An old house deep in the mountains.
The Red Dust Elder asked softly:
"Pacification Commissioner Jia, do you know of the Duan clan of Dali?"
Jia Huan nodded.
"Before Great Qian was founded, there was a small kingdom in the Southern Borderlands called Nanzhao, also known as the Kingdom of Dali. The Duan clan was its royal family."
"Great Qian's Founding Emperor swept across the eight directions and established his dominion, destroying Dali."
"Beneath the heavens, every inch of land belonged to the sovereign. The Duan clan fled to the Northern Mang grasslands. They were said to be a powerful force even in Northern Mang's capital."
"That was over two hundred years ago."
The Red Dust Elder's expression grew grave.
"The more than two thousand people who died such gruesome deaths three years ago belonged to the Duan clan's forces!"
Jia Huan narrowed his eyes.
So those Xuanyuan Zhigu had suppressed in the Southern Borderlands were the former Duan clan of Dali?
In the eyes of Great Qian's people, that was no crime at all.
Water Skimmer looked somber. It seemed they had made the trip for nothing.
Everything made sense.
The Duan clan lived in Northern Mang. After hearing the terrible news, a large portion of their clansmen had taken a roundabout route through the Western Regions to flee into the Southern Borderlands, only to be encircled and slaughtered by the White Tiger Office's Pacification Commissioner!
Meanwhile, Pei Changqing, the Black Tortoise Office's Pacification Commissioner, had taken his trusted followers into Northern Mang's capital by force and massacred more than seven hundred members of the Duan clan.
The two incidents had occurred less than a month apart.
Water Skimmer immediately looked at his boss. From Great Qian's standpoint, both Pacification Commissioners had rendered service to the State and Altars