Jindai Yasuhito's expression darkened.
Li Yinuo ignored him, "You must have also received our distress signal before coming here. At that ti, I ntioned the attack by the wilderness people. But what's strange is that those Fire Pit people, after chasing us here, suddenly stopped pursuing and mysteriously disappeared. I now suspect that they entered the heart of Taboo Land!"
The middle-aged man was stunned; he knew the Qing's main house had a secret connection with the Fire Pit... Explore more adventures at empire
So things cannot withstand too much speculation; once you start thinking, you think a lot!
The struggle for power within the shadows, the main house, the Fire Pit, seed like a young native of the wilderness!
The middle-aged man felt that he was closing in on the truth!
At this mont, Li Yinuo said nothing more.
After all, being an insider called for just enough to stir the pot; being found out wouldn't be good!
And by now, having played the role of the insider to this extent should have been about enough...
At this ti, the middle-aged man said in confusion, "I rember your distress ssage, but so many Fire Pit people ca. Why did only a young man take action?"
Just then, Jindai Yasuhito suddenly said, "Do you know about the Fire Pit's Horn Cutting Ceremony?"
Li Yinuo was secretly startled within her heart. At one point, she even felt that Jindai Yasuhito was her accomplice. His assistance ca at just the right ti.
The so-called Horn Cutting Ceremony of the Fire Pit was a rule where the most outstanding young people in the snowy mountains had to hunt a ferocious yak on their own when they ca of age.
After killing the yak, they would cut off its head and bring it back to the Fire Pit. The large horns were hung in their own hos as a symbol of courage.
However, that was a ritual hundreds of years ago. Later, after the appearance of the Taboo Land and the opposition between the wilderness and the Federation, the Horn Cutting Ceremony could be completed by hunting other ferocious wild animals or killing the Federation's experts.
Only after completing the Horn Cutting Ceremony, one had the legitimacy to beco a true warrior in the Fire Pit, leading a hunting team on their own.
Those who failed to complete the Horn Cutting Ceremony could only beco followers of these individuals.
So now that Qing Huai was ambushed, could it be the son of so elder, currently completing the Horn Cutting Ceremony?!
Unnoticed, the suspicion had been directed towards the Fire Pit and the internal power struggle within the Qing Family.
Perhaps it could even provoke infighting between the main house and the fourth branch...
The middle-aged man pondered for a long while, casting a suspicious glance towards Li Yinuo and Jindai Yasuhito out the corner of his eye.
It was well-known within the consortium that Li Yinuo belonged to the typical faction advocating for war and was certainly not likely to be in cahoots with the Jindai family.
So, his guess at this mont must be the truth, right?
At this ti, a voice ca through the communication channel, "Sir, we've found Qing Huai's body!"
The middle-aged man's expression beca solemn, and his last sliver of hope shattered.
He said to the soldier nearby, leading the chanical Hunting Dog, "Release all the hunting dogs, follow the scent, and we must find the murderer!"
...
At this very mont, the most sentintal person was undoubtedly Li Yinuo.
Among all the people present, she knew best about Qing Chen's strength.
Because she grew up beside her uncle, Uncle Li Dong, and aspired to beco a Knight, she was also most familiar with so basic rules of the Knights.
Before becoming a Knight, Qing Chen firstly had to be an Ordinary Person.
And a Knight who has overco their first life-and-death hurdle should be at the pinnacle of the F-Class.
The Knights' promotion path has always been distinct from other legacies.
The promotion thod for most legacies is smooth and stable, but for every Knight who passes the life-and-death hurdle, it is a leap-like surge in strength.
I've heard that in the early years of the new era of humanity, when there was no Breathing Technique, even if a Knight completed eight life-and-death hurdles, they were only at the peak A-Class level.
Back then, Knights' strength lay in their numbers and stable legacy. As long as eight life-and-death hurdles were completed, one would certainly reach A-Class, so it was common for a group of A-Class Knights to gang up on a single opponent.
They'd rush into battle with a shout.
But later, when the sea routes were cut off and Qin Sheng created the Breathing Technique, it was unexpected that the individual strength of Knights would rise so teorically. Now, without even surpassing the eighth life-and-death hurdle, Uncle Li Dong is already a demigod of this era.
