Great Plague Year, Ten Tribes Nine Empty

The appearance of the Flying Plague Worms threw the tribe into a panic.

Fortunately, during this period, an emergency prevention system had been established within the tribe.

Bonfires were burning everywhere, with spare witch medicine placed directly beside them.

Soon, thick smoke laced with the scent of medicine billowed upwards.

The swarm of plague worms, dense and numerous, gathered in the air, forming a cluster that stretched for four to five li.

As they charged towards the tribal lands, they caught the strong scent of medicine and began to hover outside the tribe's perimeter.

Only when the tribe increased the amount of witch medicine being burned did the plague worms turn and head southwest.

Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

For the next few days.

The frequency of the Flying Plague Worms' appearances increased dramatically, appearing several times outside the tribe each day, in varying sizes and scales.

The women and children of the tribe were moved into fumigation caves, and the construction of the city not only continued but even accelerated.

Huo Tang personally led the team, aiming to quickly surround the tribal settlement with city walls to prevent further infestations by Flying Plague Worms and Possessing Plague Worms.

Shen Can also increased the amount of witch medicine he was brewing, foregoing meat broth for medicinal soup during meals.

A bowl of medicinal soup, a bowl of meat.

Inside the Ancestral Temple.

Huo Xian distributed the witch medicine, and over a dozen young tribal members quickly left after receiving their portions.

His face was filled with worry. "This is a great plague unseen in three hundred years. May our ancestors bless us and help us overcome this disaster."

As a preventative measure, the bonfires within the tribe were now kept burning continuously, maximizing the release of the witch medicine's scent.

Shen Can hurried in from outside and saw Huo Xian standing at the entrance of the Ancestral Temple, lost in thought.

"Master, please return inside. The plague aura is heavy outside."

Shen Can pulled Huo Xian into the Ancestral Temple.

Inside the cave, a fire pit had been dug, with a pot hanging above it, the medicinal soup bubbling and steaming.

After drinking the medicinal soup, Shen Can headed to the fumigation cave.

Before entering the cave, he rinsed himself with the medicinal soup.

The human tribes of the Great Wilderness had long noticed that even without direct contact with plague worms, they could still become infected after the worms passed through. They confirmed that a 'plague' remained in areas where the worms had passed.

In the words of Huo Xian and Huo Tang, it was called Plague Aura, while Shen Can referred to it as plague qi.

He checked on the women and children of the tribe; most were in good condition, with only a few weak children showing slight listlessness.

In fact, it had already been proven that the tribe's improved witch medicine was effective. Both Possessing Plague Worms and Flying Plague Worms detested the smell of burning witch medicine.

By avoiding direct contact with the plague worms, the infection rate had been reduced to a minimum.

The next step was to ensure the health of the tribespeople.

Once the plague had completely subsided and the Blazing Flame Tribe's strength remained intact, that would be the true time for development and growth.

Half a month later, thanks to the relentless efforts of Huo Tang and the tribespeople working day and night, the tribal city walls were completed ahead of schedule.

The establishment of a new city was a significant undertaking, perfect for announcing to the ancestors.

It was also an occasion for the entire tribe to celebrate properly, with roasted meat, dancing, and wrestling in the evening.

Unfortunately, the plague was pressing.

The entire tribal city had city walls on the east, south, and west sides. The north side was directly protected by the tribal mountain.

The tribal mountain was the largest among the nearby peaks, stretching for nearly four li.

However, the entire mountain was not used as the northern wall; only the section with caves was utilized, spanning about one li in width.

The southeast and southwest corners each had a separate small mountain, over fifty zhang high, which had been developed into corner towers.

During construction, the plan was to keep everything as compact as possible for easier defense, given the tribe's small population.

However, due to construction methods and terrain, the city's perimeter still approached five li.

Along the city walls, a fire pit was placed every thirty zhang, and a small storage building every hundred zhang, stocked with resources like beast oil, medicinal herbs, and timber.

At the fire pits, there were also large pots and water storage tanks.

These were for boiling medicinal soup in case of plague worm appearances.

A moat had also been dug outside the city and filled with brushwood and grass to serve as kindling.

The tribespeople were also crafting wooden spears. These spears were simple and quick to make, and easier to throw than arrows.

After being shaped, the spearheads were soaked in beast oil.

All these preparations were made to deal with the potential impact of large-scale Possessing Plague Worm attacks.

As for the common plague worms and the flying plague worms, dealing with them was much simpler.

Huo Tang, his eyes bloodshot, was shoveling meat and rice into his mouth from a bowl.

Shen Can was the same, his eyes bloodshot.

Both men were covered in exhaustion, their hair disheveled, showing none of the dignity of a Temple Guardian or a tribal chief.

They squatted at the cave entrance, each shoveling down three large bowls of food and then gulping down a large bowl of medicinal soup.

"Ah... hoo..."

Shen Can leaned against the rock wall, letting out a long sigh.

"Just hold on, if you keep holding on, you'll get through it."

Like the flood, the plague had arrived with the same ferocity. Plague worms flew past the tribe every day.

Although there were no possessing plague worms, the constant daily presence of flying ones meant they had to remain vigilant at all times, lest the flying plague worms find an opening.

Huo Tang downed the last drop of soup in his bowl and said, "I'm going to meet Huo Shan and the others."

Upon hearing this, Shen Can took out a few witch runes and stuffed them into Huo Tang's hand.

Huo Tang put them away and left.

From the beginning of the plague, Huo Shan had been responsible for scouting outside, while Huo Kui was in charge of moving supplies.

