The tribe's calamity

Unaware that the Clan Patriarch had already met his death, Mu Bai and Ling’er were still racing through the forest.

The long run had left Mu Bai and Ling’er with numb legs and drenched clothes. But they could not stop. Their tribe was in danger; they could not run away. They had to fight alongside their people.

Though they were still children, though they were weak enough to fall to a single punch, and returning would undoubtedly mean throwing their lives away, they had to return to the tribe. Even if they died, they had to die fighting alongside their people.

Ling’er was nimble, but her soul power was insufficient. After barely half a day of running, she had nearly exhausted it, and her mind felt numb, every breath bringing a sense of suffocation. Gritting her teeth, she kept moving her leaden legs, mechanically following Mu Bai forward as her expression gradually grew dazed.

"Ling’er, stay here. Let me go back!"

"No, I have to go back..."

Drenched in sweat and panting heavily, Ling’er looked resolute and unwilling to yield. But before she could finish, her legs gave way, and she pitched straight forward.

Mu Bai hurried over and helped Ling’er up. Her face was deathly pale, and she had already lost consciousness.

This place is dangerous. I can't leave Ling’er here alone!

Panting heavily and utterly exhausted, Mu Bai hoisted Ling’er onto his back and continued running, supporting himself against the trees.

Two hours, four hours, six hours... Endless trees flew backward, and mountain after mountain fell behind him. Yet the forest seemed to have no end, the mountains seemed to have no end, and neither did the road home.

He knew full well that the tribe lay ahead, that his people were being slaughtered, yet the road home was so long, and the anguish of being unable to protect them was so great.

"I have to keep going. I have to get back. I must keep going. I must get back..."

Carrying Ling’er, he no longer knew how long or how far he had run, nor how much farther the tribe lay. He could only keep running with unwavering resolve, keep running...

Even though Mu Bai had run through the mountain forests carrying a hundred-stone boulder before his Soul Awakening, and braved the roaring waves upon the reefs, this ceaseless running left his legs feeling as though they no longer belonged to him. He ran and ran until the world spun around him, and finally he could hold out no longer and collapsed.

The instant he touched the ground, his body seemed to take root in the earth. A feeling of comfort and ease washed over him, making him want only to sleep on forever.

After a long while, Mu Bai opened his eyes with great difficulty, gasping for breath. He tried to roll over, but pain racked his entire body. Ling’er had fallen a short distance away and remained unconscious.

Mu Bai, too, wanted to fall asleep like this. Even breathing felt extraordinarily difficult. But he could not. He was a man; he could not admit defeat, could not shrink back while his tribe faced disaster.

With a shout, Mu Bai clenched his teeth and struggled to push himself off the ground. Through his haze, he spotted several stalks of Valley Essence Grass nearby.

"This is the main ingredient for refining Essence Elixirs!"

Mu Bai regularly refined elixirs and naturally knew the properties of Valley Essence Grass. Eating it could activate mental power, making it just right for his numb, exhausted mind. But its medicinal potency was extremely fierce; taken directly without refinement, it would be difficult for the mind and flesh to endure.

Time was pressing. There was no room for hesitation. Mu Bai crawled over with difficulty, pulled up a stalk of Valley Essence Grass, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing in great mouthfuls.

The incompletely chewed leaves of Valley Essence Grass slid into his stomach, entering his body with their bitter, blue-green juices. Through his numb mind, Mu Bai sensed a gradual boiling within his organs, and his body began trembling uncontrollably with intense pain.

But Mu Bai could not concern himself with all that. With his tribe in peril, he only hated that his cultivation was too low to fly by using Spirit Command, that he was so pitifully incapable he could not even bring Ling’er back with him. This bodily pain was nothing compared with the pain in his heart.

Grabbing another two stalks of Valley Essence Grass, Mu Bai stuffed them both into his mouth without even looking, chewing and swallowing hard. His entire body shook even more violently. Searing pain covered him as though fierce flames were burning him, while a thousand needles and ten thousand swords pierced straight into his mind. Beads of sweat evaporated before they could roll down.

The pain of the flesh was still bearable, but those thousand needles and ten thousand swords pierced his spiritual sanctum and twisted through his mind together, driving him toward madness and stripping away his reason. It felt as though only splitting mountains, rending the earth, and slaughtering madly could release a trace of the pain and bring a sliver of pleasure.

