Chapter 1064, Gang Guo’s Penetrating Gaze
Chapter 1064, Gang Guo’s Penetrating Gaze
Translator: Silavin
Deep within the dense primitive forest, more than a dozen figures were pressing forward. They all looked extraordinarily weary.
There was no mystery as to why. They had been travelling for close to ten days and were utterly spent, worn down to the last of their reserves.
There had originally been more than twenty in the group, yet now only a little over ten.
One could well imagine how many Warriors had been lost along the way. This group naturally had come from the Dark Scorpion Tribe.
Bo and Luc were among them, as both had visited the Flame Dragon Tribe once before, and so naturally they were brought along as guides this time as well.
“How much longer until we arrive?” Gang Guo’s brow furrowed.
He was the leader of this expedition, a Mid-Stage Totem Warrior in his thirties.
His long hair was bound behind him, and the animal hide he wore had the look of something exceedingly rare and precious. It was plain from that alone that his standing within the Tribe was quite high.
“We’re nearly there. We should arrive by tomorrow,” Bo said immediately.
He had no desire to provoke the man before him. Standing two metres tall, the man alone commanded an immense sense of pressure, and the scar running across his stern, humourless face only made him more unsettling.
“I hope the Flame Dragon Tribe is truly as you describe it. Otherwise, I will ensure your head and your body are forever disconnected.” Gang Guo said with undisguised fury.
He was, by nature, a man who deeply disliked leaving the Tribe. Were it not for the mission assigned to him this time, which was an order from the Shaman that could not be refused, he would never have set so much as a single foot outside the Tribe.
Of course, Gang Guo had also sampled the Flame Dragon Tribe’s wine, and it was precisely his fondness for that taste that had made him willing to agree to come.
“Boss, set your mind at ease. You’ve already tried the Flame Dragon Tribe’s wine yourself. We all tasted it with our own mouths. How could we possibly deceive you?”
Bo immediately bowed and scraped, fawning profusely. “Furthermore, the Flame Dragon Tribe is already one of our Tribes. I truly have no reason whatsoever to deceive you.”
He truly valued his own life. Although everything he had said was the truth, the man before him had a temperament that could shift like the weather. There was no guarantee he would not lash out on a passing whim, so Bo kept himself as deferential as he could, purely so as to keep the other man comfortable.
“I believe you wouldn’t dare deceive me. Hurry up and keep leading the way. No rest for the entire day, not until nightfall.” Gang Guo said with decisive authority.
Behind him were many others, all of them Warriors and traders from the Dark Scorpion Tribe.
Their primary purpose in coming was to bring goods back to the Dark Scorpion Tribe. The traders, meanwhile, were to take certain goods from the Flame Dragon Tribe to other Tribes, ostensibly as merchants, while in truth, they were gathering intelligence on those other Tribes.
After that, the Dark Scorpion Tribe would make their move, absorbing that Tribe and claiming it for themselves.
This was the Dark Scorpion Tribe’s long-standing method of operation. Without it, they would have had no credible reason to enter other Tribes and gather information.
The reason they had chosen the Flame Dragon Tribe’s goods was simply that the Dark Scorpion Tribe’s Shaman considered those goods to be exceptional. They were a superb means of gaining entry. It was far more effective than trading using animal hides or food.
In short, the Flame Dragon Tribe’s goods commanded the respect of others, making it easier for their traders to extract information.
“Boss, why weren’t the Shaman’s Successors sent along this time? Deputy Leader Ga mentioned that the Flame Dragon Tribe is missing a Shaman.” Luc asked with curiosity.
“The Shaman feels that Tribe is not trustworthy enough yet. We need to gather more intelligence this time, then decide whether to send one.” Gang Guo said without turning his head.
It was clearly an extremely rational decision. The Dark Scorpion Tribe’s Shaman was no ordinary figure.
Even a brief analysis was sufficient to reveal where something was amiss. Although, from Bo and Luc’s account, nothing appeared overtly wrong, a Tribe administrator of that calibre knew that the absence of anything out of place was itself grounds for suspicion.
A Shaman’s Successor was extraordinarily difficult to cultivate. Out of a thousand candidates, there might not be a single suitable one.
And so, Shaman Chen Shao was unwilling to take that risk, which was precisely why he had dispatched Gang Guo to make another visit.
Gang Guo was renowned throughout the Dark Scorpion Tribe for his shrewdness. Very little could escape his eye.
It was for this reason that whenever someone in the Tribe had committed a misdeed, people would go to Gang Guo to determine whether the accused was lying.
“I see. Thinking about it now, that does seem right. It always felt as though nothing was ever happening in that Tribe,” Luc mused, nodding thoughtfully.
Though he felt that way, the days he had spent in the Flame Dragon Tribe had offered him nothing with any apparent flaw, and he had found himself at a loss as to how to discern the truth of it.
“The truth of a matter is often hidden in the details. It is perfectly normal that you did not notice.” Gang Guo said dismissively.
He thought to himself, that if they had been capable of spotting what lay in the details, the Shaman would never have needed to send him at all.
“Boss’s abilities are beyond anything we could hope to match. If something amiss is discovered, what should we do?” Bo asked.
Since they suspected the Flame Dragon Tribe had not been fully brought to heel, the practical course of action naturally needed to be discussed.
They could hardly expose their suspicions to the Flame Dragon Tribe’s face and then pick a fight with them.
The Flame Dragon Tribe had, after all, obliterated the Black Snake Tribe. And if the Totem Warriors led by Ga and Gai had also suffered defeat, that alone spoke volumes of the Flame Dragon Tribe’s strength.
Careful planning was therefore essential.
“We absolutely cannot expose them right to their faces. We must withdraw from the Flame Dragon Tribe first and then work out a plan. Everyone acts only on my instructions,” Gang Guo directed.
Had he still had the same number of Totem Warriors now as when they first departed the Tribe, he would not have been the slightest bit apprehensive.
After all, he himself was a Mid-Stage Totem Warrior. The Flame Dragon Tribe was not a Large Tribe, and surely it could not harbour an abundance of Totem Warriors.
If things came to a head and it truly came to blows, Gang Guo was confident he would not lose.
“We will follow your instructions without question,” Bo said, nodding vigorously.
His own strength was not even half of Gang Guo’s, and the other man was one of the Dark Scorpion Tribe’s most formidable figures. There was no question of doing anything other than following his every word.
“Boss, the hour is getting late. Shall we rest for a while? At this pace, we should arrive at the Flame Dragon Tribe by midday tomorrow,” Luc asked.
He was in truth utterly exhausted, but had been holding it back and saying nothing.
Now, seeing that Gang Guo’s expression had eased somewhat, he immediately put forward the request.
Gang Guo raised his head and looked at the sky, then lowered it and surveyed the surroundings before nodding. “Start looking for a mountain cave or tree hollow to rest in.”
He was well aware of the time. It was just that finding a cave or hollow required no small amount of time.
Little did he know, every movement the Dark Scorpion Tribe made was being watched by a single pair of eyes.
High above, Cheng Shi was peering through a telescope at the group below, brow drawn tightly together.