The Situation, Building a City

"A-Can, why are you here?"

Huo Tang was very happy to see Shen Can visiting directly for the first time.

Previously, he had to call A-Can to come, and he always seemed to keep a distance.

"Chieftain, what's the situation outside?"

"Very bad."

"Huo Shan has sent back news from the Ji Stone Tribe, and the situation is similar to Yan Mountain."

"It will take time for the farther tribes.

However, within the nearby areas, apart from the Shanghuang Tribe, the strength of the other tribes is actually similar. They are not much stronger or weaker.

Fu Shan, Ji Stone, and Yan Mountain couldn't hold on, and other tribes will likely be the same. Next, the infested plague worms will sweep through the surroundings on a large scale."

Huo Tang's expression was grave. Even though the Blazing Flame Tribe had resisted the plague worms, when the nearby areas all became plague zones, they would become as conspicuous as a bonfire at night.

What Huo Tang was thinking was also the problem Shen Can had considered, otherwise, he wouldn't have come to find Huo Tang.

The Blazing Flame Tribe faced a great crisis ahead.

If the infected and possessed humans attacked the Blazing Flame Tribe, even with witch runes, it wouldn't be safe.

"I've already sent Huo Kui to the vicinity of Yan Mountain. After the infested plague worms leave, we will retrieve the resources of the Yan Mountain Tribe."

"Chieftain, let's build a city."

"Chisel mountains into towers, build walls with stone."

"Dig moats outside the walls to form rivers."

Outside Giant Mountain, small mountains stood like a hundred thousand great mountains.

Building a city was easy. Centering on the tribe's mountain, choose four surrounding mountains as corners. Dig moats between the mountains to form moats.

Why didn't tribes like Blazing Flame, who could chisel mountains and dig caves to quarry stone and build houses, build city walls around them?

A big reason was that city walls had very little effect.

A single desolate beast could smash through a city wall.

Several months of continuous mountain floods had directly collapsed them.

Instead, the mountains that rose from the ground were rooted deep underground, stable and firm.

During the last attack of the infested plague worms, although the possessed humans could fly, Shen Can saw clearly that except for the plague birds, the others, even if they flew up, could not exceed five zhang. It was more like leaping and diving.

As for whether the city walls could withstand desolate beasts or martial artists, that was something for the future.

When he had a more comprehensive control over the witch runes, he would directly engrave witch runes on the city walls.

You have to eat bite by bite. Take it slow. At least the plague worms won't gnaw on the city walls, and it's enough to block the possessed humans.

"A-Can, why don't you become the chieftain?"

Shen Can, who was waiting for Huo Tang's decision, was startled by Huo Tang.

He retreated in fright, repeatedly.

As he had predicted.

The position of chieftain, he absolutely would not take.

Flood, plague, two disasters within a year, who knew what else was coming.

The position of chieftain was purely a drain on one's lifespan.

He could afford to waste desolate beasts, but he couldn't bear to waste his own.

"Uh, Chieftain, I am a Temple Guardian. The thing I want to do most in this life is to serve the ancestors well, and I have no other desires."

Seeing Shen Can waving his hands repeatedly, Huo Tang was a little disappointed.

"Also, all the reserve meat within the tribe, and the meat brought from the Fu Shan and other tribes, should be used as cultivation resources."

"What if it's all eaten? Don't you know how much the tribesmen can eat?"

Huo Tang thought of these big eaters in the tribe. If not for the tradition of storing food.

If the tribesmen ate their fill, they could eat it all clean.

"Chieftain, you're being too conservative."

Shen Can said, "I haven't heard of any tribe in the Great Wilderness where a martial artist goes hungry."

"Look, the meat from the Fu Shan Tribe isn't all gone, but the people are gone."

"After we get through the plague, with martial artists around, will anyone go hungry?"

Huo Tang was not a miser, but his long-standing habits had not changed.

Including the tribesmen within the tribe, the most deeply ingrained thought was to store grain, meat, and medicine during good times to prepare for natural and man-made disasters.

Similarly, in Shen Can's view, Huo Tang also had ambition.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent Huo Shan out to spy on other tribes after the flood.

Not to mention, while other tribes were hiding from the plague worms, they went ahead and hunted down the remaining desolate beasts in their hunting grounds.

Previously, Shen Can had worried that the Shanghuang Tribe might come looking for them due to their discovery of witchcraft. However, after his thoughts shifted just now, his perspective changed as well.

Once the plague subsided, even if the Shanghuang Tribe came knocking, he might not be as afraid of them as he was before.

"Clan Leader, after you moved all the beast blood, how many tribesmen secretly advanced to the Mountain Opening Realm?"

Although Shen Can saw many tribesmen reveal their strength while fighting the parasitic plague worms, the distinction between Mountain Opening and Stone Splitting wasn't obvious. Without a thorough check, it was hard to tell.

"A total of eight people soaked in beast blood, seven succeeded, and one failed."

Huo Tang didn't hide anything.

