reason the Xiao Family is in its current state is mainly related to one person… The Xiao Family used to be the Xiao Clan of the past. You should know this, right?"
Xiao Yan nodded, "Ancestor Xiao Xuan has already told me about the events from a thousand years ago."
"Actually, a thousand years ago, there was still a strong individual who survived within the Xiao Clan. He called himself Xiao Yuanshan, but this should not be his real name… He was a contingency plan left by Xiao Xuan back then."
"Wait, Ancestor Xiao Xuan didn't know about this. He only entrusted the Xiao Clan to Uncle Gu Yuan and didn't arrange any contingency plans…" Xiao Yan couldn't help but interrupt.
Xiao Zhan's expression remained unchanged, and he said calmly, "Is that so? Then perhaps Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan was delayed by something back then and couldn't participate in that great battle.
"He didn't want us, his descendants, to resent Ancestor Xiao Xuan, who drained the bloodline power of the entire clan but failed, leading to the decline of the Xiao Clan. So he deliberately said he was a contingency plan left by Ancestor Xiao Xuan.
"In any case, Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan survived. He was active in the shadows, investigating intelligence on the Soul Clan. Over these thousand years, he accidentally befriended Amon, who had drifted from the Great Thousand World to the Dou Qi Plane due to special reasons."
Amon… Hearing this familiar name, Xiao Yan's pupils contracted.
Xiao Zhan continued:
"At that time, Amon was severely injured. Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan rescued him, and he was very grateful for this. Also, because their goals somewhat overlapped, he became an ally of our Xiao Clan.
"Amon is a peculiar creature, somewhat similar to magical beasts like the Stone Devouring Demon Ants. He can merge with people… or rather, Parasite… A person Parasited by him can exert his power. If a person has a Dou Emperor-level Amon Parasited in their body, then that person is equivalent to a Dou Emperor."
Xiao Yan couldn't help but interrupt:
"So Xiao Yu, Xiao Ning, and the others are so powerful because they have 'Amon' Parasited in their bodies?"
Xiao Zhan nodded, "Not just them, I am also like this. The Xiao Clan is too dilapidated, so dilapidated that we can only compete with the Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family in Wutan City for such a small piece of land.
"I know this has no small hidden dangers, and Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan knows it too, but what else can we do? At least Amon's gratitude towards the Old Ancestor remains, at least he is willing to lend us strength.
"Otherwise, the Xiao Clan would probably have been annihilated by the Soul Clan, just like the Ling Clan." Xiao Zhan's tone was filled with helplessness.
"Back then, it was roughly around the time you went to the Yunlan Sect to fulfill your three-year agreement with Nalan Yanran, Protector Wu was ordered to come and seize the Tuoshe ancient emperor jade of the Xiao Family.
"At that time, Amon's injuries had not recovered, and we did not possess such powerful strength as we do now. Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan also did not have the power to contend with the Soul Clan.
"Although one Protector Wu was nothing, if the Soul Clan discovered that the Xiao Clan still had residual strength, they would certainly not hesitate to send experts to completely eradicate this great enemy from a thousand years ago.
"So Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan had members of the Amon Clan disguise themselves as us and be killed by the people sent by Protector Wu.
"Xiao Yan, you must remember, this is what we owe the Amon Clan. Although those deceased members of the Amon Clan had no complaints, and they didn't seem to care much about their own lives and deaths, we must never forget this kindness!"
Xiao Yan nodded heavily, then showed a look of sudden realization, "So this is the truth behind the Xiao Family's annihilation back then?"
"Yes, all the people of the Xiao Family are still alive. The First Elder, Second Elder, Third Elder, and so on, none of them died. Only the people of the Amon Clan died," Xiao Zhan said, nodding.
"The Amon who disguised as me was sent to the Soul Hall by Protector Wu, then transferred to the Heavenly Hall, and finally sent to the Soul Realm. I don't know what Amon said to Hun Tiandi, perhaps some news about the Great Thousand World.
"Making Hun Tiandi mistakenly believe that the Xiao Clan still concealed a lot of strength, and that the Xiao Family was just a bait deliberately put out by the hidden Xiao Clan." At this point, Xiao Zhan's tone became strange.
