Inheritance

Straight to it?

Huo Xian's words left Shen Can speechless.

No probationary period needed?

It felt a little fast. He had only just become the keeper of the Tribal Ancestral Temple, yet he was being made official right away.

The old man was far too impatient.

"Don't be afraid. Learn from me."

Huo Xian placed the Luan Knife and blood goblet into Shen Can's hands, then took a bronze jar from the wooden rack. It contained a thick, crimson liquid.

"Come with me."

Shen Can obediently followed behind Huo Xian.

Seeing what Huo Xian was doing, Huo Shan, who had been about to leave, stopped instead and gestured for everyone present to keep quiet.

"The first step of a sacrifice is the prayer. Draw talismans on the beast's ears. I'll draw beside you, and you learn."

Shen Can nodded at Huo Xian, who had launched straight into teaching. In truth, he had already watched the process of sacrificing to the ancestral temple countless times in his memories.

The prayer involved reciting the Wusheng Curse beside the beast's ears after drawing talismans upon it: "Shengquan Feitu, offerings abundant and complete," meaning to pray that the sacrificial beast would be pure and free of filth.

It was said that in great tribes, ancestral temple sacrifices were even more cumbersome. The wild beasts captured had to be raised for a time, fed medicinal herbs to cleanse their stomachs.

They ate better than the warriors of the Blazing Flame Tribe.

Before the sacrifice, they even selected wild beasts with unblemished hides of a single color as offerings.

There were even many different kinds of vessels for holding them.

The Blazing Flame Tribe did not have such conditions.

Though Huo Xian looked very old, his temperament was exceedingly urgent. He traced shamanic symbols on the ground with his finger and had Shen Can practice at the side several times.

"Not bad. You can draw shamanic symbols on the beast's ears now."

The strokes Shen Can drew were winding and still somewhat weak-looking, yet Huo Xian praised him and handed the bronze jar containing the bloody liquid over to him.

Signaling that he could begin.

The Mountain-Cleaving Kui was bound tightly to the ground, struggling without cease. A'Yu stepped forward and pressed it down.

"Brother Can, draw without worry. I'll hold it down for you."

But A'Yu was still a little lacking in strength, and the Mountain-Cleaving Kui shook his body along with it.

"Come on, lend a hand, everyone. Today is A-Can's first time presiding over a sacrifice. If he loses face, none of us will have any face either. The ancestors will only scold us for not being united."

As he spoke, Huo Shan walked toward the Mountain-Cleaving Kui as well. The tribespeople watching at the cave entrance laughed and entered, firmly pinning the hogtied Mountain-Cleaving Kui down.

"Uncles and brothers, A-Can thanks you all."

Shen Can spoke his thanks. Though he had been driven into it like a duck forced onto a perch, everyone was working as one, and his heart was no longer panicked.

Shen Can turned to glance at Huo Xian. Huo Xian nodded gently.

"A-Can, relax. We've got it pinned down tight."

Huo Shan pressed both hands against the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's two horns. His tremendous strength rendered the kui utterly unable to move, while he pulled one of its ears outward.

Using his finger as a brush, Shen Can dipped it into the liquid in the bronze jar and lowered it toward the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's ear. Drawing shamanic symbols on a beast's ear was harder than drawing on the ground; the slightly soft ear caused the patterns beneath his finger to bend and twist like creeping insects.

"A-Can, this is your first sacrifice. If the ancestors have spirits, they will only be gratified that successors have arisen. They will not blame you."

With Huo Xian's words, Shen Can's hand grew smoother and smoother. Before long, both ears of the Mountain-Cleaving Kui were covered in shamanic symbols, and he murmured under his breath.

"Shengquan Feitu, offerings abundant and complete."

After reciting the words, he accepted the Luan Knife Huo Xian handed him, raised it over his head with both hands, and bowed toward the spirit tablets.

Then he gripped the Luan Knife and came before the Mountain-Cleaving Kui.

Though this Mountain-Cleaving Kui had not yet entered a rank, scales had grown over its body. If he stabbed directly into those scales, then with strength that had not even reached the first Stone Splitter Realm, piercing the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's neck would be difficult, let alone drawing its blood into the bronze goblet.

As for later dismembering the kui's body and taking its two shoulders, ribs, and thighs to offer to the ancestors, that was even more out of the question.

"Stab here."

Then another tribesman spoke.

Shen Can looked over and found that a large hand had already spread apart the scales on the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's neck, exposing the gap between them for him.

Huo Xian saw this scene as well.

Several decades ago, when he had first stabbed a sacrificial beast for the ancestors, his tribespeople had guided him in the same way.

Generation after generation, now he too had grown old.

What came next was passing it down hand by hand.

With no time to thank the tribespeople for their help, Shen Can gripped the Luan Knife and thrust downward.

With a pfft, accompanied by the chime of the Luan Knife, its blade sank into the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's neck.

At that moment, Shen Can suddenly felt his vision turn blood-red. Amid the bloody radiance before his eyes, he sensed a single wisp being directly absorbed by him. Instinctively, he wanted to wipe his reddened eyes.

Yet he felt a strand of awareness manifest within his thoughts. An exquisite Three-legged Small Cauldron also appeared within his perception, as though it had fused with his flesh and blood.

Sacrificial Host: Shen Can

Martial Arts Realm: Unranked.

