Chapter 2: The Barbarian Awakens

  (New book urgently needs collection and recommendation, fellow Taoists)

  This is an ordinary piece of stone, only the size of a baby's palm, irregular in shape, with some naturally formed patterns on it, and a small hollow hole, like a pendant.

  But overall it doesn't seem like there's anything out of the ordinary, just a very common appearance.

  The only thing that was a bit strange was that when Su Ming held the fragments, he felt warmth on them, as if there was a warm current flowing into his body, making him feel very comfortable.

  "Huh?" Su Ming looked carefully, but after a while, he still couldn't see anything unusual.

  "I've heard Grandpa mention that this place used to be a land of fire savages long ago. Looking at it now, it's possible that this thing has some power of the fire savages, which is why people feel warm when they wear it. It's not bad." Su Ming took off the crescent moon bone pendant from his neck and put the fragment into it, then hung it back on his neck. The fragment touched his chest, and the warmth became even more intense.

  "I'm going home!" The young man took big strides, running quickly towards the distant place with lights. At this moment, he didn't notice that a weak light flashed from the stone fragment stuck to his chest.

  As they approached, in Su Ming's eyes, the faint light gradually became clear, and it could be seen that it was a tribe surrounded by a wall formed by many giant trees.

  The range is not large, with only a few hundred people living there, but in Su Ming's eyes, this place makes him feel warm. Faintly, there were bursts of lively cheers coming out, and through the gaps in the row of giant wooden walls, you could see that at the center of the tribe, there was a huge bonfire, surrounded by many tribespeople, and some women from the tribe were dancing around the fire.

  The gate of the tribe, also made of giant trees, was often lifted by several ropes when opened. Now it was tightly closed, and on top of it stood several burly men wearing animal skin shirts, with extremely rough skin, and a string of white bones hanging from their necks, and bone rings in their ears, full of ferocity. Their eyes stared sharply around, and when they saw Su Ming running from afar, these big men all grinned.

  "La Su, your grandfather has been looking for you all day, why did you just come back?"

  "It just rained, are you going to rush for oolong tea again?"

  "Grandpa is looking for me? Throw down the rope, this harvest isn't bad." Su Ming quickly ran a few steps and arrived at the bottom of the big gate, proudly patted the woven basket on his back and shouted loudly.

  As a rope dropped down from above, Su Ming grabbed it and climbed up agilely, reaching the top of the gate in just a few breaths. He smiled after seeing the several tribesmen guarding at night, then quickly walked down along the stairs beside him.

  "This little doll is agile and has a big guts, many years ago he dared to go alone to Wulongsan to collect medicine, it seems that in the future the tribe's doctor will be him."

  "What a pity, he doesn't have the physique for it, otherwise, who knows, he might become a great doctor like Ah Gong." Several big men looked at Su Ming walking away in the distance and let out a soft sigh.

  Su Ming entered the tribe and ran all the way. In the surrounding thatched cottages, people would often shout "La Su" with kindness when they saw him.

  The name La Su does not refer specifically to him, but rather is a general term for all the children in the tribe who have not yet undergone the second initiation.

  Not far away, outside a tribal animal skin tent, there was a five or six year old little girl staring at Su Ming. Her innocent and tender face revealed a sweet and pure smile. In her arms, she held a white small beast the size of a palm, which looked very well-behaved and gentle, resembling a white fluffy ball.

  "La Su brother, have you fed Pippi yet?" The little girl burst out laughing when she saw Su Ming.

  "Tongtong, for you." Su Ming chuckled and ran forward, taking out several ripe fruits from his bosom and handing them to the little girl. Amidst the little girl's happy laughter, Su Ming arrived at the center of the tribe, where he saw a large number of tribespeople surrounding the bonfire, laughing and chatting.

  Outside the bonfire, a circle of durable wooden bars was laid out, on which were many large blocks of meat that had been roasted and smoked, emitting waves of fragrance.

  There were several tribal girls nearby, who smiled and waved at Su Ming as he ran over. For this tribe, Su Ming's slender figure was a stark contrast to the others, almost every single one of them was more robust than him, including these girls.

  After much difficulty, he finally squeezed out, grabbed a piece of fragrant roasted meat, and ran quickly towards the front while biting into it.

  In the crowd, in a position right in front, sat an old man who was wearing not animal hides but coarse linen shirts. This old man had many small braids in his hair and looked extremely old, but his eyes were quite spirited, making people feel like they would be sucked in with just one glance.

  His identity should be extremely noble, and he was saying something in a low voice. There were several tribesmen accompanying him, listening and nodding their heads, with an extremely respectful expression.

  Seeing Su Ming running from afar, the old man smiled and nodded, gesturing for Su Ming to sit down beside him, then continued talking with the few clansmen.

  Those few tribesmen also saw Su Ming, and smiles appeared on their faces.

  "Our Wushan clan may be a small tribe, but after all, it is the orthodox inheritance of Wushan. This time, the Fengquan tribe's patriarch is having a grand birthday celebration, and I had a relationship with him back in the day, so I must attend." The old man slowly spoke up.

