Under the sun, a majestic mountain city sat in the middle of a desolate mountain range.
The mountain city was densely packed with people, and there were at least hundreds of thousands of them. Stone houses stood in great numbers on the undulating terrain, and groups of soldiers walked among them. Their bodies exuded a strong smell of blood, causing some children to hide far away.
Behind the soldiers were ferocious beasts that had just been hunted. These were the food that the tribe needed every day. Not only that, even some ordinary tribesmen had formed teams and entered the ancient forest to hunt and hone their combat skills. However, they did not dare to go too deep into the forest, and only hunted in the outskirts.
Some women took the ferocious beasts from the soldiers and scolded the soldiers who had teased them. They skillfully skinned the ferocious beasts in their hands, pulled out their tendons, separated their bones, blood, fur, and flesh, and put them away.
At the foot of an ancient mountain to the west of the mountain city, thousands of young soldiers were practicing their martial skills under the supervision of a burly man. These were the new soldiers that the tribe had recruited to make up for the losses they had suffered in the previous war.
"Kill!"
Their blood qi soared into the sky, and their morale was high. The young soldiers' faces were flushed red, and their voices were filled with killing intent.
The young soldiers had a look of longing on their faces. They hoped that they could be like the other soldiers, hunting the desolate wastelands and fighting in the wilderness, using their blades to fight for their own merits.
The burly man was Xiao Xianliang. At this moment, he had changed significantly from when he had been in the previous war. His body gave off a faint aura of Zhou Tian, and he had finally become a captain.
Because of the end of the war, not only the Ancient Yuan Army, but all the other Human Army Divisions in the Fallen Dragon Territory had entered a period of recuperation. Therefore, the speed at which they recovered their lost soldiers was not fast. Instead, they paid more attention to the strength of the soldiers and their combat skills.
As a captain of the Combat Master, besides cultivation, Xiao Xianliang had placed the most importance on the strength of the soldiers under his command. Therefore, every few days, he would gather the Combat Masters to train.
At this moment, the appearance of the mountain city had long since changed. With the addition of the young women of the Flower Pinch Tribe, the front and back of the houses in the mountain forest were filled with dense clusters of flowers. Every morning, there would be young women with bamboo baskets on their backs walking along the winding paths of the Tribe, collecting flowers from precious medicines. These were ingredients for brewing the Hundred Flower Wine.
In the herb field, there were also a few young girls carefully taking care of the medicinal herbs. Under the nourishment of the rich yuan qi of the world, every single medicinal herb was growing healthily.
The young girls gently planted the herbs in the field. This was the task that the patriarch had given them. Although they were very curious as to where the patriarch had gathered so many herbs that were already quite old, this didn't prevent them from meticulously completing this task.
In the stone garden.
At this moment, the pegasus wasn't playing around in the volcano. Instead, it was standing under an ancient tree with its pair of golden wings retracted to its side.
Even so, his body was constantly emitting scorching air currents, and the ancient trees and flowers around him were all withering.
There was a crafty glint in its golden eyes. That was because in front of it, there was a young girl who was angrily glaring at it with her hands on her waist.
The young girl was Lin Cai 'er. Every time she saw the pegasus, she felt incomparably defeated. The little demoness that no one dared to provoke in the entire mountain city was repeatedly defeated by the pegasus.
"Cai 'er, you're being lazy again. You're not cultivating properly!"
At this moment, a gentle voice came from outside the stone garden. Lin Cai 'er stomped her feet and pointed at the pegasus. Then she turned around and walked towards the figure behind her.
"Sister Qing, sister Pinghua, when did I not cultivate properly? A few days ago, I broke through to the late stage of the blood refining realm!"
Lin Cai 'er stepped forward and held the arms of Mu Qing and Mu Qing.
As a good sister of Mu Qing, Lin Cai 'er was originally very hostile towards the arrival of Pinghua. However, when she saw that Mu Qing had accepted Pinghua, how could the quick-witted and pure Lin Cai' er be a match for Pinghua, who was in charge of a battle tribe? Not long after, the hostility in Lin Cai 'er's heart melted away.
"Look at sister Xue Li. She's about the same age as you and has already broken through to the peak of the blood refining realm. Yet, you're still fooling around!"
Mu Qing gently tapped Lin Cai 'er's forehead with her jade-like finger and said in a pampering tone. She had no way to deal with Lin Cai' er. In the entire tribe, even her father, the second elder Lin Shan, was also annoyed by her. Only the tribe leader, Xiao Chen, could suppress her.
In the stone garden's main hall.
Xiao Chen ended his cultivation and sat upright on the stone chair, waiting for the arrival of the tribe's elders. Three months had passed since the last tribe meeting. The entire tribe had been integrated, showing a trend of prosperity.
Under the support of the tribe's general trend, the originally newly integrated tribe members had gradually settled down. Some of the former experts of the scattered tribe had already vaguely understood that they needed to forget the past in order to truly integrate into this newly promoted middle rank combat division.
In these three months, a large amount of resources had been consumed. Now, Xiao Chen's cultivation base had reached the peak of the second heavenly layer of the Heavy Building realm.
Not long after, in addition to the three great elders, Mu Qing and the other women, the five Qiu brothers, Ding Shan and the other chiliarchs had all appeared in the stone hall.
With so many experts gathered, the entire stone hall was filled with several Zhou Tian peak qi activities.
Xiao Chen waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to sit as they pleased. There was no need to care about etiquette. Then, he said, "For the past three months, the tribe has been able to achieve this, everyone has worked hard!"
