After a century of worship, I became the ancestor of the tribe.

Chapter 119 The Same Trick Struck Again, Another Commander Arrives in Xiaoyang

The arrival of the Lingyubo tribe from the west did not affect the Zhiyan tribe. The tribe continued with its daily activities as usual, and the tribespeople packed their bags and began another northward migration.

As for the opportunities for Huo Kui and the other members of the clan, the Yongshan Ruins are still in place and can't be moved. It's not too late to go there after the Lingyubo tribe leaves.

"Let's go."

In the mountains, a group of young people, carrying shrines and sacrificial implements, formed a winding procession and headed north.

Tribal soldiers patrolled and guarded the route to prevent powerful wild beasts from rushing out and disturbing the migrating caravan.

On the hilltop, Shen Can stood with several martial artists, hands behind their backs, surveying the long line.

The Zhiyan Headquarters, its subjects, and vassal tribes number over 600,000, and it would take them more than a month to reach the valley in the mountains.

On the way, women, children, and weak babies were carried on the back of the Rift Mountain Kui. In the air, blue-feathered sparrows and gray eagles patrolled around. Whenever there was any movement, they would cry out, and the martial artists would quickly go to investigate.

Shen Can led his people north, while Huo Tang led a portion of his tribesmen to remain outside the mountains to continue investigating the movements of the Xiaoyang tribe.

With so many people migrating together, traces would be left along the way, and Huotang can be seen as the final act of the process.

Furthermore, migrating into the valley did not mean that the Blazing Flame Tribe was isolated from the outside world.

Closing the clan to its gates is not an option; the clan soldiers will still take turns going out of the mountains to fight against Xiaoyang and improve their combat strength.

Two days later, Shen Can was walking at the front of the migration team when Huo Mu came from a valley in the distance.

"The temple has found a valley with a water source, which is very suitable as the clan's land. It is located in the northwest."

Upon hearing this, Shen Can nodded.

Huo Mu was looking for a clan's territory not so much for migration, but to create a fake clan's territory.

This is also just in case, in case the Xiaoyang tribe has a stubborn leader who insists on going deep into the mountains, so that we can catch them like turtles in a jar.

It can both deceive Xiaoyang and allow them to obtain more of Xiaoyang's remains.

"Let's make some preparations according to our previous plan."

Huo Mu led a group of people northwest and soon disappeared around the bend in the mountain range.

Shen Can sent out six teams like Huo Mu.

……

While Shen Can led his people north, several scout teams from the Blazing Flame Tribe had already crossed the Qu River and headed south, entering the swampy wasteland.

Thanks to the great deeds of Jinwu and Kuafu, the entire mountain forest, all the way to the former miasma and swamp, has been transformed into a vast expanse of ash and smooth roads.

The surrounding area was barren, and if it weren't for the rolling mountains, you could see the whole thing at a glance.

In such circumstances, scouts must hide during the day and hunt at night, otherwise they would be caught easily if they were running around in the wilderness in broad daylight.

Below a small hill in a swampy wasteland, several figures were huddled in a burrow, eating.

"Such fertile soil, it would be great to use it to grow millet."

Wu Qianshan idly twirled the black soil, "If millet were planted in such a vast and flat area, I wonder how many children could be fed."

"Boom!"

As they were talking, they suddenly felt a slight tremor in the ground, which then grew louder and louder.

The group immediately became alert, as the commotion suggested that many wild beasts had passed by.

"Get ready to get started, let me see."

Huo He whispered something. He was the squad leader and carefully opened a small crack at the entrance to the cave.

When they were digging the tunnel to hide, they made some preparations in advance, and the entrance of the tunnel faced south.

Under the scorching sun, dust from the grass and trees swirls up everywhere.

A long procession marched into the distance, led by more than several hundred robust crocodilian dragons, their animal-hide banners fluttering in the ashes.

"It's Xiaoyang!"

Huo He turned his head and said something in a low voice.

"Get everything ready, or we might end up dying here."

The people inside the cave silently picked up their weapons.

As scouts, they would interrogate members of the Xiaoyang Clan while gathering information, and they naturally knew that if they fell into the hands of the Xiaoyang Clan, they would suffer the same fate.

After a long while, this large army of Xiaoyang crossed the distance from afar, and no scattered scouts were seen patrolling along the way.

The group breathed a slight sigh of relief; the bare ground made them feel utterly unsafe.

"Can you see how many owl-like suns there are?"

"No, there's too much dust from the grass and trees. I estimate there are at least five hundred Xiaoyang riding on the crocodile dragon at the head, and the whole team must be at least ten thousand."

