Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 411 Settlement
"boom!"

Lord Chu was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing into half of the cliff. Amidst the dust and debris, he staggered to his feet, the light on his dark short sword already dimmed.

"How is this possible?" Master Chu's aged face twisted in disbelief. "That sword strike back then was clearly..."

"You old fool!" Lord Mi spat out a mouthful of blood, the wound on his bear paw healing at a visible speed. "Do you think I'm still that little bear cub I used to be?"

The mountain spirits before Yu Tian let out desperate howls. They frantically tried to break through the defenses, but Yu Tian toyed with them until they were completely outmaneuvered.

One, eager to charge, was tripped by Yu Tian. Another, swinging his spear too fiercely, was instead struck in the shoulder by Yu Tian's force.

The entire battlefield presented a one-sided situation.

The bear monsters under Lord Mi's command roared as they advanced, each swipe crushing three to five spirits. The tree spirits were ignited by the flaming arrows, transforming into enormous torches. The earth mothers attempted to escape underground, but were dug out of the earth by the pangolin demons who were prepared.
The entire Chu Mountain Lord's camp is at a complete disadvantage. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before Mi Mountain Lord completely occupies Chu Mountain.

But will the battle of gods really be that easy?
As a mountain lord who has managed his territory for hundreds of years, how could Lord Chu not have a backup plan? Although He Bo is seriously injured, would he really sit idly by and watch his ally perish?
Chu Shanzhu suddenly tore open his robe, revealing his withered chest covered with dense runes. Those runes were glowing with an eerie red light, flickering like breathing.

“Mi Heizi…” Chu Shanjun’s voice was like sandpaper rubbing, his aged face twisted into a terrifying shape: “Do you really want to break up?”

“Fifty mountain peaks!” The Lord of Mi Mountain narrowed his enormous bear eyes slightly. His ten-zhang-tall body leaned back slightly, and his thick bear paws dug five deep furrows into the ground.

"You..." Lord Chu was furious: "Chu Mountain only has a hundred peaks! I'd rather die with you!"

"So that's forty!" Two puffs of white vapor shot out from the bear-like nostrils of the Lord of Mi Mountain, his enormous fangs appearing and disappearing.

The ground began to tremble, and Yu Tian saw several ancient trees in the distance suddenly wither without warning, revealing blood-red runes on Chu Shan Jun's chest where the bark peeled away.

"Thirty seats!" Chu Shanjun practically spat out these words through gritted teeth, "Otherwise, we'll all perish today!"

"Deal." To everyone's surprise, Lord Mi readily agreed, waving his massive hand. "Now, have your men withdraw from those territories."

Chu Shanjun's face rapidly shifted between aged and cold beauty, finally settling on that exquisitely beautiful face. She—now it should be "she"—raised her jade hand lightly, and all the mountain spirits and monsters receded like a tide.

"let's go."

Those three simple words sent shivers down the spines of every tree and blade of grass in the entire Chu Mountain. The remaining Chu Mountain troops quickly regrouped and, following that graceful yet desolate figure, slowly disappeared into the depths of the mountains.

A divine war ended with the Lord of Chu Mountain ceding territory.

Yu Tian watched all this silently. He knew that the gods must still have things he didn't know about and hidden cards, otherwise the Lord of Mi Mountain would have definitely gone to great lengths to kill them all!
"Roar--!!!"

Suddenly, Lord Mi stood upright, his ten-zhang-tall body blotting out the sky. With a deafening roar, every hair on his body stood on end, as if hundreds of years of humiliation had been released in this single roar.

"Hoohoho!"

The bear monsters and mountain demons all over the mountains responded, their roars rolling like thunder over every newly conquered mountain peak.

The firelight from the victory celebration illuminated half the night sky!
Lord Mi sat high on the main seat, his three-zhang-tall bear body casting a huge shadow in the firelight. He opened a jar of century-old wine, the amber liquid dripping down his fangs and corroding small pits on the stone platform.

"Yu Tian!" The Lord of Mi Mountain suddenly raised his wine jar, his voice like a muffled thunder: "This Lord of Mi Mountain intends to appoint you as the Lord of this mountain!" The noisy banquet instantly fell silent. All the demons' eyes were focused on Yu Tian.

Yu Tian was slowly and methodically cutting a piece of roasted venison with a knife.

The tip of the knife paused slightly.

Yu Tian raised his head, a bit of oil still glistening at the corner of his mouth: "Mountain Lord, didn't we agree before?" He put down the knife and tapped his fingertip lightly on the stone table. "Could it be that...the Mountain Lord is going to go back on his word?"

"hehe."

The laughter of the Mi Mountain Lord caused the campfire to dim abruptly. He leaned down, his massive bear head close to Yu Tian's, the stench of alcohol mixed with the blood assaulting his nostrils: "My Mi Mountain is too small." The bear's claws dug five furrows into the stone platform. "It can't contain you!"

As the last word fell, Yu Tian felt an invisible pressure bearing down like a mountain. He remained calm, his internal energy flowing silently, dissolving the pressure into nothingness.

"Very well." Lord Mi suddenly straightened up, the shadow withdrawing from Yu Tian. "It's up to you. This Lord is a generous person!"

The banquet became lively again, but the atmosphere was different. Yu Tian picked up his wine glass and took a small sip. The wine rippled slightly in the glass. Only the two of them understood the exchange that had just taken place.

Lord Mi wanted to bring Yu Tian under his wing completely, but Yu Tian disagreed and insisted on an equal partnership.

Lord Mi tilted his head back and drank, the wine soaking down his neck and onto the hair on his chest.

He sighed inwardly: In just one year, that boy who fled in panic had grown to the point where he could rival his aura.
As the firelight flickered, Yu Tian's shadow on the stone wall stretched and shortened. He knew that from this night onward, his relationship with the Lord of Mi Mountain would no longer be a simple matter of exploitation and being exploited.

Fortunately, he has already grown enough.

When Yu Tian returned to the cave under the moonlight, Xiao Lingdang was practicing her boxing skills in the open space outside the cave.

Her figure swayed like wisps of smoke in the moonlight, each palm strike creating a subtle gust of wind that rustled the surrounding grass. In just one year, the girl who couldn't even catch a wild rabbit back then now possessed a faint glow of inner energy flowing around her.

"Quite a step forward." Yu Tian leaned against the stone wall at the cave entrance, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Little Bell stopped her attack at the sound, and as she turned around, the lingering energy in her hair still clung to her. Her eyes shone brightly in the night, no longer showing the timidity of before: "You're back."

A night breeze swept through the mountain stream, carrying the lingering echoes of a victory celebration in the distance. Yu Tian gazed in the direction of River God City, his voice soft: "It's about time."

"We'll go back in a few days."

Under the moonlight, Yu Tian saw Xiao Lingdang's eyelashes tremble slightly. But when she raised her head, her eyes were filled with determination: "Yes."

That single word made Yu Tian feel as if he could see her growth over the past year. Strength can indeed change a person from the inside out, just like tempered iron, which becomes more resilient through forging.

"It's time to put an end to this."

They should make a clean break with the past and with the River God!
(End of this chapter)