“Clan Leader Long Tu, what did you say?”

Ge Wen Xuan almost had to dig in his ears to confirm his hearing hadn’t failed.

When coming to the Southern Frontier as an envoy, his master gave him detailed information, including the situation of the Gu tribe’s seven major branches, and the personalities, weaknesses, and preferences of each branch leader.

The Li Gu tribe’s biggest problem—food.

The tribe members had enormous appetites, with each Li Gu tribesperson consuming ten times or more food than a normal adult male.

Food shortages limited the Li Gu tribe’s population and development in other areas. When the other six major tribes were already living in brick houses, the Li Gu tribe still slept in earthen and thatched huts.

When other tribes were building roads, constructing carriages and beast carts, and forging armor and iron tools, the Li Gu tribe was scheming how to steal other tribes’ horses to eat.

When other tribes wore cotton and silk clothes, the Li Gu tribe still wore beast skin garments—not because they couldn’t raise silkworms and weave, but because it was too time-consuming.

Therefore, in Ge Wen Xuan’s view, attacking Great Feng, ruling Central Plains people, and having them produce food was the Li Gu tribe’s unchanging foreign policy.

The Li Gu tribe had the motivation and need to start a war. Yet surprisingly, while the Poison Gu tribe, which wasn’t interested in Central Plains territory, had agreed, the Li Gu tribe refused.

Not only was Ge Wen Xuan confused, but the other Gu tribe leaders were also amazed, doubting their hearing.

The Poison Gu leader pondered:

“Long Tu, did you accidentally eat something from my tribe?”

The cloaked walking corpse finally raised its head, white pupils coldly staring at Long Tu:

“I think this fellow is confused from hunger. Does your Li Gu tribe want to stay forever trapped in a small place like Bo Mountain, with future generations living in thatched huts?”

The two female leaders from the Love Gu and Heart Gu tribes didn’t speak, one licking her red lips and smiling while observing, the other frowning with questioning eyes.

The Dark Gu leader, hidden somewhere unknown, neither appeared nor expressed an opinion.

The Heavenly Gu Grandmother wiped her hands on her apron and asked on everyone’s behalf:

“What’s wrong?”

Long Tu said: “Li Na has returned.”

Light suddenly flashed in the Heavenly Gu Grandmother’s eyes.

Long Tu swept his gaze over the leaders: “She brought back some friends, one called Xu Qi’an.”

At this point, Long Tu looked at the white-robed man, seeing his drastically changed expression.

Xu Qi’an… The Gu tribe leaders had different reactions to this name.

The Poison Gu leader frowned slightly, seeming somewhat wary.

The Heart Gu leader’s snake earrings released their tails, stretching their slender bodies to hiss at the Heavenly Gu Grandmother.

She keenly noticed the Grandmother’s spirit showing slight excitement, though quickly concealed. But this couldn’t escape her as the Heart Gu leader.

“Empathy” and “control” were Heart Gu’s core abilities.

Luan Yu’s beautiful eyes lit up, and her mind filled with one thought: Great Feng’s premier martial artist!

The Corpse Gu leader, controlling the walking corpse, spoke coldly:

“Everyone, we can try to hunt him down.”

Ge Wen Xuan’s eyes brightened—this was indeed an excellent opportunity to hunt Xu Qi’an.

Below first-rank, no one could withstand an all-out assault from Gu tribe masters; even second-rank martial artists would fall.

If he could incite the Gu tribe to ambush and hunt Xu Qi’an, he might accomplish in the Southern Frontier what even his master couldn’t achieve.

Long Tu’s voice was deep as he coldly swept his gaze over everyone:

“The seven branches of the Gu tribe don’t interfere with each other. Your decision to attack Great Feng is your business.”

“Just because Xu Qi’an is your daughter’s friend?”

The Dark Gu leader, hidden in shadows, asked confusedly, his deep voice echoing under the skylight.

“No!” Long Tu grinned: “I’ve taken a genius disciple, she’s Xu Qi’an’s sister.”

“Just for one disciple?” Luan Yu’s clear, melodious voice asked.

Everyone looked at Long Tu as if he were foolish. The Li Gu people might not be clever, but surely they couldn’t be this stupid.

Taking a Central Plains person as a disciple was already mindless behavior, violating Gu tribe taboos.

Abandoning tribal development plans for a Central Plains disciple was even more foolish.

Long Tu said flatly:

“Since you’re all so clever, why don’t you think about why I would break precedent to take a Central Plains person as a disciple?”

His rugged face showed a hint of mockery:

“Both the tribe’s development and nurturing of an unrivaled successor in battle power are important.

