True Martial World

In a blink of an eye, a few days had passed. While Yi Yun and company were on their way, the people in the Lian tribal clan were having it rough. The Lian tribal clan was really poor now.     

Even the ruling class of the Lian tribal clan like the tribal elders had almost no more rice in their houses.     

Over the past few years, Lian Chengyu had emptied out the Lian tribal clan. Especially in the last few months, he had gone even further. Currently, the Lian tribal clan had slaughtered all of their livestock and used up all of their grains.     

But, even as the entire village was starving, they still had hope.     

They were eagerly waiting, waiting for Lian Chengyu's return. They were hoping that he would bring them the good news that would excite them.     

At that moment, in the few pieces of farmland the Lian tribal clan had, a few men were doing farm work. Without the cattle, farm work became extra hard. And beneath the trees, women were making arrows. These days, the arrows and armors produced by the Lian tribal clan would only be bought by the Tao tribal clan.     

And the Tao tribal clan was not that close to the Lian tribal clan, so if the Tao tribal clan did not come to collect it, they had no way of taking the initiative to exchange their products for food.     

It was late in the morning when the people of the Lian tribal clan were preparing to eat breakfast. As they were already hungry, eating a bowl of rice porridge with rice grains that could be counted on one's fingers was insufficient.     

Now, the members of the warrior preparation camp were not given preferential treatment. They only ate two meals a day like the commoners.     

A few members of the warrior preparation camp that stood guard in the mountains came down to eat. A new shift went up the mountain to replace them.     

Why were they standing guard on the mountain? The main reason was that the Lian tribal clan's elders estimated that the results of the kingdom's selection would arrive one of these days.     

So every day in the morning, the elders would send men to the mountain pass to watch. They wanted to know when the tribe's hope, Lian Chengyu, would bring back their tribe's warriors. That he would now be an official member of the Dragon Vanguard, having a triumphant homecoming.     

Under extreme hardship, they needed news to excite the hearts of people.     

They had been waiting for days, but not a single shadow appeared from the vast wilderness.     

Today, just as the members of the warrior preparation camp changed shifts, Zhang Dali was suddenly surprised. His eyes looked into the distance. "You guys look… what's that…"     

Zhang Dali pointed into the distance. People started looking and what they saw was amazing.     

In the distant horizon, a dust cloud had been swept up. Seeing closely, they could see huge behemoths running amongst those dust clouds!     

They had seen those beasts before. They were the Dragon Vanguard mounts!     

"Young Master Lian… could it be that Young Master Lian is back!?" a man said with uncertainty.     

"It has to be. Looking at the direction those beasts are heading, they are coming right at our Lian tribal clan. It can't be wrong!" Zhang Dali slapped his thighs. His face was filled with excitement!     

Back when Lian Chengyu led the elite members of the Lian tribal clan away, they had sat on such behemoths. It was the Dragon Vanguard who had sent someone to bring them.     

Now seeing those beasts, it was highly likely that Young Master Lian was back!     

And looking at the scale, it was much more massive than back then, there were at least… six behemoths!     

"How could there be so many?" a man said puzzledly.     

When they left, there was only one behemoth, yet they returned with six behemoths? Why was there such a difference?     

Zhang Dali thought about it and realized the reason. He proudly said, "How is this difficult to understand? Originally, Young Master Lian was an ordinary candidate, so there was no special treatment. But now, Young Master Lian must have shined in the kingdom's selection and he has become an official member of the Dragon Vanguard. He is now greatly appreciated, so Young Master Lian is coming back on a greater scale! How can we compare Young Master Lian with others!?"     

What Zhang Dali said enlightened the others!     

"Brother Zhang is the clever one. He understood it immediately!"     

"That's for sure. Brother Zhang can write and is different from us brutes." Another small-sized man sucked up. Zhang Dali could write. He could write his name, the main reason being… his name had fewer strokes.     

"Let's go! Let's report the good news!" Zhang Dali waved his hand and the group of men ran towards the village happily.     

They were originally very hungry, but with Lian Chengyu back, they were no longer hungry and ran with great haste!     

At that moment, back in the Lian tribal clan's Patriarch's courtyard, the Patriarch was smoking using a pipe. Actually, this pipe no longer had any more tobacco. In the vast wilderness, tobacco was expensive and the Patriarch had almost finished smoking his stash. So for the past few days, he had been using a tiny bit of tobacco, and with a few puffs, it would be gone.     

Even if it ran out, the Patriarch carried on smoking. It seemed like it had turned into a habit.     

"Second Brother, you say, it's been over ten days. There should be some news from Chengyu…" The Patriarch said to the old man not far from him. These words had been said by the Patriarch numerous times in the past few days.     

