Savage Beast Bones

"It's so cold."

The onlookers couldn't help shivering. A layer of white mist curled out of the chest, and only after it dispersed did everyone finally see that lying inside the wooden chest was a thick, smooth section of bone.

That bone-chilling cold was radiating from this section of bone!

"What is this?"

Everyone was stunned. When had they ever seen such a wondrous object? Although they had no idea what it was, their instincts told them that it was most likely an extraordinary treasure.

"This is savage beast bone!" Lian Chengyu looked at the massive bone, a trace of satisfaction showing on his face. "The glowing patterns you saw earlier were used to seal the cold within this savage beast bone."

"Savage beast bone? This is savage beast bone?"

Most of the crowd had never heard of savage beast bone, but Yi Yun had heard Jiang Xiaorou describe it in detail.

In this world's Great Wilderness lived powerful savage beasts. Any one of them could easily destroy a small tribe like the Lian Clan.

Savage beasts were terrifying, but every part of their bodies was a treasure.

Savage Beast Meat was an excellent tonic, but a person's appetite was limited. A giant savage beast could be as large as a hill. Even if a person opened his belly wide and ate to his heart's content, how much could he possibly consume?

Fortunately, most of a savage beast's essence was concentrated in its bones, and it could be extracted through secret methods and condensed into a tiny piece.

Bones like these were the most precious things on a savage beast!

The savage beast bone in the wooden chest appeared to be a section of a savage beast's rib. Although it was only a tiny part of the entire savage beast, it was still exceedingly precious!

"The reason we have less food today is because, while exchanging for grain, even more weapons were used to trade for this piece of savage beast bone! In truth, the arrows and soft armor you made would never have been enough to exchange for it. I was only able to obtain this savage beast bone because, when I was young and ventured out to train, I found a fairly decent fragment of a cultivation manual. Adding everything together, I barely managed to trade for it!"

As Lian Chengyu spoke, the old man who looked like a tutor standing beside him had already explained the uses and preciousness of savage beast bone to everyone.

The tutor spoke with vivid detail, but the crowd found it difficult to accept what they heard.

No matter how powerful this savage beast bone was, what did it have to do with them?

Even the stupidest person knew that, even if its essence were boiled out, the savage beast bone would never be given to them to eat.

"I know what you're thinking. You're worried about your future lives, worried that you'll starve to death. I understand everyone's difficulties, but think about it—when will days like these ever end? There are as many small tribes in the Great Wilderness as grains of sand in the desert. They have no power to protect themselves and could be destroyed at any moment!"

"Our Lian Clan is one of them!"

"Do you really want to live like this forever, never knowing whether you'll see another day? Worrying about where your next meal will come from, and whether you'll be bitten to death by wild beasts while sleeping at night?"

"Do you want to live like this?"

Lian Chengyu's words were highly inflammatory. Many tribesmen couldn't help clenching their fists, a fierce determination building in their hearts! This kind of life made them feel as if they were on the verge of collapse. What was hell? This was it!

"I've had enough!" someone roared from within the crowd.

"Good! I don't want to live like this either! Now there's an opportunity. Three months from now, a great human dynasty—the Tai'a Divine Kingdom—will conduct a large-scale recruitment of young powerhouses throughout the vast territories under its rule! If you can pass the successive selections of the Tai'a Divine Kingdom, you will become a Divine Kingdom Warrior!"

"This is supreme glory, and an enormous opportunity!"

When Lian Chengyu reached this point, his eyes seemed to burn with blazing flames!

Yi Yun understood that gaze. It was one of extreme desire and swollen ambition!

Lian Chengyu was an ambitious man. He had no intention of spending his entire life trapped in a tiny Lian Clan. He wanted to leave, to walk out of the Great Wilderness and become a superior person!

No wonder he would rather let so many tribesmen starve to death this time than stop at anything to obtain this savage beast bone... So he intends to take part in the Divine Kingdom's examination three months from now!

Yi Yun suddenly understood. According to his original thoughts, Lian Chengyu could have taken things slowly, skimming a little grain from every exchange and gradually accumulating enough to trade for this savage beast bone.

Now that he had resorted to killing the hen for its eggs, it probably meant that, with the help of this savage beast bone, his strength was about to undergo a qualitative leap in the near future!

And Lian Chengyu's words immediately confirmed Yi Yun's guess.

