Surging Cloud's purpose, the purple marten returns!

In mere moments, the black-feathered goshawks that had lived on Golden Eagle Cliff for more than a decade were swept away, and the dozen or so people from the Wandering Cloud Tribe gathered together and lit a bonfire.

Watching the Wandering Cloud Tribe warriors converse from afar, Qingyang Huan dared not approach to listen, though he was indeed very interested in the purpose of their visit.

The Qingyang Clan ruled ten thousand li of land, neighboring Surging Cloud to the west. The relationship between the two tribes was actually little different from that with the Inkstone Mountain Tribe; struggles between tribes were commonplace.

But all of this remained within controllable bounds, and the two tribes also maintained exchanges. After all, sheltering the vast land was the responsibility of great tribes like theirs.

Even though Qingyang and Inkstone Mountain had clashed a few days earlier, such things were commonplace to the surrounding great tribes, including the Wandering Cloud Tribe. Perhaps the very next moment, the great tribes would have to unite to defend the land.

Soon, Qingyang Huan understood why the Wandering Cloud Tribe had come to Qingyang. His gaze settled on the two youths besides Yun Caiyue, who were about his age.

The Wandering Cloud Tribe had brought its youths to Qingyang with intentions less innocent than a simple visit. Was this not about seeing Qingyang humiliated? Although the great tribes had no established custom, martial sparring between their youths was frequent.

The most recent occasion had been several years earlier, and Qingyang Huan still remembered it. Yet at this moment, he unconsciously forgot that it had been the Qingyang Tribe visiting the Fire Dragon Tribe that time.

In any case, when a tribe had exceptionally gifted youths, it would take them to another tribe to show off. Clearly, Surging Cloud's purpose was just that: to flaunt its talents before the Qingyang Tribe and deal a blow to Qingyang's morale. After all, with someone possessing the Azure Moon Physique holding the field, they seemed more than capable of suppressing the Qingyang Clan's youths of the same generation.

The name of Yun Caiyue of the Wandering Cloud Tribe had long since spread throughout the nearby great tribes. The Azure Moon Physique was a genuine special physique, and rumors even spoke of extraordinary manifestations accompanying it. But this was already a secret of the Wandering Cloud Tribe; without truly fighting Yun Caiyue, no one could know the Azure Moon Physique's actual wonders.

Seeing this, Qingyang Huan formed a plan. Since the Wandering Cloud Tribe intended to swagger onto Qingyang Mountain and flaunt its might like a tiger, he would naturally show them no courtesy.

He soon signaled Jin Wei with a glance, and the two quietly withdrew. The Wandering Cloud Tribe had several Divine Treasure Realm guards, as well as an elder whose depths he could not fathom. None of them were people he could challenge now.

Since he knew the Wandering Cloud Tribe was going to Qingyang to issue a challenge, was there any better answer than to beat them back with overwhelming force?

And the prerequisite for all of this was improving his strength.

The two quietly retreated five or six li. Only when they felt the Wandering Cloud Tribe's experts could no longer detect them did they sprint into the distance.

At that moment, Qingyang Huan's eyes gleamed with a ruthless light. As though he had spotted prey, his desire to contend for supremacy had been stirred.

Several dozen li from Golden Eagle Cliff, Qingyang Huan sat cross-legged beneath an ancient mountain. Faint, blood-colored radiance floated over his whole body, suffusing the space a full zhang around him.

The radiance emerged from within, manifesting between his flesh and blood vessels and merging into his flesh. His flesh gave birth to radiance, and his blood held rosy light. This was his current state.

Moreover, the ultimate limits of the first three steps of Body Casting had far exceeded his expectations. He had originally thought he could possess fifteen thousand jin of tremendous strength, but now it had surged to seventeen thousand jin.

Yet even so, he felt far from confident about facing that girl from the Wandering Cloud Tribe. Yun Caiyue was a year older than he was, and even for ordinary warriors, a single year made a difference.

That was all the more true for young lords of great tribes like theirs, where abundant resources and high-level cultivation arts would make the gap even greater.

This was a fact he had to acknowledge. Besides, Yun Caiyue's talent was anything but ordinary. With her special physique, her talent could only be greater.

Qingyang Huan even suspected she might have advanced to the Divine Treasure Realm!

