After hearing Shi Linhu's account, Stone Village fell into a deathly silence.
Then the fury erupted.
"Damn them!"
A man snatched up the broad sword on the ground, his eyes bloodshot.
"Let's fight them!"
"They crippled my brother's hand! I'll chop their heads off!"
"Attack Bei Village! Take back what they stole!"
The people of Stone Village were simple and honest, but they were by no means cowards.
In the Great Wilderness, who didn't have some fire in them? Who could swallow the insult of being trampled on like this?
Even the women wiped away their tears and silently sharpened the bone knives at home as fast as they could.
The whole village was seething with anger.
Killing intent filled the air.
But Shi Yunfeng hesitated.
He looked at his hot-blooded clansmen, then at the gravely injured Shi Linhu, his face full of worry.
"Everyone, calm down!"
Shi Yunfeng shouted, silencing the uproar.
"We'll definitely take revenge, but we can't go throw our lives away!"
"Bei Village has more people, and Bei Feng is a skilled archer. Most importantly... they have a Sacrificial Spirit!"
"That old Bei has lived for who knows how many years. Its strength is unfathomable. It's probably a Fierce Beast at the Cave Heaven Realm by now. If we go, who could stand against it?"
At the mention of the Sacrificial Spirit, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over everyone's fury.
That was right.
A Sacrificial Spirit.
A godlike being that guarded a village.
Stone Village had Willow Deity, but Willow Deity was undergoing nirvana. She usually paid no attention to worldly affairs, much less went with them to attack another village.
Without a Sacrificial Spirit to back them up, going up against a Cave Heaven Realm Fierce Beast would be throwing their lives away.
Despair began to spread.
Were they really going to swallow this insult?
Just then.
The crowd parted on its own, opening a path.
Ye Xuan stepped forward from the back.
He was dressed in white, standing out among the men clad in animal hides, but no one dared ignore his presence.
He walked over to Shi Linhu and glanced down at the two clansmen whose arms had been crippled.
His Double Pupils opened.
He could see that their bones had been utterly shattered and their meridians severed.
The attacker's cruelty was staggering. He had meant to destroy Stone Village's hunting team at its roots and leave the entire village to starve to death that winter.
"Good."
Ye Xuan nodded, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile.
He raised his head and looked around at the villagers, who were furious but powerless to act.
"Chief."
Ye Xuan turned to Shi Yunfeng. His voice was not loud, but it carried a calming certainty.
"Are you worried about their Sacrificial Spirit?"
Shi Yunfeng smiled bitterly. "Young Immortal Master, that's Old Bei. It's an old monster that's cultivated to become a demon..."
"It's just an old weasel."
Ye Xuan cut him off casually, his tone full of undisguised contempt.
"Cowering in a gutter and shooting people in the back—is that what you call a Sacrificial Spirit?"
"If they want to play, then let's play for high stakes."
Ye Xuan turned to face the direction of Bei Village, deep in the Great Wilderness.
The evening wind stirred his robes, making them flap.
A terrifying aura rose from him.
It was the majesty of the Human Emperor, and the invincible conviction he had forged in Perfect World.
"No one gets to humiliate Stone Village."
"If they hurt one of ours, I'll take one of their arms. They cripple two of ours, and I'll wipe out their entire clan."
Ye Xuan turned around. His gaze flashed like lightning as it swept over every able-bodied man present.
"Get your weapons."
"Come with me."
"This time, we're not just taking revenge. We're wiping them out!"
Wiping out their clan!
At those words, everyone felt their scalps prickle, their blood surging toward their heads.
They weren't going to reason with them or demand justice.
They were going to wipe them out!
"Good! We'll follow Brother Ye!"
"Destroy those bastards!"
"I'm getting my weapon right now!"
The morale that had been crushed by the Sacrificial Spirit's reputation was instantly set ablaze by Ye Xuan's words.
With the Young Immortal Master leading them, what was there to fear?
The Young Immortal Master was a divine being at the Spirit Transformation Realm, and Willow Deity's disciple!
The men roared as they rushed back into their homes to retrieve the weapons they had kept hidden away.
The two Ancestral Artifacts passed down through their clans were brought out as well.
As the group assembled.
A small hand tugged at Ye Xuan's robe.
Ye Xuan looked down.
Little Shi Hao was gazing up at him.
The little fellow wore a short tiger-skin skirt and clutched a Suanni Treasure Mirror, which Ye Xuan had made for him from a Suanni Divine Bone.
Now, the little fellow's big eyes brimmed with tears and anger.
He had just seen Uncle Lin Hu, who usually doted on him, carried back in such a terrible state.
"Big Brother."
Little Shi Hao's voice trembled slightly, but it was mostly firm.
"I'm coming too."
"I'll use lightning to strike that bad guy! I'm going to avenge Uncle Lin Hu!"
If it had been any other child, the adults would have kicked him back and told him not to get in the way.
But Ye Xuan looked at Little Shi Hao.
He saw the fighting spirit burning deep in those eyes.
The Desolate Heaven Emperor had forged his entire life through blood and fire.
A True Dragon could not be raised in a hothouse.
Besides, Shi Hao was no longer a baby who did nothing but drink milk.
He was in the late stage of the Blood Moving Realm, with tens of thousands of pounds of strength in one arm, the Supreme Bone, and the Suanni Treasure Art.
That Bei Feng or whatever his name was?
He wasn't fit to carry Shi Hao's shoes.
"Good."
Ye Xuan reached out, wiped the tears from the corners of Little Shi Hao's eyes, then gave his head a firm rub.
"That brat with the bow is yours."
"Don't let Big Brother down."
Little Shi Hao nodded firmly and gripped the glowing Suanni Treasure Mirror in his hand.
"Let's go!"
Ye Xuan swept his arm forward.
Beneath the setting sun, a bloodthirsty group marched out of Stone Village.
Their destination: Bei Village!
That night, the Great Wilderness was destined to run red with blood.
Bei Village stood beneath a steep cliff.
Tall walls built from massive black stones surrounded it, bristling with sharpened beast bones and iron spears that gleamed coldly in the setting sun.
"We're here."
Ye Xuan stopped and looked up at the tightly shut gates.
Behind him, dozens of Stone Village men gripped broad swords and bone clubs, every one of them red-eyed and brimming with killing intent.
The fury rising from deep in their bones made the air around them feel heavy.
Before long, several heads poked over the wall.
They were members of Bei Village standing watch.
When they saw the Stone Village group below, made up of only a few dozen people, they first froze, then burst into shrill laughter.
"Well, if it isn't those Stone Village savages!"
"What? Is Shi Linhu still alive? Or were you so unhappy with your beating last time that you brought us the other arms to cripple too?"
"Hahahaha! Look at those pathetic peasants. They must have come to beg for mercy, right?"
Mocking voices rang out one after another.
In the eyes of the people of Bei Village, Stone Village had lost its main fighters and was helpless prey.
In their last battle, they had not only taken all the prey but also crippled Stone Village's strongest hunters. Now their opponents were nothing but tigers without teeth.
"Beg for mercy?"
A young man clad in silver beast-hide armor stepped out above the gate.
His features were delicate, but his eyes were as vicious as a snake's.
He held a black iron bow taller than himself, with a full quiver of wolf-fang arrows on his back.
It was Bei Feng.
The Bei Village prodigy who had shot through Shi Linhu's arms and shown no mercy.
Bei Feng looked down at the crowd, his gaze finally settling on Ye Xuan at the front.
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