“Attacking Great Feng—not to mention how many tribespeople we’d lose after destroying the Great Feng dynasty. Would the Supervisor’s senior disciple keep his promises? Even if he would, after failure, we’d have nothing to show for it. These are all risks we’d have to bear, just like hunting—we don’t go after prey that’s too cunning.

“Because the time wasted on it could be spent hunting more foolish prey.

“So, I choose the latter. This is something visible and without much risk.”

If the Li Gu tribe chose to attack Great Feng, Xu Qi’an would inevitably break with the Li Gu tribe, and Xu Ling Yin, the newly accepted disciple, would be gone in an instant.

After more than ten seconds, the leaders realized the meaning contained in his words. Luan Yu asked incredulously:

“You’re saying this new disciple could become a pillar of strength in the future?”

Long Tu laughed proudly:

“Her talent surpasses mine, even stronger than Li Na’s.”

And Li Na was already a rare genius, meaning that someday in the future, the Li Gu tribe might have two Transcendents.

Adding himself would make three.

Long Tu’s blood boiled with excitement just thinking about such a future.

How could he destroy such a beautiful future with his own hands?

“Your attack on Great Feng is your business. I won’t stop you from hunting Xu Qi’an either.”

After speaking, Long Tu nodded slightly to the Heavenly Gu Grandmother, then left the skylight with a lowered head and hunched back.

Watching him leave, everyone fell silent.

Ge Wen Xuan coughed and persuaded:

“Leaders, Xu Qi’an is Great Feng’s premier martial artist and one of the biggest obstacles to our plan to destroy Great Feng. If we can kill him here, destroying Great Feng would be certain.

“Great matters could succeed—isn’t this a future within reach?”

His words were highly inflammatory and blatant.

Ge Wen Xuan knew what choice the Gu tribe leaders would make. These words wouldn’t work on neutrals or Great Feng sympathizers, but the Gu tribe and Great Feng had generational hatred.

As long as they still resented Great Feng and intended to deploy troops, now was the best chance to hunt down Xu Qi’an.

He believed the leaders could see this.

Once they kill Xu Qi’an, they’ll be completely committed and can only tie themselves to our Yun Province’s boat… Ge Wen Xuan thought secretly.

“Leader Yi You, I forgot to tell you, this Xu Qi’an is Wei Yuan’s disciple, Wei Yuan’s most trusted junior.”

Ge Wen Xuan fanned the flames.

The cloaked figure lowered its head, its robe suddenly billowing as its aura surged.

Ge Wen Xuan then looked at Luan Yu, smiling:

“Xu Qi’an isn’t just Great Feng’s premier martial artist, he also cultivates the Buddhist sect’s Jingang Divine Art, with a body of Jingang divine blood. Even if slightly inferior to a Jingang, the difference isn’t great.

“Clan Leader Luan Yu, this one man is worth more than a hundred thousand elite soldiers.

“Heavenly Gu Grandmother, the national fortune in Xu Qi’an’s body was obtained through the old master’s lifelong efforts. With the old master gone, you must retrieve it for him.”

Seeing the Poison Gu leader staying aloof and unenthusiastic, Ge Wen Xuan had a thought:

“Leader Ba Ji, have you heard of the Flower God’s reincarnation?”

The middle-aged man in beast skin clothes suddenly froze, eyes widening:

“The Flower God from the Great Zhou dynasty?”

Ge Wen Xuan nodded:

“Xu Qi’an has clues about that Flower God’s reincarnation. If I’m not mistaken, that Flower God should be secretly kept by him somewhere.”

When the Garrison North King’s consort went north that day, the spirit masters of his faction had instigated Ji Li Zhi Gu and Zhu Jiu to intercept the consort and seize the Flower God’s spiritual essence.

Afterward, the consort’s whereabouts became unknown, but they knew Xu Qi’an had hidden her away.

The Poison Gu leader Ba Ji’s breathing grew heavy.

The Flower God was a flower spirit with extremely strong amplification effects on plants, equally effective on poisonous plants and fruits.

If they could capture the Flower God and have her grow poisonous plants daily, the Poison Gu tribe members would have an endless supply of premium poisonous plants to eat.

“I’m going to the Li Gu tribe now.”

The cloaked walking corpse turned and silently walked out.

Hearing this, Ba Ji stood up and followed behind the walking corpse, already impatient.

“Wait for me.”

Luan Yu swayed her waist, lifting her skirt, smilingly following.

Chun Yan pinched the small snakes on her earlobes, pondered for a moment, and then followed too.

A shadow flashed in the sunlight and merged into Chun Yan’s shadow.

