“Chief Longtu, what did you say?”
Ge Wenxuan almost wanted to dig at his ears to make sure he had not misheard.
When he came to the Southern Marches as an envoy, his teacher had given him a detailed dossier, which included information about the seven major shaman clans, the personalities, weaknesses, and preferences of each clan chief.
The greatest problem of the Strength Gu clan—food.
The people of this clan ate extreme amounts, every one of them needed to consume ten times the amount of food that a normal adult man ate, or even more.
A lack of food limited the population of the Strength Gu clan and hampered development in other areas. When the other six clans had already moved into brick and tile houses, the Strength Gu clan were still sleeping in houses made of yellow earth or reed huts.
While the other clans were building roads, making carts and animal-driven wagons, and forging armour and iron tools, the Strength Gu clan racked their brains for ways to steal their tribesmen’s horses to eat.
When other clans put on cotton or silk clothes, the Strength Gu clan still wore garments sewn from animal hides, not because they could not raise silkworms and weave cloth, but because it was a waste of time for them.
So, in Ge Wenxuan’s eyes, attacking the Great Feng, ruling over the people of the Central Plains, and having the Central Plains folk provide them with grain was the eternal and unchanging policy of the Strength Gu clan.
The Strength Gu clan had the motive and the need to wage war. Yet, even the Poison Gu clan, who were not interested in the Central Plains, had agreed to the plan, while the Strength Gu clan actually refused?
Not only was Ge Wenxuan bewildered, but several of the shaman clan chiefs looked equally shocked, doubting their own ears.
The chief of the Poison Gu clan said thoughtfully,
“Longtu, did you accidentally eat something of ours…”
The shrouded corpse puppet finally raised its head, its white pupils staring fiercely at Longtu:
“I actually think this guy has starved himself senseless. Does your Strength Gu clan really plan to cower forever in a small place like Bo Mountain, for your descendants to always live in mud huts?”
The two female chiefs of the Desire Gu and Heart Gu clans did not speak. One licked her red lips, eyeing him with a smile, the other frowned lightly, throwing him a questioning look.
The chief of the Dark Gu clan, location unknown, neither revealed himself nor expressed any opinion.
Heaven Gu Grandma wiped her hands on her apron and spoke instead on behalf of everyone,
“What’s the matter?”
Longtu said, “Lina has returned.”
Heaven Gu Grandma’s eyes suddenly sparkled with light.
Longtu swept his gaze across the chiefs: “She brought back a few friends, one of them is called Xu Qi’an.”
At this point, Longtu looked at the man in white clothing and saw his expression change wildly.
Xu Qi’an… Among the shaman clan chiefs, reactions to this name varied.
The Poison Gu chief frowned, seemingly somewhat wary.
As for the Heart Gu chief, the two small snakes on her earlobes uncurled their tails, stretched their slender bodies, and hissed towards Heaven Gu Grandma.
She keenly noticed that Heaven Gu Grandma was showing subtle mental excitement, although it soon faded, but she, as chief of the Heart Gu clan, could not be fooled.
“Empathy” and “manipulation” were the core powers of the Heart Gu.
Luanyu’s beautiful eyes shone, her mind filled with a single thought: the Great Feng’s number one martial artist!
The chief of the Corpse Gu clan, controlling his walking corpse, spoke coldly,
“Everyone, we can try to hunt him.”
Ge Wenxuan’s eyes lit up. This was truly a perfect opportunity to hunt Xu Qi’an.
Below first rank, no one could survive an all-out assault from the shaman clan elites. Even second-rank martial artists would perish.
If he could incite the shaman clans to ambush and hunt Xu Qi’an, he might accomplish something in the Southern Marches that even his teacher could not.
Longtu’s voice was deep as he cast a cold glance at everyone:
“The seven shaman clans do not interfere in each other’s affairs. If you want to send troops against the Great Feng, that’s your business.”
“Is it just because Xu Qi’an is your daughter’s friend?”
The Dark Gu chief, concealed in darkness, asked in confusion, his deep voice echoing from beneath the courtyard.
“No!” Longtu grinned. “I have just taken in a genius disciple, she is Xu Qi’an’s younger sister.”
“So, just for a single disciple?” Luanyu asked in her crisp, pleasant voice.
Everyone present looked at Longtu as if he were a fool. The Strength Gu clan were not known for their cleverness, but surely they could not be this stupid.
Taking on a Central Plains person as a disciple was foolish in itself, and it violated the shaman clan’s taboos.
Abandoning the grand plan for the development of the clan for the sake of a Central Plains disciple was even more foolish.
Longtu replied lightly,
“Since you’re all so clever, have you not thought about why I would make an exception and take a Central Plains person as a disciple?”
A rough smile tugged at his face:
“The development of the clan and nurturing a peerlessly powerful successor are both important.
