Could it be that I am the cruel villain?-Chapter 773 - 442: The Bizarre Past of Dongyue

Bloodline.

These two words have always surrounded the East Sea Clan and the whole of Dongyue. They are a shadow that cannot be erased, looming over everyone. For countless years, they have tried to break free from the shackles of bloodline, but in the end, they could only accept their fate.

It's hard for ordinary people to understand why an entire nation, even an entire race, would be bound by these two words, because ordinary people, at least pure humans, can hardly comprehend the fear and reverence that come from the blood.

In a normal society, such words wouldn't appear. Even under the ancient royal system, people mostly feared the monarchs.

Outwardly respecting them due to fear of power and might, they have no choice but to kneel. Yet, should a monarch lose their majesty, their power, their control over the nation, people would rush to dethrone them, fighting desperately for the emperor's seat. This is the normal phenomenon of society.

But in Dongyue, it's different.

Just like beasts naturally submit to a stronger leader, and ants naturally fight for the whole colony, with the entire group existing to serve the queen ant—this is instinct embedded in DNA. The East Sea Clan is the same.

The East Sea Dragon Clan is that so-called queen ant. They are the root, the origin.

For the so-called bloodline, they can sacrifice everything, give up everything. The scene of the seventeen clans working together is vivid, not just to resist foreign enemies, but also to preserve the royal bloodline.

Back then, when Prince Ji fell gravely ill and couldn't be cured, the seventeen clans exerted all their strength to prolong his life. Each clan did not hesitate to risk the lives of their masters, burning their Nascent Soul, dissipating their cultivation, all just to keep him breathing.

After knowing he was incurable, the so-called selection of concubines began. Each clan, aware of the outcome, still sent their most talented, purest-blooded, and promising young women to the Imperial Palace. The Qingluan they faced was not even thirty and was already at the Peak of Core Formation, which was quite impressive.

Yet, among the selections sent to the Imperial Palace to be vivisected were two women around thirty who had already reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

Terrifying, isn't it?

Even knowing it was a futile endeavor, they still chose to send the future hopes of their clans to the royal family, causing the East Sea Clan to nearly face a generational gap. One after another, time and again, the ultimate result forced them to rebel.

Rather than calling it rebellion, it's more like searching for a new path. With their family line nearly at an end, they could only choose to preserve themselves first. The disaster of concubine selection broke out completely, becoming the most terrifying and dreadful fuse. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

For thousands of years, conflicts and tensions existed between the clans, uneven resources, friction from territorial expansion, inter-clan battles leading to accidental casualties, or even following the emperor's orders for rescue, which ended up depleting my clan's vitality.

Such situations occasionally arose. In the past, the royal family found ways to balance things. Even if there was tension, it wouldn't explode. Both sides would stop and reconcile after some initial rebuke. But accumulated over generations, even dozens of generations, the tensions have reached a tipping point, and its explosive power is unimaginable.

And this so-called disaster of concubine selection was the fuse and the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The eruption of years of disputes among the other clans and dissatisfaction with the royal family's inability to treat them equally, fearing the royals would drain their family's last resources. In fact, after seventeen attempts, the royal family was no longer willing to continue to exploit other clans and planned to accept their fate. As rulers, they clearly understood the consequences of continuing.

But it was already too late.

The decree had not yet been issued. While the current emperor was negotiating with the clan elders, chaos had already erupted. Various feudal lords responded, and once the border defenses were directly withdrawn, they marched toward the Imperial City. The borders originally controlled by the clans collapsed in an instant.

Within a few days, the entire Dongyue was in turmoil. This sudden change was completely unexpected, yet within reason. There was external invasion, most notably at the junction between the Southern Border and the Central Plains, and even a small portion of elite from the Northern Demon Clan took the opportunity to advance south and exploit the situation.

In normal times, the seventeen clans would work together and support each other, but now they retreated their forces and fought separately. Naturally, the king would not sit idly by. If not for the matter of the royal bloodline, he would have been considered outstanding among emperors of generations, but due to this mishap, he ruined his reputation, lost his honor, and his lifetime of fame was destroyed in an instant.

For this, he even risked his life to appear personally, negotiating with each clan, venturing deep into enemy territory just to find a lifeline for Dongyue, willing to sacrifice royal interests to calm them. Even the steeliest knows that they indeed acted wrongfully, harming others and themselves.

However, once war breaks out, restoring peace becomes nearly impossible, especially with those who initially turned against him. They remain respectful and courteous to the monarch, yet hoping to return to how things were is a luxury.

The border has already collapsed, suffering invasion from foreign enemies. Returning to the royal family to follow orders, no one can ensure whether the other side would lest them down. Before the incident with Prince Ji, the East Sea Royal Family's reputation was strong; even a verbal decree could stabilize them.

But after the mishap, the entire royal family's image utterly collapsed. Even if the monarch promised not to pursue it further, they ultimately took that step, and both sides inevitably faced each other with weapons. If they chose to abandon resistance and return under the royal banner, even if, as he said, they truly did not pursue responsibility.