Slowly, Mu Bai's eyes turned blood-red, as though bleeding, and a bloody hue shrouded the world he saw.

"Aah..."

Mu Bai threw back his head and howled. "More!"

The sky he saw was no longer blue, but a maddening blood-red. The wind he felt was no longer gentle and warm, but stabbed like ten thousand swords.

Madness made one disregard the consequences. Madness stripped one of all reason.

Come on, I refuse to believe it! More pain-what can more pain do to me!

Mu Bai ripped up all the remaining Valley Essence Grass and frantically crammed it into his mouth. He was in so much pain that he could no longer feel pain, so much pain that only a single thought remained: keep chewing, keep swallowing.

"If I don't die today, don't blame me for killing! Killing! Killing!"

Even if I have to kill everyone under heaven, I will return to the tribe! If gods block me, I'll kill gods; if demons block me, I'll slay demons!

Mu Bai had already gone mad, become a demon...

As he frantically swallowed handfuls of Valley Essence Grass, Mu Bai finally learned what more pain could do: it hurt until he fainted, only for the pain to stab him awake immediately. Again and again, he could only endure the agony of scorching heat and piercing blades. Even ironlike toughness would melt and be pierced full of holes.

Mu Bai fell to the ground, roaring so fiercely it shook the heavens, and struck his head against a massive tree, sending leaves fluttering down.

Time seemed to stop, congealing in place. Mu Bai frantically vented the pain in his body and mind, roaring, crashing against the tree, roaring, until he gradually crumpled to the ground and finally lost consciousness.

An unknown length of time passed. The world spun in utter silence, as though he were already in the Nether Death Realm, as though this were already another life.

Mu Bai opened his eyes in a daze and found himself lying in Ling’er’s arms.

"Ling’er, where are we? How long has it been?"

"After we passed out, Sister Mi Yan rescued us. I don't know how long it's been either..."

"Mi Yan?"

"Yes. She said she knew you."

In all his years, Mu Bai had hardly known any girls, much less an older sister called Mi Yan. "Could it be her?"

Mu Bai remembered the young married woman who had descended gracefully from the second floor of the Peony Pavilion at the White Wolf Tribe Market.

"What about the Clan Patriarch? How is the tribe?"

Mu Bai's thoughts returned to reality. With a start, he remembered what they had just been through and hurriedly questioned Ling’er, only to hear a loud shout from outside.

"Stop there!"

With a long, piercing neigh, the dragon-steed carriage stopped. Soon, the clamorous footsteps of more than a dozen people surrounded it.

"May I ask whether you honored cultivators belong to the Eastern Nether Great Tribe?"

"We do!"

"The Peony Pavilion is traveling on business. Why have you stopped us?"

"We have orders from our tribe and must obey! Please forgive us, Elder Mi Yan, and let us look inside the carriage!"

"Ridiculous. The Peony Pavilion is the Taiyuan Merchant Guild's local branch. How could I allow you to act so outrageously before me!"

"Then forgive our offense!"

As he spoke, the burly leader released the aura of his Middle Third Level cultivation. Behind him, three others had reached the early third level, while the remaining nearly ten men were all at the peak of the second level. Such formidable intimidation made Mi Yan's heart tighten.

"Get inside and search!"

As an elder of external affairs for the Taiyuan Merchant Guild, Mi Yan possessed Middle Third Level cultivation. Though she was no match for the men arrayed against her, she could not disgrace the Taiyuan Merchant Guild's name. Her brows rose as she angrily rebuked them. "You had better think carefully about the consequences of provoking the Taiyuan Merchant Guild. I am traveling to celebrate the birthday of one of the guild's venerable Xiu Zun. The treasures aboard this carriage are worth tens of millions of Soul Crystals. You could not bear responsibility for the loss of even one!"

The men stopped at her words. Their leader frowned, clearly wary of the immense power of the Taiyuan Merchant Guild.

"Elder Mi Yan, we respect your Taiyuan Merchant Guild, but please don't make things difficult for us. Could you open the carriage and let us look? If the people we seek aren't here, we'll leave immediately!"

"Very well!"

