After jumping around for a while, Chi Xuan ran back with a smile, her face flushed from exertion and fine beads of sweat on her brow. Her eyes shone brilliantly.
"Cousin, come dance too!"
She held out her hand, wanting to pull him along.
Tan Lin shook his head, signaling for her to go have fun herself.
Chi Xuan did not press him. Smiling, she turned and threw herself back into the joyous crowd.
Tan Lin sat nearby, watching her spin and laugh beside the bonfire,
watching her high-five and sing antiphonally with those simple, honest tribespeople. She was so alive, so radiant, an odd contrast to the desolate, scorching Western Desert that covered most of the land.
At that moment, something deep within him seemed to stir faintly, only to quickly fall silent again.
After their journey through the Western Desert ended, they headed for the Southern Ridge.
The Southern Ridge was mountainous and thick with miasma. It had originally been a territory occupied by the Demon Race, while the Human Race here consisted mostly of Barbarian branches and was relatively weak. Survival had never been easy for them.
Now, with powerful Saint Spirits constantly emerging from the Saint Spirit Ancestral Court in this great era, their lives had become even harder.
The moment Chi Xuan and Tan Lin entered the Southern Ridge, they sensed an oppressive atmosphere. In many places, they could feel the overbearing, forceful presence of the Saint Spirit Race.
Among the mountains and forests, they often saw Demon Race creatures with incomplete transformations and only partially awakened intelligence running rampant, their demonic aura soaring into the skies as they eyed Barbarian villages and small towns covetously.
Yet compared to the Demon Race, the ones acting most tyrannically were still the Saint Spirit Lineage. They casually