Volcanic Age

"Ugh, ugh!"

Clang!

The screams of humans and beasts merged into a deafening cacophony.

Zhou Xuchuan swung Black Buffalo like a weapon, sweeping away the enemies in front of him.

Because of how massive the tribal chief was, it looked more like he was swinging a pillar rather than a person.

While he wasn't getting cut up or injured because of his extraordinary external cultivation, Black Buffalo ended up getting knocked right back into the air as soon as he hit the ground.

"W-what the hell is that?!"

"Chief?!"

Shocked voices erupted from the Beast Tribe.

"W-what…?"

Jie Da, who had lost his arm, was just as shocked as the enemy. He was so appalled by the scene that he didn't even feel pain and just stood there blankly.

The soldiers around him were frozen in place. Rather than being afraid, they were simply bewildered.

"Ha-a-eup!"

Whether his allies and enemies were flustered or not, Zhou Xuchuan ignored them, instead taking advantage of the opening to launch an attack.

The Beast Tribe warriors were like a group of gathered dolls, swept away by the first form of Zhou Xuchuan's Buffalo Sword Technique.

It was truly like the fall of autumn leaves. Six or seven of them collapsed, screaming, like dust swept away with a broom.

The speed of his attack was so fast that eighty people were defeated in an instant.

"Get it together!"

Jie Da snapped out of his daze at the sound of Yuan Cai's voice.

"Huh?!"

He belatedly came to his senses.

Now that he thought about it, he was still standing in the middle of the battlefield. This wasn't the time. He couldn't miss this opportunity.

He took out a piece of cloth from his bosom, wrapped it around his severed stump to prevent it from bleeding out, and grabbed the Jungle Blade with his other hand.

Though it wasn't his dominant hand, he couldn't complain. Being able to hold the Jungle Blade at all in his condition was a blessing.

"Now is the time!" Jie Da shouted loudly.

"Black Buffalo has been defeated! Take advantage of this moment!"

His shout echoed through the battlefield, awakening the soldiers who had been standing there in a daze.

"Don't let the evildoers of the Great Forest go! Let's show them the power of the Allied Forces!"

Ye Li also did not back down and raised his baton to give an order.

Upon hearing the news of Black Buffalo's defeat, the morale of the Qinghua Allied Forces soared to the skies. A roar that shook the heavens and the earth burst out from their mouths, filling the battlefield.

Flags fluttered in the air, and the drummer beat his drums, rekindling the soldiers' fighting spirit.

ROAR!!!!

Due to the fierce battle, the three thousand troops had been reduced to two thousand five hundred. If the seriously injured were removed, there would only be about two thousand to two thousand one hundred left.

As expected of the Beast Tribe, it was incredible that they had inflicted this much damage despite being outnumbered. However, they still suffered great damage. The three hundred beasts had fallen to less than a hundred, and the number of warriors they had left was, at best, six hundred.

The greatest blow was the loss of their chief. With their strongest warrior defeated, the tribe's morale plummeted.

In the world of beasts, strength was everything and the loss of their symbol of strength was the greatest blow of all.

"Hahahaha!"

Duan Hecheng laughed when he saw Zhou Xuchuan running wild.

However, it was because he was Duan Hecheng that he could just laugh it off.

If he were any other Righteous Faction member and swordsman, he wouldn't have been able to hide his distaste for Zhou Xuchuan's actions.

Swinging a person like a sword? That wasn't swordsmanship at all. It definitely wasn't the proper thing to do.

Some people might think that it was because Duan Hecheng was a member of the Diancang Sect. The Diancang Sect, famous for its practical techniques, was, in truth, a mixture of the Righteous Path and the Evil Path. Since they valued actual combat on the battlefield more than Daoist cultivation, they, too, sometimes acted in ways that went against the etiquette of the Righteous Faction.

Of course, it was also bizarre from the Diancang Sect's perspective. However, since Zhou Xuchuan had saved their lives twice, they let this strangeness go.

"Ugh!"

"Agh!"

The situation completely changed.

Moments ago, the Allied Forces were hesitant and afraid. Now, the tables had turned—the Beast Tribe was the one gripped by fear.

