On the entire way back through the Demon Plains, Li Yang did not make a single move against any attacking Demonic beasts. The ones who did all the fighting were the crow that was perched on his left shoulder and the golden serpent that was coiled around his neck. In front of these two beasts, none of the Demonic beasts were able to resist more than two attacks, often peris.h.i.+ng to the first attack.

Li Yang had no intention of letting the members of the Liang tribe know the truth about Jinwu and Shenlong, so he had already made preparations. Jinwu was fine, as he already looked like a normal crow, so he only had to make Shenlong hide some of his features, mainly his limbs. He was a wingless dragon, so once he hid his limbs and altered his head just a little, he looked no different from a golden snake.

The villagers were quite a bit slower than Li Yang's own speed, but they did their best to not be a burden on Li Yang, pus.h.i.+ng themselves to move as fast as possible. It had only taken Li Yang around half a day to reach the dugout mountain, but even with the villagers pus.h.i.+ng themselves, the journey back took a little over a day.

Once out of the Demon Plains, the journey back to the village did not take too long. Upon seeing the familiar village before them, the people from the Liang tribe could not help but burst into tears. Despite their tears, none of them dared to run to the village without getting permission from Li Yang. Li Yang could somewhat guess at what they were thinking, so he gave a slight wave of his hand.

"Alright, run along now, I'm gonna go look for Liang Zhou."

The villagers gave Li Yang a quick bow before das.h.i.+ng into the village, looking for their other family members. Li Yang walked through the village with slow steps, sweeping the surroundings with his gaze. A purple light flashed through the village, Huanglong quietly fusing back into Shenlong.

Li Yang quickly noticed that something in the village wasn't quite right, it was far too quiet, a solemn atmosphere hanging over the entire place. Li Yang activated his tracking technique, quickly finding Liang Zhou hiding inside Li Yang's home.

Li Yang turned his body and headed for his own home, quietly opening the door and entering. Liang Zhou was sitting at the small table that was located at the center of the room, his face pale as he drank what seemed to be cold tea. Li Yang walked to the kitchen corner and picked up a cup for himself, sitting down in front of Liang Zhou and pouring himself a cup of tea.

"The atmosphere in the city is quite dreary, did something happen?"

Thanks to his tracking technique, Li Yang was able to tell that there was one villager missing, so something had clearly happened while he was gone. Liang Zhou raised his head somewhat, allowing Li Yang to see that his eyes were quite bloodshot. Liang Zhou put on a thin and weak smile, glancing towards the outskirts of the village.

"There were a few presences outside the village a while ago, but they suddenly vanished after a purple light flashed. I take it that was because of you?"

The presences Liang Zhou was talking about were the people from the Puppet G.o.d Sect that had tried to take the people in the village hostage. Thanks to being strengthened by the Demon Warrior technique he was able to just barely sense them, but they vanished as quickly as they appeared. Li Yang did not affirm or deny, merely putting on a slight smile as he sipped the cold tea.

"You didn't answer my question."

Since Liang Zhou seemed unwilling to answer, it was easy to guess that he was part of the reason behind the dreary atmosphere. Liang Zhou looked at Li Yang in silence for a bit, but in the end, he lowered his head somewhat, responding in a disheartened voice.

"Liang Youten died. I performed the procedure, but I made a mistake and he died. They are burying him now, but I couldn't face his family so I am hiding here."

Liang Zhou closed his eyes, waiting for any condemning or comforting words from Li Yang. But the words he expected never came. Instead, Li Yang's voice was calm as he questioned.

"I see. And what did you learn from it?"

Liang Zhou could not help but open his eyes and raise his head after hearing Li Yang's question, his head involuntarily tilting in confusion as a slight sound leaked out from his mouth.

"Huh?"

Was he not going to ask what mistake he had made, was he not going to try and comfort him? Faced with the confused Liang Zhou, Li Yang placed down his cup, once again questioning him.

"What did you learn from the mistake you made? As long as you learned something and manage to improve, then it wasn't in vain."

Mistakes weren't good, but they were only terrible if one was unable to learn from them. If one was able to learn from the mistakes they had made, mistakes could even become opportunities. Liang Zhou lowered his eyes somewhat, quietly looking at his tea for a few moments before he responded.

"What I learned, huh? When you deconstruct the bones to extract them, you have to make sure that you deconstruct not only the entire bone, but also sever all the connections the bone has. If you don't, you will pull out everything connected to the bone when you finish the procedure. I thought that there was no need to do that, I thought that all the connections would automatically sever with the deconstruction of the bone."

