When dawn broke, Ah Hu appeared outside the village with a deathly pale face. The bloody battle from the day before had left him far from recovered. The backlash from the Bloodlust Technique was particularly severe — even though he was one of the village's finest warriors, he would be bedridden for at least several days. During that time, he would have no strength to fight.
He raised his head and called up to a large tree near the village entrance: "See anything?"
A head poked out from the crown of the tree — it was the young barbarian boy who had been stationed on the wattle wall handling logistics the day before.
"Brother Ah Hu, I haven't seen anything," the boy replied.
Ah Hu's brow furrowed, his face etched with worry.
Ah Niu had gone after the barbarian beast yesterday and hadn't returned all night. The entire village was anxious about him. The boy was hiding in the treetop partly as a lookout and partly to try to track Ah Niu's whereabouts, but his answer left Ah Hu deeply disappointed.
"The village chief said Ah Niu has the Barbarian God's blessing, so what are you worried about?" Ah Hua appeared behind him, the great warbow slung across her back.
Ah Hu said, "Ah Niu was under the Bloodlust Technique's effect. Now that a night has passed, that technique has certainly worn off. You know what kind of consequences that brings."
Even if the Barbarian God had granted him power and transformed him, no barbarian could afford to ignore the backlash of the Bloodlust Technique. If he were surrounded by a pack of beasts in his weakened state, the only outcome would be becoming food for wild animals.
"Worrying won't help. Trust the Barbarian God. Trust Ah Niu." Ah Hua patted Ah Hu on the shoulder, then turned and headed back into the village. The battle the day before hadn't reached the village interior, but there was still plenty to deal with.
"Brother Ah Hu… I see someone…"
Just then, the young barbarian boy suddenly cried out.
"Who?!" Ah Hu looked up, tension sharp in his voice.
"I can't tell!" the boy answered.
"Open your eyes wider!" Ah Hu bellowed.
The boy was speechless, thinking to himself that this wasn't the kind of thing you could fix by just opening your eyes wider.
But soon enough, he cried out in alarm: "It's a barbarian beast!"
In his field of vision, he could clearly make out the massive body of a barbarian beast, bearing down on them at tremendous speed.
"What?!" Ah Hu and Ah Hua both blanched. They exchanged a horrified glance, and a single terrible thought surfaced unbidden in both their minds — *the village is finished.*
The barbarian beast had actually come back. And Ah Niu, who had gone in pursuit — his fate could be easily imagined. The battle the day before had left most of the village's warriors unable to fight. If the barbarian beast attacked now, who could possibly stand against it?
"No, wait…" the boy corrected himself, his voice trembling between shock and elation. "It's Brother Ah Niu! It's Brother Ah Niu!"
Ah Hu had no idea how to even scold him anymore. Weakly, he asked, "Can you actually tell or not — is it Ah Niu or the barbarian beast?"
One was a person, the other a beast. How terrible would one's eyesight have to be to confuse the two? Ah Hua said nothing. In an instant, she shot forward, scrambling up the great tree with hands and feet alike, and stood at the crown, gazing into the distance.
As a master archer, her eyesight was beyond question. What the boy couldn't make out didn't mean she couldn't.
Ah Hu stood rooted to the spot, neck craned upward in anxious vigil.
After a short moment, Ah Hua looked down with a grin: "It's Ah Niu! Ah Niu's brought the barbarian beast back!"
Ah Hu froze, disbelief written across his face. "Ah Niu… killed the barbarian beast?"
Ah Hua had already descended from the tree. She flicked her long braided hair over her shoulder and nodded. "That's right. Ah Niu killed the barbarian beast!"
Ah Hu let out a smile of immense relief, then broke into a laugh, and then a roar of laughter…
He spun around and bellowed toward the village: "Everyone come out! Come out! Ah Niu killed the barbarian beast! Ah Niu killed it!"
The villagers, busy with their tasks, all froze, scarcely able to believe what they were hearing. But they quickly dropped what they were doing and gathered at the village entrance, buzzing with questions.
"Ah Niu really killed the barbarian beast?"
"Who saw it?"
"Ah Hu, you're not pulling our legs, are you?"
"Good-for-nothing Ah Niu has that kind of ability?"
"He's no good-for-nothing now — yesterday he was the reason the beast tide was repelled."
"Wasn't he the one who couldn't even draw a bow before? How did he suddenly become a different person?"
"The village chief said the Barbarian God granted him power."
…
Yang Kai carried the unimpressive-looking demon beast on his shoulder. Before he even reached the village entrance, he could already see a large crowd gathered there from a distance, all pointing in his direction.
At the front of the crowd, Ah Hu — face still pale but beaming — waved and shouted toward him.
Ah Hua had told him that it was Ah Hu who had always shared his food with Yang Kai, keeping him from starving to death.
Although Yang Kai himself hadn't experienced that directly, this body he now inhabited in this era had indeed received Ah Hu's kindness. This barbarian youth's care was something Yang Kai could genuinely feel.