Chapter 45

(With over six hundred votes today, hahaha, here's an extra chapter—thank you to Baiyi Qingyang for 191 votes, Qinggu Zhu for 101 votes, Jiangnan Fengqing for 101 votes, and Xue Tanqin for 82 votes.)

Chen Xun stood at the gate of the village, took a deep breath, and firmly held the letter containing secrets that his mother had given him.

The battle at the village wall was not only witnessed by Zong Sang alone.

Zong Ya, however, was firmly convinced. He glanced at the young leopard curled at Chen Xun's feet, kicked it, and asked, "Where did you pick up this raccoon? Why does it just sleep all the time?"

Chen Xun laughed, unsure whether to tell everyone that this sleepy young beast was a small black leopard he had brought back from the deep mountains of Dagu Peak. Its fur color was very different from ordinary black leopards, and it was unclear whether it was a mutation or the result of the mother leopard mating with another wild beast.

Seeing that Grandpa Zong Tu was still sitting cross-legged to refine the medicinal power, Chen Xun thought it best to discuss some matters with Grandpa before making any decisions. He changed the topic and said to Zong Ya:

"Has Grandpa taught you the Great Peng Secret Palm?"

"With my left hand cut off, I can't hold a spear with both hands, so I can only practice the Great Peng Secret Palm. But no matter how powerful my fists and palms become, they still can't withstand blades and spears..." Zong Ya said, still feeling somewhat discouraged.

Cultivating to the seventh layer of the Blood Change stage, with the infusion of savage energy, one's fists and palms become as hard as divine iron, with great power. However, when facing an opponent of the same realm, it is still difficult to withstand divine weapons.

Heishan and Shan Tong did not dare to attack the village rashly. After all, Chen Xun had obtained a batch of armor from the Su family in the fall, which made Heishan and Shan Tong deeply cautious. Even if the two tribes joined forces and had the ability to exterminate the Black Python, the heavy casualties among the savage warriors would only make them easy prey for other tribes.

"That's good," Chen Xun said. "I've been thinking about some things during my months in the wilderness. Perhaps the Great Peng Fist can be integrated into sword techniques, and I can teach you..."

"Really!" Zong Ya asked excitedly.

"Why would I lie to you?"

The defenses on the village wall could not be relaxed; no one knew if Heishan and Shan Tong would suddenly attack.

After a while, everyone except Zong Sang, Nan Liao, and Zong Ya returned to the village wall to stand guard.

Nan Liao and Zong Sang guarded Witch Zong Tu as he refined the medicinal power. Seeing the vibrant vitality gradually emanating from Witch Zong Tu, it seemed his injuries were under control, and his cultivation might even break through to a higher level. It was truly surprising and delightful, considering the opportunities Chen Xun had encountered during his journey in the wilderness.

Witch Zong Tu, as a peak ninth-layer Witch Savage, was an indispensable combat force for the Black Python, and his wisdom was crucial for the survival of over a thousand tribe members in the northern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge.

Nan Liao did not believe he could lead the tribe to survive in the harsh northern mountains without Witch Zong Tu.

Nan Liao had even decided that if Witch Zong Tu unfortunately passed away, he would have to hand over the giant wolf's corpse and lead the tribe to migrate from Pythontooth Ridge.

But in the vast wilderness, where could over a thousand tribe members go to struggle for survival after leaving this hard-earned stone village?

Sitting beside him, Chen Xun listened to Zong Ya recount the past few months, and his heart ached as he learned how the Black Python had endured the harsh winter.

Out of the over a thousand tribe members, nearly a hundred elderly people and weak women and children had frozen to death.

After winter set in, savage beasts frequently descended from the mountains, but these fierce beasts and birds rarely moved in groups. Even when they approached the village, throwing out three or five live beasts to feed them was enough to drive them away, without causing significant casualties to the village.

The truly terrifying and frightening were the herds of beasts from the Lake Marsh Wilderness.

Two months ago, the attack by nearly a thousand green wolves on the Black Python was particularly devastating.

Five mid-level Savage Warriors who had awakened their savage souls were killed by the wolves; and among the first-level to third-level Savage Warriors, forty-six died.

In the end, they managed to lure the golden wolf leading the pack into the village, and Zong Sang, Nan Liao, and Grandpa Zong Tu barely managed to kill it, escaping the disaster of the village's destruction.

However, to kill the golden wolf, Grandpa Zong Tu used witchcraft far beyond his current realm, almost exhausting all his vitality. For the past two months, he had been barely hanging on to life.

Zong Ya's left arm was also bitten off at the elbow in that battle...

Nan Liao's right leg bone was also bitten off, though he managed to save his right leg, he now walks with a limp, and his cultivation has greatly weakened.

Fortunately, after the giant wolf was killed, the wolf pack retreated.

Under Grandpa Zong Tu's insistence, all children with cultivation potential were given special protection, and none were injured; these were the seeds for the Black Python's resurgence.

However, no one expected that after enduring the harsh winter, Heishan and Shan Tong would join forces to take advantage of the situation, demanding that the Black Python hand over the spoils from the battle.

Chen Xun then learned that the wolf pack that moved south to Pythontooth Ridge had actually split into several groups, attacking different tribal villages in the northern mountains. Otherwise, no tribe in Pythontooth Ridge could withstand the simultaneous attack of tens of thousands of green wolves. It was unknown whether the tribes in Pythontooth Ridge had been attacked by the wolf pack before.

During the beast attacks, about one-third of the fifty to sixty tribes in the northern mountains were unable to hold out and were completely wiped out; even those that survived suffered extremely heavy casualties, just like the Black Python.

Heishan was slightly better off, but not much. Desperate to recover, they had the idea of taking advantage of the situation to loot; and with new and old grudges against the Black Python, they planned to settle all accounts at once.

