“Sea Clan?”

Jiang Wang, having grown up in the Western Border, had never encountered this term.

Even the demon races, though rare in the world, were not unknown to him. He had seen them in the Fierce Beast Nest of the Rising Sun Country and understood their importance to the Pulse Opening Pill. He had even met demons, witnessed demons, and the true demon Song Wanxi had fallen before him in the Tomb of the Ten Thousand Realms Wasteland.

But the Sea Clan was truly a novelty.

Chong Xuan Sheng smiled bitterly. “Not just you. I was born in the Qi Country, and before this, the Sea Clan was as strange to me as it is to you.”

He continued, “You should know, the event that marked the end of the Middle Ancient Era was what?”

“That piece of history was taught in the Dao Institute. I remember it was ‘the Human Emperor chasing the Dragon Emperor’.”

Pausing here, Jiang Wang added, “Dragon Clan? Sea Clan?”

Chong Xuan Sheng sighed. “The end of the Middle Ancient Era saw the Human Emperor Lie Shan Shi banish the Dragon Emperor. From then on, the Dragon Clan vanished from the world, unseen by humankind. After the Near Ancient Era, all news about the Dragon Clan completely disappeared. Have you never wondered where the Dragon Clan went?”

“The Dragon Clan never vanished. They have always sought to return to the world.”

“And the Sea Clan, in the beginning, was merely a portion of the Water Clan loyal to the Dragon Emperor.”

“During that great war in the Middle Ancient Era when the Human Emperor pursued the Dragon Emperor, the Water Clan split. One faction allied with the Human Clan, still called the Water Clan. The other followed the Dragon Emperor and retreated to the Vast Sea, forever known as the Sea Clan.”

“Initially, the Water Clan and Sea Clan were just different names, representing different allegiances. But with the long passage of time, their racial origins also diverged. Today, the Water Clan is the Water Clan, and the Sea Clan is the Sea Clan, no longer to be confused.”

Jiang Wang listened intently. “So, the Sea Clan are descendants of the Dragon Clan and a portion of the Middle Ancient Era’s Water Clan?”

“You could say that,” Chong Xuan Sheng nodded in agreement. “But perhaps they also incorporated some of the original races of the Vast Sea. It’s just that the information I have isn’t detailed enough to confirm.”

“The Sea Clan has always existed?” Jiang Wang said. “Then why is it that in the Eastern Domain, they are almost never spoken of?”

“Why do you think the Qi Country is so great? Why can it unilaterally dominate the Eastern Domain? Why is it a powerful nation?”

Chong Xuan Sheng’s voice slowly deepened. “Because the vast armies of the Qi Country guard the maritime domain, ensuring that the human world for a thousand years has not heard of the existence of the Sea Clan!”

Jiang Wang’s expression became one of solemn respect. “Like the great armies of the Jing and Mu countries guarding the border wilderness, holding back the demon tide. For so many years, the Vast Sea has also constantly been a battleground?”

“I also only inquired about maritime intelligence specifically for this occasion, and was granted some permissions to learn these things.”

Chong Xuan Sheng also sighed. “I often wondered why Qi Jiu’s military might was unparalleled, yet he was so cautious and hesitant about conquering the Yang Country, and why Wen Bing had failed for so many years, waiting for a junior like me to make a move. I always thought it was due to the restraint of the Jing and Mu countries. Only now do I realize that the main reason is that the greater part of my Qi Country’s elites are being held back by the Sea Clan.”

Jiang Wang was doubtful. “If there are great armies warring year-round in the Vast Sea, news of the Sea Clan shouldn’t be so deeply hidden. Once a great army is dispatched, it numbers in the tens of thousands. How can everyone maintain secrecy?”

“This touches upon another question you raised.”

“‘One does not venture out to sea before reaching the Outer Tower realm’?”

Chong Xuan Sheng nodded. “Between the Vast Sea and the near sea lies a boundary domain called the Maze Realm. It is the main battlefield between the Human Clan and the Sea Clan. There, ‘the sky dome is as night, the sea surface without light, one cannot see the northwest, nor distinguish the southeast.’ Only strong individuals above the Outer Tower realm can enter that battlefield. Because without the guidance of the starlight holy tower, one will inevitably become lost at sea, hence the saying, ‘one does not venture out to sea before reaching the Outer Tower realm’.”

