Subduing the Province’s Strongest Tribe

The Grand Martial Tribesmen froze. They stared at Yaan, who, in their eyes, had suddenly materialised out of nowhere, holding their dismembered leader in his two hands.

The fact that their venerated leader's corpse withered away as Yaan was holding it only added to the terror of his sudden entrance.

Yaan's words rang through their minds, only, they were simply unable to react.

He appeared like a ghost, having killed their esteemed leader without anyone even seeing what happened, then immediately ordered them to submit!

These tribesmen were accustomed to acting domineering, they were the ones who bullied others, they had never experienced such an overwhelming loss before!

Those who were accustomed to defeat often became cowardly, lowering their heads constantly in order to scrape by and survive. But those who only knew victory were not much better…as soon as they experienced defeat, they became useless, they simply did not know what to do!

As time passed by and the Grand Martial Tribesmen continued to remain silent, Yaan frowned. He saw that whilst they were terrified, they did not look like they would submit unless he took further action.

Whoosh…chi chi chi!

Three heads flew, three corpses fell from the air, landing roughly in the midst of the lower realm army down below. Cries of shock and fear could be heard from the warriors down below as they watched their elders die miserably above them, the situation had already spiralled out of their wildest imaginations!

Those lower realm cultivators were all below 200 years of age. Since the day they were born, their Grand Martial Tribe had always ruled supreme. This was the first time in their lives that they were experiencing suppression from another tribe!

"Y-you…! Our Grand Martial Tribe won't-"

Chi!

Yaan killed the 'brave' individual who spoke out ruthlessly. He did not bother extracting this person's Vital Core, instead cutting across his body so many times in quick succession that his body seemed to explode into a cloud of crimson vapour!

This scene immediately silenced the crowd once again, but now, their shock and confusion was quelled, replaced only by fear.

This was the fear towards an enemy far beyond their abilities!

Those who were accustomed to achieving success after success, running rampant and bullying the weak, would fall into deeper despair compared to those who had experienced defeat many times before.

"Submit, or die. You all have five seconds." Yaan repeated himself, now adding a time limit to increase the pressure on his opponents.

In the first second, the silence lingered. In the next second, people reacted, looking around at one another uncertainly.

In the third second, the first person gave in. This person was actually one of the Peak 4-Star Realm elders!

Following his example, a wave spread out across the group. In the following two seconds, around two thirds of the present warriors gave in.

Yaan silently waited for another 5 seconds, but nobody else made a move. With a sigh, he took a step…

He killed those who continued to remain obstinate, refusing to back down.

Thousands of people lost their lives to Yaan's blade, including 12 4-Star Realm elders and thousands of 3-Star Realm warriors.

Not all people were the same, even if they grew up together, raised by the same culture. Some were unable to stick to their principles, giving in to preserve their lives. Others stayed true to themselves…resulting in their demise.

Such was the cruel nature of the Blood Plane. Yaan had accepted the way of this world, embracing this bloody environment.

But even for Yaan, killing so many people all at once was quite heavy. He had never before killed thousands of people in a one sided massacre like this.

He steeled his heart and distanced himself from his own emotions, doing what needed to be done in order to best progress his agenda.

"One person…a thousand people…in the end, what difference does it make? Life has no value in this place, only the strong have the right to live. Only by becoming stronger will I be able to avoid falling to the blade of the strong…" Yaan muttered to himself with an eery look in his eyes.

The Grand Martial Tribesmen shivered under his gaze, lowering their heads and not daring to move an inch.

The brave were now dead, only the cowardly and those with the mentality of survival remained. As such, nobody stepped out of line.

Under Yaan's command, they were led into the Burning Lotus Tribe.

The Grand Martial Tribesmen were now controlled in the same way as the Burning Lotus Tribesmen; the elders were controlled by the Bloody Totem Tribe Elders, whilst those elders whom had been captured commanded the tribesmen beneath them.

It was only natural for the weaker tribesmen to follow the lead of their elders.

Everyone fell into line, and for now, the Burning Lotus Tribe became peaceful once again. However, although the place was at peace, nobody felt comfortable at all…

Because the war against the Grand Martial Tribe was not over!

After questioning the surrendered tribesmen, it was confirmed that the Grand Martial Tribe had a second 5-Star Realm warrior!