The old man wore a half-new cotton robe. As he drank bitter tea made out of tea leaves foam, he said without much thought, "It should be one of these days…"     

As the two old men spoke, the door to the Patriarch's courtyard slammed open with a bang.     

The old man who was drinking tea jumped in fright. He nearly knocked over his precious teacups. After all, it was hard to find a set of porcelain cups in the Lian tribal clan.     

They were about to rage when they realized that it was Zhang Dali and several men from the warrior preparation camp.     

These people were those they had sent to man the mountain post.     

As such, the tea-drinking old man didn't say a word and just stared at Zhang Dali with heavy breaths. He vaguely felt that there was a chance for him to be excited.     

"He's here! He's here!" Zhang Dali said incoherently, "Six! Six!"     

Zhang Dali gestured his six fingers and the two old men were shocked upon hearing it.     

What the hell?     

"Six behemoths! The… the kind the Dragon Vanguard rides!"     

Behind Zhang Dali was a panting member of the warrior preparation camp who explained. He had followed Zhang Dali all the way down, so he was panting heavily.     

"Yes… I was the first to discover it!" Although Zhang Dali was out of breath, he did not forget to take credit. "So many behemoths heading to our village. For sure… For sure it's Young Master Lian!" Zhang Dali panted.     

Seeing the old man with a cup of tea in hand, he grabbed it without any propriety and drank it dry. This was because he was excited. Usually, he would never have the courage to do so.     

"Young Master Lian must have become a Dragon Vanguard member, maybe even an elite! Why else would the Dragon Vanguard send so many behemoths to send him back?" Zhang Dali explained his reasoning.     

Lian Chengyu must have obtained great results. If he had been unsuccessful, the Dragon Vanguard would have been kind even if they sent just a single person to bring him back. They might not even be bothered to send him back. At that point, Lian Chengyu would have to stay in the Tao tribal clan. He would then have to wait for the Tao tribal clan's Purple Blood warriors to come to the Lian tribal clan to do the exchange before he could come back.     

By understanding this, the Patriarch turned radiant. His beard began to shake with excitement, "Great! Great! We have finally endured through it!"     

"Chengyu has delivered the results, Chengyu has delivered the results!" The old man with the teacup was too happy. He began coughing after laughing and nearly died from excitement.     

"Our Lian tribal clan will prosper. We will walk out of the vast wilderness into the central plains!" The Patriarch's beamed from ear to ear. He laughed till his wrinkled old face became like a daisy flower during autumn.     

"Quick! Give the orders, get the tribe to prepare. We have to greet the Dragon Vanguard ambassadors! We cannot let the ambassadors think that our etiquette is lacking as countryside villagers!"     

Only then did the Patriarch remember what was important. He slapped his thigh and quickly ordered Zhang Dali.     

After Zhao Tiezhu had been maimed, many things in the tribe were instead done by the "smarter" Zhang Dali.     

"Alright!" Zhang Dali rushed out of the courtyard door, taking the members of the warrior preparation camp with him. Their approach to announcing the news was simple and direct.     

They simply shouted at the top of their lungs in the village.     

"Folks, come out!"     

"Young Master Lian has passed the kingdom's selection! Young Master Lian has become a Dragon Vanguard elite!"     

"The Dragon Vanguard ambassador is sending Young Master Lian back. They have almost reached the village entrance. Quickly prepare to welcome them!"     

Zhang Dali's voice was considered a loud one. So with one shout, it spread throughout the entire village.     

The people quickly put down their work. Those who were eating stopped or preparing food stopped. All of them walked out their doors and looked at Zhang Dali.     

"The Young Master is really back?"     

"Could it be fake?" Zhang Dali said grumpily.     

"Then we'll be going into the city?"     

"For the city, not necessarily. I heard to enter the city, he will need to be a Kingdom Knight! It's not easy becoming one, but with the young master's strength, it's only a matter of time!" Zhang Dali said proudly. The villagers were all very excited upon hearing the news. They remembered that it was just a matter of time before they could leave the vast wilderness!     

They put on some decent clothes, came out of their houses, and gathered near the village entrance, ready to welcome the Dragon Vanguard into the village.     

"Mom, Young Master Lian has been chosen in the selection…" In the crowd, Zhou Xiaoke held onto Aunt Wang's hands. Seeing the hustle and bustle of the crowd, she was confused.     

I wonder how Brother Yi Yun did in the selection… Would he also be coming back?     

Aunt Wang said, "Kiddo Yun should be quite good. He even defeated Zhao Tiezhu, he might even have been chosen too! But even if he wasn't chosen, Kiddo Yun is only twelve. He still has a long way to go."     

Aunt Wang touched Zhou Xiaoke's head. She brought Zhou Xiaoke to the side of the streets. From afar, the duo saw six behemoths running towards the village entrance. These six beasts' great momentum caused the ground to gently quake!