As the old Shaman spoke, he retreated without stop until he reached his six tribesmen who had come with him for this. Then he kicked them, and once those unconscious tribe members of his were kicked awake, he quickly wrapped his fist in his palm as a salute to the mountain and hastily brought them away.
His six tribesmen were all pale, and they were all filled with respect towards the mountain range where Su Ming was, while feeling that it was a mysterious place as well. As they charged back with the old man, their hearts were full of lingering fear.
Only when they were almost back to their tribe did one of the men speak after hesitating for a moment.
"Patriarch, what do we do? Should we ask the statue of our great grand Patriarch to attack?"
"Hur hur, what do we do? Why don’cha tell me what do we do, you bunch of rascals who only know how to pretend to be dead?! We have one attack left in the statue of our great grand patriarch, and that’s going to be used to frighten that Black Crane Tribe!" The monkey-faced old man glared at the man, then turned around to slap the man’s head.
"Let me tell y’all. We can’t look down on that Medial Soul Catcher. He already brought about such a presence by just activating his divine ability, even if I launch a desperate attack, there’s no use. He’s a Soul Catcher and an outsider. He can come and go as he pleases, I don’t have the confidence to kill him.
"Since that’s the case, if your old man dies, then what are you bunch of rascals going to do? What are our tribesmen supposed to do? Even if I win by some stroke of luck and he runs away, he’ll find a chance and come back to take revenge. Our tribe can’t just up and leave either. This is not a good deal." The old man stroked his beard. He no longer had that silly thought he had previously, there was instead a hint of cunning in his eyes.
"That’s why I was so busy flattering him and showed that I was respectful and afraid of him, which is why we managed to get out of a situation where we should have all died. That’s what you call adapting to the situation!" The old man’s eyes sparkled and looked towards the east.
"By the looks of it, that guy ain’t someone that old bird from Black Crane invited over. Let’s watch first. Black Crane’s old bird is a hot tempered person. He’s not as adaptable and sly as your old man. This might even be a good thing to us!" The old man smiled, then gained a serious look on his face and slapped the heads of all his tribesmen beside him.
"Let’s go home! Keep this in your heads. If I don’t say anything, don’cha dare set foot within thirty thousand feet of that mountain… Ah, make that 50,000. Make sure y’all don’t step foot within fifty thousand feet of that mountain!"
Once the old Shaman from White Bull Tribe left, Su Ming gained a few days of peace and quiet with no one coming to bother him. He immersed himself in his training, and during his free time, he would look at the moon at night and practice the Art of burning his blood.
At the day, besides observing the medicinal cauldron and observing the old Berserker’s physical condition, he also took care of his herbs. He used several of his stone chambers to plant some herbs, once he gathered some soil from nearby, and brought in some dense power of the world.
Other than that, Su Ming used the remainder of his time to study the Wind and Lightning Crystals of Inheritance, as well as trying to understand the Provenance of Wind and Origin of Lightning. He searched for a way to cast the Wind Berserker’s divine ability along with the Lightning Berserker’s Art.
Su Ming was completely immersed in his own world in that rather remote spot in the land of the Shamans, forgetting the ongoing battle between the Shamans and Berserkers, along with the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands. The only thing that existed in his mind then was that in three years, he had to make his power increase by a large margin.
Only then could he get in touch with the Immortals and search for the secret behind the word ‘Destiny’.
However, the days of peace and quiet were short lived. Seven days later, Su Ming opened his eyes where he was sitting in the cave. Holding the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in his hands, he lifted his head to look at the Fire Ape not too far away from him.
"Chase them away."
An excited look immediately appeared on the Fire Ape’s face. It patted its chest, then lifted the rod before turning into a red shadow and disappearing. Before long, that Fire Ape came back with a satisfied look on its face, then spent a long time gesturing to Su Ming.
"Alright, if there are intruders again, you can do things at your own discretion. You’re not allowed to hurt a person the first three times he comes, but if he or she comes a fourth time, go ahead and kill them." Su Ming pondered over it for a moment before he nodded his head, then continued immersing himself in trying to gain an epiphany over wind and lightning.
The Fire Ape instantly became even more excited, and with one leap, it ran out.
During the past few days, there would be a few Shamans who would come to the place and observe the periphery. Most of these people’s hair was decorated with some black feathers, a clear distinction from White Bull Tribe.
Once some of these observers came within thirty thousand feet of the mountain range, they would be beaten up by a Fire Ape who would suddenly appear while screeching and swinging the rod in its hand. Most of these Shamans were Fledgling Shamans, and even if they had some divine abilities at their disposal, the Fire Ape was too quick for them. Usually, it would close in on them in a flash, and all those who got close to it would be forced back with a crash, because they were all sent flying with a swing of the rod.
Several times after this happened, the Shamans who had feathers in their heads started to only seldom come to this place, and eventually, none of them came at all. It was as if they knew that this place was off limits and had given up on it.
On the day Su Ming had stayed in his cave abode for half a month, three long arcs charged forth from the east. The person in the lead was a middle-aged man. He looked incredibly tall and strong, and his eyes shone brilliantly. Behind him were two old men. The three of them descended about one hundred thousand feet away from where Su Ming was and stood there while staring at the towering mountain range in the distance.
