The exquisitely cut and stitched beast furs were very form fitting, causing Autumn Leaf to seem rather heroic and valiant. She stood there in the area outside the Metalstone Tribe, staring off into the distance.
Her figure had attracted the attention and the gazes of this rustic tribe's youths. Ever since Autumn Leaf had arrived at the Metalstone Tribe, there had been no question that she had become the most beautiful girl here…one youngster after another did their best to find opportunities to show off their strength and valor in front of her, but not a single one had been able to attract her interest.
"Miss Autumn Leaf is waiting for her young master, right?"
"Right. I hear that Uncle Dala, upon returning, said that her young master is extremely powerful. Over a hundred Blue Guards of the Ironwood clan were all killed by that young master in the blink of an eye!"
"Only a powerful young master like that would be worthy of someone as beautiful as Miss Autumn Leaf."
"It's a pity that he encountered a Diremonster! Most likely, that powerful young master won't be able to survive his encounter with the Diremonster. When angered, Diremonsters can cause the entire area to change. That one had immediately killed a large group of people by freezing them to death. Uncle Dala and the others were only lucky enough to survive because they fled quickly. If that young master were to die, Miss Autumn Leaf would have to find another person to marry!"
The youths of the tribe all watched from their position by the gate while speaking quietly amongst themselves.
As far as they considered, a girl like Autumn Leaf was like one of the legendary goddesses…compare to Autumn Leaf, the other girls of their tribe were as far beneath her as the earth was beneath the heavens.
----------------------------
Autumn Leaf stood there, staring into the distant mountain forest.
She was waiting. Waiting for the most important man in her life.
"Autumn Leaf." A powerfully built figure strode out from the tribe. It was the other servant, Mowu. Mowu urged her, "Go back and get some rest. Once the young master arrives, the guards at the gate of the tribe will definitely see him."
"No." Autumn Leaf shook her head gently.
Mowu looked at Autumn Leaf, and then he sat down as well on a nearby, chopped-through tree trunk. His forehead was furrowed in worry as well. After Uncle Dala had returned, he had found out that Ji Ning had begun battling with the 'Aquatic Rhino King', a Diremonster. As to what the results of that battle were, no one knew. Although in his heart, of course he still hoped that his young master would return, his rational mind was telling him…the young master probably had met with misfortune!
This was because Uncle Dala and the others had spent roughly two days on the journey back from Eastmount Marsh.
Given young master Ning's speed, if he was still alive, he probably would have made his way to the Metalstone Tribe under half a day. Logically speaking, he should have reached the Metalstone Tribe before Uncle Dala and the others had arrived! But Uncle Dala and the others had been back for more than two days, but Ning had yet to return.
"If the young master is dead…Autumn Leaf and I will most likely have to die as well." Mowu said quietly.
If their master died, how could the servants continue to live?
Local hegemons such as the Ji clan had very strict internal regulations.
"Huh?" Mowu suddenly blinked. From afar, he faintly saw an indistinct, yet familiar figure…the young master's figure!
"Young master!" Autumn Leaf had already begun to rush over there.
"Young master?"
"Miss Autumn Leaf is running over."
"Look, there seems to be someone coming from that side. Could that be the young master which Miss Autumn Leaf has been waiting for?" The youths standing guard at the gate whispered to each other, while some of them also immediately began to run inside the tribe to inform the other tribesmen.
-----------------------------
Autumn Leaf watched as the fur-clad, smiling young man walked over. The past two days, she had been constantly repressing her own fear, her nervousness, her wild thoughts…and now, all these various emotions caused her to suddenly begin to shed tears.
"Young master." Autumn Leaf looked at Ning. "I, I…"
"Hey, I'm back." With his astonishing eyesight Ning noticed that from afar, in the middle of the tribe, Uncle Dala and the one-armed man were currently walking in their direction. He couldn't help but laugh, "So Dala made it back already. Was he the one who told you that I was battling with the Aquatic Rhino King? Just because I didn't come back for a few days, you were frightened this badly?"
