After being struck by a witch talisman, the strange bird no longer targeted Huo Tang. It screeched repeatedly as it tried to flee.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At that moment, the tribespeople who had previously suffered the mental assault had recovered. Some drew their bows and fired arrows, while others hurled wooden spears, but the bird evaded them all with flaps of its wings.
Even the attacks it could not evade had most of their force dispersed by the pale light glowing from its feathers.
Even the witch talismans Huo Shan had snatched from the other tribespeople were dodged by it.
"Those with witch talismans, listen for my command."
Seeing that the talisman he had thrown had done nothing, Huo Shan calmed down from his excitement.
"Surround it!"
There were seven or eight tribespeople carrying witch talismans. At Huo Shan's roar, years of hunting experience spoke for itself, and they immediately closed in on the strange bird.
Buzz!
More than a dozen witch talismans were torn open. Bloodlight surged, and winding runes flashed.
At once, they drew the eyes of every tribesperson present.
The strange bird flapped its wings and shot upward.
But the runes followed like a shadow, one after another smashing into its body.
The blood-glowing witch talismans easily melted through the pale light on the strange bird's feathers and dissolved its flesh.
The strange bird let out a pained shriek and struggled to beat its wings, but its wings froze in midair.
With a splat, it crashed down. Bloodlight churned across its body, its feathers fell away, and its flesh gradually melted into a puddle.
"Burn it to death!"
Huo Shan carried over a jar of Beast Oil and smashed it onto the strange bird. Flaming arrows followed one after another.
Boom!
The Beast Oil exploded upon meeting fire. The strange bird's corpse twitched several times before burning completely.
With the strange bird gone, the plague insects remained.
But everyone discovered that when the plague insects landed on them and touched their robes thick with medicinal smoke, they did not burrow into their bodies. Instead, they quickly fled from them.
After falling to the ground, surrounded by the medicinal scent, they became so disoriented that they did not know which way to crawl.
The worry in everyone's hearts vanished in an instant.
"Don't step on them. Drive them together with the bonfires, then burn them!"
Huo Tang had also shaken off the plague insects' harassment and hurriedly stopped the tribespeople from moving recklessly.
With someone directing them, the scene steadily stabilized again.
Some bonfires were extinguished to leave paths for the plague insects, while others were relit to block their way.
The tribespeople grabbed torches and drove the plague insects across the ground into the trenches.
When Huo Tang saw the plague insects beyond the trench defenses beginning to flee into the distance, he immediately ordered, "Set bonfires outside and burn witch medicine. We cannot let these insects escape into the mountains."
Crackle, crackle.
Sounds like exploding firecrackers rang out across the foot of the mountain.
One plague insect after another burst apart, turning to ash in the flames.
Shen Can, who had run down the mountain, felt the several witch talismans in his robes and slowly made his way back up.
Good thing I worked overtime. Otherwise, that strange bird appearing later would not have been easy to kill.
If Huo Tang had been infected by that strange bird, disaster would have befallen the tribe.
After returning to the mountain and leaning against a boulder, he took out the brush and ink Huo Xian had prepared and began writing.
He had seen that strange bird clearly just now. It truly looked bizarre, with a pig's tail growing from one of its claws.
It seemed capable of shedding the force of attacks such as arrows and wooden spears.
"Pale light covering its body..."
Shen Can bit the end of his brush, carefully recalling the strange bird he had seen as he sketched its shape and appearance.
Suddenly, he sensed the aura of a "person" approaching several yards away. Looking up, he saw Huo Tang coming over.
At that moment, Huo Tang stared at Shen Can with wide eyes.
It scared Shen Can so badly that he thought he had bitten the wrong end of the brush, bitten the tip instead, and painted a mask onto his own face.
"Witch... witch talismans..."
Huo Tang spoke.
Shen Can said, "Ah?"
"You."
Then the two of them simply stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Huo Tang still held an unused witch talisman in his hand, turning it over and over as if there was something he could not make sense of.
Very soon, a group of people rushed up from below the mountain, each of them looking at Shen Can with burning eyes.
"A-Can, did you draw these beast hides?"
"A-Can, are you a witch?"
"A-Can, how do you know how to draw talismans?"
"A-Can, y-you... do you want a wife?"
"A-Can..."
"Shut up. Call him Ancestral Temple Guardian. What A-Can?"
The crowd chattered all at once, their huge eyes seeming eager to strip Shen Can bare with their stares.
Shen Can tightened his robes and clutched the Beast Hide Scroll on which he had recorded everything.
Before he handed over the witch talismans, everyone had treated him as a junior. They had instinctively protected him and urged him to stay far from the battlefield.
But now, the tribespeople's gazes were scorching, as though they wanted to melt him.
There was even a trace of reverence within those blazing eyes.
"Ancestral Temple Guardian."
"Witch."
The broken calls rang out without end.
"Shut up, all of you."
Huo Tang spoke. "I already knew about this. I just feared you long-tongued busybodies were like old wives."
