Chapter 1252: Divine Authority

Three days later, at the grand ceremony of the Shugu Tribe.

Lugu became the new Grand Chieftain of the Shugu Tribe.

And under the gaze of the masses, Mo Hua stood upon the high platform, in the capacity of "Lord Wuzhu," upholding the decree of the Divine Lord, bearing the entrustment of the Shugu ancestors, and personally handed the white bone scepter—symbolizing the authority of the Shugu Tribe—to Lugu.

The powerful and burly Lugu knelt on one knee before Mo Hua, receiving the scepter with utmost reverence.

From this point on, Lugu leapt from a general of the main tribe to the Grand Chieftain of the entire third-grade great tribe, the Shugu Tribe, holding the supreme real power.

And Mo Hua became the spiritual symbol of the Shugu Tribe.

Lugu held military authority.

Mo Hua, on the other hand, represented divine authority.

Divine authority stood above all other power.

At this time, beset by war and famine spreading abroad, the grand ceremony was not especially grand, yet the attending clansmen of the Shugu Tribe numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

These barbarian cultivators personally witnessed the transfer of power within the Shugu Tribe.

They witnessed the birth of the new Grand Chieftain of the Shugu Tribe.

They likewise witnessed the divine authority represented by Mo Hua being born and spreading for the first time upon the lands of the Great Wasteland.

For a moment, the masses paid homage, shouting:

"Long live the Shugu Tribe!"

"Long live the Grand Chieftain!"

"Lord Wuzhu is most wise!"

"The Divine Lord is immortal!"

Tens of thousands of voices converged, like trickles joining into the sea, surging like a tsunami, shaking the mountains and rivers, echoing long between heaven and earth.

At this point, through a bout of careful scheming, Mo Hua had initially achieved, upon this land of the Great Wasteland, the unification of the first great tribe under divine authority.

……

After spending another period of time digesting the strength of the Shugu main tribe, the forces under the influence of Mo Hua's divine authority underwent a further qualitative change.

The barbarian cultivators under his command had surged dramatically, reaching as many as eight hundred thousand.

Among them, there was only one person at late-stage Jin Dan—the former Shugu general, now Shugu Grand Chieftain, Lugu.

Three at mid-stage Jin Dan, including Chifeng and two other Shugu Tribe elders.

Seeing Dan Zhu was only at early-stage Jin Dan, but having been tempered through so many battles, his strength could already rival an ordinary mid-stage Jin Dan cultivator.

Apart from these, there were roughly seventy-plus cultivators at early-stage Jin Dan.

The Abyss Bone Heavy Armored Soldiers had reached six hundred.

Seven thousand elite barbarian soldiers at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

One hundred and fifty thousand ordinary barbarian soldiers.

The remaining six hundred thousand-plus were ordinary barbarian cultivators engaged in production, the old, weak, sick, and disabled unfit for battle, and barbarian slaves who made up the vast majority.

At its peak, the Shugu Tribe numbered roughly over two million.

Now, struck by famine, a batch had died; internal wars among the various tribes had killed a batch; the decisive battle against the Wu Jiu Tribe had killed another batch.

Coupled with natural and man-made disasters and turbulent times, many tribes had collapsed and scattered, displaced and homeless.

There were also generals and barbarian generals like Can Gu, who refused to submit to Lugu, defected, and carved out their own territories.

Therefore, by the time Lugu became Grand Chieftain, the population had shrunk considerably.

But this was a year of famine—every tribe was losing people, tribes large and small all faced the crisis of life and death, and the population across the entire Great Wasteland was in decline.

Amid such a desolate environment, the Shugu Tribe of over eight hundred thousand today could still be called an extremely powerful third-grade great tribe force.

With sound strategy, it could play an enormous role and, to a certain extent, turn around the current situation in the Great Wasteland.

Mo Hua also prepared to find the right moment to use his "divine authority" to command the Shugu Tribe to expand its territory and continuously grow stronger.

