Chapter 249: Land

Fang Jing was slightly moved upon hearing Juemon Inshi’s explanation. What the man in black said were exactly the questions Fang Jing had been wanting answers to all along.

The Curse Entanglement Power that the Clan Psychics relied on was an invisible force. It provided them with a layer of protection, covering their entire bodies without any blind spots.

This power was like a “Curse”. It had no definite form or shape, but it was extremely powerful.

“The forms of Curse Entanglement are also varied and strange,” Juemon Inshi continued. “Each Clan inherits different psychic abilities from their ancestors. One can imagine how difficult it is to fight against them.”

Fang Jing also had some experience with this. He had fought against people from the Clans before and had to admit that while their direct combat strength might not be strong, their psychic abilities were very special. It was quite difficult to kill them.

(Without the help of his Resonance Field, he couldn’t even break the Curse Entanglement Power of these Clan Psychics, let alone defeat them.)

If it weren’t for the assistance of his Resonance Field, brute force alone would be useless.

For example, when he encountered Hirakawa Tsurutada earlier, his body could completely turn into a mud-like clay under the influence of Curse Entanglement. That made him practically unkillable.

The Primal Rage Resonance Field was a great fusion product, inheriting the Seal of the Asura Hand, the Rage Blood Aura of the Beast of Rage, and the magnetic field ability of Life Magnetism. Therefore, it could suppress, weaken, and corrode Hirakawa Tsurutada’s Curse Entanglement. This was how Fang Jing found his chance to win and blew up this enemy in one go.

After defeating Hirakawa Tsurutada, he encountered several other Clan members who called themselves the “Dharma Protectors”. Although he made contact with those three, they managed to escape using their psychic abilities.

Based on the previous battles, he concluded that in terms of pure strength comparison, his chances of winning were very high. However, the supernatural abilities of those Clan Psychics were quite troublesome. His own fighting methods were too monotonous. Facing enemies who could change flexibly, he was still much weaker.

Moreover, he didn’t believe that the Clans only had this level of fighting power. Thinking of this, he sighed.

“What exactly are the Clans? Why does this world have such abnormal groups?”

Since there was a knowledgeable person like the man in black in front of him, he continued to ask questions.

As if able to guess his thoughts, Juemon let out a dry, throaty chuckle.

The slender eyes behind the glasses narrowed even further.

“You mean the origin of the Clans… that is a long history. Some say the earliest Clan members were related to the Qin family among the Torai Clan.”

The man in black smiled and said, “But if we trace it back carefully, early Clans might have existed in even more ancient times. Some suspect that the origin of the Clans, like the origin of the Imperial Family, might have come from the east across Korea…”

“As for the Clans themselves, they don’t pay much attention to this history. After all, such origins don’t mean much. The modern Twelve Clans, led by the Hidden Assembly, have grown to this point through countless battles and wars, trampling, devouring, and destroying lower Clans.”

“Not many people care too much about that older history. After all, even powerful Clans like ‘Handan’ gradually vanished in history and became unknown.”

Hearing this, Fang Jing frowned and stared into the eyes of the man in black.

At this moment, the eyes of Juemon Inshi behind the round glasses were like bottomless dark caves.

“The true source of the Clans’ power lies in an abnormal Secret Realm called the ‘Divine Blessed Land’. That is also a Clan’s holy land. As long as they enter the Divine Blessed Land and perform a special Ritual, the blood descendants of the Clan will obtain the Curse Entanglement Power.”

“Divine Blessed Land?”

Fang Jing’s gaze slightly paused.

“Where are those Divine Blessed Lands located?”

“That is a secret. The Clans protect their Divine Blessed Lands, forbidding anyone but themselves from entering those areas. Moreover, for Clan members, the closer they are to the Divine Blessed Land, the stronger their power. Conversely, the farther they are from the Divine Blessed Land, the weaker their power becomes…”

The man in black smiled happily.

