Chapter 34: This is Called

Names seem like insignificant labels.

Yet in history, there have been countless people, events, objects, and even tribes and nations that have risen because of a name and fallen because of a name.

That is why the word "taboo" exists.

Having finished what he needed to do and fulfilled his wish, Zhang Gui was truly overjoyed.

He walked out of the Great Stone Cave Abode in high spirits.

The sky was near dusk, and Mushroom Valley was covered in withered leaves, giving a sense of decay under the setting sun.

But in Zhang Gui's eyes, he only felt that the newly born "Lower Stone Corpse Capital" was a sea of gold; this was going to be a fortune!

Although Lao Sang Gui, who was guarding the door, was dim-sighted, he could still sense Zhang Gui's presence and hurriedly approached, excited.

"Great Stone Gold Star, you have come out.

I, Sang Gui, offer my respects here..."

"Alright, Lao Sang Gui, I am a pragmatic person, not one for empty formalities; let's skip the formal talk.

You know the situation in the tribe far better than I do; how many usable people are left now?

By 'usable,' I don't mean young and strong; being loyal like you is enough.

Strength, vitality, energy, and even longer lifespans—I can bestow these upon you all."

"Great Stone Gold Star, the Stone Corpse tribe has now weakened to the extreme.

There are only thirteen households left, twenty-one tribespeople, thirteen of whom are women.

However, they can all barely wield blades and go into battle.

As for loyalty, they are all people near death; they no longer have the strength to betray the tribe.

Since we have chosen to be Stone Corpse people for a lifetime, we must at least have the face to be buried in Mushroom Valley."

Environment shapes life.

After surviving in the mountains and wilderness for a few years, even a scholar can be tempered into a thug who farms in peacetime and robs in his spare time.

Not to mention mountain folk who have lived by fishing and hunting since childhood.

As long as they have breath and can move, they can always fish and shoot roe deer, and being able to kill animals actually means being able to kill people.

Zhang Gui was delighted to hear this. "Truly old but vigorous and wild and untamable.

No wonder you old bones didn't end up like your descendants, assimilated by the Ming Song people to live on the plains."

Lao Sang Gui was speechless, not knowing how to answer.

His two sons and three daughters had all died, and the dozen or so grandchildren left behind had all left Mushroom Valley to go to the plains and spread their branches.

Although he was sad, deep down he couldn't blame the children.

Staying in the valley, staying in an increasingly declining tribe, was very easy to die an unnatural death.

For hundreds of years, the continuous expansion of the Ming Song people had not only squeezed the living space of the barbarians but also squeezed the living space of wild beasts.

The rabbits that seemed to breed in litters every year on the plains and were seemingly inexhaustible had disappeared without a trace because the grasslands had turned into farmland.

The swamps and ponds full of fish, shrimp, birds, and various water beasts had been occupied by the Song Ming people and turned into cities and manors.

Hunters with poor skills, having lost the hunting grounds on the plains they relied on for survival, could only hunt fierce beasts in the mountains.

Thus, life became increasingly dangerous and difficult.

Continuing to be a Stone Corpse person, even as a chief, was not as good as going to the plains to be a small merchant selling mountain goods, or working long-term for workshop owners in the city or large manors in the suburbs.

As an elder, he could not blame his descendants for wanting to live.

Zhang Gui saw Lao Sang Gui's conflicted look and smiled.

"Lao Sang Gui, I was born into an agricultural nation.

If I hadn't had the opportunity to become a king and hegemon myself, to create a new civilization, nation, and country, I might have been proud of being a Song Ming person for my whole life.

It doesn't matter to me at all that your descendants have become Song Ming people.

If I can devour the heavens and earth in the future, they will naturally return to being my subjects.

If I can't, what difference does it make if there are a few dozen, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands more or fewer subjects?

In a moment, gather all the Stone Corpse people who can still move.

I need them to spread a piece of news, saying that we have discovered the treasure left behind by the previous Stone Corpse King in the valley.

You are all experienced old hunters; I don't need to teach you how to bait a trap before fishing."

Lao Sang Gui had known Zhang Gui for over ten years, and they could be considered familiar with each other.