"I, Lian Chengyu! I was born in the Lian Clan and grew up in the Lian Clan. I am the son of the Lian Clan, and I am willing to give everything for the Lian Clan! Fortunately, with this savage beast bone, I will be able to break through to the Purple Blood Warrior realm within three months! Once I become a Purple Blood Warrior, I will easily pass the Tai'a Divine Kingdom's examination and become a Divine Kingdom Warrior!"

"At that time, I alone will be able to protect the Lian Clan. After becoming a Divine Kingdom Warrior, I can take the Lian Clan and move to a town within the Tai'a Divine Kingdom. If I establish great achievements in the future, I can even build a city of my own! When that happens, everyone can enter my city, settle down, work, and live in peace, enjoying everything it has to offer. If I build a city, all of you will be founding elders, and your status will naturally be extraordinary!"

"Three months! That's right, all you have to do is hold on for three months. Once the examination is over, I guarantee that you'll have plenty of food and clothing! What all of you tribesmen are tightening your belts to give me today, I will repay a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

Lian Chengyu's words were extraordinarily beguiling. How could these simple, suffering commoners see through his ambitions? They were all intoxicated by the beautiful future he described, their hearts filled with yearning.

Three months—if they held on for just three months, they could move into a city?

Was this real?

This fellow could have been a politician on Earth.

By this point, Yi Yun understood that no one would question the meager grain distribution anymore. The mirage Lian Chengyu had woven would make everyone keep silent. If anyone continued questioning it, they would not even need Lian Chengyu to act; the people around him would leap out and deal with that person.

This was the helplessness of an age of poverty. Human lives here were cheap as weeds. A sack of grain could be worth several lives, and if more people had to die for the beautiful hope Lian Chengyu had woven, that was only natural.

The people here lived in such misery and oppression that they needed hope, needed a spiritual anchor to support them as they struggled on. Even if that hope was ethereal and illusory, they were still willing to believe it was real. Anyone who stood up and said it was false might even be beaten to death by those desperate people.

Seeing that the people were still somewhat lost, a lackey who knew how to read the mood suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Long live Young Master Lian Chengyu!"

People who never ate their fill at any of their three daily meals were easily stirred up. In fact, for many of them, they were willing to die without complaint if it meant their race could continue and their descendants could enjoy plenty of food and clothing.

"Long live Young Master Lian Chengyu..."

A few scattered people followed with several shouts, sounding as if they had not quite eaten their fill.

Once someone began shouting, more and more people joined in. Even though quite a few were still fretting over tomorrow's food, they could only follow the tide.

This was the sorrow of the weak: they had no right to choose.

Looking at the people's reaction, Lian Chengyu was very satisfied.

This was what he wanted. The Lian Clan would become his stepping stone. He would tread upon this stone and forge his own legend!

"Chengyu, you did well."

The Yellow-robed Elder walked behind Lian Chengyu and spoke.

"Great-Grandfather, there's no need to praise me. It's nothing. If I can't stir these commoners' emotions, there'll be no way to carry out what comes next. Refining this bone will cost quite a few lives."

"Mm..." The Yellow-robed Elder sighed inwardly. He had known long ago that refining the bone would cost lives. However many people died, they could not give up this opportunity.

"Where one general achieves success, ten thousand bones wither. Great-Grandfather, why sigh so deeply? If these people die for the tribe, the tribe will remember them. Besides... if some people die, there will be more grain left over. Then supporting everyone for three months will be no problem at all."

Lian Chengyu spoke lightly. He felt no concern whatsoever for these sacrifices. How many people died across the entire wilderness every day?

If the deaths of a few ants could create a hero, then it was worth it, because one hero could save even more ants.

Moreover, this hero would be him!

No one except the Yellow-robed Elder heard what Lian Chengyu said.

"Yun'er, what's wrong?" Jiang Xiaorou noticed Yi Yun was distracted and tugged at him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing..."

Yi Yun shook his head. He had been lost in thought just now, but it was not because of Lian Chengyu's speech, nor because he was lamenting the suffering fate of the Lian Clan's impoverished people. Rather, several faint points of light had suddenly flown over, like fireflies in the night sky.

Those points of light flew into his chest and vanished.

Immediately afterward, a thread of coolness came from the Purple Crystal, growing ever clearer.

Clearly, all those points of light had been absorbed by the Purple Crystal, just as it had absorbed starlight that night!

And when he followed the source of those points of light, it turned out to be...

Yi Yun's heart gave a thump. No way!