Arrows shot from close range travelled even faster, carrying power enough to pierce metal and shatter stone, and flew straight at Lina’s chest.
“Ding!”
Lina flicked her finger against the arrowhead, brushing it aside with casual ease.
She turned to glance at her simple-minded little disciple, as well as Xu Qi’an and Mu Nanzhi, her face flushed with embarrassment. Frowning, she snapped,
“Looking for a fight!”
Her long legs exploded with astonishing force as she leapt up, spinning in the air, and sent the young archer flying with a roundhouse kick.
Before the other, a square-faced man, could draw his bone sabre, she twisted her waist and swung her arm out in a half-circle. With a crisp “slap,” she sent him spinning twice on the spot, stars dancing before his eyes as he crashed unconscious to the ground.
The two young men of the Strength Gu tribe were struck, but unhurt, and quickly got back to their feet. The young archer stared at Lina suspiciously and asked,
“So it really is you, Lina. Why have you become as pale as a Central Plains woman?”
A single exchange was enough for them to recognise their own kind instantly.
Such a swift kick and a neat slap, indeed, it was her.
The square-faced young man added,
“And you’ve got fatter too.”
The hot climate and strong ultraviolet rays in the Southern Marches meant that the natives all had dark skin, and even their women tended to be tanned.
But Lina had spent over half a year in the Xu household, shielded from the sun and secretly taking Auntie’s beauty pills, so her skin had become fair and delicate, looking completely different from these two shaman clan youths.
“Can you really not recognise this face of mine?” Lina said, hands on her hips.
“Maybe you’re just wearing a disguise!”
The archer retorted, then gave two triumphant grunts.
“I was just testing you, that’s all. The real Lina would definitely be able to catch my arrow.”
Lina was lost for words and, unable to respond, turned back to Xu Qi’an and the others and said,
“It’s fine, it’s fine. My Strength Gu tribesmen have always been careful and clever. They were just testing me.”
No but, how the hell would someone from the Central Plains be able to call out their names? Besides, even if someone were disguised, who would go out of their way to make a Southern Marches native look pale and beautiful? Isn’t that just begging for attention… Xu Qi’an had a great many complaints in his heart.
Xu Lingyin let out a loud “Ah~”, her face full of lingering fear:
“Master, it’s good that you really are from the Southern Marches.”
The young archer, seeing the wariness in the Central Plains girl, looked smug and asked,
“Lina, who are they?”
“She is a disciple I took in the Central Plains, and this is her brother. When I was in the capital, they both looked after me.”
Lina introduced Xu Qi’an and Xu Lingyin to her two tribesmen, deliberately leaving out Mu Nanzhi as she barely knew her.
Thanks to her introduction, Xu Qi’an learned the names of the two shaman clan youths.
The young archer was called Tulong. He had long, well-developed arms, a perfect fit for an archer.
The square-faced youth was named Mutou simply because he was born with a square face, so his parents named him Mutou—“wood-head”.
“A disciple?”
Mutou was shocked. “You’re the clan chief’s daughter, how could you take on a disciple on your own, and a Central Plains girl at that? The elders will punish you.”
Tulong frowned deeply. Though he didn’t speak up, it was clear he was extremely displeased.
The shaman clans did not permit their secret arts to be taught to outsiders, not even between the seven clans themselves, they were extremely guarded and closed off.
Let alone taking a Central Plains girl as a disciple, this clearly violated clan rules and was a grave taboo for the shaman clans.
“I’m not afraid of them. The elders are fourth rank, and so am I. Who would win is not certain at all.”
Lina snorted coldly. “If any of those old things dare touch me, I’ll kill each of them with a single punch.”
“The clan chief would be the first to hit you!”
Mutou said sternly.
…Lina shrank her neck a little, but raised her voice,
“My disciple is a one-in-a-million genius, rare in a thousand years, the kind of genius that has never been recorded in the histories since the earliest times.”
She did her best to use what little vocabulary she had to describe Xu Lingyin.
Mutou and Tulong paused, glanced at the muddle-headed Little Pea, and asked,
“A genius? How many bowls of rice can she eat in one sitting?”
Lina huffed,
“Lingyin can eat ten bowls in one meal, not counting the vegetables.”
