This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Chapter 558: Chapter 48 Youxiong and Shao Dian

The Barbarian Wilderness, located on the frontier of the Western Territory in the Central Heavenly Realm, is a broad designation for a vast region.

In reality, the Human Race’s Seven Domains are boundlessly vast, beset with countless perilous areas and teeming with Demon Beasts.

Thus, even though Human Cultivators possess capabilities that reach the heavens and Great Xia has striven diligently for twenty thousand years, they still have not managed to develop more than fifty percent of the territory in the Seven Domains; much of it remains undeveloped.

The Barbarian Wilderness is one such undeveloped virgin land.

However, compared to other wilderness areas, the Barbarian Wilderness is somewhat different:

Its rulers are not Demon Beasts, but rather, the Barbarian Tribe, which shares the same origin as the Human Race and possesses its own thoughts and culture.

Exactly how many families reside in the Barbarian Wilderness is unknown.

But there are certainly more than a thousand.

With such a large population base, coupled with the Barbarian Tribe’s exclusion of outsiders from the Human Race, Great Xia simply lets the Barbarians come and go as they please, not bothering to intervene.

The Youxiong Tribe is an inconspicuous medium-sized Barbarian tribe in the Barbarian Wilderness and is also the target of Lu Qingshan’s journey this time.

For Great Xia, the Youxiong Tribe is somewhat special.

This is because the Youxiong Tribe was once a large Barbarian tribe in history.

The root cause of its weakening is due to a split that occurred within the tribe, dividing it into two branches.

The Barbarian Families have two principal rulers, the Sacrificial Spirit and the Clan Leader.

Once, under the leadership of the contemporary Youxiong Clan Leader, Youxiong Bozhi, a majority of the Youxiong tribesmen left the Barbarian Wilderness to accept Great Xia’s offer of inclusion and integrated into the Human Race.

The remaining minority of Youxiong tribesmen, under the leadership of the contemporary Sacrificial Spirit Youxiong Wu, stubbornly stayed in the Barbarian Wilderness.

However, with half of the tribe’s combat power suddenly gone, in the survival-of-the-fittest Barbarian Wilderness, the Youxiong Tribe inevitably became a target for other tribes.

Fortunately, Youxiong Wu acted decisively and boldly sacrificed the majority of the tribe’s resources, retaining only those necessary for the survival of their diminished strength, barely managing to preserve the existence of the Youxiong Tribe.

As time passed, the group of Youxiong tribesmen who left the Barbarian Wilderness and accepted Great Xia’s sanctuary gradually took root in Great Xia.

Leveraging their abilities and talents, they rapidly rose in status, putting the Youxiong clan on the right track, and eventually renaming themselves the Shao Dian Clan.

Youxiong Bozhi, the leader who facilitated their integration into Great Xia, was later ennobled by the King of Great Xia as Marquis Shao Dian, a title made hereditary.

The Youxiong lineage and the Shao Dian lineage have long severed ties, and should have thus remained undisturbed, each in their respective peace.

Until recently, the Barbarian Youxiong lineage faced the greatest crisis in its history.

A crisis that could potentially lead to their extinction.

The contemporary Sacrificial Spirit of the Youxiong Tribe was growing old, nearing the end of his life, and his successor had yet to mature.

This situation should not have been problematic; the tribe had faced many such transitions over the years.

After all, they had even endured the great trauma of their division and split; why would a temporary discontinuity in leadership lead to the brink of extinction?

The difficulty this time stems from the depletion of the tribe’s heritage that had seen them through numerous crises; the Sacrificial Spirit, “Lord Bear,” encountered some unforeseen calamity, returning from his journey with his Qi-Blood utterly depleted and his days numbered.

What made the situation even more desperate was that Lord Bear had no offspring.

In this circumstance, other Barbarian Families immediately began to exert military pressure on Youxiong, seeking to annex them.

The Youxiong tribe struggled to cope.

At this most critical moment for the clan, the Barbarian Youxiong lineage finally thought of the Great Xia’s Shao Dian lineage, recalling the bond that had gradually faded.

Some members of the Youxiongs reached out to the Shao Dian Clan on their own initiative, hoping that the Shao Dian Clan, remembering the ties of bloodline, would help them overcome this adversity.

When the Youxiong had initially split, the Barbarian Youxiong lineage had severely criticized the departing members who went to Great Xia, considered themselves the legitimate lineage, and created many difficulties for the Shao Dian Clan, even killing many who wanted to leave the Barbarian Wilderness.

This caused the Shao Dian Clan to leave the Barbarian Wilderness filled with deep resentment and hatred.

Ultimately, the Shao Dian Clan in Great Xia by their own efforts and sacrifices fought for Great Xia and the Human Race, securing their place in Great Xia despite their Barbarian status.

These hardships are beyond the understanding of outsiders.

When we struggled desperately, you ignored us and even obstructed us from a position of superiority; now that I have made something of myself, you can’t manage on your own and turn back to me for help?

Where in the world is there such a cheap deal?

Most of the Shao Dian Clan in Great Xia scoffed at this request.

However, the contemporary Clan Leader of Great Xia’s Shao Dian Clan and the current Marquis Shao Dian harbored different thoughts.

As chaos was about to erupt and the world about to lose its peace, if they could use this opportunity to plant a spy within the Barbarian tribes, it could possibly stabilize their rear.

Moreover, there might also be a chance, just like when they were once recruited, to recruit other Barbarian tribes.

Given the extraordinary bloodline and formidable combat power of the Barbarian tribes, successfully recruiting them would definitely add to their strength in future battles against the Demon Race.

With this notion, Marquis Shao Dian reported this news to his superiors.

And coincidentally, the Shao Dian Clan’s resolute decision to leave the Barbarian Wilderness back then, enduring the stigma of betraying their ancestors, was due to an offer from the King of Great Xia, Xia Xuanji.

Therefore, their loyalty also belongs solely to Xia Xuanji.

After Xia Xuanji died, those nobles who had been loyal to him each started to assert their own power.