Chapter 3: The Grand Elder (Part Two)
Clearing more stages would naturally be ideal.
But even the first stage had taken him two full years—and that was with both sides evenly matched. The next stage doubled in difficulty. Who knew how long it would take?
"Clearing more stages… easier said than done," Xu Zixi muttered, shaking his head.
He looked up and asked, "What's the reward for the next stage?"
"Six strands of Life Force," the system replied. "Each additional stage grants one extra strand."
"Only one more?" Xu Zixi sighed. That was even less than he had expected. Still… as long as he could stay alive, it was already good enough.
The next morning, Xu Zixi woke up early as usual.
He went to the training room first and practiced his拳 techniques several times before heading off for breakfast.
Today's breakfast consisted of thin pancakes fried from tungwood powder, wrapped around strips of exotic beast meat. They were crisp and chewy, but no matter what, the unique bitterness of tungwood powder lingered stubbornly.
Still, it tasted far better than plain flatbread and roasted meat.
Xu Zixi ate three in a row before stopping, then slowly sipped water to ease his thirst.
To be honest, the people here weren't bad cooks at all. It was just that ingredients were far too scarce—no matter how skilled one was, cooking without ingredients was impossible.
After breakfast, Xu Zixi went to the study.
This time, he picked up Geographic Records, which introduced the world they lived in—the Heavenly Desolation World.
The land was vast beyond imagination. The entire continent was divided into five regions: East, South, West, North, and Central. Among them, the Central Region was the most prosperous and powerful.
The entire continent was ruled by the Ji Imperial Dynasty, whose imperial capital was located in the Central Region.
Aside from the imperial dynasty, there were also the Eight Great Noble Clans. When combined, their influence nearly rivaled that of the dynasty itself.
Naturally, there were many other forces as well.
Beyond the continent lay only the Dead Sea, also known as the Forbidden Zone of Death. For countless years, few dared to step foot there.
The Western Region was controlled by five major clans: Ji, Mu, Yu, Xiang, and Li.
Aside from the Ji Clan, which belonged directly to the imperial lineage, the other four were branches of the Eight Great Noble Clans, all originating from the Central Region.
Under their command were countless large and small tribes, forming an enormous power network.
The Xu Tribe, where Xu Zixi lived, was located on the very edge of the Western Region—a barren and impoverished area that nonetheless fell under the territorial control of the Yu Clan.
The frontier region was made up of many minor tribes. There were seven or eight small tribes neighboring the Xu Tribe alone.
Xu Zixi already knew that this world was ruled by dynasties and noble clans. But since his birth, he had never once seen an actual noble, so after a brief moment of curiosity, he quickly lost interest.
After all, this place was far too barren—completely worthless. Large clans had no reason to set foot here.
Soon, his attention returned to something closer to home.
What he was most curious about now was Tungwood Mountain.
He had never been there before.
Every time he wanted to go along, Father rejected him on the grounds that he was too weak—no entering Tungwood Mountain until he reached the Human Extreme Realm.
Unable to help himself, Xu Zixi asked A-Ling, "Is Tungwood Mountain very dangerous?"
"Yes," A-Ling replied seriously, then added, "Some areas are extremely dangerous. Before you reach the Human Extreme Realm, Young Chieftain, it's best that you don't go."
"I wasn't planning to go," Xu Zixi said quickly. "I'm just curious."
A-Ling gave him a skeptical look. "Then who was it that used to cling to the Chieftain and me every day, begging to go to Tungwood Mountain?"
"…" Xu Zixi choked.
Wasn't it obvious? The more they forbade him, the more he wanted to go. And life here was painfully dull—there wasn't even any entertainment.
He had never been anywhere beyond the tribe. After being stuck here for years, even he admired his own patience.
He silently decided that once he reached the Human Extreme Realm, he would definitely visit Tungwood Mountain.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Which areas are dangerous?"
Hearing this, A-Ling didn't hide anything. She turned around, took out a map of Tungwood Mountain from the bookshelf, and spread it out in front of him.
She pointed at several marked locations. "Here is a giant python nest. A few of those pythons have reached the Heaven Extreme Realm. They're extremely troublesome."
"And this one—this is a Giant Disc Flower. Its strength far exceeds the Heaven Extreme Realm and has already reached the late Mystic Extreme Realm."
"It eats everything. Any living being that approaches will be devoured. Even the Chieftain wouldn't dare go near it."
"If you ever go to Tungwood Mountain in the future, make sure to stay far away from this area. Do not approach it under any circumstances."
"Yes!" Xu Zixi nodded quickly. If even Father wouldn't go near it, going there himself would be suicide.
He shuddered. "That Giant Disc Flower is terrifying… thank goodness it doesn't have legs. If it could move around freely, wouldn't it be even more dangerous?"
If it wandered into the tribe, no one would survive.
A-Ling couldn't help laughing, then shook her head. "At its current level, that's impossible."
After a brief pause, she added, "However, there are legends that at higher realms, exotic plants can transform into human form."
Xu Zixi was shocked. "That's possible? What realm would that be?"
"I don't know," A-Ling said, shaking her head.
They exchanged a few more words before A-Ling turned back to the map and pointed at another location. "This area is also dangerous. This is—"
Before she could finish, a series of loud booms suddenly echoed from outside.
Even the ground began to tremble.
A long, piercing howl split the sky, echoing throughout the tribe.
It was a warning from the patrol squad.
Exotic beasts were attacking.
Both of their expressions changed instantly.
