Chapter 1202: Avoiding Disaster

Under the guidance of Master Mo Hua, Dan Zhu and Chifeng led their barbarian troops to attack another branch of Shu Gu.

In their first clash, Dan Zhu gained the upper hand.

Dressed in the Xuanhuo Lingyi, his red aura blazed fiercely like a celestial warrior, charging through the Shu Gu branch's ranks, slaying numerous Shu Gu barbarian cultivators, leaving no one able to stand against him.

The barbarian general Chifeng merely held the rear, not advancing recklessly.

He knew his purpose in this campaign was not to charge and kill, but to guard the flanks and protect Young Master Dan Zhu's safety.

On the battlefield, blades and spears show no mercy; fire and water know no pity—who knows where death's danger might strike?

Thus Chifeng's gaze burned keenly, utterly focused.

With Chifeng guarding the flanks, Dan Zhu slaughtered everywhere.

After hundreds of rounds of fighting, though many enemies had fallen, they still failed to capture the Shu Gu branch.

Mo Hua watched from afar and saw that within the Shu Gu branch, there were nearly a thousand barbarian troops.

Amidst the throng of barbarians stood six Jin Dan, all at the early stage, yet their cultivation was deep and their qi strangely varied, their faces painted with similar bizarre bone makeup.

Of these six, three were barbarian body cultivators, three were shaman cultivators.

The body cultivators charged ahead; the shamans cast spells behind, their auras linked, though temporarily on the defensive, their faces wore cruel smiles and a hint of malevolence.

Mo Hua's gaze sharpened.

He could sense faint traces of demonic divine qi flowing through the six Shu Gu Jin Dan.

This meant the Shu Gu branch had begun to "fall," and their barbarian god had begun to "corrupt."

And this demonic divine qi also nourished their followers.

These Jin Dan had clearly grown stronger due to the demonic influence.

Now facing Dan Zhu, though at a disadvantage, they showed no urgency—they clearly did not intend to reveal their full strength in this first engagement.

They were observing Dan Zhu, searching for openings.

After another few hundred rounds, Mo Hua ordered a retreat.

The strength of this Shu Gu branch exceeded Mo Hua's expectations, so haste was unwise.

The Dan Que tribe set up camp thirty li away.

Mo Hua asked Tie Shu Gu whether he recognized the six Jin Dan.

If they were ordinary Jin Dan, it would mean nothing—but these six shared linked auras, clearly practicing some strange secret art, surely no mere commoners.

Tie Shu Gu looked solemn, even incredulous, and said:

"Those six seem to be the 'Six Monsters of Shu Gu'…"

"The Six Monsters of Shu Gu?"

Tie Shu Gu nodded. "They are six brothers, blood-bound, practicing the same secret art. Within the Shu Gu tribe, they're somewhat famous—few dare provoke them. But this place isn't their tribal encampment; I don't know why they're here…"

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

Was the Shu Gu tribe in chaos?

Were they now turning on each other, devouring and crushing one another?

That would complicate matters.

Internal chaos in the Shu Gu tribe meant their power structure was shifting; the boundaries between branch and main tribes could no longer be trusted.

And even if he wished to divine, he needed to know the timing, the terrain, and the karmic state of "people."

With the situation in turmoil, Mo Hua found it hard to assess the true strength of each tribe.

Thinking of this, Mo Hua suddenly asked Tie Shu Gu:

"Does the Shu Gu tribe really have a unified Great Chief?"

Tie Shu Gu said: "This… naturally, it does."

Mo Hua asked: "Do you all obey the Great Chief's orders?"

Tie Shu Gu nodded. "That… is natural."

Mo Hua regarded him with a calm gaze.

Tie Shu Gu reluctantly spoke some "disrespectful" truths:

"Only when the Great Chief is before us do we obey him. When he's not here, we can't hear his voice—so there's no need to obey."

Mo Hua's expression grew peculiar. "What if he sends orders?"

Tie Shu Gu replied: "The messenger isn't the Great Chief—so his words aren't the Great Chief's words. If they aren't the Great Chief's words, there's no need to obey…"

Mo Hua suddenly thought Tie Shu Gu was truly a "talent."

Full of twisted logic, yet somehow it made perfect sense.

