After leaving the dark room, Wei Hongkuo straightened his back, his mood greatly improved. Filled with energy, he felt like he was in top form. His father was placing even more importance on him now, and he quietly swore to not only do the job well but to do it beautifully.

"Fourth Master!"

Wei Yuanzhong, the steward, who had been waiting under the eaves nearby, quickly approached when he saw Wei Hongkuo. They spoke as they walked outside together.

"Fourth Master, the family head...," Wei Yuanzhong asked.

"He's entrusted everything to me!" Wei Hongkuo said, raising his chin slightly.

"Congratulations, Fourth Master, congratulations!" Wei Yuanzhong hurriedly exclaimed, "The family head has finally recognized your talent. It won’t be long before you become the family steward... or even the deputy head of the family."

"Hahaha, stop flattering me," Wei Hongkuo laughed heartily. "I know my limitations. I can’t break through the Tribulation realm, so I don’t dare to think about the deputy head position. If I can become the family steward, I’d be more than content." He said this with a self-aware tone, yet his eyes burned with ambition.

"By the way."

Wei Hongkuo spoke again, "Get someone to keep an eye on the Jiang tribe for me. As soon as that bastard Jiang Xuan dies, report to me immediately."

"Understood." Wei Yuanzhong acknowledged the command.

As they continued talking, they exited the courtyard.

Wei Hongkuo spotted a proud-looking young man in white approaching from a distance and quickly walked over, his face breaking into a warm smile.

"Shaoyun, you finished your closed-door training?" Wei Hongkuo said with a beaming smile.

"Fourth Grandfather," the young man in white, Wei Shaoyun, bowed respectfully.

"Ah? Don’t be so formal, there’s no need for that."

Wei Hongkuo reached out a hand to support him, showing great warmth. Wei Shaoyun wasn’t his biological grandson, but he was one of the top three geniuses in the Wei family. In recent years, the Wei family had lost many soldiers and officers, and their strength had declined. This had caused the family’s young geniuses to rise rapidly in status, with the family doing everything in its power to cultivate them.

Although Wei Hongkuo was the Fourth Master of the Wei family, and there were a few who outranked him in the family, now, when it came to the younger generation of geniuses, he had to treat them with respect. He couldn’t afford to ignore or offend any of them.

"Shaoyun, are you going to see the family head?" Wei Hongkuo asked with a smile.

"Yes," Wei Shaoyun nodded. "I made a promise to my great-grandfather that as soon as I finished my closed-door training, I would visit him. He wants to personally guide me."

"Tribe, tribe leader."

"Tribe leader!"

At the entrance of the back mountain of the Jiang tribe's soil city, two female members of the tribe, both in their twenties with good looks, were standing guard. They wore decent armor—one carried a sword and the other a bow—radiating a strong, heroic aura.

After killing Shentu Yong, Jiang Xuan had been in seclusion for several days in the back mountain. This was his first time coming out.

"Caidi Jie, Huanzhu Jie!" Jiang Xuan greeted them, then added, "There’s no need to call me tribe leader. I’m not used to it. Just call me Xiao Xuan like before."

Caidi and Huanzhu exchanged a look, then nodded in agreement.

As the last male member of the Jiang tribe, fifteen-year-old Jiang Xuan was indeed the tribe’s leader. However, he didn’t put on airs with his tribe sisters. These women had watched him grow up, and their relationship was very close.

"Xiao Xuan, how’s your injury?" Caidi, the one with the sword, asked.

"It’s almost fully healed," Jiang Xuan replied.

"That’s great!" Caidi and Huanzhu both blushed with excitement. They were genuinely happy for Jiang Xuan. He was the last hope for the entire tribe.

"Clang, clang!" The sound of heavy armor echoed as a group of black-armored guards marched by, their footsteps steady.

"Black-armored guards?"

Jiang Xuan looked over and asked, "When did the Inspector-General arrive?"