The Heavenly Gu Grandmother looked at Ge Wen Xuan and sighed:

“This old woman will also join the excitement.”

Ge Wen Xuan smiled confidently. The seven branches of the Gu tribe were connected like branches of bamboo—once he persuaded three leaders to act, he didn’t fear others opposing.

This was the Gu tribe’s advantage, but also its disadvantage.

Often, the minority had to submit to the majority. Despite Long Tu’s tough talk, when these leaders faced a life-or-death crisis and the Gu tribe faced a great crisis, the Li Gu tribe would have to stand up all the same.

“Xu Qi’an, let’s see how you handle this situation!”

Ge Wen Xuan said softly. As Xu Ping Feng’s disciple, he was deeply versed in the art of forming alliances.

“Even if Long Tu doesn’t act, the combat power of six major Gu tribe leaders is enough to kill him. If that fails, we’ll move to the next plan.”

Ge Wen Xuan exhaled, rising lightly on the wind, flying out through the skylight.

…

“Are you ready?”

The Grand Elder’s rough finger pressed on Xu Ling Yin’s nape.

“Ready for what?”

Xu Ling Yin asked bewilderedly.

…Old Zhang paused: “Remember to control your emotions, don’t let your mind wander. I’m going to help you seize the Gu God’s power.”

The five elders beside them warned:

“Don’t think about food, you must stay calm, empty your thoughts, don’t let your mind wander, and focus on feeling the changes within your body.”

Xu Ling Yin “oh-ed,” having just eaten meat soup before setting out because she was hungry, now feeling satisfied.

Seeing her agree so readily, the elders looked at each other, expressions grave, not relaxing their vigilance.

Past experience told them that Li Gu tribe members often couldn’t calm down due to worrying about today’s or tomorrow’s food.

This would cause the Gu God’s power to become chaotic, damaging the body, so every tribe member’s advancement needed elders beside them to help organize the Gu God’s power.

“Begin!”

An elder said.

The Grand Elder nodded, his finger pressing on Xu Ling Yin’s nape swelling thicker.

On Xu Ling Yin’s nape, her tender skin showed the outline of a stick insect—that was the Li Gu merged into her spine, a child Gu born from Li Na’s mother Gu.

This child Gu awakened upon receiving the qi and blood power transmitted by the Grand Elder, greedily absorbing the external power.

Seeing this, the Grand Elder withdrew his finger, but Xu Ling Yin’s spirit Gu didn’t stop devouring, instead turning its target to the power floating around.

Meanwhile, Xu Qi’an’s pupils transformed into green vertical slits, like those of an insect.

He saw the so-called Gu God’s power—black-red fireflies floating in the air, thin yet eye-catching.

So the Gu God’s power that the Li Gu tribe absorbs is essentially the Gu God’s blood qi… Xu Qi’an suddenly understood.

“The Gu God’s blood qi is different from martial artists’. Recklessly absorbing it would turn one into a monster. No wonder the animals and plants living here long-term transform into ‘Gu.'”

Xu Qi’an tried absorbing some black-red “fireflies” and reached this conclusion.

They couldn’t be directly absorbed and utilized by martial artists—either forcibly contain them and become a monster, or expel them from the body, unless one had Li Gu.

Li Gu served as a filter for the Gu God’s “toxins.”

After confirming that absorbing the Gu God’s blood qi wouldn’t harm him, Xu Qi’an walked to a distance, released his suppression of the Seven Deadly Gu, and let it whale-like devour the surrounding Gu God blood qi.

This would avoid competing for resources with the little bean.

Time passed minute by minute, the surrounding blood qi growing increasingly sparse.

“A genius!”

The Grand Elder was stunned, watching the Li Gu on Xu Ling Yin’s nape rapidly strengthen, smoothly proceeding without any sign of chaos.

Moreover, it showed no signs of stopping.

But the amount she had absorbed already exceeded what other Li Gu tribe members of the same rank needed.

This showed the child’s potential was even greater than they had imagined.

“She’s a genius not recorded in history books.”

An elder corrected.

“How can she keep her mind free of distractions?”

Another elder muttered in confusion amid his amazement.

Children’s minds were pure but most scattered, even more chaotic than adults’ because they couldn’t control their wild imaginations.

“Don’t know, that’s why my disciple is a genius not recorded in history books.” Another elder offered his opinion.

“In the future, I’ll have my grandson marry her.” The Grand Elder vowed loudly.

The other elders’ faces showed vigilance and hostility. After exchanging glances, they unconsciously spread apart, their eyes filled with competitive spirit.

At this time, an elder turned his head to look around:

“Has the Gu God’s power around us become thinner?”