"Elder, what secret?"
"I wonder if Ziling ever told you about her background, and why I brought her here?"
"Respectfully, Elder, I already know everything. I will cultivate hard and grow stronger. Sooner or later, I will avenge Ziling's family with my own hands."
"Oh, and Elder — who exactly was it that killed Ziling's parents and all of your kin? Could you tell me?" Chu Feng pressed impatiently.
"Sigh..." Seeing Chu Feng's reaction, Zi Xuanyuan felt gratified, yet he let out a helpless sigh before continuing. "Actually, Ziling's parents are not dead. And our Zi family still exists."
"What? Ziling's parents are alive?" At those words, Chu Feng's pupils contracted sharply, and he couldn't hide his shock.
"I lied to Ziling. I told her an enormous lie," Zi Xuanyuan said.
"Elder, what exactly happened?" Chu Feng asked urgently.
"It's a long story. Let me start from the beginning."
"Our Zi family hails from the Eastern Sea. We were never a major power, but we were a well-known noble clan with a modest reputation. We had always kept a low profile, maintained good relations with the forces around us, and lived a peaceful existence. We had been established in the Eastern Sea for several hundred years."
"But everything changed because of Ziling's birth. Ziling is a Heaven-Gifted Divine Body. At the time of her birth, she triggered celestial anomalies that shook the entire Eastern Sea."
"Theoretically, that should have been a wonderful thing — after all, a Heaven-Gifted Divine Body is a genius blessed by the heavens, and from the moment of birth, their future achievements are destined to be extraordinary."
"Neighboring forces came one after another to offer their congratulations. Even those who had previously had conflicts with our Zi family wanted to mend fences and forge connections with us."
"Even the colossal power of the Eastern Sea — the
"For our Zi family, this was an occasion of incredible joy — surpassing even the joy of Ziling's birth and the revelation of her Heaven-Gifted Divine Body."
"Because the Immortal Execution Archipelago was simply too powerful. So powerful that very few forces in the Eastern Sea could stand against them. If Ziling married the young master, she would one day become the young madam of the Immortal Execution Archipelago."
"The archipelago even made a solemn promise: on the day of the wedding between Ziling and their young master, every member of the Zi family would be permitted to join the Immortal Execution Archipelago and become part of it."
"Furthermore, for the sake of Ziling's growth, the elders of the archipelago fed her a special pill. They then stipulated that when Ziling turned twenty, they would come to take her as a bride."
"Sigh~~~" At this point, the helplessness on Zi Xuanyuan's face deepened considerably.
"And then?" Chu Feng pressed. He could tell that something must have gone wrong afterward, or things wouldn't have turned out the way they had.
"The situation was not nearly as simple as it seemed. At the time, I was present — and as a Spirit World Master, I had always been fond of studying ancient texts. I knew things that ordinary people did not."