An Tribe.

The fire from the bonfire crackled as it illuminated the clearing with orange.

The elders and the barbarians had gathered around. Between them, lay the bodies of dozens of barbarians.

The old shaman walked around the bodies whispering prayers in strange words, helping the dead set off on their next journey. The old shaman performed the ritual while others mourned in stifled sobs.

The old shaman retreated and several barbarians stepped forward. They carried the dead to the back of the village, where they would be buried. Almost all barbarians accompanied them, leaving behind the elders and few others.

After a moment of silence that seemed to stretch forever, an elder said, "The Xiao Tribe won't sit still—we have to teach them a lesson."

"The other teams haven't arrived yet?" the chief asked.

"We have sent the summons, they should be arriving soon," another elder said.

"Good, once they have arrived we will launch an attack against the Xiao Tribe," the chief said, war intent clear in his eyes.

"What if the Xiao Tribe allies with the Gu or Sun Tribe?" one of the elders asked.

"That would be a problem." The chief's face turned solemn. If it was Xiao Tribe alone, the An Tribe didn't have anything to fear.

"How about we call the Wu Tribe for help?" another elder said.

"The Wu Tribe is too far away from here," the chief shook his head. "Moreover, even if we request help, they might not respond. We can't rely on others—think of another way."

What the chief said was not unfounded. All the tribes lived in harmony on the surface, but the competition was very fierce. It was in the best interests of other tribes if the Xiao and An tribes destroyed each other.

"What if…"

The elders were discussing when the ground began to shudder.

Boom!

A pillar of fire shot into the sky, illuminating the night sky like the afternoon sun, shocking the entire village. After a while, the pillar disappeared and the night returned to its original darkness.

"Isn't that in the direction of the snow-fire mountain?" one elder frowned.

"Could it be that something happened to the fire cave?" another elder said, worried.

"Just now, it looked like the snow-fire mountain exploded… "

"Snow-fire mountain…" the chief couldn't help but frown. "Oh no! An Zhi, he is still inside the cave." Then his face turned pale as if all the blood had been drawn, and he jumped to his feet. "Send someone to check the situation on the mountain now."

"It's already late," an elder sighed. The faces of other elders also became bitter. The blast was so terrifying from so far away, they didn't dare to have any extravagant hopes.

"No! Send someone," the chief said. "We must rescue An Zhi as soon as we can."

"Even if it's An Zhi, I don't think he can survive," one elder sighed. "Besides, many are still treating their injuries. Let's wait till other teams arrive."

"I agree," another elder sighed.

"You guys don't understand!" the chief roared, gasping for breath. "If something happens to him, our An Tribe—our An Tribe will be finished!" The usually calm chief had lost his composure and was almost hysterical.

The other elders looked at the chief with shock. Although everyone was worried about An Zhi, the chief's reaction was a bit extreme.

Seeing everyone looking at him with a questioning look, the chief did his best to calm down and said, "An Zhi is carrying the scroll with him."

"The scroll? Which scroll?" the elder frowned, then he became dumbfounded. "You mean—"

"Yes," the chief sighed. "The totem scroll."

"What?" All the elders present were stupefied and looked at the chief with wide eyes.

"Chief, you…" one elder pointed a trembling finger at the chief, but couldn't find the words.

Other tribes were wary of their An Tribe because the barbarians from their tribe could use internal qi. But once the scroll was lost, they wouldn't be able to train future generations in internal qi and the strength of the entire tribe would fall.

"Chief, h-how could you favor An Zhi like this?" one of the elders lamented.

"Is it because he was going to be your grandson-in-law?" another elder said and the rest looked at the chief with sharp eyes. Such favoritism could never be tolerated.

"Ahem! It's not like that," the chief waved his hands frantically. "Everyone… you know how mysterious the scroll is. It has been in our possession for generations, but everything we know about it came from our ancestors. No one has been able to pry open its secrets so far." the chief sighed. "An Zhi, he is different. Others took months to practice internal qi, he did it in days. If anyone has a chance to dig up all of the scroll's secrets, it's him. So I gave it to him for study… "

Listening to the chief's explanation, the other elders had a look of understanding, however, it was soon replaced with worry.

"We can't let the scroll fall into the hands of others," one of the elders said, and everyone's expression changed once more.

What was worse than them losing the scroll? It was other tribes finding it.

The elders almost couldn't wait to rush to the snow-fire mountain and find the scroll themselves. But they were old, no longer in the prime of their youth.

"Let's… send a few people to check the situation?"

Just when the elders were at their wit's end, a barbarian came running toward them.

"Chief," the barbarian said, "Brother De's team has arrived. They are willing to be vanguards and destroy the Xiao Tribe."

"Good timing," the chief heaved a sigh of relief. "Xiao Tribe can wait… Send An De and his team to the snow-fire mountain… "

#

Somewhere in the secret realm, two shadows were moving through the forest. One was a petite girl with shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail, the other was a tall and handsome youth with a dragon fluttering on his robes.

"Do we have to keep doing this?" the youth said to the girl.

"Yes," the petite girl said. Looking at the crestfallen face of the guy she chuckled. "What's wrong? You get to chase a girl, and you are still disappointed?"

"We are just wasting our time," Ming Ren snorted. "Why do we have to keep an eye on her anyway?"

"His Majesty has his reasons," Ye Lanlan shrugged. Then seeing Ming Ren stare at her, she sighed in exasperation. "I really don't know."