Autumn Leaf did her best to hold back further tears.
"It was just an Aquatic Rhino King. To your young master, it's barely worth mentioning." Ning winked at her, seemingly in extremely high spirits.
Autumn Leaf breathed out in astonishment, "Young master, you killed the Diremonster?"
"Yep." Ning nodded delightedly.
"Wow, a Diremonster. Young master, you killed a Diremonster." Autumn Leaf was extremely excited. "Young master, you are only eleven years old, but you killed a Diremonster. This…this…" As a personal maidservant, Autumn Leaf's life centered around Ning. As she always revolved around him, to her, Ning was like her most important family member. Naturally, Autumn Leaf was truly excited to learn that Ji Ning was now capable of killing Diremonsters."
Ji Ning hurriedly lowered his voice. "Don't spread the news."
"Right, right." Autumn Leaf nodded hurriedly.
"Come, let's go take a look at the Metalstone Tribe." Ning said. The past few days, Ning had been in the mountain forests, pondering the results of the past two day's battles. He had also come to realize some mistakes he had made in the previous battles. After careful pondering and consideration of the two sword techniques he had used, he had actually improved quite a bit further.
Ning led Autumn Leaf towards the gate of the Metalstone Tribe.
Uncle Dala and a group of tribesmen were there, and they went up to welcome him. Leading the tribesmen was a balding old man with white hair. The balding old man walked over and bowed repeatedly with respect. "I, Tyson of the Metalstone Tribe, would like to thank you, mighty young master, for having repeatedly saved the lives of the tribesmen of my Metalstone Tribe. All the clansmen of the Metalstone Tribe feel boundless gratitude for you…and we've been waiting for your return."
Ning smiled and nodded. "I'll stay with your Metalstone Tribe for a period of time. As for 'rescued', all I did was help out in passing. Also…for now, I don't want to be disturbed."
"Understood, understood." The balding old man nodded repeatedly.
"Dala." Ning looked over.
The tall, powerful, bear-like Uncle Dala hurriedly stepped forward, seemingly very excited. "Young master, when I saw that you returned, I…"
"It's alright." Ning laughed. "You helped me for a month in Eastmount Marsh. I told you that when I returned to the Metalstone Tribe, I would definitely reward you heavily. Take this." As he spoke, within his hands, three 'beastheads' of gold appeared. He tossed it over, each beasthead weighing ten pounds. This bear-like Uncle Dala instantly was stupefied.
And then, he hurriedly caught them all, while the surrounding tribesmen all stared at him with envy.
"Let's go." Ning looked at Mowu and Autumn Leaf, then headed straight into the Metalstone Tribe.
Ning could easily have given an even more valuable gift, but to a small tribe like the Metalstone Tribe, which had barely a thousand people, truly valuable treasures might cause a disaster instead!
-------------------------------
Within the Metalstone Tribe.
"Young master." Autumn Leaf poured some fruit wine for Ning, then offered him some fruit and some delicacies. "Mowu and I have been in this tribe for a month now. Not soon after arriving, we got in touch with our Ji clan."
"Right." Ning nodded.
While adventuring, every month he had to reach out to and contact the scattered troops of the Ji clan of the Western Prefecture who were stationed in various places throughout the area.
"There is a letter from the West Prefecture City." Autumn Leaf withdrew a scroll from her sleeves.
Ning accepted it. He rolled the yellow parchment open, and as he did, he couldn't help but reveal a smile. This was a letter his mother had personally written to him! The letter didn't contain too much; it mainly just consisted of some words of concern. But having just experienced a life-and-death battle, the nagging of his mother actually filled Ning's heart with a sense of warmth.
"Enough, Autumn Leaf. It looks as though it's been many days since you had a good rest. Go get some rest." Ning said.
"I'm not tired." Autumn Leaf hurriedly said.
"Go." Ning ordered.
