Chapter 450

A day later, as Fang Yuan expected, Ge tribe leader announces that he will migrate the whole tribe to the heroes assembly to fight for a place in the imperial court. Seeing he means to use Chang Shan Yin once more to escape Man tribe’s control, Fang Yuan agrees at once, as travelling with Ge tribe lowers his risk. He urges leaving quickly, warning that Man tribe will notice the moment they move. He will not make the promised visit to Man tribe, and writes a letter saying that his cultivation is returning and he has gone into closed cultivation. Once Ge tribe leaves, Man tribe might hold him captive to deal with Ge tribe separately. The leader looks at him deeply, bows, and admits he was muddleheaded. ^{ch. 450}

The leader promises the letter will definitely be sent and has the elders prepare the migration. In the study, he opens it with Ge Guang. He says it was intentionally not sent by letter Gu, so that Ge tribe can read Chang Shan Yin’s intent to cooperate on the journey. The letter regrets the missed visit and promises to definitely make up for it. It asks to buy bone bamboo Gu from Man tribe at one hundred twenty percent of market price, plus Gu refinement materials and Gu worms such as third watch Gu. Ge Guang suggests Ge tribe supply them, but his father’s eyes shine and a chill rises in his heart. ^{ch. 450}

The hidden contest cost Ge tribe an elder who died after Man Duo challenged him, Ge Yao dead in poison grassland, and many Gu Masters eaten by wolves. Neither tribe won, but Chang Shan Yin benefited completely. He left poison grassland empty handed and now holds over a million primeval stones and the rank five hints and clues Gu. The leader realizes that Ge tribe used Chang Shan Yin, but Chang Shan Yin used Ge tribe in turn, gaining from both tribes because neither wants to offend him. ^{ch. 450}

He tells Ge Guang not to prepare the goods, since Man tribe will send them, perhaps free. A few hundred primeval stones are merely nothing to Man tribe, and an expert’s friendship is a good deal. The leader sighs deeply: the letter tells Man tribe that Chang Shan Yin is no enemy despite staying with Ge tribe, and a gift would mean Man tribe accepts his friendship. A chilling thought follows: Chang Shan Yin may side with Ge tribe not from righteousness but for the greatest benefit. The leader rejects it as measuring great men by the yardstick of small men. ^{ch. 450}

Three days later, Man tribe leader Man Tu and his son Man Duo watch Ge tribe leave south. Man Tu gave Chang Shan Yin the goods from the letter free, and Man Duo, understanding that much, asks why he also gave Ge tribe a thousand and five hundred tonnes of provisions. At Man Tu’s word, Man Hao explains that wolf lure Gu sit in the provisions, and tribesmen wait ahead with three myriad wolf groups in ambush. When Ge tribe cannot resist, Man tribe will rescue and assimilate it, and the gift of provisions will silence any later suspicion. Man Hao sighs that Ge tribe’s great losses would shrink Man tribe’s gains. ^{ch. 450}

Man Duo worries that Chang Shan Yin, hailed as the Wolf King, can stop the wolves. Man Tu frowns. Man tribe, bound by the righteous path, had time to gather only three myriad wolf groups. If Ge tribe survives, Man tribe can only watch it leave, but if Ge tribe suffers great losses, Man tribe gains an excuse to send reinforcements. ^{ch. 450}

Man Hao answers with disdain that the Wolf King fame is over twenty years old. He claims Chang Shan Yin’s cultivation is only rank four initial stage, and that a secret check at an earlier banquet found his soul dropped from thousand man soul to hundred man soul. He sneers that the weak, barely surviving Old Wolf King has only a thousand each of wind wolves, poison beard wolves and water wolves against three ten thousand wolf groups, so Man tribe can prepare to devour Ge tribe. Man Duo replies only that he hopes so. ^{ch. 450}