They had intended to follow behind and pick up some benefits while the possessing plague worms swept through.

But the severity of the plague was beyond human comprehension.

Huo Tang ordered the two to return to the tribe as soon as possible, to ignore the outside world for now, and to close the tribe's defenses.

However, Huo Shan had scouted several tribes outside and gathered a group of survivors.

After receiving the order to return, he met up with Huo Kui. They hid the supplies on the spot, but they couldn't just abandon the survivors they had gathered, could they?

These were the women the tribe's old bachelors had long awaited, and it was an opportunity to strengthen the tribe.

Huo Shan and the others' difficult return was, in essence, due to the tribe's misjudgment of the plague. The plague situation, like thunderstorms, could change without warning.

They thought the plague had weakened and they could go out and scavenge.

But when they actually went out to scavenge, they found that the plague was like waves. One wave seemed weaker, the water calm, and they could pick up fish.

They didn't expect that even bigger waves would follow.

It was like a toy repeatedly tossed around in the hands of a god of disaster.

After Huo Tang left, Shen Can also became busy.

Unlike the two hundred people from the Yan Mountain Tribe who could be integrated into the tribe and managed together, this later group absolutely could not enter the tribal area. He had to make arrangements in advance.

A few days later, they saw the survivors from various tribes brought back by Huo Shan.

Tribal warriors, dressed heavily, took over the arrangement of the survivors.

The scattered remnants, like refugees, formed a long line, gaunt and with dull eyes.

As they arrived, some collapsed directly onto the ground, only to be dragged away by tribesmen and burned.

"Everyone, strip naked and enter the medicinal pool to wash. Throw your clothes into the bonfire."

There were two caves at the front of the line. Large medicinal pools had been dug out within the caves. The survivors, separated by gender, entered the cave medicinal pools one by one to soak.

Shen Can had originally wanted to dig the medicinal pool outside, thinking one would be enough. But then he considered that people would eventually be brought into the tribe, so some dignity should be maintained.

"When I first brought them out, there were quite a lot of people, nearly two thousand."

Huo Shan emerged from the medicinal pool, but the strange smell on his body couldn't be masked.

He had put in a great deal of effort to bring these people out.

First, he settled them in one place, then went to the next to find others.

He didn't know exactly how many tribes' survivors he had gathered, but it was at least seven or eight.

"When we encountered the plague, the strong youths went out to attract them. They died along the way. I don't know if the remaining children can be saved."

Shen Can watched as the last person entered the cave. He had also counted the remaining people: a total of seven hundred and twelve.

Among them, there were only forty-seven strong young warriors, four children, and the rest were young and middle-aged women.

With seven or eight tribes, there must have been twenty to thirty thousand people, but only a few hundred remained.

He wasn't sure how many would survive in the end.

Huo Shan also lacked the ability to explore the situation of the more distant tribes.

And the plague worms' limit extended far beyond the distance of seven or eight tribes; five hundred miles, a thousand miles... who knew?

However, this scene could be easily described, written in just a few words: a great epidemic...

At this moment, more bones were being dragged out of the cave. More than a dozen were dragged out and thrown into the bonfire.

Seeing this, Shen Can spoke, "Uncle Huo Shan, you cannot return to the tribe for now. You must stay outside for a period of time."

"Ah Can, just tell us what to do, and we'll obey. It's fine if we don't go back. I was thinking of moving the resources we've gathered back anyway. Without the burden of the refugees, moving things will be much faster."

As he said this, Huo Shan pointed to over a dozen large sacks piled in the distance.

"Ah Can, I know you're fond of the scrolls from other tribes."

"The other items can be hidden here. I've carried back the scrolls for you with everyone else. Look, those bags are full of them."

Half a month later.

Nightfall.

The Ancestral Temple.

"Ah Can, a total of thirty-five tribesmen were isolated today."

The oil lamp flickered as Shen Can sat behind a stone table, recording the number on a spread-out animal skin scroll.

Thirty-five today, thirty-nine yesterday.

The number of people showing symptoms in the tribe had been on a downward trend for two consecutive days.

The plague had come on too strong, with nearly eight hundred tribesmen showing symptoms in total, including over a dozen martial artists.

These eight hundred included the women from the Yan Mountain Tribe who were previously incorporated.

As for the refugees brought back later, they were not included in the statistics.

Another ten-plus days passed, and no tribesmen showed symptoms for two consecutive days.

Then, over a month later, the tribesmen began to gradually recover.

The feared attack by the Possessing Plague Worm also did not materialize.

This greatly relieved everyone in the tribe.

Huo Tang, who had been guarding the highest point of the tribe day and night to observe, finally let his bloodshot eyes close. He slumped down and slept soundly, snoring loudly. No one went to wake him.

Inside the Ancestral Temple, Shen Can took out an animal skin scroll. At the top, in bold characters, was written: "Chronicle of the Plague's End."

Much content was already written on the scroll, and he continued to write on it.

"Refugees: 712, survivors: 357."

"Tribesmen: 2,233, survivors: 2,175."

"Within a radius of 300-500 li outside the tribe, tribes such as Fu Mountain, Yan Mountain, Ji Stone, Jiang Sha... were wiped out. The situation further away is unknown."

After finishing, he rolled up the animal skin scroll.

In a daze, Shen Can felt a bit like Huo Xian, wanting to record everything for the tribe's future reference.

Noises of commotion sounded from outside the cave.

"A'Yu, what's wrong?"

Huo Yu rushed into the cave excitedly, "Brother Can, Uncle Huo Shan and the others are back! They brought back so much stuff, let's go take a look!"