Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1550: Celebration of the New Totem

Lord Ascetic arrived and left, bringing the Young Tribe Leader from the Golden Crow Tribe with him.

No one knew what happened in the camp. But undoubtedly, the general must have settled the trouble.

They knew this from Lord Ascetic’s gentle attitude when the General sent him off.

In the camp, General Jinwu’s reputation was at the peak!

Amidst his joy, Zhou Dafu could not help but frown slightly. From his observation, Lord Ascetic had seemed intimate and respectful.

This…he had probably seen wrongly. Lord Ascetic was high-ranking in the Barbarian Clan. Even if General Jinwu was able to settle the issue with the Golden Crow Tribe, it was not possible that Lord Ascetic would suddenly become respectful to him.

No matter what, they escaped this trouble, and this was something joyous.

Qin Yu was in a good mood. Lord Ascetic had suddenly appeared and solved his problems. He even obtained something that could save him in the future.

Although it was best if he did not use it, no one could predict what would happen in the future and it was always better to have a backup.

It was safer to be prepared!

He returned to the camp. After walking a few steps, he turned to look at the treehouse. By solving the problem with Golden Crow Tribe, he also helped this person save some trouble.

Having a drink and a bite was reasonable right?

Cough!

Qin Yu turned and headed to the treehouse.

……

The Golden Crow Tribe returned to where they were staying. Because their leader’s power was suppressed, they had to temporarily give up on any revenge plans.

But they could sense the restlessness and fury in the air.

The Golden Crow Totem was dead and this had to be resolved. If not, the Golden Crow Tribe would lose their foundation and would be fated to weaken.

The Tribe Leader personally came to greet, “Master Prajna, you have returned.”

The Tribe Leader looked at the Young Tribe Leader out of the corners of his eyes but the Young Tribe Leader shook his head slightly. He did not know what General Jinwu and Master Prajna had spoken about in the tent.

They had a secret meeting and then he brought them back. The Young Tribe Leader was completely oblivious.

Master Prajna smiled slightly, pretending not to notice the exchange between the father and son, “Tribe Leader, please call for all the Elders to gather.”

The Tribe Leader’s eyes lit up as he looked up and smiled, “Okay!” He turned, “Instruct all the Elders to stop what they are doing and come here.”

The Young Tribe Leader acknowledged and rushed off.

The Tribe Leader stretched his hand out, “Master Prajna, please wait for a few moments.”

Very soon, the various Elders from the Golden Crow Tribe gathered, other than one who was cultivating in seclusion and another two who were away at the moment.

They looked serious and sinister. A murderous aura surrounded them.

They were all concentrated on Master Prajna.

Previously, he was the one who had interfered when they were attempting to take revenge. Now that two days had passed, they wanted an explanation.

With how powerful the Golden Crow Tribe was, even Master Prajna had to respect them.

“Cough!”

The Tribe Leader coughed lightly and said in a low voice, “Master Prajna came from afar to help our clan. Do not be disrespectful. Hurry and apologize to Master Prajna.”

The expressions of the Elders changed slightly and they were much more restrained.

One of the Elders stood up and bowed respectfully, “Master, I don’t mean to offend you. It is just that the death of the Golden Crow Totem affects the foundation of our tribe. We seek your understanding.”

Master Prajna smiled slightly, “Elder, please rise. There is no need to be so polite.” He looked at everyone, “Today, I asked the Tribe Leader to gather all of you because I would like to announce something. The smuggling team has given compensation. Please have a look and resolve your grudges.”

He lifted his hand and there was a flash of light from his palm. A red pearl appeared.

Although this was not the first time they were seeing this pearl, their eyes were filled with surprise.

They were naturally able to sense how this pearl came about.

But this was not important. When barbarians punished people, they had many more cruel methods.

Golden Crow, who was half human and half barbarian, had offended the king’s messenger and the mysterious lady.

To be able to end it all with just the death of one person seemed like an advantage in Master Prajna’s eyes.

Moreover, he had checked out this pearl’s use. It would satisfy those from the Golden Crow Tribe.

And this was also why he thought they ‘got the advantage’.

The Tribe Leader’s eyes lit up and he suddenly stood up. He stared at the pearl in Master Prajna’s hand.

He could sense the aura emitted from this pearl and his breathing grew heavier.

“Master, is this really the compensation given to our tribe?”

