The Quest for Immortality

And the true core of the Shugubu is actually faith.

Among the Third Grade tribes, the Shugubu’s strength is not really top-tier, its cohesion isn’t great either, and its territory is vast, its population large, with a complicated mix of people.

A shared faith in the Barbarian God binds together all these ”loose” Shugu main branches, formal branches, side branches, minor branches, outer branches, wandering branches, secret branches, remnant branches, and so on, tying them into one and maintaining the Shugubu’s external unity.

Of course, their faith itself is actually ”scattered”; it’s just that they believe it to be ”unified.”

An ununified faith is what holds the tribe together in unity.

Even Mo Hua finds this quite amazing.

Mo Hua’s heart stirred slightly, and he asked again, ”Does your Shugubu have any particular origin?”

Iron Skill Bone shook his head. ”Shugu means ’stray bones,’ referring to Barbarian Cultivators with no inheritance and no origins who gather together and form a tribe...”

”So that’s how it is...” Mo Hua murmured under his breath.

The ”alliance” of the Shugubu turns out to be like this.

Mo Hua asked again, ”You must at least have some ancestors, right? Where did your ancestors come from?”

”Ancestors...” Iron Skill Bone thought for a bit, feeling that it was not very glorious, somewhat reluctant to speak, but in the end he still said:

”It’s said that in the beginning... the ancestors of the Shugubu were all people exiled to the edge of the Endless Abyss, lower-class slave folk who could only cling to life by picking up all kinds of Monster Beasts’ bones and licking the scraps of meat left between the bones.”

Mo Hua’s pupils suddenly contracted. ”What did you say?!”

Iron Skill Bone had no idea which word he’d said wrong, panic rose in his heart, and he hurriedly said, ”I... what did I say?”

Realizing he’d overreacted a bit, Mo Hua withdrew his expression and slowly asked:

”You’re saying the ancestors of the Shugubu... were slaves exiled to the edge of the Endless Abyss?”

Iron Skill Bone thought for a moment and felt the sentence itself wasn’t wrong. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he still nodded and said:

”They committed crimes and were exiled, so naturally they were lowly slaves.”

Mo Hua’s gaze narrowed slightly, and he asked again, ”Have you ever been to the Endless Abyss?”

Iron Skill Bone shook his head. ”I only know that the Endless Abyss is a place of great calamity, the source of disaster for the Great Wilderness. How could I possibly go to such a place—and I wouldn’t dare to, either...”

Mo Hua nodded slightly. Seeing Iron Skill Bone’s humble expression when he looked up, he felt a bit of pity and no longer intended to press him, so he said:

”You may go.”

Iron Skill Bone let out a breath of relief, cupped his hands, and said, ”Yes, Shaman Lord.” Then he respectfully left.

After Iron Skill Bone left, Mo Hua watched his departing back, dazed for a moment, then suddenly furrowed his brows.

That strange feeling surfaced again in his heart.

He kept feeling that no matter how he looked at this Iron Skill Bone, something about him was off.

But where exactly the off-ness lay, he couldn’t put into words.

Mo Hua pondered for a while, then temporarily buried this doubt in his heart.

After that, he spent all his time thinking about how to strike at these somewhat sinister ”Six Strange Shugu.”

The six brothers were all Golden Core, and they’d learned Secret Techniques. Their Divine Thoughts had also ”fallen,” carrying a trace of Evil Qi.

They were indeed quite troublesome.

At least with his current strength, he couldn’t kill those six.

Besides, with that fateful evilness on him, he had no qualifications to kill anyone right now.

”Let’s first test them out in battle...” Mo Hua thought to himself.

The next day, both sides began fighting again.

Dan Zhu led the attack; the Six Strange Shugu defended.

Mo Hua was still thinking about how to find ways to specifically target these troublesome ”Six Strange Shugu,” but soon realized that the situation wasn’t quite what he’d imagined.

The Six Strange Shugu were completely suppressed by Dan Zhu.

Even though they were six Golden Cores, even though they’d learned some unknown Secret Technique, brothers united in heart, striking from afar and near, offense and defense as one, their whole bodies wreathed in an indescribably poisonous Blood Qi, they still weren’t Dan Zhu’s match.

Dan Zhu alone was like a Vermilion Bird born from flame, and the more he fought, the braver he became.

Mo Hua was taken aback, then overjoyed, suddenly realizing that he’d been overthinking things.

Dan Zhu is truly strong.

His talent is too high; he formed a Superior-Grade Golden Core and wields a top-quality Magic Treasure.

Even in the Qian Learning State Boundary, he’d be one of the very top talents.

It’s just that this genius got ”talked around” by him, so Mo Hua subconsciously hadn’t thought of Dan Zhu as being that strong.

But Mo Hua understood that the reason Dan Zhu could be talked around by him—aside from Mo Hua indeed being clever and good at a few little schemes—was also because Dan Zhu has a kind heart and is willing to trust him.

Dan Zhu himself is by no means some mediocre nobody.

At the very beginning, when he first went out to war, his lack of experience did make his moves a bit clumsy.

But after taking part in the suppression of the Shugu Wandering Tribe, fighting Iron Skill Bone, defending the Shugu Stone Hall, and trading blows over and over with the Bi Fang Tribe’s genius Bi Jie—battle after battle like this...

Dan Zhu has been shedding his old self bit by bit.

Dan Zhu’s strength has also been forged out, little by little.

Nothing hones a person better than actual combat.

Dan Zhu’s improvement is almost visible to the naked eye.

Now, although the Six Strange Shugu are strong, and although within the Shugubu and even among the surrounding tribes they have some reputation and count as ”tough opponents”...

They still cannot be compared at all to the genius Dan Zhu.

Mo Hua even feels Dan Zhu is a bit ridiculous.

Good family background, handsome, heaven-defying talent, forming a Golden Core at twenty, and it’s a Superior-Grade Golden Core, using the very best Vermilion Bird Magic Treasure.

As for himself, with Middle and Lower Spirit Roots, he can forget about the quality of his future Golden Core. And who knows what his eventual Magic Treasure will even look like.

Truly, comparing people only makes you angry...

Mo Hua couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit jealous inside.

But looking at it the other way, it’s also a good thing.

Dan Zhu is on his side; the stronger Dan Zhu becomes, the stronger he becomes as well.

Thinking of it like this, Mo Hua’s chest suddenly felt much more open and at ease.