Sacrificial Vessel: Sacrificial Cauldron

Tempering Method: Kui Ox Fist (Inferior)

Cultivation Method: None

Martial Divine Power: None

Attributes: A vital sacrificial vessel. Absorbs the lifespan of offerings; can protect the body, nourish the spirit, and derive martial arts.

Sacrificial Host has seized 33 years of lifespan from the offering Mountain-Cleaving Kui

At that moment, three additional words appeared after Kui Ox Fist (Inferior): (Can Be Derived).

The sole Martial Dao cultivation method passed down by the tribe had been judged an inferior-grade one. Shen Can was quite surprised.

Before he had transmigrated here, the original owner had already cultivated this fist art for more than ten years.

Simply put, one ate beast meat and practiced the fist art, training one's body until it became sturdy. Once the physique had been tempered sufficiently, one could soak in beast blood and make the final charge toward advancement.

Shen Can had seen that soaking process before. One immersed oneself in a blood trough and allowed the beast blood to batter the body. Every so often, one leaped from the trough and began performing the Kui Ox Fist.

One repeatedly soaked and practiced the fist art like this, until one could no longer endure or successfully advanced.

It was an extremely crude method of advancement.

During the last annual sacrifice, eleven tribespeople had soaked in beast blood, yet only three succeeded. Two among them had already soaked in beast blood once before; they were repeat soakers.

The success rate was low, while the injury rate remained sky-high.

Leaving aside everyone else in the tribe, just looking at Shen Can himself, he had practiced for more than ten years, yet the final push toward advancement was still far over the horizon.

An inferior fist art—Kui Ox Fist truly deserved the name. Its absorption of energy from beast blood was far too low.

Now that this inferior Kui Ox Fist displayed the possibility of derivation, Shen Can instantly came to his senses with a jolt.

Didn't that mean that as long as he had enough lifespan, the Kui Ox Fist could be derived into a higher grade?

And lifespan...

A single sacrifice had earned him thirty-three years, while each time the tribe returned from a hunt, they would make offerings at the ancestral temple.

ROAR!

The roar made Shen Can's ears buzz and jolted him awake.

AAARGH!

The Mountain-Cleaving Kui struggled violently in pain, but it was held down so firmly that it could not move.

According to the rules of sacrificing to the ancestors, when stabbing the beast and collecting its blood, it was best if not a drop of beast blood splashed out.

Recovering himself, Shen Can swiftly took the bronze goblet and began catching the Mountain-Cleaving Kui's blood. No matter how it struggled, large hands held it firmly in place, and not a single drop of beast blood splattered free.

"Hm, it seems A-Can is a man of great fortune. This Mountain-Cleaving Kui is barely struggling anymore."

At that moment, Huo Shan spoke. He could feel that the struggles of the Mountain-Cleaving Kui beneath his hands had weakened.

With everyone's help, Shen Can finally completed the second step of drawing blood. Holding the bronze goblet in both hands, he walked toward the spirit tablets under Huo Xian's guidance.

The beast blood had to be smeared upon the temple doors, pillars, stone drums, and sacrificial vessels within the ancestral temple. Only what remained would be sent into the ancestral temple.

Unfortunately, rain was pouring down in sheets. The tribe's buildings at the foot of the mountain had long been washed away, and the entire tribe had moved to the mountain to escape the floodwaters, making the sacrifice somewhat simpler.

Shen Can smeared the beast blood over the stone pillars and stone drums placed inside the cave, then finally set the bronze goblet upon the altar.

After finishing all that, it was time to divide the meat.

The ancestors had first share of the prey. The sacrificial beast needed to be divided into seven great portions: the spine, two shoulders, two ribs, and two thighs, placed upon a bronze tray and presented in the ancestral temple as offerings.

Among them, the meat from the left shoulder had to be offered to the ancestors first.

Once all this was done, the remaining meat could be divided for everyone to enjoy.

With the tribespeople's help, Shen Can finished dividing the Mountain-Cleaving Kui. Though the process was slow and halting, he had ultimately completed the sacrifice.

One session of real practice was worth more than a dozen rehearsals.

When Shen Can set the bronze tray before the offering table, Huo Xian, who had accompanied him all along and stood ready to lend a hand at any moment, spoke.

"A-Can, long ago, apart from worshiping their ancestors, our human race also worshiped heaven, earth, and Disaster Beasts, praying for peace."

Even without Huo Xian saying so, Shen Can had corresponding rumors in his memories. These were things passed down by word of mouth through generations of the tribe.

Now, he quietly listened as Huo Xian continued.

"Take beast fat and heads, burn them upon a pyre of firewood, and let the smoke surge to the heavens. That is a sacrifice to heaven."

"Bury the remaining beast body together in a pit. Blood and flesh return to the earth. That is a sacrifice to earth."

"Hunt living creatures and offer them upon an altar. That is a sacrifice to beasts."

"Yet after accepting our race's offerings, none of them protected us."

"Heavenly thunder, earth tremors, Disaster Beasts emerging, ten thousand miles of Chidi, floods vast as an ocean—thus, our human forebears no longer believed in heaven and earth, no longer revered Disaster Beasts. They relied only on their own two hands, seeking food from the Great Wilderness and struggling to survive."

"These spirit tablets are not lifeless objects. They are the essence of the inheritance that has guarded our Blazing Flame Tribe for three hundred years. In the future, this burden will be entrusted to you."