Chapter 368: Guest from Afar (II)
The Yu Family had been quiet recently. Yu Mugao was busy organizing the clan, killing some members some days and releasing others the next. Despite the numerous brothers, they could not fight back at all and were slaughtered like lambs daily.
"He really dares to kill..." Li Yuanping mumbled as he looked at the list of names and pursed his lips. He thought to himself and concluded that although Yu Mugao enjoyed the killing, he had left behind many hidden dangers. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the families on the eastern shore.
There were more than a dozen families scattered along the eastern shore, though most were small families at the Embryonic Breathing or Qi Cultivation Realms. The situation was quite complex with many entanglements, so few people dared to interfere.
Both the northern and eastern shores of Moongaze Lake used to be the territory of the Golden Tang Gate, and the eastern shore families had numerous connections with the Golden Tang Gate. Although the gate had weakened and lost this territory, some relationships remained. This was one factor.
Another factor was that the eastern shore families held several valuable ore veins and spirit springs, and all were secretly controlled by the Xiao Family from the west. Xiao Family members guarded these places under the guise of guest cultivators, enabling them the power to maintain the situation while profiting from it.
This arrangement should not have been allowed, but the Azure Pond Sect had turned a blind eye to this. The Xiao Family preferred to see the situation fragmented, and so this arrangement remained for years.
Moreover, Moongaze Lake bordered the Xiao Family's territory. These families maintained the buffer zone, bordering the Golden Tang Gate to the north and the Li and Ding families to the south. The competition among various forces made the area highly sensitive.
These factors combined to maintain the status quo among the eastern shore families, with no significant changes for a hundred years. When the Jiang Family prospered, they supported them; and when the Yu Family dominated, they supported them. Now, with the Yu Family's decline and a tripartite power structure on the lake, each family sought its own protector.
Back when the market collapsed and the Yu Family declined, our family had the opportunity to take over some tributary families. However, we were understaffed at the time and only wanted to bide our time, so we missed our chance.