Fang Wuwei and Ikenouchi Maki exchanged glances, seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
Apparently, Ikenouchi Toyohiko had not told Ikenouchi Maki about this matter.
Fang Wuwei no longer looked indifferent; he immediately sat up straight, placed his hands in front of him, and began to take the matter seriously.
Another Magician family, and one even more powerful than the Ikenouchi, naturally piqued Fang Wuwei's intense interest.
Ikenouchi Toyohiko was extremely nervous at this moment; the man in front of him did not appear to be a member of that family, but he had that emblem, and now that he had revealed the truth, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.
He was afraid that if this person was actually an agent of that family in this world, then their arrival now would be tantamount to suicide.
But... Ikenouchi Toyohiko glanced at Fang Wuwei, who had sat up straight.
There is only a thousand days of being a thief, but no thousand days of guarding against a thief, right? The appearances of the Ikenouchi couple had long been circulated, and once discovered, the people of that family would surely recognize them.
If that family really came to this world, then instead of cowering at home waiting to die, it would be better to use Fang Wuwei's strength to solve this matter.
"Mr. Totsuka, I would like to ask, where exactly did you get this thing from?"
Totsuka Matsuo also understood that the information behind this matter was very complex; he was just a small figure who had just entered the magic side, and even if the Ikenouchi couple claimed to be a fallen Magician family being hunted, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse, not to mention Fang Wuwei, who was not someone he could provoke.
He should tell the truth; there was nothing worth hiding anyway... If they were looking for relatives, he would have to make something up, but since they were looking for revenge...
Totsuka Matsuo truthfully confessed everything.
After learning that it was picked up from a corpse, Ikenouchi Toyohiko nervously asked for the corpse's location, and upon learning that it had been destroyed by Fang Wuwei, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Mr. Ikenouchi, judging by your reaction... Could it be that the corpse still held a secret?"
Totsuka Matsuo suddenly felt that giving the corpse to Fang Wuwei to destroy might have been a bit hasty.
"Yes... Their family is quite insidious; their family secret technique is feigned death. Once the surface magic returns to their body, they will revive... We suffered a lot in this regard back then."
Ikenouchi Toyohiko gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. Now that they knew that person was dead, the Ikenouchi couple finally relaxed. At least... Totsuka Matsuo was still safe.
Fang Wuwei had guaranteed it, and they had no other choice but to trust him.
Totsuka Matsuo's hair stood on end upon hearing this... It was a good thing he let Fang Wuwei burn it, or something would have happened sooner or later.
"Mr. Totsuka... How long ago was it that you found that corpse?"
"About... twenty-six years ago..."
Twenty-six years?!
The Ikenouchi couple exchanged glances, their faces full of confusion, and thought of another possibility.
"Mr. Totsuka... In these twenty-six years, you... must have done a lot of research on this corpse, right?"
"Yes, we've dissected it many times. We even buried it before, and later did a lot of injection experiments, potion experiments, current experiments..."
No wonder it feigned death for twenty-six years, being treated like that... I heard that when their family feigns death, they still have perception? Isn't this just pure corpse whipping... Tsk tsk tsk.
They had thought this corpse was only recently found, or they wouldn't have been so scared.
However... twenty-six years ago?
The Ikenouchi couple stroked their chins; that time period was precisely when they fled from the Other World.
At that time, they had already fled from the Other World with nothing; almost all members of the Ikenouchi had died, leaving only the Ikenouchi couple with the last hope of the Ikenouchi, coming to this world.
The matter of the emblem was resolved, but they still had some questions.
Pointing to the amethyst on the table, Ikenouchi Toyohiko asked about its origin.
Upon learning that these crystals were also closely related to that corpse, and were even said to have been scattered around the corpse at the time, the Ikenouchi couple's hands clenched tightly, then slowly loosened, their eyes filled with sorrow.
"...Both of you, what... is this?"
"...This is a specialty of our Ikenouchi."