It reminded him of himself…

But this also proved the Shu Gu tribe was indeed extremely loose.

The Great Chief's authority radiated weakly and lacked centralization.

Even a wandering tribe like Tie Shu Gu dared to obey only "direct orders," not "transmitted ones."

And yet, at this point, the Shu Gu tribe still maintained a surface of "unity" without fracturing—Mo Hua was genuinely astonished.

Mo Hua couldn't help asking Tie Shu Gu: "Have you never thought of splitting outright, carving out your own territories, and ignoring the Great Chief's orders?"

Tie Shu Gu hurriedly said: "Dare not."

Mo Hua asked: "Is it 'dare not,' or 'do not want to'?"

Tie Shu Gu bowed. "Both dare not, and do not want to."

Seeing Mo Hua's surprised expression, Tie Shu Gu said with devout sincerity:

"To defy tribal law and betray the Great Chief invites the barbarian god's 'divine punishment.'"

"Within the Shu Gu tribe, we may kill each other, plunder each other, seize each other's lands."

"But the Great Chief is unique, for the Great Chief is chosen by the Great Savage God; the Great Savage God's decrees are beyond question."

Mo Hua's expression remained unchanged, but his mind sank into thought.

It seemed that, though Shu Gu Clan, like Dan Que Clan, was a third-grade great tribe, its power structure and institutions were clearly very different.

Dan Que Clan did not worship the Savage God, but a divine beast totem.

The core of Dan Que Clan, and its power, was their loyalty to the Great Wilderness Wang Ting.

But the core of Shu Gu Clan was faith.

Shu Gu Clan's strength was not among the top in third-grade tribes, its cohesion was weak, its territory vast, its population numerous, and its composition complex.

The unified faith in the Savage God bound these "loose" Shu Gu main clans, proper clans, auxiliary clans, minor clans, outer clans, wandering clans, secret clans, and remnant clans together, maintaining Shu Gu Clan's external unity.

Of course, their faith was in truth "scattered"—they merely believed themselves to be unified.

A faith that was not unified maintained the tribe's unity.

Even Mo Hua found it astonishing.

Mo Hua's heart stirred slightly, and he asked again: "What is the origin of your Shu Gu Clan?"

Tie Shu Gu shook his head. "'Shu Gu' means wandering bones—it refers to barbarian cultivators without lineage or origin, who gathered together to form a tribe..."

"So it is like this..." Mo Hua murmured softly.

Shu Gu Clan's "alliance" was of this form.

Mo Hua asked again: "Then surely you have ancestors—where did your ancestors come from?"

"Ancestors..." Tie Shu Gu hesitated, feeling it was dishonorable, reluctant to speak—but finally said:

"It is said that originally... the ancestors of Shu Gu Clan were all exiled to the fringes of the Endless Abyss, surviving only by scavenging the bones of demonic beasts and licking the scraps of flesh between them."

Mo Hua's pupils shrank sharply. "What did you say?!"

Tie Shu Gu did not know which words he had spoken wrongly; his heart panicked. "I... what did I say?"

Mo Hua realized he had lost composure; he calmed his expression and asked slowly:

"You mean the ancestors of Shu Gu Clan... were exiled slaves on the fringes of the Endless Abyss?"

Tie Shu Gu thought it over, decided the statement was not wrong, and though unwilling to admit it, nodded:

"Those who committed crimes and were exiled naturally became lowly slaves."

Mo Hua's gaze narrowed. "Have you been to the Endless Abyss?"

Tie Shu Gu shook his head: "I only know the Endless Abyss is a land of great calamity, the source of chaos in the Great Wilderness. How could I ever go there—or dare to?"

Mo Hua nodded slightly. Seeing Tie Shu Gu's humble expression, he felt a pang of pity and decided not to press further. "You may go."

Tie Shu Gu exhaled in relief, bowed his hands. "Yes, my lord Wuzhu." Then he departed respectfully.

After Tie Shu Gu left, Mo Hua stared at his back for a moment, then suddenly frowned.

That strange feeling surfaced again in his heart.

He always felt something off about Tie Shu Gu.

But he could not say exactly what.

Mo Hua pondered for a moment, then set the doubt aside for now.

