If Upper Phosphorus was the little tyrant near the Blazing Flame Tribe, enough to make Blazing Flame somewhat fearful,
then the Ling Yu Tribe was known only by name, with no one knowing what it was actually like. They could not even be bothered to come to this region.
This map had been left behind when the tribe was founded.
It said the Ling Yu Tribe was ten thousand li away, but that was really just a guess.
No one knew exactly how far away it was. They only knew that such an incomparably powerful tribe existed, and it was addressed as an upper tribe.
Only after quite a while did Shen Can suddenly understand. So the most formidable group in the tribe was relying entirely on guesses.
Still, one thing was not a guess: tribes truly had ranks.
Tribes like Blazing Flame and Upper Phosphorus were collectively called Lower Wilderness Tribes.
No witchcraft, no cultivation methods, no valuable treasures to suppress the tribe—three-nothing little wild tribes.
Above the lower rank seemed to be the upper rank, and above that came distinctions between Marquis and Earl, seemingly corresponding to higher martial realms.
But the tribe had no more detailed records or inheritance.
They struggled to survive in the Great Wilderness every day. Being able to stay alive was enough; developing further was something they only dared dream about.
Just look at how exhausted Huo Tang had become.
Disasters ran rampant throughout the Great Wilderness, and humanity struggled bitterly for survival. Shen Can somewhat understood why there were still distinctions between upper and lower tribes.
Wild tribes like Blazing Flame were weak, but powerful ones existed too.
He ate bran and swallowed wild vegetables in the Blazing Flame Tribe, but that did not stop others from feasting on dragon liver and phoenix marrow in their own tribes.
Since powerful tribes existed, an order of superiority and subordination would naturally develop to ensure their majesty.
Even if the ancestors of those powerful tribes did not care for it, there would inevitably be descendants who bestowed exalted titles upon themselves, using them to elevate their own rank and status.
Though the Great Wilderness was primitive, rituals and ceremonial regalia had long taken shape.
The few of them gathered in the ancestral temple but could not discuss their way to any conclusion. Dawn was about to break.
"Hide this in the ancestral temple first."
Third-Order Iron Wood was good stuff. If it could be forged into iron wood weapons and issued to the tribe's martial artists, their strength would rise considerably.
It was just that the tribe's methods made forging it rather difficult.
Only then did Shen Can learn that behind the collapsed earth and rocks at the end of the cave, behind the altar, there was another hole leading downward.
Huo Shan did not summon any other tribesmen. He simply hacked away at the earth and rocks, digging more than five zhang in before finally revealing a small opening.
"A-Can, you absolutely cannot tell anyone about this. The tribespeople love to talk. If someone overhears, the whole tribe will know."
After the entrance was sealed shut, Shen Can received Huo Xian's warning as well.
He might as well have plainly said there were too many big mouths in the tribe.
"Master, I understand."
Shen Can was not especially curious about what was hidden inside the cave. The ancestral temple was his territory anyway; sooner or later, he would get to see it.
With dawn approaching, everyone dispersed.
Shen Can began sweeping the ancestral temple, tidying up the dirt and rubble left behind from moving the broken stones earlier.
After finishing, he went to the entrance and took a breath of fresh air.
If this rain kept falling, he did not know whether the tribe's stores could hold out.
Even a Third-Order Iron Wood Ship had been destroyed. He felt that his clan chief, Huo Tang, certainly would not be any tougher than iron wood.
"Thinking too much won't do any good."
After taking a breath, Shen Can went back. If a calamity capable of destroying a Third-Order Iron Wood Ship descended, the Blazing Flame Tribe would not be able to withstand it either.
If such a disaster truly appeared, no amount of thinking would help him.
He might as well look at what lay before him: how to deduce this witch medicine formula for preventing plague.
If he could deduce a better effect and help Blazing Flame endure, then if the surrounding tribes suffered a little more disaster, Blazing Flame could swallow them up and grow stronger.
After one disaster passed, they would develop.
It sounded a little awkward, and Shen Can found it awkward too.
But there was still a chance such a situation would arise.
He had fifteen years of lifespan left for deduction, and no strange fish had appeared in the floodwaters. He came before the altar.
"Ancestors, show your divine power. Don't you want to eat fish?"
"If you do, then show your divine power quickly. Stop sending broken ships and severed limbs. Look how badly you frightened the clan chief."
