Chapter 127: Chapter 101: Eastern Region, Noble Families_2
"What do you want to do?" Song Lingqing was somewhat puzzled.
"Just wait a moment, that person should be coming to find us soon,"
Chu Zheng contemplated for a moment, then spoke calmly, "This person wasn't able to see through the Invisibility Technique, but instead relied on some other tracking method, which might be related to your bloodline. We'll probe into it later."
"My bloodline?"
Song Lingqing was somewhat surprised; she had never felt there was anything special about her bloodline.
As for the bloodline of the Song Family, Chu Zheng had been able to guess a few things from the Family Heritage Blood Jade earlier.
The Song Family was definitely hiding many secrets, and from this person's mouth, they should be able to extract some useful information.
A while later, a shadow streaked across the sky and stopped above the low peak, none other than the young cultivator they had encountered earlier.
He looked down at the two of them, checking the compass, and after a span of time enough to drink a cup of tea, he finally descended slowly.
"Are you of the Song Family?"
The young man walked up to the two of them, ignoring Chu Zheng, and looked towards Song Lingqing.
"Yes."
Song Lingqing nodded slightly, then her brows slightly furrowed, "Who are you?"
"Direct line of the Song Family, Song Xian."
The youth introduced himself briefly, and pride undisguised showed in his expression when mentioning the Song name.
Song Lingqing was somewhat baffled and subconsciously glanced at Chu Zheng.
Chu Zheng didn't speak but took a step back, signaling her to continue asking.
"Which Song Family?"
Upon hearing this, Song Xian gave a faint smile and said with a deep voice, "The noble family of the Eastern Region, the Song Clan that once had four True Immortals as ancestors."
"The Eastern Region?!"
Song Lingqing was slightly taken aback; the Eastern Region and the Southern Region were separated by the Rift Valley Sea, an extremely distant expanse. Even an Entry Dao Realm cultivator crossing it would take at least a year.
"It's normal that you haven't heard of us."
Seeing Song Lingqing's face full of surprise, Song Xian was not surprised and promptly gave a brief and simple account of the origins of the Song Clan.
Chu Zheng, listening by the side, gradually clarified some threads of thought.
If it could be said that in the Southern Region there were numerous sects, then the Eastern Region was truly ruled by noble families.
There were also clans in the Southern Region, but most clans relied on sects for survival and rarely did independent cultivator families exist.
For ordinary cultivators, relying on bloodline to reproduce and giving birth to Immortal Bones was really unstable, hard to maintain prosperity for long, and after a few generations, they often gradually faded into obscurity.
The Eastern Region, in terms of expansive territory, did not match the Southern Region, having only two thirds of its size, overseen by three major clans, one of which was the Song Clan.
A family that had given birth to True Immortals naturally had mystical and unusual bloodlines.
Within the families of True Immortals, every few generations, there would always appear one or two exceptionally talented individuals to take over the reins of the family, and this had become the norm.
The Song Family originally was not from the Eastern Region, but had migrated from the Southern Region.
When they moved, it was to avoid calamity; at the time, the Cangyun Realm still saw the continuance of other Taoist Orthodoxy, with the Southern Region being the last battleground, where earthshaking wars often took place.
After enduring continuous wars, with their numbers diminishing within the clan, the direct lineage reluctantly migrated eastward, leaving only a few branches in the Southern Region to continue to flourish, in hope of rebounding in the future.
However, as time passed, within the migrated direct lineage's bloodline, there were those who ascended to the True Immortal Realm and were taken in by the Immortal Alliance, returning to the world's pinnacle.
Meanwhile, these several branches in the Southern Region kept silent for a long time, wandering in the times of chaos, progressively weakening, and gradually, they lost contact.
The ancestral homeland of the Song Family was indeed near Great Zhou, and after the great wars, a branch recalled their roots and returned to this region, their bloodline gradually took root, branching out, and that led to the scene witnessed today.
Song Xian's tone was rather nonchalant, but Chu Zheng heard a lot of difficulties within.
The battle for Taoist Orthodoxy was extremely cruel; even True Immortal families were forced to migrate far away, the Southern Region's living environment at the time must have been incredibly harsh.
The few branches left behind in this region, in order to continue their bloodline, clearly did everything possible, just like the incomprehensible family rule of the Song Family encountered earlier.
Within one family, there must not be two sons coexisting.
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Looking at it now, this rule seems to have been an act of helplessness, but it was precisely because of this that the Song Family bloodline was able to be passed down and continue to this day, after sacrificing the glory of being a True Immortal family.
