Chapter 991: The Fish Has Taken The Bait

The white-robed human man vanished into the sky, blood trailing behind him as he turned and fled. The ancient Ruò Iron powerhouse did not give chase. It was clear that he had spent a lot of energy as well.

Moreover, he seemed somewhat disoriented, uncertain of the realm he now stood in, and confused by all that had just transpired. His gaze landed on Tie Ruo and the other surviving tribesmen. There was puzzlement in his eyes, but Tie Ruo and his clansmen were nearly overwhelmed with excitement.

"Senior!" Tie Ruo hurried forward and bowed respectfully. He said, "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior. This junior—"

"%...￥#" The ancient Ruò Iron powerhouse opened his mouth and uttered a string of obscure syllables.

Tie Ruo was momentarily stunned. Then he realized this was the ancestral tongue of the Ruò Iron Tribe, spoken in ancient times. After countless years of evolution and transformation, especially under the influence of the Ancestor of Wisdom, most Reaper King-ranked clans had adopted a common language. The old tribal tongues had nearly been lost to time.

However, as a Three Pearl King-ranked Reaper, Tie Ruo had studied the old tongue. Though not fluent, he could still manage a basic conversation. He quickly responded in the ancient language.

"You are... the descendant of the branch once led by our ancestral chief?" The ancient Ruò Iron powerhouse’s expression grew even more confused. "That’s right. You indeed carry the bloodline of our tribe. But why... why have your appearances changed? I cannot sense any Vital Qi energy within you."

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Tie Ruo was at a loss for how to explain it all.

He could only offer that simple explanation. "Senior, many years have passed. We’ve taken on a new path of evolution."

"A new path of evolution?" The ancient Ruò Iron warrior spoke hesitantly. "You abandoned the way of Vital Qi cultivation? You betrayed the path of our ancestors?"

"Senior..." Tie Ruo tried to clarify. But the ancient tribesman raised a hand and cut him off.

"I want to know everything that has happened." His tone was firm as he said, "Tell me everything that occurred after you left the Temple. Or... never mind, just give me a history book."

Tie Ruo dared not defy him. He immediately ordered someone to fetch one. At the same time, he said, "Senior, why don’t you come with us to the port first? We can explain everything in detail on the way."

The ancient Ruò Iron powerhouse gave a nod of agreement. Not long after, news of the devastating failure of the Fifth Extermination Campaign spread like wildfire across the Ancestor Court galaxy.

Countless Reapers were left stunned. After all, this Fifth Extermination Campaign had been launched with overwhelming momentum. More than a hundred King-ranked clans had joined the expedition, over twenty of which had dispatched their own King-ranked expert. The forces deployed were also comprised entirely of elite combat units—totaling over a hundred million troops.

Before the war began, Huokduo, the Supreme Commander, had declared confidently that he would bring the conflict to an end in one fell swoop, completely wiping out the human resistance and reducing them to mere dust in the stars.

In the end, it was the human resistance that had suffered negligible losses, while Huokduo himself became the first to be reduced to stardust. Such a result sent shockwaves through the entire Reaper world.

Many high-ranking and powerful Reapers were finally forced to reflect. At last, they began to take the human resistance seriously. No longer did they treat the resistance as a trivial rash to be scratched away.

Instead, they came to the grim realization that humanity might truly be on the verge of threatening the Reapers’ absolute dominion over the Ancestor Court galaxy. In contrast, many human slaves were filled with a secret sense of hope upon hearing the news. Though they dared not express it openly, they rejoiced in silence.

They began to dream of the day the resistance would arrive on their planet or at their port to rescue them from the cruel grip of the Reapers.

Of course, not all humans shared this sentiment. Some stepped forward on various public platforms, openly denouncing the resistance and calling them a cancer within the human race. They labeled the rebellion against their Reaper masters as a grave betrayal and condemned it in the strongest terms.

The entire Ancestor Court galaxy now simmered with an impending storm due to the outcome of this war. Naturally, some top-secret information was also being circulated privately among the highest echelons of power.

***

Ten days later, at Port Seven, inside the First Pavilion Restaurant.

The current Grand Elder of the Ruò Iron Tribe, Tie Shi, along with four other tribal elders, gathered around Three Pearl King-ranked Reaper Tie Ruo to question him in detail about everything concerning the ancient tribesman who had recently appeared.

To be frank, when this information first reached the tribe, even the current Patriarch and many other high-ranking officials found it almost impossible to believe. It had been widely accepted for thousands of years that the branch of the tribe led by the High Priest who stayed behind had been completely wiped out in the evolutionary disaster by the beasts of Oblivion. The Ruò Iron Tribe was not alone in this assumption either.

Thousands of other King-ranked clans had endured similar fates. Those clans’ members who had remained in the Evolution Temple had all been confirmed as utterly extinct. For millennia, not a single ancient Reaper had ever emerged alive from the Evolution Temple. Not once!

So when news suddenly surfaced that an ancient powerhouse of their tribe had survived, the first reaction among the Ruò Iron Tribe’s leadership was suspicion. Could this be some kind of elaborate ruse?

But when all available information about the ancient tribesman, including footage, behavioral analysis, and other data, was sent back to the clan, and after the tribe's historical experts conducted sleepless, exhaustive research, the final conclusion left everyone dumbfounded.

It was real. At least based on language, demeanor, habits, cultivation aura, and physical characteristics, there was not a single flaw in the ancient tribesman’s identity. And so, Grand Elder Tie Shi and the council of elders had come in person to make the final confirmation.

This matter was of immense significance for the Ruò Iron Tribe. After thousands of years, if one of their own had truly emerged alive from the Evolution Temple, it might herald an extraordinary evolutionary opportunity.

"Elders, I’ve already said everything that needed to be said," Tie Ruo spoke solemnly. "As for whether this senior is truly one of our own, you may judge for yourselves. In my eyes, he is undoubtedly a predecessor of our tribe, there’s no way he could be an imposter or a fraud."

"What of his identity..." Grand Elder Tie Shi asked.

Tie Ruo replied, "We’ve yet to confirm his exact identity from his own mouth, but one thing is certain, his rank and status must be very high."

"Very well. Then let us go meet him together," Tie Shi said with a nod.

Tie Ruo added cautiously, "I must remind you all to watch your tempers. This senior is extremely displeased with the current state of our tribe. He believes the path we’ve taken has betrayed the will of our ancestral founders."

Those words made Tie Shi and the other elders shiver inwardly. Strictly speaking, such a reproach was not unjustified. Their escape from the Evolution Temple had been out of necessity at the time, but in the years that followed, the Ruò Iron Tribe had indeed abandoned the path of Vital Qi cultivation. In both their lifestyle and evolutionary choices, they had completely rejected the tenets once upheld by their ancestors.

That... amounted to betrayal. Since every tribe had done the same, no one had questioned it at the time. But now that an ancient predecessor had suddenly appeared and voiced such a rebuke, the implications were grave.

"We can only do our best to reason with him," Tie Shi said heavily.

After a brief discussion, the council of elders, all anxious and uneasy, made their way to the private guest chamber to pay their respects.

At that very moment, Li Xiaofei slowly opened his eyes in the private suite. He muttered, "The fish has taken the bait."