The tribe's support, refining flesh and blood!

Beneath the curtain of night, the Qingyang Mountain Range grew somewhat lively. Women stood in the flickering firelight, craning their necks in anticipation. As the tribal warriors returned, blood Qi surging around their bodies, the women looked back and forth nervously.

When they spotted their own men among the bloodstained tribal warriors, the worry on their faces eased. In the savage wilderness, where men fought bathed in blood, life and death were separated by no more than an instant. Even Divine Treasure Realm experts could easily lose their lives while roaming the vast wilderness, so every departure was an ordeal for the women of the tribe.

Where there was joy, there was naturally sorrow. Women cradled bloodstained men in their arms, but no matter how heartrendingly they cried out, those men showed no sign of life again. Even the tribal warriors around them had reddened eyes. Comrades who had fought shoulder to shoulder were now separated by life and death in the space of a single day.

The women wailed, blood staining their black hair as they continued to cling tightly to the men in their arms.

Where in the vast wilderness was there a place of peace? For any warrior, every return from a journey brought the feeling of having survived a calamity.

Qingyang Huan had not left either. He followed his eldest brother past each fallen tribal warrior. Though they had caught the Wood Race completely off guard this time, the Qingyang Clan had still lost twenty-three tribal warriors, with over a hundred wounded.

"Uncle!"

Qingyang Huan murmured. This was a middle-aged man with a great hole torn through his chest. Holding his bloodstained hand, Qingyang Huan called softly to him, but he could no longer wake the man.

Before the middle-aged man, a boy in his early teens knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly.

Soon, the twenty-three fallen tribal warriors were laid in wooden coffins. Tomorrow, they would be buried deep within the Qingyang Mountain Range.

Only after everything had been settled did Qingyang Huan and his eldest brother head toward the clan hall.

"A thousand-year tree heart. Good stuff!"

Inside the clan hall, Qingyang Jue held the green thousand-year tree heart, excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Grand Elder, there's finally a cure for the injuries you've carried for decades. Perhaps the plant essence within this tree heart can nourish your body anew and let you advance another step. Our Qingyang Clan will advance another step as well!"

As he spoke, Qingyang Jue handed the tree heart to the Grand Elder, whose cloudy eyes likewise shone with excitement.

He was already over a hundred years old, and his body's blood Qi had begun to decline. If nothing changed, in another dozen years or so, even his peak Divine Treasure Realm cultivation would slip away completely.

In fact, this was also why the Qingyang Clan had stopped at nothing to slaughter the Wood Race after learning of them. The Grand Elder was simply in too dire a need of precious medicine to heal his injuries.

Precious medicines were hard to find in the vast wilderness. When ordinary tribal warriors were injured, the tribe could only grind up beast bones and boil them into a healing powder, applying it directly to external wounds. Against injuries accumulated over the years, it was utterly powerless. Now, however, there was hope!

"Qingyang Luan, handle the tribe's affairs for the next few days. I'll help the Grand Elder enter seclusion and refine the plant essence. Our Qingyang Clan is about to gain another Spirit Seizing Realm expert. When that happens, the neighboring tribes, Surging Cloud, Fire Dragon, and the others, will have to retreat three leagues!"

Neither Qingyang Huan nor his brother was the least surprised by Qingyang Jue's words. They knew their father all too well. Whatever it was, he would only feel at ease once it was firmly in his grasp.

As the saying went, father and son were one. Qingyang Huan's habit of refusing to let go of an opportunity once he saw it had come from his father. To put it less kindly, whenever an opportunity appeared, he had to get a share, and only when he had seized it and gained something tangible would he feel at ease.

Aside from its ruthlessness, a wolf's greatest strength was its persistence. If it failed once, it would try again, until it had the meat between its teeth. This time, however, the Qingyang Tribe had won a sweeping victory in a single strike.

"This seclusion will take some time. Watch yourself when you go out, brat. Your old man doesn't want to see the white-haired bury the black-haired."

As he said this, Qingyang Jue's gaze settled on Qingyang Huan. Though his words were hardly pleasant, Qingyang Huan had long since grown used to his father's rough manner. Most importantly, next time he would not have to sneak out!

