He had previously thought that such a remote corner wouldn't produce any powerful figures, so he hadn't paid much attention at all. But now that he had sensed that Yang Kai was actually a Great Shaman, he no longer dared to be presumptuous.
"Greetings to you, my lords!"
Yang Kai, supported by Die, rose to his feet and glanced at the man with a frown. He nodded and said, "No need for formalities."
Upon hearing this, the shaman straightened up and asked curiously, "My lords… which village are you from?"
He didn't recognize Yang Kai or Die, but two Great Shamans were not exactly obscure figures. He ought to have heard of them at least in passing, especially since he served as a messenger connecting the tribe with the various villages below. While he didn't know every shaman in the tribe like the back of his hand, he had at least some knowledge of them all.
"Cangnan Village!" Yang Kai replied.
"What?" The shaman froze, staring at Yang Kai with deep suspicion. He said incredulously, "Ca-Cangnan Village?"
How could Cangnan Village possibly have two Great Shamans? He remembered that the village chief of Cangnan Village was merely a shaman apprentice—a low-grade one at that. So Yang Kai's claim was hard to believe. But since the man was a Great Shaman, there was no reason for him to lie about something like this.
He asked blankly, "My lord is from Cangnan Village?"
"That's right," Yang Kai said, looking at him. "What's the matter?"
"Then what about Wu Li?"
Wu Li… the old village chief's name. Hearing this question, Yang Kai immediately realized that this man knew the old village chief, and that his visit might have been related to some business with him.
His expression darkened slightly. "The old village chief is no longer with us. I am the village chief now."
"Wu Li has already…" The man looked momentarily dazed, though he didn't dwell on it. After all, Wu Li had been old, and his cultivation was far from high, so he couldn't be expected to live particularly long. Perhaps his lifespan had run out, and he had returned to the embrace of the Barbarian God. He moved on and asked, "What is my lord's name?"
"Wu Niu!"
The man nodded, his expression turning solemn, and declared loudly, "Lord Wu Niu. I am here under the Shaman King's orders. You are to assemble every villager of Cangnan Village within five days and gather at the Royal City!"
"The Shaman King's orders?" Yang Kai was startled.
Although the Southern Barbarian Tribe was not particularly powerful among all the barbarian tribes, it nonetheless had a Shaman King presiding over it. Moreover, as far as Yang Kai knew, it was a high-grade Shaman King. The seat of this Shaman King was the Southern Barbarian Tribe's Royal City, just as Frost Snow City held its position within the Frost Snow Tribe. The various small tribes and villages of the Southern Barbarian Tribe all revolved around this Royal City, and the Royal City and the Shaman King held absolute command over the subordinate tribes and villages.
This sudden decree made Yang Kai sense something unusual, giving him a faint premonition that something momentous was about to happen.
"Indeed, these are the Shaman King's orders!" the man replied gravely. "I originally came to deliver this message to Wu Li. But since you are now the village chief of Cangnan Village, I can relay it to you just the same."
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes. "Has some tribe declared war on us?"
In ancient times, conflicts between barbarian tribes were commonplace. Fights over the remaining living space and for the benefit of one's own tribe were a frequent sight.
And when such a situation arose, it required the mobilization of all personnel and forces. No one could escape that duty.
So the moment he heard this order, Yang Kai instinctively assumed that some tribe had gone to war with the Southern Barbarian Tribe, and the most likely candidate was the brutal, inhumane Bone-Eating Tribe. If that were the case, Yang Kai wouldn't mind leading the vanguard.
He hadn't managed to settle things decisively with Wu Chi today, which was quite the regret.
The messenger heard this and gave a bitter smile, then slowly shook his head. He said in a low voice, "If it were merely a tribe at war with us, it wouldn't be such a big deal."
Yang Kai was stunned. "Could it be something even more serious?"
The messenger hesitated for a moment, then said, "This matter is classified and not to be leaked to outsiders. However, you are both Great Shamans. Even upon arriving at the Royal City, you will receive an audience with the Shaman King, and you will learn the situation then." Saying this, he suddenly lowered his voice even further. "It's a demon folk invasion!"
"Wh-what? Say that again!" Yang Kai almost thought he had misheard.
The messenger's expression was extremely grave as he repeated, "A demon folk invasion!"
Yang Kai stared blankly for a long while before drawing in a sharp breath, his face filled with horror. "Is it true?"
The messenger said, "Three major tribes have already been wiped out. It is no falsehood."
Yang Kai's expression turned grave in an instant. Though the ancient barbarian tribes had sparse populations, three major tribes together had at least gathered several hundred thousand people. For them to be wiped out in one stroke—this was truly an earth-shaking event.
A demon folk invasion…
The term was not unfamiliar to him, nor was it something he knew well. He had learned from the knowledge Qing had passed down that this land had been invaded by demon folk more than once. The most recent occurrence had been thirty thousand years ago, when Qing had been nothing more than a newly awakened evergreen tree, drawing nutrients from the earth and diligently cultivating.