Blackwater Black Serpent Tribe
"It's... the Blackwater Black Serpent Tribe..."
The burly man on the stretcher, the Sixth Stage leader of the Fire Crow Tribe, used his last bit of strength to tightly grasp Chen Fan's small hand, dark red blood continuously gushing from his mouth.
"Their high priest... is... about to break through to the Seventh Rank..."
"He wants our totem Fire Seed... he wants to... destroy us..."
Before he could finish speaking, the large hand that had been gripping Chen Fan fell limply to his side.
The leader's eyes had completely lost all their luster.
Dead silence.
After a brief silence, a deafening wail, like a volcanic eruption, instantly engulfed the entire Fire Crow Tribe!
Despair and fear, like the darkest clouds, weighed heavily on the hearts of every member of the tribe.
The Sixth Stage leader is the pillar of the tribe.
The Seventh Rank is a terrifying existence worthy of being revered as a high priest. It is an absolute power capable of easily annihilating a medium-sized tribe and turning all its people into food and slaves!
Amidst his mother's heart-wrenching cries, Chen Fan slowly stood up.
He didn't cry, nor did he show any of the panic that a child should have.
He first gently helped his nearly unconscious mother up and handed her to a priestess who had rushed over upon hearing the news. Then, he turned to face all his people who were immersed in grief and fear.
His still-youthful face displayed a calmness far beyond his years, along with a chilling killing intent that emanated from the depths of Martial God's soul.
"My father's blood cannot be shed in vain."
His voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to possess some strange magic, clearly overpowering all the wailing and lamentations, reaching everyone's ears.
"The Fire Seed of the Fire Crow Tribe will never be extinguished."
Chen Fan's gaze swept across the entire room.
"Prepare for battle."
Those four simple words brought a moment of silence to the chaotic tribesmen.
"Holy Son!"
The tribe's old priest, leaning on his weathered bone staff, walked forward shakily, his cloudy old eyes filled with pleading and desperation.
"The opponent is a high priest, a terrifying being about to step into the Seventh Rank! You are our race's last miracle, our last hope, we cannot... we cannot sacrifice ourselves here in vain!"
"Go quickly! We old bones will fight to the death to cover your retreat!"
"To retreat is to die."
Chen Fan responded calmly, his gaze sweeping over all the clansmen. His voice was not loud, but it was firm and resounding.
"There is still a glimmer of hope in this battle."
He paused, looked at the despairing and numb faces of his people, and slowly raised his hand, pointing to himself.
"I am that glimmer of hope."
The absolute confidence contained in his words struck like a thunderbolt in everyone's minds.
At that moment, all the tribesmen miraculously fell silent. They stared blankly at the ten-year-old boy standing beside the leader's corpse, his slender frame revealing emotions other than fear for the first time in their eyes.
At that very moment!
Rumble!!
The earth began to tremble violently!
From the vast jungle surrounding the tribe, a deafening roar, like a landslide or a tsunami, echoed as countless towering trees were brutally snapped in two.
A cold, damp vapor, carrying a strong smell of blood, rushed towards us like a tsunami, colliding violently with the dry, scorching totem aura of the Fire Crow Tribe, producing a hissing sound.
A massive army of several thousand men appeared on the horizon.
They were all clad in black scale armor that shimmered with an eerie light, wielded Bone Spears, and rode ferocious Water Beasts. Their military might far surpassed that of hunting tribes like the Fire Crow Tribe.
At the very front of the army, a gigantic black Black Serpent, its body as large as a small mountain, stood with its ferocious head raised.
Above the Black Serpent's head, a sinister old man dressed in an elaborate black sacrificial robe looked down at the Fire Crow Tribe. He was surrounded by visible black mist, and the terrifying pressure of his impending breakthrough, which was already infinitely close to the Seventh Rank, caused the Totem Fire of the entire Fire Crow Tribe to flicker violently, its light and shadow shifting!
He's here.
High Priest of the Blackwater Black Serpent Tribe!
He swept his mocking gaze across the desperate faces of the Fire Crow Tribe, finally fixing it on Chen Fan stood alone at the very front of them all.
"Heh... this is your so-called Miracle Holy Son?"
The high priest let out a hoarse, unpleasant laugh, his eyes filled with greed and disdain.
"A brat who hasn't even grown all his feathers yet! Well, that saves me some trouble."
"Today, I will first devour your so-called miracle, seize your Fortune, then annihilate your entire clan and steal your Fire Seed!"
Before he could finish speaking, he stomped hard on the Black Serpent beneath his feet!
"Hiss!"
The giant beast opened its blood-red maw, and a Black Water Arrow as thick as a bucket instantly condensed!
The water arrow was shrouded in a malevolent aura that corroded everything. Wherever it passed, even the air was corroded and emitted a piercing whistle. Like a black lightning bolt that tore the heavens and the earth apart, it shot straight toward the small, lonely figure standing in front of the tribe's formation!
Faced with that Black Water Arrow that tore through the air and was powerful enough to instantly corrode a Sixth Stage expert into a puddle of pus, all the members of the Fire Crow Tribe were terrified, and their faces drained of all color.
The mother let out a piercing scream and almost rushed forward recklessly.
However, Chen Fan, standing at the front of the formation, neither dodged nor avoided.
Just as the black line of death was about to touch his brow, he calmly raised his small, tender right hand.
With his fingers slightly spread, a barely perceptible gray-gold vortex quietly appeared in his palm.
"Zhi"
A piercing sound, like a red-hot iron being plunged into ice water, suddenly rang out on the deathly silent battlefield.
The Black Water Arrow, imbued with the high priest's lifelong malice, shot into that small palm, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea, failing to even stir a ripple. It was instantly decomposed and annihilated by the supreme Life-and-Death Law contained within it.
It was as if it had never existed.
"Um?"
The high priest's sinister smile froze instantly atop the Black Serpent's head.
His pupils suddenly contracted as he stared intently at Chen Fan's small hand, which was completely unharmed and whose skin hadn't even turned red, his face filled with disbelief.
How is that possible?!
Even a Sixth Stage Peak expert of the same level would need to fully activate their Totem Power to barely withstand his full-force attack.
How could a ten-year-old kid...?
No, that's not right!
After the initial shock and doubt, the greed in the high priest's eyes burned even brighter.
"So it was a powerful protective totem treasure! Hahaha, heaven is on my side!"
He attributed this incomprehensible scene to some powerful, unknown treasure.
Such a treasure, in the possession of a mere child—this is truly a stroke of luck bestowed upon him by heaven!
As long as I kill him and seize this treasure, I will have no more bottlenecks in breaking through to the Seventh Rank!
"You little beast, the treasure is on you! What a waste of talent! Give it to me!"