Condemning the Heavens

"Senior, we are on our way to the center of the continent," Xue Wei answered with a slight smile on his face. Hei Gou was still alert; his body was straight like a rod, and his eyes kept darting from side to side.

What caused him to be this scared was the five old men in front of him. They were clearly much stronger than both he and Xue Wei, so strong that he was completely incapable of sensing the depth of their strength.

Since their strength was this immeasurable, it was clear the two of them would have been dead right now if it was what they wanted.

Xue Wei, on the other hand, was extremely relaxed. He had a feeling that these men would not do anything to him. Since that was the case, why be nervous?

The old man that was referred to as Elder Zhang had a good impression of Xue Wei in his heart. To think that a man like him had appeared was truly something that he was astonished by. This young man was carefree and casual in front of someone who could take his life with but a slap of their hands.

This required incredible willpower and determination. But it also required a certain amount of confidence and a daring personality.

In this regard, Xue Wei was already better than most of the experts in his tribe, as most of them would shiver in fear whenever they were close to him.

Even now, the young woman who was sitting next to Hei Gou looked at this elder Zhang with a reverent expression and slight fear in her eyes.

Xue Wei did not answer all of Elder Zhang’s questions, and he in fact only answered the one regarding their journey by elegantly and stealthily disregarding the rest of them.

"To think that you two young men are going to the center of the continent at such an age and with such a strength," he said with a nod of his head. “That is suicidal,” he added.

"Since you came from the Kingdom of Heping, you can be considered to be great geniuses. However, the moment you enter a larger stage, you will realize that you were in fact just frogs at the bottom of a well," he said sagely and nodded his head.

"You two must have started cultivating when you were ten years old. To reach the rank of a fifth layer Earth Warrior and a first layer Sky Warrior is indeed not a bad accomplishment at your ages, especially you, the Sky Warrior rank one," Elder Zhang praised, "but even in our tribe, we have a couple talents at your age with the same kind of strength."

"We are also considered a part of the barren land, the uneducated area with poor and underdeveloped martial arts, yet even here your accomplishments are considered ‘decent’ at most."

Hei Gou was a proud figure and he was no longer feeling scared, instead he was so upset that could no longer hold back.

"Old Geezer, we are not as simple as you think!" he exclaimed. However, before he had the chance to continue, Xue Wei gave him a firm, plain glance and smiled, which made Hei Gou instantly shut his mouth and sit back down.

Xue Wei’s gaze instantly brought him back to his senses, to the reality of things. Hei Gou could read from Xue Wei’s determined eyes a sort of resignation that told him his choice to act up and reveal their identities would be respected, but the weight of the latter’s gaze also seemed to ask if the former could shoulder the responsibility of doing that.

Hei Gou realized what it meant to take responsibility in this situation. It meant that the two of them would undoubtedly die, which instantly made him shut his mouth tight like a clam.

Elder Zhang was surprised. When he heard Hei Gou make such an outburst, he expected to sound out some of their secrets. But when Hei Gou was silenced with but a mere glance from Xue Wei, the elder started to understand the dynamic in this duo, realizing he had given Xue Wei less credit than deserved.

It was true that his strength was something easily squashed beneath the hand of the elder, but some humans had a destiny that could cause unexpected things to happen. If destiny willed it, even if he were to try and slap this kid to death, then it was likely that some extreme expert would descend and kill him.

Elder Zhang felt a chill when he realized what he was thinking about. Then he snorted at himself in contempt. He was an esteemed expert at the top of his food chain, an expert that had experienced many things, and now here he was, feeling a threat from Xue Wei, a simple Earth Warrior, who simply posed no threat to him in any imaginable way.

Waving his hand, Elder Zhang sought to dispel his embarrassment, but he made no mention of it. He was not the kind of petty man who would kill someone just to erase such embarrassing thoughts.

In fact, he looked favorably on Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Hei Gou reminded him of his long lost Little Lao, and Xue Wei was a rather interesting figure as well.

Although the others were more interested in Hei Gou than Xue Wei, this elderly expert was much more interested in Xue Wei. Although he was weaker, he seemed to have more secrets, which made the elder curious.

"The two of you will be shown to a tent where you will be staying temporarily while we figure out what to do with you. Make sure to visit Little Lao’s parents while you are here. Also don’t cause trouble and don’t try to leave the tribe grounds. Although you are not exactly held captive, you are not someone we can trust either.”

Xue Wei would not decide for Hei Gou, but the black dog had the feeling that Xue Wei sought to remain within this tribe for some time, so he nodded his head quickly, agreeing to the condition that the elder put forth.

"Little Tribe Chief, show them to a free tent, where they can reside for the duration of their stay. They are brothers, so it is only natural for them to live together. After they have settled in, lead them to Little Lao's parents so that this boy, Hei Gou, can meet them. I am sure they have already heard about this young man's arrival and are eagerly awaiting a chance to see him."