"Tribe leader, we’ll reach the border once we’re seventy thousand feet away from the mountain. Our tribesmen have entered that area several times before, and that ape would suddenly appear there. It might not have killed anyone, but it was becoming more and more ruthless. The last tribesman who was struck even had his ribs broken.
"By the looks of it, if we enter its territory anymore, it will come at us with the urge to kill," one of the old men behind the middle-aged man said in a low voice.
"If White Bull Tribe can tolerate this, then it means that the person who took over this place is not any common person. Our tribe also saw the change half a month ago in this place. This person… I think we should wait for the Patriarch to return before we make a decision." The other old man hesitated for a moment before he spoke in a low voice.
"That’s right. The Patriarch has been away for almost a month. He said before he left that he’d be back in about that time. The Patriarch went out this time to bring back Madam Ji to help us destroy White Bull Tribe, we can wait a few more days."
The two old men tried to persuade him, but the middle-aged man in the middle remained silent for a long moment, then shook his head.
"The Patriarch took a large amount of the tribe’s wealth and he still doesn’t have a lot of confidence in bringing back Madam Ji of Leaping Stallion Peak. It’s a fortunate thing that most of the Shamans now are in fear, and because of the war, our resources are lacking. That’s why the Patriarch decided to go and ask Madam Ji to help us.
"But we can only ask her to attack once, and we have to use that attack to kill White Bull Tribe’s Bai Ge. We don’t have the money to pay for Madam Ji to attack twice, even if we count all the spoils of war from White Bull Tribe. Since that is the case, even if we won’t have White Bull Tribe in our way anymore, it’s still not worth it.
"We still don’t know what this person’s level of cultivation is. Besides, while the presence here has been great half a month ago, if we don’t test waters and see just what are his limits, then we won’t be able to explain ourselves to the Patriarch once he returns.
"Besides, with my power as a Medial Battle Shaman, even if I can’t win against him, he won’t be able to kill me in a short amount of time unless he is a Latter Shaman or a powerful Soul Catcher with an Undying puppet, either. Otherwise, I can still test waters.
"Don’t go into the forbidden land. Just observe from outside. I’ve already made my decision in this!" The middle-aged man spoke slowly, and fighting spirit burned in his eyes. Cracking sounds came from his body, and his entire person swelled up by a fold, making him look like a small hill. Taking huge steps, he walked towards the mountain.
With each step, the ground would tremble slightly and a murderous aura would spread from his body. It formed a force of impact that swept through the land under his feet, causing the dust to fly into the air.
His speed increased until he was eventually so fast that his movements caused loud cras.h.i.+ng noises to echo in the air. Those sounds fused together with the earth’s trembles and gathered together to form a force that charged towards the mountain range where Su Ming was.
60,000 feet, 50,000 feet, 40,000 feet… 30,000 feet!
The man traveled forth like a violent gust of wind. When he arrived at the border of 30,000 feet away from the mountain, he did not stop but took a step inside. Yet the instant his feet landed, a roar shot through the air and a red blur moved towards him. At the same time, a piercing bang that sounded as if it was causing the air to convulse charged straight towards the man.
It was a rod that was lifted high in the sky!
A glint appeared in the man’s eyes. He did not dodge but simply let out a cold snort and clenched his right hand into a fist before hurling it straight at the incoming rod. The instant his fist crashed into it, booming sounds reverberated through the air. The rod was bounced back, and even the Fire Ape was also forced back by the punch.
The man was not feeling entirely good either. His body froze for a moment, but he soon walked into the area 30,000 feet from the mountain range.
The Fire Ape roared and charged towards him again. A murderous look shone in the tribe leader’s eyes and he lifted his hands to slam them both on the ground.
The land trembled suddenly, and as it did so, it seemed to have affected the sky as well, causing ripples to appear there, which made the Fire Ape freeze for a moment.
The instant it did, the man stepped on air and swung his right leg, with a buzz, a huge force was sent charging straight at the Fire Ape.
The Fire Ape’s strength allowed it to be completely unbothered by that kick. The instant it lifted that rod and was about to fight against the man once again, the air before it suddenly distorted and Su Ming appeared so quickly that his appearance stirred up a huge gust of wind. He was dressed in black robes and wore the black mask over his face. As his hair danced in the sky, he hurled his fist towards the man’s leg.
That punch contained a little of what he had come to understand of the Provenance of Wind and Origin of Lightning during these past few days. As he hurled his fist forward, wind and lightning rumbled in the air with such great intensity that they shook the sky.
Wind caused Su Ming’s punch to be so quick that it could not be defended against! Lightning made it seem as if it contained the might of heaven! The power of his Berserker Bones exploded forth, and the instant Su Ming’s fist connected with the Shaman’s leg, the illusionary form of Han Mountain Bell appeared, as if his punch had become Han Mountain Bell itself!
A loud bang sounded in the air. The man’s right leg was instantly broken and his face immediately turned pale. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and his body was swept away by that gust of wind, sending him several hundreds of feet away. He fell outside the barrier, and the two old men who’d come with him immediately went forward to support him.
"Don’t bother me. This is a warning. Don’t force me to kill. Don’t make your family die with you. Don’t make your tribe disappear from the land of the Shamans!" Su Ming stood before the Fire Ape and pulled back his right hand as he spoke slowly.