But before he could truly set out to expand, another thorny problem presented itself:

Food shortage.

More people meant greater strength.

But more people also meant greater consumption.

For over eight hundred thousand people, mere subsistence was already an extremely severe problem.

Cultivators could go hungry for a long stretch, but they could not starve indefinitely—prolonged starvation would still drain their vitality and even lead to unrest.

This problem could only be solved by Mo Hua himself.

People like Lugu might be very strong at fighting and killing, but asking them to solve the "provisions" problem was almost impossible.

With their way of thinking, the only thing they could probably come up with was killing and plundering.

Going to extremes, they could even do something like eating barbarian slaves.

The food problem was the main issue at present, and even for a long time to come.

Mo Hua's original intention was to find a place, settle down, and figure out a way to "farm."

Although the idea of "farming" in the Great Wasteland was fraught with difficulties, it was virtually the only way to allow more Great Wasteland cultivators to survive within the senior uncle's great famine formation.

If he could not stir the vitality of the earth to make the soil fertile and grow food upon the lands of the Great Wasteland—

And conversely use farming to nurture the earth's vitality to counter the spreading famine—

Then the barbarian cultivators here in the Great Wasteland would sooner or later all be doomed.

But this grand conception was by no means something achievable overnight; it necessarily involved a massive undertaking, and distant water could not quench present thirst.

The pressing task at hand was to obtain a batch of supplies that could quickly resolve the immediate problem.

Otherwise, let alone waging campaigns outward—the newly united Shugu Tribe would likely fall apart before long.

……

After some consideration, Mo Hua decided to take stock of the Shugu clan's vault, to see if there were any supplies inside that could be used in an emergency.

The main vault of the Shugu clan was guarded with extreme strictness, tightly controlled by a group of elders.

And the authority to open the vault belonged to the newly appointed Grand Chieftain, Lord Lugu.

Mo Hua asked Lord Lugu for it, and Lord Lugu agreed.

Mo Hua was now the "Lord Wuzhu" of the great Shugu clan — symbolizing the divine lord, representing the ancestors' will, bearing his elder brother's prestige, and carrying his own ambition.

Lord Lugu also obeyed Mo Hua in everything.

Moreover, Lord Lugu had only just taken up the position of Grand Chieftain and had never seen the vault before, so he personally accompanied Mo Hua to the deepest hall of the main camp.

Lord Lugu held the white bone scepter, verified his identity as Grand Chieftain, and personally led Mo Hua into the great vault of the Shugu main camp.

But after entering the vault, Mo Hua slightly furrowed his brow.

Even Lord Lugu looked stunned.

There were far too few things inside the vault; many shelves were empty, and some of the inherited ancient scrolls had been carried off — it looked as if it had been "looted."

Mo Hua couldn't help but look at Lord Lugu.

Lord Lugu's brows knit tightly. He summoned an elder and demanded in a harsh voice, "Where's the vault?"

The elder stammered, not daring to speak.

Lord Lugu's expression grew several degrees colder. "Speak, or I'll chop your head off."

Lord Lugu carried great authority and always kept his word.

Mo Hua's gaze also turned somewhat icy.

The elder immediately dropped to his knees and said, "Lord Wuzhu, forgive me; Grand Chieftain, forgive me. These vault goods… these vault goods were emptied out by the previous Grand Chieftain."

Lord Lugu's eyes were cold. "The clan's vault has its ancestral rules. Even if he was Grand Chieftain, he had no right to privately empty the vault and keep it for himself…"

"He didn't keep it for himself…" the elder said quietly, "it was… a trade."

"A trade?" Lord Lugu frowned.

Mo Hua's expression shifted, and he asked, "What did your Grand Chieftain trade?"

The vault elder said, "It was some… pills."

Mo Hua thought it was just as he had guessed, and instructed, "Where are the pills? Take me to see them."

"Yes…"

The vault elder dared not hide anything, and personally led Mo Hua and Lord Lugu, winding through the storeroom again and again, until they found a secret chamber.

