By the time Red Wolf led his exhausted tribespeople through hundreds of miles of mountain forest and finally struggled onto the open ground at the southern foot of Broad Cloud Peak, nearly half a month had passed.
Neither he nor the warriors under his command had ever imagined that crossing a mere few hundred miles would take so long.
The warriors were all accomplished Qi Refining cultivators, as nimble as apes when scaling mountains and crossing ridges, but the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled among their people could do nothing of the sort.
Almost every day, someone fell to the claws and fangs of wild beasts or to disease. At their most perilous moment, a high-level Demon Beast blocked the way ahead while pursuers from the Heavenly Dragon Gate closed in from behind. Red Wolf had almost led everyone back into battle to perish together with their enemies. Only through the Ancestral Spirit's blessing had they luckily discovered a narrow goat trail through a valley and escaped with their lives.
When the dense forest ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a sacred snowcapped mountain beneath a sky washed clean and radiant clouds casting down boundless light, everyone was swept up in emotion. Without prompting, they knelt on the ground and began to pray.
"Supreme Ancestral Spirit, please save the people of our tribe and show us the way forward!"
Li Chen saw this scene through the Detection Mechanism Device hovering high in the sky. With a thought, he sent Wushi Yan, controlled by a virtual personality, out to meet them.
The other imprisoned tribal warriors were also temporarily freed to reunite with them.
"Great Shaman!"
Sharp-eyed Red Wolf soon spotted Wushi Yan and the others and cried out in delighted surprise.
"The Great Shaman is here!"
"Great Shaman!"
The others sprang