Chapter 153: High Pries

A faint-green colored soul flame flickered in Yan Luo's eyes. It then created a slipping after-shadow to dodge the attack before the spear with the white light came in contact with its body.

Yan Luo had increased its speed several times in order to dodge the attacks.

The giant skeleton got angry. It was already holding a spear in its left hand. But, a long tailbone whip then appeared in its right hand out of nowhere. Then, it started to swing it. Several white-whip-shadows surrounded the whip, and rushed towards Yan Luo.

An after-shadow flashed once again, and moved aside to avoid the attack as Yan Luo repeated its action. But then, the long whip changed its direction, and followed after Yan Luo's after-shadow - like a shadow following the body.

Yan Lau's figure stood firm. The tailbone whip bloomed like a flower without giving a moment's time to Yan Luo. It then rolled-up, and hit Yan Luo's arms and legs, and tied it at the place where it stood.

Yan Luo struggled for a while, but it was unable to move. The green soul flame started to flicker in its eye-sockets. It seemed to be frightened.

The giant skeleton opened its mouth; it seemed to be smiling. It then pulled Yan Luo's body towards itself with its right hand. It smashed the bone spear on Yan Luo's head with its left hand at the same time.

Suddenly, Yan Luo stopped struggling, and made a strange move.

It moved its head, and welcomed the spear.

'Bang!' A loud and clear sound echoed.

Yan Luo's skull had remained undamaged, while the bone spear had scattered into pieces.

The giant skeleton looked distracted. Yan Luo took advantage of this, and pulled the bone whip towards itself. It then swung it, and knocked against the head of the giant skeleton.

'Kacha!' A bone-breaking sound was heard.

The skull of the giant skeleton got knocked and smashed into pieces. The bone fragments went swirling in the air. A group of green lights flew out of it.

Yan Luo exerted its body in midair, and inhaled a deep breath. The flying green lights entered its mouth. Then, the initial green color of the soul flame in its eyes got deepened.

Yan Luo turned over and landed on the ground. It then moved its lower jaw up and down a few times. After that, it exerted its body, and freed itself from the tailbone whip.

It then changed its direction, and started to walk towards the group of fighting skeletons.

*** ***

In the stone chamber of the Green Tooth Palace hall...

Shi Mu sat cross-legged on his bed. He looked low-spirited.

He sighed gently after a long while.

It was much harder to remove the curse from his body than he had imagined. In fact, this feat was nearly impossible to achieve. He had come to the Holy Mountain after so many difficulties. How could he let all of it go in vain?

He didn't believe in giving-up.

He shook his head, and freed his mind of these worries. He then swallowed down a Bone-Tempering pill. After that, he closed his eyes, and started to practice the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants.

Shi Mu shouted in pain after an unknown period of time.

He felt bursts of acute pain; he felt as if his lungs were getting torn. He was twitching and shivering from head-to-toe. His complexion had turned deathly pale.

He clenched his teeth and stood-up with difficulty. He then tore his clothes open since his entire body was dripping with cold sweat. He quickly took out a jade bottle gourd from his bedside, and placed a blue liquid on his palm. Then, he spread it out on his body. The liquid penetrated into his bones, and sent out a feeling of chill in his entire body.

The red light on his chest vanished after a short while. But, a layer of dizzy light was still shrouding the gigantic python totem. The gigantic snake seemed to have come alive as it slowly began to wiggle.

Shi Mu's complexion turned ashen. The things had reached a point where the blood essence of the viper meant to hide the aura of the totem was no longer working in an effective manner. It broke out almost once in every few days. Moreover, the time interval was decreasing in a continuous manner.

In addition, the blood essence of the viper had almost been used-up.

Shi Mu's complexion became pale as he realized this.

Meanwhile, in the Holy Snow Palace...

The official affairs were being discussed in a hall; this hall was entirely made-up of white stones. Skulls of every kind of vicious beasts were hung on the walls. They were adding a wild aura to the environment.

A several feet long table - made-up of black rock - had been placed inside the hall. The table looked extremely pleasing to the eyes. An old and clumsy barbarian man was sitting cross-legged behind that table.

The old man's skin was wrinkled, and his muddy-yellow eyes looked half-conscious; as if he was half-asleep. He held 1.5 meter long stick in his withered hand. It seemed like a walking stick that had been made out of a dried out branch.

Several barbarian men of the eight big tribes were sitting on both sides of the black stone table. They were disputing over something in such an intense manner that it seemed that they would attack each other.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a golden opportunity. It can be even said that the Heaven is helping the barbarian race. This despicable human race won't be able to resist us in the Holy War we collaborate with the sea race. Moreover, the fertile soil of the human race will become our paradise. We hope that the High Priest give permission for that." A middle-aged barbarian was seated on the left side of the black stone table; his eyes looked like a pair of copper bells. He spoke-out in a loud voice, and splashed his saliva in all directions.

"Humph! You people of the Wild Bull Tribe are very good at killing... but very shortsighted as well. The sea race is far stronger than the barbarian race and the human race. If we - the barbarian race - join hand with the sea race... then the human race would certainly be defeated. But then... we would become the next target of the sea race. We - the Golden Feather Tribe - ally ourselves against the sea race." The High Priest remained silent. A man with three golden feathers fixed on his head sat on the right side of the table. He opposed the first barbarian and said.

"Hehe... Priest Jin thinks way too much. The soil of our barbarian wasteland is barren and dry. The sea race seems to have no interest in that... right?" A man with slender eyes like a viper's sat across the table. He was holding a red bone magic wand. He countered the old man with golden feathers.

"How's your Fierce Snake Tribe so sure that the sea race won't do anything like this?" Priest Jin opened his thin eyes widely, and shot a glance at the old man.

