Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

”Reaching out to the space residents? Chief Xiong, you are playing with fire!”

Yan Zhengdong, chief of the Burning Sun Tribe, smashed the giant desk with a bam sound, leaving a clear indent of his fist in the black wood that was as solid as iron. He rose up suddenly and glared at Xiong Wuji.

The chief of the Giant Axe Tribe and that of the Feathered Snakes Tribe, as well as the elders of those tribes, all frowned.

Behind them were the young experts of the three tribes who had been invited to the meeting because of their excellent performance in the battle of the apocalypse.

The young warriors were not as courteous as those sitting at the front. Some of them, in fear of Xiong Wuji’s toughness, were merely whispering to each other in complaint. But the more irrational and disobedient guys were simply shouting.

”Xiong Wuji is mad!”

That was what happened in the meeting of the six tribes.

The motion that Xiong Wuji put forward to reach out to the space residents was lambasted by the Burning Sun Tribe as expected.

Even on Xiong Wuji’s side, not everyone in the Furious Bears Tribe, the Silver Moon Tribe, and the Heaven Wolves Tribe knew about the matter.

Some young qi-trainers gasped in shock, apparently hearing the bold idea for the first time. The crowd was humming, as if ten thousand mosquitoes were flying in the meeting room.

Li Yao made the greatest contribution in the battle of apocalypse only secondary to Xiong Wuji. Therefore, he was qualified to sit at the very front of the crowd. He could see one side of Xiong Wuji’s face clearly.

Xiong Wuji’s nerves seemed to be made of tempered steel. He had foreseen the strong objection and therefore was not in the least surprised.

Yan Zhengdong, chief of the Burning Sun Tribe, gnashed his teeth. ”Chief Xiong, the so-called communication and negotiation of yours mean leaking the secrets of Iron Plateau to the space residents. No way! There’s no way that the Burning Sun Tribe will approve of such a motion!”

Xiong Wuji said solemnly, ”History has proved that seclusion does not lead to good results! No techniques can be kept a secret forever. Only by communication, absorption, and evolution can our techniques become stronger and stronger!

”Of course, we won’t be offering our core techniques for nothing. We are going to trade them for the space residents’ techniques and resources! By then, if Chief Yan feels that a certain deal is inappropriate, you can always vote against it!”

Yan Zhengdong burst into laughter. ”That’s an interesting thought. But who can guarantee that the space residents have no other evil purposes? Chances are that they’ve been coveting Iron Plateau for a long time!”

Xiong Wuji replied seriously, ”All the more reason we should communicate with them. Only by talking with them can we know what is on the space residents’ mind and how advanced their Cultivation technology is! As the saying goes, you can never lose a battle if you know both yourself and your enemy. But right now, we don’t know the first thing about the space residents. If they are really malicious, we don’t even know how to resist them. That’s definitely not what we want!”

Yan Zhengdong’s face reddened, his veins bulging on his neck. He yelled, ”I don’t know anything about the space residents, but I know everything about the Iron Plateau natives! If the space residents dare to mess around on Iron Plateau, we will make them die without a grave!”

Xiong Wuji raised his voice, too. ”And exactly how are we going to make them die without a grave? We are all well aware of the state of the six tribes. All the resources have almost been drained to fight against the apocalyptic beasts!

”Just now, the Heaven Wolves Tribe and the Giant Axe Tribe were bickering for an entire hour over a mother lode of Purple Mist Stones with an annual production of only three thousand tons. Three thousand tons! That was among the tiniest mother lodes three hundred years ago. The elders of the two tribes in the past could’ve met and had a dinner with each other and figured the whole thing out. But right now, the fuss has to be addressed in the meeting of the six tribes! Why? Because we are running out of resources! The shallow resources on the top of the earth have almost been emptied!

”I know that many people object to communicating with space residents because you cannot let go of the betrayal five thousand years ago. But the dwindling resources are the most crucial problem at hand right now! If we don’t reach out to the space residents and we don’t purchase more resources, in a few decades, when everyone sitting here is old or dead, are you expecting the qi-trainers sitting behind you and me to kill the apocalyptic beasts with stone axes and wooden sticks?

”Chief Yan, if you are against my motion, why don’t you tell us what plans you have in mind to address the resource shortage?”

Yan Zhengdong chuckled and replied, ”Of course, I have my plans!

”Now that all the leadership of six tribes are gathered today, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce the ’Oasis Plan’!”

”Oasis Plan?”

Lively discussions dominated the room again. The qi-trainers on the Furious Bears Tribe’s side were looking at each other in bewilderment. There was confusion in everyone’s eyes.

The qi-trainers on the Burning Sun Tribe’s side, on the other hand, put on a mysterious smile, as if they were sure about their victory.

For the first time, surprise appeared on Xiong Wuji’s face. Obviously, he had never heard of the ’Oasis Plan’ before.

Li Yao sat straight and narrowed his eyes.

Yan Zhengdong cleared his throat and continued, ”It is well known that the territory of the six tribes of Iron Plateau is merely a small portion of all the land on our planet. Most of the land beyond our territory is known as the Dark Continent, which was the first to take a strike from the apocalypse!

