The East River Tribe had no Temple on Ship Island. Instead, they worshipped a Divine Statue carved from blue stone, named [Qi]. They rarely prayed to a God; it was more of a sacrificial tradition left behind by the Donghai Clan. Most of the time, the East River Tribe sailed boats, fished, and captured slaves.
Lu Yao decided to run a test.
He opened [Miracle], spent 30 Faith Points, and selected [Hurricane].
A hurricane swiftly formed over the water, churning up an enormous whirlpool as it barreled menacingly toward the East River Tribe's Ship Island.
Facing the hurricane, the East River Tribe did not panic at all. They were even chatting and laughing.
"Look, it's a storm."
"A storm will stir up plenty of fish. Maybe even crabs. How wonderful."
"Praise Prayer God for sending us food."
"The sky after a storm will be beautiful."
"Wow, that's a huge storm."
As Lu Yao watched in confusion, the hurricane suddenly collapsed into nothing when it approached Ship Island, turning into a gentle breeze that brushed past the area. The dissipating hurricane even brought them some fish, which fell onto Ship Island's deck.
The East River Tribe's little people picked up their harpoons and began fishing everywhere.
The screen displayed:
[Your Miracle cannot take effect due to the protection of the Deity Totem.]
Lu Yao noticed faint cracks appearing across the surface of the Divine Statue Totem on Ship Island.
The Totem seemed to be more than just a symbol of faith. It was also a defensive item, capable of blocking even disasters like Miracles.
Lu Yao became interested.
Let's see how many times you can block it.
[Lightning]
Give them a shock!
A silver bolt of lightning descended from the sky again, striking the Totem directly. Just like the earlier hurricane, the lightning vanished the instant it landed, posing no threat whatsoever to Ship Island.
"Today's weather is really strange."
"Is it going to rain? Storms and lightning—it should rain soon, right?"
"Last summer's drought was severe. This spring looks like it'll bring plenty of rainfall."
"With more rain, the river will become wider too. That's a good thing."
The East River Tribe's little people were still chatting.
Lu Yao clicked Miracle and called down Falling Thunder again.
[Lightning]!
[Lightning]!
[Lightning]!
Three consecutive bolts of lightning struck Ship Island in succession, leaving crack after crack across the Totem.
This time, even the East River Tribe could tell something was wrong.
"Wow, what exactly is happening?"
"Did cracks appear in the sky to cause all this lightning?"
"We need to tell Grandmother. Something's wrong with the water today."
"Good thing we have Prayer God's Totem. Otherwise, this would be a disaster."
Lu Yao increased the pressure further.
[Lightning] ×5!
Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky as bolt after bolt came crashing down upon Ship Island. The first four bolts vanished completely, but the fifth finally struck Ship Island with full force, killing two East River Tribe little people who had failed to escape in time and starting a fire on the island.
The blue Totem, which had been continuously cracking and deteriorating, was finally completely destroyed, turning into a pile of ashes.
The East River Tribe descended into chaos.
Tribe members ran everywhere trying to put out the fire. Some slaves took the opportunity to jump into Dugout Canoes and escape, forcing the East River Tribe to send people after them.
But the destruction of the Totem dealt them the greatest blow.
"Prayer God's Totem has shattered! We're doomed!"
"We've lost our protection! We can't fight storms and whirlpools anymore!"
"Prayer God has abandoned us!"
"Oh no! Oh no!"
"Why did this happen?!"
Meanwhile, the five men from the Garlic Tribe began speaking up one after another.
"Lightning! Lightning has returned! The God of Lightning has returned!"
"It's the great God Yao! You attacked the Garlic Tribe and angered God Yao!"
"God Yao is furious!"
"You're going to suffer!"
But no one from the East River Tribe paid them any attention.
Lu Yao flexed his fingers.
Just as he had guessed, Prayer God's Totem was a consumable item, likely a Blessing from a God. The Totem looked ordinary, yet it had only collapsed after being bombarded by Miracles worth 210 Faith Points. It was extremely durable.
The East River Tribe had only a hundred people, yet they had been able to live on the East River for a long time. They rode Dugout Canoes to attack other tribes, capture slaves, and act with utter arrogance.
They relied on Sea Monsters for offense and Prayer God's Totem for defense.
Now that Lu Yao had cut off one of the East River Tribe's arms, they immediately fell into disorder.
Lu Yao observed them again and found that the East River Tribe truly had no way to repair the Totem. Seeing this, the tribe leader, [Grandmother], issued a series of orders.
"You, leave immediately. Take all of this year's Sea Monster molts back to the clan Temple as Sacrificial Offerings, and pray for a new Totem Blessing."
"Block off the river. Don't let other tribes learn that the Totem has been destroyed until the new Totem arrives."
"Feed all the female slaves to the Sea Monsters so they can molt sooner."
After watching for a while, Lu Yao roughly understood the situation.
The East River Tribe's Prayer God Totem originated from the Donghai Clan's Temple. As an outside branch of the clan, the East River Tribe had always remained in contact with the Donghai Clan. They raised Sea Monsters both to maintain military strength and to obtain Sea Monster molts for Sacrifice to Prayer God.
In other words,
without Sea Monster hides, the East River Tribe could not obtain a Totem. Without a Totem, the East River Tribe was utterly vulnerable.
That made things easy.
A faint smile appeared on Lu Yao's face.
The East River Tribe's fleet seeking aid from the clan departed swiftly. Five Dugout Canoes carrying Sea Monster hides as Sacrificial Offerings, escorted by three Sea Monsters, left Ship Island and headed east.
Once the boats had moved far away from the tribe's settlement on the water, Lu Yao selected [Lightning] and directly blanketed all five boats.
The sudden Falling Thunder ignited the Dugout Canoes at once.
The surviving Pixelated Villagers had no choice but to jump overboard to escape. They struggled desperately on the water's surface, terrified expressions appearing above their heads. The Sea Monsters could do nothing about it either, only barely managing to carry the Pixelated Villagers away from the burning boats.
The Sacrificial Offerings aboard the Dugout Canoes were Incinerated completely.
With the Sea Monsters' help, the surviving little people struggled back to Ship Island.
When they heard that the Sacrificial Offerings had also been burned, the entire East River Tribe fell into complete panic.
"All the Sea Monster hides were burned! We can't go back!"
"Lightning, lightning is everywhere! The lightning won't let us leave!"
"We have angered the God here. We must offer Sacrificial Offerings, or the tribe will be attacked by lightning again!"
"The tribe is finished! The tribe is finished!"
"Let's run! Run!"
The once-arrogant East River Tribe now faced a natural disaster beyond human resistance, and many of its little people showed signs of surrendering or fleeing.
[Grandmother] was, after all, the tribe leader. At this moment, she displayed a leader's calmness and decisiveness.
"Some slaves said that God Yao of the Garlic Tribe sent down this punishment."
"We'll go to the Garlic Tribe and make peace with them."
The East River Tribe's boats slowly docked at the shore.
[Grandmother] brought two Female Captains to meet the Prophet and the Shaman.
The two sides spoke privately for a while.
An exclamation mark lit up above the Prophet's head. "The East River Tribe has angered God Yao. To receive forgiveness, you must revere the God and offer faith."
"You need to build a Temple and worship God Yao."
"God Yao is a benevolent God who loves peace and life. He punished the East River Tribe because of your rudeness and offense."
A moment later, another prompt appeared on the screen.
[The East River Tribe has offered you a Sacrificial Offering.]
Thanks to Oxidized Years for supporting with 100 Qidian Coins.
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