When Chen Mu introduced Mingye to Chen Duo and A Huo, they were both taken aback.
Although they had never fought Mingye, they had all witnessed her kicking Chen Mu through the gates of Chen Village that day.
Faced with such a formidable enemy, Chen Mu dared to bring her along; they didn't know whether to admire him or worry about him.
However, Chen Mu had always been the leader among the three, and since he had made his decision, the other two had no choice but to accept it.
"Sister Mingye, now that we're companions, why don't you stop wearing the mask all the time?"
Take it off and let us see what you look like.
After Chen Mu introduced everyone to each other, Chen Duo made a suggestion with a big laugh.
After Chen Duo finished speaking, Chen Mu nodded in agreement. After all, as companions, it seemed somewhat inappropriate not to even know what the other person looked like.
When Mingye was captured last time, no one took off her mask. She was too powerful, and only a few people, including Chen Mu, dared to approach her. At that time, it was all for interrogation, and no one was interested in what she looked like.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Mingye remained indifferent, but after thinking for a moment, she took off her mask.
Beneath the mask, a delicate face was revealed, with eyes like shooting stars, a high and straight nose, and lips that, though somewhat pale, were soft and smooth like jade, possessing a unique, aloof beauty that left one utterly amazed.
Wow... so beautiful! Sister Mingye, how old are you? Are you eighteen?
Chen Duo couldn't help but exclaim. Her question was actually a bit impolite, but having grown up in the Wilderness, Chen Duo hadn't learned many formalities. She asked the question purely out of curiosity and had no other intentions.
Mingye showed no dissatisfaction; instead, he answered calmly.
"After the New Year's festival, it'll be the seventeenth!"
This answer shocked Chen Mu as well. By that calculation, Mingye had already reached the Late Qi Nourishing Realm at the age of sixteen.
Just how powerful is the Flame Blessing Tribe? A random assassin they sent out could reach the Late Qi Nourishing Realm at the age of sixteen, which is already the top combat strength of most mid-level tribes.
Chen Mu gained a new understanding of the Flame Blessing Tribe's strength. There are differences even among high-level tribes, and the Flame Blessing Tribe was clearly not an ordinary high-level tribe. Just how many people like Mingye did the Flame Blessing Tribe have?
The pressure on him suddenly increased significantly, which also dampened his joy at Mingye joining the group.
What Chen Mu didn't know was that Mingye's status in the Flame Blessing Tribe was actually quite special. There weren't many people in the Flame Blessing Tribe who could reach this level of strength at her age; it just so happened that Chen Mu happened to meet her.
"Alright, now that everyone's familiar with each other, let's get some rest."
Chen Mu arranged a room for Mingye, and then went back to his room to rest.
The next day, Chen Mu and the other three got up early to have breakfast.
They were still far from the Central Land, and although they had relatively ample time to plan, they dared not be careless.
When they left, Gebu and Mazha had danced with them the night before, came out to see them off.
Women from the Wilderness are generally bolder. Mazha wanted to ask Chen Mu to talk to her alone for a few more minutes, but Chen Mu refused.
Chen Mu offered a Spirit Stone to Mazha, but Mazha refused and turned away.
He had no choice but to give the Spirit Stone to Gebu as a token, and then gave Gebu another Spirit Stone before riding away on his demonic beast.
"Brother, did you bully Mazha? She seems unhappy."
On the way, Chen Duo couldn't help but question Chen Mu. Chen Mu was quite helpless and explained for a long time before Chen Duo stopped asking questions.
Mingye remained silent the entire way. She summoned her mount, which was actually stronger than Chen Mu and the others—a fourth-tier demonic beast, the Dark Moon Wolf.
The Dark Moon Wolf is considered an evolved form of the Azure Moon Wolf. As long as the Azure Moon Wolf continues to evolve, it can generally transform into the Dark Moon Wolf.
Around noon, as they passed by a less developed tribe, they noticed something amiss.
That lesser tribe was too quiet; there wasn't a single person in sight, not even on the tribe's watchtowers.
Chen Mu stopped, looking at the silent tribe in the distance with some curiosity.
"I smell blood!"
Mingye suddenly spoke.
Chen Mu nodded and greeted everyone.
"Let's go! Let's go check out that tribe!"
When they rode their demonic beasts through the tribe's gates, they found a hellish scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Everywhere were the dead tribespeople, their deaths horribly mutilated.
Some had their heads chopped off and hung on trees.
Some were impaled on wooden poles and turned into human sticks, neatly arranged in a row.
Some had their lower bodies severed, and then crawled a long distance with their upper bodies bleeding, eventually dying from excessive blood loss.
Women and children were among those who perished, all dying tragically.
"They're bandits! Only bandits would do something like that!"
A Huo was the first to shout, his voice trembling slightly, as if he was trying his best to suppress his emotions.
Chen Mu felt a churning in his stomach and almost vomited.
Chen Duo, however, lost control and started vomiting.
On the field, only Mingye didn't react much.
"Why? Killing someone is just a matter of beheading them, why are these people doing this?"
Chen Mu had participated in many battles, killed many people, and even participated in the war that destroyed the Black Water Tribe.
But that's all for survival; the law of the Wilderness is that the strong rule, and no one is born liking killing.
But these people are clearly not after money; many of their actions are obviously unnecessary, and they seem to enjoy tormenting others.
"For deterrence!"
For once, Mingye offered them some answers.
"Bandits are generally composed of some Extreme Evil tribal people."
They didn't like managing tribes; they preferred burning, killing, and looting. Most of them had offended powerful forces and dared not stay in one place, so they constantly moved from one place to another.
To minimize casualties in battle, bandits would abuse the inhabitants of each tribe they conquered, thus spreading their notoriety.
This gives them the upper hand in negotiations, and some tribes might even be willing to offer their wealth to avoid fighting.
This was the first time Mingye had spoken so much. Although Chen Mu understood the reasoning behind it, he did not agree with it.
"Aren't they afraid of being attacked by a united tribal force?"
After saying that, even Chen Mu himself felt it was inappropriate.
Wilderness tribes ruled their own territories, and neighboring tribes were mostly enemies; how could they possibly unite?
Everyone fell silent, somewhat disheartened.
"There, there are still people alive!"
Chen Duo jumped off the Azure Moon Wolf and rushed into a pile of ruins, pulling a little girl out from under a corpse.
The little girl was about three or four years old, with big eyes, looking at Chen Duo with a somewhat blank expression.
At this moment, A Huo walked over to Chen Mu with some concern.
" A Mu, judging from the tracks, they must have just left this morning. Do you think... these bandits might have gone to the Weng Mountain Tribe?"
Chen Mu was startled upon hearing this, and recalling the traces of several large groups he had seen on his way here, he also showed a look of worry.
He glanced at the little girl Chen Duo was holding, then went over to ask her.
"Little one, do you know which way those bad guys went?"
The little girl paused, then pointed in a direction, a hint of hatred even showing on her innocent face.
"It seems we need to go back!"
The direction the little girl was pointing was the location of the Weng Mountain Tribe.