"Hey, what do you mean by an outsider?" Mu Chen asked, seeing that they were alone.

"It's people like you," An Zhi sneered. "You are from the outside world, aren't you?"

"You know?" Mu Chen asked.

"It's not the first time guys like you have entered this world," An Zhi said.

Mu Chen was shocked. First that demon, and now this barbarian. They knew about the outside world. Wasn't the secret realm supposed to be secret? Why did everyone he ran into know about the outside?

"You outsiders are all greedy," An Zhi sneered.

Greedy? Mu Chen was infuriated. They were the ones who robbed all his stuff, and they called him greedy?

"Alright, we are here," An Zhi stopped walking and threw Mu Chen in the front.

Mu Chen looked around. They had come to a deserted field behind the village. At the center of the field was a bog the size of a house. Yellow-colored fumes that gave off a putrid smell, bubbled from the surface of the bog.

"I know you're a body practitioner and you are not afraid of pain. Nor do I have the patience to torture you slowly. So I will give you only one chance. Hand over the wine recipe and the contents of the rings, and I will let you go," An Zhi said.

"What about my pet?" Mu Chen said.

"We will take good care of her," An Zhi chuckled.

"I won't be going anywhere without her," Mu Chen said.

An Zhi shook his head. He jerked his head at the bog and said, "See this place? It's where we dump the remains of beasts we have killed. Do you know why?"

"Is it because you lack hygiene?"

"Hmph!" An Zhi smacked Mu Chen on his head. "It's because this swamp is infested with iron-toothed beetles. Their teeth are so sharp, they can even bite the bones to dust."

Mu Chen stared at the bog but didn't see any insects, they should be underneath.

"Let me show you." An Zhi removed a dead hare hanging by his waist and threw it. The hare fell into the bog and began to sink slowly.

Mu Chen watched the hare sink. As it sank, the mush around it bubbled and countless tiny insects crawled onto the body of the hare and began to drill into it. The entire hare, with hair and bones, was devoured in a matter of moments before it even sank into the bog. The process was so smooth and silent, if Mu Chen hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.

"This is the youright result if you don't cooperate," An Zhi said as he watched Mu Chen's reaction with satisfaction. "Go, take a closer look."

"No need—"

"I wasn't asking," An Zhi smirked and pushed Mu Chen.

Mu Chen stumbled. On instinct, he brought his hands forward to brace for impact, but before he touched the surface of the bog, An Zhi grabbed his collar preventing him from falling into the bog.

Mu Chen broke in a cold sweat. His face was almost touching the surface of the bog. From such a close distance he could see the tiny black-colored insects the size of a rice grain that were moving in the bog like ants. He could hardly believe that these tiny insects were capable of such appetite.

"Hold on, I've something to say," Mu Chen said. Perhaps he was imagining it, but Mu Chen thought he was able to hear the insects' excited shrieks, like a small buzz in his head. It made him very uncomfortable.

"Unless it's something I wish to hear, you can keep it to yourself," An Zhi said and lowered Mu Chen a bit more.

"Alright, I will do it," Mu Chen said. It was good the iron-toothed beetles were incapable of jumping, or they would've already eaten his face.

An Zhi pulled Mu Chen to his feet. He threw the pouch full of rings in front of Mu Chen. "I'm waiting."

Mu Chen looked at the pouch in front of him and then at An Zhi, and shook his head. "I never thought you barbarians were such a greedy bunch," he sneered and then kicked the pouch.

The pouch flew into the air in a beautiful arc and landed dead center into the bog. An Zhi watched with shock as the pouch began to sink. He looked at Mu Chen and his shock turned into fury.

"Y-you…you…" An Zhi was at a loss for words as he pointed at Mu Chen with a trembling finger. That was a collection of a lifetime, and Mu Chen just kicked it into a pit.

"Damn you!" An Zhi grabbed Mu Chen's throat and lifted him with one hand.

"Did… you really think… I would cooperate?" Mu Chen was choking but managed to spit a few words.

"Since you threw it into the bog, go retrieve it," An Zhi roared in fury and threw Mu Chen into the bog.

"Fuck! What did I do?" The moment An Zhi threw Mu Chen into the bog he regretted it very much.

Although Mu Chen kicked the pouch into the bog, the beetles wouldn't have touched it. It would be troublesome to get them back, but it wasn't impossible. But Mu Chen was flesh and blood, those hungry insects wouldn't spare a juicy piece of meat.

