Ga Shu
The 'Greenwood Tribe Ancestor was in fact an Aztec man called Ga Shu, from a distant branch of the Aztec Tribe. He had lived a difficult life, but one day, he encountered the true Greenwood Tribe Ancestor, a beautiful woman with the Fae Tribe bloodline.
The two fell in love, but 250 years ago, the Greenwood Tribe Ancestor fell ill. Despite being a 5-Star Realm body temperer, her illness was ferocious and there was no known cure, her condition worsened gradually over time, until eventually, she lost consciousness.
She fell into a deep slumber 207 years ago, entering a comatose state, and the years flew by. Ga Shu cared for her and did his best to treat her, but even after 207 years, he was still unable to awaken the sleeping beauty.
"I understand. The reason that you willingly gave up on fighting against me or fleeing and leaving the province, is because you want to protect her." Yaan looked at the sleeping woman as he spoke, then turned towards Ga Shu calmly.
Ga Shu nodded, showing a solemn expression.
"Lord Red, I ask that you do not harm myself, Freya, or the Greenwood Tribe. In order to preserve this tribe, and so that I can continue protecting my wife, I am willing to become your subordinate."
"You do understand that she is unlikely to ever wake up, don't you?" Yaan asked plainly.
He was no doctor, he could not treat this woman, he had no idea what was wrong with her…but if a 5-Star Realm cultivator could not remedy her condition even after 200 years, then her chances of ever recovering were slim to none.
Ga Shu remained silent.
Yaan looked at Ga Shu deeply. This person had clearly resolved himself to doing whatever it took to protect his wife, even if it was a hopeless pursuit.
No, perhaps, 'hope' was what kept him going…
"Since it's like this, I will allow the Greenwood Tribe to keep their internal autonomy. I trust that you will handle things properly and serve me well." Yaan spoke after a period of silence.
Ga Shu's eyes widened, then as an expression of relief flashed across his face, he clasped his hands together in a fashion which was slightly different compared to the standard custom on the Qi Plane, holding both hands in front of his chest.
"You have my gratitude, Lord Red. I swear to serve you and your Bloody Totem Tribe well."
"Mm." Yaan nodded. "Then you can begin showing your use immediately. I want you to tell me everything you know."
Ga Shu stared at him blankly for a while.
"About what?"
"This region, this kingdom, this empire, this world." Yaan continued. "As I'm sure you already know, I am not from the Star Plain Province. This is no secret, after all, the Bloody Totem Tribe's rise has been far too sudden. I need information, and if you wish to continue living here with your wife, then you will tell me everything I want to know."
Ga Shu nodded solemnly, not daring to refuse.
"Of course…but this will take some time. How about we move to somewhere more comfortable."
Even though Ga Shu said this because he was clearly uncomfortable with having Yaan linger around his unconscious wife for too long, Yaan didn't say anything and agreed to move back above ground.
Ga Shu lived directly above the underground temple. He had adopted the Fae Tribe's style of living, building himself a wooden house within the canopy of a large tree which protruded hundreds of feet into the sky. From outside, this greenwood tree looked like any other tree. It was only after flying past the outer layer of leaves and branches that the wooden abode within would be revealed.
After entering the Aztec man's home, Yaan noticed that the décor was extremely sparse. There was simply no furniture, leaving the wooden walls looking like a small box, enclosing the empty space within.
Ga Shu realised that this wasn't really appropriate for a meeting and gave a light cough, then retrieved a few items from his spatial ring.
A minute later, Yaan sat down on a prayer mat opposite Ga Shu, calmly sipping the tea prepared by the Aztec man.
"Good tea!" Yaan praised in surprise. He knew that the Greenwood Tribe were renowned for their tea brewing skills, but he did not expect that Ga Shu would have also adopted this skill.
"I never cared for tea in the past, but I started drinking it daily ever since Freya lost consciousness…"
Yaan could see the vestiges of time in this man's eyes. It was clear that he was exhausted, yet he still needed to go on. He was tired, but for his wife, he needed to persevere.
"I was born into a branch of the Aztec Tribe known as the Wild Man Tribe…"
Ga Shu began recounting his life to Yaan. He did not go into great details on irrelevant events, but used the story of his life to paint a picture of the world as he knew it.
Originally, Ga Shu was not from the Star Plain Province. In fact, he wasn't even born in the Kingdom of Lunar Song!
Ga Shu had spent a large portion of his life travelling, wondering through the world with no attachments. In fact, the time that he had spent walking, running or flying from tribe to tribe, from province to province, from to kingdom to kingdom, probably added up to over 100 years. The rest of his years were spent either staying at the various tribes he visited, or most recently, guarding the Greenwood Tribe.