For the rest of the time, he focused on how to launch an assault against the strangely sinister "Shu Gu Six Wonders."

Six brothers, all Jin Dan, who had learned a secret art, their spiritual senses "corrupted," radiating a faint aura of malevolent blood qi.

Indeed, they were very troublesome.

At least with his current strength, he could not kill them.

Of course, with the Curse of Fate upon him, he had no right to kill anyone now.

"Let's first try fighting them..." Mo Hua thought to himself.

The next day, both sides resumed battle.

Dan Zhu led the assault; the Shu Gu Six Wonders defended.

Mo Hua was considering how to counter the troublesome "Shu Gu Six Wonders," when he realized the situation differed from his expectations.

The Shu Gu Six Wonders were completely overwhelmed by Dan Zhu.

Even though they were six Jin Dan, even though they had learned some unknown secret art, even though they fought in perfect unison—attacking from afar and close, blending offense and defense, their bodies wreathed in an indescribable venomous blood qi—they still could not match Dan Zhu.

Dan Zhu alone was like Zhu Que descending from the flames, growing fiercer with every clash.

Mo Hua's heart startled, then swelled with joy—he suddenly understood: he had overthought it.

Dan Zhu was truly powerful.

His talent was extraordinary; he had formed a top-tier Jin Dan and wielded a supreme-grade artifact.

Even within Qian Xue Zhou, he ranked among the very top talents.

But this genius had been "fooled" by me—so I had unconsciously underestimated him.

But Mo Hua understood: Dan Zhu could be fooled not only because I was clever and skilled in petty tricks, but because Dan Zhu was kind-hearted—he chose to believe me.

But Mo Hua understood that Dan Zhu could be fooled by him not only because he was indeed clever and skilled at petty tricks, but also because Dan Zhu was kind-hearted and willing to believe him.

At first, when he went out to fight, his inexperience made his moves clumsy.

But after campaigning against the Shu Gu Wandering Clan, battling Tie Shu Gu, defending the Shu Gu Shi Dian, and dueling the Bi Fang Clan's prodigy Bi Jie in repeated battles—

Yet after enduring the campaign against Shu Gu You Bu, battling Tie Shu Gu, defending Shu Gu Shi Dian, and trading blows in turn with Bi Fang Bu's genius Bi Jie, these rounds of slaughter had taken their toll.

Dan Zhu's strength had been gradually honed.

Real combat forged a warrior best.

Dan Zhu's progress was nearly visible to the eye.

Now, though the Shu Gu Six Wonders were strong, and though they were known as "formidable foes" even within Shu Gu Clan and among neighboring tribes—

The Six Witches of Shu Gu, though powerful and with a modest reputation within Shu Gu Clan and among neighboring tribes, are considered a "formidable foe."

But they still paled in comparison to the genius Dan Zhu.

Even Mo Hua, watching Dan Zhu, found it absurd.

Born into privilege, handsome, with prodigious talent, he formed his Jin Dan at twenty—and not just any Jin Dan, but a top-tier one, using the supreme Zhu Que artifact.

As for himself, he had only middling-to-poor spiritual roots; he couldn't even hope for a decent Jin Dan formation. The artifact he eventually crafted? Who knew what it would turn out to be.

Truly, comparing people drives one to despair…

Mo Hua couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of envy.

But on the other hand, this was also a good thing.

Dan Zhu was his own man; the stronger Dan Zhu became, the stronger he himself would become.

Thinking this way, Mo Hua's heart suddenly broadened.

Thus, his plan going forward became very simple.

It was just three words:

"Protect Dan Zhu."

As long as he protected Dan Zhu, kept him safe from calamity, and let him grow and develop slowly, Dan Zhu himself would eliminate most of his enemies.

Even when Dan Zhu truly grew powerful, many matters would no longer require his own intervention.

As a hidden "master," the most important thing was to recognize talent and employ it.

Mo Hua nodded deeply in agreement.

The battle in the field continued.

Dan Zhu was strong, wielding overwhelming power, sweeping all before him—but Dan Que's forces were outnumbered, and the Six Wicked Bones were no weaklings.

They held an advantage, yet failed to turn it into decisive momentum, unable to breach the enemy camp.

