Chapter 69: New Clan Leader

() Chapter 80 New Clan Leader

The people on the Divine Platform and in the Small Valley both need rescue; the sisters on the Divine Platform now don't know what to do. Prioritizing the greater good, we can only consider the Small Valley first, but Li Bucai did not agree, and has never faced such a tricky situation. Yue Ji's two tears kept swirling in her eye sockets, she tried to keep her voice from trembling and whispered: "Our whole tribe is in peril; as long as you can help me save them, I… I am willing to agree to anything you ask."

She said, taking from her clothing pocket a long, blue gemstone—a Magic Crystal that can strengthen weapons.

"Our clan is a poor clan; we probably have no present worthy of offering. This is what I seized from a Goblin; please be sure to accept it and help my people. As long as you can neutralize their poison and save our clan, we will agree to any condition."

Li Bucai pushed the Magic Crystal he was handed back, saying: "Actually, detoxifying isn't difficult; it only takes a simple gesture. The difficulty is that if you want to cure every member of your clan, it would destroy the foundation on which you survive. I don't know what your people would think of that."

Yue Ji was somewhat puzzled.

Li Bucai explained: "Do you remember how we helped you detoxify that day?"

Yue Ji shook her head.

"In fact, detoxifying is simple; your people are impervious to water and fire, while the corpse poison is afraid of fire. At present, the only way to detoxify is to use fire, and with several hundred of you, the only option is to burn that tree. The trees in your valley are connected; once that tree is lit, all the trees will be burned. So, if you can bear it, detoxifying isn't difficult."

Their clan had lived in the Small Valley for over a thousand years. Yue Ji weighed the pros and cons, pondered for a long time, and gritted her teeth: "Even if it isn't burned, the valley is filled with corpse poison and we cannot continue to live there. Please, Lord… Lord, help us detoxify." The undead have not known fire for tens of thousands of years, so they naturally do not wield fire. At that moment she didn't know how to address him, but since others called him Lord, she also referred to him as Lord.

Since she said so, Li Bucai readily agreed: "Very well, there's no time to lose; we'll set out at once."

The group set off immediately. Under Yue Ji's guidance they arrived at the Small Valley and gathered all the undead around the largest central tree, "Devouring Starry Sky". The lumberjacks cut many scrub trees at the valley entrance, piled them around "Devouring Starry Sky", poured the fat of a Lulu Beast over them, and as they ignited the fire, the flames leapt into the hollowed trunk.

After obtaining consent, while the fire was still weak, the lumberjacks, with others' help, picked up from the ground the "Evil Dragon Path Wood" that the Goblin had felled last night. Because it was stained with corpse poison, they roasted it over the fire for a while; once the poison was destroyed, they stripped off the bark and packed it.

The timber of "Devouring Starry Sky" required a tree‑to‑tree method: take a female specimen, bind an axe to a living "Evil Dragon Path Wood", strike it, force it toward the side of "Devouring Starry Sky". After several people surrounded it, it had nowhere to retreat and could only swing its branches continuously until the tree fell. The fallen "Devouring Starry Sky" then lost its original magical power; it no longer affected people, only objects. The lumberjacks cut the tree into sections, removed the bark, and placed them in the bundle.

At that moment, as the wind rose, the flames spread, gradually engulfing the entire forest. The "Devouring Starry Sky" was a massive tree, over fifty meters tall, and when all the other trees had burned out, this tree still blazed fiercely, burning throughout the night. At dawn the next day, its roots thinned and it seemed about to collapse. Li Bucai shouted the people inside the tree out; at that time the faces of the group of maidens brightened considerably. As the last one emerged, the tree fell.

What had been a lush homeland was now a scorched wasteland. The undead naturally felt grief, but at least the clan's lifeline was saved. Under Yue Ji's guidance they knelt around Li Bucai, thanking him for the rescue.

…

At the Divine Platform.

Nearly two hundred undead guards knelt around the Prayer Platform; the elder on the platform was praying to the heavens. The clan leader was now on the brink of death, seated off to the side. In his haze he saw a group of people approaching, lacking even the strength to speak. He reached out, interrupting the elder's prayer, and pointed at the distant crowd—his own clan members, about seventy or eighty in number.

When the crowd reached a point a mile from the Divine Platform, Yue Ji signaled everyone to stop, made a pleading gesture toward Li Bucai, and, together with Wan'er, followed behind Li Bucai toward the platform.

