The Lian tribal clan's elders' compound late at night.
"Peng!" The door to the compound was pushed open. A young man with a complexion as clear as jade walked out.
"Chengyu, why did you come out?" The Patriarch stood up the moment he saw the young man. Lian Chengyu had previously announced that he wanted to isolate himself till the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom's warrior selection began.
Yet it had been less than a month before Lian Chengyu came out of isolation.
"My cultivation encountered some problems…" Lian Chengyu's expression didn't look good. He had planned to use two months to accumulate a strong base before using the desolate bone essence to break through to the Purple Blood realm!
By doing so, his fundamentals would be strong, and having accumulated sufficient strength, he would reach the peak of the beginning stages of the Purple Blood realm when he broke through into the Purple Blood realm. Among the others in the beginning stages of the Purple Blood realm, he would be able to keep his head up, and it would aid him in breaking through to an even higher realm in the future. It would be very beneficial!
Tai Ah Divine Kingdom's warrior selection was particular about a warrior's fundamentals and cumulative progress. If Lian Chengyu could meet all those requirements, he could get the recognition of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom's officers during the warrior selection, and obtain excellent results.
However, the circumstances did not permit so. After picking the Lian Clan Herb Mountain dry, Lian Chengyu's cultivation had a slow development despite all the good herbs!
Lian Chengyu believed that he had met his bottleneck.
In fact, the attitude towards martial arts mattered most when in isolation. With a good attitude, strong confidence and perseverance, it would be easy to break though.
When in self-doubt, thinking that something was wrong with the cultivation process, such as hitting a bottleneck, would inevitably cause a loss in momentum and make breaking through even tougher.
The psychological effect usually did not have significant effects, but Lian Chengyu had originally lacked the resources for his cultivation. Matters were made worse, causing Lian Chengyu's progress to be even slower. In the end, he chose to end his isolation prematurely.
By clearing his mind and taking a break before obtaining the desolate bone essence, he could then re-isolate himself to break through into the Purple Blood realm.
This was Lian Chengyu's plan. It was a reasonable plan. Sometimes it happened that a breakthrough was not possible, but taking a break might result in miraculous insight, allowing him to make a breakthrough unknowingly.
"How has the refinement process of the desolate bone been?" Lian Chengyu asked the question that concerned him the most. This piece of desolate bone was his entire fortune and life!
"Yes, it's still going as planned, but… A few of the poor villagers involved in the refining were poisoned a few days ago. I was originally planning on letting them hang on a few days, but seeing that they were doing badly, I gave them some Blood Thinning Pills. They have all recovered by now and the refinement will not be affected."
Lian Chengyu knitted his eyebrows upon hearing it as he said, "Those soulless trash are really useless. It's just been a few days and they can't take the toxicity from the Frost Python desolate bone! After eating the Blood Thinning Pills, it will overdraw on their vitality. Under such circumstances, they will die before the refinement of the desolate bone is done!"
Lian Chengyu's words were cold and inhumane. The Patriarch felt he was going overboard and said, "Chengyu… You are asking for too much. These people seldom eat a proper meal or wear proper clothes. How would they be able to endure the toxin from the Frost Python? They have already sacrificed themselves for the Lian tribe. In the future when you make your meteoric rise, you must take care of their families."
"Got it," said Lian Chengyu with a straight face. "I'm only worried about the refinement process and fear it will be delayed unnecessarily. If these people end up dying too early, it would affect the refinement process. Grandpa, please send the order down to the tribe to gather more help. The more the merrier. With more people, they can all share in the toxicity of the Frost Python and last longer. Although the Blood Thinning Pill isn't a very expensive drug, with most of our money gone, we have to save every penny."
Lian Chengyu had said those words lightly. The Patriarch sighed hearing this. He knew that for every person recruited, another life was lost.
The pitiful poor even scrambled to join in the refining of the desolate bone for the bacon.
"For the Lian tribe, I guess it has to be so…" exclaimed the Patriarch "It's such a pity. If we had a piece of desolate bone without any toxicity, there wouldn't be so many deaths due to the refinement."
"A piece of desolate bone without toxin?" Lian Chengyu scoffed. "With the finances of our tribe and that incomplete technique manual, would we have been able to exchange for a piece of desolate bone without toxicity?"
"Besides, the Frost Python desolate bone does not have toxin, it just has a hard to dissipate frost Qi. Once it enters the body, it freezes the organs, causing a person to lose his life. With a Desolate Heaven Master he could easily dissipate the Frost Python's frost Qi. But why would a Desolate Heaven Master be willing to help clear such a low-grade desolate bone's toxicity? There is no chance for them to come to our Lian tribal clan!"
"The only reason I could get my hands on this desolate bone was because of its cheap price: the young masters of big tribes weren't willing to use something of this quality! Just like how a rich family will give the remaining bones to feed the dogs, to the big tribes, I'm like a wild dog waiting to eat their scraps!"
Lian Chengyu self-deprecating last words were said with his lips twitching and fists clenched tightly. His nails were piercing into his flesh.
He hated his circumstances!
The young masters and mistresses of the large tribes could pick from a spread of desolate bones. They would choose not to use those with side effects or low efficacy!
