Chapter 1104: Mutual Vigilance of the Dou Emperor Families

As Lin Feng and his party entered seclusion, spring turned to autumn, and in the blink of an eye, a year passed in an instant.

During that year, the entire Zhongzhou Continent was far from peaceful.

First, a rumor of unknown origin swept across the Zhongzhou Continent, stirring up tumultuous waves.

The rumor's protagonist was none other than the Spirit Clan, one of the eight ancient clans.

Long before Lin Feng began his seclusion beneath the Tianmu Shanmai, the Spirit Clan's realm had suddenly shut, then vanished completely.

At that time, however, the news was only circulating among a few major powers.

Since no one knew the cause of the incident, the rumor had not spread further.

Yet just recently, some strong cultivators discovered that the Spirit Clan's realm had reopened.

However, when these strong ones, full of questions, went to investigate, they found that the present Spirit Realm was already barren, with not a single soul in sight.

Even the descendants living within the Spirit Realm had vanished without a trace.

Staring at that empty, lifeless space, the strong cultivators who had gone to probe the Spirit Realm were instantly stunned.

Immediately afterward, a chill rose from their feet up to their foreheads.

This was undeniably bizarre.

After all, the Spirit Realm and the Spirit Clan's descendants together numbered at least a million people.

Yet now, all those people had simply evaporated into thin air?

When the news reached the ears of the other major ancient races, it inevitably caused another massive shock.

Subsequently, the other great imperial clans promptly dispatched strong cultivators to investigate the Spirit Realm.

However, no matter how they probed, they found not a single member of the Spirit Clan inside the Spirit Realm.

This seemed as if, during the period the Spirit Clan vanished from the Spirit Realm, they had completely and utterly left.

Nevertheless, as one of the eight ancient clans, the Spirit Clan has, in recent years, shown signs of decline as the Dou Emperor bloodline gradually withered.

Yet, even a starving camel is larger than a horse; despite its decline, the Spirit Clan can still squeeze into the ranks of Zhongzhou's super powers, firmly controlling the vast territories of Zhongzhou's northern region and the Northern Continent.

If we speak of the slayers, then across Zhongzhou, only the Ancient Clan and the Soul Clan could accomplish such a feat.

However, for the Ancient Clan to eliminate the Spirit Clan, only the Chief of the Ancient Clan Gu Yuan himself can lead the charge.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to erase the resourceful Spirit Clan from the world.

After all, the Spirit Clan, like the Soul Clan, makes a name by wielding souls.

However, the two follow different paths: the Soul Clan leans toward offense, using or manipulating its own soul to strike and kill enemies.

The Spirit Clan, on the other hand, prefers to use soul power to communicate with all things, commanding other beings to fight for them.

Even within the Spirit Realm, there remains a Dou Saint of the Seven-Star Realm left by a former Spirit Clan master.

Of course, besides the slayer theory, some speculate that the Spirit Clan, seeing its continual decline and fearing future revenge, migrated the whole clan to a self‑created space.

However, these conjectures were soon refuted by others.

After all, such a massive relocation, given the Spirit Clan's current strength, could not have escaped the eyes of the other ancient races.

And while the others remained unaware, how could the Spirit Clan quietly whisk away all its millions of descendants?

In any case, the Spirit Clan's disappearance caused a huge upheaval across Zhongzhou.

All factions continuously speculated about the cause.

At the same time, among the ancient races, this incident sparked great divisions.

These ancient races, though largely well‑acquainted with each other, are not exactly allies.

If one had to describe it, they are more like foes‑friends.

When each was strong, they had attacked one another, seeking to utterly eliminate the weaker side and claim its spoils.

The root cause of these myriad frictions, ultimately, was for the hands of the other ancient races.

It is said that after merging, one can obtain the Dou Emperor's inheritance—the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade!

Because this is the most pragmatic path to becoming an emperor; the original eight ancient clans fought countless battles and lost countless lives.

Eventually, as the eight great families fought more fiercely and more lives were lost, they, in desperation, divided the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade into eight pieces, each family taking one.

Thus, anyone wishing to claim what the ancient emperor left must gather all eight jade pieces.

After a clan obtains its piece, it values it above life itself and will never surrender it without cause.