Chen Xun estimated that the fifty to sixty tribes in the northern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge had a population of about 150,000 to 200,000 savage people, and nearly half of them did not survive this harsh winter.

This winter was truly heart-wrenching!

Chen Xun thought of the divine wolf he had seen on Dagu Peak. If that divine wolf was the wolf king, and it had consumed the ancient bloodline of a vicious ape, it would likely be invulnerable even to legendary Tianyuan Realm experts in the future.

When the next ten-year cold wave swept through the Lake Marsh Wilderness, could the Black Python survive the disaster again?

******

By midnight, Witch Zong Tu had barely managed to refine the potent medicinal power of the Nine Yuan Essence Pill. His once lifeless, triangular old eyes now showed signs of vitality.

"Grandpa is awake..." Chen Xun and Zong Ya moved to sit beside Grandpa Zong Tu.

Zong Tu had been in a state of intermittent consciousness for several days, aware of what had happened but unable to speak.

Now, upon waking, he directly picked up a pottery bowl from the stone table and threw it at Zong Sang's iron head, cursing:

"You damn fool, are you trying to destroy the Black Python? You damn fool! Tell me, is that dead wolf more important than the lives of over a thousand tribe members? You all elected Nan Liao as the tribal leader, why aren't you listening to him now?"

Chen Xun then learned that Nan Liao had advocated for compromise, suggesting they hand over the golden wolf's corpse to save the tribe; Zong Sang, however, strongly opposed this.

After the tribe had paid such a high price and suffered heavy casualties to kill the giant wolf, Heishan and Shan Tong took advantage of the situation to loot. Most of the angry tribe members and Savage Warriors stood with Zong Sang, determined to fight to the death against Heishan and Shan Tong.

Witch Zong Tu, severely injured and in a coma after the battle with the giant wolf, was also frustrated by his inability to speak.

Surviving in the savage wilderness was difficult, and Witch Zong Tu had seen too many tribes and villages destroyed. He knew that survival was the most important thing and said earnestly, "At dawn, I will leave the village and talk to Gu Hu. We'll see what conditions they want to agree to withdraw!"

"Xun has been training hard outside for months, and his combat power is on par with upper-level Savage Warriors. He shot and killed Shichuan of the Shan Tong tribe with one arrow at the village wall. We have endured so much, waiting for you to wake up, why should we kneel to them and beg for mercy? I can't understand it!"

Zong Sang's head was as hard as a rock. The pottery bowl shattered on his head, but he was unharmed, sitting there silently, refusing to obey his father.

"Xun, what do you think?" Witch Zong Tu looked at Chen Xun, seeing the mature wisdom in his young eyes, which far surpassed the hot-headed Zong Sang.

Chen Xun thought that if Grandpa Zong Tu recovered to his peak after taking another Nine Yuan Essence Pill, and with him, Zong Sang, and Nan Liao, they could indeed catch the Savage Warriors of Heishan and Shan Tong off guard. But what about the aftermath after defeating these two tribes?

The Black Python currently lacked the strength to suppress the tribes in the northern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge or to completely merge Heishan and Shan Tong. Moreover, the Black Python's former enemies were wary of them.

Not to mention the Su family of Canglan, even the Guixi tribe in the southern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge was not something the Black Python could contend with at this time.

It was not easy for Grandpa Zong Tu to lead the tribe to settle in the northern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge and endure the humiliation.

"When I returned to the Black Python, Gu Jianfeng, the son of Gu Hu, was leading his tribe to fish by breaking the ice on Wild Horse Creek. Unexpectedly, there was a strange beast in the water that ate people, and I helped them drive it away and gave them some medicinal pills to heal their injuries." Chen Xun only mentioned his encounter with Gu Jianfeng on his journey.

"Gu Jianfeng, that bastard, why did you save that bastard?" Zong Sang was so anxious that the veins on his forehead bulged.

"Good save," Witch Zong Tu patted his thigh and said to Nan Liao, "It seems we don't need to go out of the village to talk to them. Have someone send the giant wolf out of the village and ask Gu Hu if, with this giant wolf, Heishan can avoid the beast attacks in the next ten years and dominate the northern mountains of Pythontooth Ridge."

"The golden wolf should be handed over, but we can't let them get it so easily. Otherwise, they will keep making excessive demands on the Black Python in the future, which will be detrimental," Chen Xun thought for a moment and said to Grandpa Zong Tu, "We should make them pay a price..."

"Right, they should pay a price!" Zong Sang patted his thigh, saying that it was not in his nature to keep yielding when they were clearly in a strong position.

Hearing Chen Xun, Nan Liao nodded and said, "Xun is right. Shan Tong and Heishan also suffered heavy casualties this time, which is why they didn't dare to launch a strong attack on the stone village. If we propose such terms for peace, they won't have the face to refuse."

Chen Xun followed Grandpa Zong Tu and Nan Liao to the side hall.

The golden wolf's corpse was sealed in a large block of river ice. Except for the half-crushed head, which was bloody and mangled, the rest was vivid and lifelike, with a shallow golden color that still retained some of its fierce and intimidating aura, making people wary.

Chen Xun and Su Tang had seen two similarly sized giant wolves lying dead in the stream valley of Dagu Peak, with the same shallow golden fur, but compared to the smaller divine wolf, they were far inferior.

But even so, this golden giant wolf sealed in the river ice was undoubtedly a fierce beast comparable to a Tianyuan Realm Heavenly Savage.

It was truly unimaginable how fierce and difficult the battle must have been for Grandpa, Zong Sang, and Nan Liao to kill this golden giant wolf, which was over two meters tall at the shoulder.

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