The news about the arrogance and aggressiveness of the Black Mountain Tribe spread throughout the entire Gu Yuan Tribe in no time. From elderly people in their twilight years to even the most annoying youngsters who would rather argue and fight than study, all were filled with indignation at the conditions proposed by the Black Mountain Tribe. Surprisingly, some members of the tribe even felt that sacrificing a few people for the safety of the entire tribe is acceptable.
However, Xiao Chen, the leader of the tribe, did not voice his opinion on the matter. Therefore, everyone could only speculate in private about his possible stance.
The threat posed by the Black Mountain Tribe also instilled a sense of crisis in the Gu Yuan Tribe. Even the idle and complacent young people of the tribe started to put in more effort. Unexpectedly, and to his own surprise, Xiao Chen found that the majority of the tribe has come together in the face of adversity.
"It seems I must prepare a substantial gift to express my gratitude to the Black Mountain Tribe," Xiao Chen saying this, though he did not feel at all grateful. He was pleased to see the entire tribe united under a common cause, as it meant that he could focus all his efforts on handling the external threat. "What kind of world is this anyway?... The world is so unpredictable." He mumbled these seemingly irrelevant words to himself as he gazed at his empty stone house, with a bronze ancient seal of fist size appearing unknowingly in his hand.
Xiao Chen has a secret, a secret only he knows. He is not a native of this world - he comes from a blue planet called Earth.
To be precise, Xiao Chen was a respected Archaeology Professor in Huaxia Country who had an exceptional fascination with ancient relics. He often disappeared for days exploring various ancient ruins, to an extent where people joked about his obsession bordering on insanity. Therefore, despite being 33, he was still single.
Previously, while participating in the excavation of an ancient tomb, he stumbled upon an enigmatic underground palace. It wasn't the countless burial objects that puzzled him but the strange layout of the interior.
All it had was a single altar carrying a rusty old Bronze Ancient Seal. The walls were adorned with lifelike murals depicting things like long-distance wind riding, immortal banquets, and even ascensions. Looking at these mysterious scenes, the explorers including Xiao Chen were rather taken aback, wondering if gods and immortals really existed.
Coming across such bizarre scenes even caused Xiao Chen, a knowledgeable and experienced professor, to hesitate. He believed that like most people, practitioners of ancient times who sought immortality pursued the Great Dao in seclusion. Now, these ancient stories suddenly became real in front of everyone's eyes, causing quite a confusion.
The hesitation of others did not deter Xiao Chen's thirst for knowledge. Being a brave man, he was the first to approach the altar and reach out to touch the Bronze Ancient Seal.
Just as Xiao Chen's hand touched the seal, an unexpected twist took place!
The seemingly calm tomb started shaking violently, like an earthquake. Seeing this, the crew immediately rushed outside.
Xiao Chen also ran for the exit, but to his surprise, found himself frozen in place. The ancient seal emanated an irresistible pull. A devout atheist until then, he was suddenly terrified.
At that moment, a beam of divine light shot out from the altar and struck Xiao Chen. An intense light filled the tomb as if gods were descending to the world.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the altar blew up. Xiao Chen instantly lost consciousness, leaving the rest of the experts who had managed to escape, looking at the big pit in astonishment.
At the moment Xiao Chen lost consciousness, the ancient seal, along with his soul, turned into a green light, tearing open a spatial rift and disappeared, finally landing on this continent. Xiao Chen woke up in the body of the young Chief of the Gu Yuan Tribe who had died during an attack. By coincidence, the young Chief was also named Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen's first impression of this world was that it was raw and desolate. The atmosphere carried an ancient and weather-beaten aura, as if he arrived at the world's dawn.
This world was called the Wasteland Continent, a vast land teeming with myriad races, stricken by natural and manmade disasters. The humans striving for survival formed tribes and fortified their settlements against outsiders, gradually diversifying into various tribes.
In half a year after being reborn, Xiao Chen gradually settled into the life of the Gu Yuan Tribe, adjusting to his role as the tribal leader. Moreover, he understood the existence that brought him into this world: the true culprit. This Bronze Ancient Seal gave him the courage to face the threats from the Black Mountain Tribe.
