Elite Group Training

Victory was justice.

That was the rule and custom among barbarians. And just now, Witch Doctor Master had agreed to let the other youths act according to custom.

That was to say, after Lu Chen had recovered in three days, anyone dissatisfied with him receiving such treatment could challenge him. The victor would receive better treatment.

Furthermore, Witch Doctor Master had slightly expanded the scope of this duel. The youths in the room could challenge not only Lu Chen, but also Xiao Shi and Arrow.

If they wanted better resources and better treatment, then duel. The victor was right. That was the way people living amid the dangers of the barbaric wilderness survived.

After all, only strength could allow a village to grow and endure.

Having received Witch Doctor Master's approval, quite a few youths ran over to Lu Chen and issued their challenges.

"Lucky bastard. I'll challenge you in three days."

"If I were you, I'd withdraw right now. Three days from now, I won't show mercy."

Others ran over to Xiao Shi.

"This time, I'll definitely defeat you."

"Defeat me? You? This time, I'll beat every last one of you and let Witch Doctor Master see my strength."

Challenges rang out endlessly throughout the room, but what left Lu Chen rather emotional was that these youths actually intended to follow the rules.

Even those who came to provoke Lu Chen only spoke of defeating him three days later.

No one wanted to pull any tricks before the challenge.

Threats, persecution, preventing Lu Chen from fighting at full strength three days later—such things simply did not exist in these people's minds.

All Lu Chen could say was:

"The people here are still somewhat simple and honest. In the real world, aside from the college entrance exam, in every other competition, if even one-third of the spots were left open instead of reserved for insiders, that would already count as having a conscience."

As Lu Chen watched the excitement of the youths in the room, he also felt the hot soup nourishing his body.

Unfortunately, that nourishing sensation vanished completely after only half an hour.

"The hot soup was fully digested in just half an hour. That's a little short, but it also proves how important the soup is. The heat dissipating after half an hour means it digests quickly."

"If there were an unlimited supply of hot soup, I could keep training. Whenever my body became exhausted and couldn't hold on, I could recover with hot soup, then continue training half an hour later."

"Even so, I still couldn't train twenty-four hours a day, but increasing my training speed three or fourfold would be easy."

"Not to mention, the energy contained in the hot soup is even greater than meat. A large bowl of hot soup is fully equivalent to one Deer Leg. With sufficient energy, my training speed can increase as well."

It could be said that hot soup had countless benefits. But the more benefits it offered, the less likely others were to give it up.

Turning his head and seeing the blazing fighting spirit in everyone else's eyes, Lu Chen understood that the battle three days from now would not be easy.

Yet Lu Chen felt no fear. Instead, his face was filled with eagerness to try.

"I need hot soup for training too!"

As Lu Chen pondered, the young men in the room soon drank all their medicinal soup.

But afterward, the youths did not leave. Instead, they gathered together and headed for the center of the village.

At the center of the village was a plaza. It was broad and open, with no buildings at all. Only a seven-meter-tall pillar stood in its very center.

The towering pillar was covered in countless blood-red patterns.

Simply looking at that pillar, Lu Chen felt a terrifying pressure.

It was as if furious roars were sounding, echoing through Lu Chen's mind.

The upright pillar, the fearsome pressure, and those blood-red patterns—all of it made the pillar look like something not to be trifled with.

But the youths walking ahead showed not the slightest worry when they looked at the Totem Pillar. Instead, their faces revealed heartfelt peace of mind.

Of course they felt at ease. The pillar before them was indeed somewhat mystical, but they had no need to fear it, because it was the totem—the totem that protected Barbarian Bull Village.

At the same time, the souls of Barbarian Bull Village's ancestors resided within it after death.

For barbarians living in the wilderness, it was their final and most reliable support.

It could be said that the plaza before the totem was the safest place in the village.

While Lu Chen stared at the totem and sensed its power, the youths who had arrived earlier had already scattered across the plaza and begun training their bodies.

Some practiced Barbarian Bull Fist, while others practiced archery.

As those youths trained, a group of somewhat smaller and thinner young barbarians watched enviously from nearby.

Those youths were also from the village, but compared with the youths currently training, they had been weaker from the start. And afterward, that weakness had continued all along.

There was no helping it. That kind of hot soup truly could widen the gap between people.

At that moment, it was not that those youths did not want to train. Rather, every morning before dawn, those youths, Xiao Shi, and the others gathered together for group training led by the village's Clan Chief and the captain of the guards.

It was an ultra-high-intensity training session that lasted a full three hours. Under that intensity, the young barbarians who completed the group training were utterly exhausted and simply could not continue training.

And even if they forced themselves to train alongside the youths in the plaza, the outcome would not be pleasant. Physical exhaustion meant the body needed rest. Forcing more training would only leave injuries behind.

"Hot soup gives the youths from Witch Doctor Master's room twice as much training time."

"And that makes it incomparably difficult for those youths to catch up. But the village has limited resources and simply cannot provide for everyone. Sure enough, wherever one goes, conflicts exist."

"Barbarians may be somewhat simple and honest, but they still fight over resources."

"Still, those youths are not without a chance. Their physiques may not be especially strong, but if they possess decent combat talent and can defeat hardened young barbarians despite being weaker, they have a chance to take their place."

And if they could not replace them, they could only spend their lives watching others grow stronger. Barbarians had never been friendly toward the weak.

"I must win the battle three days from now."

The envious gazes of the young barbarians around him made Lu Chen understand that in the barbarian world, only by displaying sufficient strength could one earn respect and training resources. There was no possibility of playing the pig to eat the tiger here.

His mind swirled with thoughts, yet Lu Chen lay beneath a tree at the edge of the plaza, watching the others train without making the slightest move to rise.

It was not that he did not want to train with them. His body was simply too badly depleted. A piece of Deer Leg from Da Zhuang's home had allowed Lu Chen to survive, while the hot soup from Witch Doctor Master's home had merely let him catch his breath. To truly recover, he still needed at least two or three days.

"Highland—no, the Barbarian King Bloodline really is powerful. But while it is powerful, it consumes far too much blood essence."

As Lu Chen sighed, a somewhat foolish-looking figure came up before him.

"A'Chen, are you feeling better? I heard you were possessed by an evil soul while on patrol. Are you all right?"

"I'm much better already. Tie Dun, why did you come over?"

"I came to see you."

"Sigh, I never expected evil things to appear even during the day. At the end of this year, we'll have to switch to nighttime patrols. That's when evil things are at their most rampant. What are we going to do?"