Under the guidance of the shaman Mo Hua, Dan Zhu and Chi Feng, leading their barbarian soldiers, began to attack another sub-tribe of the Shugu.

In their initial confrontation, Dan Zhu gained the upper hand.

Clad in his Xuahuo Lingyi, glowing red like a celestial warrior, he charged back and forth through the Shugu sub-tribe’s ranks, slaying many Shugu barbarians. For a time, he was unstoppable, unmatched by anyone.

The barbarian general Chi Feng merely held the line, not engaging aggressively in combat.

He knew his purpose for this expedition was not to charge and kill enemies, but to support from the sidelines and protect the young master Dan Zhu.

On the battlefield, swords and blades are blind, and fire and water are merciless; no one knows where the danger of life and death might come from.

Therefore, Chi Feng’s gaze was sharp and focused.

Chi Feng held the line while Dan Zhu rampaged.

After hundreds of rounds of fighting, despite killing many enemies, they still failed to capture the Shugu sub-tribe.

Mo Hua watched from a distance, observing that the Shugu sub-tribe had nearly a thousand barbarian soldiers.

Among the throng of barbarian soldiers were six Golden Cores. Although all were in the early stage, their cultivation was profound, and their auras grew stranger with each one, their faces painted with similar eerie bone makeup.

Among these six, three were barbarian body cultivators, and three were witch cultivators.

The body cultivators charged at the front, with the witch cultivators casting spells from the rear. Their auras were interconnected. Although they were temporarily at a disadvantage, cruel smiles and a touch of malevolence lingered on their faces.

Mo Hua’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He could perceive a faint aura of an evil god flowing through these six Shugu Golden Cores.

This meant that this Shugu sub-tribe had begun to “degenerate,” and their barbarian god had started to “become evil.”

And this evil god’s aura also reciprocated, strengthening its followers.

These Golden Cores had clearly grown stronger due to the evil energy.

At this moment, facing Dan Zhu, though at a disadvantage, they were not anxious, clearly not intending to reveal all their trump cards in the first encounter.

They were also observing Dan Zhu, looking for weaknesses.

After another few hundred rounds of fighting, Mo Hua ordered a retreat.

The strength of this Shugu sub-tribe was stronger than Mo Hua had anticipated, so they could not rush to achieve success.

The Danque tribe then set up camp thirty li away.

Mo Hua asked Tie Shugu if he recognized those six Golden Cores.

If they were ordinary Golden Cores, they would naturally be nothing special. But those six, with their interconnected auras, had clearly cultivated some strange secret technique, indicating they were not ordinary individuals.

Tie Shugu looked solemn, even a little incredulous, saying:

“Those six, they seem to be the ‘Shugu Six Freaks’…”

“The Shugu Six Freaks?”

Tie Shugu nodded, “These six are brothers, blood-related, cultivating the same secret technique. They have a bit of a reputation in the Shugu tribe, and generally, no one dares to provoke them. However, this is not their tribal camp, so I don’t know why these six would be here…”

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

Was the Shugu tribe in internal turmoil?

Had they begun to annex and suppress each other internally?

If so, it would be troublesome.

Internal strife in the Shugu tribe meant their power structure was shifting, and the norms for the sub-tribes and main tribes might no longer be accurate.

Even if he wanted to divine, he needed to know the opportune time, the geographical advantage, and the karmic state of “people.”

With the situation in chaos, Mo Hua found it difficult to accurately assess the true strength of each tribe.

Thinking of this, Mo Hua suddenly felt a little puzzled and asked Tie Shugu:

“Does your Shugu tribe truly have a unified Great Chieftain?”

Tie Shugu replied, “This… of course, there is.”

Mo Hua asked him, “Do you all obey the Great Chieftain’s orders?”

Tie Shugu nodded, “That is… natural.”

Mo Hua looked at him indifferently.

Tie Shugu had no choice but to speak some “disrespectful” truths:

“Only in front of the Great Chieftain do we obey his words. If the Great Chieftain is not present and we cannot hear him speak, then naturally we don’t have to obey.”

Mo Hua’s expression was subtle. “What if he sends you an order?”

Tie Shugu said, “The one delivering the order is not the Great Chieftain, so what he says is naturally not the Great Chieftain’s words. If it’s not the Great Chieftain’s words, then there’s no need to listen…”

Mo Hua momentarily felt that this Tie Shugu was truly a “talent.”

