In the frigid lands, after my exile, I began to slay demons and monsters.

Chapter 68 Human Secrets

"Father, where did you learn all this? Does brother know too?" Ning Xiaoxi looked at her father with admiration, then looked at her brother with a puzzled expression.

Ning Shi smiled. "These things aren't things you can just know." He looked at Ming Shoucheng, who covered his mouth with his hand, and nodded slightly. "Your ancestral family is a branch of the Ning clan from Xuzhou. It's been eight generations since your grandfather became a separate clan. Although they've always been minor officials, they're still a branch of a large family. When a member of the family is seven years old, they have one chance to study at the clan's ancestral home. This is the only opportunity the family gives to the branch's members. As long as they pass the clan exam, they can enter the clan school. All of this is what they learn at the clan school."

Ning Xiaoxi turned to look at her brother. She didn't remember that her brother had left the royal city when he was seven years old. "Doesn't entering the clan school mean returning to the ancestral land?"

Ning Ziqing also shook his head. He had never heard of any clan school, nor had he ever been there.

Ning Shi closed his eyes briefly. "The clan only manages the descendants of its branches up to the ninth generation. After the ninth generation, they are no longer considered a branch of the family and truly become an independent lineage."

Ning Xiaoxi did the math and realized that the branch officially started with her brother? So, her brother was no longer qualified to join the clan school.

"The general knowledge you learn in the clan school is unrestricted, but some secrets can only be known but not passed on to outsiders, or like now, your father can tell you the stories, but cannot leave a book. How much you can remember and how much information you can get from it that will benefit your future development is up to you to judge."

Ning Shi slowed down his speech, "The Great Xia Dynasty has been passed down for thousands of years, and there are many secrets and stories from the past. These are recorded by historians, by powerful families, by foreign tribes, and even by some wealthy merchants. All of them are recorded. Who can say for sure which are true and which are false?"

"If our family hadn't been implicated in the demonic witchcraft case and exiled, if you and Ziqing hadn't stepped into the ranks of celestial masters, your father wouldn't have wanted to tell you these things. He just wanted you to be simple, the family members of a court official, and have a happy life afterward."

"But now that you've gotten to where you are today, everything is different."

Ning Xiaoxi suddenly realized just how terrifying the foundation of a powerful clan was. Based on her previous experience as an ordinary commoner, she could never have grasped how profound the foundation of a family with a long history could be.

"Let's go back to the story. Starting with the fourth king, it took the efforts of three generations of kings to finally separate the imperial court and the Celestial Master Pavilion. It took another two generations of kings to stabilize the situation, which is the current system. During this process, some families with lineages were cut off, some Celestial Master families were destroyed, and even the royal family was in danger of being overthrown."

“During the reign of the twelfth king, all historical records except those of the royal family were cleaned up, forcing many families to make a choice between survival and death. As a result, many records have been lost, and even those that still exist may not be true.” Ning Shi looked at Ning Xiaoxi and Ning Ziqing. “If you have the opportunity to study at the Celestial Master Pavilion, you must not miss it. You must strive for the opportunity to study no matter what. If we really want to become a Celestial Master family, our family is still too weak.”

Ning Xiaoxi shook her head, trying to shake off the heavy atmosphere from before. "Father, don't worry. Let's just follow what we agreed on and take it one step at a time." She then turned to Ning Ziqing, "Brother, you agree, right?"

Ning Ziqing nodded, "We've passed the most difficult time. No matter what, things won't be worse than before."

"By the way, Father, have you ever heard of alien races?" Ning Xiaoxi thought of the Tushan clan.

Ning Shi's expression turned serious. "Why bring up foreign races?"

"We encountered the Tushan tribe today." Ning Ziqing noticed her father's pale face; it seemed to be another taboo subject.

"The Tushan Clan?" Ning Shi felt his mood was definitely not going to improve. "Before the Xia Shang Dynasty was established, the First King fought against demons together with eight other powerful human warriors. In the end, only the First King of Xia Shang remained. In order to better protect the human race, the First King established a dynasty. At that time, the clansmen of those powerful human warriors only wished to respect the strength of their own clans and did not want to be ruled by the dynasty. At that time, the First King of Xia Shang did not want to rule the human race, so he did not force them. These eight clans became a separate race from the human race under the rule of the royal family."

After saying it all in one breath, Ning Shi felt that he had finally said everything he had never dared to say in the first half of his life.

That's it?

"It's gone."

"Really gone?"

"That's all. The record ends here. There's no record of what happened after that."

"Alright, Xiaoxi, it's getting late, go get some rest. We need to get up early tomorrow to meet up with Brother Chang at the post station." Ning Ziqing pulled Ning Xiaoxi up from her seat. "You've been busy all day, aren't you tired? Go to sleep."

Ning Xiaoxi turned her head and made a face at her mother and uncle, then smiled brightly at Ning Shi, "Daddy, you've worked hard!"

Lying in bed, I took out the jade cabbage and rubbed it in my palm. [Tuanzi, how much do you know about the other races?]

No record found.

Ning Xiaoxi sat up abruptly. "Are you sure you're the Heavenly Dao System of this world?"

I used to be certain, but now I'm not.

Ning Xiaoxi took a deep breath and lay back down. Let's start by revisiting the past. [What happened last time you said you were scammed?]

[When the last one... died, they said they'd just reopen the lottery, and it wouldn't take more than ten years. But it's been another hundred years! That's not enough! I don't want to sacrifice myself with this small world; I still need to break through to the Middle Thousand Worlds!]

[But now, besides giving me some skills, you can't help me with anything. And you saw it too, the black dragon escaped. That black dragon must be a powerful demon, right?]

【Yes. 】

You weren't there when it was sealed away, were you?

Not here.

[You see the Tushan tribe. Although they claim to be a different race, they are fundamentally human. Yet now, they've actually colluded with the demons and released a powerful demon. Is that reasonable?]

【unreasonable.】

[Tianwei is already illogical, and now the alliance of humans, demons, and monsters is even more illogical. Do you think we still have a chance of winning?]

Wow~ Wow~ Wow~

Crying won't solve anything. Do you remember the one from Tianwei before?

[Hiccup...uh...of course.]

Let me introduce you.

He was a brilliant man with an IQ of 280, and his original plan was to win through a combination of strategy and strength. But... he fell for a honey trap.

[Hung up?]

【do not know. 】

[Can you escape without being logged in?]

[If it doesn't work, I'll just create another account! Whether it dies or not doesn't affect me.]

Ning Xiaoxi fell silent.

Is there any way to resolve the issue of being forced into a selfish, heartless system? No wonder Tianwei is constantly trying to create alternate accounts; she wants to create alternate accounts too.