Autumn Leaf hurriedly lowered her head, obediently going back to her own room to get some rest.
-----------------------
Time moved on. Every ten days or so, he would make a trip to Eastmount Marsh. Most of the time, though, Ning remained within the Metalstone Tribe, practicing his sword techniques. In the blink of an eye, over a month had passed.
Ning was currently seated on the eaves of his house, holding a bamboo reed that was filled with fine fruit wine. "Although West Prefecture City is large, it isn't as comfortable as these small tribes."
Resting at sundown, heading out at sunrise.
The Metalstone Tribe showed great solidarity. Everyone helped each other, and they all treated each other like brothers.
"Quick, quick, quick."
"Everyone, go back."
"Quick, bundle everything up."
Suddenly, the formerly peaceful tribe instantly became a chaotic bedlam of activity. This caused Ning, who was drinking wine leisurely on the top of his building, to grow confused. He immediately leapt down from the building, then grabbed one of the running youths. "You."
"Young master." The youth, seeing that it was Ning who grabbed him, immediately greeted him respectfully.
"What's going on?" Ning asked. "Why did the tribe suddenly turn so chaotic? Weren't you training in spear-fighting just now? Why did you stop?"
"The people of the Blackmount Tribe are coming!" The youth hurriedly said. "The people of Blackmount Tribe have come to collect furs from us. We need to hide some of the finer furs which the tribe has, as otherwise, if the Blackmount Tribe discovers them, they'll take them for their own. That would be terrible. Young master, I need to get back immediately…"
Ning, understanding, nodded. "Go ahead."
Autumn Leaf was watching this from in front of the building as well. She spoke out, "The Blackmount Tribe is an extremely large tribe with tens of thousands of tribesmen. Each year, these smaller tribes will have to offer them some tribute."
"Hmph." Ning frowned. "This land belongs to the Ji clan! Only my Ji clan has the right to levy taxes. If the Blackmount Tribe is forcing the nearby, smaller tribes to pay them tribute, isn't that the same as levying a tax?"
The Ji clan levied and collected taxes from every singlet tribe within its borders.
At the same time, the Ji clan itself was a subject of the Grand Xia Dynasty, and so most of the tax they collected had to be delivered to the Grand Xia Dynasty!
"In principle, yes." Autumn Leaf shook her head. "But how would these smaller tribes dare to refuse? If they were to refuse, the Blackmount Tribe is completely capable of utterly destroying them, then selling off the captives as slaves."
Ning let out a long sigh.
Right.
Because there were too many tribes, there was no way for the Ji clan to manage all of the internecine squabbles between the tribes, so they usually left them to their own devices. Not just the Ji clan…even the Grand Xia Dynasty, who ruled over an enormous, boundless expanse of territory, had to govern in a loose fashion. Wasn't the Ji clan and the Ironwood clan also in a state of war, viewing each other as deadly enemies? If one's territory was too large, it became hard to govern!
"They are coming." Autumn Leaf said. "The Blackmount Tribe's tribesmen are coming."
Ning looked over as well. He saw that from afar, a group of half-armored, pelt-clad tribesmen were currently strutting around in the area, looking around as if they were in territory which belonged to them. The leader of the Metalstone Tribe, Uncle Dala, and the others were all by their sides, obediently following them, not daring to disobey them at all.
The leader of this Blackmount squad, Braveshell, was currently viewing this little tribe with satisfaction.
"Hmph." Braveshell glanced at the nearby Metalstone tribesmen. Seeing the frightened, supplicatory looks on their faces, he couldn't help but feel even more delighted.
Even within the Blackmount Tribe, he was a high level, central figure. In a small tribe like this Metalstone Tribe…he could act as he wished! If he was angered, this entire tribe would probably be finished. The hundred guards he had brought with him could probably destroy this sort of small tribe all by themselves. In this sort of small tribe, he had absolute authority.
