Chapter 586: Chapter 586: The Three Great Families

The tree’s surrounding environment was a clear expanse of verdant grassland, without a single shrub, let alone another tree.

The terrain was flat all the way to the edge of the sky.

Seen from a distance, the tree looked utterly solitary, yet incredibly serene, giving one a sense of reliance but also helplessness.

“This tree looks a lot like the Wish Tree back in my hometown. Why don’t we make a wish?” Xiao Zhan suddenly suggested, speaking cheerfully.

“Make what wish?” Ye Youlong asked.

“Just wish for a babbling brook!”

“?”

“Just kidding.” Xiao Zhan chuckled, then he said again, “Wish that our fortunes will be as vast as the East Sea and our lives as enduring as the southern mountains.”

“East Sea? Southern mountains?” Ye Youlong looked confused.

“What’s the matter?”

Ye Youlong said indifferently, “The East Sea has been muddied by Demon Beasts, and the southern mountains have been leveled by Demon Beasts… Events from a while back.”

“Uh…”

Xiao Zhan didn’t catch on immediately that the East Sea and southern mountains in this world were no longer the same as those in his previous life.

Making such wishes, wasn’t he cursing himself to an early death?

“Then, let’s wish for us to be safe and sound, healthy and happy.”

That should do it.

Ye Youlong nodded, finding this wish suitable, “Should we also wish for a house full of children and grandchildren?”

“One is enough.”

“I like two, the best of both worlds.”

“Then we might as well add one more, for triple the fortune?”

“If you add, I add, for generations and generations!”

“Since that’s four already, let’s simply wish for five blessings to descend upon our home.”

“Five or six, one family, all things go smoothly.”

“How about seven, maybe seven could summon the divine dragon, and we as a couple could take off right where we are!”

“Eight, let it be eight, eight sounds auspicious!”

“Nine, no, ten, let’s go straight to ten, I want to have ten!!!”

“…”

After hanging up a bright red Wish Card on the Wish Tree, Xiao Zhan and Ye Youlong set off.

Their mission was to pacify the Baka Federation.

The ‘pacification’ here certainly didn’t mean complete extermination, leaving no one alive, but rather meant taking control, like the Ye Family controlled the Federation, to take control over the Baka Federation.

However, the challenge of the Baka Federation was much greater than that of the Federation.

Yet, Xiao Zhan had experience.

Utilizing Hose’s abilities, he successfully created a false identity for himself and smoothly entered the territory of the Baka Federation.

This time, he planned to replicate the approach he used on the Federation, first taking control of one clan and then leveraging this clan’s power to gradually annex other families.

And eventually, take control over the whole Federation!

According to the information provided by Hose, the current highest personal combat power in the Baka Federation was a Seventh Grade Sovereign.

It was unknown whether there were any Eighth Grades, but at least there were none publicly known!

Generally speaking, if a Federation had an Eighth Grade Emperor Saint, they would definitely announce it to the world with great fanfare.

This could boost their influence around the world and intimidate other Federations.

So, it was very likely that the Baka Federation did not possess any Eighth Grades.

However, Xiao Zhan needed to be careful just in case. It’s better to err on the side of caution, as the saying goes.

The Baka Federation currently had three major families that controlled the operation of the Federation.

They were the Koizumi Family, the Hattori Family, and the Yagyu Family!

These three families represented three different directions.

The Koizumi Family was the political face of the families, having the greatest influence among the three. With strong economic foundations, their influence spread throughout the Federation, with a presence in nearly every county.

An unmistakable political clan.

Since the changes, the Koizumi Family had held control of the Federation, without any alterations.

The Hattori Family was a Ninja Family.

Out of the three families, it was the one least involved in politics, mainly focusing on the research of Ninjutsu and its integration with the mainstream power systems.

The family had few members, but each one was an elite warrior.

Nearly everyone in the Federation who knew Ninjutsu came from this family or were taught by them.

The Yagyu Family.

Before the changes, they were the katana family!

After the changes, the hereditary genes of the family meant each member’s awakened Artifact Spirit was a katana!

Because the katana was the Artifact Spirit that a vast majority of the population awakened to, the Yagyu Family proclaimed itself as the strongest samurai clan and established a samurai clan that only recruited members with katana Artifact Spirits.

Just like the Ninja Family, besides their own clan members, nearly all the populace that awoke to katana Artifact Spirits joined the Yagyu Family.

And the Yagyu Family lived up to expectations. Leveraging their understanding and use of katanas, they stood first with unmatchable power, even absorbing other katana clans and becoming the strongest force within the Federation!

An undisputed number one!

An unshakeable status!

The three families became the backbone of the Baka Federation!

However, Xiao Zhan had no plans to start with these three families.

Because the strength of these three families was too formidable, Xiao Zhan could not find an entry point, and they were not easy to control. In addition, the three families did not have many conflicting interests, making internal fighting virtually impossible.

Xiao Zhan set his sights on the secondary Chiba Family.

The Chiba Family was also a katana clan.

But their concept of katanas clashed with that of the Yagyu Family!

The Yagyu Family focused on practical combat effectiveness, emphasizing lethal strikes with each movement in the development of katanas. Regardless of the techniques used, as long as they could inflict damage on the enemy, that was considered good technique, good swordsmanship.

Whereas the Chiba Family was somewhat similar to the ancient Beichen One Strike Style, believing that swordsmanship was not just about killing techniques, but also an art form.

Hence, in the practice of their techniques, they paid more attention to the conception.

Cultivating one’s character.

Harmony between the person and the sword!

Beyond that, another difference between the two families was that the Yagyu Family had numerous members while the Chiba Family had fewer, with the ratio of core members exceeding tenfold.

The overall strength of the Yagyu Family was strong, since they pursued practical combat results, the training pace was extremely fast, and an ordinary member could possess a considerable battle prowess within just a few years.

While the overall power of the Chiba Family was weaker, even though their high-end combat abilities were stronger, often capable of fighting multiple opponents.

Yet, when it came to the succession of their style, there were gaps in the lineage, with notoriously slow effects, often requiring many years of cultivation before seeing results.

But once effective, their personal combat prowess would be significantly stronger than the Yagyu Family.

However, in the current turbulent situation, the pursuit of power required speed, so the Conception Blade Technique philosophy pursued by the Chiba Family was clearly out of sync with the mainstream.

The Yagyu Family’s efficient, quick, and very practical training method naturally became the aspiration of everyone.

As the Yagyu Family grew stronger over the years, the Chiba Family gradually became their target. They wanted to eliminate the Chiba Family, eradicate their style, and ensure that the entire Federation had only the Yagyu Family as the sole katana style!

They wanted to become the true number one samurai clan!