Xiao Yan's mouth twitched. He could already imagine the scene of Hun Tiandi seriously discussing the Xiao Clan with Gu Yuan, misleading Gu Yuan…
Uncle Gu Yuan got some news from Hun Tiandi, then went to Jia Nan Academy to communicate with me, and misled me too?
So that's how the hidden Xiao Clan came about?
Xiao Zhan continued to narrate the development of events: "Amon has a special ability to communicate remotely with other Amon…
"I used the body of the Amon who was abducted to the Soul Realm to talk with Hun Tiandi and found that he had misunderstood something. So I went with the flow and deliberately created the illusion that such a Xiao Clan indeed existed.
"And I formed an alliance with him, agreeing to collect the ancient jade together and open the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Cave.
"Hun Tiandi had already determined the locations of the ancient jade of the other six clans at that time, and had arranged undercover agents within each clan, only missing this piece from our Xiao Clan.
"Every piece of the ancient jade is indispensable, so Hun Tiandi was quite polite to me, placing us in a relatively equal position."
"The Soul Clan is ambitious and cannot be trusted," Xiao Yan couldn't help but say.
Xiao Zhan smiled and said, "I never trusted him either. We just agreed to open the Ancient Emperor Cave together. As for what happens afterward, that's up to our individual abilities.
"As I said, Amon's alliance with our clan is only partly due to his gratitude towards Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan. More importantly, his goal partially overlaps with ours."
Xiao Yan's eyebrows twitched, and he remained silent, awaiting Xiao Zhan's answer.
"Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan wanted to stake everything on cultivating a Dou Emperor, and Amon also needed a Dou Emperor to take him back to the Great Thousand World… This is the basis of our two clans' cooperation.
"After Amon's injuries recovered, his power gradually returned and quickly grew, which gave us the confidence to compete with the Soul Clan.
"And our cultivation target is the most outstanding disciple of our Xiao Family in this generation."
As he spoke, Xiao Zhan looked at Xiao Yan with a strong smile.
Xiao Yan already understood something in his heart, pointing to himself: "Me?"
At this moment, he connected all the dots… No wonder there were so many monocles along the way, no wonder he could always pick up bargains from people wearing monocles, no wonder he could always get good things from magical beasts with white circles on their right eyes…
It turned out all of this was arranged by the family!
The family was cultivating him, providing him with opportunities in an unconventional way!
Perhaps the execution was a bit rough, which gave him that initial feeling of horror and strangeness…
However, there seemed to be some issues within the Amon Clan as well. The Amon who claimed that he and Xiao Meng were both traitors of the Amon Clan clearly had some disagreements with the Amon who was the clan leader on the Xiao Family's side… Xiao Yan thought to himself.
"Yes, it's you! We don't have much time; you need to grow up quickly, to the point where you can contend with Hun Tiandi for the imperial throne.
"So, after the incident of Protector Wu attacking the Xiao Family, I chose to conceal the truth from you, only to give you motivation to move forward.
"True strong individuals always need to experience the blood and fire of blades and swords before they can reach the peak. The Xiao Family has reached a dead end; we can only stake everything on one gamble." Xiao Zhan's expression became serious, and his tone became more solemn.
"Facts prove that you are indeed excellent enough, you have not failed the expectations of Old Ancestor Xiao Yuanshan, you have not failed my expectations, you have not failed the expectations of the entire Xiao Family!"
Xiao Yan only felt the burden on his shoulders grow heavier, his heart sinking, filled with mixed emotions.
"It's just, Xiao Yan, you've suffered…" Xiao Zhan said with a hint of apology, "It's my fault as a father for being useless, only able to put all the pressure on you and let you bear everything."
Hearing Xiao Zhan say this, Xiao Yan had an impulse to shed tears. He indeed felt an infinite sense of grievance in his heart. Bearing these heavy burdens didn't matter, the injuries he sustained along the way and the blood he shed didn't matter. What he couldn't let go of was the passing of those confidantes.
He still had many questions and much confusion in his heart. After thinking for a moment, he didn't bring up Little Fairy Doctor or Xiao Meng's matters first, but instead asked:
"Why not cooperate with the Gu Clan? Uncle Gu Yuan, Father, you should have met him. Compared to Hun Tiandi, he should be a better cooperative partner, right?"
"The Gu Clan?" Xiao Zhan shook his head, "If the Gu Clan were trustworthy and a good cooperative partner, then the Soul Clan should have been annihilated a thousand years ago."