The forest in the dark night was quiet yet dangerous. In one spot, a campfire burned, keeping the wild beasts at bay.
Roughly a few hundred people were stationed here. Around the perimeter, strong warriors holding weapons stood guard, making those lurking in the shadows too wary to act rashly.
“How many more days until we reach the Black Forest?” The man who spoke was tall and broad-shouldered. The firelight reflected in his deep eyes, but no emotion could be discerned.
Beside him, a small and skinny man pondered for a moment before answering, “About six days.”
“That’s too slow. Tomorrow we must pick up the pace.” The tall man’s tense muscles revealed his dissatisfaction.
The skinny man disagreed, “Hei Lie, we’re still bringing along a group of ordinary people and the wounded. If we go too fast, they won’t be able to keep up.”
Hei Lie fell silent, a deep restlessness churning within him.
“I know you’re worried about Jing and the others,” the skinny man said, patting his shoulder.
“But you have to be prepared. When he left the tribe, he had already lost his eyes and his right hand. Now it’s very likely that—”
“He must still be alive!” Hei Lie’s sharp glare cut him off.
The skinny man let out a deep sigh. “We all hope so.”
Hei Lie pressed his lips together, knowing full well in his heart that Jing was likely in grave danger.
Though Jing was a Level-3 warrior, his eyes had been gouged out, his right hand cut off, and he had hurriedly left the tribe without proper treatment or care. The chances of him surviving were incredibly slim.
The journey was perilous. They had no food, no weapons, too few warriors, and were burdened with the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the injured. When they finally encountered Jing and the others—if they ever did—who knew how many of them would still be alive?
“Don’t be so pessimistic.” Tu walked over and sat down beside Hei Lie and Xi Hou.
“Chi and the others escorted that group for a long time. When they parted ways, Jing was still doing fine. That guy Jing isn’t so easy to take down. And that group that left, they’re not as weak as the chieftain made them out to be.”
Upon hearing the word “chieftain”, Xi Hou—the small, thin man—curled his lip in disdain.
“They barely had any food. Even if they made it to the Black Forest, they’d probably be starving to death by then.”
Tu shot him a glare. “Can’t you think of something more positive?”
“How is this my fault? If the chieftain hadn’t been so heartless, none of this would’ve happened!”
Xi Hou spoke bitterly, the fire in his chest long suppressed. The more he spoke, the angrier he became.
“He says he won’t support useless people. Well, his own son is the biggest good-for-nothing! Why hasn’t he been banished?! And how long has it been since he last went hunting? Yet the best of everything in the tribe goes straight to them!”
They had worked hard to trade for salt, only to return and find the situation in the tribe completely changed.
When Hei Lie left, he had already been worried that the chieftain might make a move. He might sell off the sick, the disabled, the elderly, the weak, and the ordinary folk as meat.
So Hei Lie had arranged for people to stay behind, just in case, to step in and stop such things if they happened.
He never imagined that Jing, the one specifically left behind to take charge, had been sent off to hunt in a strange area not long after their departure, where he encountered a vicious thorn dragon.
Thorn dragons were savage by nature, highly aggressive. Their saliva was laced with venom. It is best to avoid them altogether if possible.
But once spotted by one, a life-or-death battle was inevitable.
In the end, Jing led his group to slay the thorn dragon. But the casualties were severe, and he himself was injured.
When he returned to the tribe, both his eyes and his right arm had been tainted with venom. The shaman claimed that if they weren’t removed, the rot would spread and kill him. So, his eyes were gouged out and his arm was hacked off.
They had heard before that the shaman had traded with a merchant caravan from the Western Continent for medicine that could counter the thorn dragon’s venom. Yet he refused to use it on a Level-3 warrior.
Level-3 warriors were rare in the Blackstone Tribe. Medicine like that should’ve been given to a warrior.
But unexpectedly, the shaman didn’t do so, causing Jing to lose an eye and an arm for nothing.
This was a massive loss for the entire tribe!
Now that Jing had become disabled, he could no longer serve as the acting leader of the hunting party. Those who supported him were then assigned to dangerous hunting grounds, with most of them either killed or injured.
In the end, no one dared to oppose the chieftain or the shaman anymore. All they could do was watch helplessly as their brothers, their parents, were driven out.
Chi and a group of warriors had insisted on escorting the exiled people. When they returned, they too were sent to hunt in perilous areas. If Hei Lie’s group hadn’t arrived in time, they would have also likely met a grim fate.
Tu, now also burning with anger, couldn’t help but start cursing under his breath:
“I really don’t understand what they’re thinking. The tribe is already so prosperous. They can trade food and furs with the Western Continent caravans for all sorts of things that aren’t edible or warm. So why do they always insist on selling people like meat?!”
Just thinking about it made Tu feel sick.
Many of those sick, weak, or disabled people were their relatives and friends.
Some of them had once fought shoulder to shoulder with them, helped the tribe conquer many rival clans, and hunted countless wild beasts.
Even if they were injured or disabled now, they weren’t useless. They could still do plenty of things.
Selling them off as meat wouldn’t even trade for much. The tribe didn’t lack such things anyway. But for some reason, the chieftain insisted on doing it.
He said: Only the strong are allowed to exist in the Blackstone Tribe.
Every time he thought of that sentence, Tu felt bitter inside.
Who could guarantee they wouldn’t get injured in battle? Did getting hurt mean everything one had done for the tribe before was suddenly meaningless?
If the tribe had truly been poor, he could have understood. But that wasn’t the case.
The Blackstone Tribe, relying on their blackstone weapons, had become a regional overlord, wealthy and powerful.
And besides, the chieftain didn’t place those same demands on his own son.