The clan leader vaguely recognized that person as the one who had rescued him the previous night, and muttered: "Divine… Divine…"

The elder tried to help her up, but she stopped him, only allowing herself to be supported so she could kneel facing the newcomers.

"Mother!" The three of them stepped onto the platform. Seeing her mother's tragic state, Yue Ji couldn't help it; tears fell like rain, and she wanted to help her.

"Don't come…," the clan leader stopped her, bowed down to Li Bucai and knelt, refusing to rise. At this point her consciousness was no longer clear; she could not discern that the person before her was merely an ordinary mortal. "Lord of the heavens… save your… these subjects…"

The elder's mind was still completely clear; he steadied her and said softly, "Clan leader, he… he is not our divine, he is just a mortal…"

"Mortal… mortal…" The clan leader withdrew his hand from the elder's grasp, straining to focus his gaze on the elder's face. After a long moment, he realized it was the detoxifier mentioned by Yue Ji, and bowed deeply in gratitude for rescuing Yue Ji.

Yue Ji rushed forward, sobbing: "Mother, he is our benefactor; he knows how to detoxify. Everyone in the valley has been healed by him; our clan will be fine. The child has already invited the benefactor to detoxify mother…"

"Detoxifying is urgent," Li Bucai stepped forward, trying to help her down from the Prayer Platform.

At this moment the clan leader's gaze grew dimmer, his voice softer, and he reached out to refuse: "Detox… already… too late…" As he said this, he suddenly began to tremble, holding back for a while, then forced himself to point at the elder.

Understanding, the elder handed her the blue Scepter behind her to the front. The clan leader raised his hand toward it, stopping halfway; when his hand pointed at Li Bucai's chest, it trembled and lingered for a moment, then suddenly dropped, and he collapsed to the ground. Her poisoning had been severe; after a day's trek and a night's delay, the toxin had seeped into her heart.

Li Bucai hurriedly ordered Wan'er to go forward and examine. Wan'er checked her pulse and sighed, shaking her head. Yue Ji had already collapsed onto her; cries rose from below the platform…

"Benefactor…" The elder also realized the clan leader had passed, his expression dim as he stepped before Li Bucai, holding the Scepter with both hands, his gaze vacant, and said solemnly: "According to the clan leader's dying wish, these clan members are now to be cared for by the benefactor."

Li Bucai was about to feel humbled, but when she handed the Scepter to him, he was startled and quickly pushed his hand away, refusing.

The elder said: "Yue Ji is still young; now the clan leader is gone, and I, the elder, have also fallen in battle. She is alone; how can she lead the clan to survive? Please, benefactor, save them completely, and accept it."

She had already decided to follow the clan leader; there was no longer any chief in the clan capable of opposing the Goblins. Although Yue Ji was competent and a decent leader, being the sole survivor without capable aides made it unlikely to survive here. The number of undead was far lower than that of other elves; the clans were far apart and had had no contact for a thousand years. Moreover, the Life Spring now lay in the Goblins' hands, coated with corpse poison; without the Life Spring, extinction was inevitable. Now only Yue Ji remained to lead the people, and how could she reclaim it? The man before her knew how to detoxify; Yue Ji had likely already been healed by him. He had rescued the clan several times in crises, which is why the clan leader mistakenly thought him a deity. Believing the clan's revival hopeless, he did not want Yue Ji to follow in their footsteps, entrusting the clan's fate to an outsider; as long as the benefactor was not a demon, he would not neglect the clan. Whether the clan would be revived later would be left to heaven.

From Yue Ji she learned that the grudges from tens of thousands of years ago had long been forgotten; the pressing issue now was how to survive here, having already turned enemies into friends.

Li Bucai was using a Spear; what use could that have now? At that moment someone in the audience could no longer hold on and fell to the ground. To save time and quickly detoxify them, he said no more and took the Scepter with both hands.

"Very well, I'll temporarily keep it for Yue Ji for a while. Now, let's hurry to detoxify the others."

The elder, now indifferent, nodded and said: "Now the benefactor is our clan leader; everything is entrusted to the benefactor." He then announced to the crowd below that this person was their new clan leader, and that from now on, whatever the matter, they must obey his orders.

The crowd stopped crying and together knelt before the new clan leader.

Over there, under the guidance of Xiangxiang and others, more than a hundred people worked together and had already prepared a detoxification rack at the foot of the mountain.

Yue Ji remained in her sorrow, refusing to leave. Li Bucai repeatedly urged the elder to descend together, but she politely declined each time. He then raised the Scepter high, directing the crowd, helping each other as they made their way down the mountain…

…