  "It's a pity that our Wushan tribe split hundreds of years ago, and now only three branches remain. Otherwise, our Wushan tribe would also be a medium-sized tribe, ruling over the surrounding eight directions, and the Fengquan tribe would also be subordinate. Alas...". The speaker was a man in his forties, the chief of the Wushan tribe, with a sturdy build that seemed to be full of explosive power, and nine finger-thick teeth on his neck.

  Especially on his face, there is a faint and elusive wrinkle, the shape of which is extremely ferocious, like a ghost or god, but very vague, as if it can never be completely solidified.

  Su Ming looked at the pattern, a hint of envy in his eyes. Through the beast skin scroll, Su Ming knew that it was an unformed savage pattern. In the entire tribe, no one currently had the ability to draw and solidify the savage pattern.

  Even Agong is only at the ninth level of condensing the barbaric blood.

  But even so, it made Ah Gong become one of the strongest in many tribes near Wushan. The only ones that could compare with him were two other tribes that branched out from his own tribe: Heishan and Wulong.

  "Past events, what's the point of bringing them up? Without a strong master to guard the Dust Boundary, it's impossible to become a medium-sized tribe. The death of the two Dust Boundary ancestors of the Wushan Tribe back then was the root cause of their eventual split."

  "After all these years of cultivation, I still can't break through the ninth layer of Congealed Blood and reach the tenth layer, let alone the extreme eleventh layer. I'm unable to draw a completely solidified barbaric pattern... it's hard to open up the dust..." The old man in coarse linen clothes sighed lightly and spoke slowly.

  "Alright, you can go down now and prepare the gifts. Tomorrow... Shan Hen, as the leader of the Wushan Hunting Team, it's up to you to lead the team on their journey." The old man stood up, glanced at a middle-aged man standing next to the chief of the Wushan tribe, then turned around and left, walking towards the distance.

  The middle-aged man's expression remained calm, and upon hearing this, he immediately bowed his head in agreement.

  Su Ming hastily followed behind Old Man, leaving the bustling area around the bonfire.

  The old man didn't say a word, he just walked silently until the cheerful voices behind him gradually faded away, then he came to a hut made of grass and wood and went inside.

  The house was not big, and it was quite simple inside. After entering the house, the old man sat cross-legged on one side, looking at Su Ming who followed in with a glance.

  "Going to collect bird's nest again?"

  At this moment, Su Ming was alone with the old man. He had great respect for his grandfather, who had watched him grow up since he was a child. Putting down the woven basket behind him, he picked up the small earthenware bottle and handed it to the old man.

  "With your agility, those few wyrms won't be able to hurt you, but it's still best if you don't go there... after all, that place also belongs to the Black Mountain Clan and the Wyrms' territory."

  "This ginseng is useless to me, you can keep it for yourself to nourish your body." The old man looked at Su Ming with a benevolent expression.

  Su Ming nodded and put away the small bottle. Over the years, he had consumed a lot of this substance, which was why he had such a flexible body.

  Moreover, for many years, Grandpa often made him some medicinal soups, which made him, although not having a sturdy physique, stronger than ordinary people.

  "In three days, it will be the time for your generation in the clan to worship the Su Man idol. I remember you are already 16 years old... and need to go pay respects to the idol." The elder said slowly, looking at Su Ming.

  "The barbarian of my Wushan tribe is inherited from the real Wushan tribe back then, although it's not the main one, and can't be compared with the medium-sized tribes' barbarians, but in the surrounding area, it's extremely powerful."

  Su Ming fell silent for a moment, then nodded his head.

  "Don't go out for a few days, take a good rest, and three days later, go to Manqi with them." The old man said, slowly closing his eyes.

  Su Ming stood for half a moment, then silently picked up his basket and left, walking towards the thatched cottage not far away, which belonged to him.

  He would never forget that at the age of seven he, along with all the children of the same age in the tribe, surrounded the totem and went through the first initiation ceremony.

  As a barbarian, one needs to go through two initiation-like rituals in their lifetime. These are the Barbarian Awakenings, which occur at ages seven and sixteen.

  At the same time, the old men in the tribe will also use this opportunity to select people with a strong physique.

  He let out a soft sigh, and Su Ming's heart was filled with bitterness. He yearned to become a Shaman Warrior, the scenes described in the animal skin scrolls had captivated him since he was young. However, the cruelty of reality clearly revealed itself when he first worshiped the Shaman statue at the age of seven; he did not possess a Shaman body and thus did not have the qualifications to practice Shamanism.

  Barbaric, is the root of the world. Only by becoming a barbarian can one laugh proudly above the nine heavens and become a true strongman!

  From the beast skin scroll, Su Ming had known since he was young that in this world there were many tribes, big and small, each with their own totems. This was a tribe's foundation, and also what made future generations become savages.

  Meditate on the barbarian image, if you can get a response, then you can naturally obtain the transmission of the barbarian repair, no need for human teaching, and practice on your own.

  If both the seven-year-old and sixteen-year-old fail, it means that everything can never be changed. Su Ming's heart has always been hesitant, not seeing the answer he expected, but now with only three days left until his last epiphany, he is afraid.

  "This time... can it be done..." Su Ming returned silently to his own hut, sat down beside it, and fell into a daze.