”The Dark Continent is dominated by demon beasts and savages. The eggs of apocalypse break out at a much higher frequency than those in our territory do. However, the longevity of the apocalyptic beasts is usually very short. Several days, tops. That’s why we are never affected by them.

”Over the past thousand years, countless expedition teams have been sent to the Dark Continent, and none of them have reported any traces of intelligent creatures. In the recent few hundred years, due to lack of resources, we abandoned the exploration of the Dark Continent once and for all.

”However, one year ago, the Burning Sun Tribe received a signal from the Dark Continent!”

”What?!”

This time, even Xiong Wuji’s face changed color.

The qi-trainers of the three tribes sitting behind them were in a riot, too.

Watching everybody’s reaction coldly, Yan Zhengdong was very satisfied. ”The Burning Sun Tribe organized a new exploration team and traced the origin of the signal deep into the Dark Continent. Finally, we found a brand-new tribe in a valley!”

Xiong Wuji was dumbfounded. The whispers behind him grew even louder. Many people stood up involuntarily in shock.

Li Yao, on the other hand, furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

Yan Zhengdong went on. ”This particular tribe called themselves the ’Oasis Tribe’. Their predecessors had struggled for thousands of years in the Dark Continent, a much harsher environment than ours. A lot of their heritage was lost. Their development level was hundreds of years behind ours. Except for a few techniques and magical equipment, they were basically a real tribe of primitives.

”However, we discovered mother lodes with abundant reserves in the territory of the Oasis Tribe. Since they had never been exploited on a large scale, the resources inside were enough for our usage for the next few hundred years until we pass the difficult times and develop our own excavation technology to retrieve the deeply buried resources!

”Also, according to our interaction with the local residents of the Oasis Tribe, they were all nomads with no fixed homes, and they have found minerals that were exposed to the air in dozens of areas where they had briefly stayed. It is very likely that more resources are waiting to be unearthed by us!

”All in all, the Oasis Tribe will be our best guide in the Dark Continent. With their direction, I’m certain that we will exploit all the resources on the Dark Continent.

”Therefore, the Burning Sun Tribe, together with the Giant Axe Tribe and the Feathered Snakes Tribe, has drafted the Oasis Plan!

”We are hoping to send large-scale teams to the Oasis Tribe and help it settle in the Dark Continent. Then, with the Oasis Tribe as the base, we will exploit the resources on the Dark Continent as best we can!

”This is our solution to our shortage of resources. What’s your opinion, Chief Xiong?”

Xiong Wuji was dazed for a long while, before he opened his mouth. ”The Dark Continent is a complicated place. We must discuss the details more carefully before we make any decisions.”

Yan Zhengdong smiled. ”That will be unnecessary. Before the battle of the apocalypse, the three tribes here formed the first expedition team and sent it to the Oasis Tribe.”

”What?!”

Xiong Wuji was outraged. He rose up suddenly and said solemnly, ”Chief Yan, that was a big decision. Why did you not wait until the meeting of the six tribes so that everyone could discuss it together?”

Yan Zhengdong sneered. ”Is there anybody here who doesn’t know that Chief Xiong has been spellbound by a girl from space and wants to reach out to the space residents?

”The secret agreements that the three tribes to the west made under the table were never left to the discretion of the three tribes in the east, were they?

”Right now, what’s done is done. The first expedition team has gone deep into the Dark Continent, and it’s impossible to recall them!”

The buzz in the room was louder than ever. The elders of the Furious Bears Tribe, the Silver Moon Tribe, and the Heaven Wolves Tribes were all frowning hard, deep in thought.

Xiong Wuji tried to hold back his anger and said, ”I still feel that something is not right! Our ancestors searched the Dark Continent for thousands of years without finding any traces of civilization, and a tribe has shown up out of nowhere at this moment?”

”Chief Xiong—”

A coarse voice came from Yan Zhengdong’s back. ”I was in full charge of the Oasis Plan, and I was in the first expedition team to witness the existence of the Oasis Tribe and the mother lodes around. They are 100% true. I swear with my life.”

”Master Yan!”

Xiong Wuji’s anger immediately dispersed. He bowed respectfully.

A hunched man slowly rose up from behind Yan Zhengdong. He was a white-haired old man as thin as skeleton. His legs had been cut off from the knees, and he was sitting on a special jet wheelchair that could spurt spiritual gas and push him around freely.

The old man seemed to enjoy a high prestige in all six tribes. His appearance silenced all the qi-trainers on the Furious Bears Tribe’s side.

Li Yao was greatly baffled. He slightly leaned back and asked Shi Meng, who was behind him, ”Who is this old man?”

Shi Meng’s face was full of admiration, as he replied in a low voice, ”He is Yan Xibei, Chief Yan Zhengdong’s elder brother, as well as the well-acknowledged best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau before Chief Xiong! He was also once an unparalleled expert in the 99th level of the Refinement stage!

”In a battle of the apocalypse thirty years ago, he resisted the collective attacks of dozens of dragon-level beasts and stalled a calamity-level beast for almost half a day entirely on his own. He almost reversed the outcome of the battle purely by himself! Therefore, although his capability plunged due to the heavy wounds in the battle, he is still revered in all six tribes!”

Li Yao frowned. ”Is it possible that he is lying?”