Third-Tier Desolate Beast, Ma Fei San

Shen Can's excitement was directly doused by Huo Tang.

If you want to go out, it depends on the situation.

Within a thousand-mile radius, there was only one tribe, and desolate beasts were rarely seen.

Without desolate beasts, who would use the witch medicine to neutralize them? Were they going to take so many tribesmen out to gnaw on rocks?

Moreover, Huo Tang felt that the marsh he had discovered could have at most one second-tier desolate beast. That is to say, the water surface in the valley was larger, and it was not easy to drain the water.

He had been out for too long, so he returned first to check and prepare to bring tools to drain the marsh and capture the desolate beast.

Draining the marsh was the most foolish, yet most practical method to deal with desolate beasts in the water.

Once a desolate beast in the water left its element, its combat power would drop by seventy to eighty percent. As long as the method was appropriate, it was easier to hunt than desolate beasts in the mountains.

"Tribe Leader, how large is the marsh in that valley?"

"The valley is narrow and long, about twenty to thirty miles in circumference."

Huo Tang carefully described his observations.

"There are fruit trees on the cliff walls on both sides of the valley, with peach trees being the most numerous. I also saw some five-fingered palm prints on the rock walls. Before the flood, there should have been primate desolate beasts living there."

"But not anymore. I've scouted the surroundings of the valley and haven't seen a single primate desolate beast. There are no floating rotten carcasses on the marsh surface either.

The water is very clear, so there shouldn't have been any plague worms hatched.

Primate desolate beasts have habits similar to humans; they can climb cliffs and hide when facing floods.

Therefore, I infer that when the flood broke out, a water-dwelling desolate beast entered the valley and preyed on the primate desolate beasts that lived there.

If the water surface wasn't so vast, and I didn't know if there were any hidden pits in the valley, I would have captured it long ago."

After hearing Huo Tang's description, Shen Can was somewhat disappointed.

A second-tier desolate beast was indeed not worth making such a fuss about.

Huo Tang, who had returned to take a look, led Huo Shan and others to pack their tools and rushed to the valley with the marsh the next day.

As for Shen Can, he continued to be the chief instructor for hundreds of warriors, preparing to reduce the number to below three hundred.

The surrounding tribes had brought out their stored food as cultivation resources. According to the statistics of the elder Huo Yu, if they continued to eat without limit, it would only last for a little over a year.

At that time, relying solely on the two thousand tribesmen within the tribe, they would not be able to support three hundred full-time warriors.

Therefore, cultivating internal energy and expanding to hunt in farther places were the future development directions of the tribe.

Half a month later.

Noon.

Shen Can, who was supervising the cultivation from a high vantage point on the training ground, saw Huo Shan and a few others returning from the east of the tribe.

"There is a third-tier desolate beast in that marsh, a strange fish with patterned markings on its belly and legs."

"The Tribe Leader wants me to come back and call for people to surround and hunt it."

Desolate beasts are powerful. The reason why weak tribes can be passed down is their ability to cooperate and use tools.

When hunting desolate beasts, they also cooperate with each other. Even when facing third-tier desolate beasts, as long as they are well-prepared, there is a chance of success.

This is also why tribes formed by scattered people can produce warriors of the Celestial Meridian Realm.

However, to advance further in the Celestial Meridian Realm has become an insurmountable threshold for small tribes.

In the tribal treasury, after moving aside the outer items, something wrapped in animal hide and hidden underneath was revealed.

Huo Shan returned this time to retrieve this item.

Shen Can used his spiritual sense to probe and found that what was wrapped in the animal hide was a crudely made Iron Wood spear.

He immediately realized that Huo Tang had sneakily moved the storage hole behind the Ancestral Temple and had carved the salvaged fragments of the Iron Wood Boat into wooden spears.

There were not many, only nine.

Just as Huo Shan was about to leave, he found himself blocked at the entrance of the tribal treasury by Shen Can.

A day later.

Huo Shan looked as if he wanted to stop them but couldn't do anything, watching a team of three hundred people leave the tribe.

As for him, he was left behind to guard the tribe.

Shen Can was in the middle of the team.

Well, he was on Huo Yu's back.

It wasn't that he didn't want to walk; everyone implicitly thought he was frail, and he wouldn't be able to keep up with the team if he walked himself.

If he were willing, everyone would be willing to carry him in turns.

Huo Shan staying in the tribe was not out of willingness, but this time Shen Can's intentions were not simply to run away.

According to the accurate information passed back by Huo Shan, there was more to the marsh than met the eye. In the middle of the valley, there was originally a deep pool.

This was only discovered after the water in the valley had been drained.

During the water draining process, they found the legged odd fish.

And it wasn't just one, but a third-tier odd fish along with a group of young fry.