From above, the situation of the battle was clearly visible. The Allied Forces had the upper hand.

Since there was no leader left, it was easy to deal with the remnants.

Even the Major Tribes of the Southern Jungles would have a hard time dealing with the 'weak' forces of the Allied Forces after losing their chief.

The beasts that had been hunting the soldiers with blazing eyes lowered their tails and began a slow retreat. This shift marked the turning point of the battle, as the Beast Tribesmen, exhausted, also started to withdraw.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"The Beast Tribe is running away!"

"Don't let them escape!"

However, the Allied Forces had no intention of letting them escape. Their deep-seated grudge against the Major Tribes left no room for mercy.

Their bodies ached, their bones creaked, and their lungs felt ready to burst, but they charged forward relentlessly, determined to crush their enemies completely.

An hour later, the Allied Forces' flag was raised over the temple.

The Beast Tribe had been utterly defeated.

While they weren't completely wiped out like the Cannibal Tribe, since they had lost their leader and were scattered, it was essentially a complete loss.

Black Buffalo, one of the greatest warriors of the Southern Jungles, also died.

According to rumors, Black Buffalo was captured by a Central Plains man and swung around like a club until he lost his life.

For a warrior, it was a deeply humiliating end. Perhaps that shame was why the Beast Tribe's morale plummeted afterward. In the end, they became a chaotic rabble and fled until they were caught by the Allied Forces and were brutally slaughtered.

It was only a matter of time before this news spread throughout the Southern Jungles.

"The hell?"

The man's face twisted in anger.

"Just what the hell are those bastards doing?!"

One thousand three hundred. It was by no means a small number.

Still, it was staggering to realize that their losses were nearly total annihilation, while the Allied Forces had suffered only minimal casualties.

Even if they were to lose, they shouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat.

In order to achieve their goal, the Beast Tribe was supposed to have bought them some time. No, even if they couldn't do that, they were supposed to have inflicted enough damage so that they wouldn't rush in rashly.

However, somehow, that fierce battle ended in less than a day, and there was no significant change to the number of their enemies.

If the situation remained as it was, they would soon face a force of over two thousand.

No matter how strong the Major Tribes were, the difference in strength was far too great.

"When this is over, I'll personally tear apart those damned chiefs—whether it's the Poison Insect Chief or the Au Co Chief—with my own two hands."

When he had heard that they planned to divide their limited forces into three and operate independently, he had doubted his ears.

He wanted to stop them. However, these tribes were known for their pride, and there was nothing he could do.

He understood that the Qinghua Allied Forces didn't seem like a significant threat. However, this time, there was also the variable of the martial artists of the Central Plains.

Most importantly, the sheer size of three thousand troops wasn't something that could be taken lightly. That was the cause of their defeat.

"Did you look into those of the Central Plains?"

"It seems as though the Poison Phoenix is here. Aside from her, the rest of the forces are from the Tang Family and the Diancang Sect."

Had this been the Central Plains, his subordinates could have uncovered their identities more quickly and in greater detail.

However, this was the Southern Jungles. Since the people of the Great Forest weren't that interested in each other, not much was known by the intelligence network.

The only thing that was widely known was that the search party that had come to find someone from the Central Plains was incredibly effective.

"That can't be the end, right?"

"I apologize."

"You pathetic bastard."

At the moment, he was too busy to assess the battlefield. He was so short-handed that every subordinate was indispensable.

"What about the Divine Physician?"

"It's said that he had obtained some poison from the Land of the Ten Thousand Poisons. However, it'll most likely take him five days to get back."

The subordinate showed him a bug wriggling on his palm.

It was called a Sound Storing Insect and had a unique characteristic.

When the male insect was in the breeding season, he randomly would store sounds from his surroundings before visiting a female insect, also in the breeding season, and relay them. The Poison Insect Tribe made use of this characteristic as a message relay system, just like the Central Plains' homing pigeons.

"The Au Co Tribe's Cinnabar Refinement Art, the Poisons of the Poison Insect Tribe."[1]

The man licked his lips and laughed unpleasantly.

"There isn't much left anymore. Once this is done, it'll be the end of this damned Southern Jungles, too."

