Gu Yuena's Trial

"Ma~ Master~ I don't want her to die!"

Gu Yuena had thought Wan would give in. After all, once people grew up, they understood how precious life was.

The yearning for eternal life was carved into the bones of every living creature.

She did not believe that mere feeble humans would refuse a chance at eternal life.

The result was that she never saw Wan again.

After all, the tribe was neither large nor small. If someone deliberately hid from her, she really would not see them.

When she next heard news of Wan, it came from an old face now over a hundred years old and leaning on a cane-Chief Yu.

He told her news that brought the sky crashing down.

Wan had caught a chill yesterday, failed to pull through, and passed away.

The news struck like thunder from a clear sky.

Dead?

To Soul Beasts, death seemed to mean only dying in battle or being hunted down by human Soul Masters. They rarely heard of anyone dying of old age.

This was her first time confronting death directly.

Not her own death, but that of someone who had once kept her company, someone she had spent so long with in another world. What had Toilet called it again?

A friend?

"Seeing how well she looks after me, I suppose I'll reluctantly give her a chance to become my friend."

(Gu Yuena secretly raised her dragon tail.)

Yet in the mere blink of an eye, Gu Yuena was still waiting for the woman who had once kept her company to give in.

What came was not, "Big Sister Na'er, it's time for dinner."

Although she did not need to eat, she admitted that Wan's cooking really was good.

What came now was news of her death.

"That's impossible!"

Gu Yuena glared with draconic majesty, silver-purple light rising in her eyes.

"Wan was clearly much older than you~"

Much older than you.

She clearly should have died much later than you.

Of course, Gu Yuena was not so lacking in social sense now that she would shout those words outright.

But her taut, icy little face made it obvious that her mood was utterly awful.

Chief Yu sighed. "Humans are fragile. Sometimes, a gust of cold wind is all it takes for us to bid this world farewell."

"But I believe Wan never regretted becoming your friend."

Gu Yuena's little face remained dark. What friend?

I haven't agreed yet.

"Where is Wan?"

Chief Yu said, "In the warriors' cemetery beneath the old locust tree on the eastern side of the village."

The next moment, a gentle breeze swept past, and Chief Yu watched Gu Yuena vanish before his eyes in the blink of an eye.

He shook his head. "So these are the methods of an immortal? Even though this isn't my first time seeing them, I still can't help marveling!"

Along the way, she did not avoid the other tribespeople.

They saw that Gu Yuena's appearance remained fixed as that of a young girl.

Even though it was not their first time seeing her, the others could not help marveling.

From their initial gossip to jealousy, and finally calm acceptance.

Until they regarded her with awe.

This was absolutely no ordinary human.

Whispers often circulated in private within the tribe.

"As expected of the honored shaman personally appointed by the Dragon King. She truly is utterly different from us mortals!"

"We are born, grow old, fall ill, and die, completing our cycle in a hundred years, yet her youth remains forever, untouched by the years~"

"Even ordinary immortals might not be able to preserve their looks forever. Only the Dragon King's direct bloodline could do that, surely?"

"What do you think? Could the divine maiden Gu Yuena be the Dragon King's illegitimate daughter?"

In short, the rumors grew increasingly outrageous, but more and more people believed them.

After all, they had indeed witnessed the methods of an immortal in Gu Yuena.

At first, Gu Yuena would give anyone she heard saying this a savage beating, but after hearing it for so long, she simply ignored it.

Nothing but a bunch of foolish humans.

I merely go into seclusion, and a whole lot of them pass away.

Gu Yuena considered herself broad-minded. Such trivial matters could not affect her at all.

In the hills east of the tribe, the old locust tree spread its lush branches and leaves.

It had originally been among the places farthest from the tribe, and the most peaceful.

Now, it was filled with clamor.

For this was the warriors' cemetery passed down through generations of the Yu Tribe.

For hundreds of years, every warrior who fought for the tribe had been buried here after death.

Worshipped by generations of their tribespeople, they were, in effect, the highest symbols of honor in the entire tribe.

By rights, only warriors who had braved life and death for the tribe could enter this hallowed cemetery.

Ordinary tribespeople were simply buried somewhere, and as time passed, no one tended their graves, until they became nothing more than a handful of yellow earth.

Only by entering the warriors' cemetery could someone be remembered.

Today, however, a lively argument had broken out.

Almost half the tribe had gathered here.

More people were arguing.

A woman named Wan was actually going to be buried in the warriors' cemetery after her death.

The tribe's elders simply could not accept this.

"She was a mere woman who never braved life and death for the tribe. How can she enter the cemetery?"

"The ancestors' laws must not change!"

"This is an insult to the other warriors!"

Some elders refused to yield an inch. Most had once been members of the hunting teams and had retired with age.

They could be considered the tribe's old fossils.

In fact, most of them now were Chief Yu's former companions.

None of them could accept a woman being buried in the cemetery.

But precisely because of this, more tribespeople argued against these elders.

At their head was Wan's only son.

His name was Qiu.

He was now the strongest young man in the Rain Tribe, and had inherited his mother's kindness and perseverance.

Even his physique far surpassed his peers, and he was all but certain to become the tribe's next chief.

At this moment, Qiu's eyes were red, and he panted like an ox.

"My mother taught the Gu Yuena Fist, making every warrior immensely powerful."

"Isn't that contribution enough to earn her a place in the cemetery?"

"My mother devoted herself to studying it, pondering it day and night, breaking down its moves over and over, demonstrating and practicing them again and again!"

"She developed the Gu Yuena Fist into the fist technique we can learn today. She was the one who taught every hunting-team warrior with her own hands!"

"In the past, whenever our tribe hunted, every trip into the mountains brought casualties. Almost every year, tribespeople died in the jaws of beasts!"

"But ever since Mother taught us the fist technique, our hunting casualties have fallen to nearly zero over these past years!"

"She never killed a single wild beast, but she protected countless warriors who would have died!"

"Why can't she enter the cemetery?"

His words left the elders pale and unable to answer.

There were also many companions and hunting-team warriors supporting Qiu.

"We support Auntie Wan's burial in the cemetery!"

"If not for Auntie Wan, I would have died in a great wolf's jaws yesterday!"

"That's right! Without Auntie Wan, I wouldn't be this strong."

"Auntie Wan rendered great service to the tribe!"

"For the tribe!"

Most of the young tribespeople supported Qiu's proposal.

The tribal chief stood to one side, his head throbbing.

On one side was the tribe's future, and on the other were those who had once rendered it great service.

Whatever he did would be troublesome.

"Why hasn't Chief Yu been informed yet?"

"Hurry and invite Chief Yu here!"

Chief Yu had yet to arrive, but the fuming Silver Dragon King arrived instead, and nearly blasted all these humans into oblivion.

She simply waved her hand, flinging Wan out of the earth where she had just been buried, then turned and left with her.

Qiu watched his own mother fly away, dumbstruck.

"Shaman, where are you taking my mother?"

Gu Yuena said, "To meet this Dragon King you speak of!"