Who knows what realm he will reach after completing the eighth hurdle?
It's a pity that the Forbidden Sea remains a life-threatening zone for all humanity, and Uncle Li Dong may never touch that highest threshold in his lifeti.
Now, a newly promoted top-tier F-Class Knight has killed almost an entire squad of people in the Taboo Land, and in the end, even forced Qing Huai to trigger the rules and flee for his life.
This was not due to Combat Power, but intelligence.
At this mont, Qing Huai must be dead too.
To be honest, Li Yinuo actually admired Qing Chen a bit. What he accomplished was sothing she could not have done herself.
She thought, since uncle hinted they could trust each other, could she possibly team up with this newly promoted Knight in the future?
There were many things she wanted to do as well.
At this mont, Li Yinuo suddenly felt a strange sense of exhilaration, as if everyone around her was drunk and she alone was sober—but she still had to pretend to be clueless.
So her expression appeared a bit odd.
However, Li Yinuo failed to notice that the baby beside her wore an even stranger expression...
...
At this mont, deep inside Taboo Land no. 002.
Dozens of wilderness people were sitting around a burning campfire. A middle-aged man with braids was ditating with closed eyes, his braids were wrapped with agates and turquoise, and around his neck hung a string of finger bones.
The necklace was made up of the last segnts of human pinkies, each representing a Federation person he had killed.
These wilderness people had pale faces and bodies.
It wasn't that they were sick, but rather they were coated in a strange powder.
The next mont, soone took out a sheepskin bag and handed it to the middle-aged man: "Elder, it's ti for more powder."
"Hmm," the elder stood up, the bone necklace on his neck rattling loudly.
He grabbed a handful of powder from the sheepskin bag and sared it on his face and body.
A follower next to him said, "Elder, we don't have much of the Feng Junhua pollen left from the high elder, and it's getting more and more dangerous for us here in Taboo Land, but the prey has yet to appear... How about we wait another day, then go back to the snowy mountains? Without the Feng Junhua pollen, we may not be able to withstand the wild beasts and plants of the hinterland."
The elder, having finished applying the powder, pondered, "Feng Junhua pollen is not easy to collect. If we return without success, how will we answer to our ancestors?"
"But we can't just throw our lives away here," the follower whispered. "I heard the high elder ntion it, Taboo Land no. 002 is remarkably eerie."
The elder sighed and sat back down, looking at the ti, date, and temperature on his electronic watch with an uncertain expression.
If Qing Chen saw that bone necklace, brimming with barbaric aura, and then saw the electronic watch on the elder's wrist, he would have probably felt an odd dissonance...
However, for the Fire Pit people, all of this was perfectly normal:
Collecting bones was a way to show reverence for strength and ancestors, as well as a symbol of status within the clan.
As for the electronic watch, that's because it was genuinely useful!
Certainly more useful than judging ti by shadows or the sun...
Due to certain events, the Fire Pit people had acquired powers from the "ancestors," leading them to venerate totems and gods.
But this didn't an that everyone had to shun technology... after all, the ancestors didn't reject technology!
Driving while hunting is indeed more efficient than hunting on foot!
In this world, all isms ultimately beco pragmatism.
It's an era where mysticism and science each do their thing separately, yet sohow strangely amalgamate.
At that mont, the elder gazed in a certain direction and sighed, "We'll wait another two days. If there's still no sign of anyone, we'll leave here before we run out of Feng Junhua pollen..."
...
Far away, Qing Chen and Uncle Li Dong had already left Taboo Land safely.
He looked back one more ti at the deep, dark forest, feeling an inexplicable affinity for it.
The young man whispered softly, "I will co back."
This trek through the wilderness had shown him too many wonders, too many experiences.
It was as if a magnificent sonata interwoven nonstop in his life, playing its lody.
And it was changing his destiny.
At one mont, Qing Chen felt that his own life truly began the mont he crossed over to this place.
00:00:00.
The countdown reached zero.
Return!
...
Volu One, The First Chapter of the Night: Sonata.
End.
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Extra long chapter of 5700 words, once again, thank you all for helping break the record for first subscriptions! Asking for monthly tickets!!!
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Thank you to book friend 20191222234430856 for becoming the new patron of this book, generous boss, may you make a fortune!
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