In the hall of Clan Chief Chen Hongjie's house.
Ever since the Five Elements Body Tempering Art was introduced, the strength of Chen Village's villagers had advanced by leaps and bounds. Chen Hongjie and several other pillars of the village had all broken through to become Seventh-Duan Martial Artists, one after another.
The younger generation was even more remarkable. Over the past three years, more than a dozen new martial artists had emerged, and Chen Village's overall strength had risen from the lower-middle ranks of low-level tribes to the upper-middle ranks.
"Haha! More and more clansmen are attending our clan meetings. Looks like it's time to arrange an expansion of my living room."
Chen Hongjie laughed heartily from the seat of honor. The twenty-odd seats below him were arranged in two rows on either side, and the room did indeed look a little cramped.
By Chen Village's inherited rules, anyone who became a martial artist was qualified to attend clan meetings. The meetings had always been held at the clan chief's house, which was why Chen Hongjie made the remark.
Though he was remarking on the crowd, Chen Hongjie's voice was filled with immense pride.
"I believe you've all guessed why I've gathered everyone here this time."
The calm in Chen Hongjie's eyes suddenly gave way to overflowing killing intent. "This time, I intend to wipe out the Black Water Tribe completely!
"I've never forgotten the grudge from three years ago! Now that we have enough strength, we must make them pay their blood debt in blood!"
"I support it!"
"We should have done this long ago!"
"I support it! We must make them pay their blood debt in blood!"
Chen Hongjie's proposal immediately won the approval of the entire village. In fact, many villagers had long wanted revenge, but Chen Hongjie had always wanted to wait until Chen Village's foundations were a little more secure before making a move.
"Good! This time, we'll give them a taste of their own medicine. Tonight, we'll launch a surprise attack on the Black Water Tribe's settlement and catch them all in one net!"
"No problem! I'll lead the charge and make sure not a single one of them is left standing!"
Chen Honglie, the old clan chief's nephew, had always been the most eager to wipe out the Black Water Tribe, and he immediately spoke up.
"Good!" Chen Hongjie nodded to Chen Honglie.
"In this attack on the Black Water Tribe, we must keep our casualties to an absolute minimum. Chen Village has a small population, after all, and we can't afford the losses!"
With that, Chen Hongjie turned his gaze to Chen Mu. "A Mu, do you have any good suggestions?"
Chen Mu shrugged indifferently and walked over to the map stand in the center of the hall.
"Here's my plan! Tonight, we won't attack through the main gate. We'll go this way instead..."
As he spoke, he gestured with his hands and laid out the surprise attack he had planned long ago.
Although Chen Mu had never led troops into battle, he had played plenty of real-time strategy games in his previous life. Though it was somewhat like discussing military tactics on paper, he was still far better at it than the people of a primitive tribe like Chen Village.
Besides, with so many people present, any mistakes in what he said were quickly pointed out. After a heated discussion, a carefully devised battle plan was settled on.
"Good! I never expected you to speak so knowledgeably about warfare too, A Mu. If my son can be half as clever as you in the future, I'll be satisfied!"
Chen Hongjie looked at Chen Mu with eyes full of gratification. He had only had a son a few months ago, and becoming a father had made him steadier than before and more attentive to raising the next generation.
At the fourth watch, before dawn, in the Black Water Tribe's settlement.
The primitive tribe was quiet on all sides at night, and everything seemed peaceful.
Several tribesmen on patrol were secretly dozing, unaware that a terrible attack was about to befall them.
Whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Suddenly, more than a dozen flaming arrows came down from the sky, setting many buildings ablaze.
The patrolling tribesmen jolted awake and frantically beat the bronze gongs in their hands.
"Attack! We're under attack! Everyone, get up and put out the fire!"
It was autumn, and the dry weather made the flames spread quickly, waking many people from deep sleep.
Everyone immediately threw themselves into fighting the fire.
Huyan Qing, the Black Water Tribe's chief, rushed out of his house. Seeing the flames spreading everywhere, he had an ominous feeling.
"Which direction did the arrows come from? You lot, come with me! Everyone else, keep fighting the fire!"
After shouting the orders, he gathered several of the tribe's strongest fighters and charged in the direction the rain of arrows had come from.
He had only gone a short distance when an earth-shaking explosion suddenly erupted behind him.
Boom!!
The wooden palisade at the rear of their village had been blasted apart.
Immediately afterward, more than a dozen mounted figures charged through the gap in the palisade, slaughtering everyone who tried to stop them.
"Come on, we're going back! We have to save them!"
The people of the Black Water Tribe were all fighting the fire and were scattered in complete disarray. He knew that if he did not go back, they would be utterly unable to organize an effective resistance.
Chen Mu was one of the leaders among the dozen or so riders.
He was riding on the back of a demonic beast with dragon horns on its head. It resembled a horse but was not quite one, and its body was covered in scales. It ran as fast as lightning, and Chen Mu had gone to great lengths to subdue it. It was an early third-tier demonic beast, a Dragon-Horned Horse.
Chen Mu was brimming with killing intent and showed the Black Water Tribe's people no mercy. In such a melee, the cavalry almost completely crushed the tribesmen, who were still in disarray and half-dressed. In moments, they had slaughtered them until their ranks collapsed.
Behind the cavalry, seventy or eighty Chen Village warriors charged in after them, killing the fish that had slipped through the net and escaped the cavalry's pursuit.
"Hahaha, Huyan Qing, when you attacked my Chen Village, did you ever think this day would come?"
Chen Honglie had been fighting at the very front. When he saw Huyan Qing coming back to help, he immediately took several men and went to meet him.
"Chen Honglie!! Good! What a deep-laid plan you have! Even if my Black Water Tribe is destroyed today, your Chen Village won't have an easy time of it either!"
Though the situation was against him, Huyan Qing showed no fear. He swung his saber and fought Chen Honglie.
He had watched Chen Village's development over the past few years, and had in fact long been planning a way out. But he believed Chen Village's population was too small and that it would have to wait at least another three or four years to take revenge. He had never expected its attack to come so quickly; it had caught him completely off guard.
In truth, he could see only Chen Village's outward appearance. He did not know that, under Chen Mu's management, its overall strength had improved enormously. Chen Village's progress was actually several times faster than he had anticipated.
Thud! Thud, thud!
A tremendous pounding came from the Black Water Tribe's main gate. Before long, the gate was smashed apart, and another Chen Village force, fifty or sixty strong, charged in with fierce momentum.
"Kill!!! Avenge the Chen Clan's forebears!"
Chen Hongjie led this group, riding a wolf-shaped demonic beast as he led the Chen Village warriors in a pincer attack on the Black Water Tribe's fighters.
The Chen Village warriors had traded their muskets for cannons; their equipment was beyond comparison with what they had used three years ago. Every one of them had at least a set of leather armor and a reinforced weapon. With plenty of food and a good cultivation environment as well, each person's combat strength had at least doubled compared with three years ago.