Full of crooked logic, yet it somehow made sense.

Quite similar to himself…

However, this also precisely indicated that the Shugu internal structure was indeed very loose.

The Great Chieftain’s power did not spread widely, nor was it sufficiently concentrated.

Wandering tribes like Tie Shugu dared to obey only “direct orders” and not “transmitted orders.”

And to this extent, the Shugu tribe could still maintain a superficial “unity” without falling apart, which somewhat shocked Mo Hua.

Mo Hua couldn’t help but ask Tie Shugu, “Have you never thought about simply splitting up, each carving out a territory, and not obeying the Great Chieftain’s orders?”

Tie Shugu quickly replied, “We wouldn’t dare.”

Mo Hua asked, “Is it that you don’t dare, or you don’t want to?”

Tie Shugu cupped his hands and said, “It’s both that we don’t dare and we don’t want to.”

Seeing Mo Hua’s surprised expression, Tie Shugu devoutly explained:

“Disobeying tribal orders and betraying the Great Chieftain will incur the ‘Divine Punishment’ of the Barbarian God.”

“Within the Shugu tribe, we can kill each other, plunder each other, and seize each other’s territory.”

“But the Great Chieftain is unique, because the Great Chieftain is the leader chosen by the ‘Barbarian God,’ and the Barbarian God’s decisions are unquestionable.”

Mo Hua’s expression remained unchanged as he pondered.

It seemed that while the Shugu tribe, like the Danque tribe, was a third-rank large tribe, the composition of its tribal power and its system were clearly very different.

The Danque tribe worshipped not a barbarian god, but a mythical beast totem.

The core of the Danque tribe was also power; their faith was more about loyalty to the Great Wilderness Royal Court.

However, the core of the Shugu tribe was faith.

The strength of the Shugu tribe was not top-tier among third-rank tribes, its cohesion was not strong, and it had a large territory, numerous people, and a complex composition.

A unified belief in the barbarian god bound together these “loose” Shugu main tribes, proper tribes, sub-tribes, small tribes, external tribes, wandering tribes, secret tribes, remnant tribes, and so on, maintaining the Shugu tribe’s outward unity.

Of course, their faith was actually “scattered,” they just believed it was “unified.”

A not-so-unified faith maintained the unity of the tribe.

Even Mo Hua found it quite amazing.

Mo Hua’s heart stirred slightly, and he asked again, “Does your Shugu tribe have any history?”

Tie Shugu shook his head, “‘Shugu’ means ‘wandering bones,’ referring to a tribe formed by barbarian cultivators without heritage or origin gathering together…”

“So that’s how it is…” Mo Hua murmured softly.

The “alliance” of the Shugu tribe was of this form.

Mo Hua then asked, “But you must have ancestors, right? Where did your ancestors come from?”

“Ancestors…” Tie Shugu thought for a moment, finding it somewhat inglorious and a bit hesitant to speak, but finally said:

“It is said that initially… the ancestors of the Shugu tribe were all low-ranking slaves exiled to the edge of the Endless Abyss, surviving by scavenging the bones of various demonic beasts and licking the residual meat from the bones.”

Mo Hua’s pupils sharply contracted. “What did you say?!”

Tie Shugu, unaware of what he had said wrong, panicked and quickly said, “What… what did I say?”

Mo Hua realized he had lost his composure, so he composed himself and slowly asked:

“You mean, the ancestors of the Shugu tribe… were slaves exiled to the edge of the Endless Abyss?”

Tie Shugu thought for a moment, finding nothing wrong with the sentence. Although unwilling to admit it, he nodded and said:

“Having committed a crime and being exiled, naturally they were low-ranking slaves.”

Mo Hua’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked again, “Have you been to the Endless Abyss?”

Tie Shugu shook his head: “I only know that the Endless Abyss is a land of great disaster, the source of chaos in the Great Wilderness. How could I possibly go to such a place, and I wouldn’t dare…”

Mo Hua nodded slightly, looked up at Tie Shugu’s humble expression, felt a little pity, and decided not to trouble him further. He said:

“You may go.”

Tie Shugu breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands, and said, “Yes, Shaman.” Then he respectfully left.

