# Chapter 9: Clan Leader
10 Soul Coins and the reward of one Ba Soul. Soul Coins are naturally welcome in abundance, but as for the Ba Soul, this thing is somewhat special.
Whether one can reach the Source Sacred Land depends entirely on the value of the Ba Soul in hand. If one cannot reach it, this item can strengthen equipment with "Source Characteristics," and the abilities attached to the equipment would definitely be very powerful.
Su Xiao picked up a dark blue spherical crystal from the ground. It was about the size of a longan, round in shape, and felt very hard to the touch. This was a Ba Soul.
Just now, when Su Xiao was fighting this Tianba Clan member, the opponent had let out a strange cry, clearly summoning companions.
Through this battle, Su Xiao determined that against a single high-erosion Tianba Clan member, he could finish the fight in a short time. Apart from Charm, all his other attributes completely crushed the enemy.
Going up against five high-erosion Tianba Clan members at once, Su Xiao would feel some pressure. Against ten, the pressure would increase significantly. Dealing with around thirty at the same time would be very dangerous.
There was one prerequisite for dealing with thirty Tianba Clan members at once: these Tianba Clan members had to be highly eroded by the Source. Otherwise, their technique-type abilities were all at Grandmaster level. Assuming three Grandmaster-level melee Tianba plus two Grandmaster-level ranged Tianba, the five working together against Su Xiao at the same time—the pressure Su Xiao would face was unimaginable.
Fortunately, this type of Tianba Clan member shouldn't be too numerous. This type should be the elite units of the clan. Encountering this kind of Tianba Clan member, Su Xiao would absolutely not retreat but would find other ways to kill the enemy. Ordinary Tianba Clan members directly rewarded Soul Coins, so the kill reward for elite Tianba Clan members would definitely be very high.
Things turned out as Su Xiao expected. Over ten seconds later, dense running sounds came from around the small courtyard.
Su Xiao turned and rushed into a tall building. This was the village shrine of Bamboo Village, not for worshipping gods, but for ceremonial rituals during festivals.
The shrine was very spacious, about several hundred square meters, with a height of around ten meters. On both sides were rows of square wooden pillars supporting the overly tall shrine. Multiple fire basins were embedded in the walls, their flames illuminating the place.
Zzzz~
The Realm Severing Thread shot out. After some winding, Su Xiao pressed the thread wheel on his arm guard, fully releasing the Realm Severing Thread and detaching it from the arm guard.
Su Xiao leaped up, landing on the Realm Severing Thread several meters above the ground. This was the battlefield he had set up, to avoid being surrounded.
Chaotic footsteps came. Over a dozen Tianba Clan members with rough, blue-tinged skin rushed into the shrine. Just as they entered the door, they stopped, looking up at Su Xiao standing in mid-air with full vigilance.
Ice spread outside the door, sealing it shut. The boss battle had begun; no one could escape.
...
In Bamboo Village, a man holding double short axes and wearing a horned helmet was sprinting forward. It was Wochifu, an outsider in this Bamboo Village.
Four Tianba Clan members were chasing behind Wochifu. As he ran, his breathing grew rapid. He needed to find someone quickly and bring that person back to Xita Kingdom, also known as Talin Kingdom.
Xita was what outsiders called this country. Because it was located on the western side of the continent, over time it was simply shortened to Xita. The country's true name was "Talin." Unlike the Holy Guard Country, Talin was a kingdom, a kingdom with a royal family. It could be said that Talin was the absolute hegemon of this continent. The Holy Guard Country had suffered too heavily in the previous war.
Wochifu sprinted forward, panting heavily. The eyes beneath his horned helmet seemed to burn with fire.
"Ee... ha!"
A strange cry came from behind. Hearing this sound, Wochifu instinctively lunged forward.
Boom.
Dirt erupted. A Tianba Clan member crashed down, his serrated longsword embedded into the ground.
After rolling several times on the ground, Wochifu found himself half-surrounded by four "humanoid monsters." He looked around, and suddenly, a dry well over three meters in diameter caught his attention.
Wochifu rushed forward a few steps and plunged headfirst into the dry well. The four Tianba Clan members behind him jumped in right after, but they forgot that they were all using long weapons.
Inside the dry well, in a water-collection pit less than five meters wide, Wochifu wielded his double short axes, hacking at the four Tianba Clan members, who shrieked in pain.
With a squelch, a broken blade sank into Wochifu's chest. He didn't care at all and swung his axe at the Tianba Clan member's head. His bloodline ability made him feel no pain at this moment, and his blood seemed to boil and burn.
A few minutes later, Wochifu, with a broken blade and half a wooden stick stuck in his body, gasped for air. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but he smiled.
