"My clan has existed since the ancient era."
"We are called the Demon-Subduing Clan."
The old woman said.
"The Demon-Subduing Clan?"
The curiosity in Chu Feng's eyes grew even deeper.
Just hearing the name, one could tell this clan was far from ordinary.
And then, through the old woman's account, Chu Feng finally learned of the Demon-Subduing Clan's origins.
The Demon-Subduing Clan was a lineage that traced back to the ancient era.
The Mystic Art cultivated by the Demon-Subduing Clan differed from what other martial cultivators practiced.
The Mystic Art other martial cultivators cultivated aimed to enhance their cultivation.
But the Demon-Subduing Clan was different. The Mystic Art they cultivated was designed specifically to suppress demon creatures and demonic beings.
Coupled with the clan's special bloodline power, this meant the Demon-Subduing Clan might not have been the strongest among martial cultivators.
However, against demon beasts, demonic beasts, Fierce Beasts, or other special species like heaven and earth treasures, they held a suppressive advantage.
Of particular note was the Demon-Subduing Incantation passed down from the clan's ancestors.
The Demon-Subduing Incantation required a member of the Demon-Subduing Clan to channel their bloodline power along with the Demon-Subduing Mystic Art in order to cast it.
The old woman's granddaughter, in terms of cultivation, was far inferior to the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast.
Yet she had managed to rescue Chu Feng from the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast's maw precisely because of that Demon-Subduing Incantation.
That spoke volumes about how powerful the incantation was.
After all, Chu Feng had witnessed firsthand just how terrifying the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast truly was.
"Grandmother, is the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast something that brings harm to all living beings?"
Chu Feng asked.
"In the present age, us martial cultivators rule over all lands."
"The Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast devours martial cultivators with special bloodlines to fuel its cultivation."
"Of course it is something that brings harm to the world."
The old woman replied.
"Then if the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast is so detestable, and your Demon-Subduing Clan possesses the power to suppress it, why not eliminate it completely?" Chu Feng asked.
"Eliminate it completely?"
"Our ancestors did indeed consider wiping out the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast entirely."
"But after reflection, they realized that while the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast devours martial cultivators to cultivate..."
"Did we martial cultivators not also refine heaven and earth treasures for our own cultivation?"
"Are we martial cultivators the only living beings? Do heaven and earth treasures that have developed spiritual intelligence not count as life?"
"Setting aside martial cultivators, what about the ordinary civilians in the lower realms who cannot cultivate? Are the livestock they raise and eat not living beings?"
"Even flowers, grass, and trees possess life."
"Yet when anything in this world serves our purpose, we show it no mercy."
"Except for killing one's own kind, which is taboo, martial cultivators may slay anything else."
"In the end, we are merely defending our own interests."
"From the perspective of other beings, are we martial cultivators not terrifying demonic creatures ourselves?"
The old woman said.
"Mm... that is true."
Chu Feng nodded in acknowledgment, unable to deny it.
"But that is the cruelty of the world."
"When our human race was weak, we were at the mercy of savage beasts."
"Only after we learned to cultivate did we grow strong and become the masters of this vast starry sky."
"Since the dawn of time, the strong have always devoured the weak — that is the law ordained by the heavens."
"Even this law is what maintains the balance of all things."
"Now that we are powerful, we have every right to control everything."
"So eliminating things that threaten us is perfectly justified, and there is no need to feel guilty about it."
"If we were too merciful, it would not only lead to our own destruction, but also to the destruction of other species."
"Excessive mercy harms both oneself and others. Following the law is the true path."
"But my clan's ancestors said that the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast exists for a reason."
"Therefore, it must not be wiped out entirely."
"Of course, that was the ancestors' sentiment."
"By our generation, even if we wanted to wipe it out completely, we no longer could."
"Our Demon-Subduing Clan has long since fallen into decline, and the gap between us and the Ancient Heaven Devouring Beast has only grown wider."