Master Prajna said, “That’s right. This was given to me by the Desolate people. Tribe Leader, if you are in agreement, let’s resolve all grudges with this.”

“Okay!”

The Tribe Leader hollered as he stared at the pearl.

Master Prajna smiled gently and levitated the pearl towards the Tribe Leader. The Tribe Leader quickly took it into his hands, moving carefully as if holding a precious gem.

When the pearl was in his hands, he was able to clearly sense the feeling he had earlier.

No, more accurately, it was even purer and stronger than he had sensed!

Taking a deep breath, the Tribe Leader held tightly onto the pearl and bowed respectfully, “On behalf of my tribe, I offer my thanks to you, Master Prajna. Thank you for bringing back the totem blood to our tribe!”

He stood up and looked at everyone. Lifting the pearl, he said, “Soon, an even more powerful Golden Crow Totem will be born in our Golden Crow Tribe. I shall agree to the conditions from the Desolate people and resolve all grudges. No one shall pursue this matter anymore!”

The Elders had expected this after they first saw the pearl and their faces now lit up with glee. They all stood up to bow towards Master Prajna, signalling their consent.

Master Prajna smiled and nodded, “Tribe Leader, I am able to help support the inheritance of the Golden Crow bloodline.”

The Tribe Leader’s smile widened, “Thank you.”

With this master helping, the chances of success would be much higher.

One day later. At a huge canyon in the campsite of the Golden Crow Tribe.

Within it, flames were roaring and an intense heat filled the air, looking to burn everything to nothing.

Hundreds of golden crows, small and big, flew through the sea of fire. They flew around a red fiery egg which was about three meters in length.

There were numerous veins spreading across the surface of the egg. It was mysterious and unpredictable, with a faint halo flashing from time to time. The halo affected the flames, causing them to expand and contract accordingly.

The golden crows let out cries as they stopped flying and stood on the ground. They faced the fiery egg and bowed forwards, expressing their awe and submission.

At this moment, the new Golden Crow Totem of the Golden Crow Tribe had been born!

This was the new king of the Golden Crow Tribe.

Master Prajna opened his eyes and the quiet and mysterious aura that had been surrounding his body slowly dissipated.

He stood up and bowed to the Tribe Leader, “Congratulations, the bloodline has been passed on. When the totem breaks through the shell, the power of the Golden Crow Tribe will definitely increase.”

The Tribe Leader replied respectfully, “Thank you Master!”

Beside him, the Elders from the Golden Crow Tribe all looked respectful. They finally understood why their Tribe Leader has always treated this ascetic with so much respect.

He was born from the temple on top of the mountain and only the ascetics from there had such a pure aura.

They then recalled the animosity they had treated him with earlier and could not help but panic slightly. They internally scolded themselves for being so rude!

Thankfully, Master Prajna did not intend to hold it against them. Otherwise they would have to commit suicide just for insulting the Holy Land.

“Master, please go and rest. I will look after this totem for a while before visiting you.”

Master Prahna nodded, “Okay.”

He left under their reverent gazes.

“Hmph!”

The Tribe Leader sneered, “Now do you all know the identity of the Master? Previously, I stopped all of you from taking revenge. Who still has an opinion against it?”

The faces of the Elders blackened and some of them even looked sheepish.

It was embarrassing to get scolded but they were in no position to argue back.

“Tribe Leader, you are smart. We are the ones who are useless and were not able to recognize Mount Tai.” An Elder chuckled bitterly.

Using the prestige of the Holy Land to discipline the Elders, the Tribe Leader felt that it was enough and did not dwell on it further, “I will go and visit Master Prajna. Stay here and take care of the totem. It determines our future and nothing can go wrong!”

“Yes, Tribe Leader.”

……

Two days later, the people from the Golden Crow Tribe arrived at the Desolate camp for the third time. This time, they behaved extremely respectfully and stunned the smugglers.

Young Tribe Leader entered the tent and greeted respectfully, “Culi, from the Golden Crow Tribe. Greetings, General Jinwu.”

Qin Yu replied, “Please rise, Young Tribe Leader.”

He tapped the table and asked, although he already knew the answer, “May I know what brings you here?”

Culi replied, “I am here on behalf of my father, Cutuo, Tribe Leader of the Golden Crow Tribe. We would like to invite you to our tribe to take part in our celebration for the totem.”

