6 Chapter 6: The Origin of the Barbarians

As Lu Xun was deep in the vision, he appeared in the middle of a desolate desert. The heat felt similar to molten lava dripping down his skin, the world was slowly melting in front of his eyes.

'Where am I?'

Suddenly a large beast appeared from within the dusty winds, running at a speed similar to that of a falcon. The beast was covered in hardened, rock-like scales, seemingly impenetrable from even swords. Riding on top of it was a middle-aged man, covered in scars from head to toe. He gave an aura similar to that of a savage.

"Wait, WAIT!" Lu Xun screamed with all his might. "You're about to hit me, STOP!"

It was of no use, the man didn't seem to hear him. As he rode ahead, the savage ran straight for Lu Xun.

Just when Lu Xun thought he was going to be broken, the man riding a beast went right through him. It was as if Lu Xun was a ghost.

'What's going on, where am I?'

Questioning his situation, Lu Xun noticed the world around was blurring. Abruptly he appeared in front of a rural village, no different from his own. Although the situation was this village was much worse, rather than farming in fertile lands, the village seemed to survive on hunting dessert beasts.

"Kekekeke, get out here you pieces of filth", yelled a brutal man on top of a scaled beast. It was the same man Lu Xun had sawn mere moments ago. "The longer I wait, the more of you I beat!"

The villagers ran in front of the man, shaking with fear. The village seemed desolate in some ways, it was filled with the elderly, the young, and the women. Men from ages 14 to 50 seemed to be without a trace. An old man walked in front of the tribe, showing his position within the village, he was clearly the village head.

"Great warrior, please settle.", the old man tried to compose the savage. "You know how loyal our village is to the great Fire Serpent Tribe."

The savage chuckled and spit on the old man. "Yeah, yeah. I can't believe I have to waste my time here with you worthless folks. Hand over your females between the ages of 9 to 40 years old. They are lucky enough to be taken to my tribe to breed with the warriors."

The great sounds of a disturbance came from the village people, disturbed by the order.

The old man was horrified, "Please great warrior, spare the women. They are the foundation of our tribe, we can't go on without them. We have already sent our men to be warriors for your tribe, serving you with their blood and bones."

"Warriors?" The man said amused. "Is that what you were told? Hah! Those worthless men were sent to be slaves, not warriors. Can't you see yet that compared to the mighty order of the rulers of the Fire Serpent Tribe, you bastards are nothing."

The village became silent. Deathly silent. Expressions of disgust and outrage were apparent on all their faces. They couldn't come up with what they should do next, as they realized they would never see their fathers or sons again. Their former pride for the bravery of their men had turned into deep anguish.

Although the quickly broken, when a boy- no older than five - throw a stone at the savages face. The savage didn't even notice the stone until it fling of his face, unable to d even the most measly shred of damage. The rest of the village followed suit, throwing stones at the face of the savage, but the beast blocks their stones with its body.

"You DARE!" The savage was outraged. "I am the son of a warrior in the Bone Forging realm. If the tribe saintess hadn't been pissed off by my staring and comments about her, like a bitch, all of you wouldn't even be able to lick the gravel under my feet."

The savage slapped the back of the beast, signaling it to attack. The scaled beasts let out a battle roar, so powerful that it shattered the eardrums of the villagers. This wasn't the end of it though, as the roar continued, the eyes of the villagers slowly bled, losing their sight as well as their hearing.

The man startled by the power of the beast fell off the creature, smashing his skull on the hardened dessert floor in the process. Had he not been arrogant and followed the orders of his tribe's elders to only use the beast to scare others off, he wouldn't have been as overwhelmed by its power as he had been.

Seeing its master was dead, the beast run off into the desert, not caring about the village or its former master.

Looking from a distance, Lu Xun was appalled. Why had he come to see this vision? Was it to show him the cruelty of the world or was that old man just incredibly sadistic? What was the point?

As the days went on, Lu Xun came to find out that in his spirit-like state he was impervious to hunger and exhaustion, but he became incredibly bored. He spent his days watching the village and whenever he tried to leave he would seemingly reappear near the village.

'God damn it, I'm going to lose my mind from either this stupid boredom or just lose my will of life by watching this stupid tragedy waiting to happen.'

Lu Xun merely watched the village, with little to no hope. Without their hear and sight how are they supposed to exist in the beast inhabited desert, they were destined to die. Although over time, his expression change from irritation to shock.

As the years went on, rather than be devoured, the villagers thrived. Like monsters, they used their sense of touch to see through wind currents and slowly hunt beasts again. At first, they were helpless, unable to fend themselves off so they turned to cannibalism. The young killed their elders, nourishing themselves with the blood and bones of their families.

Over the years they created their own path towards cultivation, using the blood of beasts to fuel their path towards immortality. They no longer had a sense of self, becoming monsters only fueled by bloodshed.

The most powerful among them slowly regained intelligence, but this was just their start. As they reproduced, their children were born with incredibly strong bodies, able to hunt no different from powerful beasts. If some couldn't keep up, they would be eaten by the more powerful children in their generation.

Once the descendants turned 18, as a show of respect for their predecessors they would cut of their ears and tear out their eyes. Slowly the formerly weak village turned into a clan of devils in a way. Although they weren't members of the cruel race, their acts of brutality would even make the most vindictive of the devil's flinch.

300 years passed, the village now a fully grown tribe ventured into the desert. Slaughtering their way through the tribes that had once caused fear to be struck in the hearts of their ancestors with their paths of cultivation, like they were fleas.

When they came upon the still powerful Fire Serpent Tribe, instead of conquering them, they committed genocide. Impaling every member of the tribe with wooden spears, so that they would slowly bleed to death in a matter of days.

Even though these members of the tribe hadn't personally harmed their ancestors, their glory still partly originated from stepping on the bones of their innocent ancestors. For that, they deserved a fate worse than hell.