"No matter what you say... but countless warriors of the barbarian race have died and gotten injured in this Holy War. We've fought over the soil of the three prefectures of the Da Qi Kingdom for a long time. But, we finally have a good opportunity to get a large area of fertile land with ease. And, the death of all those martyrs will go in vain if we let go of this opportunity," the man with slender eyes was about to speak when another middle-aged barbarian man with disheveled hair added in a stern voice; he was seated beside the other barbarian.

An old man attired in a green priest robe was about to say something; he belonged to the peaceful barbarian race. But, the old man of the Fierce Snake Tribe started to speak before he could say anything, "Gentlemen, please listen to me. At first... we should conclude the agreement of alliance with the sea race. Our second move will be to attack and occupy the territory... Then, the sea race would launch an attack on the human race on a large scale at the appointed time. We'll deploy troops in the frontline... and send a group of messengers to the human race to secretly talk about peace at the same time. Then, we can take over large amount of food stuff, ironware and other resources... without losing too many of our soldiers. And, we can temporarily hold back our troops if the human race turns out to be tactful."

The thin-eyed old man began to speak. But then, he paused for a while on purpose. He looked around, and a shady smile flashed on his face. Then, he continued to speak.

"The main forces of the human race will shift to the front. And, the sea race would also be busy in fighting. So, we'll take advantage of this, and enter into the land of human race. The human race will then be eliminated in a single stroke. After that, we'll capture their land. The sea race won't be able to say anything to us."

The other three priests of the vicious barbarian tribes cheered as they heard this. There were colors of excitement on their faces. The High Priest sitting on the master-seat narrowed his eyes and yawned.

"Vicious barbarians... this plan of action is no less than playing with fire. The human race has three kingdoms and seven sects. So, they can survive for a long time. Their territory is extremely large. So, they can reside in a corner even if they lose a large area of their land. In addition, if we commit an offense against the sea race... and make the human race hate us too... then do you think that the eight tribes of the barbarian race would be able to confront the strength of two races at the same time?" Priest Yan Ya was dressed in a green robe. He snorted and spoke-up in a cold voice.

"How would we be able to know the strength of the sea race when the four tribes of vicious barbarians have always kept away from the seaside? We - the four tribes of the peaceful barbarians - have always been forced to settle around the sea. So, we'll be greatly damaged if anything goes wrong. In short... our Beautiful Gauze Tribe doesn't approve of this plan." A priest attired in green robe sat next to Priest Yan Ya. He said slowly.

"That's right. The sea race had signed a peace agreement with the human race in the past. But, they have now discarded the agreement... and have initiated a war against them. This race isn't trustworthy." A priest dressed in a black robe sat to the right of the table. He was wearing a necklace made out of a human skull. He agreed and said.

"How can we blame the sea race for this? The human race has been mean to them. They're the ones who went to the sea to hunt and kill sea animals in the first place," the priest of Wild Bull Tribe spoke-up.

The four tribes of the peaceful barbarians continued to oppose the vicious barbarians. The vicious barbarians also continued to quarrel with them.

Suddenly, Priest Yan Ya wrinkled his brow, and waved his hand towards the three men seated beside him. The priests of the peaceful barbarians stopped speaking.

"Your Holiness the High Priest, please take the decision whether to make peace with the human race or not," Priest Yan Ya got-up, bowed towards the High Priest, and said.

"High Priest, please make the decision whether to form an alliance with the sea race or not," a middle-aged priest of the Wild Bull Tribe stood-up and said.

The other priests calmed down. Everyone looked towards the High Priest. But, the High Priest closed his eyes; he seemed to have fallen asleep.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. The men seemed to have reached a mutual understanding; they showed no hint of a chaos. Priest Yan Ya and the Priest of the Wild Bull Tribe remained fixed to their spots. There was no trace of intolerance on their faces.

The High Priest finally moved the dried-up branch he held after a quarter-of-an-hour. He then opened his yellow eyes.

Priest Yan Ya and Priest Mo asked for instructions from the High Priest as they saw this.

"So, you don't want the dispute either. Today... the four tribes of the vicious barbarians and the four tribes of the peaceful barbarians will choose fifty names of the low-level Xian Tian totem Warriors each. Then, they would enter the forbidden area through the Portal of the Brave Warrior... and hunt ominous beasts. Whosoever gets the most number of beast souls would be considered the winner. You've a time limit of ten days," the High Priest exerted himself and spoke-up in a sluggish manner.

The eight main priests started to discuss among themselves. They couldn't understand why the High Priest was opening the Portal of the Warrior ahead of its time.

The Portal led to a sealed space of an incomparably huge territory. The insides of this place were still ancient in its ethos. Therefore, there was abundance of spiritual energy inside the place. In addition, countless ominous beasts that had become extinct from the outside world existed there. It was an extremely precious place to all the tribes of the barbarian race who lived in the barren soil of the wasteland. So, opening it ahead of its time could cause huge loss for every tribe. Therefore, several priests had conflicts in their hearts about this matter.

However, no one dared to express their opinion once they saw the expressionless face of the High Priest. The whispers gradually calmed down. Everyone then started to calculate the merits and demerits of the competition.

The faces of the priests of the vicious barbarian tribes soon brightened with a cheerful look. However, the complexion of the priests of the peaceful barbarian tribes became a little unsightly.

The blood vessels of the peaceful barbarians were fragile. Their strength had always been weaker than that of the vicious barbarians. So, the peaceful barbarians had lesser chances of victory in this competition even if the vicious barbarians got caught-up in a war against the human race.

"Two people... each from the sea race and human race... can also enter the portal to assist," the High Priest slowly added after a while.