But for him, he had to go through all the trouble and sacrifice his wealth just to obtain a rejected piece of Frost Python desolate bone!
Putting all his hope on a piece of desolate bone, which had immense side effects, and risking his life to consume it was pathetic!
"Chengyu, it has been hard on you all these years. But you have to know even the bright onew in the big tribes are few in number. There are even plenty without the talent in the big tribes, they too don't get much of the desolate beast meat…" The Patriarch felt guilty. He knew Lian Chengyu had great talent, but due to the Lian tribal clan's poverty, they were unable to nurture him. All these years, the Patriarch had known that Lian Chengyu had a grudge towards the tribe despite him never uttering a word.
It was hard for Lian Chengyu to listen to what the Patriarch had to say. He answered, "Grandpa, don't console me. Heaven is heartless, treating all things as worthless. Since the world is unfair, I will use my own strength to gain that fairness! Sooner or later, I will take control of my life, and will take control of the lives of others! In the future, I will have all the children of the big tribes at my feet!"
"I understand," said the Patriarch with a sigh. "Tomorrow I will pass the order to gather more people to refine the desolate bones. I will not care about the number of deaths. With more people, they can absorb more of the frost Qi… making it safer for you when you consume the desolate bone."
The Patriarch knew that Lian Chengyu would not feel any remorse for the poor who died for him.
Lian Chengyu hated the unfairness of the world. He felt he was extremely unlucky, so how could he be bothered with the unluckiness of others?
To Lian Chengyu, the poor were like ants. Even Lian Chengyu saw himself as a slightly bigger ant.
The survival of the fittest, this was a notion ingrained deep in Lian Chengyu's heart. Only by eating the smaller ants could he keep growing till the point where he could, as a top expert, control his own fate and the fate of others.
Early in the morning as the sun shined and mist rose from the woods…
The ancient vast wilderness welcomed a brand new day.
With the herb picking halted, Jiang Xiaorou was preparing breakfast while Yi Yun was chopping wood in the yard.
He did not use a hatchet, but was chopping them with his bare hands!
"Pa!" A clear loud snap rang. A clean cut separated the firewood into two.
Yi Yun looked at the two pieces of firewood and said to himself, "'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' when mastered can break a tree trunk into thin chopstick like pieces with bare hands in less than a minute. I wonder if I'll reach that point if I were to practice for another three months."
Yi Yun was deep in thought when he heard a noisy commotion from far.
Listening attentively, Yi Yun heard Zhao Tiezhu's voice: "People of the Lian tribal clan! Listen carefully! The Patriarch has issued an order to recruit ten strong men to refine the desolate bone. Those who are interested can sign up for it. They will be accepted on the basis of merit!"
Oh? Recruiting ten strong men to refine the desolate bone?
Yi Yun thought to himself. He had been thinking about the illness the villagers had contracted from refining the desolate bone for the past few days.
A large number of the sick were healed by a "miracle drug".
Something had to be amiss for them to recruit new strong men for the refinement.
With that thought, Yi Yun threw down his firewood and headed to the grain-sunning ground in the village.
From afar, Yi Yun could see Zhao Tiezhu shouting from an elevated height.
Many villagers were astonished. The villagers who were responsible for the refinement of the desolate bone had received numerous benefits. Besides the miracle drug and the bacon, they were also given food subsidies.
Because of the desolate bone, there was extremely little food left in the Lian tribal clan. Being able to collect more food was what the villagers dreamed of.
"I'll sign up!"
"I'll sign up too!"
The people rushed towards Zhao Tiezhu to sign up, afraid that they were too late to be in line.
"I, Wang Dahu, is willing to refine the desolate bone! I'm a second tier male!"
A stout but sallow-skinned man due to malnutrition stood in front of Zhao Tiezhu. He looked at Zhao Tiezhu with hope in his eyes
"Second tier male… that would barely do…" Zhao Tiezhu scrutinized Wang Dahu with a picky glare.
Zhao Tiezhu did not know that the refinement process was fatal. It was a top secret in the Lian tribal clan, so to prevent the secret from leaking, only very few members of the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan knew.
The other members of the warrior preparation camp did not know that the set of desolate bones contained a fatal frost Qi that would seep into their bodies and erode their lives away. Their fates would be eventually sealed when they died from organ failure.
So Zhao Tiezhu thought of the refinement process as a wondrous job.
Being given the authority to pick people to do such a wondrous job made Zhao Tiezhu complacent. The authority vested in him made many people look at him with a fawning look. Compliments rained on him.
Zhao Tiezhu was extremely picky with the people, "Wang Dahu, you stand by the side. You will be considered a substitute; it will be you if there's no one else more suited."
Hearing Zhao Tiezhu's words, Wang Dahu was delighted. He thanked Zhao Tiezhu incessantly before standing aside obediently.
"Oh? Liu Er, you're here to sign up too? For a person with weak legs, a gust of wind would blow you away! You have to know that the refinement of the desolate bone requires you to chop firewood, man the fire, and fan it daily from morning to night. Also the temperature around the cauldron is extremely high. Without sufficient fitness, you will faint straight away!"
