“No, nothing…” Wen Ruo’s face showed a strange expression, but she still answered Lin Xiao’s question, “Speaking of the main forces in the entire Central State, naturally, they are the Nine States, Eight Families, and Three Lands: the Ji Family, Wang Family, Dantai Family, Xiao Family, Ying Family, Hong Family, Chu Family, Jiang Family, Lingchi Island, Tianji Holy Land, and Yaochi Holy Land.”
“These eleven forces are the overlord-level powers in the entire Central State continent. Even if one hasn’t seen them, their names are renowned.”
“No one truly knows how powerful these eleven forces are!”
Wen Ruo spoke unhurriedly, “Of course, these are just human forces. There are also numerous spirit beast forces that are likely not weak, and some hidden families and forces. The powers in Central State, big and small, are undoubtedly too numerous to count.”
At the end, Wen Ruo couldn’t help but shake her head.
Lin Xiao asking about the forces of the entire Central State meant she could only cover a fraction of them.
“Indeed, it’s still those forces!” Lin Xiao’s eyes narrowed slightly, thinking to himself.
The Eight Families were precisely the forces that had imprisoned his mother in the Tianji Tower.
All eight were involved.
Of course, only twenty years had passed since his birth. Twenty years ago, these families were the overlord forces in Central State, and naturally, nothing had changed in twenty years.
In fact, Lin Xiao wanted to ask about the strength of these forces.
But from Wen Ruo’s words, it seemed the only measure was “no one truly knows.”
To get more specific information, he would likely need to investigate himself later.
“The Nine States, Eight Families, and Three Lands. What does Nine States mean?” Lin Xiao then asked. He had learned about the Eight Families and Three Lands, but the Nine States were new to him.
Hearing Lin Xiao’s words, Wen Ruo was stunned again, looking at him in surprise, “You don’t even know this? You’re not from some other small continent, are you?”
“No.” To avoid trouble, Lin Xiao quickly shook his head, “Our place is too small, separated by too many mountains, almost cut off from the world. We don’t get much information.”
Wen Ruo was half-convinced, sizing Lin Xiao up as if he were some rare creature before explaining, “The Nine States refer to the division of the Central State continent into nine regions. This was a division from hundreds or thousands of years ago, said to be a return to simplicity.”
“But in reality, it’s likely just the way the Eight Families and Three Holy Lands divided their territories, splitting the entire Central State continent into nine states: Eastern Cang State, Southern Yan State, Western Hao State, Northern Xuan State, Southeastern Yang State, Southwestern Zhu State, Northwestern You State, Northeastern Min State, and Central Sheng State.”
“Except for the Three Holy Lands, which are all located in Sheng State, the Eight Families each dominate a state, occupying vast resources and reigning supreme in their regions.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised. In the era of the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor, the continent was indeed divided into countless regions, over a hundred large areas with numerous forces.
But back then, he had heard of this ancient division.
Unexpectedly, in the thousand years since the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor entered the Divine Demon Tomb, the continent had been redivided into this simplistic structure.
Of course, the names of regions were just labels. Over time, people would get used to them.
Like the dynastic names of ordinary empires, a change in regime would bring a new name.
However, whether the Nine States were truly divided by the eleven major forces was hard to say.
From some of the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor’s memories, Lin Xiao knew that in his era, the Three Holy Lands already existed.
Among them, Tianji Holy Land and Yaochi Holy Land had existed for thousands of years.
Tianji Holy Land had continued its legacy unbroken, while Yaochi Holy Land, it was said, had been interrupted for a few generations before being rebuilt on its ruins.
As for Lingchi Island, it was a relatively new force at the time, but with spirit controllers being quite powerful then, Lingchi Island could stand alongside the two holy lands.
As for the Eight Families, the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor had no strong impression of them.
Or rather, even if he had heard of them, they were just ordinary families he overlooked.
After all, when the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor rose, he had toppled half of the most powerful major forces.
In the past thousand years, the continent’s structure had undergone earth-shattering changes.
The power of time was indeed the most terrifying.
Over a thousand years, too much had changed.