After Tie Shugu left, Mo Hua watched his retreating figure, lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly frowned.

That strange feeling resurfaced in his heart.

He always felt that there was something awkward about Tie Shugu, no matter how he looked at him.

But he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was awkward.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then temporarily put this doubt aside.

The rest of his time was spent thinking about how to deal with the somewhat sinister “Shugu Six Freaks.”

Six brothers, all Golden Cores, having learned secret techniques, their spiritual consciousness “degenerated,” carrying a trace of evil.

They were indeed very difficult to handle.

At least with his current strength, he couldn’t kill these six people.

Of course, with the Lifetaker star in him, he was not qualified to kill anyone now.

“Let’s try fighting them first…” Mo Hua thought to himself.

The next day, the two sides began to battle again.

Dan Zhu led the attack, while the Shugu Six Freaks defended.

Mo Hua was pondering how to deal with the tricky “Shugu Six Freaks,” but he found that the situation was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

The Shugu Six Freaks were completely suppressed by Dan Zhu.

Even though there were six Golden Cores, even though they had learned some unknown secret technique, with the brothers united, attacking from afar and up close, and combining offense and defense, an inexplicable sinister blood aura permeated their bodies. Still, they were no match for Dan Zhu.

Dan Zhu alone was like a Vermilion Bird descending into flames, growing stronger with each battle.

Mo Hua was momentarily startled, then greatly pleased, realizing with a sudden understanding that he had worried too much.

Dan Zhu was truly strong.

His talent was exceptionally high, he had formed a top-grade Golden Core, and he used peak-grade magical artifacts.

Even in the Qianxue Province, he would be considered a top-tier talent.

It was just that this genius had been “tricked” by him, so he subconsciously didn’t think of Dan Zhu as too strong.

But Mo Hua understood that Dan Zhu could be tricked by him, not only because he was indeed clever and good at playing small tricks, but also because Dan Zhu was kind-hearted and willing to trust him.

Dan Zhu himself was by no means an ordinary person.

When he first went out to battle, he was indeed a bit unseasoned due to lack of experience.

But after conquering the Shugu roaming tribe, fighting Tie Shugu, defending the Shugu Stone Palace, and repeatedly clashing with Bi Jie, the genius of the Bi Fang tribe, through these rounds of fierce combat.

Dan Zhu was gradually transforming.

Dan Zhu’s strength was gradually honed.

Real combat is the best way to temper a person.

Dan Zhu’s progress was almost visible to the naked eye.

The current Shugu Six Freaks, though strong and somewhat renowned within the Shugu tribe and surrounding tribes, were considered “formidable enemies.”

But they were still completely incomparable to the genius Dan Zhu.

In fact, Mo Hua even found Dan Zhu’s talent to be outrageous.

He had a good family background, was handsome, possessed extraordinary talent, formed a Golden Core at the age of twenty, and it was a top-grade one, using the highest-tier Vermilion Bird magical artifacts.

As for himself, with a middle-to-low spiritual root, he couldn’t even hope for a good quality Golden Core. And what kind of magical artifact he would end up with was anyone’s guess.

Indeed, comparing oneself to others only leads to frustration…

Mo Hua couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

But on the other hand, this was also a good thing.

Dan Zhu was his person, so the stronger he was, the stronger Mo Hua would be.

Thinking this, Mo Hua’s mind suddenly broadened.

With this in mind, his subsequent plan became very simple.

It was just two words:

“Protect Dan Zhu.”

As long as Dan Zhu was protected, safe from calamity, and allowed to grow and develop, Dan Zhu himself would be able to deal with most enemies.

In fact, once Dan Zhu truly became powerful, many things wouldn’t even require Mo Hua to worry about.

As a “mastermind” behind the scenes, the most important thing was to know people and use them wisely.

Mo Hua nodded in deep agreement.

The battle in the arena continued.

Dan Zhu was very strong, displaying great divine power and sweeping all before him, but the Danque tribe was ultimately at a numerical disadvantage, and the Shugu Six Freaks were not weak either.

Ultimately, there was an advantage, but it couldn’t be converted into a “decisive victory,” and the camp couldn’t be breached.

Mo Hua estimated that they would need to “wear them down” for a while longer, so he again ordered a retreat.

