The Sacrificial Cauldron

"In the future, I'll have time to compile my years of experience as a Witch Doctor. If you don't want to learn, I'll pick a few more people from the tribe to pass it down to."

"Chan is willing to learn."

Shen Can agreed without a second thought.

Learning more skills was always a good thing.

In his memory, there weren't many divine or mystical arts among the shamans of the Great Wilderness world. At least in their Blazing Flame Tribe and other nearby tribes, their focus was on treating illnesses and injuries.

Even then, it was inconsistent. The Witch Doctors, as Huo Xian embodied them, were essentially medicine balls and medicinal soups.

Besides healing, Witch Doctors also bore the crucial responsibility of neutralizing the violent aura of beast blood.

As for other aspects of the Witch Doctor's role, Shen Can wasn't sure. It was possible his perspective was too narrow to understand more.

After all, the strongest tribal chief in the Blazing Flame Tribe was only at the third realm of martial arts, the Celestial Meridian Realm.

The methods for martial arts cultivation were also overly simplistic.

In the Blazing Flame Tribe, to become a first-tier Stone Splitter Realm martial artist, one would soak in the blood of a first-tier savage beast, eat its meat, and practice tempering techniques to integrate the savage beast's essence into their own body.

To become a second-tier Mountain Opening Realm martial artist, one would soak in the blood of a second-tier beast and eat its meat, practicing tempering techniques.

For a third-tier martial artist, one would soak in the blood of a third-tier beast.

Why soak in beast blood for all of them?

Because the daily practice of eating beast meat and performing the Kui Ox Fist was simply not enough to help tribesmen break through their bottleneck limits.

Tribesmen on the verge of advancing to the Stone Splitter Realm or Mountain Opening Realm could only have a chance to forcefully break through by soaking in beast blood and utilizing the savage beast's powerful bloodline.

The Blazing Flame Tribe's tempering technique was the Kui Ox Fist, a method created by imitating the Mountain Splitting Kui.

However, after becoming a third-tier Celestial Meridian Realm martial artist, the tempering technique became ineffective. True martial arts cultivation methods were needed, ones that simulated the blood circulation within savage beasts.

While the habits and movements of savage beasts were easy to imitate, the circulation of blood within their bodies was not something that could be easily discerned.

The Blazing Flame Tribe's chief advanced to the third-tier Celestial Meridian Realm by forcefully breaking through via soaking in third-tier beast blood. Without subsequent cultivation methods, he became stuck.

This was because the chief had no idea where the blood circulation within his body should go. He only knew that the Celestial Meridian Realm required the opening of celestial meridians.

However, the Blazing Flame Tribe had been passed down for three hundred years, experiencing more than ten tribal chiefs. The successive chiefs, using themselves as test subjects, had managed to discover the location of one celestial meridian.

These weren't exactly secrets. Shen Can's memories indicated they were shared when the tribe taught the Kui Ox Fist.

Besides being a body-tempering method, the Kui Ox Fist was also a preparatory exercise before soaking in beast blood.

Tribal children would learn the Kui Ox Fist from the age of eight or nine. Then, depending on their progress, young people who had sufficiently tempered themselves would be selected each year for soaking in first-tier savage beast blood.

It was only natural that they all grew as robust as grizzly bears, eating savage beast meat and practicing the Kui Ox Fist daily, their physiques steadily improving.

The size of one's physique was the simplest indicator of their strength.

Even so, the success rate of the Blazing Flame Tribe in advancing to the first-tier Stone Splitter Realm was only about thirty to forty percent, and sometimes as low as ten to twenty percent.

Ultimately, the beast blood was too potent. Breakthroughs depended not only on one's ability to withstand the impact but also on luck.

It was through these life-risking martial arts that humanity carved out a place to survive.

In addition to the dangers during breakthroughs, the refinement of savage beast essence would impact a martial artist's cultivation. Coupled with hidden injuries sustained from fighting savage beasts, many martial artists would meet an untimely end.

Otherwise, the Blazing Flame Tribe wouldn't have gone through more than ten tribal chiefs in three hundred years, and not a single one of them met a good end.

Shen Can could only say that living here was not easy, as one never knew when disaster might strike. Earthquakes and floods were even more frequent.

A'Yu was born during a flood.

He himself was born during an earthquake, which caused heavy losses to the tribe, and his parents were sacrificed to the heavens.

Compared to that, this continuous rain for just over sixty days was nothing.

The Blazing Flame Tribe's three-hundred-year history recorded a period of continuous rain that lasted a full year and a half, accompanied by earthquakes.

The Blazing Flame Tribe wasn't a large tribe. The tribal records of those tribes with thousands or even tens of thousands of years of history would likely be even more astonishing.

This was the Great Wilderness, and it was a little bit dangerous.

It was better to be a Temple Keeper, not having to leave the tribe.

As long as the tribesmen offered tributes to the ancestral temple on time, he could continuously plunder the lifespan of prey.