"Huh?" Braveshell suddenly saw that not too far away, there was a young man and a girl standing together. Braveshell's eyes instantly lit up. The guards by his side, looking along with him, couldn't help but hold their breaths as well.
"Beautiful. Mesmerizing." Braveshell was instantly stunned, and then his heart was instantly overwhelmed with powerful lust and desire. He definitely had to seize this beautiful girl and make her his personal maidservant. Every day, he would definitely 'bestow his affections' on her! Just thinking about it made Braveshell feel the blood pumping through his entire body.
"Hahaha..." Laughing loudly, Braveshell walked directly towards the young man and the girl.
Ning frowned slightly as he looked at this tall man walking towards him, who was wearing some exquisitely crafted ornaments. The tall men swept Ning and Autumn Leaf with a gaze, as though he were a high ranking tribesman inspecting some goods. In particular, he didn't disguise the greedy look in his eyes when he was staring at Autumn Leaf. "Your fur clothes were cut and stitched so exquisitely. Did you make it yourself, miss? Your handiwork is quite fine. The fur clothes of the youngster next to you is stitched and cut very nicely as well. Is he your little brother?"
"Impudent!" Autumn Leaf's voice rang out.
Braveshell raised his jaw slightly. "Impudent? This tiny little Metalstone Tribe…I can do what I wish to it, much less 'impudent'. I'll tell you the truth. I've taken a fancy to you. Follow me obediently. The last time I took a fancy to a girl, that girl was quite stubborn. She preferred to commit suicide than follow me, so I wiped out her entire family, and sold off her entire clan as slaves! For your little brother here, and your clansmen, you need to make a good decision!"
Tribesfolk were straightforward individuals. They weren't very calculating, but at the same time, they were very bloodthirsty. Most of them didn't fear death, especially beautiful girls like the one in front of him right now. They were definitely the shining jewels of their tribes, and generally they were all very prideful. It was quite common for such beautiful girls to rather commit suicide than to submit to others, once their pride took hold of them. Braveshell didn't want to see this happen.
"Venerable Lord Braveshell." The balding elder, Tyson, hurriedly urged him, "These three do not belong to my Metalstone Tribe. There come from a very large tribe!"
"A large tribe?" Braveshell's eyebrows twitched. "No wonder. I was just wondering how a place like your Metalstone Tribe could produce such a graceful young lady. Miss, tell me what tribe you belong to." As he spoke, he moved two steps forward, wanting to stroke Autumn Leaf's face. Autumn Leaf directly delivered a lightning-fast kick to him.
Bang!
This heavy kick was powered by rage, and it struck heavily upon Braveshell's chest. Not only did it shatter the ornaments covering his chest, it also sent Braveshell falling back over his head.
"Impudent!"
"Clang!"
The Blackmount guards instantly shouted in anger, and some of them even drew their blades.
Braveshell quickly climbed up. He wiped away a hint of blood from the corner of his mouth, then reached out to stop his guards. All his guards knew exactly how vicious and diabolical Braveshell could be, for him to have become a high level, core member of a tribe as large as the Blackmount tribe.
"It's all over."
"This young miss is going to suffer a terrible fate."
The guards all understood that when Braveshell was clearly furious but temporarily suppressed his anger, it only represented…that Braveshell was truly livid! He was currently considering how to vent his fury!
Braveshell was on his feet now. His eyes were narrowed, staring at the three like a poisonous viper. He slowly said, "That kick was rather heavy. Can you let me know where the three of you have come from, exactly? Is it a large tribe, or is it the mighty Ji clan?"
"Take a good look." Mowu stepped forward coldly, revealing with a flip of his hand an emblem.
The emblem had a single word on it: Ji!
"Ji!"
Many of the faces of the surrounding guards changed. They all looked at their leader, Braveshell, whose face had turned ashen. He hurriedly bowed in terror, "I didn't expect that I would accidentally offend you. Please pardon me."
Mowu's eyes contained a hint of pity in them, because he knew how much his young master hated evildoers.