This kept the eight ancient clans at peace for a considerable period.

Naturally, with this incident involving the Spirit Clan, the major ancient races suspect that this disappearance may have been orchestrated by someone within the ancient races.

Their goal was to seize the piece of Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade held by the Spirit Clan!

As a result, the other five clans simultaneously turned their attention to the two strongest races in the world today.

The Ancient Clan, openly the strongest among the six extant ancient races.

No one doubts their power, so they naturally appear on the suspicion list.

As for the Soul Clan, truly speaking, it may be the most long‑standing among the six existing ancient races.

It existed back when Dou Emperors were frequent.

However, this clan has always been mysterious and reclusive, rarely interacting openly with the outside.

Thus, even the other major ancient races dare not claim absolute knowledge of its strength.

Although in past great wars the Soul Clan did not appear the strongest, a careful observer can see that, aside from a near‑thousand‑year period when its clan leader Xiao Xuan was severely wounded and needed recovery, causing its elite forces to lag, the Soul Clan has never suffered defeat.

Having neither victory nor defeat, it represents a rather terrifying level in some respects.

Therefore, even the Ancient Clan, though supremely arrogant toward other races,

still harbors deep caution when confronting the Soul Clan.

Of course, to speak plainly, the Soul Clan and the Ancient Clan virtually represent the highest tiers of power on the Dou Qi Continent today.

To silently eradicate the entire Spirit Clan, aside from these two races, no other force could possibly achieve it!

So the biggest suspects in this Spirit Clan upheaval are undoubtedly the Ancient Clan and the Soul Clan.

Although there is no absolute evidence pointing to any of the other four Dou Emperor families as the murderer.

But clearly, after the Spirit Clan incident, their attitude toward the Soul Clan and the Ancient Clan changed dramatically.

After all, if the opponent truly targets the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade, the murderer will certainly not stop there.

And those who possess the other four Ancient Jades will inevitably become the next targets!

Especially the Thunder Clan, which already had some friction with the Ancient Clan because of Xiao Yan, openly and unabashedly publicized the threat of the Ancient Clan.

In this deviation from the original story, the Thunder Clan even courted the Stone, Flame, and Medicine Clans to form an alliance.

Finally, after a series of negotiations, the four clans formed a Four-Clan Alliance and even opened up a Small World between each other.

If one clan is in trouble, the other three can provide aid at any time.

The purpose of this is obvious: to target the Soul and Ancient clans.

Of course, the latter is the focus of the Thunder Clan.

At the same time, regarding this baseless suspicion and the Thunder Clan's actions, the Ancient Clan seemed rather frustrated.

Especially Gu Xun'er, who was already extremely displeased with the Thunder Clan for daring to harm her brother Xiao Yan.

After learning what the Thunder Clan had done, she immediately began lobbying the Ancient Clan's higher-ups to dispatch troops against the Thunder Clan and right the previous slanders.

Fortunately, although the Ancient Clan's leaders were extremely angry at the Thunder Clan's deeds, they remained at least somewhat clear‑headed.

They fully understood the seriousness of the matter and, at this moment, could only swallow their resentment.

After all, the Ancient Clan is already being roasted over a fire; any wind or rustle easily invites unnecessary speculation.

Therefore, they could only maintain silence.

Meanwhile, as for the Soul Clan, they continue their usual practice of ignoring and doing whatever they deem necessary.

In any case, the Soul Clan needs no allies, and they cannot find allies among other ancient powers.

So whatever others think, they simply do not bother to respond.

With both sides remaining silent, the heat of the Spirit Clan's upheaval on Zhongzhou Continent gradually waned.

The Ancient Six Clans also did not launch a great war over this, and as time passed, the incident seemed to fade away.

It appears as if everyone has forgotten the matter.

However, only members of the major ancient races know that, after that incident, the current Ancient Six Clans have developed a deep rift between each other.

They are all on guard and wary of one another.

Of course, amid such a major event, Lin Feng, the champion who once took first place at the Dan Conference, has become known to only a few people.

Now he, like his reputation, is gradually disappearing from outsiders' view.

Apart from a small number of people, no one would think that it has already been a full year since Lin Feng returned from the Wild Ancient Domain a year ago.

Moreover, within that year, he underwent a dramatic transformation.