The appearance of plague insects left Shen Can no time to lie around.
The witch doctor needed to inspect the tribe's people at once.
Huo Xian was old, so Shen Can naturally had to step in.
He stayed busy until dawn before finally getting a moment to stop. Fortunately, as a warrior, he was not tired in the slightest.
After the floodwaters receded, part of the tribe's houses and buildings emerged from the flat ground below the mountain.
But the tribe had no time to dig the houses out of the silt.
At the entrance to the ancestral temple cave.
The bonfire blazed, and the scent of medicine filled the air.
The ancestors were all divine tablets, so they naturally did not fear plague. But the temple keepers were human.
Shen Can tossed a handful of witch medicine into the bonfire. A scarf sewn from coarse linen was wrapped around his nose, covering both his mouth and nose.
What exactly was a witch doctor, anyway?
After failing to make fine salt, he had planned to have everyone wear masks in a flash of inspiration. Who would have thought witch doctors had already come up with them long ago?
The plague insects had not yet reached the tribal settlement, and he had never seen one.
Of course, he did not want to see one, either.
On the stone platform at the very top of the tribal mountain, Huo Tang sat cross-legged.
Ever since the plague insects had been discovered, he had gone up there and remained seated.
On the surrounding heights, sharp-eyed tribesmen also perched on rocks like monkeys, peering into the distance in every direction.
"A-Can, go back and rest. This old man will keep watch."
Huo Xian emerged from the cave. As the tribe's witch doctor, this was when he needed to be most vigilant.
Some plague insects could be seen, while others could not.
Once anyone in the tribe developed symptoms such as a high fever or fainting, they had to be carefully isolated.
"Master, I'm full of energy."
Shen Can sent Huo Xian back. The old man's exhaustion was visible to the naked eye.
Leaning beside the bonfire, he took out a roll of beast hide and spread it open.
The beast hide recorded several outbreaks the Blazing Flame Tribe had suffered since its founding.
The temple keepers of those times had noted down the general circumstances.
This data had been recorded using the unrefined witch medicine formula, and the temple keepers' descriptions were vague. Shen Can could only make a rough analysis.
After every plague, the number of Blazing Flame Tribe members who died from it amounted to between ten and twenty percent of the total population.
That was only the dead. Those infected and requiring recuperation accounted for nearly sixty to seventy percent, as though the entire tribe had suffered a crushing elbow blow.
Whether dead or infected, most were the old and weak. Unless warriors came into direct contact with plague insects, they could generally endure the plague without much difficulty.
The warriors' foundations had not been damaged too severely, which was also why the Blazing Flame Tribe had managed to endure through the generations.
Plague insects feared fire and loathed the smell of medicinal herbs burned after being mixed with witch medicine. If they prepared thoroughly and the plague insects that appeared were few, they could drive them away in advance.
But once these things appeared in swarms, bonfires and medicinal herbs would be unable to stop them. What awaited the tribe would be a calamity that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.
Besides recording the data, the notes also mentioned a tribe called Rapids Water. It had been struck by plague insects, its warriors suffered grievous losses, and it later vanished from the Vast Wilderness.
As for how it had vanished, Shen Can felt it was nothing more than being swallowed up by another tribe, which was more or less what he had expected.
Crisis was also opportunity.
If the improved witch medicine formula truly worked and could keep plague insects from approaching the tribal settlement, the Blazing Flame Tribe would be able to preserve far more of its strength.
If some nearby tribe happened to have bad luck, that would be an opportunity for the Blazing Flame Tribe.
Leaving everything else aside, A'Yu might even get himself a sturdy woman to warm his kang bed.
Besides, the tribal chief had brought back three Second-tier Desolate Beasts one after another. Their beast blood had all been taken away. Shen Can did not know where it had been stored, but he had a guess in his heart.
Being tribal chief was exhausting.
Serving the ancestors was much easier.
In the blink of an eye, five days passed.
Shen Can ate, drank, relieved himself, and waited beside the bonfire.
According to tribal records, the quickest infection had occurred on the second day after plague insects appeared.
It was already the fifth day, yet everything in the tribe remained normal.
Every day, Shen Can inspected the tribe. Everyone was in good spirits, though their bodies gave off the scent of witch medicine as if they had been marinated through and through.
All of this showed that the improved witch medicine had taken effect.
Tribal Chief Huo Tang was still up high, like a watcher.
His gaze was incomparably sharp as he surveyed the surroundings. His heart held both excitement and unease.
It was the fifth day.
The witch medicine formula left behind by their ancestors had truly worked.
In a year of great disaster, if the Blazing Flame Tribe's strength did not decline, that was equivalent to growing stronger.
Not to mention that the Blazing Flame Tribe's strength had truly increased.