"This old man has benefited from Huan'er's good fortune this time. Child, remember that the Qingyang Clan is your home. Any enemy you face on the road ahead is an enemy of all Qingyang. Even if each of Qingyang's thirty thousand tribespeople has to take a bite, we will tear their flesh from their bones."

Patting Qingyang Huan once more, the Grand Elder rose and walked out of the clan hall.

"And another thing, little brat. Neither your father nor I will ask where you got that cultivation art you brought out the day before yesterday. This old man is going into seclusion now. If I'm fortunate enough to advance to the Spirit Seizing Realm when I emerge, I'll become your Dao protector. Here in the Ancient Land of La Mountain, if anyone dares lay a treacherous hand on Qingyang's offspring, even if it kills me, I'll drag them down with me!"

"Grandpa Elder!"

Looking at the Grand Elder's slightly stooped back, Qingyang Huan felt his nose sting, only to see the old man burst into laughter.

"Little brat, just remember that these ten li of Qingyang Mountain are your home. Your enemies are the enemies of all Qingyang, and the safety of all Qingyang is your responsibility!"

Qingyang Jue followed the Grand Elder out of the clan hall and vanished into the night, leaving only the two brothers inside.

"Eldest Brother!"

Qingyang Huan looked at his elder brother and saw the young man give him a simple, honest smile.

"Little Brother, your enemies are your eldest brother's enemies too!"

Though they had not said so outright, ever since Qingyang Huan had brought out that cultivation art the day before yesterday and manifested the Slaughter Bone Rune, Qingyang Jue and the Grand Elder had naturally noticed the difference.

A true genius would not remain buried in a small place. From that moment, they had understood that the ten-thousand-li Qingyang Ridge Territory could not hold Qingyang Huan.

Yet the Qingyang Clan, seemingly mighty and renowned as the ruler of ten thousand li, had only some standing within the Ancient Land of La Mountain. Even so, through those simple words, his father and the Grand Elder had made their stance clear.

"Little Brother, Father said you can take your pick of the blood Qi essence from today's hunt to temper your body first. Enter the Body Casting Extreme Realm as soon as possible and develop the strength of a flood dragon. From now on, the Qingyang Tribe will spare no effort to support your cultivation. Whatever you need, Qingyang will do everything it can to supply it!"

Earlier, Qingyang Huan had also told his father and the Grand Elder that he was cultivating anew and intended to enter the Body Casting Extreme Realm within two years. Clearly, Qingyang's two leaders had already decided to support him with everything they had!

"Eldest Brother, I'm going to cultivate."

He had wanted to say something, but the words stopped at his lips. Qingyang Huan spoke to his eldest brother, then headed out of the hall.

Some things did not need to be said. Qingyang was where he had grown up. This was his tribe, his clansmen, his family!

Leaving the clan hall, he went straight to where the Wood Race's blood and bones had been placed. Paying no heed to his surroundings, he sat cross-legged on a slab of bluestone, bathed in starlight, and began drawing in the Wood Race's blood Qi essence!

The martial path's Body Forging Realm was, at its heart, the tempering of one's own body, the refining of flesh, blood, and blood Qi essence. Naturally, the greater the degree of refinement, the greater the strength.

Wisps of pure blood Qi were drawn out and entered his body through his pores.

The Wood Race's blood Qi was indeed exceptionally gentle. Threads of blood Qi passed through the depths of his flesh without that violent, stabbing pain.

He stored all this blood Qi within his body without beginning to refine his flesh and blood. He planned to accumulate it to the limit, then use the stimulation of the Slaughter Bone Rune within him to penetrate the flesh and blood of his entire body in one stroke!

The gentle blood Qi seeped into his body, forming clusters of blood Qi. Soon, a bloody glow welled out from beneath his beast-hide robe, coarse, hemp-like patterns appearing across his flesh as though it had wrinkled.

The Qingyang Tribe intended to support his growth in strength with everything it had, and he felt no resistance to that. From the moment he was born, he had enjoyed the best treatment the Qingyang Tribe could offer, because he was its young chief.

Likewise, because he was the Qingyang Tribe's young chief, protecting Qingyang had unknowingly been branded upon his heart from the time he first began to remember things-and the prerequisite for all of this was to grow stronger!