The Glory of the Tribe

"To spar?" Jiang Xuan raised an eyebrow. "You want to challenge me?"
"Yes! To spar! I challenge you!" Chen Yuanzhou's tone became arrogant, deliberately provoking, "Clan Leader Jiang, you wouldn’t be afraid, would you?" This was a routine he had perfected over the years—provocation was key!
"It’s not that I’m afraid."

Jiang Xuan frowned slightly. He didn’t like Chen Yuanzhou’s attitude. "But I have two conditions."
"Go ahead," Chen Yuanzhou immediately replied.
"First, it has to be at least three days from now. I can’t afford any mistakes in the life-and-death match over these next three days," Jiang Xuan said.

"That’s fine. Three days is no problem," Chen Yuanzhou agreed.
"Second..."
Jiang Xuan looked at him. "You need to bring someone from your family who has authority to Heitan Mountain. We’ll invite Lord Lei Hong to act as a witness. The four of us—me, you, your family’s elder, and Lord Lei Hong—will sign a death contract, making it clear that while we can spar, the battle will not be about life or death!"

As soon as Jiang Xuan finished speaking, even Lei Hong’s expression changed slightly.
Chen Yuanxuan’s eyes narrowed sharply as she looked at Jiang Xuan.
What does this mean?

You want to kill my brother?
"You want to fight a life-and-death match with me?" Chen Yuanzhou’s eyes became sharp. "Do you really think you can kill me?"
"It’s just a spar."

Jiang Xuan replied calmly, "But I need to clarify something. My cultivation is only at the late innate stage. Even my Chasing Wind Blade can’t fully unleash its power. I still can’t fully control my trump card technique; I can’t yet use it at will. In a crucial moment, if I don’t hold back, it’s possible that I could accidentally kill. So simply agreeing to it isn’t enough. You must have your family’s elder come and sign the death contract, just in case there are any complications later."
In the tribal lands of Heitan Mountain, a man could never show any signs of weakness!
Especially for a clan leader.

Therefore, Jiang Xuan wouldn’t refuse Chen Yuanzhou’s challenge, but he needed to consider the possibility that if Chen Yuanzhou died, would the Chen family come after his tribe for trouble? That was why he insisted on having the death contract signed in the presence of an official witness.
To Chen Yuanzhou, however, this sounded different.
"You mean... you’re worried... that you might accidentally kill me?" Chen Yuanzhou almost spat out the words, his face darkening. This was too arrogant!
"Yes, that’s exactly what I mean," Jiang Xuan nodded.

It really was that arrogant!
"Good! Good! Good!" Chen Yuanzhou laughed, almost laughing out of anger. "Clan Leader Jiang, it’s settled then! I’ll send someone back to Feixue City immediately to bring an elder who has authority!"
When Jiang Xuan stepped onto the platform for the second time, Chen Yuanxuan and her brother didn’t watch the fight. The Shentu clan had only sent one warrior at the mid-innate stage to die, so there was no need to watch.

The siblings returned to their residence.
"Yuanzhou, Jiang Xuan killed the Ge brothers, do you really want to fight him?" Chen Yuanxuan stopped her brother and asked.
"Sister."

Chen Yuanzhou turned to look at her, with a tone that seemed to see right through her. "Don’t say you didn’t see it. That kid is just bluffing. The fact that he killed the Ge brothers must have some trick behind it."
"What do you see?" Chen Yuanxuan asked calmly.
"He couldn’t possibly have the strength to kill the Ge brothers, but he came back with their heads and weapons. I didn’t understand at first, but when he refused to explain his trump card technique to Lord Lei Hong, I understood!"

"Understood what?"
"I understood that he doesn’t have a stronger trump card technique!"
Chen Yuanzhou continued, "I suspect that when the Ge brothers were chasing him, they ran into some kind of accident, like disturbing a powerful demon beast... Even their master, Lü Kong, was hunted by a red snake, let alone those three brothers. Any number of demon beasts in Heitan Mountain could have injured or killed them."

"You’re saying the Ge brothers were wounded by a demon beast, and Jiang Xuan took advantage of that?" Chen Yuanxuan asked.
"That’s the only reasonable explanation."
Chen Yuanzhou went on, "Of course, I won’t falsely accuse him. The first thing is that he won’t admit how he killed the Ge brothers. The second thing is, he himself said that he lured the Ge brothers near a demon beast clan before striking!"

