Four Great Leaders

In just over twenty minutes, all the tribespeople had assembled.

Yi Chen did not waste any time and went straight to the point.

"Starting today, our Flame Mountain Tribe will officially begin expanding outward!"

"Expanding?"

All the tribespeople were stunned.

They had thought the Tribal Chief had gathered them to announce this year's hunting plans.

Before their screens, all the viewers were equally bewildered.

"Expand into what? Occupy other tribes?"

"Yi Chen is probably going to be disappointed. Across all of Flame Mountain, for more than a thousand kilometers in every direction, the Flame Mountain Tribe is the only Human Race settlement."

Someone could not help but cry out miserably, "It's over! So Yi Chen wants to occupy other tribes."

"So what if there are no other tribes? Why are you saying it's over?"

Everyone found this strange.

"What do you know?"

That person explained, "As soon as spring began, Yi Chen gathered all the tribespeople and announced an outward expansion. What does that mean?"

"It means that the only reason he taught the tribe the improved version of the Chaos Art was to raise their strength so they could fight everywhere and conquer other tribes for him!"

"But there are no tribes nearby, not even within more than a thousand kilometers, for the Flame Mountain Tribe to conquer! That means his ambitions will be completely impossible to realize."

"If that is the case, what use is there in having so many powerful tribespeople?"

"How could he possibly teach the complete version of the Cloud Stepping Art?"

"Now that you put it that way, it really does seem like that."

"If that's true, then we're really done for."

The viewers in the Live Stream Room immediately grew tense.

If Yi Chen's ambitions could not be realized and the tribespeople had nowhere to put their abilities to use, then under normal circumstances, he naturally would not waste more time teaching cultivation arts and raising the Flame Mountain Tribe's overall strength.

In the valley.

Yi Chen swept his gaze over the baffled tribespeople and directly made his arrangements.

"Gu Li, Luo Ge, Tai Shi, Zong Shan—the four of you shall, from today onward, become the Four Great Leaders of the Flame Mountain Tribe."

"Each of you will choose one hundred and fifty tribespeople with the highest cultivation levels to become your subordinates."

"Starting today, each of you will take responsibility for one direction and set out with your subordinates."

"With our Flame Mountain Tribe as the center, conquer the Ferocious Beasts and Human Race tribes in every region!"

The tribespeople came to their senses and finally understood what Yi Chen meant.

Excitement immediately appeared on every face.

Since ancient times, Flame Mountain had been the world and territory of Ferocious Beasts.

Ever since its emergence, the Flame Mountain Tribe had migrated at least a dozen times.

Every time, it had been to avoid powerful Ferocious Beasts that suddenly appeared nearby.

Only in regions where the Ferocious Beasts were relatively weak could the Flame Mountain Tribe eke out a meager existence.

Yi Chen's words made them suddenly realize something.

The Flame Mountain Tribe was no longer what it used to be.

The tribespeople's strength had soared. They could completely turn the tables and conquer, even rule over, those once-powerful Ferocious Beasts.

Gu Li, Luo Ge, and the other two were even more overjoyed.

They were the four most gifted people in the Flame Mountain Tribe. Now that they had all reached the Spirit Release Realm Third Level, they naturally wanted even more to battle those Ferocious Beasts that had once seemed incomparably powerful.

"Everything must be founded upon the ability to protect yourselves. Once you encounter an unbeatable Ferocious Beast, immediately send someone back to report it. You are not permitted to launch a desperate attack. If casualties occur, not only will the four of you receive severe punishment, your positions as leaders will also be replaced by other tribespeople."

Yi Chen first set the tone.

The Flame Mountain Tribe had too few tribespeople. Losing even one would be a loss.

Therefore, while expanding, they first had to ensure the tribespeople's safety.

"We understand!"

Gu Li and the other three nodded hurriedly.

"Ferocious Beasts willing to submit are to join the ranks and aid our outward expansion! Those unwilling to submit will be killed without mercy!"

A flash of killing intent crossed Yi Chen's eyes.

"Yes!"

Killing intent surged from Gu Li and the other three.

