Upper Zhou descendants.
That history was far too ancient!
Xiang Yuan was no illiterate bumpkin when it came to cultivation. He occasionally went down to work the land and knew a thing or two about the history of the Dry Abyss Realm.
In ancient times, there was Upper Zhou. The Son of Heaven enfeoffed three hundred and sixty-five vassal kings, creating three hundred and sixty-five vassal states. Some mismanaged themselves into ruin, while others grew bigger and stronger. Later, they annexed one another, and war raged year after year.
Northern Qi, Western Chu, and Southern Jin were stable regimes that had formed more than four hundred years ago. Before the three kingdoms, the ruling powers of the Dry Abyss Realm had never stopped changing hands.
There were many accounts of exactly when Upper Zhou had fallen. Some said Shendu had changed hands, some said the imperial bloodline had died out, and some said the throne had lost control over its vassal states.
But one thing was certain: Upper Zhou's fall had no direct connection to the three kingdoms of Western Chu and the rest. By the time those three rose to the top, Upper Zhou was already nothing but ruins.
There were actually descendants of Upper Zhou's imperial family still in the world. That truly caught Xiang Yuan by surprise. Thinking again of the name Forget Sword Manor, he realized, in hindsight, that it indeed carried profound meaning.
If his guess was right, Forget Sword Manor's founder had harbored no ambition to restore the dynasty, using the words "Forget Sword" to warn later generations not to indulge in pipe dreams. But as Forget Sword Manor grew bigger and stronger, its descendants craved something more, and so made a decision that betrayed their ancestors.
Of course, it might also have had