1008 Bonehead

"What was that? What did you do?" Li Yun asked.

"That was Sword Qi. Do you guys not know about it?" he asked.

Li Yun simply shook her head. Alex couldn't help but sigh at just how little these tribes folks knew.

"I'll explain sometime later. Finish with the rats already," he said.

The rest of them didn't take much longer to be done with their fights, and once they were done, they started gathering all the dead beasts and brought them back.

"There are quite a lot of beasts out tonight. It might be better for the weaker folks to stay away from here. Also, increase the guards for tonight," the chief ordered.

After seeing that there was no more need for him here, Alex returned to his small room and went to sleep. He didn't truly require any sleep as he could go on for days without it, but he still liked sleeping. Besides, what else was there to do?

He lay there, thinking about his future while slowly falling asleep. He heard the others come in as well and not long after, he fell asleep.

After a good night of sleep, Alex woke up rather late in the morning and went out to get freshened up. He was planning on getting his clothes from the woman who had taken the snakeskin and later in the day, leaving this place.

However, before his plans went anywhere, he heard a person rushing through the tribe in a hurry. Alex spread his spiritual sense to see what was up and saw the man quickly find the chief.

"Chief, there are other tribes people at the front," he said.

The chief and many others quickly walked away, while Alex looked at the situation from where he was. His spiritual sense had already reached outside and he could see the tribespeople they were talking about.

These people had similarly tanned skin as everyone else, but for some reason, most of the people in the tribe had messed up hair that was full of dried-up white powder that seemed to have been applied while it was wet and grimy.

Other than that characteristic of the people, he saw that a few of them were injured as well. Alex couldn't help but be surprised why that.

So, as he continued checking what was happening outside, he slowly made his way out as well.

The chief arrived outside the fence and looked at the group of tribespeople standing there. Altogether, there were about 70 different people there.

Compared to the Stepstones tribe, that was about a third or fourth of it.

Li Yun was next to her father and looked at the newcomers in front of her. "Are those… the Bonehead tribe's people?" she asked.

The Bonehead tribe was a nearby tribe that could be reached in less than a day of travel by foot to the east.

"I think so," the chief said softly. "I don't remember hearing about any other tribe that puts powdered bone on their head."

Seeing that so many of them were gathered, an older man that wore nothing but small leather shorts, walked up front. Aside from his hair, his body was also tattooed with bone powder.

Also, he seemed to have a recent wound on his right arm that had been stopped using some bone powder again.

"Who is your chief?" the man asked the Stepstones tribe.

"I am," the chief said. "Why are the Bonehead tribe's people at my tribe?"

The man saw the chief and slowly walked closer to him. "My tribe's people need a place to stay. So, I wish to fight against you to determine the future of this tribe of yous," he said.

"What?" the chief was startled and confused. "Why do you want to take over my tribe? Just go back to your own."

"I'm afraid that is not possible anymore. Now, tell me, are you willing to fight me in a match to determine the ruler of the tribe?" the man asked.

"And what? You will become the new chief of our tribe once you win?" the chief asked.

"That is indeed so," the man said. "Now, what do you say?"

"Of course, I'm not going to fight you. Why would I fight you randomly after you come here? This is not your tribe. Go back to your tribe; if you can't, then go somewhere else and don't bother us," the chief said.

"You will be making a big mistake if you don't agree to this duel. If you won't fight me, then I will be forced to start an all-out attack against your people so I can find my people a place to stay in," the man said.

"We have 4 times as many people as you. We have nothing to worry about," the chief said.

"That may be true, but the ones I have here are only the best of the best of my tribe. If you are confident that you can survive a full-on assault from all of us, then you can continue refusing," the man said.

The chief looked at the people that stood behind them. He checked every single one there and just as the man had said, they were all rather strong. He could tell by the shapes of their muscle and the posture of their body.

'But why do they all seem to be hurt?' he wondered.

"What do you say?" the man asked.

"What will you do if we fight and you lose?" the chief asked.

"Then, I will leave and go duel another tribe somewhere," the man said.

"You don't expect me to trust your words, do you?" the chief asked.

"I swear on my name, Han Guanxi that everything I speak of today is the truth. I swear on the name of our Bonehead tribe as well that if we lose the duel, and we aren't allowed to stay here, then we will leave," the man said.

"Do you swear this on your position as the chief?" the chief asked.

The man's face turned gloomy for a second before calming himself. "I cannot," he said. "For I am not the chief of this tribe."

The chief was surprised. "Then who are you?" he asked.

"Just the strongest of the group. We are without a chief, so if I can find these people a place to stay, then I might consider becoming the chief," he said.

The chief was a little taken aback. "You're not the chief? Where's your chief then?" he asked.

"He died not long ago," the man said. "Now, do you accept or not?"

"Just accept it," Alex said as he slowly walked through the crowd.

The man named Han looked towards Alex with a bit of confusion on his face, wondering why such a weak-looking person was speaking amongst the tribe.

However, when he saw the respect the people gave by moving aside for him to walk through, he quickly understood the young man wasn't so simple.

"Do you suggest that we accept their duel?" the chief asked.

"I don't see what's wrong with accepting it," Alex said. "Are you afraid you can't win?"

"I can," the chief said. "I'm just worried they might not keep their word and attack us later on."

"What can you do to stop them from attacking you later?" Alex said. "Will making him say that they will attack you help in any way? Will you suddenly have an advantage against them?"

The chief thought for a moment. "I suppose not," he said. "I see, so whether I take the duel or not, I will end up with the same amount of information. But if I do take the offer of the duel, there is a chance that they will not attack me, which will be beneficial for us."

"We won't attack you after we lose. As I said, I am the strongest. If I lose, the others won't have a chance of beating you," he said.

"Do you want me to fight?" Alex asked.

"No, this is my tribe's problem. If I include you in this, it will not be fair for them," the chief said.

The man curiously looked at Alex, wondering what the chief meant by those words.

"Fine, I will accept your duel. Let's fight," the chief said.

The man smiled and walked up front. "Let us fight then," he said.

The duel started a minute later, and it ended not even a minute after. Alex watched in surprise at how easily the chief won.

'What the hell was that? A false bravado? Some sort of trick?' he wondered as he looked at the man that was on the floor.

The man struggled to get up and nodded toward the chief. "Since you've beaten me, I will leave," he said and turned around.

"Are you seriously leaving?" the chief asked.

"I gave my words," the man said.

"Why even try and attack us when you are so weak? Are the people behind you even weaker than you or what?" the chief asked.

"They are indeed weaker than me," the man said and walked away.

"Next time, bring some of the stronger folks from your tribe," the chief said and turned to leave as well. However, he heard the man speak from behind him.

"I'm afraid that will be impossible. These are the last remaining people of the Bonehead tribe," he said. "If we can't find a place to stay soon, we will go our own separate ways."

The chief turned around quickly. "What? What happened to the rest of your tribe?" he asked.

"They all died," the man said with a solemn face. "They all died in a beast attack half a month ago."