This second person was the ancestor of the tribe, she was stronger than the tribe leader and possessed Late 5-Star Realm cultivation! Many of the younger Grand Martial Tribesmen did not even know about their tribe's ancestor, because she had been in seclusion for the past 150 years!

Yaan wasn't sure why a body temperer would seclude themselves away for 150 years straight, but it didn't matter.

When the tribe ancestor showed up a few days later after the Bloody Totem Tribe announced to the world that they had defeated the Grand Martial Tribe and would be taking their tribe on as a vassal, she also died to Yaan's hands.

The battle was no more difficult for Yaan than the previous battle against the early stage tribe leader.

Ordinary 5-Star Realm cultivators were no longer Yaan's match. His Vital Qi Core Realm cultivation already allowed him to match Rank 5 cultivators, but his immortal stage dao comprehension pushed him onto a whole other level.

The ancestor of the Grand Martial Tribe was an old woman, who, unlike most of the body temperers on the Blood Plane that Yaan had met so far, was actually quite small. She was so old that Yaan could only assume that she had shrivelled up and shrunk in her old age, otherwise she would certainly be larger and more muscular like the other body temperers in the Grand Martial Tribe.

The Vital Core that Yaan took from this woman's corpse was of a much higher quality compared to the others. Even compared to the Grand Martial Tribe Leader's Vital Core, the female ancestor's core was many times more useful.

Vital Cores had multiple uses. They could be devoured directly, used as a resource to cultivate further Vital Energy. They could be used as materials, both in alchemical pills, and in formations.

Devouring the core of another human being would be considered a demonic practise practically everywhere on the Qi Plane, but on the Blood Plane, it was actually very common.

In fact, there were many examples of differences between the two planes like this.

On the Qi Plane, cultivators strictly divided themselves into the 'righteous' and 'demonic' factions, but on the Blood Plane, this type of segregation was less common. This was caused by the differences in cultivation methods between the two worlds; progression as a body temperer basically required cultivators to engage in many practices that were considered demonic on the Qi Plane.

Yaan sat down within the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader's tribal mansion, devouring the many Vital Cores that he had accumulated one by one. His Vital Qi steadily increased - it was not limited in its growth, since he had recently expanded his foundation by cultivating with both Slaughter Aura and an elixir.

In the past, Yaan pursued multiple separate paths of cultivation, but these paths had now fused into one. Only his Psyche Power remained separate, whilst he had not truly began his soul cultivation yet. As for his Vital Energy, his physical body, and his Innate Qi, they had all fused into one, a cultivation based upon his Vital Qi!

Consuming Vital Cores could help a body temperer to increase their Vital Energy, but it was of little use when training the physical body, and of no use when cultivating Innate Qi. As such, Yaan could not cultivate his Vital Qi indefinitely using Vital Cores, he would eventually hit a limit if he did not also cultivate with Slaughter Aura and elixirs.

But for now, this limit was not reached. He devoured tens of Vital Cores, including two 5-Star Realm Vital Cores, increasing his Vital Qi to 16%.

When Yaan initially formed his Vital Qi Core, it had around 4% progress towards the 5-Star Realm. After injuring his core, this progress regressed slightly, but Yaan recovered from this damage and grew it further. His absorption of the Slaughter Aura and his cultivation with the Heart Fire Elixir brought his progression up to 13%.

Consuming so many Vital Cores only provided a 3% improvement.

Whilst this rate of improvement actually wasn't bad at all, Yaan was stunned by how much his energy requirements had increased. He had devoured Slaughter Aura from two 5-Star Realm body temperers and tens of 4-Star Realm body temperers, not to mention thousands at the 3-Star Realm!

And yet, he had only improved by around 10%.

"Vital Qi Core Realm cultivation is Rank 4, but it provides me with Rank 5 battle strength, and likewise, my energy needs are similar to, if not greater than, a 5-Star Realm body temperer…" Yaan mused to himself.

After finishing his cultivation, Yaan emerged from the training hall and soon found the tribe leader. It was lucky that he ran into her whilst she was visiting her home, as she was quite busy these days…

Taking complete control over the Star Plain Province was quite the task. Just in terms of organising the various tribes and keeping everything under control, it was a heavy undertaking.

Indeed, after defeating the Grand Martial Tribe in an overwhelming victory, the Bloody Totem Tribe made an announcement to the other tribes in the Star Plain Province; submit, or die!

Naturally, this was Yaan's order.