Chapter 296: Full of Doubts (3)

Hearing Andrews’ words, Rod’s heart clenched tightly. Sure enough, he was the man who appeared when Rod opened the box left by his father. Who exactly was he? What was his relationship with Rod’s father, and what was his connection to Rod? With a look of confusion in his eyes, Rod desperately wanted to know everything about it.
For how many years had he been waiting for this day? Now that his dream had come true and he stood in front of him, Rod absolutely couldn’t let this opportunity slip away. “Elder… um, my father…”
“Alright, I know what you want to say. Heh, don’t rush. You’ll know everything soon enough,” the man said slowly, waving his hand to signal that Rod didn’t need to continue.
Then he stood up, turned his back on Rod, and sighed. “Let me first introduce you to our Netherworld and the tribe of trolls. How about that?”
“Then please go ahead, Elder!” Since Andrews was going to explain, Rod couldn’t refuse. Moreover, he could vaguely sense that there must be some connection between them. Perhaps it would help resolve more doubts. So Rod decided to calm himself down and listen attentively. Since Andrews was now standing in front of him, it was only a matter of time before he learned what would happen next.
Hearing Rod’s words, Andrews nodded and stepped forward slowly. Taking a deep breath, he began to speak: “The tribe of trolls is the true leader of the demon race—something you might already know. But do you realize that the trolls are actually a branch of the demon race? They share the same origin. The main reason the trolls surpassed the demons later on is that they are naturally easy-going and magnanimous. Their broad-mindedness allowed them to expand their territory. We, who dedicated ourselves entirely to cultivation, finally became the elite among the demons six thousand years ago. Of course, our genes also played a role! It is for these reasons that our tribe has become the true royal family of the demons.
Unfortunately, perhaps our existence has even made the heavens jealous, so the number of trolls has always been extremely small—never exceeding a thousand. It can’t be more; even at our peak, we had exactly a thousand members! Others say our tribe is cursed, but is it really a curse? Many people understand that this is just a cover-up.
We know that if things continue like this, the trolls will only face extinction. Unfortunately, we can’t find a solution.”

Until three thousand years ago, when the demons established their dark kingdom, the trolls searched everywhere for clues but found none. At that time, rather than saying we were the rulers of the demons, it’s more accurate to say the demons were the true rulers, with us merely holding a nominal title.

We trolls cared nothing about all this until a supreme warrior appeared later. He led the humans to defeat us and drive us back to the Source of Darkness. Back then, the Source of Darkness was extremely powerful—more so than it is now. As newcomers, we demons suffered great humiliation and nearly perished. For the survival of our race, we trolls shed countless drops of blood. After fierce battles, we finally managed to establish a foothold at the Source of Darkness, but our numbers had dropped from a thousand to less than three hundred, facing the threat of extinction.

Listening to Andrews’ account, Rod was somewhat confused. Everyone knew these things, including himself, so why was he telling them? Was there some secret hidden behind it?

Ah, right. Didn’t the trolls withdraw from history not long after that? Could there be a connection? Thinking of this, Rod was shocked and quickly focused to listen carefully.

As expected, Andrews grew visibly agitated as he continued: “It was at this critical moment that an elder of my trolls accidentally uncovered some information that pushed us into a desperate situation! A powerful faction within the demon race was secretly planning to attack us trolls. The heavy losses we suffered upon entering the Source of Darkness were directly related to them. More importantly, our inability to thrive was also inseparably linked to them.

That faction knew everything about why our numbers never increased and why we couldn’t reproduce. They didn’t act immediately because they wanted us trolls to perish naturally. Also, since we trolls didn’t interfere in the demons’ rule, they didn’t care much and weren’t in a hurry to destroy us.” As he spoke, Andrews’ voice grew solemn. Even after a thousand years, this remained an unresolved hatred.

“Members within the demon race? Are they the current war faction?” Rod immediately contacted the war faction. Ever since the trolls left, the war faction grew stronger and became the leaders of the demon race, which inevitably led to various speculations.