Zhao Tiezhu impatiently waved his hand to chase away the scrawny Liu Er.
Lian Chengyu had handed down a mission of picking strong men. Picking weaklings was definitely not wanted.
One by one, the villagers rushed forward to sign up; however, more were chased away than those that remained.
Yi Yun monitored the situation nearby. He felt that there was something wrong with the desolate bone!
But, even if there was a problem, he still had to investigate it thoroughly.
It was because the desolate bone was very important to Yi Yun.
With the Lian Clan Herb Mountain picked dry, he needed plenty of energy and nourishment for his training. The grain porridge was insufficient.
"Oh? It's you!" Just as Yi Yun was thinking about his next step, he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him.
The voice was deep and gentle, but Yi Yun's face changed the moment he heard it!
It was Lian Chengyu!
Wasn't Lian Chengyu in isolation? Based on Zhao Tiezhu's words, he was to be isolated for three months. Why was he out so early?
Yi Yun's original plan was to surpass Lian Chengyu by the time he left isolation three months later. At that point, it was unlikely that he needed to fear Lian Chengyu anymore. But now, Yi Yun had just begun practicing martial arts for seven days, and even if the Purple Crystal could defy fate, Yi Yun would not be able to defeat a Mortal Blood level five Lian Chengyu who had been practicing martial arts for ten years.
Yi Yun thought carefully of the circumstances. They didn't share any deep-seated hatred for each other. Lian Chengyu's attempted murder might have just been a matter of convenience. It was analogous to a person seeing a rat in the house. The person would kill it, but if he missed, he would not tear down his walls to chase it to death.
Yi Yun turned around having calmed his expression before meeting Lian Chengyu's eyes.
But upon seeing Lian Chengyu, he immediately showed fear, unsure of what he had to do.
"Young… Young Master Lian?"
Yi Yun retreated a few steps, as if he had been shocked by Lian Chengyu's sudden appearance.
Lian Chengyu frowned; this kid did not die?
His original attempted murder was indeed a matter of convenience. The main reason was the hatred he felt Yi Yun had for him. Lian Chengyu was afraid that the combination of the lack of food and the increased mortality during the critical stages of the refinement process would increase resentment in the villagers. He had the impression that Yi Yun, who could easily incite the villagers, would cause a riot due to Yi Yun's hatred for himself.
Lian Chengyu was pursuing the highest standards of martial arts, so as to be someone who could lord over millions. With this goal, he had the mentality of an emperor. A person of Yi Yun's stature was negligible. In order to prevent any potential danger; having Yi Yun dead was no big deal. Lian Chengyu had killed numerous after all. Besides, the desolate bone refinement alone would cause many deaths.
Since killing Yi Yun was a small matter, Lian Chengyu did not take it to heart. He had previously not verified Yi Yun's fate. It was only after he left his isolation that he was left puzzled when he discovered Yi Yun alive.
For a lowly poor person to not die under his attack, what could have happened? Were his own skills not enough?
"What are you doing here?" Lian Chengyu asked.
"Young Master, I heard that Lord Zhao was recruiting strong men to refine the desolate bones. I also heard that we could get bacon, so I was thinking of trying."
"Oh?" After hearing Yi Yun's words, Lian Chengyu's eyes burned with contempt. Yi Yun was only twelve, yet his words on the day of the ration distribution were unlike that of a twelve-year-old child. He also had the ability to incite the people to riot, making him an unstable factor in Lian Chengyu's calculations.
But now, Yi Yun looked like a kid. What could a person who only had eyes on bacon do?
Lian Chengyu could not be bothered with Yi Yun except for the mysterious failure to kill him.
"Since you want to refine the desolate bones, why don't you sign up? What are you doing out here?"
"To… To be honest, Lord Zhao only wants people who are at least second tier males, but for me… I…"
Yi Yun's voice lowered once he said that. It was as if he was ashamed of his tiny strength, and he was unable to say anything further.
Lian Chengyu's contempt in his eyes became clearer. This idiot, to think I thought so highly of him. That's right, he's just twelve, what sort of schemes could he have?
Lian Chengyu forgot that he too wasn't that old. He was only seventeen. Among the other seventeen year olds, he was the worldliest, but he was still a bit too young. He could never have dreamed that the twelve year old in front of him had the soul of an adult.
"Since you have the heart, and are willing to give your strength to the Lian tribal clan, I will not forbid it. Seeing how ambitious you are, you are a person worthy of grooming. I'll make an exception and give you a chance."
Lian Chengyu gave Yi Yun a few words of "encouragement".
This retard can contribute a bit of strength, although he's a sickly kid, his fitness does not matter when using him to absorb the Frost toxin.
ความคิดเห็นย่อย
คุณลักษณะความคิดเห็นย่อหน้าอยู่ในขณะนี้บนเว็บ! เลื่อนเมาส์ไปที่ย่อหน้าใดก็ได้แล้วคลิกไอคอนเพื่อเพิ่มความคิดเห็นของคุณ
นอกจากนี้คุณสามารถปิด / เปิดได้ตลอดเวลาในการตั้งค่า
เข้าใจแล้ว