Chu Zheng had previously thought the Song Family bloodline was extraordinary, but he had never expected it to be so exaggerated as to be related to True Immortals.
Observing Song Xian before him, Chu Zheng fell into deep thought. The current Song Xian had expended so much effort to traverse the Rift Valley Sea; it clearly couldn't be simply for the sake of finding kin—there must be other reasons.
Without waiting for him to think further, Song Xian suddenly took out a piece of silk from his bosom and slowly unfolded it.
On the silk, a piece of jade wall was drawn with blood, divided into exactly six segments.
"Have you ever seen anything similar to this jade?"
Upon hearing this, Song Lingqing looked at it carefully for a long while and, after recalling for a moment, shook her head slightly:
"No."
For a moment, Song Xian's face was filled with disappointment, but he still somewhat persisted, "Take another close look."
After Song Lingqing confirmed repeatedly, she denied it once again: "Definitely not."
The instant Chu Zheng saw the silk, he immediately understood—this Song Xian, or rather, the Eastern Territory Song Clan, their ultimate goal was for the Family Heritage Blood Jade.
Or rather, it was for the Secret Realm connected by the Blood Jade.
"What is this?" Seeing Song Xian's enormous reaction, Song Lingqing couldn't help but become curious.
"This is the Family Heritage Blood Jade, connected to a Secret Realm. The foundation of the Song Clan lies within it."
Song Xian put away the silk and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed with irritation as he casually explained a few sentences, clarifying the cause and effect.
During the time of the conflagration in the Southern Region, the Rift Valley Sea was also fraught with peril, and there were many heretic cultivators lurking within the sea, making their final desperate attempts.
With the power the Song Clan possessed at that time, it was quite a stretch to safeguard the direct lineage across the Rift Valley Sea; it necessitated the call of the majority of the pillars of support from various branches of the clan to escort them.
In order to make a promise to the other branches, the Song Clan's direct lineage would one day surely return to the Southern Region, so the jade wall was then divided into six pieces.
Using the entire Song Clan's foundation as collateral, the various branches finally agreed to lend their people.
With that departure, naturally there was no looking back.
In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of years had passed, and when the Song Clan's direct lineage once more produced a True Immortal, the Southern Region had already seen the rise of Holy Lands and the establishment of hundreds of sects.
In such a situation, the prospect of returning was no longer an easy task, and moreover, with the emergence of a new True Immortal, the formerly so-called modest foundation no longer held much importance.
After putting away the silk, Song Xian, lacking enthusiasm, said casually:
"You will follow me from now on. Once the Blood Jade is found, come back to the Eastern Region with me. With your talent, if you try hard, you might have a chance to enter the direct lineage in the future. If you can awaken your bloodline, you might have the hope of reaching the Tongxuan."
His attitude, from beginning to end, was condescending, carrying a trace of benevolence from on high.
"I don't need it." Song Lingqing spoke indifferently, her expression impassive.
Song Xian had not bothered to ask Song Lingqing's own opinion, naturally leading to her refusal.
Suddenly faced with rejection, Song Xian appeared taken aback, his face a picture of disbelief: "Do you realize the magnitude of the opportunity you are rejecting?"
The Song Family, although not as powerful as in the past, was still one of the three major clans in the Eastern Region, with more than one powerful individual in the Tongxuan Secret Realm within the clan.
"That's enough."
Chu Zheng spoke, his first words drawing this meeting to a close.
He had already collected enough information.
"Who are you?"
Song Xian, already in a bad mood, was now like a barrel of gunpowder, ignited in an instant as he spoke in a cold voice: "Is this your place to speak? Do you seek death?"
He had glanced at Chu Zheng when he arrived, who seemed to have reached middle age with only the cultivation of the Late Spirit Spring Realm, not worthy of his attention at all.
Slap—
Chu Zheng stepped forward with a forceful and heavy slap that landed fiercely on Song Xian's face.
Song Xian had not expected Chu Zheng to suddenly strike. Furthermore, Chu Zheng's moves were too fast; caught off guard, Song Xian was unable to defend in time and was instantaneously sent flying a hundred yards away, crashing heavily into the rugged mountain path, his head spinning and unable to get up for a moment.
"Since you bear the Song surname, I'll spare your life today."
"If you seek revenge, let your elders come to Taixuan Holy Land to find me. My name is Chu Zheng."
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