Autumn Leaf also glanced coldly at Braveshell. Ever since Braveshell said that he had once destroyed a small tribe for the sake of seizing a girl, and sold off all the tribesmen as slaves, Autumn Leaf had felt utter revulsion for him. Because she herself had been sold off after her tribe had been destroyed.
Ji Ning simply looked at Braveshell. In an instant, he had already determined that he would punish Braveshell with death!
Braveshell had destroyed an entire tribe for no cause? When Ning thought of how the women and children in that tribe had died miserable deaths or had been sold, Ning's heart was filled with boundless rage! Although this area contained many hidden evildoers, and Ning couldn't possibly stop them all, when he encountered them, he could never suppress the fury he felt!
"Hahaha…" Braveshell, whose face had been ashen, suddenly cracked his lips and laughed, laughed brightly. "It seems the three of you already have a killing intention. I really don't know if I should call you stupid or arrogant!"
"Oh?" Ning frowned slightly.
Braveshell continued to laugh. "So what if you are of the Ji clan? How many youngsters of the Five Prefectures of the Ji clan go out adventuring as part of their coming-of-age, and how many of them have died! How could the Ji clan possibly discover…if their clansmen were killed by monstrous beasts, or by other tribesmen?"
"Even if you have a high status, in this place, you are nothing more than three people. Thus, even if you want to kill me, you should hide it in your hearts…as the books say, 'distant water cannot quench a nearby drought'. No matter what your status is, no one will be able to save you." Braveshell sighed. "I still remember how three years ago, I once enjoyed a young girl of the Ji clan. Her skin was truly fine. My servants all enjoyed her as well, and afterwards, we fed her to the beasts who ate her clean!"
"Do you understand now?" Braveshell's eyes were shining. "Status doesn't represent power. At least in this place, I am the one who determines your life and death!"
"Everyone."
Braveshell raised his head and said in a loud voice. "Make your move. Kill the two men, spare the woman! After I enjoy her first, each of you will have your chance!"
"Wooo!"
"Kill!"
"Haha, let's do it!"
Braveshell's guards all drew out their blades and swords, valiantly charging forward. The high level military leaders of large tribes trusted their own servants and slaves the most. Whether it was Ji Lee or Ji Yichuan, they all had their own trusted servants and slaves, who would definitely obey them without question.
Under Braveshell's orders, these guards, who were born into his servitude, all dared to charge forward and kill!
"How dare you!" Suddenly, a voice rang out like spring thunder, exploding in the skies.
In the skies above, there was someone standing atop an enormous flying bird. That person drew out his longsword and brandished it downwards. In but a second, sword energy criss-crossed everywhere…one ray of sword energy after another rained down, and each blow of sword energy pierced through a guard, easily chopping their bodies apart, sending fresh blood spewing everywhere.
"Aaaaah!""Nooooooo!""Aaaaah!"
All sorts of miserable cries rang out, but soon, everything became silent again.
The hundred-plus servant guards, who had been shouting savagely, all collapsed on the ground. Some had large holes in their chest, while others had been chopped apart. Blood stained the ground. All of them had died miserable deaths! But not a single one of the utterly terrified tribesmen of the Metalstone Tribe had been struck.
"But…but…but…" Braveshell had thought that everything was under his control, but now, his face turned ashen. He stood there numbly, staring at his dead servants, and then at the man standing on the giant bird in mid-air. He stuttered, "Xian…Xiantian…"
The people of the Metalstone Tribe all raised their heads. Some were dumbfounded, others were awestruck, while some of the girls in particular just stared unblinkingly.
Ning, Autumn Leaf, and Mowu all raised their head to take a look as well.
Swoosh!
The man jumped down from his mid-air position on the back of the giant bird, landing on the ground.
"Young master." The man bowed slightly as he said to Ning, demonstrating his respect for Ning.