"Wait a little longer, let Xiaoyang go further away, then we'll take a longer route back."

……

One hundred miles south of the territory of the Blazing Flame Clan.

The two owl-like creatures rolled around, dodging the falling arrows.

One of the owls was unable to dodge in time and was hit in six or seven places by arrows, after which it lay motionless.

The remaining one frantically searched for cover and finally hid behind a boulder, when it heard a 'clang'.

That voice... it was so familiar.

Back in the Zhushui battlefield, this was the thing that was laid flat and directly pierced through the Xiaoyang army formation.

Without hesitation, Mu Lan climbed over the wall.

The moment it flipped over, the giant arrow shattered the boulder into pieces, embedding itself completely in the soil.

With another 'clang', Mu Lan began to leap and bound like a monkey, jumping around erratically.

"call out!"

Nearby, a rock was suddenly pushed aside, and an arrow shot out, piercing Mu Lan's chest.

Then, a whooshing sound followed, and a giant arrow came from behind, lifting him several dozen feet high before slamming him heavily into the rock wall.

"Chief, you're stealing my credit!"

Huo Qiong, who had launched the sneak attack, was quite satisfied with her arrow and said to the person who had spoken, "This one's on you, it's on you."

High in the distance, a burly figure scratched his head and quickly dragged the giant crossbow back into the cave.

"Quickly pack up and go back to report that the Xiaoyang scouts have already approached the clan's territory by a hundred miles."

……

The land of the Blazing Flame Clan.

Houses were built throughout the tribe's territory, and large caves were dug out. In some places, animal skin clothing was even supported by wooden frames.

From a distance, it is clear that there are still quite a few members of the clan.

"Huo Qiong just reported that she shot and killed two Owl Sun scouts a hundred miles away."

Huo Kui approached and reported to Huo Tang.

Now that Huoshan and Huoqi have led their people north, he is temporarily taking their place, responsible for some arrangements of the tribe's soldiers and the transmission of messages.

"They came over quite quickly."

Huo Tang nodded to indicate that he understood. He had expected this, but it happened a little faster than anticipated.

The Three Xiaoyang tribes have been sending Xiaoyang soldiers northwards repeatedly, and have already clashed with the Zhiyan tribe's soldiers multiple times.

This indicates that the Xiaoyang Clan is restless and truly intends to move north.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent scouts north to investigate.

These three tribes have recovered from their crushing defeat in the Battle of Zhushui, and have not only restored their clan strength but also experienced a surge in power.

According to intelligence gathered, after Kuafu passed through, the three tribes that migrated north began to annex the remaining small tribes of Xiaoyang.

After the last Battle of Zhushui, the three tribes took advantage of their defeat to annex many of the small, crippled Xiaoyang tribes.

In the labeling of the Zhiyan tribe, the three tribes that migrated north from Xiaoyang were directly named after their tribal chiefs: Muqiu tribe, Qiuxiong tribe, and Muxun tribe.

Currently, the number of Xiaoyang people in the Muqiu and Muxun tribes has exceeded 100,000, while the Qiuxiong tribe is slightly less, but still has 70,000 to 80,000.

As for why the Qiu Xiong tribe has fewer people, the root cause lies with Huo Tang. In the last battle at Zhushui, Huo Tang broke the shoulder of Qiu Xiong and had to hide away to heal.

By the time Qiu Xiong recovered from his injuries and emerged, both Mu Qiu and Mu Xun had already made their move.

Although the three divisions have grown considerably stronger, Huotang is not afraid of them. However, there has been no news from the Xiaoyang clan's territory in Ji, which keeps him on edge.

Currently, the tribes have migrated into the mountains to the north, free from worries about their rear. The combined forces of the various tribes now number 30,000.

Excluding the tribal soldiers and warriors escorting him north, he had more than two hundred Heavenly Vein-level combatants at his disposal, half of whom were the chieftains of various vassal tribes.

The strategy for dealing with Xiaoyang this time was similar to the last: break up into smaller groups and resist step by step in the mountains, constantly depleting the number of Xiaoyang's soldiers.

As for the clan's territory, this will be the final blow.

Right now, beneath the clan's territory, clansmen are still busy digging tunnels, preparing to hollow out the entire area beneath the clan's territory.

In preparation for the drought, the tribe had prepared a lot of firewood, which they did not take with them during the migration. Now it is piled up under the tribe's land, along with animal oil and fish oil.

The underground channel that Ah-chan spearheaded the excavation of back then is now proving useful.

Compared to the first time when they split the whole into smaller units, this time Huotang has a much stronger force at his disposal.

The hundreds of hunting teams scattered in the mountains were all led by Heavenly Vein-level warriors this time, whereas last time they were only led by Mountain Opening Realm warriors.