At this moment, Wochifu was the god of war in the well. In the well, it seemed no one could defeat him.
...
An hour later, Bamboo Village fell silent. On the only street, an occasional villager's corpse could be seen. These villagers knew they had Source Power within them but didn't develop it. Was this foolishness? No, they knew the result of developing Source Power. They would rather die than become monsters driven by Source Power. That was no longer living.
Inside the shrine, Su Xiao stood on a pile of corpses, one foot on a Tianba Clan member's shoulder, pulling his longsword from the opponent's head.
He tossed aside the crystal vial in his hand. [Honor Recovery Potion] had been used during the battle. The Tianba Clan's Qin and Ni abilities were too strong. As long as he was injured, Su Xiao's Health Points would drop by a small chunk. Worse, the damage amplification from "Qin" was a continuous debuff.
As long as three "Qin characteristic" Tianba Clan members injured Su Xiao, regardless of whether they were the same Tianba Clan member, the damage amplification he received would stack to the maximum. Any subsequent Tianba Clan member who injured him would activate this damage amplification effect.
One moment of carelessness could result in being killed in a single round of attacks. Worse, the Tianba Clan were enemies who had mastered technique-type abilities. Fortunately, Su Xiao crushed these Tianba Clan members in terms of technique. No matter how strong the attack, if it couldn't hit him, it posed no threat.
Checking the notification from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao felt this battle wasn't fought in vain.
[You have obtained 376 Soul Coins.]
[You have obtained Ba Soul ×39.]
This reward indicated that two waves of Tianba Clan members had come to surround Su Xiao, and all had died here.
Walking out of the shrine, Su Xiao headed toward the clan leader's courtyard. He had lured half the village's Tianba Clan members away, so the battle there should have been won.
In the clan leader's courtyard, Clan Leader Qingzhang held a sharp blade, walking slowly. Ahead of him knelt a Tianba Clan member holding a long-handled great axe, with a blue heart at the center of the axe head.
This wasn't an elite Tianba Clan member but one of the clan's leaders. Throughout history, the Tianba Clan had only two leaders: one with the Qin characteristic and one with the Ni characteristic.
This Tianba Clan leader was the previous one. He had been too severely eroded by Source Power and had lost to the current generation's Qin characteristic Tianba Clan leader.
Without any words, the clan leader swung his blade, beheading the previous Tianba Clan leader. All around lay dozens of Tianba Clan corpses scattered haphazardly.
The hand holding the blade trembled slightly. For a Blade Grandmaster, this was very unusual. The clan leader looked at a small corpse not far away. The corpse held a short blade, deeply embedded in a Tianba Clan member's eye socket. Even if it was against a severely wounded Tianba Clan member, not everyone had such courage, let alone a child.
"As expected, my grandson."
The clan leader staggered back half a step, spitting out a large mouthful of blood. He looked down at his chest, seeing a bloody, gaping hole. This was the final blow from the previous Tianba Clan leader.
"In the end, I've grown old."
Using his last strength, the clan leader sat cross-legged on the ground. He knew he was going to die. For some reason, he suddenly recalled the duel in the cave last night. It had been a long time since he had fought so freely—life and death in an instant, blade edges ringing.
A sound of wind breaking. Su Xiao stood before the clan leader.
"Bai Ye, what are you searching for?"
The clan leader sheathed his longsword and placed it flat on his legs.
"Source Water."
"You want... to assimilate that special Source of yours?"
"Yes."
"You're utterly insane. Strange, I should despise a madman like you. Truly strange."
"Be careful. On the path to find the Source, you must have the resolve to lose your life at any moment. Under my bed is a wooden box carved from Moon Tree root. Use it to hold your Source, and the Tianba Clan won't be able to sense it."
The clan leader was very calm, unafraid of death's arrival. His heart had been blasted away, yet he sat here cross-legged with a composed expression. From this, it could be seen that the clan leader's current strength was no accident or luck. This kind of person deserved such strength and was destined to become a powerhouse.
"Thank you."
"Take Liu to the Talin Kingdom. There, you will find the Source Water you seek. She is of Talin's royal family. Grant this dying old man one last request—don't exploit Liu. The thing she sealed away... is very terrifying."
The clan leader slowly lowered his head. After killing 62 Tianba Clan members and one previous Tianba Clan leader, the clan leader died here. Such a strong man ultimately could not withstand the erosion of time, just as the clan leader himself had said—in the end, he had grown old.
"Mmph, mmph!"
Struggling sounds came from the house behind the clan leader. Su Xiao pushed open the door and saw Liu, bound and gagged.
"Lady Liu, I've come to save you!"
The Well God of War, Wochifu, rushed over from a distance. Seeing Su Xiao, he immediately stopped, looking around—searching for a nearby dry well.