After settling matters here, the Great Elder returned to the Glorious Hall by carriage, while Ye Longlin remained in the village to familiarize himself with the surroundings.
Mo Wen, the Patriarch of the Mo family, was of a higher generation than Ye Tianqiong, and even Ye Tianqiong had to respectfully address him as Elder Mo. He was also the village chief, given his seniority.
"Actually, before you, the Dark Hall already existed. In my generation, it wasn't called the Dark Hall, but the Dark Divine Hall. The Dark Divine Hall sounds more powerful than the Dark Hall, doesn't it? And indeed, back then, the Dark Divine Hall had dozens of Saint Realm experts, hundreds of Dao Realm experts, and countless Dragon Elephant and lower-ranked powerhouses, too many to count. Later, the reclusive families launched a cleansing operation against them. During that operation, countless people died, and it was after this cleansing that the Hetu Battle took place. Do you know who the Hall Master of the Dark Divine Hall was back then?"
Mo Wen walked with Ye Longlin on a country path, explaining the events of the past. Ye Longlin shook his head.
Mo Wen looked at Ye Longlin with a hint of a bitter smile. "The Hall Master of the Dark Divine Hall was the most astonishing talent from your Ye family. He single-handedly suppressed that era. His name was Ye Hetu. He suppressed the entire era by himself; you can imagine how powerful he was. No one, neither in the secular world nor in the reclusive families, could match him. He created the Dark Divine Hall to protect, but due to an accident, his temperament changed drastically, transforming from protector to destroyer. No one knows what happened or what he went through. He died in an encirclement during that great battle, and the Dark Divine Hall vanished. When we heard from them again, they had already become the Dark Hall."
Ye Longlin listened with shock, but his brow furrowed. "But Ancestor Tianqiong never told me about this. And doesn't this matter involve too much?"
Elder Mo scoffed. "It would be a ghost if that brat Ye Tianqiong told you! Not a single word he says is true! Why would he tell future generations such an embarrassing matter? Besides, your current fight against the Dark Hall has nothing to do with its origins, so why would he tell you? If it were you, would you tell your daughter your embarrassing secrets? It's the same principle."
Hearing this, it made sense. "I never imagined the Ye family had such a past. Truly unexpected, that the Dark Hall has such origins." He thought that perhaps the Glorious Hall also knew about the Dark Hall's origins, yet they chose to believe him unconditionally. A warmth flowed through his heart.
"See that old farmer ahead? He's the Patriarch of the Zhang family, Zhang Qiongji. He didn't come earlier mainly because he's basically retired from managing affairs now. The Zhang family's matters have always been handled by the acting patriarch. He stopped getting involved ten years ago. For the past decade, he's been acting strangely, and we don't like being around him. He's been staying here alone for ten years, and no one knows what he's looking at. Anyway, whenever we go over..."
"Are you also watching ants move house? They've moved several times already, and each time they move, it's different."
Ye Longlin: "..."
Mo Wen: "..."
Ye Longlin walked over. A foul odor emanated from him, quite unpleasant, but undeniably, he was a top-tier expert.
"You see? This is how he's been for the past ten years. The acting patriarch of the Zhang family said that after Zhang Qiongji failed his breakthrough attempt, he became like this. In the Zhang family's words, he has entered the stage of his true self. He will only awaken if he can overcome this stage or if someone from the outside helps him break through. As for why Zhang Qiongji is here watching ants move house, and has been for ten years... that's unknown. Even the Zhang family doesn't know; they haven't encountered it."
Ye Longlin pondered for a moment and nodded slightly. "Elder Mo, you should go back first. I'll take a look here."
Mo Wen nodded helplessly. "Alright. Be careful. Old Zhang is very dangerous now. Sometimes his martial energy erupts uncontrollably. He's injured no less than eighty or ninety people over the years."
"Got it!"
Ye Longlin watched as Zhang Qiongji approached. He simply watched the tiny ants in front of him, observing them moving house in groups, a smile on his face. Although he didn't know the significance of watching them, he still spoke, "Ants moving house signifies imminent rain."
"Survival of the fittest, the most adaptable survive. Organisms have the ability to predict in advance. Ant nests are built underground, and if it rains, they will drown. 'Ants moving house, snakes crossing the road, heavy rain will arrive tomorrow.' The current scientific explanation is that when ants forage, they rely on their sense of touch and smell. They often follow fixed routes and communicate with each other through chemical signals emitted by their companions. During this process, they can sense changes in the weather through their touch. Their judgment is based on changes in air humidity. If the humidity changes significantly, they will reinforce their nests to prevent rainwater from causing damage to their homes."
Ye Longlin's words made Zhang Qiongji fall into contemplation, but the next moment, his martial energy suddenly erupted, and with a bang, he sent Ye Longlin flying.
Mo Wen, who had just left, sensed this surge of martial energy, his expression changed. He flashed to the scene, only to see Ye Longlin lying on the ground.
"Kid Ye, I told you not to provoke him, why did you provoke him? Now we have to spend time suppressing him again. Sigh."
However, Ye Longlin seemed to have a realization. He stepped on a few ants and continued, "Ants are merely the lowest forms of life in the biological world, the 'ants' are referred to as such. Anyone can kill them. To ants, we are giants, and to microorganisms, ants are also giants. This is the most basic law of biological operation. The struggle for survival in the biological world is much more cruel than we imagine, much like the law of the dark forest. Once a civilization in the universe is discovered, it will inevitably be attacked by other civilizations. Therefore, for ants, their tenacious vitality is their death warrant!"
"Boom!"
The martial energy erupted again, this time sweeping across a large patch of cornfield! Seeing this, Mo Wen was about to intervene and suppress him, but Ye Longlin stopped him at this moment.
"Elder Mo, don't act!"