Chapter 59: A Higher Regard

Compared with Zhou Chongshan, the formidable power displayed by the Fierce Wolf through the power of the True Word was still far from being despair-inducing.

Judging from this, Zhou Xu roughly guessed that the other's martial prowess level was probably around the two-star mark.

In other words, it fell within the range of an ordinary person.

Given this premise, more than a dozen skeleton soldiers wielding bone spears, coupled with a Zhou Chongshan, killing him was just a matter of a few moves, wasn't it?

"Kill!"

Without hesitation, Zhou Xu calmly gave the order. Right now was the critical moment of life-and-death combat between the two tribes; he had no room to spare anyone's life.

Not to mention that this person also had a deep grudge with Zhou Chongshan and the others.

The development of their tribe had just gotten onto the right track, and he certainly didn't want any internal problems cropping up.

Hearing Zhou Xu's kill order, Fierce Wolf's entire heart instantly leaped into his throat.

What was his current situation? How could he possibly not know?

The reason he had just tried to pressure Zhou Chongshan with words was, to put it bluntly, to shake the other's resolve and find a breakthrough opportunity for himself.

Never did he expect that he had picked the wrong person.

Following Zhou Xu's words, Zhou Chongshan, having found his backbone, instantly felt his inner resolve solidify.

The skeleton soldiers did not fear death. Once their numbers piled up and they faced a high-density encirclement, Fierce Wolf undoubtedly had to be three parts wary, not to mention that Zhou Chongshan was also lingering like a tiger watching its prey within this battle group.

At the same time, just as Zhou Xu had predicted, having used the power of the True Word to strengthen himself for a long time, although he currently had no major injuries on him, his exhaustion was by no means small, and he had obviously become the end of a spent crossbow.

More than a dozen skeleton soldiers surrounding him, gripping bone spears and stepping forward with fatal paces, closed in for the encirclement.

Seeing that the situation was turning bad, Fierce Wolf directly picked a direction where the skeleton soldiers' blockade was weakest and forced a breakthrough.

In a direct clash, the skeleton soldiers held no chance of victory.

However, just as mentioned before, the skeleton soldiers' greatest advantage was that they weren't afraid to die. If they couldn't block him, they would simply open both arms and hang onto his body.

Fierce Wolf had obviously never witnessed this kind of ruffian-like fighting style before.

"Damn it, get away from me!!"

Looking at those skeleton soldiers who fought to the death to entangle him, grabbing his hands and feet, and even directly hanging onto his body, Fierce Wolf's face turned green with anger in an instant.

Having finally shaken off the entanglement of the skeleton soldiers, Zhou Chongshan had already charged before him with his axe raised.

As soon as he shook off Zhou Chongshan, the skeleton soldiers regrouped and entangled him once again.

These two forces, interlocking step by step, directly dragged Fierce Wolf into the abyss of despair.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Chongshan landed a heavy blow dead on target.

The dual consumption of the True Word's power and physical stamina had already left Fierce Wolf at the end of his rope.

And Zhou Chongshan's strike undoubtedly became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

His blood-soaked body collapsed heavily to the ground, leaving him with no strength left to stand up again.

During this process, Zhou Xu, who had witnessed this scene, saw a flash of surprise in his eyes.

Suppressing the slight oddity in his heart, he quickly raised his voice and shouted...

"Your leader has already been defeated! Surrender and you will be spared!!!"

While shouting, Zhou Xu commanded the skeleton soldiers to go forward and assist.

During this process, Shi Lei on the other side had long since noticed the commotion here and quickly led the members of the Salt Lake Camp to regroup, then launched a counterattack.

However, this counterattack was still far from easy; the enemy's numerical advantage wasn't just for show, and it wasn't simply a matter of a few more people.

The only advantage during this time was that the arrival of Zhou Xu and his group instilled confidence in the members of the Salt Lake Camp, making them much more tenacious.

Relying on this encouragement, Shi Lei steadied his breath and commanded his subordinates to engage in guerrilla warfare with the enemy the whole way through, finally managing to hold on until that shout rang out.

Needless to say, Shi Lei and the others quickly followed suit and shouted along.

The cry of 'Surrender and you will be spared' quickly spread across the entire Black Forest.

Of course, the people from the opposing tribe wouldn't just believe anything shouted at them.

However, Zhou Xu's skeleton soldiers quickly closed in for the kill.

Seizing the opportunity, Shi Lei also didn't say another word, immediately signaling the tribe members under his command to rush forward in coordination.

The undead traits of the skeleton soldiers and their suicidal fighting style directly delivered a massive shock to the entire battle situation.

Coupled with the continuous shouting from Zhou Xu's side, and the fact that their leader had yet to show his face, the anxiety in their hearts grew deeper and deeper, eventually causing them to completely lose their will to fight and choose surrender.

For the surrendered enemies, needless to say, they were all bound hand and foot and placed under guard.

At the same time, in the Black Forest, looking at Zhou Chongshan, who was panting heavily yet still standing tall without falling, Zhou Xu walked up slowly.

"You showed him mercy in the end."

Relying on the ability of the 'Eye of Insight', Zhou Xu saw very clearly that the moment the stone axe was about to cleave into Fierce Wolf, Zhou Chongshan suddenly turned it over to strike with the blunt back of the axe.

Although the stone axe itself wasn't sharp to begin with, the difference in destructive power between the blade edge and the blunt back was still quite distinct.

At this, Zhou Chongshan nodded.

"Yes, Leader."

"Why? I thought you really wanted to kill him."

Clearly, judging from Zhou Chongshan's reaction at the time, Zhou Xu didn't doubt the other's determination to kill Fierce Wolf in the slightest.

Under those circumstances, the fact that the other party ultimately showed mercy to Fierce Wolf and didn't kill him could be said to have greatly exceeded his expectations.

And next, Zhou Chongshan's words stirred an even greater pleasant surprise within Zhou Xu.

"I wanted to kill him, but I feel he is useful to the tribe. If he can submit, our tribe's strength can become even greater. Therefore, compared to killing him, I chose the latter. Leader, you can make him hand over the True Word and swear allegiance."

Saying this, Zhou Chongshan paused for a moment.

"Of course, whether he lives or dies is ultimately up to you to decide."

In such a barbarous era, being able to possess magnanimity was extremely rare. Zhou Chongshan's breadth of mind alone was enough to make Zhou Xu hold him in high regard.

At the same time, Zhou Chongshan's words just now also revealed a piece of information that Zhou Xu cared quite a bit about.

"This True Word can actually be handed over voluntarily?"

While raising this question, Zhou Xu himself made a test.

There were no special operations involved; basically, with just a thought, a cluster of faint light slowly emerged from his body—it was precisely the True Word that had been integrated into his body.

Then, with another thought of Zhou Xu's, the True Word quickly sank back into his body.

He hadn't really thought about this matter before, so naturally, he hadn't tried it out. But now, the answer had been revealed.

"True Words can be voluntarily extracted, because True Words not only choose their own masters, but there is also the question of whether different True Words can coexist with one another..."

Saying this, Zhou Chongshan didn't need to continue, because Zhou Xu had basically figured the matter out.

As early as his previous conversation with Zhou Chongshan, Zhou Xu had already learned that there was a degree of compatibility between True Words and people; only those with sufficient compatibility could fuse with a True Word.

Under this premise, even if one could fuse with a True Word, if the compatibility was too low, using it would also be extremely strenuous.

And now it seemed that, aside from the aforementioned issues, there was also a compatibility factor between different True Words.

If one encountered two True Words that could not merge, they would have to extract one and make a choice.

[I must pay attention to this issue in the future as well.]