This scene caused all the members of the Metalstone Tribe, as well as Braveshell, feel stunned. Because just then, those lines of energy attacks represented that this person was a Xiantian lifeform! A Xiantian lifeform, in any tribe, no matter how large, was definitely a person of the highest status. Even in the Ji clan, they were high level, core members!
Generally speaking, the adventuring youths of the Ji clan who encountered Xiantian lifeforms all had to pay their respects first. But this Xiantian lifeform was actually paying his respects to this youngster?
"Spare me." Braveshell threw himself forward, kneeling in front of Ning, begging, "Mighty young master, those words that I said earlier were all wild ravings. I've never done such a thing! In addition, once, when I was collecting furs from some small tribes, I acquired a special treasure. It definitely is a magic treasure! As to what type of magic treasure it is, I don't understand either…as long as you are willing to spare me, young master, I am willing to give this magic treasure…"
Before he even finished speaking.
Hu.
Braveshell suddenly threw himself towards Ning, his right hand forming a claw, wanting to rip out Ning's throat. At such a close range…generally speaking, even late stage Houtian experts would find it hard to dodge.
"Hrmph." With a casual wave of his hand, despite striking out later, Ning's hand slapped down onto Braveshell's skull before Braveshell finished his attack. Braveshell's body trembled, and then blood began pouring out of his nose and his ears, and his body weakly tumbled to the ground.
"He's a sly one." Ning said softly.
This Braveshell really was both crafty and vicious, venomous and diabolical, daring to do anything. Even though he knew that his chance of of dealing with the Xiantian level person was low, he immediately made the decision to first use the magic treasure to try and attract Ning's interest…and then try to capture Ning. As long as he could take Ning hostage, he would have a chance at life.
Unfortunately…
Ning was someone who could kill even Diremonsters with ease.
"So him and those guards were all on the same side." The Xiantian level man said with a laugh. "Those guards were all half-armored, while this person was dressed in furs…I hadn't noticed him."
"Thank you for your assistance, elder apprentice-brother." Ning said with a laugh.
The man in front of him was one of the nine major disciples which his father, Ji Yichuan, had trained. His name was Wanfang, and he was an early Xiantian lifeform. Within the Ji clan of the West Prefecture, his status was fairly high, but at his current level of power, he wasn't quite eligible yet to take command over the black armored riders, while Ning, being the next Prefecture Lord, had an extremely high status.
"If you had been the one to act, young master, things would have gone just as easily." Wanfang sheathed his longsword while laughing. "But I came here for an important reason."
"Important reason?" Ning's face changed. He kept in touch with the West Prefecture once a month. The person who had come this time was his own elder apprentice-brother. One could imagine how important the reason was, for a Xiantian expert to personally make the journey.
"Let's chat inside." Ning said hurriedly.
Ning glanced at the still-shocked Metalstone Tribesmen. "Dispose of the corpses. As for the Blackmount Tribe…in a little while, I'll ask my elder apprentice-brother to make a trip to the Blackmount Tribe. You naturally won't have anything to worry about."
"Thank you, young master!"
The balding elder and the others all hurriedly fell to their knees. Only now did they understand how exalted Ning's status truly was. For even a Xiantian lifeform to greet him with respect…a person like this, even the chieftain of the Blackmount Tribe would have to kneel before!
Ning and Wanfang quickly entered the stone room, then closed the door.
"Quick."
"Quick, clean it up."
The people of the Metalstone Tribe were filled with pumping blood as they looked at the corpses on the ground. They felt both nervous and excited. Normally, they had to all but worship the ground on which these terrifying Blackmount tribesmen walked on, but now, all of them lay here dead.
"So even you will have an ending like this." That cold, one-armed man gave a savage kick to the corpse of Braveshell, his eyes filled with rage and hate.
---------------------
Within the room.
Only Ning and Wanfang were present.
"Elder apprentice-brother, what is the matter?" Ning asked. "Why did you come here?"
"Because of the Diremonster, Serpentwing!" Wanfang's face was solemn.
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