The black-armored guards were the personal guards of the Inspector-General of the main city, each of them a warrior of the innate realm.

The Inspector-General was responsible for managing and overseeing affairs between tribes. Although each black-armored guard was incredibly powerful, there were always blind spots, so they were often needed for assistance.

The more powerful and influential the Inspector-General, the more personal guards they had.

And the Inspector-General Lei Hong had over three hundred black-armored guards!

The presence of the black-armored guards meant that Lei Hong was still inside the Jiang tribe’s soil city.

"Lord Lei Hong hasn’t left," Caidi added, "I heard that he’s searching for someone in the Heitan Mountain. He’s already sent several groups of black-armored guards to search these past few days."

"Mm." Jiang Xuan nodded, not asking more. The Inspector-General handled a lot of affairs, and the tribe's internal matters were just a part of his duties. The rest of his work had nothing to do with the Jiang tribe, so there was no need to worry about it.

After returning to the tribe’s soil city, Jiang Xuan first went to visit the few elderly women remaining in the tribe. They were from his grandmother’s generation and now handled the day-to-day management of the tribe. Since he had temporarily come out of seclusion, it was proper for him to visit them and discuss some matters. After all, he was now the nominal tribe leader.

The soil city was located near the center, and a special courtyard was built to entertain the Inspector-General.

Under the shade of a tree, two people sat by a stone table, drinking tea.

"Brother Lei, if you successfully capture the number one criminal on the wanted list, you will likely become the number one Inspector-General in the entire Snowfall City! With your merit, perhaps the city lord will summon you and bestow some grace." An elder with a goat beard put down his tea cup, his eyes filled with envy.

Divine and demonic grace—any strong warrior in the tribulation realm would envy that.

"But the criminal is hiding in Heitan Mountain and hasn’t come out yet. Whether or not we can catch him is still uncertain," Lei Hong replied, shaking his head in uncertainty.

"Brother Lei, no need to be modest. As long as the criminal doesn’t dare step into the Ten Directional Dead Zone, with your strength, and your three hundred black-armored guards, there’s no reason you should fail!" The goat-bearded elder laughed.

"I hope so," Lei Hong said.

The two chatted casually while drinking tea.

One of the black-armored guards entered the courtyard, walked quickly to Lei Hong, and whispered a few words.

"Mm, got it." Lei Hong nodded.

The guard left.

"I didn’t expect you to care so much about the tribe’s life-and-death battle," the goat-bearded elder remarked, not hiding the fact that he had overheard the guard’s message. He had heard that Jiang Xuan had finished his seclusion and had come out from the back mountain.

The goat-bearded elder had come to find Lei Hong at noon. With his strength, he could infiltrate the Jiang tribe’s soil city and appear directly in front of Lei Hong without being noticed. And regarding the ongoing life-and-death battle, he had casually asked Lei Hong about it earlier.

That’s why he knew.

At present, the Jiang tribe had only one last man, a fifteen-year-old half-step innate warrior, who was essentially waiting to be killed... just waiting for the first life-and-death battle on the seventh of next month.

The killing between tribes was nothing more than a barbaric war for tribulation realm experts, so there wasn’t much to be concerned about.

The goat-bearded elder didn’t understand why Lei Hong was going out of his way to keep an eye on when Jiang Xuan would finish his seclusion.

"That kid is a bit unique, just have someone pay extra attention to him," Lei Hong replied.

"Unique?" The goat-bearded elder raised an eyebrow, "A kid from a backward barbarian tribe, how unique could he be? How does he compare to Jiang Zhengwu?"

"Jiang Zhengwu is hailed as the ancestor of the Heitan Blade. He’s naturally incomparable, far from it," Lei Hong said.

"Then why bother caring?" the elder asked.

"It’s not care, just paying attention. I mentioned it before," Lei Hong said, slightly helpless. He knew his old friend didn’t want him to be distracted.

