Chapter 225 

This time, the leaders sent by the three tribes were: Xiong Han, the chieftain of the Zhanxiong tribe; Lu Teng from the Julu tribe; and Yun Jing from the Yungu tribe.

Aside from Zhanxiong, whose chieftain personally led the expedition, the other two tribes had sent leaders who were already familiar faces.

Lu Teng was Lu Ming’s older brother. Qi Bai had met him during his first visit to the Xushan trade fair—back then, Lu Teng had given great help when Qi Bai was treating the wolf clan and the slaves.

And Yun Jing, whom Qi Bai had only met recently, turned out to be none other than the granddaughter of Yun Tan, chieftain of Yungu tribe. Unless something unexpected happened, she was likely to become Yungu’s next chieftain.

From these identities alone, it was clear: this campaign against the Sanghuo tribe was by no means casual.

Just as Lang Ze had suggested, Zhanxiong and Yungu each sent two hundred elite horned beastman warriors, while Julu contributed one hundred and fifty.

The Julu tribe had once been a large, populous tribe of the northern wilderness as well—but their strength lay not only in battle, but in their exceptional medical skills.

Every tribe in the north knew the saying: even if someone was gravely injured in the wild and left with only one breath, if they were lucky enough to encounter a great stag glowing blue all over, the Julu tribe could save them.

Exaggerated as this legend might be, it reflected the respect the northern tribes held for the Julu.

After all, in constant battles against ferocious beasts, no one could guarantee never being injured. Having a tribe skilled in medicine, and friendly toward others, was a blessing for the northern wilderness.

No matter how fiercely northern tribes fought among themselves, avoiding hostility with the Julu was almost an unspoken rule.

But the Sanghuo tribe, who had come from Dongyi, ignored such rules. It was rumored that among them, the Sang Meng tribe possessed unique healing methods and did not need Julu medicine.

Thus the mild-natured Julu became their target.

In less than two years of fighting, the Julu tribe had lost over half its people. Now, only about fifteen hundred remained.

Even the captain of their original hunting team had perished in battle. It was for this reason that Chieftain Lu Yan and the tribe’s priest decided to send Lu Teng, as the priest’s disciple, to this campaign.

The priest had even entrusted Lu Teng with many rare medicinal powders, telling him not to hoard them—use them when they could save lives.

Julu’s warriors might not be as strong as Zhanxiong’s giant panda beastmen or Yungu’s cloud leopard beastmen, but with timely use of their healing skills, they would not drag the team down.

At first, Lu Teng had worried that sending only one hundred and fifty warriors would draw Heishan tribe’s disapproval.

But soon he sighed in relief: Heishan had also sent only one hundred and fifty horned beastmen. This way, Julu didn’t stand out.

In fact, ten of Heishan’s “warriors” were more for show than real strength.

That wasn’t entirely accurate—rather, these ten were far weaker than true Heishan warriors.

They were the worker squad made up of Qiu Bai and Yan, among others.

They lacked combat power, but they had an irreplaceable role.

Because Qiu Bai and his group had once been slaves brought to the trade fair by the Sanghuo tribe—meaning, to find Sanghuo’s exact base, they needed these people who knew the way.

Even tribes that had fought Sanghuo before, like Julu, only knew its general location.

Of course, another reason Heishan sent so few was simply that their population was too small.

Their tribe was only two or three years old. Even though Heishan’s “technology tree” was far ahead of others, their numbers were still a weakness.

Unlike most tribes, which relied solely on horned beastmen, Heishan’s sub-beastmen also had formidable combat power—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire population could fight.

But that was a hidden trump card. No need to expose it so soon.

And so, this coalition of elite forces from four tribes marked the beginning of the Hei Yao Legion—a force that, in years to come, would make the entire orc continent tremble.

Back when Lang Ze first explained his methods of marching, the chieftains and priests had already fallen silent once.

Now, as they watched the Heishan warriors skillfully divide all fighters into squads and seat them on wagons, they fell silent again.

Had they not seen it with their own eyes, they would have thought Lang Ze’s earlier plans were wild fantasies.

“Reporting to the Commander: all warriors are arranged.”

As the numbers under his lead grew, the tribes’ address for Lang Ze had changed.

He was no longer just the captain of Heishan’s hunting team—he was commander of the coalition army.

And indeed, what shocked the northern tribes the most wasn’t even Heishan’s strength, but their discipline—strict like a modern army, something never seen before.

Even a simple report of readiness, when spoken with Ma Ling’s firm and powerful voice, carried an imposing dignity.

When he heard the army was about to depart, Qi Bai suddenly felt hollow inside. But he didn’t show it—instead, he gave Lang Ze a faint smile.

With his eyes, Qi Bai told him: Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the tribe. You must return safely.

Lang Ze fixed his gaze on his mate for a long moment before turning without another word and walking to the very front of the ranks.

“Set out.”

Though they seemed to exchange no words, out of sight of others, Lang Ze gently squeezed the little felt snow leopard.

Qi Bai had tucked it into his pocket before departure. Even if Qi Bai himself couldn’t go, the little snow leopard would accompany Lang Ze.

In less than half a day at the Xishui camp, the thirty loaded wagons rolled southward at speed, undeterred by the falling night.

Why thirty, not the seventy from before?

Ahem—that display of force had already served its purpose. Now, for the march, empty wagons were unnecessary.

Those unused wagons had been dismantled into planks and bone wheels, strapped onto supply wagons.