The tribe originally had thirteen Martial Artists at the Mountain Opening Realm, four of whom were elderly.

Among the four elderly Mountain Opening Realm experts, two were about the same age as Huo Xian. Their current duty was to look after the children.

They essentially only had the title of Mountain Opening Realm experts.

Excluding the four elderly tribesmen, there were currently sixteen Martial Artists in their prime at the Mountain Opening Realm.

"The number of Stone Splitter Realm Martial Artists has increased to one hundred and eighty-nine."

"Thanks to the blessings of our ancestors, with the improved fist techniques and medicinal formulas, the number of martial artists in the tribe could increase so much in such a short time."

As he spoke, Huo Tang looked at Shen Can.

The ancestors had manifested, and A-Can had become a shaman. He, who had lived for decades, had experienced his share of hardships.

All these changes had occurred after Shen Can entered the Ancestral Temple.

It was impossible for him not to overthink.

But even with his thoughts, Huo Tang had no intention of probing further.

Some things couldn't be questioned. His years of experience as a clan leader told him that one couldn't be a good clan leader without being selectively deaf and mute.

Otherwise, even the minor issues of the more than two thousand tribesmen would crush him.

"We should indeed bring out all the meat. Most of the tribesmen who could advance to the Mountain Opening Realm have already done so.

The remaining ones are still lacking in Qi and strength, so even soaking in beast blood wouldn't have a high success rate."

The foundation of the Blazing Flame Tribe wasn't yet at a point where anyone picked at random could advance to the Mountain Opening Realm by soaking in beast blood.

The short-term benefits of the improved Kui Ox Fist and the medicinal formulas were likely already exhausted during this period.

Even with the opportunities provided by the improved methods, the remaining tribesmen still lacked a bit in their fundamental strength and needed time to consolidate.

It was a pity that natural disasters were frequent. This Great Wilderness was truly a challenging place.

They could only cultivate amidst hardship.

"Clan Leader, the aunts in the tribe also have good physiques, and they can't go out to forage right now. We've collected the resources from the Fu Shan and other tribes, so there's no rush for various repairs and crafting.

Since the uncles are busy outside, the aunts can fully step up."

The women of the tribe were all formidable, Shen Can had personally experienced this.

In the past, due to the scarcity of resources for martial arts training and food in the tribe, most of it was allocated to the men.

In Shen Can's opinion, if the aunts weren't allowed to go hunting, they could fully assist in guarding the tribe.

The root of everything was the lack of resources.

Now, the reserves of the Yan Mountain Tribe were almost moved back. With the combined reserves of the Blazing Flame, Fu Shan, and Yan Mountain tribes supporting the Blazing Flame tribe, it was more than enough for the tribesmen to eat their fill.

The foundation of beginner martial arts lies in having enough to eat.

As for what to do after they finished eating.

If we've mobilized the entire tribe to practice martial arts and I still can't eat enough, then I'll be very unhappy.

On the same day after their discussion, Huo Tang, in his capacity as clan leader, had already arranged for the tribe to begin.

Even he, as the clan leader, personally took on the role of a stone extractor.

Five miles southwest of the tribe's mountain, the entire small hill was only about fifty feet high.

With one strike from Huo Tang, the small hill rumbled, cracks snaked out, and broken stones cascaded down.

Extracting stone from mountains was an easy task for Great Wilderness warriors; they simply relied on brute force.

This was also one of the reasons why they disdained building cities.

Unless it was ore, ordinary stones had very poor hardness.

However, it was sufficient for defending against the parasitic plague worms.

When the broken stones settled, Shen Can walked forward before he could even make a move.

"Temple Guardian, you're frail, let us handle it."

A sturdy aunt spoke up. She was two meters tall and carried a giant rock away.

Many healthy women in the vicinity also began to pick up stones.

"That's right, Temple Guardian, you're small. How can we let a shaman do this kind of work?"

The words 'weak' and 'small' kept bombarding his ears. Shen Can turned and jumped onto A'Yu's back.

"A'Yu, let's go."

Inside the Ancestral Temple.

Shen Can's fists moved like the Kui Ox, generating gusts of wind with each strike.

Without the Plague Worms attacking, he hadn't skipped practicing the Kui Ox Fist three times a day, even while patrolling the tribe.

A'Yu was also practicing his punches nearby.

He had already taught A'Yu the Superior Kui Ox Fist, though his movements were a bit clumsy. A'Yu was still in the process of comprehending it after learning it anew.

Naturally, he taught it under the guise of guidance, without revealing the specific details to A'Yu.

From his observations, the effect of the Superior Kui Ox Fist on A'Yu, while still significantly different from his own, showed a considerable improvement compared to the mid-grade version.

This was likely related to his divine ability, Myriad Transformations to One.

A'Yu was just the beginning. Shen Can planned to pass down the Superior Kui Ox Fist without drawing attention.

With his current influence in the tribe, doing this wouldn't make the ancestors "crack open" again.

The ancestors had it tough enough.