But it was already late. Mu Chen fell into the bog and was surrounded by thousands of beetles.

An Zhi watched in a stupor as Mu Chen sank into the bog like a piece of rotten wood. In just a few breaths, Mu Chen's body disappeared as the final bubble burst.

"Is he dead?" An Zhi took a few steps forward, but then stopped. "Was he so weak? He didn't even struggle." He found it a bit odd. Mu Chen didn't flay or resist as he was covered by the beetles and sank into the bog.

An Zhi wanted to investigate more, but before he could think of a way, someone came running toward him.

"Brother, bad news!" It was one of An Zhi's teammates.

"What happened?" An Zhi was a bit annoyed. Not only did he fail the Chief's assignment, he even lost the pouch.

"Our people guarding the fire cave were attacked," the young barbarian choked. "Chief asked me to summon you…"

"What?" An Zhi could no longer care about Mu Chen. He grabbed the shoulder of his fellow barbarian. "Tell me what happened?"

"It was… the Xiao Tribe," the young barbarian breathed. "Several members of the Xiao Tribe attacked An Ke and others… The fire cave is now under their control."

"Those bastards, they must be eyeing the holy spirit," An Zhi snorted. "What about our brothers?"

Hearing An Zhi mention their brothers, tears welled up inside the eyes of the young barbarian and he began to sob, "Only An Ke managed to escape. The rest, they couldn't make it… "

"Xiao Tribe!" An Zhi's roared with his eyes red.

"Brother, we must avenge them," the young barbarian said.

"Leave it to me," An Zhi patted the young barbarian's shoulder. He looked back at the place where Mu Chen disappeared, then shook his head. "Let's go."

An Zhi left with the young barbarian. Several minutes after the two of them left, the quiet surface of the bog boiled and a figure leaped out of it with a pouch.

"Pfft!" Mu Chen coughed. He strived to scrape off the muck from his body and clothes. He was just trying to infuriate An Zhi so he would be careless. But he didn't expect to be thrown into the bog. An Zhi's brute strength was several times greater than he anticipated.

Fortunately, although the iron-toothed beetles looked scary, they were surprisingly fragile. All Mu Chen had to do was to protect himself with his sword intent, and the beetles were rendered completely useless against him.

After getting rid of the dirt as best as he could, Mu Chen looked in the direction where An Zhi had left. Holy spirit? An Zhi seemed very concerned about this holy spirit. Mu Chen decided to get Xiao Xue and his sword first, before investigating more.

Mu Chen sneaked back into the village. Because of how he had been caught off guard before, he was extra careful. But his worries were unnecessary. All the barbarians had gathered in front of the village and were listening to their chief's instructions. Nobody had the leisure to keep an eye out for someone sneaking in their backyard.

Mu Chen first found his sword. It was lying around at a corner of a house, thrown away like trash. It made him both sad and angry. Fortunately, the sword wasn't damaged. It looked like the kids weren't interested in his sword, which turned out to be a good thing.

After picking up his sword, Mu Chen came to Xiao Xue. The barbarians had placed her on a large bone altar at the back of the village. On the altar was a white bone tablet with several characters on it. A ceremonial dagger was also placed beside Xiao Xue. It was also made of bone and had the barbarian clan's totem inscribed on it.

"Since you robbed me first, don't blame me," Mu Chen looked at the tablet and the ceremonial dagger and snorted. He picked them up and threw them in his ring. The bone altar looked sacred, but it was fixed to the ground. Mu Chen couldn't steal it. So Mu Chen did the next sensible thing. He took out his sword and slashed at it.

The altar was split in two. Satisfied with his handiwork, Mu Chen was about to leave with Xiao Xue when something at the center of the broken altar caught his eye.

"What's this?" Mu Chen picked up a ball of grey matter. At first glance, it looked like a ball of mud, but it was grey, with spots of silver mixed in. Mu Chen pinched it and it was soft and pliable like clay. He couldn't tell what it was, so he just threw it into his ring.

Seeing that there was nothing else worth his attention, Mu Chen quietly sneaked out of the village.

While Mu Chen sneaked out, the entire village was in an uproar. The elders of the village were sitting at the podium with all the barbarians surrounding them.

"The Xiao Tribe has gone too far!" One of the young barbarians roared.

"We must avenge our fallen brothers," another barbarian cried.

"Death to the Xiao Tribe!" Several other barbarians shouted.

"Death! Death! Death!" The young and hot-blooded barbarians clamored in unison.