Of course, this was only on the surface. Some forces hidden in the shadows, like the Temple of Fate, weren’t even prominent in the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor’s memories.
Even in the current Central State continent, the Temple of Fate didn’t seem to rank alongside those eleven forces.
It must have always been hidden in the shadows.
Lin Xiao didn’t believe that a force with tens of thousands of years of heritage would be weaker than those eleven.
And even the Eight Families, unknown to the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor, couldn’t be considered weak.
A thousand years of evolution—who knew how terrifying their foundations might be?
Moreover, the fact that the Eight Families could dominate Central State alongside the Three Holy Lands, which existed back then, was enough to prove their strength.
“And where we are is within Southeastern Yang State. In Yang State, the Ji Family is the overlord. So, if you encounter Ji Family members in the future, it’s best to curry favor if possible. If not, stay far away,” Wen Ruo advised.
Lin Xiao nodded noncommittally and then asked, “In Yang State, which forces are particularly powerful?”
“That’s what you should be asking!” Wen Ruo said, “For people like us, we might never leave Yang State in our lifetime.”
“Let alone the most renowned forces in Central State, even the prominent forces in Yang State are likely beyond our reach in a lifetime.”
“But knowing about these forces isn’t a bad thing. At least you’ll know which ones you can provoke and which ones you can’t.”
With that, Wen Ruo began to explain, “Yang State mainly has one family, two sects, three schools, and four valleys—ten major forces.”
“The one family is naturally the overlord Ji Family. The two sects are Canglong Sect and Shengtian Sect. The three schools are Fenyang School, Hanyue School, and Moxu School. The four valleys are Tiansha Valley, Yunxing Valley, Panlong Valley, and Linghuang Valley.”
“Among these ten forces, the Ji Family is the strongest, followed by the two sects, then the three schools, and finally the four valleys.”
“But even the four valleys are beyond what people like us can imagine. For a family like our Wen Family, even meeting someone from the four valleys is difficult. Even the spirit controller Ouyang Family has to bow before the four valleys.”
Mentioning the four valleys, Wen Ruo still felt they were out of reach, let alone the Ji Family, one of the top overlord forces in Central State.
Lin Xiao now had a general understanding of the major forces in Central State and Yang State, secretly shocked that these forces were even more terrifying than he had imagined.
It seemed rescuing his mother was still far off.
For now, his primary goal was to head to Lingchi Island to participate in the continent’s Spirit Controller Competition in two years.
Lingchi Island, located in Sheng State, was likely an immense distance from here. If he didn’t set out soon, he might not make it in time.
Moreover, to rescue his mother, joining Lingchi Island might be a good option.
“By the way, your Wen Family has a feud with the Jiang Family. It seems the Jiang Family was trying to steal something from you?” Lin Xiao casually asked along the way.
At his words, a slight change flashed across Wen Ruo’s face.
Seeing this, Lin Xiao awkwardly shook his head with a smile, “I just mentioned it casually. No need to worry, Miss Wen. I, Lin Xiao, wouldn’t stoop to robbing others for no reason.”
Wen Ruo shook her head, hesitated for a moment, then said, “It’s fine for you to see it. This is something I found in a deep pool.”
With that, she took out an object the size of a thumb’s nail from her storage ring.
It was deep red, like a scale, faintly shimmering with a glossy sheen, appearing extremely sharp.
“What is it?” Looking at the red scale in Wen Ruo’s palm, Lin Xiao’s face showed confusion. Even in the Devouring Heaven Spirit Emperor’s memories, he had never seen such a thing.
It seemed utterly ordinary, yet it vaguely gave off an extremely special feeling.
“I don’t know either, but I found it in a strange spot in the deep pool. It’s incredibly hard. Can you figure out what it is?” Wen Ruo handed the red scale to Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao reached out to take it and examine it closely. Without careful inspection, it was hard to discern anything about it.
“Swish!”
However, at that moment, something Lin Xiao could never have anticipated happened.
A thick sense of mortal danger surged in his heart. A flash of killing intent passed through Wen Ruo’s eyes, and the red scale in her hand, suddenly infused with immense spiritual power, shot toward Lin Xiao’s heart with incredible speed.