Having said this, Elder Zhang returned to the other elders and Xue Wei, Hei Gou, and the Little Tribe Chief rose to their feet and left the large tent in silence while accompanied by a retinue of four guards.

When they left, the other elders looked at Elder Zhang with curiosity. "We have never really had captives or guests in our Chaos Vulture Tribe before. I never thought you would gladly invite them to stay in our tribe, even go as far as to warn them not to leave. Are there any secrets"

"Secrets?" Elder Zhang laughed. "Those two have nothing but secrets, but these secrets are most likely best left untouched. I have a feeling that we will greatly benefit from being friendly with them in the future."

"Benefit?" one of the other Elders frowned. "You say that we will benefit, but you stated yourself earlier that, albeit outstanding in the scope of the Heping Kingdom, they are nothing to write home about when placed amongst the geniuses of the center of the continent. They have a long way to go in this case."

"I think that there is something we cannot see there. I have a hunch about these two young men," Elder Zhang said with a slight smile on his face. At this, the other elders, although seemingly unconvinced, decided to drop the subject.

Elder Zhang was the ultimate expert of the Chaos Vulture Tribe. In fact, he had even founded the tribe a long time ago.

Everyone within the Chaos Vulture Tribe knew that the strength of this elder had long since exceeded the Warrior ranks, but no one knew of the specifics.

If this Elder Zhang had made a decision, everyone within the sect would follow it unconditionally. Since he had decided to permit Xue Wei and Hei Gou to stay, the rest of the tribe was instantly in favor of the two young men.

As they left the tent, Xue Wei and Hei Gou looked at the woman by their side with puzzled and curious looks. "Little Tribe Chief?" Hei Gou was the first to ask, and his question caused the woman to grimace slightly.

"I am currently the Tribe Chief of the Chaos Vulture Tribe," she said with a heavy sigh. "I am the youngest Tribe Chief our tribe has ever had, and the only reason I am is because of my father wishing to pursue his martial arts in the center of the continent. So he irresponsibly left the position to me and went out traveling before we had the chance to stop him."

Hearing this, one of Xue Wei's eyebrows rose in surprise, while Hei Gou's jaw dropped. Both of them had never expected that this was the reason behind her being the Tribe Chief of the Chaos Vulture Tribe.

"But to become a Tribe Chief at such a young age is an achievement nonetheless," Xue Wei said after a bit of time. "If the elders had no faith in you, they would never have allowed you to assume the mantle of this position."

Hearing this, the face of the Little Tribe Chief, which had been filled with self-ridicule, suddenly relaxed slightly, and gratitude was visible within her eyes.

The Little Tribe Chief was a beauty. She had a face that could rival any other beauty Xue Wei had seen, and even Wang Xiaoyun was not superior in this aspect. Of course, when Xue Wei looked at this woman, the feeling he had was completely different from when he looked at Wang Xiaoyun, but he had to acknowledge her beauty.

The Little Tribe Chief had a blush on her face as she said no more and led the two brothers towards the outskirts of the city of tents.

"I apologize for making you stay this far out," she said after a bit of time and sighed deeply. "The only free tents are out here. We always set up around ten empty tents for when we have marriages, but they are always on the outskirts of our tribe as every family has to contribute with achievements towards the tribe to move further in."

Xue Wei and Hei Gou nodded their heads when they heard this; it made perfect sense to them.

They entered the tent and found that it was completely barren. The Little Tribe Chief was rather embarrassed when she saw this, and her pretty face flashed red, but Xue Wei and Hei Gou said nothing and just smiled at one another. This tent was also much hotter than the main tent housing the elders. But despite that, it didn’t matter much because the energy in the Flowing Blood Prairie was much more dense than what could be found in Heping Kingdom, which led the two of them to immediately take a seat on the ground in a meditative position, commencing with their cultivation without wasting a single second.

Seeing this, the Little Tribe Chief blinked with surprise. These two did not even care about the fact that they were sitting on the tent floor itself. They did not even complain about the immense heat that swirled out from the tent. And they did not even say anything about the fact that there was no beds or blankets, either.

"Two freaks!" she exclaimed in her heart, but she said nothing out loud. Instead, she shook her head and decided to leave. She had a feeling they would remain in that state for quite the amount of time, given the determination with which they entered meditation.

Since this was the case, the Little Tribe Chief decided to go and scour the tribe for extra furniture, blankets, and whatever these two newly arrived experts could need.

Thinking back to the praise she had gotten from Xue Wei earlier, her heart fluttered slightly and a look of determination appeared in her eyes. She would prove to everyone that she deserved her position as the Tribe Chief!