"At this rate, we will lose the gamble," Ming Ren grumbled.

Since they came into the secret realm, the two of them had done nothing but stalk a certain someone. They had to keep tabs on her every movement, so much that Ming Ren didn't even have time to collect any materials or treasures.

If they didn't grab anything, they wouldn't be able to score any points. If they didn't score any points, they could only lose the gamble.

As much as he was dissatisfied with this arrangement, Ming Ren didn't dare to go against his Father's will. But his status as the crown prince was at stake, Ming Ren couldn't help but feel frustrated.

"You are worried about the gamble?" Ye Lanlan snorted. "If you hadn't messed things up, you wouldn't have to be so worried."

"I—"

"Stop!" Ye Lanlan raised her hand and the two of them stopped moving.

Ming Ren swallowed his words and waited patiently as while Lanlan kept looking into the distance with narrowed eyes.

"Alright, she's moving again," Ye Lanlan's eyes darted around as if following some invisible dot. The dense forest did little to hinder her vision.

A couple of minutes later, the two of them came next to a waterfall. The curtain of water blocked their sight. But their divine sense was unrestrained and they found a cave behind the waterfall.

Ye Lanlan stepped first into the cave with Ming Ren behind. Inside the cave was a stone bed. On it was a person sitting cross-legged in tattered clothing.

Ye Lanlan only glanced once at the person and looked away. "Died during meditation," she said.

Ming Ren looked at the dead cultivator. The body was already dry like sand, and the bones were showing, but the facial features were still discernible. Serene and without expression—it was the face of someone who had come to terms with their death.

Ming Ren felt uncomfortable and looked away. His gaze fell on the cupped hands of the dead person and he almost jumped in excitement.

"There's a relic!" Ming Ren exclaimed and reached out with his hand, but Ye Lanlan stopped him.

"Don't touch it," Ye Lanlan shook her head. "It has been tampered with."

"What?" Ming Ren withdrew his hand at once, not daring to touch the relic. He didn't know what exactly was wrong with the relic, but since Ye Lanlan stopped him, it definitely wasn't something he could handle.

A cultivator who died in peace had no reason to trick future generations. However, only one person had entered the cave before them.

"S-she did it?"

Ye Lanlan nodded and Ming Ren felt a chill down his spine.

"This girl," Ye Lanlan sighed. "She is willing to give up such a relic. What exactly is she looking for?"

Ming Ren, who was shocked, came to his senses. Yes, the relic was such a precious treasure—even he was tempted. But she used it as bait to get rid of them.

"She—since when has she known about us?" Ming Ren noticed something.

"I'm not sure," Ye Lanlan said. "But since she tried to get rid of us only now, we can be certain she is close to whatever she is looking for."

Ye Lanlan was about to speak more when a shocking boom disturbed the quiet night. The two of them came out of the cave and saw that the night had temporarily turned into a day.

The two of them were stunned. Then Ye Lanlan said, "Let's go and see what happened."

"What about following the girl?" Ming Ren said. At this time, he no longer felt that the task his Father gave him was unreasonable.

"You don't need to worry about that," Ye Lanlan said as she looked somewhere in the dark. "She is going there too."

#

"Sister Fengying, slow down," Zhou Mei panted as she struggled to catch up with the fiery red figure ahead of her. "I don't think they are chasing us anymore."

Liu Fengying glanced back and saw that indeed, nobody was chasing them. The two found a place to rest and recover their strength.

Liu Fengying looked at the night sky. In the distance, a pillar of fire was still burning. "What a strong fire qi," she gasped. "No surprise they stopped chasing us."

"Could it be that some rare fire treasure was born?" Zhou Mei's eye's sparkled.

"Haven't you robbed enough?" Liu Fengying snorted and looked at Zhou Mei with a half-amused and half-annoyed expression. "But speaking of treasure," Liu Fengying frowned. "Why does it feel like a deja vu?"

"So are we going?" Zhou Mei asked, looking in the direction of the pillar of light.

"Go," Liu Fengying said. The rich fire qi made her fascinated, piquing her curiosity. If she didn't go, she would feel agitated for the rest of their stay inside the realm. "But let's change our appearance before we go."

#

In some corner of the secret realm, a hooded figure silently approached the remains of a dried corpse. If Mu Chen was here, he may have been able to identify the remains as those belonging to Qin Mo.

As soon as the figure came closer, the corpse burst open. An emerald green mantis, the size of a newborn baby, crawled out of the corpse and jumped on the shoulder of the hooded figure.

"Click! Click!" The mantis brandished its forelegs while making sharp clicking sounds.

"You've been hungry," a sigh echoed from under the hood and the mantis clucked agitatedly.

"Idiot," the hooded figure chuckled. "The forest is filled with monster beasts. You could have eaten any of them."

The mantis crooked its head and stared at the hooded figure, it waved its forearms and made a few more clicking sounds.

"I see," the hooded figure nodded and took out a blood-red globule and fed it to the mantis.

"It doesn't matter," the hooded figure said. "I think I may have found what I was looking for…"

At this time, the night sky lit up...

#

Just an hour after Mu Chen had left the mountain, people began to swarm at its base in large numbers. Most came in groups of two or three, but there was no lack of lone wolves or even a pack of wolves. But although a lot of people came, they all kept themselves hidden, for a drama was unfolding in front of them.