One evening, an elder came to the herb gatherers’ quarters.
“Come out! All of you come out!” The overseer shouted.
The doors opened, and the herb gatherers came out. Tang Hao was among them.
“All one hundred herb gatherers are here, Elder! Pick whomever you like!” The overseer said while bowing fawningly.
The elder put his hands behind his back and nodded.
Then, he glanced around the crowd.
His gaze was ice-cold and ominous.
The herb gatherers could sense that something was amiss and began to shift uneasily.
“You, you, and you…”
The elder pointed at them one by one. “All fifty of you, step up.”
Tang Hao was among the fifty people.
“We’re doomed, Mu. They’re making us sparring partners. We might even die!” Lei Shou’s face was pale, and his body was trembling.
He was also one of the chosen.
“What’s…” Tang Hao asked in a low voice.
“It must be a trial, but we’re not the ones participating. We’re only sparring partners. If we’re not careful, we’ll die!” Lei Shou was trembling violently.
The other herb gatherers reacted similarly. Some of them were paralyzed from fear. “No! Not me!” They shouted.
“Hmph! No wonder you’re all useless trash. If you don’t even have the guts, you deserve to be a herb gatherer for the rest of your life!” The overseer cursed furiously.
He saw that those people did not move, and so he stepped up and slapped them fiercely.
“Step up now, you lowlifes! I’ll whip you to an inch of your life!” The overseer yelled as he slapped them.
Being the lowliest among the barbarians, herb gatherers were not treated with dignity at all. Whenever there was a trial, they would be used as sparring partners for the elite tribespeople.
The lucky ones might break a limb, and the unlucky ones would be killed.
The chosen herb gatherers huddled together and shivered fearfully.
Meanwhile, Tang Hao’s eyes lit up. The tribe’s trials were usually held in the sacred ground.
“This is a good opportunity!”
Tang Hao was extremely excited. He had been worried about how to enter the sacred grounds, but an opportunity had presented itself.
“That’s right. You’ll be cannon fodder in the trials!” The elder said coldly, “However, if you can injure an elite during the trial, you will be rewarded and promoted.”
The herb gatherers were surprised. They were excited at first, but they soon became dispirited.
The difference in strength between them and the elites was too great.
“If you’re not going, you’ll be executed as traitors!” The elder said coldly.
The herb gatherers fell into a shocked silence.
“Follow me!”
The elder turned around and walked towards the sacred grounds.
The herb gatherers followed in a single file. Their faces were ashen.
Soon, they were brought to a hall outside the sacred grounds.
“You will rest here tonight. The trial will begin tomorrow afternoon! Your weapons… are over there. Pick anything that you like!
“Your opponents are unarmed, so it’s up to you if you can injure them. If you die, then you’re just unlucky. You can’t blame them.”
After saying that, the elder turned around and left.
At the door, he turned around and said coldly, “Don’t even think about escaping. Anyone who steps out of the door shall be killed without mercy.”
After the elder left, many herb gatherers fell to their feet and muttered, “It’s over!”
Some were scratching their heads in despair.
Tang Hao was extremely relaxed. If he could defeat the top prodigies of the Ninth Continent, he was not bothered with the barbarian elites.
However, he had to play into his current identity, and so he crouched and showed a look of despair.
“Dammit! If I’m going to die anyway, I might as well fight them to the death!”
Suddenly, he cursed angrily, stood up, and went to the weapon rack.
The other herb gatherers were all stunned.
“That’s right. Let’s fight them to the death!” Lei Shou clenched his fists. His eyes were burning with anger.
“Yes! Let’s fight it out!”
A few more people stood up and shouted angrily.
“We’re not going to beat them. They’re all elites, while we’re the most useless in the tribe. We might not even defeat one even if ten of us gang up on him!” Some said pessimistically.
Tang Hao glanced at the weapon rack. There were weapons of all types, and they were all of good quality.
He picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows, then he took a few spears and carried them on his back. As though that was not enough, he took a few more spears until he could not carry anymore.
He decided that he was going to mess around with the elites before stealing the sacred fire.
His gaze was cold, and killing intent flickered in his eyes.
The barbarians had hunted him down and nearly caused his death. He had to take revenge against them.
Lei Shou and the others followed suit and hung weapons all over their bodies.
The entire night, the hall was filled with cries and wails.
The elder returned at noon the next day. He was stunned when he saw Tang Hao and the other herb gatherers, but a sneer soon appeared on his face.
‘Are they really going to fight it out?
‘Heh, they’re all a bunch of trash anyway!’
“It’s time. The trial is about to begin. Come with me!”
The elder shouted in a deep voice and turned around to walk away.
“Let’s go!” Tang Hao stood up and shouted.
“It’s do or die!” Lei Shou roared loudly. He sounded very agitated probably out of fear or excitement.
Many people were already gathered outside the hall. Almost half of the tribe was there, but the tribe chief and many of the elders were not.
A group of young men and women stood next to the cave that was the entrance to the sacred grounds. They were all tall and muscular, and they were dressed up in beast hides.
“Haha, our ‘sparring partners’ are here. Who knows how many will die this time!”
“More than half of them died last time, so it should be the same this time!”
The crowd immediately burst into laughter, and everyone pointed at the herb gatherers.
In the barbarian tribe, the strong ruled over the weak. No one looked up to those weaklings.
“Haha! Look at those idiots!”
The elites pointed at Tang Hao and the others and mocked them.
They were only cannon fodder, yet they still wanted to struggle.
“Haha! What idiots!”
“Hey! Isn’t that Lei Mu and Lei Shou? What are you going to do with the bows? Don’t tell me you want to shoot me! Hahaha! You can try as much as you want!”
Several young men laughed out loud.
Tang Hao looked over and recognized these few people.
Those people used to cultivate together with Lei Mu.
“We’ll deal with those first!” Tang Hao leaned closed and whispered to Lei Shou.
“Now, follow me inside!”
The elder shouted and led the group into the cave.