The Southern Jungles were a hellish place. It was hot, humid, and irritating even if one stood still.

Anyone claiming it wasn't unbearable while standing still had to be caught and beaten for their crimes. It was an irritating place.

The man just wanted to get back as soon as possible.

"What should we do about the Divine Physician?"

"Keep him alive. Moreover, report back as much as possible if the Allied Forces invade. I'll focus on the Cinnabar Refining Art."

****

Four days later, near the Land of Ten Thousand Poisons.

The Allied Forces' flag fluttered in the wind.

Out of the three thousand troops, excluding the dead and seriously wounded, only two thousand remained. Even accounting for the losses, it was still a great victory.

Black Buffalo was dead, and the Beast Tribe had been exterminated.

The Major Tribes received this news and sounded the alarm. Even the tribe ruling the Land of Ten Thousand Poisons and the tribe with a life force close to immortality grew tense.

Even if each member of the Major Tribes was strong enough to be considered 'one who can contest a hundred,' their combined numbers only amounted to eight hundred.

In contrast, the enemy had two thousand.

Until recently, the Major Tribes had dismissed them as a mere ragtag group. However, that same "ragtag group" had destroyed one of the Major Tribes' largest forces.

Now, they could no longer afford to ignore them.

Gulp.

Someone swallowed hard, their throat bobbing as tension filled the air.

However, there was no fear on their faces. Instead, their fighting spirit burned fiercely.

"The Poison Insect Tribe and the Au Co Tribe…"

Zhou Xuchuan stroked his chin and stared straight ahead.

The Au Co Tribe stood at the forefront. They had fiery red hair as their defining feature and an inexplicable sense of mystery.

As the Au Co Tribe stood silently in front of the bushy terrain with their mouths tightly shut, a group of people with a gloomy atmosphere stood behind them. There were roughly five hundred of them, but judging by their numbers and aura, it was definitely the Poison Insect Tribe.

The Qinghua Allied Forces versus the Major Tribes.

In between them stood a river with powerful currents, the two forces were divided on opposite banks and staring at each other.

There was a flowing, calm silence. The first to break that silence wasn't the Southern Jungles but the Central Plains.

"It's nice to meet you!"

Zhou Xuchuan, a member of the Central Plains, threw something he was holding in his hand.

It drew a long arc in the air, crossing the river and falling before the warriors' eyes. It rolled to the ground before them.

The moment they saw what it was, they exclaimed.

"Black Buffalo…!"

It was the symbol of Black Buffalo, a buffalo mask made of bones.

It was clear from the horns that were twice as long as those of an ordinary buffalo. This was akin to Black Buffalo's soul.

"Was it you?"

In the center and the front of the tribes, the Chief of the Au Co Tribe asked with a majestic expression. There was a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

Rumor had it that the boy before her had confronted Black Buffalo head-on, blocked his path, and won. She wondered if that was true.

Moreover, it was said that he also defeated the Head Priest of the Cannibal Tribe. Those were just simply unbelievable facts.

"Yes, it was me!"

Zhou Xuchuan raised his other hand.

"Huh!"

"That's…"

They exclaimed once again.

A bone staff that gave off an eerie aura. They could tell who its original owner was without asking.

"That young man really defeated the Head Priest and Black Buffalo?" she muttered.

She couldn't believe it even after seeing it with her own two eyes.

She could vividly picture the towering man who was about nine chi tall with horns on his head and muscles that bulged out excessively.

"That's ridiculous! I can't believe it! How about we skip the clichéd responses since we don't have much time?!"

Zhou Xuchuan drew his sword, the blade glowing faintly with a fierce aura.

"We didn't come here to fight!"

ROAR!!!

"We came to win!"

1. 煉丹術, or literally, the art of refining cinnabar, is often called Chinese alchemy. While it has a long storied history, in murim, it's generally used as a skewed path of pill-forging for the sake of creating jindan, or golden pills, for the sake of immortality. I translated it literally because, well, for one, "Chinese Alchemy Art" doesn't sound cool, and because I didn't want it to be considered in the same vein as western "turn lead into gold" alchemy. ☜