At this moment, he felt that his phrasing and word choice were quite different from before; although he could barely understand the general meaning, it was strange and clearly not quite normal.

But the Zhang Gui of the past was just a young scholar from the Ming Song.

It was only by chance that he had the qualifications to inherit the Stone Corpse tribe, so it was natural for him to speak in a pedantic and gentle way.

Now that he had awakened the Stone Corpse ancestor bloodline and become the legendary Great Stone Gold Star, it was only natural that his speech was not like that of an ordinary person.

Especially as the last Stone Corpse Soldier of the Stone Corpse tribe, Da Gui Sang had a blind superstition about the legendary Great Stone Gold Star.

Without feeling anything unusual, he knelt on the ground and promised piously:

"Yes, noble Great Stone Gold Star."

Zhang Gui looked at the old man at his feet and said slowly:

"Two things.

First, I have established a new system; my subjects do not need to kneel or kowtow to anyone, including me.

A bow is enough at most.

Second, I am not a riddle-maker; I like to make things clear to those who execute my orders.

Spreading rumors is to lure people to Crouching Dragon Valley to rob us, making it convenient for me to counter-kill.

My two aunts are the widows of the previous Stone Corpse King.

My mother is a concubine who didn't even make it to the status of a concubine of a cadet branch of a Song Ming commandery noble family.

And their current means of making a living is selling stinky shrimp paste.

Under these circumstances, if anyone still believes there is treasure in Mushroom Valley and runs here to rob us, their intelligence and heart are truly not fit for living.

I will use their corpses to refine Stone Corpse Soldiers.

You should know that Stone Corpse Soldiers are divided into levels.

The lowest is the Single Stone Corpse Soldier; you are this type.

One level higher is the Ten Stone Corpse Soldier, which is the limit of what I can refine at present.

It requires ten complete skeletons to complete the ritual.

By then, you will be able to restore the health of your prime, master more formidable power, and live at least thirty more years."

People often have a very low tolerance for tragedies they see with their own eyes; for example, a normal person will feel their scalp tingle and feel uncomfortable all over when they see a corpse.

But their tolerance for cruelty on a psychological level is extremely high.

As long as they stand on the side of what they believe to be "justice," saying they will kill dozens or hundreds of people is just a matter of a single sentence.

For example, Zhang Gui, who stood in the golden sunset of Mushroom Valley at this moment.

And Lao Sang Gui, as a barbarian soldier who had lived for over eighty years, followed the previous three generations of Stone Corpse Kings as a part-time mountain bandit and pirate in his youth, and even performed the "heroic feat" of looting a prince's manor and hacking a retired prefect to death, had no psychological burden about counter-killing dozens of thieves.

He only had some doubts about the feasibility of Zhang Gui's plan.

"Great Stone Gold Star, you are truly the heaven-sent King of the Stone Corpse Revival!

However, with the Xuanzhi Mountain now being uninhabited, it will be difficult to lure over a hundred enemies.

It would be better to go down the mountain and slaughter a village; that would be more refreshing.

As long as you refine me into a 'Ten Stone Corpse Soldier' to restore my combat power, and then refine ten 'Stone Corpse Soldiers' as soldiers,

I have an eighty percent chance of taking advantage of the dark night and wind to break into a small, undefended village at the foot of the mountain.

By then, a hundred human corpses will be within easy reach.

Then you can continue to refine Stone Corpse Soldiers and loot larger manors.

After three or four such times, if we have money and food, and if the government notices, we can flee to the West Yue Sea to hide.

There, the people are poor and cheap, and there are many more mountain bandits and outlaws than in the East Yue Sea.

We can use food to widely recruit starving thieves and train strong soldiers.

As long as we don't rob the manors of noble families, after a year or so, when we have saved up enough troops, the affairs in the East Yue Sea will have dissipated.

By then, we will return to Mushroom Valley and continue to loot villages.

Once our foundation is large, we will go to the black market to buy ships and go to sea; by then, unless the prefectural government and the Ministry of War's naval forces join forces to suppress us, we will have nothing to fear."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 35 =====