Chapter 9: The Barbarian Tribe

Not knowing where to find his sister-in-law, and with his business unfinished, Zhao Yu could only take down the woodcutter’s blade. "Blade, stop sleeping."

The blade shivered slightly, and a bizarre face sprouted from its surface, staring at Zhao Yu. "Who is sleeping?"

Zhao Yu did not bother arguing with the blade and merely asked, "Which direction did my sister-in-law go just now?"

"I don't know."

After a pause, the face on the blade grew helpless. "You know as well as I do that I cannot let your brother or sister-in-law know of my existence. I never take the initiative to observe them."

Zhao Yu thought for a moment and asked again, "What about those three treacherous old guys, Ling Xuzi and his companions?"

"They have decent cultivation and were running in quite a hurry." Having said that, the blade appeared embarrassed. "So, I still don't know."

Zhao Yu widened his eyes. "You don't know this, you don't know that—Blade, how are you so useless? I really misjudged you!"

The blade was instantly enraged. "You actually have the nerve to call me useless? If it weren't for me, could you catch a rabbit? If it weren't for me, could you fight back when you encounter man-eating evils? You’d surely be forced to run for your life!"

Zhao Yu instinctively wanted to retort, but then he realized that what the blade said seemed correct... After all, he did indeed need the blade's help to catch a rabbit.

According to the books, a creature like a rabbit is the most harmless and feeble thing imaginable; calling it a "five-point combatant" would be an overestimation, and yet, he needed the blade's help just to catch one!

Finally, Zhao Yu sighed. "I can't catch a rabbit alone, and you can't catch a rabbit alone either, so we are both useless."

The blade remained silent, its expression turning peculiar.

Zhao Yu took the initiative to comfort it. "I know it's hard for you, but we cannot escape reality... Don't worry, once I am able to cultivate in the future, I will certainly help you so that you can become powerful as well."

"If it makes you happy," the corner of the blade's face twitched.

Zhao Yu pouted slightly and looked out at the wilderness. Eventually, he rubbed his head. "Forget it, I’ll just go back inside and read."

Since his sister-in-law hadn't returned, he couldn't sleep soundly. He might as well pass the time reading while waiting for her.

Study Room

Zhao Yu entered the study and took a glance. There were many bookshelves, and the books on them were constantly emitting black mist. The layout was the same as before. It seemed his sister-in-law and brother really didn't like coming to the study.

Zhao Yu walked slowly to the desk and picked up a book at random.

*A Fairy Fell from the Sky and I Became Invincible.*

Zhao Yu opened the book and began reading with great pleasure. The blade also nimbly grew limbs and crawled onto Zhao Yu’s shoulder to read along.

...

After reading for a long while, Zhao Yu suddenly began to curse. "Who wrote these books? They’re all idiots; they don't even have basic common sense."

The blade was puzzled. "Aside from the protagonist being a bit ridiculous, the rest seems quite logical to me."

Zhao Yu pointed to a line in the book. "Look here. It says the protagonist's enemy was pierced through the chest by his sword, and then that person died..."

The blade was about to speak, but blinked and stayed silent.

Zhao Yu continued to grumble, "If I didn't have anything else to do, I wouldn't be reading these moronic books."

It is common knowledge that a qualified adult only dies when their body and consciousness are burned to ashes. Being stabbed through the heart or having one's head taken off are merely normal joint movements. For instance, when his sister-in-law had an episode, she would detach her head to let it calm down.

The books often wrote that someone died after being decapitated... It was truly absurd. This wasn't just a lack of common sense; it was rubbing Zhao Yu’s intelligence into the dirt!

After cursing for a while, Zhao Yu happily went back to reading. Setting aside the lack of common sense, the plot was quite entertaining. The stories in the books refreshed every seven days, so he had to keep up with the updates, or the books might disappear.

...

Somewhere else

A disheveled Ling Xuzi looked toward the distance. There, many buildings stood. Under the cover of night, lights shone from many of the houses. At the entrance of the settlement, there were quite a few guards.

This was a true tribe of the Yi people, hidden within the million-mile Yin Mountains.

Ling Xuzi could not help but exult, "I survived."

He had thought he would surely die tonight, never expecting to stumble upon a human settlement. Judging by the area, there were at least a thousand people living here. With enough power to protect so many people in this place, the deity within must be formidable. Neither Zhao Yu’s eerie house nor that sinister paper doll would have a chance to kill him now.

Overjoyed, Ling Xuzi approached immediately. The guards at the entrance went on alert but did not take further action. This was a settlement, and evil spirits would not approach rashly; those who did were likely human.

Once close enough, Ling Xuzi cupped his hands in greeting. "I am Ling Xuzi, a traveler under the command of the Great Qian Dynasty’s provincial governor. I am passing through unintentionally and only wish to stay for the night; I shall leave tomorrow."

The captain of the guards said in a deep voice, "Whether we grant shelter is up to our leader. Please wait a moment."

"That is only right," Ling Xuzi nodded.

The captain smiled and signaled to someone nearby. A guard left at high speed. After about thirty breaths of time, a man wearing a wolf-tooth necklace and another person in gorgeous robes wearing a colorful, mask-like face paint appeared out of thin air.

These were the tribal leader and the high priest in charge of all matters related to the "deity."

The high priest looked him over for a moment and then retreated somewhere. The tribal leader’s eyes flickered, and he teased, "Fellow Daoist, you look quite disheveled. It seems you had a rough night."

Ling Xuzi knew what the leader meant and managed a bitter smile. "This is not the place to talk. If we delay any longer, we might attract evil spirits. Could you allow me to enter before we discuss this further?"

"Please, enter," the leader did not refuse.

Ling Xuzi immediately hurried inside. Once he had truly crossed the entrance and entered the tribe, he stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally escaped with his life. With the protection of a deity, no evil spirit would ever be able to find him again. And even if those spirits could bypass the deity’s protection, they would certainly be no match for a god.

The tribal leader spoke again, "Fellow Daoist?"

Ling Xuzi reined in his emotions. He shook his head and sighed. "You may not know this, Fellow Daoist, but I did not come alone. To be frank, when I entered the million-mile Yin Mountains, I had three companions, also under the governor's command."

"Then, where are they?" The leader glanced at the entrance. There was no one there. Indeed, Ling Xuzi was alone.

"They are all dead," Ling Xuzi exhaled slowly, a sense of sorrow rising in his heart.

The red-haired man was gone—destroyed at Zhao Yu’s house, leaving no corpse behind, right before his eyes and the others. As for the other two... he and his companions had tried to flee, but the horror of the faceless man had exceeded their expectations. They hadn't run far when the two of them died out of thin air, and the faceless man appeared abruptly to enjoy his feast.

Ling Xuzi knew he shouldn't have survived. The only reason he was still alive was because of what the faceless man called a "contract trace," which had spared his life.