“That’s right, it’s the war faction. In fact, our trolls are just a race born from the union of demons and humans. The current demons are those with true demonic bloodline. So, the strength of our trolls has never been something they desired; they certainly wouldn’t willingly prosper under our leadership. To them, we are nothing but hybrids of humans and demons. They submitted to us back then because of our strength and the circumstances at the time. They needed a scapegoat to fulfill their own goals, and naturally, our trolls became that scapegoat for their use.” As he spoke, Andrews couldn’t help but sigh.

It really is the war faction. What’s going on here? Could their ambitions have already emerged long ago? This news struck Rod like a bomb, leaving him in disbelief.

“What exactly is the reason behind this?” In any case, Rod grew more and more confused as he listened and asked in shock.

“At that time, there were two factions within the demon race. One supported our trolls in continuing to lead the demons toward glory, given that our ability to establish a dark kingdom already proved our strength. They wanted to carry that legacy forward. The other faction opposed our leadership, seeing us as hybrids and themselves as the true descendants, the only ones worthy of leading their own race. As a result, the two factions split, forming the war faction and the opposition faction. Of course, there was also a neutral faction in between! This is the current tripartite situation. The war faction members make up the majority and are extremely powerful, posing a devastating threat to our trolls, who numbered only three hundred at the time. Upon learning that everything was orchestrated by the demons to lead to our extinction, we were furious, but due to their strength at the time, we had no choice but to endure.”

From that moment on, we deliberately stepped out of people’s sight and moved to the Netherworld. Over the past hundred years, several elders had maintained good relations with the major families. To be precise, there were only three major families at that time; the Mi Jiao clan was established later, after we went into seclusion. The elders of the three major families had good relations with our troll clan, and with their help, it took us nearly a thousand years to build this Netherworld! Initially, a total of thirty-six experts at the Yin Huang level and six experts at the Yang Xuan realm joined forces to create this Netherworld, giving it its current scale. After it was completed, nearly four hundred members of our troll clan began to gradually move here! Due to a thousand years of ignoring everything else, internal strife had begun among the demon race, with turbulent undercurrents. Our troll clan was forced to withdraw from people’s sight. At the same time, some elders from the opposition and neutral factions, tired of the external conflicts, followed us into this place. Of course, some elders from the three major families also entered the Netherworld, forming the dark town we see today. As for why our troll clan has never been able to thrive, it’s because we are a hybrid of humans and demons. Although we inherit the strengths of both, resulting in being stronger than demons, our fatal flaw is our low fertility—each couple can have at most three offspring, which is why… Later, taking advantage of a favorable opportunity, we completely retreated into the Netherworld and lived here. After a thousand years of reproduction, our population has returned to its peak, but it can no longer increase. You can see that the members of the three major families have also formed a significant force here.” The mystery was solved, and Rod felt ashamed—so that’s how it was. Our troll clan was forced to retreat into this Netherworld. No wonder they disappeared suddenly a thousand years ago. The three major families must know something about these events. What about the pro-war faction? Could they really be unaware of anything? “As for the pro-war faction…” Rod asked doubtfully.

“The war faction? Hmph… Of course they know about my Nether Realm, but they can do nothing about it. The Nether Realm is a virtual world, and without our permission, they simply cannot enter. So they can only build Ice City around my Nether Realm to prevent the resurgence of our troll clan! Over the past thousand years, Ice City has indeed grown quite powerful, but they don’t have the ability to destroy our troll clan! Even with Water Screen City, it’s uncertain if they could succeed!” Andrews showed his disdain for the war faction.
“Over the past thousand years, my Nether Realm has been opened every year, and they always send people in, right? Do you really think it’s for their own benefit? The main reason is to spy on our troll clan. Unfortunately, over these thousand years, we’ve never allowed them to succeed. Only those we trust can enter this core area; otherwise, our troll clan’s thousand-year legacy would be ruined once again!” Andrews spoke with a sense of pride.