"Even though the Jiang tribe produced a talent like Jiang Zhengwu, that was over five hundred years ago, and Jiang Zhengwu left no direct descendants. It looks like the Jiang tribe is destined to perish, and no one can save them. When something is destined, and someone is destined to die, why should Brother Lei bother?" The goat-bearded elder continued. "You should focus on catching that criminal instead."

"That’s natural," Lei Hong nodded, setting down his tea cup.

"Brother Lei... I have a small request," the elder said, seeing that the time was right.

"Feel free to speak, Brother Liao," Lei Hong said, already knowing what the elder wanted to ask.

"If there’s any trace of that criminal, could you let me know? I can help you catch him and lend you a hand! Don’t worry about the reward and merit, all of it will be yours. I just want to kill him with my own hands!" The elder’s eyes flashed with hatred as he spoke.

Before Lei Hong could answer, the goat-bearded elder hurriedly added, "If you can capture him alive, even better! Please let him live so I can kill him myself, and I’ll pay whatever price you ask for! I just want to kill him with my own hands! Whatever the cost, I’m willing to accept!"

"Sigh!" Lei Hong sighed and waved his hand, "You don’t need to worry about the money. Everyone knows about your blood feud with that criminal. Don’t worry... if we get any leads, I’ll be sure to inform you."

The goat-bearded elder showed a grateful expression, raising his tea cup in a toast. "To Brother Lei!"

Later that night, not far from the Jiang tribe’s soil city, in a mountain pass, the Shentu tribe set up a temporary camp.

As the initiators of the tribe’s life-and-death battle, the Shentu tribe had the right to set up a temporary camp near the Jiang tribe’s soil city and impose a certain degree of blockade. This was protected under the laws of the Daqian Empire.

"Tribe leader!" Jiang Jingsheng, who had defected to the Shentu tribe, entered the tent with a frown.

"What happened?" Shentu Lie, who was polishing his spear, looked up.

"Jiang Xuan has come out of seclusion," Jiang Jingsheng reported.

"Oh?" Shentu Lie’s eyes flashed, and he stood up immediately. "How is he? How long until he dies?"

"He..." Jiang Jingsheng hesitated.

"Don’t stutter, just tell me!" Shentu Lie urged impatiently.

"He... According to the latest information, he seems to have fully recovered! He’ll be able to fight in next month’s life-and-death battle!" Jiang Jingsheng replied.

"What?" Shentu Lie’s expression changed dramatically. "With those injuries, how could he possibly recover? Does the Jiang tribe have some kind of miraculous elixir?"

"Uh..." Jiang Jingsheng couldn’t answer.

Shentu Lie had been waiting for news of Jiang Xuan dying from his injuries. Logically, a half-step innate warrior couldn’t possibly defeat an innate late-stage warrior while heavily injured. If that were true, his injuries would have been extremely serious, possibly even to the point of broken meridians. Such severe wounds, and yet he not only survived but recovered?!

Shentu Lie frowned, thinking deeply.

"Tribe leader, even if he has healed, he’s still just a half-step innate warrior. You can crush him with one hand next month. It’ll be a great pleasure to kill him yourself, and you can avenge Lord Yong!" Jiang Jingsheng suggested.

"What do you know!" Shentu Lie snapped, raising his hand in annoyance and signaling Jiang Jingsheng to leave. Jiang Jingsheng had only recently defected, and Shentu Lie didn’t fully trust him yet. He couldn’t tell him about the Molten Crystal Mine. Its energy was increasing, and in no more than ten days, the energy would spread to a radius of several miles, and it would be impossible to hide. They had to take the Jiang tribe before then.

After Jiang Jingsheng left, Shentu Lie gave an order.

"Call Xiao Yu over," Shentu Lie instructed a guard outside the tent.

Not long after, a fifteen-year-old girl named Shentu Yu lifted the curtain and entered the tent.

"Xiao Yu, it’s time for you to contribute!" Shentu Lie looked at his grown-up daughter with a serious expression.