Advancing to Wizard

Feeling the beast meat he had eaten turn into vital energy, Shen Can withdrew his fists. Without disturbing A'Yu, who was still practicing his punches, he headed into the ancestral temple.

Sacrificial Host: Shen Can

Sacrificial Vessel: Sacrificial Cauldron

Martial Arts Realm: Mountain Cleaving (Sixteen Desolate Power)

Witchcraft Realm: Unranked

These past days, he had practiced his punches during the day and occasionally deduced witchcraft at night, measuring it in fifty-year increments of lifespan.

Now, he felt that his "spiritual perception" had accurately reached a range of five zhang, while the number of witch characters had reached seventeen.

He still knew far too little about witchcraft.

What he could be certain of was that none of the nearby tribes, including the Shanghuang Tribe, possessed a proper witch.

But that did not mean those tribes had not gathered records related to witchcraft. Small tribes had limited horizons; even if they collected such things, they might not understand them.

He hoped that while gathering up the remnants of the surrounding tribes, he might find some records concerning witchcraft among the Beast Hide Scrolls collected from other tribes.

After arriving before his ancestors and paying his respects, Shen Can remembered his duties at all times and washed the faces of the Ancestral Divine Seats before the altar.

"Ancestors, bless me with some witchcraft."

As usual, he made a wish to the void.

Whenever he swept and cleaned each day, he would mutter such a wish to his ancestors.

Once he had finished wishing, Shen Can headed toward East Ear Cave. His master, Huo Xian, was still writing furiously, recording his many years of medical experience.

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

Without even a basic understanding of witches, he was exhausted from feeling his way forward step by step.

Lifespan: 180

Because of the plague worms' attack, the tribe had stopped hunting. Shen Can's lifespan from desolate beasts was now being spent away with no income.

Fortunately, he was not some miser. When it was time to spend, he did not hesitate.

Use fifty years of lifespan to deduce the eighteenth witch character.

The previous nine witch symbols had formed the Lingyu Water Control Art. He had already guessed that Ling Yu witchcraft should be an entire system.

Witch characters were the writing of that system. The more witch characters there were, the more variations and content a spell could form, and the greater its power would become.

You gazed at the form of Ling Yu, imagining yourself transforming into Ling Yu and swimming through the waters.

After transforming into Ling Yu, bloodthirsty thoughts surged up within you. Fortunately, you quickly recovered and continued using Ling Yu's body to experience the changes in water.

Within your thoughts, the previous seventeen witch characters lined up in a row, shimmering with rippling light and connected in mysterious ways. Some of the characters seemed to share inexplicable links.

You captured the mystery between the witch characters. Spiritual light suddenly flashed through your heart, and amid the watery gleam, a new winding rune gradually manifested.

Congratulations. You have comprehended part of the Ling Yu Water Manipulation Manual.

Twenty years of lifespan consumed. Thirty years returned.

Inside the ear cave.

On the spread-out beast hide before him, Shen Can wrote down all eighteen witch characters.

Witch characters were somewhat different from ordinary writing. Every character held many meanings, yet they could also be combined like words to form "sentences."

The wonder of witch characters was that a single witch character was also a sentence.

It only seemed that there were not enough of them yet; many "sentence patterns" lacked content.

Shen Can felt that he had grasped the true essence of Ling Yu witch characters.

This was a witchcraft manual written in unique witch characters. Through combinations, the characters could produce different meanings.

Take the Water Control Art, for instance. It was a witchcraft incantation formed from the first nine witch characters he had deduced.

Now that he had deduced another nine, the eighteen witch characters could form far more combinations.

The Ling Yu system should contain far more than eighteen witch characters in total.

Likewise, these characters could not be understood merely by looking at them. One needed to rely on "spiritual perception" to experience the profound mysteries they emanated.

No wonder neither Blazing Flame nor Shanghuang had witches. Without a legacy, trying to cultivate this with nothing but one's mouth and teeth was truly too difficult.

He had poured more than two thousand years of lifespan into this, back and forth. Even if the lifespans of every past Blazing Flame tribal chief were added together and multiplied by seven, they would not have lived this long.

This was encryption through and through, and there was even the barrier of cultivation.

"Looks like the Ling Yu Tribe's Witchcraft Legacy is the Ling Yu Manual."