His words were astonishing, even shocking Totsuka Matsuo. Well, the producer of the important resource I use for practicing magic is right here!
"Our Ikenouchi ended up in such a state precisely because we could produce these things..."
"Hmm? What happened?"
Facing Fang Wuwei's confusion, Ikenouchi Toyohiko bitterly recounted the past glory.
It was his proudest, yet also most painful memory.
"Although our Ikenouchi is not very strong, we are not too weak either. There are many families of our influence over there...
But we are different; we have a family secret technique—magic compression. This amethyst, for example, is a product of magic compression.
Stable, portable, powerful... composed of pure magic compression, it can turn ethereal magic into solid crystals, and magic can be drawn out at any time. This is the greatest pride and confidence of our Ikenouchi.
magic crystal can normally serve as the energy core for various magic tools, and can also induce other magic changes. Its main use is that it can directly supply Magicians for magic release.
Relying on this thing, our Ikenouchi once soared, gaining many powerful new members and the opportunity to ascend to the upper echelons, coming into contact with higher-level existences."
Ikenouchi Toyohiko recalled the past; even today, he could not forget that pride, that glory.
"Until... that man appeared."
Fang Wuwei became interested; this sounded like a wonderful story. He picked up his teacup, sipping and listening, feeling content.
"It is said that he was just a low-level Magician recruited by the Buren Family... The Buren Family and our Ikenouchi have been friends for generations, our long-term partners.
Later, I heard that man somehow married the eldest daughter of the Buren Family, and then step by step, he trampled all three of the strongest Magician families at the time, leading the Buren Family to become the strongest.
But in reality, the Buren Family had already become a shell, a tool for that man... For some reason, the Buren Family was even very happy.
That year, my wife Nami and I had just gotten married, and that man actually came to steal the bride, saying he had taken a fancy to my wife, and that if I obediently handed her over, he would spare our family, otherwise we would die... Don't you think he's sick?
He certainly is sick.
Fang Wuwei and Totsuka Matsuo nodded slightly beside him. If it were them, they couldn't tolerate it either.
"Although we didn't dare to offend him, that man already had many wives and concubines at the time, and we thought he would at most just suppress us, but I never expected that this would be the beginning of our nightmare.
That man was actually very angry and started a massacre on the spot... We were not his match and could only desperately flee. After that, the Buren Family, who had been friends with us for generations, actually launched an attack on us.
We naturally resisted to the death, but we never expected that the non-family combat forces our Ikenouchi had recruited to become stronger would actually betray us and defect.
At that time, they directly dealt us a heavy blow, and countless more of our compatriots were captured and killed...
......
The secret technique of our Ikenouchi relies on bloodline to be used, meaning that those not named Ikenouchi cannot utilize that power.
But not long after, the Buren Family actually brought out their self-made magic crystal, which was... almost identical to ours.
The advantage we had painstakingly gained through magic crystal vanished, and with that person's call, almost all Magician families came out to encircle and annihilate us. We... suffered a crushing defeat."
"So you ultimately had to leave your homeland and come to this world for a chance at survival?"
Seeing Ikenouchi Toyohiko already starting to choke up, and Ikenouchi Nami beside him sobbing uncontrollably, Fang Wuwei spoke the words they had left unsaid.
Ikenouchi Toyohiko nodded.
Fang Wuwei didn't know how to comfort them, so he just drank his tea.
But Totsuka Matsuo, upon hearing this, felt a shiver of fear... Just because he was displeased, he was so cruel, forcing a perfectly good family to be ruined and its members killed?
This person was simply... terrifying to the extreme.
A person who centers everything around themselves, for whom defiance means death, how terrifying is such a person?
"Mr. Ikenouchi... If I may be so bold as to ask, who exactly was that person?"
"His name is very strange... He is called Ye Tian, and he calls himself the Dragon King."
Fang Wuwei spat out a mouthful of tea.