Advancing to Wizard

As Shen Can felt the beast meat he'd eaten transform into vital energy, he retracted his fist. Not wanting to disturb A'Yu, who was still practicing his punches, he walked towards the Ancestral Temple.

Sacrificial Host: Shen Can

Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Cauldron

Martial Arts Realm: Mountain Opener (Sixteen Desolate Power)

Witchcraft Realm: Unranked

These days, he practiced his punches during the day and occasionally deduced witchcraft spells at night, using fifty years of lifespan as a measure.

Now, he felt his 'mental induction' had precisely reached a range of five zhang, and the number of witch characters had reached seventeen.

He still knew too little about witchcraft.

He could confirm that the surrounding tribes, including the Shanghuang Tribe, did not have any proper witches.

But this didn't mean those tribes didn't collect records related to witchcraft. Small tribes had limited vision, and it was possible they collected related items but couldn't understand them.

He hoped that while consolidating the surrounding remnants, he could find some records related to witchcraft from the beast skin scrolls collected by other tribes.

After paying his respects to his ancestors, Shen Can, ever mindful of his primary duty, washed the faces of the ancestral tablets in front of the shrine.

"Ancestors, please bless me with some witchcraft."

He made a wish in the air as usual.

He mumbled this wish to his ancestors every day while cleaning.

After making his wish, Shen Can headed towards the East Ear Cave. His master, Huo Xian, was still engrossed in writing, documenting his years of medical experience.

Without disturbing him, Shen Can returned to the West Ear Cave and lay down.

His lack of foundational knowledge about witchcraft made this step-by-step exploration rather tiring.

[Lifespan: 180]

Due to the plague worm invasion, the tribe had stopped hunting. Shen Can's current desolate beast lifespan was being depleted without replenishment.

Fortunately, he wasn't a miser; he wouldn't hesitate to use it when necessary.

[Used fifty years of lifespan to deduce the eighteenth witch character]

Previously, the nine witch runes had formed the Lingyu Water Control Art. He had speculated that Lingyu witchcraft should be a system.

Witch characters were the script for this system. The more witch characters there were, the more variations and power the composed witchcraft spells would have.

[You gaze at the image of the Lingyu, imagining yourself transforming into one, moving through the water]

[After transforming into a Lingyu, you felt a bloodthirsty urge, but you quickly recovered and continued to experience the changes in the water through the Lingyu's body]

[In your thoughts, the previous seventeen witch characters lined up, shimmering and intricately connected. Some characters had inexplicable links between them. You captured the mystery between the witch characters, and a flash of inspiration appeared in your heart. In the shimmering water, a new, winding rune gradually materialized]

[Congratulations, you have comprehended a portion of the Lingyu Water Control Scripture]

[Lifespan consumed twenty years, returned thirty years]

Inside the ear cave.

Shen Can spread out the beast skin and wrote the eighteen witch characters on it.

Witch characters were somewhat different from regular writing. Each character had multiple meanings and could also be combined like words to form 'sentences.'

The mystery of witch characters also lay in the fact that a single witch character was also a sentence.

However, it seemed the quantity was still insufficient, as many 'sentence structures' lacked content.

Shen Can felt he had grasped the true essence of Lingyu witch characters.

This was a witchcraft scripture written in a unique script. The witch characters could derive different meanings through combination.

Just like the Water Control Art, it was a witchcraft incantation formed by the initial nine deduced witch characters.

Now that he had deduced nine more, the eighteen witch characters combined would yield even more possibilities.

The total number of witch characters in the entire Lingyu system should be far more than eighteen.

Similarly, these characters couldn't be understood by mere sight; one needed to use 'mental induction' to perceive their emanating profundity.

No wonder the Blazing Flame and Shanghuang tribes had no witches. Without inheritance, trying to cultivate them through sheer guesswork was truly too difficult.

He had invested over two thousand years of lifespan, and even multiplying the lifespans of all the Blazing Flame tribe leaders combined by seven wouldn't equal the years he had lived.

This was purely encrypted text, with an additional cultivation barrier.

"It seems the witchcraft inheritance of the Ling Yu tribe is the Ling Yu Scripture."

