Bloody Totem Tribe

The Bloody Totem Tribe.

Yaan's first impression of this tribe was quite something. By the time the group arrived outside the tribe walls, it was already midday. Guards were stationed beside the entrance gate, sternly examining each and every carriage of people brought into the tribe. Clearly, they were on high alert against any possible counter attacks from the Rising Sun Tribe.

Since Yaan's carriage contained the tribe leader's younger sister, the guards were more lenient and overlooked the strange unconscious child wearing a red silk robe.

The sun's relentless rays illuminated the two enormous totems which towered up above either side of the entrance gate. Each totem was bleeding from the hundreds of eyes carved into its figure. The blood slowly crept down the wood, until it reached the ground, where it was instantly sucked into the earth below.

It was an extremely bizarre sight, but totems like this could be seen all around the Bloody Totem Tribe.

Without using his cultivation to investigate more astutely, Yaan was unable to guess what exactly these things were, and what their use might be.

After being brought into the tribe, Yaan was separated from the other rescued captives. He was taken to the centre of the tribe, where there was a unique tribal style mansion made from fine woods and decorated with beast skulls and fangs. Naturally, there were also bloody totems placed around this mansion…

Not knowing what else to do with him, the tribesmen simply waited here with Yaan, until the tribe leader finally returned two days later.

She was noticeably anxious during her return, only feeling relieved when she found Yaan, safe and unharmed. She had been held up in the battle, then again in the post-war meeting between the upper ranking tribe elders, but compared to all that, she was genuinely more worried about the strange child that she had picked up in the Aztecs' dungeon…

When she remembered the way that child had looked at her back in the underground dungeon, the tribe leader felt chills creeping through her body. That gaze, combined with his bizarre power, made her feel extremely wary of this child.

She quickly dismissed the tribesmen and took Yaan inside by herself, announcing that she would not be taking any visitors for the remainder of the day. It was only after she got inside and made sure that nobody was lingering in the vicinity, that she turned towards Yaan with a solemn gaze and took a deep breath.

"Senior, I wonder what it is that you want from my tribe?"

She had already started thinking of this 'child' as a powerful cultivator with seniority far outranking her own.

Without opening his eyes, Yaan replied:

"Allow me to rest here for some time. Do not allow anyone to come near me. Do not distract me again until I seek you out."

After saying this, Yaan became silent. The tribe leader opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself before saying anything.

For a while, she just stared at Yaan, who was now sat in the centre of her home's main training hall in the lotus position. He emitted a weak aura, yet somehow, she felt that hidden within this weakness, was an indomitable strength which she could not even hope to contend against.

She realised it when Yaan first spoke back in the Rising Sun Tribe's underground dungeon and she realised it again now…

She was not this person's match! In fact, his strength was completely unfathomable to her, the distance between them was so large that she could not even estimate the extent of his power!

In the end, the tribe leader took her leave silently, leaving Yaan to recuperate in peace.

Now that he was alone and the situation seemed to have stabilised, Yaan focussed almost all of his efforts on his recovery. He kept a loose watch on his surroundings, not wanting to be caught off guard by anything unexpected, but he was now whole heartedly diverting his energy into recovering.

Ever since he swallowed his two spatial rings, including his own spatial ring and the ring given to him by the Fragment of Qi, Yaan had been opening the rings from within his stomach, periodically extracting recovery pills and using them to boost his recovery.

Unfortunately, these pills were of limited use to him at this point. Even Rank 5 recovery pills and other rare medicines were not that helpful when it came to healing the damage inflicted to his Vital Qi Core; they could at most slightly accelerate the recovery process. In the end, what Yaan needed was a long period of time to properly heal, allowing his core to return to its peak condition.

Actually, there was one other pill in the Fragment of Qi's spatial ring. This pill emitted a deep and unfathomable aura, it was shrouded in a cloud of darkness that Yaan was unable to fully see through.

He had no doubt in his mind, this was an immortal pill!

Unfortunately, he could not deduce anymore than this, and using an immortal pill without fully understanding its effect would likely result in his death. As such, no matter how tempted Yaan felt by this pill, he could only leave it aside for now.

Regardless, his core was healing, slowly but surely. So long as he had sufficient time, his Vital Qi Core would inevitably recover to its full condition. However, if he was forced to utilise his cultivation for whatever reason, the injuries would worsen, and if the damage reached a certain point, his recovery would no longer be a certainty.

Yaan was diligent in focussing on his recovery. He had only been on the Blood Plane for two weeks, yet he had already witnessed a tribe falling to near-ruin. If situations like this were commonplace, he might not have the chance to recover properly in time!

His life experiences had taught Yaan that things almost never went to plan, which was why he felt quite surprised that he was left alone, uninterrupted and unbothered, for the full duration of his recovery.

After concentrating single mindedly on mending his Vital Qi Core for an entire year, the damage was finally healed!

Yaan slowly opened his eyes for the first time in a year.

"Unexpectedly, my recovery was actually extremely smooth." He couldn't help but smile as he said this, but in the next moment, his smile faded and his expression became gloomy.

Now that the immediate problem had been settled, Yaan was reminded of his present situation…he was reminded of all that had transpired before he ended up here.

The Immortal Ancestor had died, killed by Yaan's own hands.

Karmic chains shot down from the sky, dragging him through a spatial tear, into a strange river filled with shocking connections of karma.

After losing consciousness, he somehow ended up on the Blood Plane…the world renowned for its body tempering cultivators.

Clearly, all of this was linked to his twisted fate.

"The Immortal Ancestor, no, the Fragment of Qi, forced me to kill him…I clearly devoured his entire being into myself, but I feel like the power that I should have gained from this has been sealed away…"

Yaan contemplated this with a frown. In the end, he realised that this was probably for his own good. Could he really devour an entire immortal being into himself? It was extremely unlikely that he could do so without serious repercussions.

"This was probably the Fragment of Qi's intention. If what I devoured was not sealed away, I would instead be the one to be devoured by the Fragment of Qi." Yaan concluded. In the end, he shook his head, putting this aside for now.

He stood up and left the training hall, making his way outside the tribal mansion. When he emerged from the building, he glanced around briefly, but saw that he was alone.

Whoosh…

Yaan took a step and flew up, landing atop the tallest bloody totem which protruded from the centre of the tribal mansion. He looked out across the Bloody Totem Tribe, then moved his gaze up and out, staring into the distance, as if trying to see into the deepest reaches of the Blood Plane.

As he stood there, alone and in the centre of this tribe, a feeling emerged in Yaan's heart that had also appeared when he first arrived in the Southern Continent…

The feeling of wanting to go home.

Only now, he was simply too far from 'home'.

Only now, he refused to accept that he had a 'heart' which desired such things.

Even so, when he thought about this situation, and when he remembered how he had been dragged to this place by the chains of karma, Yaan felt sickened by these lands…by the Blood Plane. He felt unwillingness towards his fate, and for this reason, he came to a decision.

"I will return home…no matter what it takes, no matter what I need to do, no matter what I need to become…I will find a way home."

Yaan told himself that he felt so strongly about this because he was averse to being dragged around by fate. Whilst this was true, he denied the possibility that a part of him might actually want to return home, just for the sake of returning home.

As Yaan continued to lie to himself, and as he continued to unknowingly deceive himself, the abyssal cracks across his dao soul grew deeper.