As the tribe's ancestral temple heir and successor to the witch doctor, especially now that a plague had appeared, what was Shen Can's mouth?
Of course, if he said you were sick, then you were sick.
Yes, you—you had the plague.
You had to be quarantined.
None of the tribesmen doubted him.
Over the following days, while inspecting the tribe, Shen Can carefully examined everyone and continuously quarantined those who looked somewhat listless.
The tribesmen living near them were quarantined along with them.
In just a few days, the number of tribesmen who had been "plagued" surpassed three hundred.
And the number was still continuing to rise.
Tribal Chief Huo Tang had told him to do this.
With so many tribesmen suddenly infected by the plague, the rest naturally grew uneasy, yet Shen Can continued taking action.
He had previously read the tribe's records concerning plagues. This was barely anything.
According to Huo Tang's instructions, the damage caused by this plague could not be much less than in the past.
Shen Can carried out the chief's orders without fail.
A few days later, the total number of tribesmen Shen Can had quarantined approached five hundred, nearly a quarter of the tribe's population.
While dragging people off to quarantine, he had not been idle either.
After fumigating the emptied caves with witch medicine, he assigned them to the remaining tribesmen, easing the crowding within the caves.
Next, Shen Can planned to randomly pick a few of the "infected" every few days and complete the task the chief had given him.
After glancing at the tribal chief still standing atop the mountain, he headed toward the ancestral temple.
On the mountaintop, Huo Tang was very satisfied upon seeing the scale of the quarantined tribesmen.
One word and he understood. The tribe's younger generation still had brains.
What a pity... Huo Tang let out a sigh.
Such a clever child had such poor martial talent. His natural physique was far too weak. He had practiced the Kui Ox Fist for so long, yet his body remained so frail.
Even with the improved fist technique, it was hard to say whether he could become a warrior.
It was fine for him to serve as the ancestral temple heir. Old Uncle Huo Xian had said that he had some talent in witch doctoring. Staying in the tribe, he could at least live a stable life.
Huo Tang called him clever because, a few days ago, the moment he spoke, A-Can understood what he meant and conscientiously carried it out, treating the quarantined tribesmen as though they truly had been infected by the plague.
If it had been those stubborn mules in the tribe, the moment he said the tribe needed a few more plague-infected tribesmen, they would have leaped up before him and argued to the death.
There was no helping it. If the results were too good, other tribes would... Forget it. To put it plainly, the Shanghuang Tribe would come and snatch them away.
He worried that Huangshi was still wandering nearby, searching for Iron Wood Boat fragments.
"A-Can, come eat."
When he returned to the ancestral temple, Huo Xian had already cooked the meal.
He had never expected that Shen Can, after following him for only a few months, would already be able to stand on his own.
It was a little fast, but he had truly done well.
After eating, Shen Can returned to his dwelling and began practicing the Kui Ox Fist. Though he was busy caring for the tribesmen, he had not neglected his cultivation by much.
After practicing his fist technique, he lay down on the stone bed.
Derive witchcraft.
This was not the first time he had activated the derivation. Ever since his lifespan had surpassed a thousand years, he had entertained the thought.
It was just that the results had not been very good.
Within the Three-legged Small Cauldron, the phantom sat quietly.
You spent three years sitting in meditation.
Not a grain of rice in your palm, yet you want to cook a pot of food for a hundred families? Trying to fleece a wolf with empty hands again, brother?
Fishing for three years without baiting the waters, and you still want a catch? At least toss in some rice.
Invest one hundred years and continue the derivation.
Derivation failed. You do not understand witchcraft at all. Ninety years of lifespan returned.
A tree without roots dreaming of touching the sky, empty-mouthed teeth discussing spring and autumn. Please, stop deriving already.
Shen Can opened his eyes and spat. This was not the first time the Sacrificial Cauldron had been so foul-mouthed.
He truly had no idea what witchcraft was. Imagining it out of thin air was utterly useless, just as he could not imagine how an emperor slept amid wine pools and meat forests, three palaces and six courtyards, or whether they slept together under one huge quilt.
He looked at mountains, water, and the sun, but mountains were mountains and water was water. He simply could not comprehend any secret art from them.
"Looks like I still need to find some incomplete rubbings. Even a single written symbol would do."
After thinking it over, Shen Can closed his eyes and fell asleep.
For now, he would stop thinking about it. Once the plague passed, he could slowly search again. The Sacrificial Cauldron was right to be foul-mouthed—he did not understand witchcraft in the slightest. Wasn't that just like fishing where there were no fish?