Witch Path: First Rank

Lifespan: 150

Only then did Shen Can realize that he had successfully advanced into a witcher, yet he did not feel a thing.

This breakthrough in realm felt more like a measure of one's comprehension of witchcraft.

"Buzz!"

As he raised his hand and held two fingers together like a sword, eleven of the eighteen runes formed into an incantation within his thoughts at the movement of his mind.

Within the ear cave, water vapor suddenly gathered, forming a water arrow at his fingertips that pierced a deep hole into the rock wall.

Though the flood had receded long ago, the cave remained damp. At his command, moisture from the air and the rock walls gathered and compressed in an instant into an attack.

The incantation was like a medium for mobilizing that water vapor, while spiritual power was the key that activated the witch characters.

"I really need to get some basics of witchcraft. Otherwise, feeling my way around like a blind man touching an elephant is still far too bewildering."

Wiping away the witch characters he had written on the beast hide, Shen Can walked out of the cave.

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

Sweat-drenched, A'Yu walked in.

"Go eat."

At present, the tribe's meat supply was unrestricted. They could eat as much as they wanted.

Large cauldrons were lined up at the site where the city was being built, steaming and boiling beast meat. As for the taste, it was nothing more than sufficiently salty.

Before long, Shen Can and A'Yu returned carrying two large pottery bowls and one small one. The small bowl was for Huo Xian, while the large bowls were for the two of them.

Squatting outside the entrance of the ancestral temple cave, they began wolfing down their food.

Looking down the mountain, Shen Can saw a city wall over thirty zhang high rising along the eastern and southern sides of Tribal Land Mountain.

It was all piled from massive stones, fifty zhang thick. Even great desolate beasts could run across the top without issue.

Of course, that only meant they could run on it. Whether it would collapse was another matter.

There was no helping it. If the strength was insufficient, they could only increase the wall's thickness. Otherwise, it would not be easy to pile it thirty zhang high.

As they ate, Huo Tang arrived carrying a bowl of food.

"A'Yu, go get me another bowl of food."

A'Yu answered and took the large pottery bowl. He gulped down the meat soup in his own bowl in one mouthful, then grabbed both bowls and dashed down the mountain.

Shen Can gave Huo Tang a speechless look. Wasn't this just bullying an honest lad?

"Huo Shan sent word back. Not a single one from Jishi escaped. Several tribes to our east and south have all suffered plague worm attacks.

"The plague worms are ranging farther and farther. They have already spread across a radius of a thousand li.

"Luckily, those plague worms have not split up again. It looks like there are only a few plague birds, which counts as good news.

"I had Huo Kui move back the Jishi Tribe's stores already. The other tribes are a little farther away, so it will take some time to move their supplies back.

"I also had the Clan Record Beast Hides from each tribe transported separately, as you requested."

"Oh, and the Jiangsha Tribe west of our tribe is fine. The plague worms heading our way must have been wiped out, which kept them from spreading west and southwest."

"Also, the Possessing Plague Worms have been around for quite a while now, yet no one from the Shanghuang Tribe has come again."

The Shanghuang Tribe lay south of Blazing Flame. Before the flood had even stopped, they had been able to cross three thousand li and roam everywhere. Their absence now was rather unexpected.

Other than being frightened by the plague worms, Huo Tang could not think of any other reason.

"What a pity the timing is wrong. Otherwise, I would have gone to the Jiangsha Tribe and collected some benefits no matter what. If nothing else, I would at least make several Jiangsha girls marry into Blazing Flame."

Whoosh!

As the two spoke, the sound of a signal arrow tore through the air from the south of the tribe.

The two men, who had been squatting outside the cave, sprang to their feet at once.

"I'll go see what's going on."

Huo Tang did not even finish his food before striding quickly down Tribal Land Mountain.

Though the tribe was building a city, they had still left people to patrol the surrounding area. If Possessing Plague Worms appeared, they could warn the tribe in time.

"The plague worms are here!"

"Quick, light the bonfires!"

Not long after Huo Tang rushed out of the tribe, tribesmen came roaring into the settlement.

Standing high atop Tribal Land Mountain, Shen Can looked into the distance and saw a dense black cloud appear in the southern sky. His expression changed as well.

He was building the city to guard against Possessing Plague Worms. Why had the Flying Plague Worms come again?