After retreating, Mo Hua didn’t say much, simply telling Dan Zhu to rest well.

After returning to his room, he began to divine for good and ill fortune.

He calculated whether Dan Zhu would encounter ambushes, sneak attacks, or injuries in tomorrow’s battle, as well as various other dangers, even whether he would face a premonition of death.

Divining an entire battle, involving timing, terrain, and the deployment and changes of both sides’ forces.

The specific situation was complex, consuming a lot of divine sense and karmic computing power, making the calculation slow and arduous, with the risk of divine sense exhaustion.

Mo Hua dared not perform such calculations every day.

But calculating for Dan Zhu alone significantly reduced the difficulty.

He just needed to ensure that every time Dan Zhu went into battle, it would be a “great auspicious omen,” or at least a “minor auspicious” one.

This was also a way to expand the use of karmic techniques and deepen his understanding of human destiny and fate.

Using his own heavenly secret technique to protect Dan Zhu’s life and death karma.

After the divination, with the results, Mo Hua ordered Dan Zhu to continue attacking the Shugu tribe the next day, telling him to unleash his full power without worrying about anything else.

Dan Zhu nodded happily.

Chi Feng, however, was wary.

On the battlefield, one must not be careless, underestimate the enemy, or act rashly. Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit. Allowing young master Dan Zhu to unleash his full power was somewhat dangerous.

But he looked at Mo Hua and said nothing.

Shaman Mo Hua’s actions were guided by divine oracle; his words were generally not wrong.

Moreover, with himself holding the line, young master Dan Zhu should be safe.

Just like that, the battle began again.

This time, with Mo Hua’s permission, Dan Zhu fought even more fiercely, charging through the Shugu barbarian soldiers as if entering an unmanned territory.

The Shugu Six Freaks grew increasingly enraged, yet they couldn’t contain Dan Zhu.

The Shugu tribe’s ranks were also thrown into chaos by Dan Zhu.

Ultimately, Dan Zhu led his team, repeatedly charging to the Shugu tribe’s camp gate, even almost breaking through the Shugu tribe’s main entrance.

But in the end, it was all for naught, as the Shugu Six Freaks united their efforts, unleashing their eerie green bone-dissolving evil art, and forcibly held him back.

Dan Zhu retreated, but the morale of the Danque tribe soared.

However, the next day, Mo Hua did not allow Dan Zhu to attack.

Because he had calculated that if they attacked the Shugu tribe again today, Dan Zhu would fall into an ambush, becoming surrounded by the Shugu Six Freaks. Even if he didn’t die, he would definitely be injured.

This would be a loss greater than the gain.

Mo Hua couldn’t bear to let Dan Zhu fall into the hands of the Shugu Six Freaks.

Even if the Shugu Six Freaks were all killed in the end, it wouldn’t make up for Dan Zhu’s injury.

Mo Hua directly ordered Dan Zhu to cease fighting. “Rest today, no combat.”

Dan Zhu was surprised, but still obediently said, “Okay, Shaman.”

The Shugu tribe’s meticulously prepared ambush, after feigning weakness, thus went to waste.

The hot water in the pot was ready, but the duck never came.

The Shugu Six Freaks felt an inexplicable bewilderment.

After that, Dan Zhu was ordered by Mo Hua to “rest” for two days. On the third day, Mo Hua finally nodded and said:

“Alright, continue the fight.”

Dan Zhu was overjoyed and led the barbarian soldiers to attack.

Meanwhile, the Shugu Six Freaks, having grown complacent due to Dan Zhu’s lack of aggression, had already dismantled their prepared traps.

But soon after they removed them, Dan Zhu immediately arrived, catching them off guard again.

The Shugu Six Freaks were not only enraged but also terrified.

They hastily engaged in battle, fiercely fighting Dan Zhu. Scorched by the Vermilion Bird’s Xuanhuo, after hundreds of rounds, almost everyone was wounded and fled back to their camp in defeat.

The following days were much the same.

Mo Hua divined, predicting good and ill fortune.

If there was no danger, he would let Dan Zhu fight.

If there was danger, he would have Dan Zhu focus on defense, only guarding and not attacking, cultivating battlefield alertness.

If it was very dangerous, he would directly call off the battle, not even letting them leave the gate.