"Third..."
"He talks about fearing that he might accidentally kill me... I think he knows the rules of big families and figured out that our family would never send an elder to sign the death contract, so he came up with such a poor excuse. This way, he can appear powerful and mysterious, and I can’t easily expose him."
In big families, it was forbidden for descendants to engage in private life-and-death duels. It was foolish.

If a genius were to die in such a duel, it would be stupid beyond belief and would become a laughingstock.
"I can actually understand him."
Chen Yuanzhou opened his folding fan. "He’s only sixteen, yet he has to bear the weight of his tribe alone, struggling to move upstream. He needs to become a hero, to gain more fame, to be respected by all sides. So, he dares to take all the credit for killing the Ge brothers. Though greedy and reckless, it’s understandable for the sake of his tribe."

"What are you planning to do?" Chen Yuanxuan asked.
"I’m going to defeat him!" Chen Yuanzhou’s eyes burned with intense battle spirit. "The trick behind his killing of the Ge brothers will be obvious to those with sharp eyes in the big families. But the rest of the world will only hear about 'Jiang Xuan, the first innate warrior of Heitan Mountain, killing the Ge brothers'! They won’t see through the truth; they’ll just cheer him on, making Jiang Xuan into a legend!"
"In a few days, Feixue City, all the hundred cities under its jurisdiction, and the surrounding regions—Heitan Mountain, the River Valley, the Crimson Grasslands, the Silver Dragon Mouth, even the military city—will all be in uproar over the death of the Ge brothers! The sixteen-year-old tribal boy who killed them will become a legend!"

"At that time, I will defeat him!"
Chen Yuanzhou gazed intently at his sister. "Sister! Our life-and-death duel will be the focus of everyone’s attention! Once I defeat him, I will become Feixue City’s number one genius! No one will question it! Shen Taiping will have no more chance! This will be my most glorious moment before I reach the Calamity Realm!"
Chen Yuanxuan could feel the fire burning in her brother’s heart.

But for some reason, she didn’t want her brother to fight Jiang Xuan. Though it was just a spar, a spar with a death contract was different—it would make him discard any hesitation.
He would do anything to win!
"Are you sure Jiang Xuan doesn’t have a trump card technique?" Chen Yuanxuan asked her brother.

"Impossible." Chen Yuanzhou replied firmly. "Sister, think about it—what kind of technique could allow someone at the late innate stage to kill the Ge brothers? You, with your divine and demonic beauty, even though your cultivation was damaged, your swordsmanship talent wasn’t. Could you have killed the Ge brothers when you were at the late innate stage?"
"No," Chen Yuanxuan answered directly.
She couldn’t have.

Even now, if she faced the Ge brothers, she would only have a fifty-fifty chance.
"If you couldn’t, then how could he?" Chen Yuanzhou pressed.
"Hmm…" Chen Yuanxuan hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "There’s no way."

Even if she used a high-cost forbidden technique, it wouldn’t be possible.
"So, there’s no way he really has such a trump card."
Chen Yuanzhou was eager. "I’m going to send someone… No! Sending someone won’t do! I’ll personally return to Feixue City and beg an elder to come! Elder Liu is the one who spoils me the most, I’m sure it’ll work… Sister, just wait for me here. I’ll be back in three days, no more than that!"

With that, Chen Yuanzhou hurriedly went to his room to pack.
Half an hour later.
Chen Yuanzhou left the earth city, taking ten guards with him.

In the afternoon, before dusk.
As the women of the Jiang clan cheered, Jiang Xuan stepped down from the platform. Another Shentu clan man’s body lay on the stage. With ten battles completed today, tomorrow and the day after’s life-and-death matches would be a no-brainer, and the whole Jiang clan was immersed in a festive atmosphere.
By dusk, the women began preparing a lavish feast.

Jiang Xuan, on the other hand, went to take a bath.
"Ah, this feels great…" Jiang Xuan lay back in the steaming bath and exhaled deeply.
Whoosh!

The wind blew through the window, and a shadowy figure appeared in the corner of the room, holding a sword and staring coldly at Jiang Xuan.
Like an immortal, as cold as a frozen pond.
"I’m taking a bath," Jiang Xuan opened his eyes helplessly, looking at Chen Yuanxuan.

"We need to talk," Chen Yuanxuan said expressionlessly. "There’s no one around now, so it’s the perfect time."
"Let’s talk then. What about?" Jiang Xuan gave her a smile, then suddenly stood up from the bath.