The Hidden Myth of Ji Dara

"I was really starting to get worried about how long you'll stay unconscious…"

Dara responded as the trio looked ahead to see a burly guy walking over with his entire chest wrapped and bandaged with strips of precisely cut soft clothes, and though, there were bits of blood stains on them, the burly guy was looking much more healthy than expected…

"I am a Qi Sea Stage expert, the moment you freed me from those chains, I have begun to try moving my cultivation once again, and the past half a day had given me enough peaceful time to do so…"

The burly guy responded when he saw the looks on Ji Wang and Uncle Min's face since they saw him when they towed him into the tribe and heard how badly injured he was…

Furthermore, from first glance, he seemed to be half healed already;

"To heal halfway through such injury in barely a day, is that the power of a Qi Sea Stage expert?"

Ji Wang blurted absentmindedly as he kept staring at the burly guy like some mad scientist who had just found a new specimen for a new research;

"Well, though I have regressed to the 3 Star Qi Sea Stage because I couldn't efficiently utilize all the Qi in my body..."

"Then the fact that I have also been using it to heal myself, I suspect I might regress back into the Qi Creation stage by the time I'm fully healed, or perhaps to the 1 Star Qi Sea stage if I'm lucky…" The burly guy responded;

"I didn't actually get your name?" Dara asked;

"Long… Sha Long…" The burly guy answered;

"Dara… Ji Dara, and this is Uncle Min and Ji Wang…" Dara introduced;

"Since you are going to be joining our tribe, then I guess your name should be Ji Long from now on, don't you think?" Ji Wang added;

"That does have a nice ring to it…" Ji Long replied after about a minute of thinking it through;

"Alright, you said you might have an idea on how to help with the concrete…" Uncle Min brought their focus back to the topic;

"Slow down Ji Min…"

Ji Long simply blurted not knowing if that was Uncle Min's true name or not, but no one decided to say anything about it as they simply listened to what Ji Long had to say;

"The idea I'm proposing is actually a little dangerous and but could yield us a lot of benefits if we manage to pull it off…"

Ji Long laid down the criteria and waited for their consent before going on, and once he received it, he began;

"Qi Stones…" He blurted;

"Qi Stones?" Ji Wang blurted;

"Are you telling us to waste more Qi Stones after we have spent twelve on bringing nature into the tribe?" Uncle Min added;

"You two slow down a bit and let him finish…" Dara softly added from the side;

"I am not referring to the Qi Stones which are already filled with Qi, I meant the raw unused ones…" Ji Long explained;

"Wouldn't that be dangerous to the people?" Dara questioned;

"Naturally, Qi Stones simply absorb energy from natural sources, tame the energy and store them in a way which would be absorbable by any cultivator…"

"But how come they were used to drain Qi from you guys?" Dara pushed for more understanding;

"Well, it was because those hateful monsters were able to devise a way to reverse the effects of the Qi Stones…" Ji Long explained with a furious expression;

"So, if the natural Qi Stones are safe, where can we get them?" Ji Wang chipped in;

"Well, then entire mountain we were rescued from is made entirely out of Qi Stones…"

"Once we can get past the earth that had covered it after existing for so long, one would find these Qi Stones…"

"Those monsters let us mine the QI Stones ourselves and they sometimes use the Obuns, before using the product of our labor to drain out future…" Ji Long reminisced with gritted teeth as he explained;

"But if the Qi Stones are rocky, how do you expect us to build entire settlements out of it?" Uncle Min added;

"Actually, they were able to fashion cages and chains out of the Qi Stones but I have never truly realized it was from the same Qi Stones that they mined within the mountain; or more like I never even knew they mined the QI Stones within that mountain…" Dara chipped in;

"Yes, but there is one downside…"Ji Long pointed out;

"What is it?" Ji Wang asked seemingly over interested in the possibilities that could bring;

"The Qi Stone absorbs anything natural and converts them into natural energy, but when there is an artificial flame, like flames being fueled by beast blood, then one can safely melt these stones and remold them into any shape of one's choice…"

"They usually bring in blacksmiths from the Royal Court to come remold these Qi Stones, but another downside is, we don't have any here…"

Ji Long sighed, but after noticing that there was no reaction except for a smug grin on the trio's faces, Ji Long realized that he might have missed something;

"You don't happen to have a blacksmith lying around here, do you?" He asked with an expression of intensifying shock;

"Follow me…"

Dara simply spoke as they all walked over to the structure Ji Wang just constructed yesterday, and there was Elder Smith standing in front of the half done smithy, pacing up and down with his hand beneath his chin in thought…

He then heard several approaching footsteps, and when he saw who it was, he bowed slightly to Dara and greeted;

"Leader…"

The rest of the group were slightly stunned by his mode of address because they only regarded Dara as the tribe leader because he was the Landlord of their new home and was also the one who brought about the idea of creating a new Ji Tribe;

But they have never really thought of him as someone they had to serve or be subservient to; at least not the human adults…

The kids maybe, the Obuns also might have as well made that decision, but this is the first time they would be seeing one of the human adults actually act subserviently and accept a metaphorical ten year old as his own leader....

But right in that moment, the rest of them began to entertain the idea; after all, no matter how they looked at it, Dara had excelled as a true leader and that really stifled Uncle Min who  knew he was already losing the battle if he doesn't prove his worth anytime soon, as Elder Smith's next statement ended all their thoughts…