dmims 10. The Secrets of the Ling Family
10. The Secrets of the Ling Family
From Ling Yongsheng, Ling Bingtian learned that the Ling family was not originally based in Extreme Ice City. Rather, more than 4000 years ago, after the collision and merging of the continents, they were transferred to Extreme Ice City from a city in the northern part of the empire by the emperor of the newly established Heavenly Soul Empire.
As the main city of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Extreme Ice City holds an extremely important strategic position, which can even be said to rank first among the four major cities, second only to the Imperial Capital. This is due to two reasons.
On one hand, the northern part of Extreme Ice City faces the far north, the largest gathering place of ice-attribute soul beasts on the entire continent. Although most of the soul beasts in the far north will never step out of the far north in their entire lives, the Heaven Dou Empire, which was not yet divided, still believes it is necessary to establish a fortress here to guard against possible riots by the soul beasts in the far north.
Thus, the original Ice City was born.
However, at that time, the Ice City was just a fortress city, with only some generals and soldiers stationed there. It was not prosperous at all, let alone a main city.
The opportunity for Extreme Ice City to become the main city arose more than 4000 years ago during a continental war triggered by tectonic shifts. At that time, the Heaven Dou Empire was no match for the Sun Moon Empire's fierce attack on soul tools, and under the baptism of war, the Heaven Dou Empire split into two factions.
After the war, these two factions each divided half of the Heavenly Dou Empire's territory, establishing the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Douling Empire respectively.
After the establishment of the two great empires, the strategic importance of Ice City was greatly enhanced.
As a fortified city, it not only protects the country from potential beast tides from the far north, but it also happens to be located not far from the border between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Fighting Spirit Empire.
This attracted great attention from the emperor of the Heavenly Soul Empire at the time. He originally wanted to appoint a prince to take charge of the extreme ice city, but due to the extremely brutal continental war, the only powerful prince left in the country had been sent by him to take charge of the westernmost city of the empire, which was far away from the Sun Moon Empire.
Left with no other choice, the emperor could only persuade a powerful marquis, who was already located in the northern part of the empire, to move to the Ice City and become its lord, thus securing control of the northern part of the empire.
To appease the marquis, the emperor elevated the city of Arctic Ice to the status of a main city, exempting it from taxes and requiring it to pay a symbolic tribute of some northern specialties to the royal family each year as a sign of loyalty. At the same time, the marquis, who had previously held only an ordinary marquisate, was promoted one rank to duke, and granted the right to hereditary succession.
However, this emperor was clearly not a fool. If he were to give the duke complete power, it would be tantamount to raising a tiger to cause trouble.
Therefore, he did not grant the marquis full military power, but instead created the position of the Northern General to counterbalance this future hereditary duke.
Of course, this Northern General was appointed by the royal family. Nominally, he was to assist the hereditary duke in training and fighting troops, but in reality, he was supervising the troops under the guise of overseeing the battle.
This hereditary duke naturally had no objection to this, nor would he dare to. He also knew clearly that if the emperor didn't appoint this general here, his "hereditary" status probably wouldn't last long. Therefore, he maintained a non-opposition attitude towards the establishment of the Grand General position.
Thus began a new era for Extreme Ice City under the joint rule of the city lord and the general, and it was from this moment that Extreme Ice City entered a period of rapid development.
For over 4000 years, no beast tides have broken out in the far north, but friction between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Fighting Spirit Empire has been constant.
With Shrek Academy's interference, there were no major battles, but numerous smaller skirmishes. Therefore, the strategic importance of Ice City to the Douling Empire remained unchanged for over 4000 years, maintaining its extremely high status within the Heavenly Soul Empire and receiving strong support from the Heavenly Soul Empire's royal family.
Time has passed, and now, Ice City is no longer the ordinary fortress it once was. Under the leadership of that hereditary ducal family and the successive great generals, Ice City has developed into the most developed city in the northern part of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
The hereditary ducal family is naturally the Ling family. And the Guardian Clan that Ling Yongsheng mentioned only began after the entire Ling family migrated to the Ice City.
According to Ling Yongsheng, shortly after the Ling family arrived in Jibing City, one of their ancestors discovered a secret place in a snowy mountain range in the far north.
The ancestor accidentally entered a cave in the Frosty Mountains. Because of the heavy snow, the ancestor did not choose to linger at the entrance of the cave, but instead explored further into the depths, hoping to find prey.
Unexpectedly, this exploration opened a new door for the entire Ling family.
When the ancestor first entered the cave, he didn't feel any difference from other caves. But the further he went, the more uncomfortable he felt, an discomfort that originated from the depths of his martial spirit.
After identifying themselves, the ancestors realized that they had come to a mine area of thorny ice rocks.
Spike rock is an extremely special mineral material, found only in the mines at the boundary between the outer and inner rings of the far north, often at a depth of 20-50 meters underground.
In the far north, due to its unique conductive properties, the thorny ice rock is a creature that beasts dread.
