Free Web NovelChapter 219: Chapter 218: The Expedition
Jiang Qiu ultimately accepted the offerings from the South Mountain Tribe and the Stone Forest Tribe. As long as they sent their children to help rebuild North Snow, they would forge a close bond with the North Snow Tribe, almost like one big family.
The other minor tribes, however, made no such offers. They were protective of their few young women; sending them all to North Snow would strike at the very root of their own survival.
But sending only one or two would be worse than sending none at all. Such a meager number would be a paltry showing compared to the Stone Forest Tribe. ’As a fellow minor tribe, are we to look even more destitute than the poorest among them?’
As for the East Shore Tribe, they were located relatively far from North Snow. Having previously had dealings with the West Ice Tribe, they had offended North Snow. Now, they were willing to send several dozen of their young women as a form of compensation.
With these matters settled, the tribal leaders led their people back to their own territories. After all, the survivors were the very pillars of their tribes. If they didn’t return soon, it would have a considerable impact on their hunting expeditions.
As he watched their mounted figures disappear into the snow, Hunt, the Leader of the North Snow Tribe, was filled with a sense of melancholy.
Once the several hundred warriors from the other tribes had departed, only about a hundred of their own people remained. The North Snow tribal grounds felt hollow and empty, a truly pathetic sight.
The North Snow Tribe truly had few chances left to carry on its legacy. It was as if they were holding their last breath; if that breath were to escape, they would be well and truly finished. After all, their very heart had been ripped out.
Even if their hundred or so Warriors were to marry the young women from the other tribes, it would be impossible to raise a new generation of self-sufficient Warriors in a short time. And after the children were born, they would face threats from every direction—in their upbringing, their food supply, and from their enemies.
These remnants probably wouldn’t last past the end of the current conflict among the Chosen Ones.
TAP... TAP... TAP...
The clear sound of footsteps faded into the distance. Hunt lifted his head and saw that it was Hill, walking away from the tribal grounds. His heart skipped a beat. "Hill! Where are you going?"
In their current state, Jiang Qiu was the North Snow Tribe’s only hope. If he left, the tribe would truly be finished. The promises from the other tribes—the young women, everything—would become nothing but empty words.
The only person who could keep the North Snow Tribe, now fallen to such a state, on its feet a while longer was Hill.
Even if he wasn’t truly leaving North Snow for good, the mere sight of him walking away was enough to fill Hunt with a chilling dread. It felt as if, at any moment, the Demon Race from Cold Heaven Cliff and the Warriors of the West Ice Tribe would emerge from all sides to invade their shattered home once more.
And the probability of that happening was not low. After all, the North Snow Tribe had nothing of value left. Its people were dead or had fled, the North Snow Tower had been plundered, and even the Elder Witch Priest who had forged the contract with him was gone. It was hard to imagine anything that could convince Hill to stay.
’In fact, that’s exactly the situation,’ Hunt thought. ’The so-called Ice and Snow Contract might have had some restrictions, like requiring Hill to help North Snow, but the Elder Witch Priest is dead. Who’s left to define what "help" even means?’
’Hill can now choose whether to help North Snow at all, and to what degree, without any further obligation. If he wants to leave, he’s free to go...’
At this thought, a sharp pain lanced through Hunt’s chest, and his heart ached with sorrow. But the figure of Hill in his vision didn’t stop. He simply called back, "I’m going to the West Ice Tribe to take care of that menace."
"The... The West Ice Tribe?"
Hunt was stunned. The other North Snow Warriors were stunned as well.
Without a doubt, the West Ice Tribe was now the North Snow Tribe’s greatest enemy. Ever since their Leader and Chosen One had been killed in the North Sea Palace, the hatred between them had become overwhelming.
The West Ice Tribe’s audacity to send men to plunder the already-devastated North Snow Tribe meant they surely planned to usurp their position and annex their territory.
Even though their Chosen One was dead, and many powerful Warriors, along with their Leader, War, lay buried in the North Sea, the West Ice Tribe remained formidable. At the very least, as long as no other Chosen Ones intervened, they were still indisputably the number one tribe of the Human Race—in a league of their own.
Of course, if the Chosen Ones from the other two Main Vein Tribes were to act, the West Ice Tribe’s standing would diminish significantly. But the fact remained that the West Ice Tribe had strength in numbers. If it came to all-out war, and they avoided direct confrontations in favor of raiding tactics, the other two Main Vein Tribes would suffer greatly.
Moreover, as the strongest tribe in the Human Race, their High Priest was still alive...
As this thought crossed their minds, the people looked into the distance again, but Hill’s figure was already gone. He had long since sped away to the west.
Normally, a Chosen One couldn’t defeat a Priest who ensured a tribe’s long-term stability. But since Hill had just managed to slay the powerful Witch Priestess, Gale, from Cold Heaven Cliff, the outcome was no longer certain.
...
The West Ice Tribe was a domain of interconnected ice mountains. In its deepest recess lay a valley. The valley floor was a single, massive ice carving, from which various pillars of ice shot up to the surrounding peaks, enclosing the area in a formation.
This was the very heart of the West Ice Tribe: the West Ice Valley, a place handed down since ancient times. It was the foundation of the entire tribe, equivalent to the North Snow Tower of the North Snow Tribe.
Here, ice caves concealed Treasures of Heaven and Earth, and powerful legacies lay buried deep underground, waiting for generation after generation of Priests to unearth them, or perhaps awaiting a legendary heir capable of receiving the ancestors’ full inheritance.
At this moment, an old man in white robes, holding an Ice Staff, sat silently on a block of ice in the center of the valley. His pale hair, seemingly one with the falling snow, draped over his shoulders and back.
A single white fang hung upon his forehead. Around his gaunt neck hung a similar necklace of white teeth, with the largest fang in the center and the others flanking it in decreasing size.
He was the central figure of the West Ice Tribe, the High Priest who had ensured the tribe’s millennia-long prosperity. He was also the strongest Priest in the tribe’s history, the one who had led the West Ice Tribe to its current peak.
During the last great conflict, their Chosen One was killed by the North Snow Tribe. It was he who shouldered all the pressure, feigning submission to North Snow. Then, after the North Snow’s Chosen One, a warrior named Food, finally departed, he initiated a series of counter-schemes, constantly strengthening his own tribe until the West Ice Tribe reached the position it held today.
But this time, Gold—the strongest, most promising Chosen One in the history of the West Ice Tribe, one who had been on the verge of gaining the ancestors’ full acknowledgment—had also died at the hands of a Chosen One from North Snow.
’Is this fate?’
VMMMM...
From ten li away, a strange ripple of power washed over his mind, like wind bending autumn grass. He slowly opened his eyes. His murky pupils held no glimmer of light, only a vacant, deathly stillness.
"You killed my tribe’s Chosen One. You killed my tribe’s Leader. You killed my tribe’s Warriors. And now you come here, all alone... Do you intend to annihilate my tribe?"
Murmuring to himself, the High Priest used his Ice Staff to push himself up. His stooped body slowly straightened. His ancient, wrinkled face resembled a crumpled rag, yet the hem of his white robe began to flutter.
THUD.
He struck the Ice Staff down before him and took a single step. Instantly, a gale shrieked through the West Ice Valley, its howl like the roar of a Tiger.