"Quiet!" The chief shouted in a booming voice and the chorus died down slowly. But several of the barbarians were still fidgeting, ready to take out their weapons.

An Zhi stepped forward. "Chief, it's our turn to use the fire cave this year," he said.

"The Xiao Tribe did this—how can we sit still? Just give us the command, we will go and destroy the Xiao Tribe." An Zhi thumped his chest in extreme confidence.

The chief looked at An Zhi and shook his head, "Our An Tribe and the Xiao Tribe have been living in peace together for a long time. It's very strange that they would attack us…" The chief was an experienced man and thought there was something wrong with the situation.

"Chief, five of our brothers are dead!" An Zhi said, "An Ke is still unconscious—he may never wake up."

The chief fell silent on hearing this. Whatever the reason, it was still a fact that people on their side had died.

"Blood for blood—that has always been our barbarian clan's custom," An Zhi said. "If the Xiao Tribe wants a war, we will give them one!"

"Brother Zhi, we are with you. Let's teach those bastards from Xiao Tribe a lesson."

"Brother Zhi, lead us…"

With An Zhi's declaration, the barbarian youths became excited once again and began to clamor.

"Chief, we don't have much time," An Zhi came next to the chief and whispered. "Since the Xiao Tribe attacked at this time, their goal is obvious. If they do something to the holy spirit—the loss will be too big. So please give us the command."

The chief thought about it for a long time. "Alright," he sighed, "but be careful. We already lost enough men."

"Yes, Chief!" An Zhi said and gave a few commands. In just a few moments, fifty barbarian strongmen assembled in front of him. For a village that housed less than five hundred people, it was already a significant number.

Once the team was assembled, an old barbarian woman stepped forward with a large rooster in her hand. With the rooster in her hand, she began to circle them while muttering vague words.

After she finished praying, she bowed to all four directions and knelt on the ground, and took out a knife and a bowl.

The chicken was sacrificed and its blood was collected in the bowl. The old woman picked up the bowl and dipped two fingers into the blood.

One by one, An Zhi and the barbarian stepped in front of the old woman who drew symbols on their faces with the blood.
 
After everyone had received the blessings, An Zhi and the barbarians greeted the elders one last time and set off.

The chief and other elders, and the remaining barbarians watched in silence as An Zhi led the barbarians out of the village. The forest was dense enough, and soon they were out of sight. The remaining barbarians also went back to their daily chores.

"The Xiao Tribe revealed their intentions at this time… could there be a deeper meaning behind it?" the chief couldn't help but sigh.

"Whatever it was, their timing was inconvenient," another elder grumbled. "If it was just a day—even half-a-day later… we would have had enough time to perform the rites. With the totems drawn from the blood of such a high-level beast, the strength of our warriors would have reached another level..."

"An Zhi and others are not weak," one elder said. "They will teach the Xiao Tribe a lesson… "

The elders were talking amongst themselves, when the old woman who had sacrificed the chicken, returned in a hurry. "Chief, it's bad," she gasped. "The altar… it's broken."

"What?" The chief and the several elders jumped to their feet in shock and rushed towards the altar.

When they saw the scene of the broken altar, the chief and the elders were stunned.

"Who did this?" the chief roared in fury. Besides him, the other elders were also brimming with anger. They glared at the old woman.

"I… don't know," the old woman stuttered. "I came to check up on the beast. But it was already like this when I came."

"The beast?" the chief looked around. "Where's that little fox?"

Everyone searched around but didn't find any traces of Xiao Xue.

"Everyone was at the meeting," an elder said, "somebody must have sneaked in at that time."

"Damn!" the chief cursed. "Who was it?"

"This must be Xiao Tribe's doing," another elder said. "Other than the Xiao Tribe, we don't have any enemies—they must have sent spies to watch over our movements."

"Xiao Tribe!" The chief could barely contain his anger. "Not only did they steal our spoil, they even desecrated our shrine." He took a few breaths to calm his anger.

"The Xiao Tribe must know about the team we sent," one of the elders said. "If they set up an ambush, An Zhi and others will be in trouble."

"Send someone to warn them," the chief said. "Also, relay to An Zhi… there's no need to take any prisoners."

One of the elders nodded and called a barbarian youth. On receiving the chief's order, the barbarian youth set off in the direction of An Zhi and his group.

The barbarian youth ran between the trees, he was in such a hurry he didn't bother to hide his tracks. Soon after he left the village, a vague silhouette silently followed him.