“As for attacking the Great Feng, not to mention the number of clansmen that would be lost if we succeeded in overthrowing the dynasty, can we be sure that the Jianzheng’s first disciple will keep his word? Even if he does, what if we fail? Then our efforts are wasted. These are all risks that must be borne. It’s like hunting, if the prey is too cunning, we leave it be.
“Because with the time we would waste on it, we could hunt down far more foolish prey.
“So, I choose the latter. That can be seen and involves little risk.”
If the Strength Gu clan chose to attack the Great Feng, Xu Qi’an would certainly break with them, and this new disciple, Xu Lingyin, would be lost in the blink of an eye.
After more than ten seconds, the chiefs finally realised the implication behind his words. Luanyu spoke in disbelief:
“You mean the new disciple will be able to shoulder the clan’s future?”
Longtu smiled proudly:
“Her talent is even better than mine, perhaps even better than Lina’s.”
And Lina was already an incredibly rare genius. This meant that, in the future, the Strength Gu clan might have two beyond-mortal level members.
Adding himself to that, there would be three.
Just thinking of such a future, Longtu felt so excited that his blood boiled.
How could he possibly destroy such a beautiful future with his own hands?
“If you want to attack the Great Feng, that’s your concern. As for hunting Xu Qi’an, I will not stop you either.”
With that, Longtu nodded slightly to Heaven Gu Grandma, bowed his head and stooped, and left the courtyard.
As they watched him leave, everyone fell silent.
Ge Wenxuan “coughed” and spoke earnestly and gently,
“Chiefs, Xu Qi’an is the number one martial artist of the Great Feng and is also destined to become the biggest obstacle to your plan to destroy the dynasty. If we can kill him here, the fall of the Great Feng is all but certain.
“This is a great event, a future within reach, do you not think so?”
His words were extremely inciting and frank.
Ge Wenxuan believed he knew what choice the shaman clan chiefs would make. This speech would not work with neutral parties or those inclined to the Feng, but the shaman clans and the Great Feng were blood enemies.
So long as they hated the Great Feng and intended to march out, then hunting Xu Qi’an now was the best opportunity.
He was sure that the chiefs could see this.
Once they kill Xu Qi’an, they will be committed, and would have no choice but to stand with Yunzhou… Ge Wenxuan thought to himself.
“Chief Shiyou, I almost forgot to tell you, Xu Qi’an is a disciple of Wei Yuan, and the junior whom Wei Yuan valued the most.”
Ge Wenxuan added, fanning the flames.
The cloaked man lowered his head, his robes suddenly billowed as his aura surged.
Ge Wenxuan then looked at Luanyu and said with a smile,
“Not only is Xu Qi’an the number one martial artist of the Great Feng, he also cultivated the Vajra Divine Skill of Buddhism. His body is filled with the blood of the Vajra. Even if he is a little inferior to an actual Vajra, the difference would not be far.
“Clan leader Luanyu, this one man is worth more than a hundred thousand elite soldiers.
“Heaven Gu Grandma, the fortune within Xu Qi’an’s body is what the old master spent all his efforts to obtain. Now that the old master is gone, you must take it back for him.”
Seeing the Posion Gu clan chief remain on the sidelines, showing little enthusiasm, Ge Wenxuan felt a flicker in his heart,
“Chief Baji, have you ever heard of the reincarnation of the Flower Goddess?”
The middle-aged man dressed in stitched animal skins suddenly froze, eyes wide,
“The Flower Goddess from the Great Zhou dynasty?”
Ge Wenxuan nodded,
“Xu Qi’an has clues about the whereabouts of that Flower Goddess reincarnation. If I’m not mistaken, he should be secretly keeping her somewhere.”
Back when the Zhenbei King’s princess consort travelled north, the arcanists of his branch had incited Jili Zhigu and Zhujiu to ambush the princess consort and seize the Flower Goddess’ spiritual essence.
Afterwards, the princess consort disappeared without a trace. But they knew it was Xu Qi’an who had hidden her away.
Chief Baji of the poison gu tribe began to breathe heavily.
The Flower Goddess was the spirit of flowers, granting immense enhancement to plants. This enhancement worked equally well on poisonous herbs and fruits.
If they could snatch back the Flower Goddess and have her grow poisonous herbs daily, then the poison gu clansmen would have an endless supply of top-grade poisonous herbs at their disposal.
“I’ll go to the Strength Gu tribe right away.”
The shambling corpse in the cloak turned and silently walked out.
On hearing this, Baji stood up as well and followed behind the corpse, unable to contain his anticipation.
“Wait for me!”
Luanyu twisted her slim waist, lifted her skirt, and chased after them with a cheerful smile.
Chunyan pinched the little snake on her earlobe, hesitated for a moment, then followed as well.