Five days later.
Shen Can already possessed the power of three desolates, and the beast blood in the blood vessel was nearly gone. He added some water and crushed bone powder, then stirred it again.
It looked no different from what had remained before.
It was going to be smeared on the stone drum anyway. If the ancestors did not like it, they could make do.
Sweeping, eating, practicing fists, and studying the inheritance of witch medicine—this was Shen Can's daily life.
Over the past few days, he had noticed that the clan chief also often went out. Compared with Mountain Opener realm martial artists, Celestial Meridian Realm martial artists had opened their celestial meridians. Their inner force transformed into blood qi that could cling to their entire bodies.
With a light step across the water, they could leap to another mountaintop.
Two days later, a Mottled Python was dragged into the ancestral temple.
This was a First-Order Desolate Beast. The moment Shen Can saw it, he froze again.
Where the hell were a snake's ears!
Asking online for advice.
The Mottled Python was six zhang long and as thick as a bucket. Huo Tang had dragged it back from outside, beaten until it was barely alive.
Sacrificial Host seized eighty-seven years of lifespan from the First-Order Mottled Python Desolate Beast
That night, Shen Can ate snake stew. The broth and meat together left his entire body feeling warm and comfortable.
Aside from the snake meat used for sacrifices, the remainder was divided up and sent into the various caves, where the tribespeople began processing it.
Most of it was stored away as reserves.
Sacrificial Host seized fifty-seven years of lifespan from the First-Order Partridge Cloud Harrier
Inside the ancestral temple, Shen Can withdrew the Luan Knife from the neck of the desolate harrier, whose whole body was limp and listless.
It still had to be the clan chief. With every move, he could bring back living creatures every few days.
The mountaintops near the tribe had already been swept clean by the tribe during the first month of the flood. Any scattered Desolate Beasts washed up the mountains afterward had immediately been captured as well.
To obtain prey, they could only travel farther away from the tribe.
In the entire tribe, only Huo Tang had the ability to travel far.
He had likely been frightened by the Iron Wood Boat fragments that had appeared. Otherwise, Huo Tang would not have risked repeatedly venturing out.
The Desolate Beasts had been brought back while he was out scouting.
Lifespan: 159
Looking at the Desolate Beast lifespan he had accumulated, Shen Can felt it should be enough for an initial deduction of the tribe's plague formula.
After nearly two months of cultivation, he was no longer ignorant of witch medicine. He had memorized everything passed down within the tribe.
The Blazing Flame Tribe had three methods for guarding against plague. One was burning witch medicine, one was having the elderly, women, and children wear medicinal sachets, and the most important was drinking witch medicine decoctions.
As for killing plague insects, the tribe's martial artists remained the main force.
Deduce the Blazing Flame Tribe's plague insect witch medicine formula You invested a century of lifespan to deduce the witch medicine formula, seeking to recreate the previous deduction of the Kui Ox Fist
"Master, the ancestors cracked again."
Two days later, Shen Can chose a morning when Huo Xian was sleeping deeply and woke him up.
Huo Tang came as well, the weariness on his face especially obvious.
This time, it was not the blank shrine that had been repaired before that cracked, but the divine tablet of a founding ancestor named "Huan."
Huo Xian held the ancient Beast Hide Scroll in both hands, having pulled it from the cracked divine tablet of Ancestor Huan.
Of course it looked ancient.
Shen Can had specifically taken this beast hide from among the blank portions of the Beast Hide Scrolls Huo Xian had stored away.
"Zhuosheng Grass, Hou Po Wood, Zhi Mu, Huang Qin... This is a witch medicine formula for treating plague. The number and proportions of the herbs are somewhat different."
Huo Xian was very excited.
Huo Tang held Ancestor Huan's divine tablet in his hand, examining it over and over. The rain had accumulated for days, and everything was damp.
The divine tablets were all made of wood. If they were not maintained every day, they would have grown mold long ago.
Wooden divine tablets only cracked after drying out. How could they keep cracking in such a damp environment?
Huo Tang looked at Shen Can.
Shen Can was examining the other divine tablets, looking as though he dearly wanted to take every one of them down and investigate them.
Seeing this, Huo Tang withdrew his gaze.
He placed the divine tablet back on the altar.
It seemed the ancestors had truly shown their divine power.
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