The Quest for Immortality

”The Shugubu actually has this kind of Superior heavy Barbarian Armor?”

”Did they forge it themselves, or is it something handed down from ancient times?”

”The Shugubu actually has such advanced armor-forging craftsmanship?”

”Then inside this Heavy Armor, could it be hiding... some special Formation?”

”These Formations...”

Mo Hua’s eyes lit up for a moment, his thoughts surging, and he said to Little Zatu who was following beside him, ”Go call Elder Iron Skill Bone over.”

”Yes, Gentleman.” Little Zatu said.

Little Zatu was not very old, but clever and quick-witted; Dan Zhu liked him very much. So when dealing with certain matters, he would also bring Little Zatu along, to broaden his horizons.

Now that the Shugubu had come invading, Dan Zhu was going to war.

Little Zatu was temporarily following at Mo Hua’s side, running errands for him.

Little Zatu received the order and trotted off. After a while, he came back leading Elder Iron Skill Bone.

Iron Skill Bone now had the title of ”Elder”; after all, he was a Golden Core, he had to have some status.

And with the Shugubu’s invasion this time, this former Commander of the Shugu Wandering Tribe truly was acting just like a ”Elder” of the Danque Tribe, leading troops in the charge and battling against the Shugubu.

Moreover, Mo Hua had observed that Iron Skill Bone, when striking at his own clansmen, did not hold back in the slightest.

When Iron Skill Bone saw Mo Hua, he clasped his hands and saluted, unable to suppress the unease in his heart.

After all, he knew very clearly that this socalled ”Shaman Lord” was in truth a Demon Monster wearing human skin, masquerading as a Shaman.

To walk alongside a Demon Monster was like treading on thin ice; he had no choice but to be ten thousand times cautious.

Iron Skill Bone did not even dare raise his head, much less meet Mo Hua’s eyes directly.

After a moment, he heard Mo Hua ask him calmly, ”How much do you know about the Barbarian Armor of the Shugubu?”

Iron Skill Bone’s heart clenched, and he said, ”I do not know which Barbarian Armor the Shaman Lord refers to?”

Mo Hua did not answer.

It was obvious he had no desire to respond to such pointless feigned ignorance.

He simply looked at Iron Skill Bone in silence, and for a time the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

Iron Skill Bone felt as though a stone were pressing on his heart; after a while, he realized that acting like this was utterly incapable of fooling this ”Demon Monster”, and said:

”You mean... those Heavy Armors?”

”Mm.” Mo Hua said softly.

Iron Skill Bone said, ”Shaman Lord, forgive me; those Heavy Armors are a secret of the Shugubu. I am merely a minor Commander of a Wandering Tribe, and truly do not know.”

Mo Hua asked him, ”You truly don’t know anything at all?”

Iron Skill Bone pondered for a moment, then gave a bitter smile and said, ”I only know that these Heavy Armors should have been passed down from the ancestors of the Shugubu. They are heavy Barbarian Armor forged by ancient Barbaric Wilderness craftsmanship, incomparably hard and extremely precious. Throughout history, only the Shugu Main Department has possessed such heritage as to store away these Heavy Armors.”

”We of the Wandering Tribe are not even fit to lay eyes on them...” Iron Skill Bone sighed. ”As for what name these Heavy Armors have, and their specific origins, I know nothing at all.”

Mo Hua looked into Iron Skill Bone’s eyes.

Iron Skill Bone respectfully lowered his eyelids.

Mo Hua nodded. ”I understand. You may go.”

”Yes, with the Shaman Lord above, Iron Skill Bone takes his leave.”

Iron Skill Bone, as always, bowed and departed.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, and a question rose unbidden in his heart:

Why would a Third Grade Shugubu suddenly come to attack the Second Grade Mountain Realm of Wusha?

To kill Dan Zhu?

Was it that the Shugu Monsters, for the sake of brotherhood, wanted to avenge themselves upon Dan Zhu?

But in such matters, those Shugu Monsters would not have the authority to decide, would they?

Or was it simply that, because the famine outside was severe, the Shugubu had been driven to the point where they had no choice but to seek another place to settle?

Mo Hua mulled it over for a while, then pinched his fingers to calculate. Watching Iron Skill Bone’s departing back, his gaze grew somewhat meaningful.

...

Night fell over the Danque Tribe’s encampment.

A human figure quietly melted into the darkness, and then, taking advantage of the fact that the others were not paying attention, came to a secluded cliffside.

This figure took out a piece of White Bone and seemed to be writing something upon it.

As he wrote, he appeared to grow somewhat enraged. Seeing that the moonlight was pitch black and that no one was around, he could not help but curse in a low voice:

”That damned Demon Monster Shaman!”

”I don’t know what the hell he’s fiddling with—actually sitting tight in one corner, doing nothing at all for a good three, four months! Truly the height of sloth!”

”Does he not covet the Divine Position of the Barbarian God Lord?”

”Does he truly have no desire to seize the altar and go slaughter the false god?”

”To be so... indolent! It’s simply outrageous...”

”No, we can’t just let him be; we must put pressure on him, force him to go and do what he ought to do as soon as possible!”

”And die early... at the hands of the true Barbarian God Lord.”

...

The man cursed in a low voice; once he finished, some of his resentment had been vented, and only then did he continue writing on the White Bone.

But what he did not know was that, in the darkness, someone was standing right behind him, craning his head forward to watch what he was writing.

The one writing was, of course, Iron Skill Bone.

The one watching him was, naturally, Mo Hua.

The night was murky, the Starlight faint.

No one was aware that Mo Hua was at that very moment standing concealed behind Iron Skill Bone, his face filled with curiosity as he watched him write on the White Bone.

The writing on the White Bone was carved in using Iron Skill Bone’s blood as ink.

It was Barbarian script, somewhat sloppy, and in the night it too appeared dim.

Iron Skill Bone was writing, and Mo Hua was reading in his heart:

”With Lord Lugu above...”

”Iron Skill Bone’s loyalty is unwavering; I swear to serve the Shugu tribe unto death.”

”The previous information you already know; Iron Skill Bone has not uttered a single false word.”

”This Mountain Realm of Wusha is indeed a fat land. The tribes are mixed, Barbarian Cultivators numerous, and can be used as ’human livestock’. In addition, vast fields of grain are planted here, enough to fill bellies in years of famine. The customs are simple, the young and old ordered; the children are clever, receive inheritance from an early age, and are topgrade offerings.”