If a pile of witchcraft lay before him, he could comprehend it however he pleased.
He had not yet reached the point of creating things from nothing.
At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.
Derive witchcraft through the path of a witch doctor.
...Derivation failed. Lifespan returned.
Turning over, Shen Can went straight to sleep. He had a temper too.
Unable to create witchcraft out of nothing, Shen Can could only honestly continue working as a witch doctor.
The effects of the improved witch medicine formula were excellent. With medicinal soup, medicinal baths, and medicinal fumigation, most tribesmen with genuine symptoms had their conditions stabilized.
Only the tribesmen who were too old failed to pull through.
The elderly tribesmen who died from illness were cremated directly inside their caves, and their dwellings were fiercely scorched by blazing flames as well.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
More than thirty new spirit tablets had appeared in the ancestral temple.
After the new spirit tablets appeared, some of the tablets on the main offering platform were moved to the accompanying sacrificial tables on either side of the altar.
On the Blazing Flame Tribe's main altar, aside from the blank spirit tablet and the several ancestors from when the tribe was founded, even tribal chiefs would eventually be moved to the accompanying sacrificial tables as time passed.
As for more complicated sacrificial customs, they had not yet appeared in the Blazing Flame Tribe.
Over this month, Shen Can had not given up deriving witchcraft either. He stubbornly used the tribe's witch doctor inheritance as his lead.
Witch doctors, witchcraft—both contained the word "witch." He refused to believe he could not derive it.
He failed again and again, yet tried again and again; he tried again and again, yet failed again and again.
That day, Shen Can emerged from a quarantine cave when another beast's roar sounded from afar. Squinting into the distance, he looked over.
It was that fellow from last time.
Riding a towering Mountain-Cleaving Kui, he came rumbling toward the tribal grounds.
Huo Tang went forward to meet him from far away.
"If the Shanghuang Tribe intends to strike while plague runs rampant through my tribe, then do not blame me for making the fish die and the net tear."
Huo Tang's gaze was sharp as he blocked Huangshi's path.
Huangshi sat atop the Mountain-Cleaving Kui. From far away, he had been observing the Blazing Flame Tribe, especially glancing several times toward the small mountain where the quarantine caves were located.
He understood at once. Ordinary tribesmen had been infected; if he swallowed up the tribe now, the losses would be great.
"The Blazing Flame Tribe is fortunate. You did not encounter a tide of plague insects."
"We have been blessed by our ancestors." Huo Tang's reply was neither warm nor cold, and the vigilance on his face remained.
"Huo Tang, do not be so tense. We all make our living in these nearby mountains and wilds. My Shanghuang Tribe is not a tribe that takes advantage of others' misfortune."
Whether Huo Tang believed him or not, Huangshi continued on his own. "I came for the same matter as last time. Did your Blazing Flame Tribe truly not obtain any Iron Wood Boat fragments?"
"Didn't you inspect the place last time? Would you like to inspect it again?"
"Now that the floodwaters have receded for quite some time, grass and trees have begun sprouting in the mountains. It looks like the plague will soon end, and every tribe will resume hunting and farming."
Huangshi did not dismount from his beast, merely speaking from atop it. "It does not matter whether the Blazing Flame Tribe picked up Iron Wood Boat fragments during the previous mountain flood.
From now on, if you find any while hunting outside, you may still bring them to my Shanghuang Tribe to exchange.
Huo Tang, I came to notify you: if your tribe finds fragments and hides them, and my Shanghuang Tribe learns of it, then do not blame my Shanghuang Tribe for being impolite.
The Iron Wood Boat is something my Shanghuang Tribe is determined to obtain. Whoever dares hide it, do not blame my Shanghuang Tribe for disregarding past ties.
Can your Blazing Flame Tribe bear the loss of a Celestial Meridian Realm warrior?"
"Farewell!"
With that, he rode the Mountain-Cleaving Kui beneath him away into the distance.
Shen Can watched the Shanghuang Tribe warrior depart. He had not heard any supposed benefits of exchange in the visitor's tone.
Instead, it had been more threat and overbearing pressure.
So what if you have a mount? Sooner or later, I'll spear you to death.
"Wrecked boat!"
At that moment, Shen Can suddenly realized that the Shanghuang Tribe fellow's return had instead reminded him of something.
When those fragments had been brought back, hadn't beast patterns been carved onto them?
Could a boat made from Third-Order Iron Wood have left behind anything related to witchcraft?
Before you continue