Shanghuang Tribe

"Witchcraft Spell."

With the thought forming in his mind, Shen Can became even more restless, wishing he could immediately dig out the Iron Wood boat fragments to examine them.

The Iron Wood boat was a third-tier vessel, speculated to be from the Ling Yu Tribe.

If it truly came from the Ling Yu Tribe, then the probability of a Witchcraft Spell being attached to it was quite high.

Looking at it this way, it seemed normal for the Shanghuang Tribe to come looking for him.

Perhaps the Shanghuang Tribe had already obtained more parts of the Iron Wood boat and gained or seen significant benefits from it.

That's why, even before the floodwaters had receded, they mobilized Celestial Meridian Realm martial artists from their tribe to cross the wilderness in search, even resorting to threats and enticements.

Shen Can returned to the Ancestral Temple, contemplating how to quietly dig a small hole behind the divine altar and crawl inside.

Back at Huo Tang, above the tribal lands, he also fell into deep thought.

The repeated arrival of Huang Shi only served to illustrate the importance of the Iron Wood boat.

As for offering it in exchange, they had been neighbors for hundreds of years; who didn't know the other's character?

If the Shanghuang Tribe were to offer something genuinely useful in exchange, it would be one thing, but they wouldn't give up even an inch of anything that could improve tribal strength.

"I wonder how Huo Shan's investigation is going."

Huo Shan had been gone for a month with no news, and he was quite worried.

Although the intention was to pick up scraps from other tribes, the wilderness was fraught with danger, and the risk was too great.

Huang Shi arrived once again, but it didn't cause much of a stir. The tribesmen's minds were currently focused on the plague.

As usual, Shen Can was isolating the tribesmen.

The witch medicine was effective, and coupled with the fact that the tribe hadn't encountered a large-scale Plague Worm attack, the plague symptoms throughout the tribe had been within his control from the beginning.

This night, after finishing his work.

Looking at the sleeping Huo Xian, Shen Can quietly moved to the back of the ancestral shrine's offering table.

He took down the Luan Knife, used for sacrificing to ancestors, and used it as a digging tool.

This wasn't the first day he had been digging.

Although the collapsed state behind the divine altar looked like a pile of soil and rocks, there was actually a difference between the inside and the outside.

The collapsed state on the outside was for show; after digging a certain distance inward, there were gaps between the stones.

After clearing away the external obstruction, a small hole that had been dug long ago appeared before Shen Can.

Shen Can slipped right in.

Inside the hole was a natural mountain cave, with no signs of excavation, and the airflow was a bit stuffy.

Lighting a small torch, he immediately found the location of the Iron Wood boat fragment.

On the remnant wood, the beast patterns he hadn't examined closely before, he now scrutinized bit by bit at close range.

The beast patterns formed on the surface of the remnant wood looked more like fish scales.

Shen Can propped up the torch and began to meticulously copy them.

After finishing the drawing, he compared it and found that the winding connections between the fish scales were indeed somewhat strange, resembling peculiar runes.

After checking everything, Shen Can retreated from the hole and sealed the original path.

"Ancestors, please forgive me."

After bowing to the divine altar and unilaterally forgiving himself, he returned the Luan Knife to its original place.

Always taking from the ancestors without thanking them, he would try his best to keep them intact in the future.

Patting the beast hide in his embrace, he returned to his West Ear Cave contentedly.

His ear cave now contained quite a few beast hide scrolls and witch medicine, all obtained from his master, Huo Xian.

Changing into a robe, he used the oil lamp to spread the copied beast patterns on the stone table and began to study them carefully.

The beast patterns on the Iron Wood fragment were not complete. Overall, it depicted a desolate beast. Whether it was a fish or a beast, Shen Can couldn't tell.

However, the winding nature of the patterns did resemble fish scales.

This didn't explain anything. In the Great Wilderness, there wasn't a clear distinction between flying birds, beasts, scaled creatures, or insects. Beasts could grow fish scales, and fish could grow fur.

The entire fragment was likely the outer hull of the Iron Wood boat.

The part submerged underwater, having been soaked in water for a long time, had dark and unclear beast patterns.

The upper part was slightly fairer, with mottled and faded colors in the beast patterns.

Thus, Shen Can sat behind the stone table, staring at the copied beast patterns, trying to imprint the entire pattern into his mind.

[You invested ten years of lifespan to comprehend the unknown beast patterns, and after ten years of looking, you gained nothing.]

On the stone bed, Shen Can opened his eyes, his gaze as clear as that of a university student from his previous life.

Ten years of lifespan, and not even a single sound was heard.

The Sacrificial Cauldron didn't mouth off this time.

"The path is correct."

His eyeballs rolled, and he immediately understood.

"Again."

[You stared at the beast patterns for another ten years, your gaze burning, but you still found nothing.]