Ga Shu's worldview was much wider than anyone else whom Yaan had met on the Blood Plane so far.
Everyone knew of the 5,000 kingdoms in the War Flower Empire, and that each kingdom was supposedly ruled by an immortal, but Ga Shu explained that this didn't even begin to describe the immensity of the War Flower Empire.
He wasn't overly knowledgable on the Kingdom of Lunar Song, but he had a deep understanding of his birth kingdom, the Berserker Kingdom. He used this kingdom as an example to explain the true might of a single 'kingdom' in this empire.
"The Berserker Kingdom is ruled by the Berserker Tribe, a large scale Aztec Branch Tribe. In the Berserker Kingdom, 90% of the smaller tribes are also Aztec Branch Tribes. This Kingdom of Lunar Song is split into many well-defined provinces, but there is no such distinction in the Berserker Kingdom…war in that kingdom is too rampant, territorial boundaries are constantly being changed, so having set provinces simply does not work. However, I can tell you this…in the Berserker Kingdom, there are thousands of Rank 5 tribes, and lower rank tribes are even more numerous! Including their vassal tribes, there are nine immortals in the Berserker Tribe. There are also a few other tribes in the kingdom which are supported by immortals…"
Yaan was once again left feeling dumbstruck.
A single kingdom held over nine immortals? And there were 5,000 kingdoms in this empire…
Even if the Berserker Kingdom was larger than most, this was simply ridiculous!
Since when did immortals become as common as grass?!
Ga Shu went on.
"The Berserker Kingdom is one of the stronger and larger kingdoms, but based on my knowledge, it is still normal for a kingdom to hold multiple immortals. Many people in this small province believe that the Kingdom of Lunar Song is ruled by a single immortal, but I doubt that this is the case."
"I see…" Yaan muttered.
He had underestimated the War Flower Empire, even after acknowledging the immense power of this force. If what Ga Shu said was true, then there were simply tens of thousands of immortals in this empire!
Each kingdom was like an entire Southern Continent from Planet Yushu…just what sort of monstrous force could rule 5,000 of these kingdoms? Just what sort of tribe stood above tens of thousands of immortals?
Just what sort of person was the War Flower Emperor?
'Could it be that the War Flower Emperor is a divinity…?' Yaan thought to himself uncertainly.
He had met a divinity once before; the Spirit Plane Lord. However, she did not explain much about the matters of the Divine Step to him, as this information was not relevant to the current Yaan and there were more pressing matters to discuss in the little time they had together.
Aside from that, frankly speaking, she didn't want him to worry too much about the terrifying existences that were divinities…
What she did explain to Yaan, were the stages of immortality.
There were five ranks at the Foundation Step, universally, these were known as Rank 1 through to Rank 5. Each cultivation path had their own individual names for these stages, but the rank system could also be applied to all beings.
Rank 6 symbolised Nirvana, it was the brief yet terrifying transitional stage between mortality and immortality. All mortal beings needed to undergo Nirvana in order to transcend mortality and ascend to the Immortal Step. The 'Nirvana Realm' was shared between all paths of cultivation.
Rank 7, Rank 8 and Rank 9, were the three realms of immortality.
For body temperers, there were 7-Star Realm Immortals, 8-Star Realm Immortals, and 9-Star Realm Immortals!
For Qi refiners, there were True Immortals, Ancient Immortals and Dao Immortals!
That said, there was not actually any reason for body temperers and Qi refiners to use different names for the immortal realms. The difference in naming was not actually due to a difference in cultivation paths, it was simply the difference between cultivators on the Qi Plane and the Blood Plane.
In reality, all sentient immortal beings would need to go through the same struggles to progress through the Immortal Step. At this level, cultivation became primarily focussed on passing through tribulations. At the Immortal Step, progression was no longer dependent on building up the body, qi, soul or mind; this was true for all cultivation paths.
There would still be progress in these regards at the Immortal Step, but this progress did not directly correspond to an improvement in the cultivation base.
At the Foundation Step, cultivators sought to improve their cultivation base in order to improve their strength. But at the Immortal Step, it was the other way around; immortals needed to continually improve their strength in order to survive their tribulations, thereby increasing their cultivation base!
Yaan did not really understand the difference in strength between the different stages of immortality, but could a single powerful immortal really rule over tens of thousands of other immortals?
He was unsure. Perhaps the War Flower Emperor was an all-powerful immortal, or perhaps that being was a divinity…
Anyway, thinking about this was a bit pointless - such a character was far beyond Yaan's reach right now. It was more important for him to focus on what was right in front of him.