Chapter 265

The next day, not long after the sun had just risen, a knock on the door sounded abruptly.

Gao De and Luo Yiqi were both instantly alert.

Besides Elder Grant, they didn't know anyone else in Phoenix.

And coming at this time, there must be some result from Elder Grant's side.

Opening the door to look, it was indeed Elder Grant.

And beside him stood Catherine, who had been taken away by the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe for many days.

Facts proved that Elder Grant indeed hadn't disappointed Gao De and Luo Yiqi.

In less than a day, he had personally sent the person back.

"Saintess, I'll see you off here," Elder Grant said to Catherine with a smile.

"Elder, just call me by my name," Catherine seemed very sensitive to the title "Saintess," and in this situation, she specifically said so, and then expressed her gratitude to Elder Grant: "Elder Grant, thank you for your help this time; otherwise, I don't know how long I would have had to carry this black pot."

Always cold, her tone at this moment also became exceptionally sincere.

"I really feel ashamed to receive this thanks from you," hearing Catherine's words, Elder Grant spread his hands. "To tell the truth, I also have to bear some responsibility for you being framed; after all, it was my servant who led you into the trap."

He had already learned the detailed process of Catherine being framed on the way here, and it was indeed related to Thomas.

"Moreover," Elder Grant paused, looked at Gao De and Luo Yiqi, and added: "The ones who truly contributed the most were these two; I only did some things within my duty."

"I even have to thank you in return. If it weren't for his help, I would have suffered heavy losses this time," Elder Grant pointed at Gao De and said earnestly: "This group of people not only designed to frame you, but they were also aiming at me."

Catherine, who had been imprisoned for several days and knew nothing about the specific situation, heard Elder Grant say this and couldn't react for a moment, becoming completely dazed.

Here, Elder Grant solemnly took a small bottle out of his bosom and handed it toward Gao De: "Regarding the Jin Hui Wheat matter this time, thanks to your help, I haven't had a chance to thank you yet. This is a little bit of gratitude; please don't refuse."

Gao De glanced at the small bottle and saw at a glance that what was inside was the hard currency of the Northern Realm, Ice Marrow.

Seeing that Gao De didn't take it at first, Elder Grant stuffed the bottle directly into Gao De's hand without question, and then said goodbye to the three: "The few people caught last night are involved in a major way, and this matter is far from over. I'll go back and continue to deal with it."

Not until Elder Grant's back disappeared from sight did Luo Yiqi come back to his senses, and then, as if suddenly realizing, he led Catherine into the house, while asking with concern: "They didn't do anything to you these past few days, did they?"

"It was okay, just people constantly taking turns interrogating me, but I didn't admit to anything. For the sake of the Snowfield Guardians, they haven't done anything to me yet, but it's hard to say afterward... Fortunately, you found the culprit in time and helped me take off this black pot."

Sitting by the stone table, Luo Yiqi heard Catherine's thanks and shook his head hurriedly, "Not me, it's us."

He pointed at Gao De and Fu Luo La sitting on Gao De's shoulder, taking credit for them: "Being able to rescue you so quickly this time, Gao De and Lady Fu Luo La deserve the greatest credit."

"What exactly happened?" Catherine, whose curiosity had already been piqued by Elder Grant's behavior at the door, felt her curiosity reach its peak upon hearing Luo Yiqi's words.

Luo Yiqi began to tell Catherine everything that had happened in the past two days in detail.

And when Catherine finished listening to the specific process, she couldn't help but cast her gaze toward Gao De, who had been silent since just now.

A strange brilliance flashed in her eyes behind the mask. She hesitated for a moment, but finally opened her mouth and said: "Thank you."

Gao De returned a slight smile and didn't say any polite words.

Since he had indeed helped with this favor and contributed a lot, Catherine owed him, and he wouldn't be polite with Catherine.

—If it weren't for this woman, he would already be on the road to planting trees by now, how could he have traveled 100,000 miles to Phoenix and been forced to become grasshoppers on the same rope with them.

"And her too," Gao De even pointed unceremoniously at Fu Luo La on his shoulder.

Catherine was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked at Fu Luo La, only to see the little person looking straight at her.

She thought and thought before cupping her hands and saying: "Thank you too."

The little person then hummed, moved her gaze away, and looked at the scenery outside the house again.

