Luo Shan had been growing like a wild boy, running around in forests and on mountains all day. Therefore, his skin was nearly as dark as those of the dark-kind people. However, after his body was strengthened by the golden pill given by Po, his skin now became snow-white and tender, so much that even Ji Hao couldn't help but silently praise him for his good looks after he dressed up.
Surrounded by a group of elders, Luo Shan, who had put on some brand new clothes, walked to Taisi with big steps and politely kowtowed.
"Thank you, dear lord, for saving my life!"
Taisi was still showing the whites of his eyes, staring straight at Luo Shan with faint spell symbols flashing across his eyeballs without saying anything. This was Taisi's usual manner, he didn't know how to respond when Luo Shan thanked him. The others in Ji Hao's team always felt that something important had gone missing in Taisi's head.
Afterward, Luo Shan walked to Po and kowtowed to him.
"Thank you, lord, for saving my life. If it weren't for you, I would have been killed by my heartless uncles." Luo Shan's body quivered while two streams of tears flowed down.
Just now, those elders told him everything that had happened during these few days. His mother was murdered, and his three uncles led warriors march into his clan, attempting to occupy his clansmen and territory, and laying their murderous hands on himself. Luo Shan could still stay calm to a certain degree even after hearing all this, which was enough to prove that this kid did possess an extraordinary aptitude.
Po held Luo Shan up from the ground and said gently, "It's over now. That was your destiny anyway. Hm…"
Po was still organizing his language, pondering about how he should start the conversation with Luo Shan. Both parents of this poor kid died not long ago, and his three uncles were all cruel, heartless people, who had been conveniently offered to the ancient devil-god by Taisi. By now, because of all those sudden changes in Luo Shan's life, he must have been through a terrible emotional period, and he was still very young. Therefore, Po was a bit worried and didn't know how to tell Luo Shan that Po wanted to take him as a disciple.
Ji Hao discovered Po's hesitation, but he didn't understand the reason behind it. 'What was there to hesitate for?' thought Ji Hao.
Ji Hao thought about all those kids born in Southern Wasteland clans. They were able to fight deadly battles against wild beasts starting at the age of three or five. They could eat beast flesh raw and drink its blood, could surely take on any life-risking fight. Although Luo Shan was still at a young age, which clan kid had ever been spoiled? Their mental endurances were great enough.
Ji Hao pressed his hand heavily on Luo Shan's shoulder, shook him slightly, grinned and said, "Little one, this is Priest Po. He is a very powerful…Maguspriest. He has his eyes on you, which is your immense good luck. Just hurriedly kowtow to him and call him Shifu. In the future, you will become as powerful as Priest Po."
Ji Hao didn't want to explain too much to Luo Shan and his clansmen, especially that group of elders standing behind Luo Shan. Therefore, he simply added the title of 'Maguspriest' on Po.
Lou Shan paused, then turned around, glancing at those elders.
The eyes of those elders shone simultaneously while they swiftly glanced at each other.
Just now, Po fully healed Luo Shan's severely damaged body with a single golden pill and gave him enough life-force for the later soul-redeeming magic. It was obvious that Po was indeed a rather powerful Maguspriest.
Not to mention anything else, only judging from the effects of the golden pill given by Po, Po must have achieved marvelous attainments in the area of magic medicine. At least, among their entire suzerain clan which was ruled by their old clan leader, Luo Lin, the Earl Ji, they had never heard about any healer who could concoct such a medicine which was able to even heal a cold corpse.
Therefore, Po was much more powerful than all healers in the whole Soul Wolf Clan, and this was an undoubted fact.
These days, if a clan wanted to live a peaceful, comfortable life so that all clansmen could settle down and live and work in peace and contentment, it had to be under the protection of some powerful beings. Looking at Luo Shan's clan, once their clan leader fell in Chi Ban Mountain, his three brothers led warriors marched in, and even their young clan leader was murdered once.
By now, Luo Shan's clan was going through its weakest period. Lou Shan's father and all elite warriors had fallen in Chi Ban Mountain, along with the few most powerful senior-level elders. They were all crushed into pieces in Chi Ban Mountain. Who stayed in the clan were no one but a group of weak and declining elderly men who could no longer shelter their clan.
But without a doubt, Po, who was able to cast the 'fleshy-bone' magic, was such a powerful being who could shelter the entire clan.
Not to mention Taisi, who possessed such a mysterious, unpredictable and overwhelmingly great power!
In these elders' eyes, Taisi knew that legendary soul-redeeming magic and could actually cast it. He had truly, literally brought their dead young clan leader back alive; what Taisi did was something even those powerful Maguspriests of the Magi Palace weren't capable of. Taisi must be an even more powerful and dreadful Maguspriest than Po!
Nevertheless, both Po and Taisi were clearly under the lead of Ji Hao, who was titled as Earl Yao, who they had never heard about!
As powerful Maguspriests like Taisi and Po were following his lead, Ji Hao, this Earl Yao, must be even more, much more powerful!
These few elders turned around, quickly glanced across those warriors under Ji Hao's command, who had now been guarding from afar. No matter those dark-kind warriors under Zhamu's lead or those warriors who followed Ji Hao here, all their armors had been sparkling brightly in the darkness. That dazzling glow was released by those spell symbols attached to their armors.
Especially that heavy set of armor worn by Zhamu; within the streams of light released by the armor occasionally, the numbers of spell symbols reached thousands. Apparently, that was a top-grade set of armor. Judging from the smooth shapes of armors worn by Ji Hao's warriors and exquisite patterns embossed on them, all these armors were definitely great pieces crafted by Xiu Clan's master craftsmen.
Lou Shan's clan also had armors produced by Xiu Clan people, but the total number of them was less than a hundred. Furthermore, in terms of quality, those armors were not as good as the ones worn by Ji Hao's warriors. Based on what these elders had seen, Ji Hao had thousands of warriors under his command, and each of them was wearing a set of armor like that.
Those armors represented financial resources, represented force, represented the power that was hundreds of times greater than the power of Luo Shan's clan.
"We…"An elder hesitated for a short while, then said, "Our clan leader has just fallen, we..."
Ji Hao looked at these elders. Their sparkling eyes had already revealed the thoughts they were having in their minds. Ji Hao then said in a deep voice, "Let Luo Shan be Priest Po's disciple. Your entire clan will migrate to my territory, and you will exist as a dependent clan of my, Earl Yao's territory."
Ji Hao patted on Luo Shan's little head while continuing blandly, "I will protect you, and as my dependent clan, you only have to pay tribute to me according to the usual rule. My territory is still a wild piece of land. I need many people to exploit it. Because of Luo Shan, I will not swallow your clan up after you move to my territory."
He then rubbed Luo Shan's hair, pondered for a while and continued while grinning, "When Luo Shan grows up and learns things from Priest Po, he can bring his clansmen back here and inherit Earl Ji's territory. But now, he is so young. Even if he stays in here, do you think the position of Earl Ji will fall into his hands?"
The group of elders looked at each other, then shook their heads in sadness.
"Our old clan leader still has a couple of brothers." said an elder, his words explaining everything.
Earl Ji, Luo Lin was fallen, but he still had a few brothers. His four sons had all died, and Luo Shan was at such a young age. He couldn't possibly climb up to Earl Ji's position.
Just like Ji Hao said, when Luo Shan grew up, gained powers and abilities, and when his clan became powerful enough, they could still return to Earl Ji's territory and take back the title of Earl Ji.
Luo Shan knelt on the ground and solemnly kowtowed to Po, formally acknowledging Po as his Shifu.
The group of elders knelt in front of Ji Hao, respectfully paying homage to their suzerain according to the established practice.