Plague God, Two Desolate Powers, Upper Tribe's Wrecked Ship

In the unfurled beast hide scrolls, Shen Can saw what a Plague Worm looked like: its body was semi-transparent, covered in small transparent sacs filled with plague fluid.

This was just the most common type of Plague Worm.

According to the Blazing Flame Tribe's oral traditions, there were also Desolate Beast Plague Worms.

These were massive Desolate Beasts that became hosts for countless Plague Worms, controlling them and roaming the mountains and plains. Wherever they passed, water sources and soil would become contaminated.

Legend had it that humans once sacrificed to these Desolate Beast Plague Worms. Unfortunately, the more they sacrificed, the worse things got.

For the past few days, the Blazing Flame Tribe had been drawing water from a vertical well dug deep into the mountain. The water drawn was then filtered with fine sand and wood ash. These were established practices.

Not only that, but the water was also boiled before drinking.

The Great Wilderness might seem primitive, but for humans to have survived and passed down their lineage, their ancestors had already navigated many pitfalls. As for new pitfalls, humans were still creating them. Newcomers stumbled into new pitfalls, and those new pitfalls eventually became old ones, and the newcomers became the old guard.

Take the plague after the great flood, for example. The Blazing Flame Tribe had been established for three hundred years. During more prosperous times, they had always stockpiled supplies for natural disasters, such as medicinal herbs for witch doctors. However, the succession of the tribe's Witch Doctor was poor, and the preparations made were still a significant challenge when facing disasters. They feared not having enough, feared the Plague Worms being too powerful, feared, feared, feared... they feared too much.

As the floodwaters continued to rise without end, Master Huo Xian's anxiety grew with each passing day. The greater the flood, the more creatures died, and the more severe the plague outbreak would be. It was no wonder the Tribe Leader, a Heaven Vein Warrior, looked so weathered and worn. Being a Tribe Leader was truly difficult.

"I've heard from the elders that in a distant land, there are great tribes living in the sky, unafraid of floods, earthquakes, or plagues. They can even drive away terrifying Disaster Beasts. I wonder what kind of place such a tribe would be," Huo Xian murmured dazedly.

"We are but a lower tribe. How dare we even imagine what such a tribe is like? I can't even picture it," Shen Can said, even after changing worlds. He figured it wasn't the kind of place where an emperor would personally farm with golden hoes.

Opening another beast hide scroll, this one detailing medicinal herbs for witch doctors, Shen Can began to study. He had no choice; even with cheats, he needed a foundation. The Sacrificial Cauldron always scolded him for having six of his seven senses open, and he'd been angered by it several times. What if he could deduce a true sorcery from this? If the tribe grew stronger, he would be safer too. He could see how exhausted the only Heaven Vein realm warrior was. Although he possessed the divine ability of Myriad Transformations to One, he still needed to prepare for his own advancement to the Heaven Vein realm.

Seven days later.

Inside West Ear Cave, Shen Can retracted his fist.

Sacrificer: Shen Can

Martial Arts Realm: Stone Splitter Realm (Two Desolate Powers)

His strength had doubled, and it wasn't from eating beast meat. Although he and Huo Xian had meat with every meal, it was all dried meat from ordinary Desolate Beasts. The tribe was truly not wealthy. The rain had been falling for four months straight, and the entire tribe was living off its reserves. It wasn't that the tribe lacked stored first and second-tier dried beast meat; some things were not to be touched carelessly. Without more energy-replenishing provisions, this dried meat was the reserve supply for the tribe's warriors to unleash their combat power. It was a contingency to ensure the warriors' strength in case of any unexpected events in the tribe. It was truly difficult to support a family, making it tough on Huo Tang, the Tribe Leader, who couldn't even slack off.

The reason his strength had doubled so quickly was that he had stolen from the ancestors' offerings: the second-tier Odd Fish from the last sacrifice. At that time, there were two portions of the Odd Fish's blood. One portion was placed on the offering table in a blood vessel. The vast majority of the remaining blood was given to the tribe's warriors to help them break through to the Stone Splitter realm. However, the residual beast blood after their breakthroughs wasn't entirely consumed. Depending on the situation, some water was added, and it was left for the tribe's Stone Splitter realm warriors.

Shen Can naturally wouldn't fight his tribesmen for leftovers; it was much more convenient to steal from the ancestors.

Everything the ancestors had was his.