In fact, nearly a year had passed since he began cultivating Body Casting anew, and he had already returned to the Body Forging and Blood Refining Realm. That pace was by no means slow.

Sometimes, however, it was not that you cultivated slowly, but that others cultivated too quickly. That was how the gap arose.

When the first light of dawn arrived, Qingyang Huan opened his eyes, and a faint, blood-colored gleam flashed through them before vanishing.

"Let's go!"

He spoke a moment later, and Jin Wei, who had likewise been sitting cross-legged beside him with his presence restrained, opened his eyes. Although he did not know why Qingyang Huan had changed so much after seeing that group earlier, he had noticed the shift from Qingyang Huan's confused thoughts to the ruthless gleam now in his eyes.

That expression was exactly the same as when he had previously asked Jin Wei to follow him to the Qingyang Tribe.

And so Qingyang Huan roamed the wild forest, hunting ferocious beasts and drawing on their blood Qi to improve his strength, his physical power continually growing.

"Where do you think you're going!"

A day later, a thunderous shout rang out deep in the ancient forest. Immediately afterward, a streak of purple light turned into lightning and erupted among the trees, reducing every ancient tree within ten zhang to ash.

A web of electricity shimmered over the bronze spear in Qingyang Huan's hand, while his surging blood Qi became streams of light that washed down over it.

Not far from him, a purple marten a foot long held its two little paws over its mouth and squeaked. Its bright eyes blinked, as though mocking him.

Despite the cleansing rush of blood Qi, every hair on Qingyang Huan's body still stood on end beneath the lightning.

He had never expected to encounter this purple marten again!

Its lightning techniques seemed even stronger than before, and its intelligence had grown more humanlike. He actually saw a trace of mockery in its eyes.

Whoosh!

Another streak of purple light shot toward him. He abandoned his bronze spear, seized the Stone Spear on his back, and smashed it down at the purple marten.

Bang!

The purple marten flew sideways. As its bright little eyes looked at the Stone Spear, they held a dazed expression, something more like timid fear.

Immediately afterward, purple light flashed over the marten again amid a burst of crackling sounds. A bolt of purple lightning gathered, and Qingyang Huan instantly retreated.

Yet when it saw Qingyang Huan retreat, the purple lightning shrouding its body vanished as well.

"What a clever little beast!"

At that moment, even Jin Wei, who stood far away without intervening, could not help speaking. Seeing the two of them, the purple marten was greatly startled. With a whoosh, its entire little body darted up an ancient tree ten zhang away.

Its two little paws waved furiously, however, as though it was deeply displeased either by Jin Wei calling it a beast or by Qingyang Huan having a helper.

Qingyang Huan was not surprised by the purple marten's cleverness. How unintelligent could a little marten be if it knew how to drive ferocious beasts into attacking a swamp?

His desire to kill it now faded, and he wanted instead to capture it alive. Such a clever little beast surely possessed extraordinary intelligence. Perhaps it could even become a guardian war beast of the Qingyang Clan.

Yet just as this thought surfaced, the purple marten ten zhang away gave a squeak, then turned into a streak of light and vanished into the depths of the ancient forest, as though it had sensed his thoughts.

"After it!"

Yet after chasing it for several li, Qingyang Huan could find no trace of the purple marten. In the end, he had to give up. He believed it would appear again.

Unexpectedly, his thought soon became reality. Less than half a day later, the purple marten appeared again, but this time it was not alone. Behind its darting form, two figures crashed through the ancient forest in close pursuit.

"I never expected this trip to Qingyang Mountain would let us encounter such a clever exotic beast. It looks as though it's developed lightning Bone Runes."

"Whether we tame it as a war beast or take its Bone Runes to refine into our own bodies, nothing could be better. Catch it."

Two figures whistled through the forest. Several dozen zhang ahead of them, a purple marten bounded along, sometimes looking back at its two pursuers and sometimes sniffing with its little nose before changing direction.

Finally, its eyes brightened. A flash of lightning shone over its body and shot backward, directly destroying a swath of ancient forest, while its little body became a purple streak fleeing at full speed.

And several li ahead in the direction it was fleeing, Qingyang Huan and Jin Wei were heading toward it.