My na is Jiang Chengyue.
As a collateral bloodline of the Jiang Family of Yao Ji, I don’t have the innate gifts of the Divine Chosen.
I can only rely on my fists and the scars left by countless battles with Life Ghosts on the ice plains, advancing step by step from the lowest level of Martial Arts Apprentice, to the Peak of a Martial Arts Grandmaster.
Only then could I finally have the opportunity to approach the core of the main family, and have the qualification to gaze upon the monunt standing in the Arctic snowstorm.
Jiang Taixuan, the Ancestor.
He is a hero, a legend, the Stabilizing Needle in the hearts of countless people across the Arctic Front and the Federation!
He guarded a solitary city for seven days and nights, blood stained the Ice Fortress, dragging the ti until reinforcents arrived, saving thousands in the rear.
His stories are the most exciting lullabies for every child who grows up on the Arctic Front.
I also grew up listening to these stories.
He is my idol, the lighthouse that illuminates my path of Martial Arts.
I struggle upward in the mud of the collateral lineage, using him as my goal, hovering on the edge of life and death countless tis, just to get closer to that monunt, closer.
Finally, I stand at the peak of Martial Arts Grandmaster, seemingly only one step away from the Martial Saint Realm I have longed for.
I have entered the view of the main family, even... entered the Ancestor’s quiet chamber.
When his muddy eyes, seemingly perceiving everything, set upon , revealing a hint of approving smile on his withered face, and saying "not bad", no one knew the ecstasy bursting like the aurora in my heart at that mont.
It is a recognition that transcends any reward, an affirmation from my idol.
It transford into endless motivation, driving to accept difficult tasks, to delve into perilous places ti after ti.
Each ti I served the Ancestor, the family, I felt supre glory!
Because I follow in the hero’s footsteps.
I am guarding everything he once defended with his life!
Until... a month and a half ago.
The task to hunt down a Federation traitor Martial Arts Grandmaster.
The target was a woman, with considerable strength, cunning like a fox.
But I was stronger!
Among those of the sa rank, few opponents could make feel troubled.
I tracked her hiding place, a fierce battle, I won, even captured her alive.
Escorting her back to Glazed Light City, preparing to hand her over to the Federation for judgnt, this was my duty, also to rid the Federation of harm.
However, at the mont of handing her over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs escort team, a cold hand swiftly inserted a note into my palm.
"You’re a good person, but do you know what kind of person your family’s Ancestor is? He is drinking blood, eating flesh!!! He is no longer the hero of the Arctic Front!! If you don’t believe, co and see what happens to !"
The handwriting was neat and delicate, trembling with despair.
It was written by her.
I recognized it.
During the battle, to avoid spreading harm to several scavenger children who accidentally entered the battlefield, I took two brutal Sword Aura strikes with my back. Her astonishnt and fleeting guilt at that ti did not seem fake.
The note was like a cold needle lodged in my heart.
Slander the Ancestor?
I’ve witnessed too many curses and slanders from enemies at death’s door.
I scoffed at this.
But... her final gaze, and the note, haunted my mind like a ghost.
Against my better judgnt, I decided to go take a look.
Just as... a farewell for her, and to ease my mind.
With my authority, movents within the City Lord’s Mansion were relatively free.
Silently, I followed the escort team, passed through nurous guards, arriving at a place I had never set foot.
Deep underground within the City Lord’s Mansion.
Cold and oppressive, the air filled with a strange scent of disinfectant and rust.
Then, I saw it.
Layer upon layer of cold tal beds lay people who were emaciated and hollow-eyed.
Thick conduits were connected to their wrists, dark red blood continuously extracted, flowing into the pipes beneath the beds.
So of these people I even recognized, comrades who had made contributions on the frontlines and later were said to be "severely injured and unable to recover" or "missing".
My heart skipped a beat.
But this was not the end.
The escort team continued downwards.
The next level... was Hell.
Piles of black body bags like mountains exuding an overwhelming stench of decay.
And the woman was tossed roughly into an empty spot, swiftly clothed in hospital garb, hooked up to the conduits...
The last glimr in her eyes vanished entirely, leaving only dead silence.
My world collapsed at that mont.
My values were shattered by the naked sin before !
The core of the City Lord’s Mansion, the heart of our Jiang Family, how could such a place exist?!
Federation’s traitors?
No! Those people, being drained alive terd "Blood Source", discarded like trash in the end, who are they?!
What cri have they committed to suffer such inhumane tornt?!
The massive shock nearly suffocated , but the iron will forged by decades of battlefield temper tempered into calm.
I did not act out on the spot, I only engraved it all into my bones, returning to the Elder Council Hall with overwhelming questions and icy doubts.
In a eting heavy with tension, I stood up, suppressing roiling anger and disgust, recounting the scenes I witnessed underground in the most respectful tone.
I looked towards the high and mighty Ancestor, the hero I revered for my whole life, and asked the question that could cast into the Abyss:
"Ancestor, what are those two places for? Do you know about this?"
Instantly, the air solidified.
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