“If you were the chieftain, Hei Lie, none of this would’ve happened,” Xi Hou said angrily. But the moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
They had already left the Blackstone Tribe, yet they still didn’t understand why Hei Lie had done what he did.
By tradition, when a chieftain grew old, the fiercest warrior in the tribe was chosen to succeed him.
Hei Lie had always been the one everyone silently acknowledged as the next chieftain. But he gave it up and even left the tribe entirely.
Though they detested the chieftain and the shaman, they couldn’t understand why Hei Lie had made that choice.
“He would never let me become chieftain,” Hei Lie said with a cold laugh. “Or rather, he doesn’t want anyone to replace him.”
Tu and Xi Hou were both stunned. “What?”
“That’s not right! It’s always been the fiercest warrior who becomes the chieftain. He’s already old,” Xi Hou said.
Tu also frowned deeply. “That goes against the will of the gods! No tribe does that. How could he even think that way?”
“Desire and ambition can drive a person mad,” Hei Lie said, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Ever since he began distributing things unfairly, the seeds of that desire were planted. Then, from the leader of the Western Continent trading caravan… he saw the possibility of something more.”
The leader of the Western Continent trading caravan was not a warrior. His body wasn’t even stronger than that of an ordinary person.
Yet he commanded a powerful team. Everyone obeyed his orders, he wore the finest clothes, ate the best food, and even when he traveled, others carried him.
The caravan leader told the chieftain that in the Western Continent, martial strength was not the standard by which one’s ability to lead was judged. It was bloodline and intelligence.
Hei Lie had also heard these words from the caravan leader. The man had “kindly” warned him to be cautious of his own situation and had even warmly invited him to go to the Western Continent, offering all kinds of tempting rewards.
Because of this, Hei Lie deeply disliked the man. But he couldn’t stop the chieftain from admiring and growing close to him.
It was undeniable that the caravan leader had brought them many things they had never seen before: ceramic jars, beautiful fabrics, intoxicating wines… All of it was captivating.
But Hei Lie had always felt that man harbored ulterior motives. Ever since his arrival, the chieftain had become increasingly cruel and ambitious.
And facts proved that Hei Lie’s suspicions were not wrong.
However, Hei Lie had still underestimated the determination of the chieftain and the shaman. He had naively believed they simply disliked the weak and wanted to make the Blackstone Tribe stronger.
He never imagined they would sacrifice brave warriors just to achieve their own goals!
Such a foolish decision could very well lead a tribe to its destruction.
Especially now, the Blackstone Tribe had a terrible reputation. They constantly attacked other tribes, and many now viewed them as enemies.
Hei Lie had lost his chance when he returned from the salt trade. Most of his supporters had already been crippled or scattered. He could no longer rely on his reputation to replace the chieftain.
The chieftain held absolute power within the tribe, and Hei Lie no longer had the strength to challenge him.
So he made the decision to leave the tribe on his own. Otherwise, his fate would eventually be the same as Jing’s.
Hei Lie couldn’t defeat the chieftain, but likewise, the chieftain couldn’t stop him and could only let him go.
Tu and Xi Hou Monkey both fell silent. They, too, had sensed the chieftain’s intentions. It was just that something like this had never happened before, so they hadn’t truly believed it would.
Others in the tribe had also felt the changes. That was why, when Hei Lie left, many had chosen to follow him.
Among them were not only the ordinary people and the wounded whom the Blackstone Tribe had cast aside, but also many strong warriors, because they feared the same cruel fate that had befallen Jing might one day come for them too.
“There won’t be anything like that again in the future.” Hei Lie didn’t linger in the past. “Once we find Jing, we’ll start over together!”
“That guy’s probably sitting there right now, staring hungrily at us, waiting for us to bring him meat,” Xi Hou joked. “He definitely can’t beat Rong to it. There’s no way he’s faster than that fierce woman.”
Everyone laughed at the mention of Rong.
With Rong around, Jing would surely be fine. That woman would challenge Death itself if she had to.
Tu’s gloomy mood also quickly lifted. “Yeah! Jing and the others are definitely waiting to welcome us!”
“When that time comes, we’ll build an even stronger tribe together!” Hei Lie’s deep eyes gleamed with unwavering resolve.
Xi Hou stood up from the ground, raised his blackstone spear high, and cheered, “New tribe! New tribe!”
The others also stood up one by one, cheering along with him. Their voices rang through the sky like thunder.
At dawn the next day, while Hei Lie’s group still thought Jing was suffering a miserable life, Jing was already holding one of their few ceramic bowls, happily eating meat and drinking porridge, completely satisfied.
After two days of rest and food replenishment, Jing was now in excellent spirits. Aside from the visible signs of his injuries, he didn’t look much different from before.
His wounds were also gradually healing. Once they had fully recovered, the divine envoy had promised to gift him metal spikes.
They would be wrapped in leather and bound to his severed limbs, turning the weapons into a part of his own body!
Jing firmly believed that when that time came, his combat power would once again reach its peak.
“Jing, just wait and see today! With the axe bestowed upon me by the divine envoy, I’m definitely going to bring down more prey!”
Rong was holding a huge piece of meat, biting into it as she spoke, with two large axes that Yang Yi had given her strapped across her back.
These two axes were no light burden. Each weighed over ten kilograms. But that meant nothing to Rong.
Yang Yi, knowing her strength and her lack of interest in light weapons like spears or military shovels, had given her these two hefty metal axes after realizing she preferred stone axes.
The metal axes were sharp and heavy. Rong was confident that with them, she could easily smash open even the toughest beast skulls.
Jing raised his brows at her. “I won’t fall behind. Today, we’ll clear a large area that will become our new tribe.”