Mo Hua guessed they'd need to "wear them down" further, so he ordered a retreat.

After retreating, Mo Hua said nothing more, only told Dan Zhu to rest well.

Back in his room, he began divining fortune and misfortune.

He divined whether Dan Zhu would walk into an ambush tomorrow, whether he'd face surprise attacks or treachery, whether he'd be wounded, or encounter other perils—even whether he'd see signs of death.

Divining an entire battle involved celestial timing, terrain, troop deployments, and their shifts.

The specifics were complex, consuming vast amounts of divine awareness and karmic calculation power—slow, exhausting, and risky to divine awareness.

Mo Hua dared not calculate daily.

But calculating for Dan Zhu alone reduced the difficulty greatly.

As long as each battle he fought carried a "great auspicious omen," or at least a "minor auspicious one," it would suffice.

This was also an expansion of karmic arts, deepening his understanding of human destiny and heavenly fate.

Using his own heavenly fate art, he would safeguard Dan Zhu's life-and-death karmic threads.

After completing the divination and receiving the result, the next day Mo Hua ordered Dan Zhu to attack the Shu Gu tribe again, telling him to fight freely, without fear of anything else.

Dan Zhu nodded happily.

Chifeng, however, harbored concerns.

On the battlefield, one must not be careless, must not underestimate the enemy, must not rush forward—even a lion uses full strength against a rabbit. Letting Dan Zhu Shaozhu fight without restraint was somewhat dangerous.

But he looked at Mo Hua and said nothing.

The Master of Witchcraft acted under divine guidance; his words were rarely wrong.

Besides, he himself was there to guard the rear—surely Dan Zhu Shaozhu would be safe.

Thus, the battle resumed.

With Mo Hua's approval, Dan Zhu fought even more ferociously, charging through the Shu Gu barbarian ranks as if they were empty.

The Six Wicked Bones grew angrier, yet could not catch Dan Zhu.

The Shu Gu camp was thrown into chaos by Dan Zhu's assault.

In the end, Dan Zhu led his troops repeatedly to the Shu Gu camp's gates, nearly breaching its main gate.

But in the end, it fell short—a single step from victory—as the Six Wicked Bones combined their strength, unleashing their dark green bone-melting demonic art to forcibly halt him.

Dan Zhu withdrew, yet Dan Que's morale surged.

But the next day, Mo Hua forbade Dan Zhu from attacking.

He had divined that if Dan Zhu attacked the Shu Gu tribe today, he would walk into an ambush, be surrounded by the Six Wicked Bones, and though he might not die, he would surely be wounded.

Such a cost would not be worth the gain.

Mo Hua could not bear to let Dan Zhu be crippled by the Six Wicked Bones.

Even if the Six Wicked Bones all died, it could not compensate for the loss of Dan Zhu's injury.

Mo Hua directly ordered Dan Zhu to cease combat: "Rest today. No battle."

Dan Zhu was surprised, but obediently replied: "Yes, Mr."

The Shu Gu tribe's earlier feigned weakness and their carefully laid ambush were rendered useless.

The pot's water boiled, but the duck never came.

The Six Wicked Bones were left bewildered.

After that, Dan Zhu was ordered by Mo Hua to "rest" for two more days; on the third day, Mo Hua nodded and said:

"Enough. Resume the attack."

Dan Zhu rejoiced and led his barbarian troops into assault.

Meanwhile, the Six Wicked Bones, lulled by Dan Zhu's absence, had removed their prepared traps.

No sooner had they removed them than Dan Zhu arrived again, catching them utterly off guard.

The Six Wicked Bones were not only enraged—they were terrified.

They hastily engaged in battle against Dan Zhu, burned by Zhu Que's mysterious fire, and after hundreds of rounds, nearly all were wounded, retreating in defeat back to camp.

For the following days, it was always the same.

Mo Hua practiced fortune-telling to predict auspiciousness and misfortune.

If there was no danger, he allowed Dan Zhu to enter the fray.

If there was danger, he ordered Dan Zhu to focus on defense, holding ground without attacking, cultivating battlefield vigilance.

If the danger was severe, he forbade combat entirely—no one was to leave the gates.