"What are you all gathered here for? Have the plague insects been wiped out? Why are you up here screeching like beasts?"
"Get down there and plow this land three times for me, then burn it fiercely three times."
"If there isn't smoke carrying the scent of witch medicine throughout the mountains around us, I'll plant every last one of you into the ground."
"Chief, a witch..."
Among the scolded crowd, someone still cautiously spoke up, but before he could finish, Huo Tang interrupted him.
"Get down there and work."
After scolding the group away, Huo Tang's gaze returned to Shen Can. A smile piled onto the face that had just been raging with fury.
"A-Can."
"Chief, don't be like this."
Shen Can felt a little unaccustomed to Huo Tang changing expression in the blink of an eye.
Smack!
Then Shen Can's shoulders took two heavy slaps.
He watched Huo Tang, after patting his shoulders, walk toward a distant boulder and look down from above at the busy tribespeople below the mountain.
Only, his shoulders twitched every now and then.
Shen Can had actually already prepared an explanation, but Huo Tang had not asked. He had even shielded him from the tribespeople.
With the chief's attitude, along with the tribespeople's excited gazes just now, Shen Can felt that his position as Ancestral Temple Guardian... was secure.
Spreading the beast hide back over the stone, Shen Can continued recording the scene he had not finished.
The tribe's foundation was insufficient, so they would slowly make up for it.
After Shen Can finished drawing, he realized that Huo Tang in the distance was still twitching his shoulders from time to time.
Looking down the mountain again, the tribespeople were digging three feet into the ground and burning everything with raging fire.
Smoke billowed up, and a strong medicinal fragrance filled the tribal grounds and the surrounding area, seeking to thoroughly erase the traces left by the plague insects.
Shen Can watched for a while before suddenly realizing something.
Oh no, his master was still tied up in the ancestral temple.
Grabbing the beast hide, he was about to head back. But after taking two steps, he stopped. He first went down the mountain, found a large pot of medicinal broth, and jumped in to soak himself from head to toe before rushing back to the cave.
Good thing he had tied up the old man. With today's situation, if the old man had come, the chances of him catching the plague would have been quite high.
The people of the Great Wilderness believed some plague insects could be seen while others could not, but Shen Can understood that this thing was more like "qi." That was why even tribespeople who had never seen plague insects could still become infected.
"Mmgh..."
Inside the cave, Huo Xian had stopped struggling. He quietly awaited the outcome, and when he saw Shen Can return, he made a muffled sound.
"Master, the plague insects have all been burned clean."
Shen Can quickly untied the ropes. Just as Huo Xian was about to spit at him, Shen Can handed over the dripping-wet beast hide in his hand.
After being soaked in medicinal broth, some of the words on it had become distorted.
"Master, this is the record. Look at it, and I'll tell you the details."
As Shen Can spoke, he selected witch medicinal ingredients. After such a major shock, he felt the tribe needed to strengthen its precautions to avoid being infected by "plague qi."
Near evening, while Shen Can was still recounting the battlefield situation to Huo Xian—
Huo Shan's voice sounded outside the ancestral temple cave.
"A-Can's physique looks frail, but I never expected his voice to be so loud."
Huo Tang and Huo Shan entered the ancestral temple.
Huo Tang took the lead in walking before the Ancestral Divine Seat and respectfully bowed.
Huo Shan had been about to speak, but seeing Huo Tang's actions, he also quickly walked before the ancestors.
"The ancestors protected us. I've truly had my eyes opened in this lifetime. I never imagined I would live to see a real witch."
"I can die without regrets now."
As soon as Huo Shan finished speaking, Huo Tang kicked him.
Inside the side cave, Huo Xian was reading the beast hide Shen Can had recorded. He paid no attention whatsoever to Huo Tang and Huo Shan, much less to what they said.
"A-Can, incredible."
Huo Shan entered the side cave, spread his hand toward Shen Can, and said, "A-Can, do you have any witch talismans left? Give me a few so I can go have a look at the Yan Shan Tribe."
"The witch talismans A-Can drew are indeed very good."
Huo Xian also raised his head and nodded in agreement.
"Clan Uncle, A-Can's witch talismans are far more than merely good. If A-Can had not possessed this skill, how could we have taken down that strange bird today?"
"After the witch talismans were torn open, that bloodlight formed runes in the air..."
"What did you say?" Huo Xian's old eyes widened.
"Old Clan Uncle, you didn't know. At the time, that strange bird flew out from the Fu Shan Tribe members and charged straight at the chief."
"That strange bird could even screech strangely. Its voice was piercing, making people instantly clutch their heads and crouch down, unable to exert their strength."
"If it hadn't been for A-Can's witch talismans, I might have become chief ahead of time..."
Smack!
Huo Shan took a slap to the back of his head, and his words came to an abrupt stop.
"Runes forming in the air." Huo Xian fell into thought.
Please follow along
Before you continue