“The Divine Blessed Land is extremely important to any Clan. The most core secrets and power of the Clans are hidden in the Divine Blessed Land. They must maintain the ‘Esoteric Rite’ for a long time to ensure this power remains theirs and does not decline. On the other hand, they must also prevent other forces from peeping…”

“Peeping? Conflicts between Clans?”

Fang Jing couldn’t help but feel curious.

“Humans are creatures that love internal strife. Moreover, the Clans’ enemies are not just one type. The Ancient Nocturnal Species, powerful Evil Filth spirits, and more entities from Alien Realms… To protect their Divine Blessed Lands, the Clans have adopted various strategies.”

Juemon Inshi told him some very important information.

This information was undoubtedly the secrets of the “Clans”. The most important point was that the source of the Clans’ power, that is, the source of their psychic abilities, lay in the land they occupied called the “Divine Blessed Land”.

The Clans performed “secret rituals” periodically to form a certain contract with the Divine Blessed Land, gaining abnormal power from it.

However, the psychic blood obtained from the Divine Blessed Land had a problem: the farther they were from the Divine Blessed Land, the greater the power attenuation.

For most Clans, to maintain the safety of their Divine Blessed Land, they had to station the vast majority of their family strength within the Divine Blessed Land. Only a few Clan members would be active outside.

“Not many Clans have survived from ancient times to the present. Currently, the Clans in this Island Nation have established a ‘Hidden Assembly’, centered around the Three Noble Houses, forming the modern Twelve Clans…”

—The core of the Clans now was the Hidden Assembly, centered on the three houses: Mitsuchi, Sakuya, and Washi Peak. Besides these three, there were nine additional Clans.

The Twelve Clans of the “Hidden Assembly” were also called the great Clans of “True Law”. Apart from these, all the declining lower Clans since ancient times were called “External Method”.

With the power held by the “Twelve Houses” of the Hidden Assembly, the Clans gradually formed a stable situation.

After hearing this news, Fang Jing felt that some of the doubts in his heart were answered.

The Clans were indeed powerful in this world, but they were also very limited. Especially the existence of the Divine Blessed Land made it difficult for them to expand outward. Their style of action was more about “protecting” their own interests, with little interest in the outside world.

Because of this reason, the Clans probably maintained a strange “relationship” with the outside world.

The existence of the Hidden Assembly was to conceal information related to the Clans.

Even within the government, only high-level officials would know about the Clans.

It was important to know that the people of this country were often invaded by “Strange Phenomenon” from the other side of the world.

—Nocturnal Species like demons and monsters;

—Evil Filth spirits like ghosts and goblins;

—and the Third Category, which had no definite form, could erode reality, and expand outward through “Ghost Stories”, “strange tales”, and “forbidden knowledge”;

No one knew when those things would bare their fangs.

The Mediums among ordinary people could only find ways to avoid the crisis. They had no means to fight against the “Strange Phenomenon”.

At such times, the Clan Psychics belonging to the Hidden Assembly were the only ones who could resist them, acting as suppressors for this world.

“Interesting…!”

After hearing this, Fang Jing still appeared calm and composed, but that was only on the surface. Various thoughts flashed through his mind.

Now, the true nature of the Clans was mostly revealed. Fang Jing let go of his confusion about that. He was more interested in another aspect: what was the origin of Juemon Inshi, who knew so much about these things?

“You seem very interested in my origin?”

The man in black chuckled.

“Of course. Ordinary people couldn’t possibly know these secrets.”

Fang Jing’s tone became a bit sharper.

“You are not human, right? Then what exactly are you?”

What puzzled him the most was not the origin of the man in black, Juemon Inshi, but why Juemon Inshi knew so many secrets?

This secret information was definitely not something ordinary people could know.

…And about his own matters, the man seemed to have an abnormal ability to see through his thoughts. He knew Fang Jing’s affairs as if he had full understanding.

This was unreasonable!

It made no sense!

“……”

Juemon Inshi silently showed him a mysterious smile.

“Even if I explain it to you, you might not understand. But if you really want to know, I won’t hide it—I am indeed not human. I have been alive for over two hundred years since my birth. I have always stayed on this land, always been here—”

A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“I am this land. I am this city itself.”