Chapter 575 - 343: Completing the Puzzle

Su Ze learned the general history of the three great families from Altos.

One could say that Puzzle Piece #4, shattered into three fragments, was what made the relationship between the three families so complicated. They cooperated, yet they were wary of one another—a true love-hate dynamic.

For the first five hundred years of the Era of Evolution, the three families supported one another, developing and advancing side by side, and they even forged a certain degree of friendship.

But after those first few generations passed away, the relationship between their descendants was no longer as close as it had been.

After the War of Evolution ended, both the Wol Family and the Hogan Family established their own sanctuaries. At the time, both families already had Venerable Powerhouses. The Stu Family’s generation was weaker; their strongest member was only an Overlord.

With a dynamic of two strong and one weak, the two powerful families kept each other in check. The Stu Family, in turn, became the one they both sought to win over and protect, developing their commercial interests with the support of both sides.

Four hundred years ago, a Legendary powerhouse emerged in the Wol Family. The Stu Family had long sensed the impending danger and migrated their entire clan, fleeing to distant lands.

The Clan Leader of the Hogan Family also took the puzzle fragment and his chosen heir and simply vanished.

At the time, the Wol Family’s Legendary powerhouse did indeed plan to reclaim the puzzle fragments from the other two families, but after searching for many years to no avail, he was forced to give up.

If he continued to waste time, he would grow old and frail, diminishing his chances of ascending to godhood. The potential gain wasn’t worth the cost.

Ultimately, he left Blue Star via an external inheritance.

After the Wol Family’s Legendary powerhouse departed, the next Hogan Clan Leader returned to the family not long after. The Stu Family, however, had already established a firm foothold elsewhere by then and did not return.

Then, a little over two hundred years ago, the Stu Commerce Association recruited and nurtured a Legendary powerhouse. However, this individual was not a member of the Stu Family by birth. He had joined the Stu Commerce Association as a young man and was cultivated because of his outstanding talent.

He later married the daughter of the Stu Clan Leader, thereby earning the full backing of the Stu Family for his training, and eventually became a Legendary powerhouse.

The Stu Family’s tradition of recruiting talented husbands to marry into the family also began around that time.

From then on, they consistently sought out exceptionally talented evolvers to marry into the Stu Family.

It was also with this Legendary who had married in that the Stu Clan Leader broke a centuries-old oath, telling him about the inheritance and the puzzle fragments.

The Clan Leader then tasked him with helping the Stu Family seize the other two puzzle fragments.

That Legendary returned to the two great sanctuaries of the Western Continent all by himself, causing quite a stir. He ultimately managed to seize the Hogan Family’s puzzle fragment. The Wol Clan Leader, however, was away from the sanctuary at the time and thus escaped the attack.

Relying on the power of this husband they’d brought into the family, the Stu Family made a powerful return to the Western Continent and became a commercial giant. They even considered establishing a third great sanctuary, but the man himself wasn’t interested in such things, so the Stu Family had no choice but to abandon the idea.

But later, as karma would have it, after the Stu Family’s Legendary son-in-law also left Blue Star via an external inheritance, a Legendary powerhouse emerged from the Hogan Family as well.

None other than Uur Hogan, the man who had disappeared three years ago!

Uur Hogan had become a Legendary powerhouse over a century ago.

But while he was still trying to break through to his sixth evolution, the Stu and Wol Families received word from spies they had planted within the Hogan Family. Once again, the two Clan Leaders took their puzzle fragments and fled to distant lands, going into hiding.

This time, the Hogan Family did not give up. Uur Hogan scoured countless settlements of all sizes across Blue Star, even using his wealth to pave the way, spending vast amounts of money and resources to gather clues.

He and the Clan Leaders of the Wol and Stu Families engaged in a protracted game of cat and mouse. The two leaders dodged and weaved across three continents, deliberately spreading false information to throw him off their trail.

Ultimately, after a pursuit that lasted over a century, Uur Hogan finally found the two Clan Leaders and seized all three puzzle fragments.

After centuries of conflict driven by their love-hate dynamic, the Hogan Family finally emerged as the victor.

Yet, in their centuries-long history of conflict, none of the three great families had ever dealt a fatal blow to another. This was a tacit understanding among them.

After all, fortunes turn like the tide. Wiping out a rival completely was next to impossible, and they feared that their own descendants would one day face the inevitable backlash.

After Uur Hogan assembled Puzzle Piece #4, he must have entered the internal inheritance and opened the Inheritance Treasure Vault.

However, Altos wasn’t entirely clear on what happened after that, as it was an internal matter for the Hogan Family.

He only knew that Uur Hogan had left Blue Star via an external inheritance three years ago. At that time, however, the Hogan Family had no one capable of taking the helm. Their most talented heir, Baliss, had not yet fully matured and was still only at the Overlord level.

But Uur’s hands were tied. He was already very old; if he didn’t leave then to pursue the path to godhood, his body would begin to decline.

After Uur left, Baliss disappeared as well.

The Stu and Wol Families both knew that Puzzle Piece #4 had to be in Baliss’s possession. They even suspected that the treasures Uur had obtained from the Inheritance Treasure Vault were likely left to Baliss as well.

...

While Su Ze was interrogating Altos, Baliss was being interrogated in the adjacent confinement cell.

Except, this guy was being completely uncooperative. He refused to answer any questions, sometimes even tossing out a snide remark or two.

The reason he was so brazen was that he didn’t have Puzzle Piece #4 on him.

The first thing Su Ze had done was search him, and sure enough, Puzzle Piece #4 was not in his storage item.