Yes, it was also equipped with a giant crossbow.

"A-Kui, pass the word down and tell the hunting teams to intensify their hunting efforts. The more they kill, the more real our tribe's territory will appear."

"Also, from now on, have some of the tribe soldiers disguise themselves as tribesmen, and during the day they will enter the mountains from different settlements as if they are migrating, and at night they will quietly return through the underground channels."

"By the way, arrange some more in the clan's territory, make it look authentic, and include the elderly, the weak, and the children."

A bunch of strong, bull-like guys go into the mountains every day. Do you think Xiaoyang is stupid?!

After giving his instructions, Huotang walked out of the clan hall and looked around. Although some weeds had already grown, the place still looked rather empty at first glance.

You can see Zushan clearly from a great distance.

In the following days, scouts from Xiaoyang appeared more and more frequently within a hundred miles of the tribe's territory.

To this end, Huotang arranged more than thirty hunting teams in the vicinity, creating the illusion that he intended to kill all the scouts of Xiaoyang. ...

The original Qushui River basin.

Muqiu (莯鳅部)

After their defeat at Zhushui, the Muqiu clan settled their territory near the former Quyang market.

At that time, the huge crater left by the attack on the flying boat of Aoshan Bobu happened to form a large lake.

With lakes and water, it's convenient to travel south using water conservancy.

I never expected the water to dry up.

The water conservancy facilities are gone, but so are the miasma and swamps, making the road to the Xiaoyang tribe's territory a smooth one.

Early in the morning, on the vast wasteland right next to the Muqiu tribe's territory, one after another, Xiaoyang tribe soldiers awoke.

A group of people who had been captured beforehand were directly thrown into the ranks of the Xiaoyang Clan soldiers.

Although the Blazing Flame Tribe has been promoted to the Upper Tribe, there are still tribes in the vast mountains and forests that are completely unaware of the Blazing Flame Tribe's promotion due to their remoteness.

With Jinwu Kuafu's actions, the three tribes of Xiaoyang were impacted, but capturing some humans was still an extremely simple matter.

More than two thousand humans were sent to the Xiaoyang camp, where they soon perished.

More than thirty crocodilians gathered outside the camp.

The three largest crocodile dragons leading the pack were ridden by three commander-level warriors of the Xiaoyang Clan.

The three clan leaders, Muqiu, Qiuxiong, and Muxun, followed behind.

The three commanders of the Xiaoyang tribe were led by Mu Chang, and the other two were Mu Shanlu from the Mu Kang branch and Qiu Feihuai from the Qiu Yin branch.

The three of them brought 10,000 elite troops with them on a mission to hunt for military supplies.

The three major branches of the Xiaoyang tribe in Ji County gathered their troops and marched south. So many Xiaoyang people were going to eat meat.

At least before we invade Ji, we need a large supply of meat; once we penetrate deeper into Ji, we won't need it anymore.

In the past, when Xiaoyang attacked Ji, they didn't need to prepare military rations; they ate wherever they went.

Besides humans, they can also eat wild beasts, but now the forests of the Xiaoyang tribe's territory have been burned to the ground, and the wild beasts are either dead or have fled.

However, since the rise of the Yanran tribe, coupled with the old but still vigorous human tribe of Jishan, the situation in the north has changed.

The human army, formed by the two major tribes, stood like two large horns, blocking Xiaoyang from the east and west.

It's not that we can't go out from other places, but if we send too few troops into Ji, they'll never return.

If too many troops are sent out, the human army will also counterattack and invade the territory of the Xiaoyang tribe.

This creates a situation where you do your thing and I do mine.

This time, the Golden Crow Kuafu passed through, and the Xiaoyang territory became the main route, resulting in heavy losses for the tribe.

It was a last resort to gather troops to attack the human race; we couldn't let the human race counterattack and invade our territory first.

“There really are a million people in the North. It’s one thing for you to lie to us, but if we fail to complete the mission, the consequences are unimaginable.”

Mu Chang spoke, his expression showing no softening despite his blood relation with Mu Qiu.

"Reporting to the commander, even if it's not a million, it's still seven or eight hundred thousand."

Muqiu replied.

"Ah."

Seeing that the three Muqiu were behaving themselves, Mu Chang nodded. "I met with Commander Mu Long before I came here. Mu Long said that your three divisions are very capable. I hope you will live up to Mu Long's expectations this time."

"Commander Mu Long, have you received another mission?"

Muqiu asked cautiously.

"Well, the task of leading the troops north was originally Mu Long's. After all, he had killed many humans in the north and made great contributions, and he was also familiar with the north."