Inside the secret chamber, bottles were densely arranged.

Mo Hua stepped forward, took out a bottle, and examined it for a moment. He found the body of the bottle was completely blank — not a single pattern or mark.

Mo Hua took out a pill, sniffed it, and tasted it himself.

The ingredients were very shoddy, and it didn't taste good either.

It was unmistakably the batch of Fasting Pills produced by the "Hua family," exactly the same as the ones he had snatched in the oasis before.

Mo Hua's gaze darkened slightly.

This showed that the Grand Chieftain of the Shugu clan had long ago been "colluding" with the Hua family, and had even secretly been trading with them for a very long time.

Lord Lugu, his face filled with fury, grabbed the vault elder by the neck and rebuked him, "So much of the vault and the inheritances, and all you got in exchange were these trash things?!"

The vault elder gave a bitter smile. "This… I had no choice either. The previous Grand Chieftain said the famine would only get worse. Don't be fooled by how shabby these bottles look — every pill inside is worth a fortune. This was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity."

"These things can not only save lives, but also be traded for wealth."

"The Grand Chieftain just… swapped most of the vault for these… Fasting Pills."

Lord Lugu couldn't help cursing through gritted teeth, "That old bastard, he's truly lost his mind. The Laozu Sect's entire foundation has been squandered away by him."

Mo Hua's heart stirred, and he fell into thought.

The dealings here were probably not so simple.

In a famine, Fasting Pills were indeed very important, but they certainly weren't worth betting the entire family fortune on.

What's more, what was being wagered was the foundation of an entire clan.

The dead Grand Chieftain had actually been willing to stake everything to buy so many Fasting Pills from the Hua family — there had to be more secrets behind it.

The death of Shugu was certainly one of them.

Beyond that, there should be other hidden circumstances.

And the Hua family's "exploitation" of the Great Wilderness was clearly not as simple as just "making money."

The foundation of a noble house was bloodline, but what sustained it was profit.

If a noble house wanted to grow, if it wanted to flourish, it needed more profit.

Manipulating wars, secretly stirring things up to seize massive amounts of spirit stones and supplies — that was indeed one of the most brutally profitable methods.

But in the process, it seemed the Hua family was also collecting the inheritances of the Great Wilderness.

Flaying the skin down to the bone, sucking blood down to the marrow — there was nothing wrong with that in itself.

Once you'd decided to make a fortune from war, naturally you wouldn't let anything of value slip by, and you'd exploit anything that could be exploited.

The value of inheritances was beyond doubt.

If it were him, he'd certainly also be very willing to trade Fasting Pills for inheritances.

But the problem was, Mo Hua wasn't entirely sure whether the Hua family's sweeping up of the Great Wilderness' inheritances was incidental, or… "deliberate."

"Could the Hua family possibly be… casting a wide net across the Great Wilderness, looking for some specific Great Wilderness inheritance they want?"

Mo Hua vaguely felt it wasn't impossible.

Only now there were too few clues, and he had no idea at all what the Hua family was actually searching for.

Nor was he sure whether his guess was accurate…

Mo Hua frowned.

The game of Da Huang is too vast; masters lurk behind the scenes, the situation is tangled and complex, shrouded in mist everywhere, hard to see clearly.

And Jin Wu still wore a dark expression.

He had just taken office as Grand Chief, yet discovered the treasury was already empty. He immediately wanted to execute the Treasury Elder to set an example and vent his rage.

Fortunately, Mo Hua stopped him.

Many of the upper-level struggles and calculations, these ordinary Jin Dan elders, could not possibly know; there was no need to drag in the innocent.

"You may go," Mo Hua said.

The Treasury Elder hurriedly said, "Thank you, Lord Wuzhu, thank the Grand Chief for sparing my life."

Seeing Mo Hua speak, Jin Wu said nothing more.

Afterwards, Mo Hua sent someone to audit the treasury, to see how much remained.

