Meng Zhao had naturally suspected that the Ji Clan branch was connected to the Rebel Army, perhaps even that they themselves were part of it. But he had later shaken his head and dismissed the notion. The possibility was very small.
At this moment, he did not dare to casually voice his thoughts. He merely smiled and replied,
"Initially, I truly had not thought so, because I had reliable information that the Rebel Army hidden within Hu Mountain had actually been training for quite some time. Their sinister schemes had revealed themselves even earlier.
By all reason, they seemed to have nothing to do with the Dan Chi Clan.
However, after meeting Rushuang, I learned that Patriarch Ji had led his clansmen across great distances to settle and survive in Hu Mountain two years ago. Such a coincidence truly left me no choice but to think more deeply.
Also, everyone knows that Hu Mountain is filled with mountain strongholds and bandits. Yet quite a number of them are merely disguises created by those rebels after breaking themselves up into smaller groups. This is also crucial."
Though Meng Zhao did not say the last part aloud, Ji Zhenyun, Ji Rulin, and Ji Rushuang had already understood.
Those mountain strongholds and bandits might have been disguises created by rebels breaking into scattered groups. Then it was not impossible that the vast Dan Chi Ji Clan branch, arriving here at such a sensitive and coincidental time, was likewise an accomplice of the rebels.
"Th-this, Young Master Lu, I swear that my clan truly has no connection to the rebels. We of the Dan Chi Clan would never commit such a heinous, treasonous act, one that could very likely bring calamity upon our entire clan and wipe out our bloodline."
Ji Rushuang was the