Chapter 43

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Gujianfeng watched as Chen Xun walked away through the snow, disappearing behind the ridge, still in shock. That young man was a few years younger than him, yet his cultivation was far superior, likely having already broken through the peak of the sixth level of the Savage Martial stage and advanced to the seventh level of Blood Change. This was almost unimaginable.

Although he was a rare genius in the Savage Wilderness, reaching the sixth level of the Savage Martial stage at sixteen, making him one of the few geniuses in the Black Mountain Tribe in centuries, the difference between the seventh level of Blood Change and the sixth level of the Savage Martial stage was enormous. The combat power of a mid-stage Savage Martial was vastly different from that of an upper-stage Savage Martial.

Mid-stage Savage Martial practitioners focused on tempering their physical bodies. Even at the peak of the sixth level, they could release their Savage Souls to perform Savage Soul Combat Techniques, but for a very short duration. Only at the seventh level of Blood Change could the pure blood and qi support the continuous use of Savage Soul Combat Techniques.

Unlike Chen Xun, ordinary Savage Martial practitioners would only develop spiritual awareness in their Savage Souls after advancing to the seventh level of Blood Change, which had various miraculous uses.

This was evident from the divine arrow technique the young man used earlier, which even the vicious fish feared.

Although Gujianfeng had already begun to temper his tendons and strength, it would take several more years of training to truly become an upper-stage Savage Martial practitioner.

If not for the young man's divine arrow technique on the shore, Gujianfeng knew that he and the two mid-stage Savage Martial practitioners from his tribe would not have been able to tangle with the vicious fish for so long and still survive.

In the Black Mountain Tribe, with a population of five thousand, there were only two upper-stage Savage Martial practitioners. How could a young man of just thirteen or fourteen have such profound cultivation?

And he was from the Black Python Tribe!

Why did he save them?

Didn't he know that the Black Mountain and Black Python Tribes had been feuding for years over hunting grounds?

Even if he wasn't a bloodthirsty person, he could have just stood by and watched. With their group of forty or fifty people falling into the ice river, most would have been unable to escape the fish's belly.

Not only did this young man not stand by, but he also helped and even took out such precious medicinal herbs to save Gu Yuan's life. Was he a fool?

Gujianfeng stood in the snow, his soul in turmoil, his body drenched and shivering in the cold wind.

"How could the Black Python Tribe have such a powerful young warrior?" Another mid-stage Savage Martial practitioner was also shocked.

"Could he be the same young man who killed Gu Lei and crippled Gu Shan?" Gu Yuan said, his spirit lost, finding it hard to believe but unable to think of any other reasonable explanation.

"How could that be?" Gujianfeng was even more shocked.

The Black Python young man, apart from his father and the crippled Gu Shan, had not been seen by anyone else in the Black Mountain Tribe.

His father said that this Black Python young man had boundless potential and that if not eliminated early, he would pose a great threat to the Black Mountain Tribe. That was why they decided to send Gu Lei and Gu Shan into the Python Tooth Ridge to ambush and kill him, but Gu Lei and Gu Shan were killed and crippled by this young man.

If this person was indeed the Black Python young man his father spoke of, he had even less reason to help them instead of taking the opportunity to wipe out their group of forty or fifty people.

Thinking about this, Gujianfeng was utterly bewildered, unable to understand what had happened.

Gujianfeng saw that Gu Yuan and the others were in a miserable state, and most of their fellow tribespeople were unarmed. If this Black Python young man had really opened a massacre, none of them would have survived!

"Is the tribal chief in danger, surrounded by the Shan Tong Tribe outside the Black Python Village?" Gu Yuan asked, suddenly thinking of something, his heart racing.

"South Liáo is still recovering from his severe injuries, and the Shan Tong Tribe is led by two upper-stage Savage Martial practitioners. Together with the tribal chief, they should be able to suppress the entire Black Python Village. One more or one less doesn't matter..." Another Savage Martial practitioner didn't think there would be any problem with the tribal chief Gu Hu and the Shan Tong Tribe joining forces to demand a Golden Wolf corpse from the Black Python Tribe, but he also thought they should send someone to inform the tribe, otherwise, if the young man sneaked close to the tribal chief, it would be extremely dangerous.

It was precisely because the Black Mountain and Shan Tong Tribes had joined forces to besiege the Black Python Tribe and needed a large amount of meat that they had risked breaking the ice to fish, only to be saved by the Black Python people.

Gujianfeng, his mind in turmoil, stood naked in the cold wind, his forehead sweating cold sweat. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "We need to find my father and regroup..."

**************

Chen Xun did not follow the Wild Horse Creek around the bend but directly crossed several mountain ridges to reach the upper reaches of the Wild Horse Creek. However, before he even entered the narrow valley north of the stone village, he sensed something was amiss.

At this time, the desolate valley on the south bank of the Wild Horse Creek was empty of people.

Although the mountains and ridges were still covered in ice and snow, the extreme cold had already dissipated.

Even if the Black Python Tribe had enough stored food to survive the harsh winter, they would not all stay in the village at this time without going out to fish and hunt to prepare for the spring famine.

Chen Xun took out his longbow and did not directly enter the narrow valley but instead entered the dense forest-covered ridge on the east side, approaching the stone village from the forest. He saw that about a thousand meters from the southern entrance of the narrow valley, a low stone wall had been built, and dozens of animal skin tents were set up in the valley behind the stone wall.

