Chapter 574 342: The Puzzle's Origin (Part 3)

The man from the Stu Commerce Association was the most cooperative, as he was not a member of the Stu Family by blood. To be precise, he was a son-in-law who had married a female member of the Stu Family. He only entered the core echelons of the Stu Commerce Association after becoming a Venerable Powerhouse, thanks to his considerable talent and good fortune.

Although he was the most cooperative, he also knew the least. It was only in the last few days that Frank Stu had summoned him, told him of the mysterious inheritance's existence, and ordered him to stand guard outside Inheritance Point Four.

Since he couldn't get any valuable clues out of the man, Su Ze stopped questioning him and kept him locked in the confinement cell.

The guy from the Wol Family was stubborn. However, he had been smashed by one of Baliss's spheres and was barely breathing. Su Ze tortured him a little, pushing him a few steps closer to death's door, and finally managed to pry his mouth open by using the promise of healing as bait.

The man's name was Altos Wall.

He knew far more than the Stu Family's son-in-law.

He claimed that he had only been told about the mysterious inheritance by the Wol Family's Clan Leader a little over two years ago, after the legendary powerhouse from the Hogan Family, Uur Hogan, disappeared.

Before that, he had been completely in the dark.

"This goes back to the origin of our three families, a thousand years ago..." Altos swallowed the Regeneration Fruit Su Ze gave him. His injuries improved considerably, and he was finally able to catch his breath. "Legend says that a thousand years ago, before the evolutionary rain fell, the mighty Sunset Empire dominated the Western Continent. But even within the prosperous Sunset Empire, there were still plenty of poor people who couldn't fill their stomachs."

"The ancestors of our three families were all street urchins who couldn't even get enough to eat, wandering the streets with no fixed abode.

"Then one day, they met a man. He gave them money, food, and a place to live. He saved their lives and even taught them how to become evolvers...

"But in return, he gave the three of them a responsibility: to become 'Guardians'."

Su Ze already had an idea of where this was going and cut in, "Guardians? Guarding the puzzle pieces? Or the mysterious inheritance?"

Altos replied, "These are all legends passed down from a thousand years ago, so I'm not too clear on the specifics myself. Craig wasn't very detailed. He just said that the man left behind a puzzle piece, divided it into three, and gave the fragments to the ancestors of our three families, telling them to guard them for generations."

"He also took them to the inheritance points and told them that if any of their descendants became a legendary powerhouse, they could receive an 'external inheritance' there, leave Blue Star, and get a chance to achieve godhood."

'The external inheritance provides a god-tier skill and sends the inheritor away from Blue Star. It's really a complete "godhood package".'

'It gives a legendary powerhouse a "ladder" to godhood while also getting them off a resource-scarce planet like Blue Star.'

At this point, Su Ze was mostly convinced the legend was true. 'That man must be the mysterious powerhouse from the Human Race who was on the butterfly's back.'

'But what he couldn't figure out was, why would that mysterious man set up such a scheme?'

'What was the point of splitting one of the four puzzle pieces into three and having three separate families pass down the fragments?'

"So you're saying the ancestors of your three families were the first evolvers on Blue Star," Su Ze said, his tone a mix of disbelief and mockery. "With a head start like that, your families developed for a thousand years and only got this far? You didn't even build massive settlements like the ones on the three major continents?"

Altos's face flushed slightly as he argued, "First of all, the mysterious man only taught them *how* to become evolvers, telling them to absorb things like mutant beast extracts. He didn't actually provide them with any evolutionary resources."

"Second, our three families have produced more than one legendary powerhouse over the years. But because we controlled the path to godhood, these powerhouses were all single-mindedly focused on ascending. They had no time to waste on expanding their territory or becoming kings."

"Dawn Shelter was founded by our Wol Family, and Dawn Shelter was founded by the Hogan Family's ancestors. But after they established the shelters, they had no interest in expansion. All they wanted was to reach the legendary tier, receive the external inheritance, and seize the chance for godhood!"

Su Ze nodded. The explanation made sense. 'Compared to elevating one's very being, to the sea of stars and the chance at godhood, becoming king of a small patch of land on Blue Star really isn't that appealing.'

'Even someone like Lin Hua's Legend, who had many attachments on Blue Star, still resolutely embarked on a journey among the stars after getting his chance at godhood.'

'If he had known about the external inheritance from the start, he might not have even had the inclination to found Lin Hua Country. He probably would have left Blue Star long ago.'

"So, over the past thousand years, your three families must have produced a fair number of legendary powerhouses, right?" Su Ze asked.

"Actually, not that many. For the first five hundred years, the evolutionary level of the mutant beasts on Blue Star was low, and resources were even scarcer than today. Even though our ancestors knew *how* to evolve, they couldn't advance without the necessary evolutionary resources."

"The first generation of our ancestors to become evolvers only managed one or two evolutions before they died."

Su Ze fell silent. 'It seems that even with knowledge far ahead of its time, you're still bound by the constraints of the era.'

Altos continued, "It wasn't until four hundred years ago that someone from our three families finally became a legendary powerhouse. And that person was from our Wol Family."

"Before that, the early ancestors of our three families were very grateful to their benefactor, so they faithfully kept their promise, guarding the secret of the inheritance. They never tried to explore the 'internal inheritance.' Only the Clan Leader of each generation would learn the location of the inheritance site and be entrusted with a puzzle fragment."

"The puzzle fragments thus became a symbol of the three Clan Leaders, passed down from one generation to the next along with the secret of the inheritance."

Su Ze smiled but didn't expose the lie.

'The first few generations of ancestors might have kept their promise, but after so many generations, had they truly never thought of exploring the internal inheritance?'

'Unfortunately, one needed a complete puzzle piece to enter the internal inheritance, and doing so would only open a single Inheritance Treasure Vault.'

'The inability to divide the spoils evenly was probably the real reason the three families had never tried to explore the internal inheritance.'

'The three families kept each other in check. Unless one grew strong enough to break the balance, the stalemate would continue.'

'And four hundred years ago, the Wol Family's production of a legendary powerhouse was likely what started to break that balance.'

What Altos said next confirmed Su Ze's suspicions. The Stu Family had left the Western Continent four hundred years ago precisely to get away from the Wol Family.

Meanwhile, the Clan Leader of the Hogan Family had also fled to seek refuge during that period.

'So, the most recent time the balance was broken... was it because the Hogan Family produced a legendary powerhouse?'

Su Ze instantly understood why the fourth puzzle piece had ended up in Baliss's hands.