A shadow flickered in the sunlight and merged into Chunyan’s own shadow.
Heaven Gu Grandma glanced at Ge Wenxuan and sighed,
“This old woman shall join the fun as well.”
Ge Wenxuan smiled confidently. The seven shaman clans were united as one. As long as he persuaded three chiefs to act, he feared no opposition from the others.
This was the shaman clan’s strength, but also its weakness.
Many times, the minority had to obey the majority. One mustn’t be fooled by Longtu’s tough words. When great danger loomed over these clan chiefs, when the shaman clans faced a great crisis, the Strength Gu tribe would have to stand up too.
“Xu Qi’an, I wonder how you’ll escape this time!”
Ge Wenxuan said quietly. As a disciple of Xu Pingfeng, he deeply understood the art of alliances and manipulation.
“Even if Longtu does not step in, the combined power of the six shaman chiefs is enough to kill him. If that’s not enough, then we’ll simply move on to the next plan.”
Ge Wenxuan exhaled, then soared lightly into the air with wind-riding art, flying out from above the courtyard.
…
“Are you ready?”
The great elder’s rough fingers pressed on the back of Xu Lingyin’s neck.
“Ready for what?”
Xu Lingyin asked in confusion.
… Great Elder Zhang was silent for a moment. “Remember to keep your emotions in check, don’t let your thoughts run wild. I am going to help you draw on the Gu God’s power now.”
The five elders nearby advised,
“Don’t think about food, stay calm, empty your mind, do not let your thoughts wander, and focus on sensing the changes within your body.”
Xu Lingyin replied with an “Oh”. Before setting off, because she was hungry, she had just finished a bowl of meat stew and was now very satisfied.
Seeing her agree so readily, the elders exchanged glances, their faces grave and not letting down their guard.
Past experience had taught them that members of the Strength Gu tribe often found it hard to calm down as they worried about today’s or tomorrow’s meals.
This caused the Gu God’s power to become chaotic, damaging the body. Therefore, every time a clansman advanced, elders needed to stand by to help channel the Gu God’s power.
“Let us begin!”
An elder said.
The great elder nodded, and the fingers pressing on Xu Lingyin’s neck thickened and expanded.
On Xu Lingyin’s neck, her tender skin began to show the outline of a bamboo-jointed insect. This was the Strength Gu fused into her spine, the child gu born from Lina’s mother gu.
This child gu, infused with the great elder’s vital energy, awakened and greedily absorbed the incoming power.
At this, the great elder withdrew his fingers, but Xu Lingyin’s life gu did not stop swallowing. It began to target the power drifting in the surroundings instead.
Meanwhile, Xu Qi’an’s pupils turned into vertical green slits, like those of an insect.
He could see the so-called power of the Gu God, black and red motes of light hovering in the air, sparse but striking.
So the Gu God’s power absorbed by the Strength Gu tribe is essentially the vital energy and blood of the Gu God… Xu Qi’an suddenly understood.
The Gu God’s blood and vital power is somewhat different from that of a martial artist. Taking it in rashly would turn one into a monster. That’s why animals and plants living here all year round transform into ‘Gu.’
Xu Qi’an tried absorbing a bit of the black and red “fireflies,” and drew his conclusion.
They couldn’t be directly absorbed or used by a martial artist, if forced into the body, one would become a monster, or else the body would expel them, unless one possessed a Strength Gu.
The Strength Gu acted as a filter for the ‘toxins’ of the Gu God.
Once he had confirmed that absorbing the Gu God’s blood energy wouldn’t harm him, Xu Qi’an walked some distance away, released the suppressive power restraining the Sevenfold Gu, and let it whale down on the surrounding Gu God’s energy.
This way, he would not be competing for resources with Little Pea.
Time ticked by, and the vital energy and blood in the area became increasingly scarce.
“A genius!”
The great elder was stunned. He watched as the Strength Gu on Xu Lingyin’s neck grew rapidly stronger, smooth and steady, without any sign of disorder.
And by the look of it, the process was not even finished.
She had already absorbed more of the Gu God’s power than her peers needed at this stage.
This showed the child’s potential was far greater than they had imagined.
“She is a genius not even recorded in the histories.”
One elder corrected.
“How can she keep her mind completely clear?”
Another elder, marvelling, muttered in confusion.
A child’s thoughts were pure, but their minds were more chaotic than adults, since they couldn’t control their wild imaginations.
“No idea. That’s why I say my disciple is the kind of genius not even recorded in the histories,” another elder offered.
“In future, I want my grandson to marry her,” the great elder solemnly vowed.
The other elders looked at him with guardedness and hostility. After a round of eye contact, they unconsciously stepped apart, their gazes suddenly becoming full of competitive spirit.
At that moment, one elder looked about and asked,
“Is it just me, or has the power of the Gu God around us grown thinner?”
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