“Okay, I will be there.” Qin Yu nodded and smiled. Everything was going according to plan. Prajna was very reliable.

Culi handed the invite to him with both hands. He said that someone would be here to escort General Jinwu before the celebration and left.

Very soon, the news of the General accepting the Golden Crow Tribe’s invitation to celebrate the new totem spread all through the camp.

No one suspected that there might be a plot behind it because they all knew how important a totem was to barbarian clans.

The Golden Crow Tribe would never allow any incidents to happen during the celebration. Otherwise they would become the enemy of the Golden Crow Tribe.

To be invited was extremely honorable and only someone with true abilities and who was reliable would be qualified.

Killing their Elder and eating their totem. Yet now, he was invited to take part in the celebration of the Golden Crow Tribe’s new totem…hiss, such an intricate manipulation!

They were learning something new!

A group of vicious smugglers subconsciously looked at the tent with awe. There was no unreasonable manipulation in this world.

The more intricately one could manipulate, the more powerful one would be. After all, power was everything in this world.

Zhou Dafu’s face was slightly flushed as his emotions were heightened. He was able to confirm one more thing – the General was like a thick leg that was bigger than a mountain.

Only by grabbing tightly onto it would the Elders in the capital not be able to do anything to him.

It was the first time Zhou Dafu believed that he would be able to live.

Long live the General!

……

The smuggling activities returned to normal.

The issue with Golden Crow Tribe was resolved and General Jinwu was invited to celebrate the new totem. The Barbarian Clan had already heard about this.

The most direct result was that the subsequent exchanges were extremely smooth.

No more barbarian tribes attempted to raise any requests to ‘learn from each other’. However, they all expressed interest to meet General Jinwu.

Zhou Dafu came out and calmly rejected all the requests. He explained that the General was in seclusion and could not be disturbed.

After going through the Golden Crow Tribe’s issue, he confirmed the General’s ‘caliber’ and was extremely confident.

When he faced the powerful barbarian tribes, he was neither humble nor arrogant. He finally had the demeanor of someone in charge of smuggling.

In the eyes of many barbarian tribes, the change in Zhou Dafu’s behavior made them think that the new General was all the more unfathomable. If not, how could small little Zhou Dafu become so brave?

The result of this was a vicious cycle. On one side, the smuggling was becoming more successful and General Jinwu was getting more and more famous amongst the barbarian tribes.

There was even a rumor saying that he was a supreme power amongst Desolate people and had the power of shamans. That was how he was able to settle everything and cause both the Golden Crow Tribe and Prajna to respect him.

But the truth was that the famous General Jinwu was only doing one thing at the moment – Eat eat eat! Drink drink drink!

Of course, he was freeloading.

Rourou sneered as her eyes became more contemptuous, but she did not stop his increasingly aggressive behavior. After swallowing the Golden Crow, she had a lot more energy and did not have to waste a lot of time sleeping.

This was her repayment to Qin Yu.

The more he personally experienced the benefits of having her around, the more he did not want her to leave.

But obviously, imagination often surpassed reality.

When Qin Yu walked to the treehouse once more, cold water was thrown all over him.

“If you continue to eat, do you believe that you may not wake up if you ever fall asleep?”

Hiss –

If it were another person saying this, Qin Yu would not believe them. However, Rourou was the one who said this. Looking at her expression, Qin Yu thought about it…before turning to leave!

The truth was that after ‘eating and drinking’ so much, he had sensed the change in his body.

Simply put, his power was rapidly increasing and even going beyond his limit…or rather, he was losing control.

It was as if the power that he had ‘eaten’ was forming a will of its own and trying to escape from Qin Yu’s control.

This was probably what Rourou meant.

Returning to his tent, Qin Yu sat down cross-legged. After thinking about it, he understood what was happening to him.

It was every cultivator’s dream for their powers to increase. But sometimes, too rapid an increase may cause an accident.

To not be able to control one’s own energy. It meant that the more energy one obtained, the greater the addiction!

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Qin Yu stabilized his thoughts.

Rourou prevented him from continuing to ‘eat’ but she did not say that she would stop him forever. When he got rid of the addiction, he could resume.

Who knew how long this being would stay here for; the opportunity to ‘eat endlessly’ was one that he could not waste.

In a blink of an eye, ten more days passed. Just when Qin Yu felt that he had gained control of the power within him…

The celebration for the new Golden Crow Totem…had arrived!