"When you encounter Human Race tribes, you must not create slaughter. Use force, food, and cultivation arts whenever possible—use both hard and soft means to force them to surrender and merge into the Flame Mountain Tribe."

The moment he spoke of how to treat his own kind, the killing intent around Yi Chen vanished like smoke in thin air.

They were, after all, his own kind.

Naturally, he did not wish to start a massacre.

What was more, he regarded the Human Race as the foundation for conquering the world.

In his eyes, every member of the Human Race would become his subordinate in the future, elite soldiers and mighty generals who would help him conquer the world and expand his sphere of influence.

Naturally, not a single one could be killed.

At the very least, at this stage, when the Flame Mountain Tribe had only a little over a thousand tribespeople in total, he would absolutely not permit a single killing to occur.

"Understood!"

Gu Li, the other three, and all the tribespeople nodded one after another.

"Lastly, search for and gather all kinds of Spirit Mines containing Spiritual Energy, then transport them back."

Yi Chen's original plan had been to simultaneously gather all sorts of Spirit Mines and spiritual materials containing Spiritual Energy, preparing for the future creation of Weapon Forging and Alchemy.

But after thinking it over, he decided to give up on the spiritual materials.

Spirit Mines could be gathered because they were easy to preserve.

Moreover, the next cultivation art he intended to create had already been decided: a sword art.

They would need to forge a great number of longswords.

Even without Weapon Forging, and thus without the ability to forge powerful Spirit Swords, they could still use ordinary forging methods to put these Spirit Mines to waste on lesser uses and forge them into longswords for now.

As for spiritual materials, there was no need for them yet.

For one thing, they would be useless before Alchemy was created.

But more importantly, spiritual materials were difficult to preserve.

The Flame Mountain Tribe also did not have enough manpower to study the characteristics and habits of all kinds of plants, transplant them, or preserve those spiritual materials through special methods.

They could only wait until later.

"High Priest!"

Yi Chen turned his gaze toward the High Priest at his side and instructed, "You will be responsible for logistics and the management of all tribal affairs, including transporting Spirit Mines, daily supplies, relaying messages, replenishing troops, and distributing the tribe's resources. You will have full authority over all of it."

"I shall obey the Divine Decree!"

The High Priest was overjoyed.

This authority was clearly a notch higher than that of the four leaders.

Without any hesitation, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground with utmost devotion.

"Enough. The five of you may begin making arrangements now. The sooner you act, the better!"

Yi Chen waved his hand.

Gu Li and the other three immediately began selecting people, full of lofty aspirations.

The High Priest was also considering how best to manage the Tribe.

"That was close, that was close. I was nearly scared to death just now."

"Thank the heavens for their blessing. Yi Chen's ambition actually far exceeds our imagination. It isn't just Human Race tribes he wants to conquer—he wants to conquer all the Ferocious Beasts too!"

"As expected of the greatest genius in Human Race history. His talent is so high it beggars imagination. At the same time, his ambition is absurdly vast."

"Looking at his posture, his goal does not seem to be merely building a Flame Mountain Tribe with a larger population. He plans to conquer the entire Flame Mountain Range!"

In the Live Stream Room, the anxiety in every viewer's heart finally eased considerably.

What they feared most was that, once Yi Chen learned there were no Human Race tribes nearby, his great disappointment would leave him with no interest in further improving the Flame Mountain Tribe's strength.

Fortunately, Yi Chen's ambition surpassed all imagination.

It even surpassed the ambition a member of the Human Race in the Barbaric Era ought to possess.

His goal was very likely to dominate all of Flame Mountain and conquer every Ferocious Beast.

The entire Flame Mountain Range covered more than a million square kilometers, with Ferocious Beasts of every level too numerous to count.

With the Flame Mountain Tribe's current strength, it was clearly still incapable of conquering the entire Flame Mountain Range.

Furthermore, Yi Chen, their Tribal Chief, seemed to care deeply about the safety of his people.

In that case, once more than half the tribespeople broke through to the Spirit Release Realm First Level, he would at the very least teach them the complete version of the Cloud Stepping Art.