"Catherine, the people involved in this matter are likely far larger and broader than we imagined, even involving the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe," Luo Yiqi remembered what Elder Grant had just said and reminded Catherine again.

"Our purpose for coming to Phoenix has also likely been exposed."

"How so?" Catherine frowned slightly, not understanding how the internal affairs of the sect could inexplicably get involved with the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe.

At the same time, her gaze looked at Gao De, who was still listening on the side, without a trace, and finally didn't say anything.

This was the meaning of tacit approval.

Luo Yiqi, who understood Catherine's heart very well, felt relieved and spoke bluntly: "I originally thought that the ice-thread worm pest problem in the Jin Hui Wheat fields was just something done by the mastermind behind the scenes to keep Elder Grant busy and drain his energy so he would have no time to help us."

"Until yesterday, I didn't know that things weren't that simple."

"Before taking action to capture the culprits last night, I heard the conversation of those few people. One of them said that they wanted to use the ice-thread worm pest to pull Grant down from his position as Elder..."

"So, the main purpose of the ice-thread worm pest was actually to remove Grant's position as Elder."

"Doesn't this explain that there are people from the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe involved in this matter?"

"After all, besides people from the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, what conflict of interest would others have with Elder Grant that they would want to remove his position as Elder?"

Catherine and Gao De both had their gazes flicker upon hearing this.

What Luo Yiqi said was reasonable and well-founded.

"Are there factional interest struggles within the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe?" Gao De asked tentatively. Generally speaking, where there are people, there will be conflicts of interest; this is an eternal truth.

But in Northern Realm tribes, even basic survival cannot be guaranteed. In this situation, they should actually become more united—one must be able to eat first before talking about any conflicts of interest.

Gao De had seen two Northern Realm tribes along the way, the Snowfur Clan and the Dorbian Tribe, and they were very united internally, with no so-called factional struggles.

"Of course." Luo Yiqi was also a smart person and instantly understood his meaning from Gao De's question.

He thought for a moment and simply introduced some secrets within the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe to Gao De.

"The Enduring Zhenbing Tribe even almost fell apart because of factional struggles."

"What exactly happened?" Gao De became curious upon hearing this, and at the same time felt it was incredible. In a situation where survival is so difficult, could they still fight internally to this extent? "This has to start with the current War Mother of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Su Su Su Nai Fa." Luo Yiqi organized his language and told Gao De slowly.

"Su Su Su Nai Fa's mother, Glen Boreas, was the previous War Mother of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

"So from the moment Su Su Su Nai Fa was born, the blood of Boreas flowed through her body, destined to inherit the position of War Mother of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe and become the next leader of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

"However, while Su Su Su Nai Fa was still a minor, Glen Boreas lost her life in a hunting expedition leading a team outside."

"No one knows what terrible monster they encountered that could make one of the strongest Ice-born on this land, the Enduring Zhenbing War Mother, fall just like that, because the entire team of hunters Glen took out all died, with no survivors."

"Glen Boreas fell. According to tradition, Su Su Su Nai Fa should have inherited the position of War Mother to lead the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

"However, at that time, Su Su Su Nai Fa was only fourteen years old, not yet an adult, and even the Ice-born bloodline in her body hadn't fully awakened..."

"This is like a child whose parents died and suddenly has to inherit a large family fortune; there will always be many relatives with ulterior motives jumping out, wanting to snatch the family fortune that originally belonged to this child, and calling it helping to look after it..." Luo Yiqi made an analogy.

A very vivid metaphor; the sense of déjà vu came rushing in instantly.

"There is nothing new under the sun, and Su Su Su Nai Fa's encounter at that time was no exception."

"Speaking of this, I have to mention the high-level composition of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

"The leader of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe is undoubtedly the War Mother, and under the War Mother, there are many Elders. One War Mother plus an unlimited number of Elders together form the high-level of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

A very extensive structure... Gao De gave an evaluation in his heart; after all, in his previous life, the power structure had developed to an extremely complex and refined level.

However, such an extensive power structure also has its unique advantages, the most prominent being that it makes the decision-making process more efficient, avoiding problems like information distortion and decision-making delays that might be brought about by multi-level management.

For Phoenix, which still resembles a primitive tribe form, their social relationships are relatively simple, and daily production activities are also very single; such a power structure conforms to the "national conditions."