Mutou and Tulong exchanged a look, and were slightly moved:
“She really is a rare genius.
“But so what? Rules are rules. You’re a genius too, but if you dare secretly teach shaman clan secrets, you’ll still be punished.”
Xu Qi’an listened to them chatter away in Southern Marches dialect and, frowning, asked,
“What are you talking about?”
Lina let out a breath and explained,
“They’re saying that if I take a Central Plains person as a disciple without authorisation, the elders will punish me severely.”
“I’ve heard that the Gu arts of your Southern Marches shaman clans aren’t to be passed on to outsiders, but what are the rules exactly?”
He looked at her, waiting for an explanation.
“The exact rules….” Lina recalled her clan’s rules, half-speaking, half-reciting:
“Without permission, if you teach Gu arts to slaves, thirty-six thousand lashes…uh, different clans have different numbers of lashes, but our Strength Gu tribe has the most.
“Without permission, if you pass Gu arts to outsiders, especially Central Plains people, it’s a capital offence! The master dies, and so does the disciple.”
Xu Qi’an silently looked at her and said:
“Why didn’t you explain this when you first took Lingyin as your disciple? Since you knew the rules, why did you bring Lingyin to the Southern Marches?”
If Lina dared say “I forgot,” Xu Qi’an swore to beat her to a pulp.
To his surprise, Lina answered righteously,
“In ancient times, the Gu God’s power radiated beyond the Abyss, and our ancestors, after enduring endless hardship, discovered secret methods to harness the power of the Gu God. Thus the seven great shaman clans came to be.
“These secret methods are the foundation of our shaman clan’s way of life.”
The Gu God’s power radiated from the Abyss, turning all nearby creatures into Gu. In theory, this power could be used by anyone, as long as they learned the corresponding secret techniques.
That was why the shaman clans were so protective of their secret arts, passing them on privately meant death.
No wonder the ancestor of the Chai family had stagnated at the Iron Corpse stage, it seems they never learnt the subsequent secret arts… Xu Qi’an growled, “You remember all this so clearly, so why would you do something so reckless?”
Lina remained calm and continued,
“There are nine stages in the development of one’s Life Gu, each corresponding to a rank.
“Whenever one’s Life Gu advances to the next stage, you need both your clan’s secret art and the power of the Gu God, to fully develop your Life Gu.
“With only the secret art and no Gu God’s power, even if you force your way forward, your foundation will be unstable, and your strength will never compare to experts of the same rank from other systems. That’s why I had to bring Lingyin to the Southern Marches.”
Mu Nanzhi cut in, “And bring her just to be whipped?”
A tactful way to say “sending her to her death.”
Lina was a little upset, “Oh, just let me finish, you, we don’t even know each other well, why are you interrupting me?”
After snapping at Mu Nanzhi, she continued,
“Passing down secret techniques privately is of course a capital offence, but as long as Lingyin can gain the approval of the elders and my Dad, and truly become my disciple, then it will be fine.
“Our shaman clans’ experts often go out to search for prodigies, then bring them back to the clan to undergo trials. If they pass, they will be recognised.”
Xu Qi’an immediately understood Lina’s plan. She wanted to take Lingyin back to the clan for the trial, so that she could become a real member of the Strength Gu tribe, solving any issues with her later advancement.
“But…” Lina changed the topic and continued,
“Our shaman clans have never accepted people from the Central Plains as disciples. There are plenty of battle slaves, of course. But I think it will be fine, since Lingyin is a genius who has never even been recorded in the histories. My Dad and the elders will definitely make an exception.”
Why do I find that so difficult to believe? That doesn’t sound reliable at all… Xu Qi’an heard Mu Nanzhi sneer and say,
“You shaman clans have histories?”
“No.” Lina replied.
”…” Xu Qi’an thought to himself, I’ll beat the shit out of her.
Led by Mutou and Tulong, the two young men of the Strength Gu tribe, they climbed a high hill and arrived at Boshan, where the Strength Gu tribe had lived for generations.
Standing on the high slope looking out, Boshan resembled a towering city wall, stretching out for hundreds of miles, blocking the whole north.