This antique seal, known as the Mountain River Seal, to be precise, is a treasure passed down from antiquity. It originated from Huaxia's ancient myths and was left by powerful cultivators of that era, being used as the carrier to pass down their legacy.
As for how it appeared in that unknown ancient grave, Xiao Chen hadn't a clue. But, he had no doubts about the wonder of the Mountain River Seal. After all, if it could perform such a bizarre and fantastical act like transporting him across worlds, could its legacy be a false one?
After days of exploration, Xiao Chen had started uncovering the secrets of the Mountain River Seal, this divine treasure. In general, it cannot immediately grant him an extremely high level of cultivation. Instead, it's a kind of auxiliary treasure from a peerless expert called the Medicine Daoist, who traveled through thousands of rivers and mountains, collecting countless treasures to refine this Cave Heaven legacy treasure. It has its own space for cultivating spirit medicines and keeping exotic beasts, and the Medicine Daoist's proud lifetime achievement in alchemy is also integrated into the Mountain River Seal.
After understanding the function of the Mountain River Seal, Xiao Chen was relieved and delighted. As those main characters in the novels did, he tried to enter the Cave Heaven by chanting silently three times consecutively but remained on the spot. Quite a false alarm! His expression was comical, but luckily no tribesperson saw it. Otherwise, they might have thought their new chief had gone mad.
Oblivious to failure, Xiao Chen attempted dozens more times - standing up, lying down, and prostrating - but to no avail. He was left staring helplessly at the ancient seal in his palm.
Perhaps taking pity on Xiao Chen's efforts, the ancient seal transformed into a beam of light and disappeared onto his right arm, forming a lifelike tattoo.
Meanwhile, a chunk of information suddenly appeared in his mind. According to the new information, a catastrophic blow had damaged the internal space of the ancient seal. It would only reopen after numerous precious treasures repaired it, though it didn't specify what kind of treasures it needed. The information, it seemed, wasn't timely enough.
Xiao Chen's endeavors weren't in vain. Though he could not enter the Cave Heaven, the Mountain River Seal is more than just a storage tool — it also carries the legacy of the Alchemy Path of the 'Medicine Daoist.' Along with this information was also an easy bone-tempering alchemical recipe.
This recipe would be his trump card against the tribal crisis!
What excited Xiao Chen even more was his discovery after observation and hints that the world he was in now, though martial arts-oriented, was very primitive in other aspects. It was much like the ancient slave society of Huaxia where people made a living by hunting. They understood little about the medical arts, and warriors often wasted the medicinal value of herbs by using them without proper preparation. Many medicinal herbs which would be extravagant on Earth could be found rather easily here. The sight of tribal warriors cooking ginseng like turnips boiled Xiao Chen's blood as if it was an atrocious waste.
Of course, these conclusions were the results of his observations of the Gu Yuan Tribe. Gu Yuan, after all, was a weak tribe. The strongest among them was merely at the Blood Refining Realm; they occupied a remote part of the continent.
Moreover, the Gu Yuan Tribe occupied a barren Eastern Wasteland that spanned hundreds of thousands of miles. The level of martial arts there was relatively low, as were the ranks of various secondary professions serving martial arts. However, the continent is vast. Perhaps, in places where martial arts thrived, there would be grandmaster-level figures.
However, all this was distant for the current Xiao Chen. His primary concern was resolving the imminent crisis within the tribe.
When he told Tribe Elder Gu Lin in the Great Hall that he was about to breakthrough from the Bone-Tempering Realm to the Blood Refining Realm, he wasn't speaking rashly.
Half a year ago, his predecessor was severely injured while in a bitter fight against an unidentified attacker. His predecessor's cultivation had a breakthrough in the midst of crisis. Although his previous-self succumbed to his injuries, it only served to provide Xiao with an unexpected advantage. Coupled with the medicinal baths he took in accordance with the prescription over the past few months, his strength had risen substantially, and a breakthrough was within reach.
Even so, based on the conventions of this world, anyone, under abundant resources, would need at least half a year to thoroughly open up a Heavenly Meridian. Who could blame Xiao Chen for not being a native of this world?
Time will justify that anything is possible.
[The Chief has released a new book. Those who are uninterested in the old book are recommended to check out the new one, "Rise of Humanity." It combines various flaws of the old book and paints a distinct fantasy world in the new one.]