Outside the stone fortress, the members of the three tribes who had spent the night recovering were ready to set out. Though nearly everyone bore injuries—some so severe they had lost limbs and could only be carried—each face wore a look of joy.
Rescuing their tribesmen from the Bone-Eating Tribe's clutches was itself a remarkable achievement.
Not far away, Chi, Zhu, and Yang Kai walked side by side, speaking in low voices.
"Wu Niu, you need to watch out for the Bone-Eating Tribe's retaliation!" Zhu cautioned earnestly. "The Bone-Eating Tribe is the type to hold a grudge and settle every score. We just massacred one of their smaller clans—they absolutely won't let this go."
Chi nodded. "You'd best find time to seek an audience with your tribe's Shaman King. It would be better if he stepped in on your behalf. After all, the Bone-Eating Tribe was in the wrong this time. With a Shaman King mediating, the matter might be dropped."
"It's not that simple," Yang Kai said, shaking his head. "Did you two notice? The shamanic artifact You carried wasn't something an ordinary Grand Shaman could easily possess."
At these words, both Zhu's and Chi's expressions shifted slightly—they had clearly considered this angle as well.
Yang Kai continued, "Possessing such a shamanic artifact means You's background is no small matter. He may well be a descendant of the Bone-Eating Tribe's Shaman Kings or Shaman Saints, or perhaps someone deeply favored by them. Killing him has drawn no small amount of trouble, and even a Shaman King's mediation may not be enough to resolve it."
Zhu said, "Regardless, with a Shaman King stepping in, there's at least a sliver of hope. With our current strength, we have no way to stand against a Shaman King."
Yang Kai offered a faint smile but said nothing more.
He was currently at the Shaman realm and might indeed not be a match for a Shaman King. But now that his Divine Sense had been unlocked and his Space Laws were fully accessible, he wouldn't fear a confrontation with a Shaman King even if it came to that.
Moreover, given enough time, his strength would only skyrocket further.
It was Chi and Zhu who truly had no recourse if a Bone-Eating Tribe Shaman King came knocking. Their desire to seek their own tribe's Shaman King for protection was perfectly reasonable.
The three walked and talked as they went. Though both Chi and Zhu far surpassed Yang Kai in cultivation, after yesterday's bloody battle, neither dared regard him with anything less than full respect.
Forcing a mid-rank Grand Shaman to self-detonate—that was something neither of them could have accomplished.
So they voluntarily lowered their posture and conversed with Yang Kai as equals.
Half a day later, the three parted ways, and Yang Kai led two hundred villagers back toward Cangnan Village.
Cangnan Village had originally boasted over three hundred residents. After this battle, however, their numbers had plummeted by a third. And as the village's sole remaining Shaman, Yang Kai had naturally become its leader.
Three days later, Yang Kai arrived back at Cangnan Village with the two hundred-some people. Gazing upon the ruins of broken walls and crumbling buildings, many of the villagers felt a pang of sorrow.
At the village entrance, Die's figure suddenly appeared. She sized up Yang Kai, then gave him a slight nod.
Behind Die, seven or eight children came rushing out, finding their respective parents and embracing them in tearful reunions.
The villagers were curious about the sudden appearance of this stranger. Fortunately, they had little contact with the outside world and knew little of the Drifting Tribe, so their reaction was limited to mere curiosity. And since Die's physique resembled Yang Kai's—far from the robust build of the typical barbarian—she actually put the villagers at ease.
Yang Kai briefly introduced Die to the villagers, telling them she was his friend, and immediately received a warm welcome from his people.
With the village destroyed, rebuilding was imperative. Fortunately, the villagers were all burly and strong—such labor was well within their capabilities.
The reconstruction took less than five days, and the dilapidated village was restored to its former appearance.
Five days later, everything had returned to normal. Inside a wooden house, Yang Kai sat cross-legged. After rummaging through his Space Ring for a good while, he finally located a 9th-rank demon beast's inner core.
A 9th-rank demon beast's inner core—the Yang Kai of old wouldn't have given it a second glance. Back in the Beast Tomb of the Ancient Barbarian Lands, when he'd been collecting inner cores, he'd only bothered with those above the 9th rank, ignoring everything below it. Otherwise, the tally of a million cores would have been even more staggering.
But now, a 9th-rank core might actually be a bit too advanced for him.
The demon beast cores Yang Kai had been using for Cultivation before were hardly impressive—the highest-ranked one had been roughly equivalent to a 6th-rank core at best. Now suddenly facing a 9th-rank core was like going from thin broth and plain greens to a banquet of rare delicacies—he wasn't sure he could stomach it.
But there was no use hesitating now. His physical body was already remarkable, and even if the energy within the 9th-rank core proved a bit much for his current state, it shouldn't be enough to injure him.
Opening his mouth, he swallowed the inner core whole, then immediately began circulating a set of shamanic art incantations.
This shamanic art was not the one the village chief had taught him. Rather, it came from Qing's knowledge—a supremely sophisticated shamanic art, incomparably superior to the one the village chief had imparted.
As the shamanic art circulated, Yang Kai immediately sensed the difference.
He was, after all, a former Emperor Realm powerhouse—he could judge the quality of a technique at a glance. This shamanic art obtained from Qing was truly extraordinary. Its Cultivation speed was more than ten times faster than before.
Most crucially, he had just swallowed a 9th-rank inner core.
A scorching sensation immediately radiated from his abdomen, as though flames were raging within. The surging energy contracted and then expanded, causing Yang Kai's stomach to balloon outward in an instant. Had his physical body not been robust enough, that single surge alone would have been enough to tear him apart from the inside.