Cloud and mist drifted between the mountains, exuding a desolate, primordial aura,
At the foot of the mountain lay a vast plain, filled with crisscrossing rivers. The fields were divided into small squares. The different crops showed different colours, pieced together like a magnificent oil painting.
Scattered like ants between the fields and plains were tiny human figures, busy either casting nets for fish or working the fields. * *Huts and yellow-mud houses dotted the mountains and fields in clusters, large and small. The broad-faced Mutou “coughed” and said,
“We’ll leave you here, we have to return to our patrol.” * *He spoke in stumbling Central Plains mandarin. It seemed to be true. If the shaman clans had truly remained isolated, how could the people here speak the Central Plains tongue?
Tulong, with a bow on his back, glanced at Lina and offered heartfelt advice,
“After you get home, sit out in the sun more. Your skin is so white and smooth, so ugly. No one will want to marry you otherwise.”
With that, he glanced at Mu Nanzhi.
Why are you looking at me… The princess consort’s mouth twitched, feeling like she’d just been insulted.
Although her appearance had become ordinary now, her skin was still smooth and fine.
Bidding farewell to Tulong and Mutou, the three, along with a fox and a child, followed the path down into the plain.
Lina cheerfully greeted the Strength Gu tribesmen along the way:
“Auntie Asang, I’m back.”
“Lina? How have you turned into such a pale, ugly girl!”
“Uncle Heiba, I’m back.”
“Lina’s back? Is that slave by your side one you snatched from the Central Plains?”
“No, he’s my friend.”
“Auntie Can, I’m back.”
“Oh, it’s Lina? Lina’s home… My old eyes aren’t so good, come closer. Let me tell you, earlier this year, I wanted to ask the clan chief to arrange a marriage, my grandson still doesn’t have a wife, and you two grew up together… but never mind, I don’t think you two are a match.”
Xu Qi’an silently observed the people of the Strength Gu tribe. Some wore cloth clothes, some wore garments sewn from animal hides. Their bodies were taller and stronger than those of the Central Plains, and they worked the fields without livestock, using human strength alone.
A single one of them could drag hundreds of pounds of fish, or shoulder a small boat and run back and forth with it.
“There don’t seem to be many people…”
After observing, Xu Qi’an commented.
“Everyone’s out hunting.” Lina said despondently,
“The Southern Marches are barren, not as nice as the Central Plains with all your plentiful food. Our Strength Gu tribe must toil all day just for a mouthful to eat, and often still don’t have enough.”
Isn’t that because you all eat too much… Xu Qi’an did not argue, following her across the plain. As they walked, there were more and more houses, the roads becoming broader and smoother.
They arrived at the largest cluster of buildings on Boshan, home to the tribe’s senior members.
Lina’s family lived at the highest point in this complex, a large two-tiered courtyard house.
Next to this courtyard were many huts and yellow-mud houses, built as dependencies. According to Lina, those were where her family’s slaves lived.
“Dad, I’m home…”
Lina shouted loudly, a wild girl with no manners at all.
A few seconds later, heavy footsteps sounded, the ground trembling. A giant, nine feet tall, strode out from the inner courtyard.
He was dressed in clothes and robes sewn from animal skins, loose linen trousers, and was barefoot. His face was somewhat square, and his rough features had nothing to do with delicacy.
His eyes were azure, and his hair could not be said to be curly or straight, as only a thin layer covered his scalp, like a monk just beginning to grow his hair after returning to lay life.
His frame was so massive, even the Buddhist vajras paled in comparison.
Every step he took made the ground tremble slightly, as if it could not bear his weight.
On seeing his long-lost daughter, Longtu froze for a moment, then nodded, his deep voice full of relief:
“It seems you’ve experienced much in the Central Plains, to have changed so greatly.”
With that, his gaze passed over Xu Qi’an and the others, settling on Xu Lingyin, and he asked,
“Are these slaves you captured?
“There’s no point bringing such a small child, she’s no good for work, and it wouldn’t do to kill her either.”
“They’re not slaves, they’re friends I made in the Central Plains,” Lina said, placing her hand on Little Pea’s head.
“This is my disciple.”
Disciple… Longtu’s eyes suddenly became sharp, and the aura of a primeval beast filled the courtyard.
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