When a person or beast uses ice-attribute soul power on this type of rock, the ice-attribute soul power will stimulate the internal structure of the ice-pierced rock, causing it to change rapidly and pierce out sharp ice spikes from within.
And because these ice spikes pierce out extremely quickly, they often penetrate the bodies of people or beasts before they can react. Therefore, in the far north, the ice spikes are something that ice-attribute soul beasts would shake their heads at.
In the area where the Ice Spike Rock exists, not many ice-attribute soul beasts would be willing to live there, which is the only place that soul masters can find solace in.
Because if one ventures deep into the far north and encounters danger, the area where the ice spikes are located would be an excellent refuge.
The problem is that the ancestor clearly remembers that the distance he walked down into the cave was definitely not 20 meters deep. The fact that there are thorny ice rocks here can only mean one thing: these thorny ice rocks were laid here by humans.
Sensing something amiss, the ancestor continued to explore downwards. After walking about 10 meters, he felt a thin, invisible membrane blocking his path, subtly absorbing his soul power.
The strange situation surprised the ancestor, but it did not frighten him. Instead, it emboldened him to make the wisest decision of his life.
He drew out his soul power and channeled it into the thin membrane. The membrane didn't absorb much of his ancestor's soul power before dissipating as energy.
The anomaly occurred at that moment. After the membrane disappeared, the ancestor felt a strong wave of dizziness surge into his mind and then fainted. When he woke up again, he saw a completely different world.
Snowflakes fell from the sky. There was no sun in the sky, but the space was filled with light like sunlight. Trees covered with pure white snow stood around the ancestors, and the ground was also covered with white light. The air was full of the natural atmosphere of winter.
Before our ancestors' eyes, there was only one place with obvious signs of human alteration.
那是一座祭坛。
The altar wasn't particularly large, only about the size of a normal playground, and about four feet high. Strangely, not a single snowflake fell on it. After awakening, the ancestor boldly continued exploring, stepping onto the altar, where he saw mysterious engravings covering its surface. At each of the eight corners of the octagonal altar stood a crystal shimmering with an icy blue light.
From within the ice crystals, the ancestor, who was then a Soul King, sensed a terrifying power—a power that completely overwhelmed the level of Soul Power. Later generations speculated that what was contained within might have been the divine power of the Ice God!
In the center of the altar stood a crystal tablet of ice blue. When the ancestor observed it from outside the altar, he felt that the crystal tablet was only one or two people tall and two feet wide. But when the ancestor actually stepped onto the altar, he saw the true face of the crystal tablet.
The ice-blue crystal tablet grew rapidly after the ancestor stepped onto the altar, soon piercing straight into the sky, and its width also quickly expanded to about six feet.
After that, our ancestors truly witnessed the legends of the world on the crystal tablet.
god!
Ice God!
After a series of conversations that have not been passed down, the ancestor gained the favor of the Ice God. Unfortunately, due to insufficient talent, he was not granted the qualification to become a god. However, the Ice God also gave him hope, assigning him to establish a family or a force to protect this chosen land until a Soul Master could inherit His divine position.
Through the Ice God, the ancestor also learned the truth about this place. That world was actually a small plane, a small plane that naturally fell away from the Douluo Continent after the Ice God became a god, and became His chosen land after being captured by the Ice God.
At the same time, the ancestor also received a gift from the Ice God. Not only did his martial soul transform from the ordinary Xuanbing Chain Spear into the top-tier Frost Soul Chain Dragon Spear, but he was also given a Black-level divine trial, enabling him to obtain a divinely bestowed soul ring each time he broke through a major level. This also meant that the four soul rings that the ancestor absorbed after becoming a Soul King all reached the limits that his body could withstand.
From then on, with the help of the Ice God, their ancestor became the strongest in the Northern Territory of that era. It was also from this time that the Ling family truly began to take root in the Ice City. This ancestor is also the most important figure in the Ling family genealogy since the first Ice Duke.
Unfortunately, since that ancestor who spoke with the Ice God, even geniuses with extraordinary talent and innate full soul power have not been able to re-establish contact with the Ice God.
After thousands of years of exploration, the Ling family also discovered some patterns. The entrance to that small plane was the cave full of thorny ice rocks that their ancestors had discovered, and that thin membrane was also the detection entrance to the small plane.
Only Soul Masters with innate Soul Power exceeding Level 8.5 are qualified to enter this small plane when their cultivation level is below Soul Douluo.
In other words, the existence of that thin membrane is primarily for distinguishing the aptitude of Soul Masters. Only Soul Masters who meet the aptitude requirements are qualified to enter it.
If one can reach the level of a Contra master, one can directly enter a smaller dimension through the membrane.
Therefore, the Ling family has never lost its connection with this small plane of existence over thousands of years.
Finally, Ling Yongsheng said with a serious expression what Ling Bingtian most wanted to hear.
"Xiao Tian, tomorrow, Grandpa will take you to this small plane to see if you can re-establish contact with the great Ice God of the God Realm."
Even, inherit His divine position!
As the thought deepened, the three elders present were once again filled with fervor.