Thus, all the sinister methods of the Six Bone Sorcerers were silently neutralized; every ambush and treachery they had prepared died unborn.

And each time Dan Zhu launched an attack, it struck precisely at their "weak point."

The Six Bone Sorcerers were filled with inexplicable terror.

From their perspective, Dan Zhu was in fact the powerful "villain leader"—young, arrogant, dazzlingly gifted, and immensely strong in combat; now, not only was his combat power formidable, his "luck" was astonishingly supreme.

All peril left him untouched, and he always turned misfortune into fortune.

He was a man blessed with great fortune.

The Six Bone Sorcerers, gripped by fear and chilled by Dan Zhu's killings, finally, on the seventh day's battle, saw Dan Zhu clad in the mysterious fire Li Lingyi, as if blessed by fate, directly slay one of them.

The remaining Five Bone Sorcerers all turned pale and abandoned the camp in flight.

The remaining Bone Tribe barbarian soldiers were no match for Dan Zhu.

Many knelt before Dan Zhu.

Others scattered like monkeys fleeing a fallen tree, each seeking their own survival.

This Bone Tribe outpost was officially breached.

Dan Zhu asked Mo Hua, "Mr. Wu, should we pursue those six Bone Jin Dan?"

Mo Hua pinched his fingers in calculation, sensed uncertain fortune and misfortune, and shook his head. "Do not pursue desperate foes. No need."

Dan Zhu nodded. "Good."

Chifeng, standing nearby, grew considerably more respectful.

Over these days, he had watched "Mr. Wu" make every battlefield decision, and inwardly admired him deeply.

This further solidified his conviction: "Mr. Wu's decisions are never wrong and unshakable."

Thereafter, Dan Zhu led his Dan Que Division to formally occupy the Bone Tribe outpost.

But the conditions within the Bone Tribe outpost made Mo Hua frown.

Too poor. Too miserable.

These people had likely lived poorly before; after the Six Bone Sorcerers seized their land, they exploited them even more brutally.

Not only were the barbarian slaves treated worse than pigs and dogs, even some low-ranking Bone Tribe barbarian cultivators wore tattered clothes, worse off than oxen and horses.

All of them bore traces of "cannibalism."

But this cannibalism was not born of their own will to kill and eat; they were simply starving, scavenging the leftover bones of others, licking off scraps of meat.

Both savage and cruel, yet also pitiful.

Beyond this, the local "barbarian god" also disappointed Mo Hua.

This barbarian god had indeed "degenerated," but only slightly—and it was merely third grade.

After Mo Hua "consumed" it, he barely filled a tooth gap; his spiritual sense strengthened slightly, but not significantly.

"Not every outpost can produce a third-grade barbarian god…"

Mo Hua sighed inwardly.

But since they had taken it, they could not simply abandon it.

After all, they were all "human lives."

Mo Hua could only devise ways to improve the lives of these Bone Tribe barbarian cultivators and slaves who still retained some conscience.

On the surface, such major matters naturally fell to Dan Zhu.

The specific, minor details Mo Hua entrusted to Tie Shu Gu.

After all, Tie Shu Gu had once been the leader of the Bone Tribe's roaming faction; he was perfectly suited to oversee the resettlement of these low-ranking Bone Tribe cultivators.

Thereafter, every order Mo Hua issued, Tie Shu Gu carried out fully and faithfully, without a single act of defiance, and handled everything with great propriety.

Mo Hua was satisfied.

Yet the more satisfied he became, the stronger his sense of "dissonance" grew.

He always felt something was off about his attitude toward Tie Shu Gu.

It was a feeling he could not articulate, yet one that bordered on instinct.

Tie Shu Gu stood below, bowing respectfully.

Mo Hua looked at the obedient, sensible Tie Shu Gu, traced his spiritual sense inward in self-reflection, pondered long, then suddenly trembled inwardly—he realized the issue:

"Why… didn't I kill him?"

No, more accurately:

"Why… had I never even considered… killing him?"

"Had I never, from the very beginning, entertained the thought?"

Not killing him was fine—after all, I cannot kill now, and Tie Shu Gu is still useful.

But never even thinking of it—that was a grave problem.

Mo Hua's gaze grew increasingly deep.

(End of Chapter)