"You stay here," A-Ling said urgently. "I'll go take a look!"
The moment her words fell, she vanished from the spot.
Xu Zixi didn't listen.
He hurried after her.
The moment he stepped outside, a deafening roar assaulted his ears.
"ROAR!"
He saw the patrol squad desperately surrounding two massive exotic beasts. Each stood two to three meters tall, with jagged spikes covering their backs. They looked savage and terrifying.
Blades struck their bodies, yet failed to leave even a scratch.
Ignoring the attacks, the beasts stomped straight into the crowd with their massive bodies.
A giant claw swept out. Anyone who failed to dodge was grabbed and stuffed straight into the beast's mouth, chewed violently.
Xu Zixi's pupils shrank. His fists clenched instantly.
At that moment, A-Ling had already drawn her sword and charged at one of the beasts.
Her blade gleamed sharply under the sun.
She slashed down in a single strike, like a raging wave crashing forth—unstoppable!
The sword cut into the beast's neck, tearing open a bloody wound deep enough to expose bone.
"ROAR!"
The beast howled in agony. The spikes on its back suddenly shot out, dense as rain, hurtling toward A-Ling.
Her sword danced in her hand, forming a tight defensive net that knocked every spike aside.
While A-Ling battled one beast, the other continued its rampage.
The patrol squad suffered heavy casualties. More tribe members rushed over, but their strength ranged only between the Human Extreme and Earth Extreme Realms.
They were no match.
Under the barrage of spikes, they could only struggle to hold on.
Just then—
A long wooden spear came whistling from afar.
It moved like lightning, carrying a killing intent so overwhelming that even Xu Zixi felt his heart tremble.
The beast had nowhere to dodge.
With a terrified shriek, the spear pierced straight through its forehead and sank completely in, leaving behind a perfectly round, bloody hole.
BOOM!
The massive body collapsed to the ground, utterly lifeless.
Everyone was stunned.
"So strong!" Xu Zixi couldn't help looking toward the one who launched the attack.
It was an elderly man in a brown robe.
He stood there calmly, yet gave off an unfathomably profound presence.
Someone shouted, "It's the Grand Elder!"
"The Grand Elder saved us!"
Amid the cheers, the old man had already disappeared.
At the same time, another heavy sound rang out.
A-Ling severed the head of the beast she was fighting.
Only then were the two invading exotic beasts finally dealt with.
As the tribe members began handling the carcasses, a stone suddenly flew toward Xu Zixi.
His expression turned cold. He sidestepped instantly, dodging it, then turned toward the attackers.
There were five boys around his age.
Each of them was strong and sturdy—every one taller than Xu Zixi by a head.
The leader had already stepped into the Human Extreme Realm despite his young age.
He looked at Xu Zixi with arrogance and pointed toward the beast corpses. "Did you see that?"
Xu Zixi frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
The boy scowled, as if looking at an idiot. "Don't you get it? When exotic beasts attack, how is someone who can't cultivate supposed to protect the tribe?"
He puffed out his chest proudly. "But I'm different. One day, I'll become as strong as the Grand Elder. If I were the Chieftain, I wouldn't just protect the tribe—I'd make it stronger and richer."
"That's quite a boast," Xu Zixi said, smiling faintly. "And how do you know I'll never be able to cultivate? Who can say what the future holds?"
"I just know!" the boy said confidently. "You're a waste. A waste can't be Chieftain."
"…" Xu Zixi was momentarily speechless.
Unfortunately, at the moment, the boy wasn't entirely wrong.
Not wanting to argue further, Xu Zixi said calmly, "Alright then. If I still can't cultivate by the time I'm ten, I'll give up the position of Young Chieftain."
The boy's face lit up. "You'd better keep your word! Don't lie to me!"
"That's right!" the others chimed in. "Whoever lies gets eaten by exotic beasts!"
Xu Zixi rolled his eyes. "Of course it counts. But until then, stop bothering me."
With a snort, he turned and headed home.
Even without the Purple-Gold Fruit, he was confident he could cultivate before turning ten.
When that time came, he'd shatter their jaws in disbelief.
To be honest, he didn't care much about the title of Young Chieftain.
He had worn it for years and never felt anything special about it—aside from attracting more troublemakers.
He really didn't understand why those brats were so obsessed with the position.
Returning to the study, Xu Zixi found that A-Ling still hadn't come back—she was likely handling the aftermath of the beast attack.
He continued studying the Tungwood Mountain map, memorizing all the marked dangerous zones so he could avoid them in the future.
Then he located the gold vein.
That was where Father had gone to search for the Purple-Gold Fruit.
Xu Zixi stared at it for a while, worry creeping back in. How was Father doing now? When would he return?
Not long after, A-Ling finally came back—but her expression was grim.
"A-Ling, what's wrong?" Xu Zixi asked.
"This time, the tribe lost nearly a hundred people," she said bitterly. "Most of the casualties were from the patrol squad."
Xu Zixi fell silent.
The original patrol captain was a Heaven Extreme peak expert. If he had been present, the losses wouldn't have been so severe.
But recently, his bottleneck had loosened, and he had gone into seclusion to break through. If all went well, he would emerge as a Mystic Extreme Realm expert—adding another powerful pillar to the tribe.
No one expected the exotic beasts to attack at this exact moment, catching the tribe completely off guard.
Fortunately, the Grand Elder had intervened.
Otherwise, with only A-Ling holding the line, the casualties would have been far worse.