A rough estimate showed that there were no fewer than two hundred warriors from other tribes in the camp at the valley entrance, vigilantly guarding the direction of the stone village.

In addition to the camp at the southern entrance, there were also many elite warriors with bows hidden in the dense forests on both sides of the stone village.

Chen Xun circled around to the south of the Black Python stone village from a more distant ridge and saw that on the stone slope to the south of the Black Python stone village, there were more than sixty animal skin tents and even more elite warriors.

From the looks of it, these people had the Black Python stone village firmly surrounded.

The tribal chief of the Black Mountain Tribe, Gu Hu, was standing on the ridge on the other side, observing the situation inside the stone village.

Chen Xun's brows furrowed deeply. He never expected that the tribes in the Python Tooth Ridge would start fighting each other so soon after enduring such a harsh winter.

Seeing Zong Sang, clad in heavy armor, standing on the village wall like a savage war god, vigilantly watching the enemies surrounding the village, Chen Xun felt slightly relieved.

The Black Python Tribe, after all, suffered from a lack of numbers. Although they had twenty mid-to-upper stage Savage Martial practitioners who had awakened their Savage Souls, which was not much less than the Black Mountain Tribe, they had very few ordinary Savage Martial practitioners, totaling only about a hundred.

In comparison, the Black Mountain Tribe had a similar number of mid-to-upper stage Savage Martial practitioners, but with a population of over five thousand, they could mobilize over a thousand warriors in a critical moment to participate in the siege.

And from the looks of the camp, the tribes participating in the siege of the Black Python Tribe were not just the Black Mountain Tribe.

The two black-faced giants standing with Gu Hu, clad in heavy armor and wielding massive axes, had a momentum that did not fall short of any upper-stage Savage Martial practitioner.

The Black Mountain Tribe did not have so many upper-stage Savage Martial practitioners.

The Black Mountain Tribe alone was not a significant threat, but the real fear was that the Black Mountain Tribe might join forces with other tribes in the northern mountains of the Python Tooth Ridge to attack the Black Python Tribe.

Although the Black Mountain Tribe and other tribes in the Python Tooth Ridge occasionally had conflicts, the Black Python Tribe, having moved to the northern mountains only thirty years ago, was more vulnerable to attacks from the Black Mountain Tribe and other tribes.

**************

Chen Xun waited until it was dark before sneaking through the gaps in the Black Mountain Tribe's siege camp, but before he even reached the Black Python stone village, he was discovered.

"Someone is trying to break into the camp and enter the village..." A warrior on patrol raised a torch and shouted loudly, causing a ripple of panic in the quiet camp, which suddenly boiled like a pot of boiling porridge.

Chen Xun no longer needed to hide his movements and ran straight toward the stone wall of the Black Python stone village. Just as he was about to jump up the seven or eight-meter-high stone wall, two torches whizzed past him, the wind whistling as they flew.

Chen Xun's soul trembled. He supported himself with one palm on the stone wall, his body flashing as he turned to kick the torches away. Sparks flew, revealing two silent short spears that had deeply embedded themselves into the stone wall behind him, their handles buzzing.

These silent short spears were extremely venomous, moving so fast yet making no sound. If not for Chen Xun's keen spiritual awareness, he might have been hit in the back before he even realized it.

The short spears, though short, had extremely long blades, and the small section of blade protruding from the stone wall glinted in the dark.

Heavy-bladed spears and these long-bladed short spears were specifically designed to target well-trained, physically strong Savage Martial practitioners.

Even with Chen Xun's seventh-level cultivation, his tendons, bones, and flesh tempered to a new extreme, a slight misstep could result in a deep wound from these heavy-bladed spears.

Chen Xun realized that the strong enemies hidden in the camps of the two tribes besieging the Black Python village were even more numerous than he had imagined.

Chen Xun's breath was cut off, and he could not jump up the wall in one go. His back was locked by two intense killing auras, forcing him to land halfway down the wall.

At this moment, two more short spears whizzed toward him.

This time, they did not hide their presence, breaking through the air as soon as they were thrown.

As the short spears approached, Chen Xun could see the air around the spear tips violently oscillate, forming a curved wave of air that rapidly expanded under the torchlight, followed by a piercing whistle that almost tore his eardrums.

Chen Xun wondered if he was having a bad year or if he had chosen the wrong place to enter the village. Two random people could throw short spears with such astonishing force.

He swung his iron bow, shattering the two short spears, but his right arm was slightly numbed by the impact.

He had tempered his tendons and bones to a new extreme, and most of his body had been reshaped by the earth's qi and heaven's essence. Even at the peak of the ninth level of the Savage Martial stage, his physical strength was not inferior. The fact that his right arm was numbed showed how terrifying the force behind the short spears was.

Before Chen Xun could complain, the two warriors approached him with a fierce momentum. Their massive spears, gleaming in the torchlight, transformed into a series of spear shadows, like a mountain pressing down, aiming to crush Chen Xun into pieces.

Without a suitable weapon, Chen Xun could only use his bow to block the two long spears. "Bang, bang," the sparks flew as he parried the spears, and in a short moment, he was forced back to the base of the stone wall.