On the distant mountainside, the barbarian warriors were all dumbfounded, including the barbarian elder who stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what he was seeing.
The person who fell from the sky was not only unharmed by the myriad thunderbolts but had also crashed and collapsed half the mountain. Was he a Divine Spirit dwelling in the Nine Heavens?
Soon, the countless heavenly thunderbolts dissipated, the dark clouds vanished, and the world turned clear and sunny once more.
But the numerous barbarian warriors dared not act rashly. They watched the collapsed mountain from afar, observing, unsure if that Divine Spirit who had fallen from the sky was dead or not.
After waiting for half a day, there was still no movement there. The elder immediately decided to go and see what had happened.
But some barbarian warriors were terrified and tried to dissuade the elder, saying they should not act rashly or go, fearing that the Divine Spirit might consider it blasphemy and unleash divine wrath upon the entire barbarian tribe.
"No, if we see someone in danger and do not help, the Divine Spirit might be even angrier. Moreover, with the Great Barbarian God watching over us, that Divine Spirit Lord will not punish us," the elder spoke, clearly more authoritative. The barbarian warriors behind him evidently trusted his words.
A group of barbarian warriors rushed over quickly. Even the barbarian youth temporarily threw down the Five-Snake Bear. When they arrived, each of them gasped in shock.
For in the scorched, divine crater where half the mountain had been blasted open by the thunder, there lay strewn a human figure, his entire body charred black. Yet, astonishingly, his flesh was not shattered, and his body was even undamaged.
It was a young man with delicate, handsome features.
Was this the Divine Spirit descended from the Nine Heavens? Truly extraordinary!
Everyone revered him as a Divine Spirit, gazing at this young man with great awe, even though he remained unconscious.
"Divine Spirit Lord, we beg your pardon," the elder said, stepping forward to check the young Divine Spirit's aura. He found that he was not dead, though his aura seemed very weak.
The elder gave orders: "Quickly prepare a fine stretcher, padded with the finest pelts. Take the Divine Spirit Lord back to the village and let him recuperate properly."
Barbarian warriors had already prepared a stretcher, made from two thick bones and covered with demonic beast pelts. It was simple but soft, and carried by two barbarian warriors, it moved as if on level ground without the slightest tremor.
The young Divine Spirit lay steadily on the stretcher, unmoving. If not for the slight rise and fall of his chest, others would have thought this Nine Heavens Divine Spirit was dead.
On the way back, they discovered a fearsome giant crater not far from the village. A large swath of ancient forest had been destroyed. In the center of the crater, a Bronze Great Halberd was thrust into the ground, half-buried, appearing simple, plain, and of an ancient style.
Naturally, it caught their attention. Suspecting it might be the Divine Spirit Lord's weapon, lost here, the elder also ordered it to be brought back. But when a barbarian warrior stepped forward, he found he could not pull it out, even with all his might.
This seemingly ordinary Bronze Great Halberd seemed to weigh ten thousand jun, impossible to lift.
This surprised the many barbarian warriors and piqued their curiosity. They stepped forward one by one, but without exception, none could pull it out, including the barbarian youth, the standout of the younger generation, standing one zhang tall with immense strength, capable of moving mountains and dominating the world with his aura.
But when he came before the great halberd, his hands as large as sand pots gripping this relatively slender weapon, he found that even with his great strength, he could not pull it out, only managing to make it tremble slightly a few times.
This scene shocked him. Afterward, even a group of barbarian warriors stepping forward could not pull it out. When the elder went up, he was also shocked to find he could not budge it. Finally, sensing the extraordinary nature of the divine weapon, they decided to leave it thrust here for now. Once the Divine Spirit Lord awakened, if he confirmed it was his, he could pull it out himself.
This was a prosperous village, standing on the edge of the Million Mountains, also a part of the wild mountain range, though far less dangerous. It housed thousands of tribespeople, all tall and burly—barbarians, natural-born warriors.
Generally speaking, the women were relatively normal in size, some even petite, though compared to people from the outside world, they were still considered tall. They wore beast-skin clothing, though far less tall and burly than the men.
On this day, the village became lively.
Not only because they had shot forth one of the lords of the Million Mountains, the Five-Snake Bear, but also because Elder Wang Man, leading his team, had brought back a Divine Spirit Lord who had fallen from the Nine Heavens from the Million Mountains. He could withstand the attack of myriad thunderbolts without damage and crash into half a mountain without injury. Many barbarians crowded around, wanting to see what this Divine Spirit Lord from the Nine Heavens looked like.
But the chieftain and other elders stopped them, saying the Divine Spirit Lord now needed to recuperate and must not be disturbed, lest he awaken angry and bring punishment upon the village. This slightly dampened the enthusiasm of the tribespeople, though they still paid close attention.
In the center of the village, in a wooden house built beside a lake—the chieftain's dwelling—the Divine Spirit Lord brought back from the Million Mountains by Elder Wang Man lay on the chieftain's large beast-skin bed, still not awake.
Fortunately, though his aura was weak, it was long and steady, clearly not in serious danger.
But the Divine Spirit Lord had been in deep slumber, unconscious for ten days, and still had not awakened, worrying the barbarians.
Even when the strongest elder in the tribe and the chieftain appeared, they could sense the powerful vitality lying dormant within the Divine Spirit Lord's body, but they did not understand what was wrong with him or why he had not awakened.
Finally, the chieftain went outside the village and specially invited an old divine physician, the best doctor within a radius of several thousand li, who also understood some mysterious esoteric arts and had great insight into healing. Many important figures in this wild domain sought him for treatment when ill or injured.
The white-haired old divine physician exchanged a few pleasantries with the chieftain and elders, then entered and saw the young man with closed eyes on the large bed. Hearing some of the village's speculations and the introductions from the chieftain and others, he knew this was the Divine Spirit Lord and did not neglect him, immediately proceeding with the diagnosis.
But no matter how he examined him, he felt that although the Divine Spirit Lord's aura was long and steady, there was not the slightest Primordial Spirit fluctuation.
How could this be!
Generally, for cultivators, the most important thing was not the physical body but the Primordial Spirit—this was the foundation. If the Primordial Spirit was lost, leaving only the physical body behind, it would be nothing but an empty shell.
Could this be a dead Divine Spirit?
The old divine physician, not caring about offense, extended a strand of divine sense, attempting to probe into the Divine Spirit Lord's Mud Pill Palace. But he found it difficult to enter, as if encountering immense resistance.
He frowned and was about to probe again when suddenly, the Divine Spirit Lord opened his eyes and looked at him, making the old divine physician feel as if he had fallen into an icy cellar, his entire body breaking out in goosebumps!