But Mu Long received another mission before I came, so I had to come instead.

Upon hearing this, Muqiu and the other two subconsciously exchanged glances.

Mu Xun continued, "My lord, you may not know this, but a superior human tribe was born in the north. Before the Golden Crow arrived, it had already moved many tribes into the mountains."

After receiving the tribe's order, we sent scouts north, losing more than three hundred scouts in the process. We have now found out that this human tribe is migrating deeper into the mountains.

"If the commander can conquer this tribe, hundreds of thousands of humans will be easily captured."

"An upper-class tribe?"

Mu Chang was taken aback. "Didn't Mu Long wipe out a large number of humans back then? How come there are still superior tribes?"

"Alright, Mu Chang, humans aren't mindless beasts; their development is still quite normal."

Qiu Feihuai spoke up, "Besides, it's just a superior tribe in some remote corner. It's really true that if I, Xiaoyang, don't come here, the human race will reign supreme."

"That's right. The reason we didn't wipe out the Mulong last time was because the human race was too scattered. This time, they've come together and become our race's food."

Mu Shanlu echoed, "Let's not delay, lest they all run deep into the Juyue Mountains, making it difficult for us to catch them."

……

As noon approached, the tribal troops led by the three commanders of ten thousand men transformed into a torrent and began to head north.

The three tribes of Muqiu also conscripted 10,000 soldiers to follow them, and also brought out a large amount of meat from each tribe as military rations.

The mountains used to be high and the forests were lush, but now the mountains have collapsed and the giant trees have turned to ashes. The Xiaoyang tribe soldiers have made a smooth journey.

As for water sources during the march, the Xiaoyang tribe had dug water ahead of them.

The race that originated from the mountains and forests is quite capable; they find water much more easily than humans.

……

Marching through the barren mountains, the long dragon formed by 20,000 owls was quite conspicuous.

Especially when viewed from high above.

"Commander, we have a flying boat!"

As the Xiaoyang tribe soldiers crossed the Tongbei market line, they saw the Lingyubo tribe's flying boat hovering overhead.

Mu Chang suddenly turned around and looked at Mu Qiu and the other two.

"Didn't you say this place is inhabited by savages? Do savages even have flying boats?"

"I don't know!" Muqiu was also taken aback.

It's only been a few years, but the development has been incredibly fast.

"Lingyu pattern".

Mu Chang squinted and peered into the distance, discovering the fish-shaped patterns on the flying boat.

"Take it down!"

……

On the flying boat, a group of young men from the Lingyu tribe looked down at the Xiaoyang army with excitement on their faces.

These days, they went to the Eastern Great Swamp, hoping to follow the trail of the Golden Crow, and only returned after making their way around.

Unexpectedly, when we arrived, we saw a long dragon moving through the wilderness from afar.

"Xiaoyang is getting more and more backward. He even fights the savages in the mountains and sends out so many soldiers."

"Where here is there a large tribe that would warrant Xiao Yang mobilizing so many troops?"

"Could a powerful tribe have been born here?"

“Interesting. We’ll have to follow them and see. I’ve never seen such a battle in my clan before.”

"It seems that another tribe has risen after we left. We should take a good look at it. Reporting back to the tribe later might be a great achievement."

"Come closer, a bunch of clumsy guys who look like black bears."

……

Boom boom boom!

"Oh no, these ugly monsters are attacking us!"

"Quickly, activate the magic."

"Fly higher, fly higher!"

……

Boom!

Clusters of light burst forth from the airship.

The Xiaoyang army arrayed themselves in the wilderness, and giant crossbows transformed into arrows, piercing through the airship's defenses.

Not only did they have giant crossbows, but the leader, Mu Chang, also took out a small tower and unleashed beams of bloody light at the flying boat.

"Let's do it together!"

Seeing that the defenses on the airship had not yet been completely destroyed, it tossed the small tower into the air.

The two commanders beside him quickly injected their blood energy into the small tower, activating tower patterns resembling human races.

……

at the same time.

"A bunch of useless trash, they can't even be good bait!"

In the distance, behind a boulder the size of a small hill, stood an old man dressed in an earth-yellow robe embroidered with a fish pattern.

Looking at the airship that was teetering on the brink of collapse after being hit, he had no desire to save it at all.

Thinking back on these past few days, I've been following this group of juniors around, traveling 30,000 miles back and forth. I thought I could use these juniors to catch a big fish.

Their own tribe's enemies aren't stupid either; a few good-for-nothings really aren't that useful.

The old man cursed under his breath in anger.

"They're more trouble than they're worth! How did our clan produce so many useless people!"

(End of this chapter)