Liang Zhou had tried to exchange the spine of Liang Youten with the spine of a Demonic beast, but he failed to completely sever the connection that Liang Youten's spine had with his ribs, resulting in everything getting torn out as he tried to extract the spine. There were also unseen connections he had not taken into account, such as the Qi that connected the spine to the rest of the body. Li Yang gave a nod after hearing Liang Zhou's response, sipping a bit more tea as he pointed towards the center of the village.

"Good, you learned something important, Liang Youten's death wasn't in vain. Now go and watch his funeral, apologize to his family. a.s.sure them that you will never repeat the mistake, a.s.sure them that his death was worth something. As the leader of this tribe, that is your duty."

Liang Zhou turned his head, gazing in the direction of the village center. He finished the rest of his tea, placing down the cup and standing up with a nod of his head.

"...You're right. We all have our duties, and this is mine."

Li Yang had not said any comforting words, but he had allowed Liang Zhou to realize that the death of Liang Youten was not in vain. His words had also helped Liang Zhou realize that he could not let himself be depressed like this. He was the leader of the tribe, everyone would look to him for guidance and help, he had to be an example to them, he had to be strong. He stopped just as he was about to leave the door, turning his head slightly, looking at Li Yang who was still calmly drinking his tea.

"Brother Yang, thank you."

Li Yang raised his cup a little, giving a slight nod of his head. He did not leave the house after Liang Zhou's departure, he simply finished the tea and then closed his eyes in quiet cultivation, waiting for Liang Zhou to return.

Liang Zhou returned half a day later, bringing Liang Xinyi with him as he entered the house again. The two walked hand in hand, Liang Xinyi leaning against Liang Zhou as they walked. Some color had returned to Liang Zhou's face, his eyes regaining some of their previous determination. Li Yang opened his eyes as they entered the building, not wasting any time.

"You have to move the village deeper into the Cloud Wilderness. There is a good spot in the Demon Plains, well hidden and easy to defend."

The spot he was talking about was one he had discovered while searching for a place he could take on the clans. Liang Zhou and Xinyi sat down in front of Li Yang, their faces growing more serious.

"To defend against future retaliation, right?"

Liang Zhou and Xinyi did not know exactly what Li Yang had done to the people of the clans, as the array had prevented them from seeing too much, but they both knew that all of the survivors had been forced to leave the Cloud Wilderness. With the pride of the clans, would they be willing to take this without retaliating? Li Yang gave a short nod, quickly explaining the situation.

"I let most of the people leave, but there were still some that died, there is no telling how the sects of the killed people will react. I told them to never return, but that is unlikely to work. There is also the fact that you guys are now Demon Warriors. If they learn about it, they will never allow you to exist. Only once you have become so strong that no one will dare fight against you can you say that your journey has ended, only then can you show yourselves again."

Liang Xinyi looked a bit unwilling to leave the village where she was born and raised, but Liang Zhou fondled his chin with a pensive expression, trying to figure out how to convince the other villagers. At the same time, he found himself somewhat curious, looking directly at Li Yang as he questioned.

"And what about you? Where will you go, where does your journey end?"

Li Yang said that their journey would end once they became strong enough to protect themselves from the clans, at that point in time, the tribe would no longer have anything to fear. But that was the journey of the tribe, not Li Yang's. Li Yang gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders, giving a short explanation.

"I will lead you to the place I found, I will also draw up an array that will keep the village safe. After that, I will immediately head out again, there is a tournament I have to figure out how to join."

The Huo clan compet.i.tion was coming closer and closer, so Li Yang had to quickly find out how to join the compet.i.tion. At the same time, he was wondering whether he should join one of the sects, as it would give him access to better resources. But despite his answer, Liang Zhou seemed somewhat unsatisfied, pressing further.

"You didn't answer my question, where does your journey end?"

After his return, Liang Zhou found himself completely unable to see through this friend of his. What did he see, what did he aim for, where did he wish to go? Liang Zhou found himself unable to even imagine the answer to any of these questions. A slight, yet confident smile appeared on Li Yang's lips, his hand raising, his finger pointing at the sky.

"At the peak of all existence."

Li Yang had tasted the feeling of losing that which he held dear, it was a feeling he never wanted to feel again. The only way he could ensure that he would never feel something like that was if he stood atop everything, was stronger than everyone else. And because of that, only if he stood at the peak would his journey end.