In this way, all of the Shugu Six Freaks’ sinister methods were dissolved invisibly, and all their prepared ambushes and schemes died in the cradle before seeing the light of day.

And Dan Zhu’s timing for each attack happened to hit their “pain points” perfectly.

The Shugu Six Freaks were terrified beyond measure.

From their perspective, Dan Zhu was actually the powerful “villain boss,” young and arrogant, with dazzling talent and extremely strong combat power. And now, he was not only powerful in combat but also possessed incredibly good “luck.”

All dangers avoided him, and he could turn misfortune into good fortune.

This was someone blessed with “great destiny.”

Fear arose in the hearts of the Shugu Six Freaks, and they were also cowed by Dan Zhu’s killing. Finally, during a battle seven days later, after Dan Zhu, clad in his Xuahuo Lingyi and seemingly “blessed by destiny,” directly slew one of them.

The remaining Shugu “Five Freaks” all turned pale and immediately abandoned their camp and fled.

The remaining Shugu barbarian soldiers were even less a match for Dan Zhu.

Many people knelt before Dan Zhu.

Others scattered like monkeys when a tree falls, each fleeing for their lives.

This Shugu sub-tribe was now officially conquered.

Dan Zhu asked Mo Hua, “Shaman Mo, should we pursue those Shugu Golden Cores?”

Mo Hua calculated with his fingers, finding the outcome unpredictable, and shook his head, “Don’t pursue a cornered enemy, there’s no need.”

Dan Zhu nodded, “Understood.”

Chi Feng, standing nearby, also looked much more respectful.

During these days, he had witnessed the “Shaman Mo’s” decisions regarding the war, and he was filled with admiration.

This further solidified his belief that “Shaman Mo’s decisions are infallible and unshakeable.”

Afterwards, Dan Zhu led his Danque tribe and officially occupied this Shugu sub-tribe.

But the situation within the Shugu sub-tribe made Mo Hua frown.

It was too poor, and too miserable.

These people probably weren’t doing well to begin with, and after the Shugu Six Freaks forcibly occupied the territory, they exploited them even more harshly.

Not only were the barbarian slaves treated worse than pigs and dogs, but even some low-level Shugu barbarian cultivators were in rags, worse off than cattle and horses.

These people all, more or less, showed signs of “eating” humans.

But this kind of eating wasn’t them intentionally killing people to eat; they were simply so starved that they picked up bones left by others who had eaten humans, just to suck a little bit of meat residue.

It was barbaric, cruel, and at the same time, tragic.

Furthermore, the “barbarian god” here also disappointed Mo Hua.

This barbarian god had indeed “degenerated,” but not deeply, and it was only a second-rank god.

After Mo Hua “ate” it, he only barely filled a gap in his teeth; his divine sense increased a little, but not significantly.

“Not all sub-tribes can produce a third-rank barbarian god…”

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

But since it had been conquered, he couldn’t just abandon it.

After all, these were “human lives.”

Mo Hua could only find ways to help these Shugu barbarian cultivators and slaves, who still retained some conscience, live a better life.

Such major public affairs were naturally Dan Zhu’s responsibility.

Mo Hua entrusted all the specific minor details to Tie Shugu.

After all, Tie Shugu was once the leader of a Shugu roaming tribe, so he was perfectly suited to manage the settlement of these lower-level Shugu cultivators.

After that, Tie Shugu faithfully carried out all of Mo Hua’s orders, not daring to show any defiance, and everything he did was very appropriate.

Mo Hua was very satisfied.

But the more satisfied he was, the stronger that “sense of incongruity” grew within him.

He always felt that there was something off about his attitude towards Tie Shugu.

It was an ineffable feeling, but one that was almost instinctive.

Tie Shugu stood bowed and respectfully below.

Mo Hua looked at the “obedient and sensible” Tie Shugu, reflecting on his own divine consciousness, and after much thought, his heart suddenly trembled as he realized the problem:

“Why… didn’t I kill him?”

No, more accurately, it was…

“Why did I never even consider… killing him?”

“In fact, why did the thought never cross my mind from beginning to end?”

Not killing him was fine, because he genuinely couldn’t kill people now, and Tie Shugu was still useful.

But never even “thinking” about it, that was a huge problem.

Mo Hua’s gaze gradually deepened.

(End of this chapter)