Mi Yan swept her long sleeve, and the carriage door opened with a creak. The man poked his head inside and saw a beautiful, elegant woman reclining on a couch: Elder Mi Yan of the Taiyuan Merchant Guild. The maid Xiao Lan attended her at one side, burning incense and preparing tea. Nothing seemed amiss.

The three large chests stacked behind them made the eyes of the Eastern Nether Great Tribe's men light up.

"Xiao Lan, open the treasure chests!"

At her words, Xiao Lan rose and approached the chests. The Eastern Nether Great Tribe's men watched her closely, afraid of letting even a fly slip away beneath their eyes.

Clang, clang, clang...

Xiao Lan opened the three treasure chests in turn. The men leaned closer and saw one chest filled with high-grade Soul Crystals, another with jade bottles of elixirs giving off powerful medicinal energy, and the last with all manner of rare treasures. Indeed, none of the treasures in any of the chests were ordinary sights, showing just how formidable the Taiyuan Merchant Guild's resources were.

"Well? Do you honored cultivators still wish to board and inspect?"

The leader swiftly scanned the carriage's interior and determined that there was nowhere else to hide anyone.

"Elder Mi Yan, we were merely following orders. Please forgive our many offenses!"

Mi Yan gave a soft snort and gently waved her gauze fan. "Go on, then. I won't see you out!"

"Move!"

With a shout, the leader leaped onto a war falcon. The dozen or so Eastern Nether Great Tribe cultivators all took to the air after him, following their leader to continue the search.

"Little brother, since you're awake, why not come out and meet me?"

After a while, once she saw that the men had gone far away, Mi Yan took a Mustard Seed Bag from her bosom and gave it a gentle shake. Mu Bai and Ling’er appeared out of thin air inside the carriage.

"Thank you for saving us, Sister Mi Yan!"

Mu Bai cupped his fist and bowed deeply, and Ling’er bowed in thanks as well.

"I was the one who found you! If you hadn't been howling like ghosts wailing and wolves baying, we really wouldn't have discovered you. Hurry up and thank your big sister..."

Xiao Lan lifted her almond-shaped eyes slightly and teased Mu Bai.

"Xiao Lan, this is no time for fooling around!"

Mi Yan chided her softly, and Xiao Lan could only stick out her tongue and stop.

"Sister Mi Yan, do you have any news of our Clan Patriarch and our tribe?"

"Three days ago, Clan Patriarch Hai Ya died, his cultivation extinguished. No one in the Haibei Tribe survived..."

Mi Yan spoke very softly, yet every word struck Mu Bai's mind with crushing weight, making him stagger backward. Fury assailed his heart, and he spat blood. "It isn't true. This isn't true..."

Weeping, Ling’er rushed to Mu Bai and supported his trembling, swaying body, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with her hand. "Xiao Bai, the Clan Patriarch is dead. Father and Mother are dead too. Everyone in the tribe is dead..."

Ling’er was overcome with grief and nearly fainted herself.

"It isn't true. This isn't true..."

Mu Bai stared blankly, lost in a daze. He could not accept this news; he was unwilling to face this reality. In his mind appeared the Clan Patriarch's kindly smile as he told the children marvelous stories of the vast world. In his mind appeared Hai Ang's broad back and eyes full of expectation. In his mind appeared the hunting party battling Fierce Beasts, drinking and laughing, and the tribe's women doing farmwork and chatting about household affairs...

Every corner of the Haibei Tribe appeared in his mind: paper cutouts pasted on the windows, snowmen piled before the houses, children chasing one another and playing, wisps of cooking smoke rising throughout the tribe. In the distance lay deep mountains and seas of forest blanketed in white snow, while towering waves tirelessly battered the coastal reefs, day after day, year after year, a hundred years...

This is my tribe, these are my loved ones, every one of them branded deep into my life. Where are you? Flames swallowed the scene. He seemed to hear shouting and roaring, the screams and sobs of village women and young children. Mu Bai saw Hai Ang and Hai Lin leading their people in a bloody battle, saw the savage grins and bloodthirsty slaughter of the Eastern Nether Great Tribe's villains.

"Eastern Nether Tribe, blood for blood! I will slaughter every last one of you! Every last one!"

The sky gradually darkened, and a fine drizzle fell, unable to bear telling the tale.