“News of the Sea Clan’s existence was never truly hidden, it was simply never disclosed to cultivators below the Outer Tower realm and ordinary people. This is the responsibility and burden of the strong, and also the protection afforded by those at the peak of cultivation to the generations that follow.”

“All cultivators above the Outer Tower realm in my Great Qi are required to garrison overseas. They kill Sea Clan, or serve for a sufficient duration, before being rotated back. Meanwhile, cultivators below the Outer Tower realm and ordinary people can continue to live in the beautiful illusion of a calm and peaceful vast sea.”

“This fills my heart with respect,” Jiang Wang said.

In that Maze Realm, where ‘the sky dome is as night, the sea surface without light, one cannot see the northwest, nor distinguish the southeast,’ the strong individuals of the Qi Country above the Outer Tower realm fight, a war without end.

Is this the burden of a strong nation?

This world is constantly demonstrating its complexity and variability.

On one hand, a small country like the Rising Sun Country harbored bitter hatred for the Qi Country’s plunder. On the other hand, perhaps it was precisely because the Qi Country guarded the maritime domain that a small country like the Rising Sun Country could even exist.

At this moment, Jiang Wang recalled what Guan Yan had said, that the sea sacrifice ritual in the near sea archipelago was to offer sacrifices to the heroic spirits of the war dead.

If those individuals died fighting the Sea Clan, they indeed deserved the title of “heroic spirits.”

Thinking this, Jiang Wang asked again, “Do those sects in the near sea archipelago also participate in the war against the Sea Clan?”

“This is a question left by history.”

Chong Xuan Sheng narrated, “You know the Nine Countries of Daybreak. Not many remain now. Their predecessors were once the overlords who unified the Eastern Domain, known as the Yang Country, the Country of Daybreak.”

“When the Yang Country, at its most prosperous, then declined and was destroyed in a single morning, the sea frontier was almost left undefended. The Sea Clan greatly invaded, attacking into the near sea. The world’s learned scholars all spontaneously went to the near sea archipelago to help guard the islands.”

“According to records, in one day, at most two thousand three hundred cultivators crossed the border, rushed to the sea, and the war dead were countless. Finally, the Sea Clan’s attack was resisted.”

“The cultivators who survived, many simply stayed in the near sea archipelago. With the passage of time, the numerous sects of the near sea archipelago emerged. They represent their ancestors, forever guarding the maritime domain.”

Imagine that scene.

The overlord of the Eastern Domain destroyed in a single morning, the sea frontier suddenly losing its barrier.

The Sea Clan surged through the Maze Realm, attacking into the near sea, intent on returning to the world.

And countless cultivators, rushing from all corners of the world, crossing the border, hastening to the sea.

Every superhuman cultivator had to undergo long and arduous cultivation, overcome countless difficulties, to climb to the peak, to finally transcend the mundane.

But in the time of danger at the sea frontier…

Superhuman cultivators spontaneously rushed forth.

Not one or two.

But dozens, hundreds, thousands.

At most, two thousand three crossed the sea in a single day!

With the world’s cultivators acting thus, how could the Sea Clan not be suppressed!

If Zuo Guanglie had shown Jiang Wang the power of the superhuman, the courage of the superhuman, and the compassion of the superhuman…

Then the segment of history described by Chong Xuan Sheng made Jiang Wang see the responsibility of the superhuman, and the burden of the superhuman.

“Was Diao Hai Tower also established at that time?” Jiang Wang’s voice was somewhat dry.

“No, the history of Diao Hai Tower is even more ancient than those sects. Long before the world’s cultivators went to sea, Diao Hai Tower was already guarding the front line of the sea frontier. Even Diao Hai Tower’s holy land, Tianya Terrace, faces precisely the Maze Realm!”

Chong Xuan Sheng also sighed. “Before you decided to return to Linzi, I told you there was no way to save Zhu Biqiong. At that time, I still didn’t understand the situation in the near sea archipelago. But after I understood… I could still only say that!”

Sometimes, the most difficult thing to contend with is actually the greatness of the enemy!

If Diao Hai Tower was equal to Hai Zongming – greedy, ruthless, cunning – he could use any means, think of any way to destroy Diao Hai Tower’s sea sacrifice and save Zhu Biqiong.

But it was precisely because Diao Hai Tower had a glorious history, and had continued to guard that glory for so many years…

How was one to deal with that?