On the road, lightness mattered most.

After sending off the warriors, Qi Bai began preparing for the return trip.

Xiong Xin was already directing people to load beast meat onto Heishan’s two remaining wagons.

As Qi Bai expected, the three newly migrated tribes had already stocked food for their warriors. But Zhanxiong had prepared only half-cooked meat—the rest was frozen.

When Xiong Han saw Heishan’s special rations—hearing that Heishan warriors mainly ate them while marching—he cheerfully traded five thousand pieces. The meat being loaded now was for exchanging with Heishan’s milk tofu.

“Bao Bai, the wilderness at night is too dangerous. Can’t you stay until morning?” Xiong Nuan asked reluctantly.

Hu Meng just curled his lip—he wanted beasts to show up, so they could add to the meal.

Since Lang Ze had taken all the adults on this expedition, the near-adult youths left behind had been itching for a fight, brimming with restless energy. They weren’t afraid of wild beasts.

Qi Bai smiled. “There’s still plenty to do back in the tribe. We must return quickly. We’re used to traveling at night—don’t worry about us.”

This route had already been traversed many times by the hunting team. They knew no large predators roamed it. As long as they didn’t stray from the path, they’d be safe.

Xiong Nuan and Lu Ming reluctantly saw Qi Bai off. In a blink, the camp was back to just the three tribes.

But they soon lifted their spirits again. Until the army returned from defeating Sanghuo, the three tribes would remain camped here.

Their trade with Heishan was set for afterwards. Lu Ming and Xiong Nuan were already eagerly anticipating their next meeting with Qi Bai.

Although both Heishan and Zhanxiong were now in the north, they were still at least seven days’ distance apart.

This was why none of the tribes hurried their trade. The orc continent was vast, sparsely populated, and inter-tribal contact was never easy.

Back at Heishan, the meat Qi Bai brought drew instant excitement from the sub-beastmen.

Milk tofu could stave off hunger, but no one had expected it to trade for meat.

At once, enthusiasm for making milk tofu surged again. Unfortunately, most of the four-eared sheep were still pregnant and not producing milk—so everyone was anxious, with no work to do.

Qi Bai estimated the births would happen any day now. His words set the dairy-makers on edge—checking the pens again and again, terrified of missing the lambing.

Meanwhile, the tribe had to prepare salt for trading with Zhanxiong, Julu, and Yungu.

For this task, Xiang Yu led Hu Meng and a few older cubs to the seashore.

Since the salt pans had already been dried, just a few people could carry back enough salt for trade.

With most of Heishan’s warriors gone, had the worker camp been as restless as it was two months ago, trouble might have stirred.

But in fact, the opposite happened. Not only did the workers show no resistance—they worked harder than ever.

Because a new policy had been posted on a great stone in the threshing ground.

Though the workers couldn’t read, their captains could. By asking around, they pieced together its meaning.

Hu Xiao had also learned then that Qi Bai hadn’t lied—Heishan really did have words that carried precise meaning.

Now, Hu Xiao stood by the notice, carefully studying the characters.

“Ten giant stones equals one point. One hundred mud bricks equals one point. When the hunting team returns, the top five hundred workers will earn the chance to join Heishan.”

Shu You, seeing Hu Xiao stand still, thought he’d forgotten and explained again. Their squad leaders repeated the rules so often it had become habit.

This was Heishan’s new task.

Qi Bai himself hadn’t intended to allow workers into the tribe so soon. Unlike the familiar niu and ma clans who had joined last year, these workers were a chaotic mix and hard to manage.

He’d planned to wait at least another year.

But plans couldn’t keep up with changes. Sanghuo’s invasion, and the arrival of Zhanxiong, Julu, and Yungu, forced them to re-evaluate the workers.

To divert their attention, Qi Bai proposed this competitive task.

Unlike fixed work quotas, this ranking system created urgency.

No one knew their rivals’ points, so to win the reward, they couldn’t slack off for a moment.

Though it had been hard enough teaching them the concepts of hundred and thousand—most still didn’t grasp it—the message was clear enough: one in two had a chance of joining.

And that ratio—half!—sounded very good. As if just being in the top five of their small group was enough.

But of course, it wasn’t just within groups—it was all workers ranked together.

The unknowns made the pressure immense.

Even if many workers didn’t realize it, their captains would “casually” remind them. And just like that, competition tightened.

As for whether joining Heishan was attractive? That went without saying.

No identity, no age restrictions—anyone who met the standard could join the mighty Heishan tribe. What better opportunity could there be?

So not a single worker wasn’t desperate to join. Especially the small clans with families—they wished they could bring everyone in.

Hu Xiao glanced once more at the stone. Shu You had recited fluently, but he’d still gotten a few words wrong. For example, the stone said “patrol team,” not “hunting team.”

But Hu Xiao showed no expression. He thanked Shu You, then turned away.

The stone had stood there for twenty days.

Every day, Hu Xiao came to study it, slowly memorizing the strokes and secretly practicing writing them himself.

He had never known totems could be used like this. His curiosity toward Heishan only grew.

So the lazy fox, who always shirked work and made others do it, had finally begun to move.

Joining Heishan, even temporarily, seemed like a very good choice.

Meanwhile, by the threshing ground, Qi Bai and a few squad leaders were busy tallying stone and brick counts.

Even the stones originally meant for expanding the sheep pens had been held back.

The sheep would have to squeeze for now—making profit from the stones came first.