The hunted Mountain Splitting Kui were quickly divided. The hides, bones, and internal organs were taken by the women of the tribe.

The hides were used to make leather armor, the harder parts of the bones were ground into arrowheads, and the internal organs were cleaned and eaten.

After being thrust into the spotlight today, Shen Can had successfully moved into the ancestral temple, becoming the tribe's next generation prospective Temple Keeper.

It all depended on when Old Man Huo Xian decided to hand over his duties.

"Clean out the west ear cave and move in."

After becoming a Temple Keeper, one had to live and eat in the ancestral temple. This was why other young people in the tribe were unwilling to take on the role.

Why would rituals be as enjoyable as going out hunting?

In his memory, Ah Can before transmigration was very unwilling to become a ritualist. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gritted his teeth and gone out with the hunting party.

Now, Shen Can's thoughts had naturally changed.

He would be the temple keeper.

Not only would he be the temple keeper, but he was prepared to see it through to the end.

What was so bad about being the temple keeper? He loved cleaning for the ancestors the most.

It was peaceful.

When the hunters returned from their hunt, during the annual sacrifice, the ten-year sacrifice, and even the hundred-year grand sacrifice, the tribe leader would personally lead the hunting party to kill a third-tier savage beast.

Who knew how long the lifespan of a third-tier savage beast was.

Shen Can tidied up the west ear cave as he pondered.

A simple stone house with a stone bed.

"Brother A'Can, I brought your bedding."

A'Yu carried the bedding into the ear cave and tossed it onto the stone bed.

Afterward, A'Yu stood there hesitating for a long time. He quickly said something and then hurried out of the stone house.

"Brother A'Can, when I become a martial artist in the future, you'll get a share of the savage beasts I hunt."

Shen Can, who was spreading out his own beast-skin mattress, was stunned. He turned around and only saw A'Yu's retreating back.

"This guy."

"It's a shame, but the original Brother A'Can dissolved into water."

After spreading out his mattress, Shen Can originally wanted to take a good look at his golden finger. But after thinking about it, he got up and walked towards the east ear cave.

"Master, do we need to sweep the ancestral temple tonight?"

Seeing the head poking in from the cave entrance, Huo Xian, who was sitting at the stone table flipping through beast-skin records, tacitly accepted Shen Can's address and a smile appeared on his old face.

"Tonight, just keep the oil lamp lit. Tomorrow morning, I'll go through it with you."

"Oh, and if you're hungry, you can take some of the food from the offering table to eat."

"Ah..."

Shen Can was stunned when he heard Huo Xian.

"What temple keeper doesn't sneak food from the offerings? The ancestors are just spirits. Don't you have to help them taste it?"

Hearing this, Shen Can felt even more at ease.

His golden finger had absorbed the lifespan of savage beasts, so it was like stealing offerings from his ancestors.

After returning from Master Huo Xian's place, Shen Can lay down on the stone bed, finally having the time to examine his golden finger.

"Sacrificial Cauldron."

In his perception, this thing was incredibly ethereal within his body. It had a round mouth with three legs, much like the blood vessel used to hold beast blood.

As his thoughts moved, information reappeared in his mind.

Sacrificial Host: Shen Can

Martial Realm: Unranked.

Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Cauldron

Refinement Method: Kui Ox Fist (Inferior) (Can be deduced)

Cultivation Technique: None

Martial Divine Power: None

Lifespan: 33

"How does deduction work?"

The thought popped into Shen Can's mind, and he immediately felt the ethereal three-legged Sacrificial Cauldron within his body flash.

He surprisingly found that he had the ability of 'internal vision,' seeing a hazy space within the Sacrificial Cauldron, where a blurry figure emerged.

"Spirit of the artifact?"

Seeing this change, Shen Can didn't rush to start. He cautiously called out.

But there was no response.

"System?"

"Ancestor?"

There was also no response.

Although he didn't get a response, he felt that the three-legged Sacrificial Cauldron was likely the carrier for the data appearing in his thoughts.

"Can I try using a year of my lifespan to test the waters?"

Instantly, as Shen Can's thoughts changed, the phantom within the Sacrificial Cauldron raised its hand and performed the starting stance of the Kui Ox Fist.

The first move of the Kui Ox Fist was called Mountain Opening, and the punch struck like a charging Kui Ox.

As the phantom within the Sacrificial Cauldron began to move, Shen Can suddenly felt new information emerge in his thoughts.

[Practicing boxing for a year, your stances are stiff, your muscles and bones unmoving, lacking adaptability, as foolish as a boulder.]

"Damn, why is this thing insulting me!"

"Another two years."

[Practicing boxing for three years, your stances are still stiff, you still don't understand adaptability, as foolish as a straw bag.]

[Practicing boxing for ten years, you still haven't grasped the principle of muscles and bones moving with your punches, a straw bag with six of its seven orifices open.]