They returned before midday, carrying a large deer between them. The young man had moved with absolute precision in the hunt.
And Long despite his massive frame had proven himself to be surprisingly fast. So the two of them together had perfectly demonstrated coordination in hunting and carrying a deer.
When they laid the kill before Luo He, even Xu Mun nodded approvingly.
"Acceptable," Luo He said simply. "What is your name?" he asked the man.
"My name is Shian. Chief" he answered respectfully. Luo He asking his name was a gesture of recognition. Then Luo He's mind was already three moves ahead.
For the Gathering that afternoon, Luo He assembled his closest followers. Su Kim. Xu Mun. Shirshir. Long. The young man Shian now formally accepted and named as a warrior.
And the carefully selected fifty finest fighters from his original force sent to escort Xu Mun and Su Kim, plus the eighteen surviving soldiers who had arrived with the two.
Roughly seventy men. It wasn't a massive army, but it was disciplined. It was loyal. And more importantly, it was led by Luo He.
"We move at now," he announced. Studying the faces of his gathered followers. "The four other tribes will be contacted." He said coldly.
"Each will be offered a choice, unite under one banner or be conquered separately." His voice was sharp and commanding.
"And the cannibal tribe?" Xu Mun asked carefully. "Last," Luo He replied. "By the time we reach them, we will have absorbed the others. They will see the futility of resistance." He paused.
"And if they don't bow, we will show them why the god chose me to lead." He said proudly. Shirshir watched him with an expression of mingled admiration and concern.
This was not the man who had embraced her gently, who had refused his other wives out of moral principle.
This was someone else entirely someone coldly strategic, moving people like game pieces across a board.
Long simply nodded, utterly satisfied with whatever direction his chief chose.
Shirshir's brother, the one she barely recognized now with the changes.
He looked at Luo He with something approaching religious reverence. By tomorrow evening, five tribes would know the name of their new ruler.
By the week's end, they would either serve him or be dead.
The unification of the forest tribes was a fourteen day campaign. These days were numbered not according to dates but are marked according to key events in the campaign.
(1)Day One:- The Ashes of the Fallen Tribe.
Early morning the next day Luo He matched out with his force of a hundred men. The original forces was added with other support staff reaching a little over one hundred men.
The smoke could be seen from half a day's march away. Su Kim road beside Luo He on one of the small forest horses, her posture rigid with tension.
She had seen destruction before. The records of Luo He's campaigns were also written in blood and silence, but never like this. Never on a scale that suggested an apocalypse.
"The Cannibal tribe," Xu Mun said grimly. He was walking on Luo He's other side. "They moved faster than the scouts predicted." Shian said solemnly.
Luo He said nothing. He simply studied the burned huts, the broken palisades, the funeral pyres already being constructed beside the sacred forest trees.
Bodies lay in rows. Women and children wailed as warriors carried the dead to their final resting places. The smell from smoke and death hung thick in the humid air.
"How many?" Luo He asked softly. "Hundreds are dead." A scout reported, cantering up beside them. "The chief is among them." He said solemnly.
"The defenders held for three days but were eventually overwhelmed. The Blood God shamans performed rituals over the bodies." He reported.
Luo He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, they held something cold and calculating. "We stop here !" Luo He announced.
"Gather the officers. Retrieve the supply wagons from the rear columns." He commended. Su Kim exchanged a glance with Xu Mun. This was not the response she had expected.
There was no rage, no talk of vengeance, no immediate plans for retribution. Instead, Luo He had apparently decided to simply, stop.
Within the hour, Luo He's seventy warriors had set up a camp at the village's edge. But the real aid came from the support staff and what the wagons unloaded.
Grain. Dried meat. Medicine. Blankets. Bronze cooking pots that glinted in the afternoon sun like promises.
Su Kim watched as Luo He's healers a small team that had accompanied them from the village moved among the wounded with practiced efficiency.
Wounds were cleaned. Herbs were applied. Those beyond saving were given medicines to ease their suffering.
Though they could not be saved, offering them that mercy was the very least that could be done.
The village elders approached him that evening, their expressions hardened by grief into something more like stone.
"We have nothing to offer you." An elderly woman said, her voice hollow. "Our chief is dead. Best of our warriors are dead." She said coldly.
"If you have come to take the few of us who are useful..." She added her expression hollow. "I have come to help." Luo He said simply.
The statement hung in the air like something impossible. For two full days his team worked without rest. Su Kim found herself assisting the healers.
Using her own medical knowledge, and things that Luo He had taught her. She took care of people who had nothing, and also could offer nothing in return.
She bandaged wounds. She prepared medicines. She sat with the dying and held their hands while they made their passage to whatever came after. She also used healing magic on a rear few.
On the evening of the second day, she found herself sitting beside a young girl who had lost both parents in the attack.
The child, perhaps eight years old was staring at nothing. Trauma having shut down her capacity for even grief. Su Kim simply sat there with her.
Not speaking. Not offering false comfort. Just present. When Luo He found her there, something in his expression shifted. "That child will always remember you," he said quietly.
"That child will remember what was taken from her." Su Kim replied. "I am simply here while she starts to understand that." He said, touching Su Kim's shoulder briefly.
Then he moved to address the gathered tribe. "The Blood God's servants will return," he announced. His voice carrying across the entire settlement.
"They have tasted victory here. They will soon be hungry for more. Your elders know this. Your warriors know this. Your children know this." He said with quite confidence.
No one argued.
"You have twelve hundred warriors remaining," he continued. "No chief. No walls. No supplies.
You have less than three days before they return for the refugees and the young women they missed." He paused.
"You have no time." He said coldly. The words were harsh, but they were true. Su Kim could see the elders' jaws tighten as reality reasserted itself.
"What do you propose?" the elderly woman asked. "March with me." Luo He said simply.
"Bring your people. Bring your strongest warriors. Bring what you can carry. By the time the Blood God tribe returns, you will be gone." He said firmly.
Silence stretched across the gathering.
Then the young warriors began to stand. One by one they rose, not with enthusiasm, but with recognition of the only choice that made sense.
By evening, the tribe had begun to pack.
By morning, nearly four thousand people were marching under Luo He's protection.
Warriors, women, children, and elders carrying what little remained of their lives in bundles on their backs.
Luo He's force had grown from seventy to approximately thirteen hundred in a single day.