Although many days had passed and there wasn't much beast blood left in the blood vessel, the strange fish's cultivation level was still there.

Master Huo Xian was busy every day preparing shamanic medicine to prevent the plague, so Shen Can was responsible for the sweeping and cleaning.

Stealing some beast blood was incredibly convenient.

Beast blood was very pungent; if it had been left out for so long in his previous life, it would have already bred maggots.

But the blood of Desolate Beasts was truly miraculous, still crystal clear like blood amber.

Shen Can mixed a little with his meat and rice every day, along with some millet. After only seven days, his strength had doubled.

He felt his physique strengthen again and thought that when he went to steal again, he could add a bit more.

Before, he was afraid his body couldn't handle it, so he was very measured, taking only a small spoonful each time.

With his strength increased and his body's toughness constantly improving, he should at least take two spoonfuls next time.

In front of the divine altar.

Looking at the scarce beast blood in the blood vessel, Shen Can bowed to the divine seat.

"Ancestors bless me, send another second-tier strange fish."

The rain was misty and had yet to stop.

Shen Can walked out of the Ancestral Temple, listening to the sounds. For days, people had been guarding the floodwaters.

Even though the floodwaters weren't carrying much anymore, the tribe was still doing its best to collect any usable resources.

The mountain peaks looked like islands in the water.

Heaven Vein Warriors could play "Iron Palm on the Water" in the floodwaters, but it wasn't very safe and couldn't last long.

The Blazing Flame Tribe wasn't wealthy enough to risk their only tribal chief as bait.

Gazing into the distance at the mountains, it was a vast expanse of water.

As evening approached, Huo Shan and Huo Ning, two warriors, came quickly from behind the mountain where the tribe was located.

The tribe's mountain was about ten miles east and west, a small mountain outside the Giant Peak Mountain Range.

As for why they didn't carve out caves in the deeper, taller Giant Peaks, there was no other reason; the deep mountains were too dangerous.

After Huo Shan returned, he entered the cave where Huo Tang was, and shortly after, Huo Tang left the tribal lands with a few people.

When they returned, a fragment of residual wood, five to six zhang in size, was dragged into the Ancestral Temple cave under the cover of night.

This piece of residual wood wasn't original timber but showed signs of being pieced together, with different colors on the top and bottom.

One part was dark, obscuring the wood grain and carved diagrams.

The other part still showed some carved beast patterns, but the full extent of the beast patterns couldn't be determined.

Huo Xian patted Shen Can. Although he didn't speak, Shen Can understood that he meant not to panic.

This was a partial fragment of a ship.

"We found it in the valley to the east of our tribal mountain, squeezed into a corner with scattered wood and grass. We wouldn't have found it if we hadn't inspected carefully," Huo Shan said. He was a veteran pathfinder for the tribe and the most promising candidate to become the second Heaven Vein Warrior.

When Huo Tang couldn't move easily, Huo Shan led the expeditions for hunting.

After discovering human remains in the floodwaters, Huo Tang had ordered Huo Shan to strengthen patrols around the tribal lands.

Within ten miles east and west of the tribal mountain, there were over a dozen recessed valleys that had accumulated a lot of debris from plants and wood.

Huo Shan stepped forward and punched the fragment of wood. A booming sound echoed. The wood, already cracked, showed no damage under his fist.

"Third-tier Iron Wood, it only grows deep in the mountains," Huo Xian said with a frown. He returned to the ear cave, took out a scroll of beast hide, opened it, and then returned to the wood.

The beast hide showed what Iron Wood looked like.

Even with the raw logs of this wood, the Blazing Flame Tribe would have difficulty processing it, let alone building a ship.

Shen Can could also tell that this was not something a small tribe could handle.

Even a third-tier Iron Wood ship had shattered; what kind of storm could cause that?

"More powerful than Shanghuang," Huo Shan smacked his lips.

Huo Xian didn't speak and went to examine the beast hide scroll again.

Soon, an ancient beast hide was spread out, depicting a rather freehand map.

The undulating lines were mountains, and the winding lines were rivers.

Between the mountains and rivers, tribal names were marked.

The Shanghuang Tribe was on it.

Besides Shanghuang, at the edge of the map, there was a lakeside area with a tribe called Ling Yu.

According to the legends passed down by word of mouth in the Ling Yu Tribe, they were tens of thousands of miles away from Blazing Flame, but on this map, their distance was similar to that of Shanghuang.

"Could it be the Upper Ling Yu Tribe?"