[You stared at the beast patterns for another twenty years, repeatedly sketching them, trying to find some profound mystery, but it always felt elusive. You began to suspect you were overthinking things, that any random beast pattern could be used to deduce a witchcraft spell. In the twenty-second year, you began to doubt your own genius. You decided to simply sketch this beast pattern diagram, once, twice... a hundred times... The beast skins used for sketching piled up throughout the entire cave, yet there was still no flash of inspiration. In the thirty-seventh year, you stopped sketching, and the deduction ended.]

"Continue the deduction."

[Stubborn fool, you're back.]

[Stubborn fool, today marks your hundredth year of sketching the beast pattern diagram. A hundred years of sketching, and a flash of inspiration. You tried to grasp it, but couldn't capture it. You didn't get discouraged and started sketching the beast pattern diagram again, finally catching that wisp of opportunity. The dense scales and runes within the beast pattern diagram, where they meandered, resembled flowing water, sometimes rapid, sometimes calm, sometimes with splashing waves, all depicting the movement of water. You began to try and use this as a breakthrough to further comprehend more profound mysteries.]

[You spent another ten years gradually understanding the essence of this meandering pattern, which seemed to hold the profound mystery of commanding and manipulating water.]

[Fifty more years passed, and during your sketching process, that profound essence finally transformed into a crooked character in your hands.]

[At the same time, you discovered that this character was too singular. You chose to continue comprehending further, but your head was a bit tired, and the deduction ended.]

Inside the cave, Shen Can looked at the characters he had just written on the beast skin, rubbing his dizzy head.

Witchcraft Spell: Water Manipulation (Severely Damaged, Not Mastered)

It wasn't easy, but he finally had it.

Every beginning is difficult; with this starting point, things should be easier from now on.

Shen Can wiped away the runes in front of him, and also destroyed the beast pattern diagram he had sketched earlier.

He wasn't guarding against his own tribesmen, but against outsiders.

The Shanghuang Tribe acted arrogantly, and in Blazing Flame, they were even more brazen than in their own homes. What if they stormed in and started rummaging around?

Although the probability was small, it was still necessary to guard against it.

When he went out to sweep the Ancestral Temple, he ran into Huo Xian.

"Ah Can, you look so tired. I'll handle today's patrol."

"Master, there's no need. I can manage this task."

After eating, Shen Can, as usual, began to patrol the tribe, checking on the plague situation within the clan.

Busy during the day, he continued to deduce witchcraft spells at night.

Three thousand miles away.

Under the scorching sun, a brilliant cascade of light spread out above the tall trees.

This was a vast mountain range, more than half of which had been cleared and leveled. Half of it was lined with caves, and the other half consisted of undulating stone palaces and houses.

The entire tribe resided at a commanding height, safe even from mountain floods.

In the center, surrounded by stone palaces and caves, was a huge grotto. Upon entering, the first thing seen was a fire pit, filled with the aroma of burning Ai Huo grass.

The firelight in the pit flickered, illuminating the surroundings. Large and small pieces of broken Iron Wood leaned against the walls.

All the fragmented Iron Wood had beast patterns on them.

A thin old man had his head almost touching the beast patterns, his brow furrowed, his nostrils flaring with each breath.

"The things from the upper Ling Yu Tribe are profound and vast like an abyss, truly difficult to fathom."

"I can't see through it! I can't see through it!"

Inside the grotto, after piecing together many broken wooden fragments, a beast pattern diagram was roughly restored, depicting a strange fish with four limbs, shaped like a fish's body.

Its fish head had a blurred human face.

This beast pattern alone was enough to confirm the origin of this broken piece of Iron Wood boat.

The Ling Yu Tribe, a powerful tribe whose name was known throughout the nearby Great Wilderness and marshlands, but whose presence was never seen.

It was a great tribe with a Divine Treasury Realm expert guarding it.

Things he couldn't figure out himself were likely commonplace in the Ling Yu Tribe.

Huang Zhou retracted his gaze from the beast pattern on the fragment and sat down by the fire pit to ponder.

It had been about two months since he obtained the first fragment. Since then, he had found over a dozen more, but despite studying the beast patterns on them daily, he had gained nothing.

As the tribe's Temple Guardian and Witch Doctor, he had also had the young people in the tribe examine them, but none of them could discern any mysteries.

It made sense, though. He was the most authoritative shaman in the entire tribe, so if he couldn't figure it out, it was normal for his tribesmen not to be able to either.

As for the other nearby tribes, at most, they knew how to sharpen Iron Wood fragments into wooden spears.

When it came to Witchcraft Spells, they could barely manage to form medicinal pills.

The protagonist would emerge from seclusion, but he was currently in the early stages of cultivating internal energy. After all, he was only at the Stone Splitting Realm, and he hadn't fully mastered his Witchcraft Spells yet. The new plot after the flood would unfold in these next few chapters.