Most importantly, Mo Hua also had someone count the number of Bi Gu Pills; the final tally came to nearly a million bottles.

This quantity was already considerable.

But Mo Hua was still not satisfied.

A million bottles of Bi Gu Pills were more than enough for the late Grand Chief; they could sustain the entire tribe for a long time.

But for Mo Hua, they were far from enough.

Because in the eyes of the former Shu Gu Grand Chief, the barbarian slaves were not people.

He only needed Bi Gu Pills to feed the barbarian soldiers.

Whether the barbarian slaves lived or died, he did not care.

If they could not be fed, he would let them perish on their own, or launch a war and send them as cannon fodder, naturally thinning their numbers.

In this way, he killed enemies and conserved grain—perfectly efficient.

But Mo Hua could not do this.

These barbarian slaves were also people; he had to give them food so they could survive the famine years.

And in the tribe, barbarian slaves were the most numerous.

Thus, these Bi Gu Pills, under Mo Hua's control, would be consumed at a multiplied rate.

This million bottles of Bi Gu Pills could only slightly ease the food shortage.

And even that would not last long.

With a large household and great affairs, the problems were great; Mo Hua still needed to make longer-term plans.

But where would more food come from?

Mo Hua stroked the empty bottle holding Bi Gu Pills, his expression thoughtful.

"Hua Family…"

…

After leaving the treasury, Mo Hua returned to his room, pondered for a moment, then summoned Elder Bachuan and asked:

"Is Jin Wutu still imprisoned?"

Elder Bachuan nodded. "Still locked in the dungeon."

"Is he watched closely?" Mo Hua asked.

Elder Bachuan said, "As you previously instructed, the guards are not strict."

Mo Hua nodded and said, "In the coming days, loosen things further. Also…"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Also, tell the subordinates that Lord Lugu, the new Shu Gu Grand Chief, has decided to grant a general amnesty to the tribe—anyone not guilty of capital crimes may receive lighter punishment."

"Then, in front of Jin Wutu, release a few prisoners from the dungeon."

"And remove a few more guards from the cells…"

Elder Bachuan did not know Mo Hua's intent, but he knew that whatever the Lord Wuzhu commanded, he need only obey.

"Yes…"

Elder Bachuan took his orders and left.

Mo Hua's gaze grew deeper.

…

Seven days later, in a dungeon of the Shu Gu tribe, a shadow crept out furtively.

He wore prison garb, his body covered in wounds, his skin a sickly white, as if newly grown after peeling off.

This man was Jin Wutu.

He had once been a subordinate of Shi Gu, later conspired with the Bi Fang tribe, betrayed Shi Gu, and fled to the oasis to enjoy comfort.

It was Mo Hua who captured him.

After being captured, Jin Wutu was brutally tortured by Jin Wu, suffering terribly, yet his flesh and blood were remarkably resilient—he did not die.

Mo Hua had ordered him temporarily detained, then became occupied with warfare and neglected him for a long time.

Now, Jin Wutu, by some means, escaped the dungeon, then pulled out a crude barbarian slave garment from somewhere, changed into it, and blended into the crowd, vanishing amid the noise.

An hour later, in another corner, a completely different man appeared.

He wore barbarian soldier attire, walking openly among the patrol squad as they left the tribe's territory.

Then, during the chaos of the patrol shift change, his figure vanished again.

When he reappeared, he was deep in the wilderness, in a secluded little valley.

He shed the barbarian soldier's clothes, tossed them aside, turned his head, gazed at the distant Shu Gu tribe, and on his unfamiliar face appeared a cold sneer as he muttered:

"Fools, think you can lock me up?"

"I'll kill you all eventually…"

After cursing, he no longer hesitated, turned, and strode alone into the valley…

The valley was desolate and silent.

Around it, not a single sound stirred.

But in a place no one had noticed, a pair of deep and eerie eyes watched it all.

(End of Chapter)