The three Second-tier Desolate Beasts Huo Tang had hunted in secret afterward had yielded five troughs of beast blood, successfully advancing four tribesmen.
Including Huo Lei and the other person who had advanced in secret, there were six additional Mountain Opening Warriors hidden within the tribe.
All of this had been carried out in secret. Only a handful of people in the tribe knew.
Across the Vast Wilderness after the flood, tiny insects like densely packed black dots appeared on the surfaces of water pooled in lowlands.
In the hidden nooks and crannies of the wilderness, enormous Desolate Beast corpses lay half-buried beneath the silt, the ground beneath their protruding bodies constantly heaving.
Yet within several miles of the Blazing Flame Tribe, ponds large and small had long since been filled in, while the remaining rotting beast corpses had been burned to ashes.
On the muddy ground, more than a dozen tribesmen wore robes boiled in medicinal soup, their faces wrapped in several layers of scarves sewn from coarse linen.
The intense medicinal fragrance continuously poured into their nostrils.
Though it was broad daylight, every one of them gripped a torch.
The torches had been specially made with witch medicine. As they burned, they released smoke and dust carrying an intense medicinal scent.
Every tribesman carried either fire oil, medicinal herbs, dry firewood, bows, crossbows, arrows, machetes, or weapons. They were loaded to the brim.
Their purpose was to investigate the movements of the plague insects at any time.
"Brother Bi, plague insects!"
As they walked, a buzzing sound arose. Everyone immediately became alert and located its source.
A swarm of several dozen fist-sized plague insects flew over from afar, their translucent wings glittering beneath the sunlight.
Huo Bi immediately ordered everyone to form a circle, their backs facing inward, arrows nocked.
As soon as the plague insects came close, they could shoot them down with fire arrows.
Before Huo Bi could give the order to fire, the swarm circled up and down a few times, then turned and flew in another direction.
"The witch medicine worked!"
Huo Bi instantly understood. Their group reeked of medicine, and each of them held a torch. This had frightened off the plague insects.
"Hurry back and report to the tribal chief. We'll follow them. We can't let this swarm head toward the tribal settlement."
A day later.
In an area of low rolling hills, torches flickered as smoke thick with the scent of medicinal herbs drifted through the air.
"Tribal Chief, the plague insects came from the south."
"We tracked them for a day and found no other swarms. The few we shot down have all been burned clean."
"The rest have flown far away."
Huo Bi pointed to a patch of charred, ash-like remains on the ground as he spoke to Huo Tang.
When plague broke out, the winged plague insects were the first to appear, and they could cross mountains and valleys.
They could show up anywhere, impossible to guard against.
And precisely because they had wings, once they found a suitable breeding ground, they would reproduce and multiply rapidly.
For a tribe, whether they could defend against such things also depended on luck.
So many days had passed since the floodwaters receded, yet no large-scale plague insect swarms had appeared. This showed that the Blazing Flame Tribe had been fortunate.
Of course, the tribe's arrangements in advance had also played a major role, cutting off the breeding grounds for the plague insects.
"Tribal Chief, the witch medicine the temple keeper prepared this time is truly effective. The plague insects fly away the moment they smell it."
Having pursued the plague insects for an entire day, everyone had already witnessed its effects firsthand and now spoke up one after another.
"Continue patrolling."
After learning the details, Huo Tang returned to the tribe.
Over the following days, tribesmen continuously returned with reports of plague insect traces discovered outside the tribe.
The closest instance had been only three miles from the tribal settlement. After smelling the thick scent of smoke and medicinal herbs, the insects lingered a few times before spreading their wings and flying away.
Within the tribe, some children and physically frail tribesmen also developed symptoms.
For symptomatic tribesmen, even the people living in their caves were moved out and settled in caves opened up on another mountain.
Besides drinking medicinal witch soup, they also added methods such as medicinal fumigation and medicinal baths to treat the plague.
Inside the isolation cave, Shen Can walked out, followed by the burly bear A'Yu, who carried all kinds of medicinal herbs for him.
After leaving the cave, Shen Can discovered Tribal Chief Huo Tang approaching from afar.
Huo Tang came up to Shen Can. "A'Yu, take the herbs back first."
A'Yu did not suspect anything. "Brother Can, I just need to take them back and hand them to Grandpa Huo Xian, right?"
Shen Can nodded. He understood that the tribal chief had something to discuss with him.
"A-Can, our ancestors have blessed the tribal settlement against the plague insects' harassment, but this time, the number of people openly infected in our tribe seems a little too low."
"Ah..."
Shen Can froze.
Tribal Chief, what do you mean by that?
Did I work too hard and somehow create a problem?
Damn.
Before you continue