"…First, let me ask, besides longevity, what else do you know?"
"That depends on what you're referring to," Xie Yuchen gestured for Zhang Haike to take a sip of tea to moisten his throat. "For example, I suspect what you truly want to talk about now is that magical bloodline?"
Zhang Haike sighed, unable to resist rubbing his forehead, completely abandoning any pretense.
"…That is called Qilin Blood in the Zhang family. Although every Zhang family member has a little bit of it, the patriarchs throughout history possessed the purest form."
"Only pure blood can ward off evil and suppress malevolence."
"And his blood is so pure it can even make us feel oppressed."
"Oh? So this is a story about an amnesiac patriarch who forgot his own clan."
"…Not exactly." Hearing this, Zhang Haike denied it completely. He looked directly at Xie Yuchen, his tone solemn.
"In fact, he had never appeared within the clan before. There was no record of his birth information in the family genealogy. He was just suddenly found, and immediately elevated to the position of patriarch."
This statement was strange.
…Although Zhang Qiling had lost his memory, based on the carvings he left on Xie Lianhuan's coffin, he should have known that he had been active in this world for a long time.
After such a long time, why had the Zhang family not found Zhang Qiling, and why had they "suddenly" found him now?
"You must have realized something is amiss," Zhang Haike realized Xie Yuchen was an intelligent person who didn't need much explanation, so he spoke directly. "I had always stayed away from the inner clan until now, when I began to contend for power. It was only then that many hidden things were unearthed."
"There has always been a legend circulating within the Zhang family inner clan…" he slowly recounted the line that was almost etched into his memory. "He who can enter the Bronze Gate and emerge alive can lead the clan to the peak."
"…They didn't find Zhang Qiling; they found the Bronze Gate that suddenly appeared in Changbai Mountain."
"And this legend, it is said, manifested on the divine stone when it appeared. It was recorded by the Zhang family ancestors before it vanished."
This answer was so absurd that Xie Yuchen was momentarily speechless. He opened his mouth and instinctively let out a laugh:
"…I truly didn't know that the Zhang family inner clan was such an innocent clan that treated childish games as heirlooms."
He slowly raised his teacup, but quickly put it down. "Even Wu Tianzhen wouldn't believe such a thing."
"It does sound preposterous. I couldn't believe it myself when I first found it," Zhang Haike rubbed his furrowed brow. "But just like how the barbaric custom of foot-binding was inexplicably passed down as a virtue for generations, you don't understand how a word passed down and constantly reinforced in a long-lived clan can develop into an obsession."
"The inner clan has gone completely mad by now," he concluded.
"…"
A clan gone mad sounded somewhat absurd, but upon closer reflection, every word seemed to drip with blood.
Xie Yuchen was silent for a moment. "I guess they tried many things before finding Zhang Qiling."
"How did they find and enter the Bronze Gate?"
This question was sharp, but Zhang Haike remained silent for a few seconds before suddenly changing the subject:
"…You must have heard from Wu Tianzhen and the others that the patriarch's token, the mother bell, was once lost in the Zhang family's sacred land. As a result, the patriarchs for the past dozens of generations died while searching for the mother bell, and were eventually sealed by the strange white substance within, turning into anomalies."
"I have indeed heard of it. It is said that the mother bell has the ability to control the Bronze Bell Array."
Xie Yuchen paused, realizing something. "…Is there something wrong with the mother bell?"
…For a clan driven mad by the pursuit of a legend, a mother bell that could merely control bronze bells did not seem to warrant such immense sacrifices.
Unless, the loss of this mother bell had hindered their actions.
"That's right," Zhang Haike confirmed. "Although we don't know why, the mother bell seems to possess the power to guide and open the Bronze Gate."
"However, the mother bell's power is limited. It can only barely keep the Bronze Gate open for ten minutes at a time. And within these ten minutes, if the person entering does not come out, they will disappear forever."
"Excuse me, for asking presumptuously," Xie Yuchen suddenly interrupted Zhang Haike. His tone now carried a hint of anger, though he didn't know why. "The ones who entered the Bronze Gate before, weren't they also Zhang family patriarchs?"
"…"
Zhang Haike remained silent, which meant tacit agreement.
Xie Yuchen understood. He scoffed, laughing in his anger. "I must say, being a Zhang family patriarch is truly dangerous."
"The previous batch died trying to enter the Bronze Gate, and the next batch died trying to retrieve the mother bell. It's as if they all died young, one after another. The brainwashing is thorough enough."
His words were hardly respectful, but Zhang Haike showed no sign of being offended. He even nodded in agreement. "…You are correct."
By now, Xie Yuchen was somewhat reluctant to listen to Zhang Haike's nonsensical bloodline worship that gave him headaches. He took a sip of tea and realized that Zhang Haike hadn't mentioned longevity at all so far.
"So, you found Zhang Qiling simply because he met the conditions of the legend. Then, what does this have to do with the longevity I mentioned earlier?"
"Since you admit that all of your Zhang family are old people, why were you so readily willing to hand over your inner clan members to Song Shuning?"
"…The ascension of the entire clan will not be without cost. The Zhang family is inherently a twisted clan." Hearing this, Zhang Haike suddenly forced a bitter smile. "Do you know why only the person with the purest bloodline can become the patriarch?"
…A group of people with Qilin Blood gathered together, and they chose the one with the purest bloodline to be the patriarch. It sounded like a normal thing.
But upon closer thought, it wasn't like beasts prioritizing bloodline, nor was it like the "meritocracy" of feudal times. The development of a clan should be based on ability. What could a group of people who could scare away insects do as patriarchs? Were they responsible for mosquito control in the clan territory?
It was then that Zhang Haike slowly uttered his next sentence: "With the prophecy came a curse, a curse from the Bronze Gate."
"A spell, like a time bomb, was implanted in the bodies of the Zhang family inner clan members. As the bloodline passed down through generations, the antidote to prevent the bomb from detonating was pure Qilin Blood."
"The deadline for taking the antidote is ten years."
Looking at Xie Yuchen's complex expression, Zhang Haike said with a poker face, his words extremely cold:
"The previous patriarch died six years ago. Therefore, those sent to Song Shuning can only live for another four years at most."
"After four years, they will die silently."
"This is also why I haven't sent anyone to deal with those remaining inner clan remnants."
Xie Yuchen did not reply.
"I entered the sacred land with the patriarch and know the strangeness of those white substances. In fact, when I entered again, I thought I would be lucky to get out alive. But strangely, when I went in again to collect fragments of the divine stone, I found that all those white things had disappeared."
Zhang Haike said slowly, a strange sadness in his tone:
"…Those white substances that turned successive patriarchs into anomalies clearly originated from the so-called divine stone."
"Then the Bronze Gate, which has controlled the Zhang family with legends and curses for many years, never harbored any goodwill towards us from the very beginning."