"There's no need to shirk the responsibility. For the past three months, I have been in seclusion. All the important matters of the tribe have been handled by the elders.
This credit is deserved! "
"Qing 'er, Pinghua, later, send the Blood Refinement Pills that Hundred Herb Hall has just refined and a jar of 300-year-old Hundred Flower Wine to the elders' residences!"
"Yes, Big Brother Xiao!"
"Yes, Clan Leader!"
Blood Refinement Pills were pills for Blood Refining realm martial artists to increase their cultivation base. Now that Hundred Herb Hall had accumulated a large amount of medicinal herbs, among the hundreds of apothecary apprentices, there were finally three who had advanced to become beginner apothecaries. They could now refine pills for Blood Refining realm martial artists.
As for the 300-year-old Hundred Flower Wine, it had been stored by the Pinghua Battalion in the past. Just a small jar was enough to match a Blood Refining realm martial artist's one month of cultivation.
The Hundred Flower Wine was regarded as a treasure by the Pinghua Battalion. After arriving at the Gu Yuan Tribe, Xiao Chen had taken it out without hesitation and distributed it to everyone. By now, Pinghua was not surprised at all.
However, what she did not know was that Xiao Chen's Seal of Mountains and Rivers had the strange ability to speed up time. This was something that Xiao Chen had discovered when he placed the Hundred Flower Wine into the space. Originally, he had thought that it could only be used to cultivate medicinal herbs. In this way, the 300-year-old Hundred Flower Wine would only need a year to ferment in the space of Xiao Chen's Seal of Mountains and Rivers. Therefore, Xiao Chen was not stingy with his rewards!
Most of the people in the stone hall were at the peak of the Blood Refining realm. Perhaps Xiao Chen's rewards were insignificant to them, but they were not alone. They still had relatives, and these rewards were extremely precious to their descendants.
"Patriarch, in the past three months, the tribe has increased by a total of 130 Blood Refining realm martial artists. As for the chiliarchs that the patriarch mentioned, they have to be at least at the mid Blood Refining realm. Currently, there are three 10,000-man strong combat masters and 30 chiliarchs. Only half of the chiliarchs have met the requirements!"
Xiao Chen also understood that raising one's cultivation base required time. Fortunately, the Gu Yuan Tribe still had some time. He believed that it would not be long before all the chiliarchs in the tribe broke through to the mid Blood Refining realm.
"Captains, our Gu Yuan Tribe is currently recuperating. The number of combat masters in the tribe will not increase in the short term, but the soldiers under your command must not slack in their cultivation!"
"Yes!"
Ding Shan, Xiao Huangliang, and Mu Wuya stood up and acknowledged. At the moment, the entire Gu Yuan Tribe only had three 10,000-man combat masters. Compared to a mid-tier combat division that had a hundred thousand combat masters, there was a huge gap. Since they were lacking in numbers, they could only make up for it with quality.
Of the peak Blood Refining realm cultivators in the stone hall, there were the five Qiu Clan brothers, Pincher Flower, the previous chief of the Pincher Tribe, Granny Flower, Ding Shan, Xiao Huangliang, Mu Wuya, and Huang Liang. Even though they had managed to open 12 Sky Meridians and form a Zhou Tian Sea of Qi after three months of hard work, they had only just achieved a breakthrough, and their cultivation still needed time to stabilize.
Other than that, the original ten chiliarchs like Lin Yue, Xiao Lin, and Xi Ming had a weaker foundation. They had barely reached Blood Refining realm pinnacle, and they would need at least a year to stabilize their cultivation. On the other hand, Magpie Lei was already too old, and he had already retired from the ranks of combat masters.
It was the same for the three elders. Their late Blood Refining realm cultivation was built on a large amount of resources. In the past, they only assisted Xiao Chen in handling the tribe's affairs and maintaining the tribe's operations.
"Three elders, now we have enough time and manpower in our clan. According to the mark on the animal skin roll, dig new mineral veins as soon as possible. Over ten thousand warriors who were captured in the last war will be handed over to you. Do your best to dig new mineral veins, especially the top grade mineral veins, and search for the medium-high grade Heaven and Earth Yuan Stones mineral veins!"
After a long time, the crowd dispersed, leaving only Mu Qing, Pincher Flower, and Lin Cai 'er. After three months, the atmosphere between Xiao Chen, Mu Qing, and Pincher Flower was no longer as awkward as before. It was as if they had tacitly agreed to this scene.
"Big Brother Xiao, Sister Pincher Flower has already touched the barrier of the Heavenly Building Realm. I wonder if the Heavenly Amethyst Vine has matured!"
The Heavenly Amethyst Vine had immeasurable benefits for a warrior to break through to the Heavenly Building Realm and condense a high-quality Heavenly Building. Xiao Chen had plucked its branches and cultivated them separately in the Heavenly Building Realm space. Now, there were more than 20 of them, but they were still lacking in maturity. They still had to wait for some time.
"It will take another three or four months for them to completely mature and reach the boundary of a thousand-year spirit herb. Pincher Flower should properly comprehend the cultivation method in these days!"
At this moment, Pincher Flower had already given up her original cultivation method and changed to a high-grade Earth Tier cultivation method of the Ancient Origin Combat Division. Although these days, Xiao Chen had a vague feeling towards her, she did not show any signs of anxiety. She understood that some things needed time to be nurtured.
"Alright!"
Pincher Flower was still very respectful towards Mu Qing. Although Mu Qing was younger than her, in front of Mu Qing, she was somewhat restrained.