Though they were called fry, their size was comparable to an adult human.

Based on their estimations, this third-tier odd fish had most likely taken advantage of the floodwaters and traveled upstream from the Eastern Great Marsh specifically to spawn.

The deep pool that existed within the valley also proved that the odd fish hadn't chosen its location randomly.

It was a deliberate selection of a watery place to ensure a habitat for decades or even a century, awaiting the next mountain flood.

The place the odd fish chose was excellent, but it made hunting difficult for the tribesmen. The depths of the pool were unknown, and trying to go down to catch them...

Forget it, Huo Tang had a hard enough life as it was.

Besides bringing people, Shen Can also brought Witch Boil Numbing Powder, a concoction of eight types of witch medicine including Aconitum Kusnezoffii, Typhonium giganteum, and toad venom.

As for why he had prepared a numbing agent, well... he had some Lifespan left over from before and decided to use it for an emergency.

This numbing agent recipe was based on the tribe's existing medicinal herbs and wasn't the most optimal witch medicine configuration.

Therefore, the tribesmen on this expedition carried many animal hide bags, all filled with medicinal ingredients.

If the efficacy was insufficient, they would just increase the dosage.

Because of this witch medicine recipe, Huo Shan, as the tribe's most authoritative and sole shaman, could only reluctantly stay behind.

After Shen Can's intensive training, many of the tribesmen he brought were on the verge of becoming Stone-Splitting martial artists.

As for how much meat was wasted for these people, that was another matter.

Martial Arts cultivation, the foundation of the tribe's existence, couldn't be calculated in terms of cost.

This time, he was heading straight for the odd fish school.

They arrived at the marshy valley.

Huo Tang not only led people to dig a water channel at the valley entrance but also excavated several large caves on both sides of the valley, releasing water more fiercely than a flood discharge.

There was no longer any marshland in the valley, only a deep pool.

When Shen Can arrived, Huo Tang was leading people to throw rocks into the pool from a high vantage point.

"I had people lower down vines, but after a hundred fathoms, the bottom wasn't visible, and they were attacked by the odd fish."

"Chieftain, there's too much water."

Looking at the pool, which continuously overflowed with water, Shen Can felt that the numbing agent he brought was still too little.

Throwing it in now would at most add a bit of flavor.

He then looked at the busy tribesmen, and thought, no wonder humans can survive.

No matter how frequent the disasters or harsh the environment in the Great Wilderness, humans always found ways to act, rather than begging heaven and earth for mercy.

The odd fish trapped in the pool never expected to be treated like this.

Including the three hundred tribesmen Shen Can brought, the total number of tribesmen gathered here approached four hundred, and the rock-throwing team expanded several times over.

"Plop!"

"Plop!"

From the mountain peaks on both sides of the valley, the tribesmen hurled stones.

This method actually had a hidden danger: if there were underground channels deep in the water, the odd fish might escape, and they would gain nothing.

However, digging down was different from building up. The floodwaters had receded not long ago, and the groundwater was abundant. After digging only a few dozen feet, water would gush out.

Although he had considered the problem, Shen Can had no intention of jumping into the pool to demonstrate his witchcraft.

He understood the basic principle that a first-tier shaman couldn't defeat a third-tier beast.

His current witchcraft could be used for sneak attacks, but not as the main force.

Splash!

Amidst a rain of debris, several stones suddenly returned from the water, hitting the rock walls on both sides.

"They can't hold back any longer."

"Keep going!"

Huo Tang ordered the tribesmen to increase the intensity. He held a specially made large bow and approached the edge of the pool.

As chunks of debris fell, more debris flew out of the water, with many stones colliding in mid-air.

But with hundreds of people looking down and showing no mercy, no matter how much the odd fish thrashed its tail, more stones landed in the water.

The water in the pool continuously overflowed, flowing away through the channels.

"Gulp!"

Amidst heavy splashes, a sound like a bird's cry was heard, and a dark shadow leaped out of the water.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Huo Tang, who was outside the pool, made his move.

His arrows were specially made, with very fine yet incredibly strong beast sinew attached to the tail.

After the arrow left the string, it shot into the black shadow's head like lightning.

Then, Huo Tang yanked the beast sinew rope in the opposite direction, and the black shadow was forcefully pulled out of the water by him.

Seeing the odd fish Huo Tang pulled out, Shen Can called out to everyone, "Collect the beast blood properly, don't waste it."

In the past, beast blood from desolate beasts that were not of a certain rank wouldn't be used for soaking.

But Shen Can felt that since they had been cultivating the Superior Kui Ox Fist for so long, the absorption efficiency would be better, and it might not necessarily offset the impact of the lower quality beast blood.

He had brought people here precisely to try this out.