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**
Aside from Falling Star Pavilion, another piece of major news had surfaced over the past two years, creating huge waves across Central Plains. It was a message that no one knew the origin of. But once it appeared, it instantly caused a storm.
This rumor involved none other than one of the Eight Ancient Clans — the Ling Clan.
In fact, even before the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree incident, there had already been quiet whispers circulating in the dark that the Ling Clan's spatial realm had suddenly shut down.
Back then, that news only spread quietly inside certain major powers, and no one knew what exactly had happened within the Ling Clan.
Besides, as one of the Eight Ancient Clans, their strength was undeniable. Because of that, the rumor never spread widely and no one took it too seriously. However, not long ago, some experts discovered that the Ling Clan's realm had reopened.
But when these experts entered out of curiosity to investigate, they were shocked to find that the Ling Realm was now completely empty, not a single figure in sight.
Even the Ling Clan's branch clans, their vassal clans, and all their external servants had vanished without a trace as well.
The entire Ling Realm, the home of one of the mighty Eight Ancient Clans, had disappeared overnight in an eerie and inexplicable manner.
Staring at that vast, silent dimension devoid of even a hint of life, the experts who came to investigate were stunned. A moment later, a chill shot up from the soles of their feet straight to their heads.
This matter was far too strange. Within the Ling Realm, the Ling Clan, along with their branch clans and servants, easily numbered over a million people. Yet now, that many people had simply disappeared into thin air!
The Ling Realm was the Ling Clan's exclusive dimension, their ancestral land. The Ling Clan themselves were one of the Eight Ancient Clans, a lineage that had endured since the ancient era. Now, they had vanished without a sound?!
When this news reached the other Ancient Clans, it caused a massive shock.
Each clan immediately dispatched their strongest experts to investigate the Ling Realm. But no matter how they searched or probed, they could not find even a single trace of a Ling Clan member.
It was as if during the time the spatial realm had been closed, the entire Ling Clan had been wiped out completely, neither alive nor dead — no bodies, no clues.
This made everyone's scalp tingle. The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
Although the Ling Clan had been declining these years, their imperial blood thinning just like the Xiao Clan back then, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. Even in decline, they were still an apex power of the continent.
If someone wanted to annihilate an entire clan, looking across the entire continent, even a power as strong as the Gu Clan would find it impossible to wipe out over a million people without anyone noticing.
Of course, besides the "genocide" theory, some people speculated that the Ling Clan had migrated their entire clan to another self-created spatial realm. But very few people believed that.
A mass migration on that scale would never escape the senses of the peak experts in Central Plains. Yet none of them had detected even the slightest fluctuation.
With the Ling Clan's remaining strength, how could they silently relocate over a million people without being noticed?
No matter the theory, the sudden disappearance of the Ling Clan sent shockwaves through all of Central Plains. Major powers were desperately guessing at the cause.
While the outside world wildly speculated, the Ancient Clans themselves were also thrown into internal conflict.
These Ancient Clans knew each other well, but they were far from allies. Their relationships could best be described as somewhere between enemies and friends — ambiguous, complicated.
Back when they were all at their peak, they had even attempted to attack one another, so there was no such thing as unbreakable unity among them. People had selfish desires and interests. Even these lofty imperial clans were no exception.
While outsiders were confused, the Ancient Clans had their own suspicions.
Long ago, the Eight Ancient Clans had once fought a great war, and the cause of that war was the Tou She Ancient God Jade. That final Dou Di of the continent, Tou She Ancient God, had left behind something rumored to be the key to becoming a Dou Di.
For that secret, the Eight Ancient Clans fought fiercely, and in the end, the complete Ancient God Jade was shattered into eight pieces, with each clan taking one.
In other words, if anyone wanted to obtain the secret Tou She Ancient God left behind, they needed to gather all eight pieces.
Because each clan valued their Ancient God Jade more than their own lives, no one would ever hand it over. Thus, some suspected that this incident involving the Ling Clan might have been caused by one of the Eight Ancient Clans.
Their objective — naturally, would be the piece of Tou She Ancient God Jade held by the Ling Clan. However, once this theory was proposed, it immediately drew objections.
Even though the Ling Clan had declined, they still possessed deep foundations. To annihilate them silently, among the six remaining Ancient Clans, only two might barely have the capability to accomplish such a feat.
Those two were the Gu Clan… and the Hun Clan.
But both the Gu Clan and the Hun Clan strongly denied the accusations, insisting that the Ling Clan's disappearance had nothing to do with them. The Gu Clan was, on the surface, the strongest among the six remaining Ancient Clans.
No one questioned their strength or status.
As for the Hun Clan, in truth, they were likely the clan with the longest and oldest lineage among the Eight Ancient Clans. Even back in the ancient era, the Hun Clan had already existed for a very long time.
The Hun Clan had always been mysterious and eerie, and their true origins were known to very few. As for how strong they truly were, even the other imperial clans didn't dare claim they understood the Hun Clan completely.
In short, their foundations were immeasurably deep.
Although they hadn't shown overwhelming dominance in past ancient wars, anyone who paid attention could see that regardless of the battle, the Hun Clan had never once fallen into a losing position.
No wins, no losses — and from a certain perspective, that in itself was terrifying.
Even at the peak of the Xiao Clan back in Xiao Xuan's era, when Xiao Xuan stood at the closest level to Dou Di, even he could not truly gain absolute dominance over the Hun Clan.
A powerhouse like Xiao Xuan, someone almost stepping into the realm of Dou Di, hated the Hun Clan deeply, yet even he couldn't do anything to them. The best he could do was suppress them.
Because of this, even the Gu Clan maintained a high degree of fear toward this mysterious Ancient Clan. The Gu Clan and Hun Clan represented the two strongest forces on the current Dou Qi Continent.
To silently annihilate the Ling Clan without anyone noticing, aside from these two clans, no other force could possibly accomplish such a feat.
After all, even the Ancient Taixu Dragon Clan at its peak wouldn't have been able to do something like this, let alone their current fractured state. Thus, the biggest suspects in the Ling Clan incident could only be the Gu Clan and the Hun Clan.
Although the other four clans didn't have solid evidence to identify the culprit, it was obvious that after this incident, they had all listed the Gu Clan and Hun Clan as their highest-risk targets, increasing their vigilance and guard against the two clans to the maximum.
If the culprit had truly acted for the sake of obtaining the Tou She Ancient God Jade, then they definitely wouldn't stop. The four clans holding the remaining pieces of the Ancient God Jade would become the next targets.
Faced with this baseless suspicion, the Gu Clan was extremely frustrated.
But they also understood how serious the situation was. At a time like this, any action they made might trigger more suspicion or hostility. So they had no choice but to remain silent and avoid any drastic movement.
But deep down, they all knew — they were most likely taking the blame for the Hun Clan. Because if it wasn't the Gu Clan, then the biggest suspect left was naturally the Hun Clan.
What made the Gu Clan grit their teeth even more was that the Hun Clan simply followed their usual style — indifferent, silent, and completely unfazed. They did whatever they always did, ignoring the suspicions of the world.
The Hun Clan didn't need allies. People could think whatever they wanted; the Hun Clan couldn't care less.
Because both the Gu and Hun Clan maintained silence, the incident of the Ling Clan's disappearance was gradually buried and eventually faded into nothing.
The Ancient Six Clans didn't erupt into a war over this matter. As time passed, it even seemed as though everyone had forgotten it.
But only they themselves knew — the present Six Ancient Clans had once again developed deep rifts between each other. Their wariness and suspicion toward one another had risen to the highest possible point.
**
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