"Among those unlimited number of Elders, there is also a Great Elder, which is equivalent to the second-in-command of the entire tribe, with a status second only to the War Mother."

"At that time, the current Great Elder of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Donald, after War Mother Glen fell, advocated that Su Su Su Nai Fa was too young, her mind was not mature enough, and her strength was too weak to shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, and proposed that he should temporarily lead the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe on her behalf."

"After Su Su Su Nai Fa became an adult and possessed enough strength and ability, she would then take over the position of leader."

"Of course," Luo Yiqi spread his hands, "this was just a statement put on the surface. Everyone knew that as long as Donald sat in this position of leader, unless he died, he would definitely not return the position of leader to Su Su Su Nai Fa."

"Although Su Su Su Nai Fa was the orthodox successor of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, her age and strength were indeed obstacles to her succession, so the entire tribe was split into two factions at that time."

"One faction was the conservative party, which felt that the leader of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe could only be someone possessing the blood of Boreas."

"The other faction was the reformist party supporting Donald, which believed that Su Su Su Nai Fa had no ability to lead the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, and if they forcibly followed tradition and listened to the orders of such a yellow-haired girl, it would only lead the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe to decline."

"Donald had served as the Great Elder of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe for hundreds of years and originally had great prestige in the tribe; only War Mother Glen could suppress him, and now War Mother Glen had fallen so suddenly that no preparation was made for Su Su Su Nai Fa."

"Therefore, after Glen Boreas fell, Donald's momentum in the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe was far superior to Su Su Su Nai Fa's, and the supporters and strength of the reformist party were even crushing the conservative party."

"Seeing that the general trend was gone, the conservative party still refused to submit to Donald. Seeing this situation, Donald had already planned to drive the conservative party out of Phoenix and deprive them of their status as citizens of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe."

"The Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, which had been passed down for I don't know how many years, was on the verge of splitting."

"The young Su Su Su Nai Fa stood out. She left Phoenix alone and, following the guidance of an ancient map, came to the center of the Northern Realm, where the ancient holy land of the Ice-born tribes once was, the ruins that had been abandoned for I don't know how many years, Ancient Frost Mouth."

"No one knows what exactly happened there. Everyone only knows that Su Su Su Nai Fa found the Ice Demon Weapon 【Blizzard】 belonging to Boreas herself at Ancient Frost Mouth and completely awakened the Ice-born bloodline and ancient Enduring Zhenbing spells in her body," speaking of this, Luo Yiqi revealed an expression of admiration in his eyes.

A minor "girl" who could show such responsibility and courage in this situation and successfully "defy the heavens and change her fate" was enough to be called a legend.

"The strong should do what cannot be done; this is what Boreas herself said, and Su Su Su Nai Fa indeed did it."

"Su Su Su Nai Fa, who returned to Phoenix with 【Blizzard】, gained the support of over 90% of the people of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe by virtue of 【Blizzard】, and with a crushing momentum, sat on the position of War Mother, becoming the new War Mother of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, and also the youngest War Mother in history, even though she wasn't an adult at the time!"

"And the completely awakened Ice-born bloodline also allowed her to grow rapidly into one of the most powerful Ice-born in the Northern Realm within two years, that is, when she became an adult."

"Facing this situation, Donald could only choose to submit to Su Su Su Nai Fa."

"But everyone knew well that the grudge between Su Su Su Nai Fa and Donald had already been formed and it was impossible to clear the air."

"It can only be said that Su Su Su Nai Fa considered Donald's strength and prestige, and in order to avoid internal fighting and consuming the tribe's strength, she had never taken action against Donald."

"Of course, it's also possible that this new War Mother is truly broad-minded and doesn't hold a grudge about this matter, but at least I think Donald wouldn't be naive enough to believe this."

"As long as he doesn't believe it, it doesn't matter whether Su Su Su Nai Fa is prepared to let Donald go or not."

"So the conflict between Su Su Su Nai Fa and Donald has always existed."

"And Elder Grant has always been a member of the conservative party from beginning to end," after introducing the internal situation of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Luo Yiqi hit the nail on the head and pointed out the key.

"So, this matter likely also involves the Great Elder of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Donald," Gao De concluded.

(End of chapter)