[Witchcraft: Tier 1]

[Lifespan: 150]

At this moment, Shen Can looked again and realized he had successfully advanced to become a witch, without even feeling anything.

This realm breakthrough felt more like a degree of understanding of witchcraft.

"Buzz!"

As he raised his hand, fingers forming a sword, his mind focused, and eleven of the eighteen runes formed a incantation within his thoughts.

Within his ear canal, water vapor suddenly gathered, transforming into a water arrow at his fingertips, piercing deep holes into the rock wall.

Although the flood had passed long ago, the cave was still damp. Under his control, the water vapor in the air and from the rock walls instantly converged and compressed into an attack.

The incantation was like the medium for mobilizing this water vapor, and mental power was the key to activating the witch runes.

"I really need to learn some basic witchcraft, otherwise, groping in the dark like this is still too confusing."

Wiping away the witch runes written on the beast skin, Shen Can walked out of the cave.

"Brother Can, I feel like the food I ate is digesting faster and faster."

A'Yu, covered in sweat, walked in.

"Go eat."

Currently, the tribe had an abundant supply of meat, so they could eat as much as they wanted.

Large pots were lined up at the construction site, steaming and boiling beast meat. The taste was simply guaranteed to be salty enough.

Soon, Shen Can and A'Yu returned with two large and one small ceramic bowls. The small bowl was for Huo Xian, and the large bowls were for them.

Squatting outside the entrance of the Ancestral Temple cave, they began to eat heartily.

Looking down the mountain, a city wall over thirty zhang high had already appeared on the east and south sides of the tribal land.

It was all built from massive stones, with a thickness of fifty zhang. Even desolate beasts wouldn't have a problem running on top of it.

Of course, that was if they could run on top; whether it would collapse was another matter.

There was no other way. If the strength wasn't enough, they could only increase the thickness of the city walls, otherwise, it wouldn't be easy to pile them up to thirty zhang high.

While eating, Huo Tang also came over with his rice bowl.

"A'Yu, go add another bowl of rice for me."

A'Yu responded, took the large ceramic bowl, gulped down the meat soup from his own bowl, and quickly rushed down the mountain with two bowls.

Shen Can looked at Huo Tang speechlessly. This was bullying the simple-minded kid.

"Volcanic has sent back news. Ji Stone didn't escape at all, and several tribes to our east and south have been attacked by Plague Worms.

The range of activity for the Plague Worms is getting larger and larger, already spreading to a radius of a thousand li.

Fortunately, these Plague Worms haven't split their forces further. It seems there are only a few of these Plague Birds, which is good news.

I've already had Huo Kui move back the reserves from the Ji Stone tribe. Other tribes are a bit farther away, and it will take some time to move them back.

The tribal records on beast skins you wanted, I've also had them transported separately."

"Oh, and the Jiangsha Tribe to our west is fine. It's likely that the Plague Worms heading our way were eliminated, which prevented the Plague Worms from encroaching west and southwest."

"Also, it's been quite some time since the Possessing Plague Worms appeared, and yet the people from the Shanghuang Tribe haven't come again.

The Shanghuang Tribe is south of Blazing Flame. Even before the flood stopped, they could travel three thousand li around. Their absence now is a bit surprising.

Besides being scared by the Plague Worms, Huo Tang couldn't think of any other reason.

"It's a shame the timing isn't right. Otherwise, I would at least go to the Jiangsha Tribe to collect some benefits. If nothing else, I'd at least have a few Jiangsha girls marry into our Blazing Flame."

Whoosh!

As the two were talking, a signal arrow pierced the air from the south of the tribe.

The two squatting by the cave entrance immediately stood up.

"I'll go see what's happening."

Huo Tang stopped eating and quickly headed down the tribal mountain.

Although the tribe was building a city, they still kept people on patrol around the tribe to guard against the appearance of Possessing Plague Worms and to alert the tribe.

"Plague Worms are here!"

"Light the bonfires quickly!"

Shortly after Huo Tang rushed out of the tribe, tribesmen roared and rushed into the tribe.

Shen Can, standing at a high point on the tribal mountain, gazed into the distance and saw a dense black cloud appearing in the southern sky. His expression also changed.

He built the city to defend against Possessing Plague Worms, so why did the Flying Plague Worms come again?