Martial Arts, Ritual Vessels, What Is Ancestor Worship For (Asking for Follow-Through Reads)

"Stop!"

"Hurry up and stop!"

The screams made the Huo Yu guarding the cave entrance crane their necks to look inside.

"Ah... woo woo woo..." Soon, it turned into whimpers.

Wu Zhiqi leaned against a stone pillar, his body convulsing violently.

"I am from the Ling Yu Tribe, how dare you..."

"Roar... I said, I'm an exile, following your tribesmen from the Great Marsh."

"It's better to feel some pain to wake up."

Shen Can gripped Wu Zhiqi's seemingly boneless palm, repeatedly pressing his fingers.

"Hiss..."

"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you everything, take your stinky... please take your hand away."

Wu Zhiqi gasped for air, "I can help your tribe grow stronger."

Hearing this, Huo Tang's hand loosened, and he even pulled Shen Can.

A person from the Ling Yu Upper Tribe, even an exile, would be a tremendous opportunity for their Blazing Flame Tribe.

In the Great Wilderness, there were many tribes like the Blazing Flame, what they lacked was higher inheritance.

Seeing the change in Huo Tang's expression, Wu Zhiqi's heart stirred. The worldly experience he possessed held a fatal attraction for these small tribes; this was his shield.

"Untie me first, then give me..."

"Ah!"

Shen Can grabbed Wu Zhiqi's arm again and tied a knot, bone fragments piercing the skin and blood welling up.

Screams rang out again, and Wu Zhiqi roared in pain, "You barbarians who don't even have Sacrificial Artifacts are no different from ants, living for a day and dying in the evening, living only to await death."

"Barbarians, die, die!"

The intense pain caused scales to reappear on his body, transforming him bit by bit from human to a state between human and fish.

"Roar..."

"Stop, hurry up and stop, I have sorcery, I have the inheritance you want."

"Do you know what a Sacrificial Artifact is?"

"Do you know how many mystical texts make up the Lingyu Water Control Art!"

"Do you know how tribal ranks are promoted?"

"If you want to know, bring the children from your tribe to exchange, I only eat the young ones, otherwise, even if you kill me, I won't say it."

"Haha, and you, you still have to kneel and beg me, maybe I'll give you the sorcery..."

"Ah!"

"Roar!"

"Ants, barbarians!"

"I am of Ling Yu bloodline, what do you barbarians know about Ling Yu!"

Shen Can tied knots on Wu Zhiqi's remaining arm and two legs.

"Tribe Leader, do we still have honey in the tribe?"

"A'Yu, go dig up a nest of ants outside."

This guy's ingrained attitude of viewing mountain barbarians and ants as the same, even as a prisoner, he still stood high above.

Temperament isn't something that can be changed just by saying so.

Of course, Shen Can didn't expect this guy to change.

What he wanted was what was inside this guy's head.

So what if he's from the Ling Yu Upper Tribe? Did the addition of the words 'Ling Yu' give him sorcery, immunity to death, and an iron will?

"Esteemed Upper Tribe member, I imagine such mountain honey wouldn't catch your eye."

After the honey was brought, Shen Can smeared it onto Wu Zhiqi.

"Brother Can, I've dug up the ants."

A'Yu came in from outside carrying a jar, looking curiously at the bound Wu Zhiqi.

"Come."

Shen Can smeared honey on Wu Zhiqi's mouth and nostrils, then grabbed two ants and, in slow motion, placed them towards Wu Zhiqi's mouth and nose.

"Ptooey, ptooey, puff puff puff!"

Wu Zhiqi thrashed, watching the ants get closer and closer, exhaling from his mouth and nose.

"Ants, you disaster demon, you dare, ah... woo..."

Two ants were shoved into Wu Zhiqi's nostrils by Shen Can, who then set his sights on Wu Zhiqi's entire body.

"A'Yu, help him."

He splashed honey all over Wu Zhiqi and placed the jar containing the ants beneath him.

"Get them away, get them away!"

Wu Zhiqi was on the verge of a breakdown, unable to comprehend how such brutal methods could originate from a small mountain tribe.

"Ah, I'll talk, I'll talk, alright!"

"Speak, starting with how the Ling Yu Tribe's fleet crossed east during the flood."

"Take the jar away first, hurry and take it away!"

Wu Zhiqi sniffled, "And my nose, my nose!!"

"During the flood, crossing the Great Marsh to hunt desolate beasts and wildlings was a tradition of my Ling Yu Tribe."

"Hunting tradition?" Huo Tang felt a chill. "How come we never knew?"

Wu Zhiqi hissed, casting a proud glance at Huo Tang before adopting a dismissive expression.

"Heh... your small tribes are like gnats, born in the morning and dying in the evening. How many floods do you experience from birth to death?"

His words left Huo Tang speechless.

"Roar!"

Shen Can showed no mercy, reaching out and rubbing his knotted arm.

"Talk properly, or I'll gouge your eyeballs out."

Wu Zhiqi flinched in fear. "We haven't hunted the desolate beasts in the eastern Great Marsh for a hundred years.

This time, my Ling Yu—no, his Ling Yu—dispatched a Fourth-Order Wave-Subduing Giant Ship and over thirty Third-Order Iron Wood ships of various sizes.

We had four thousand eight hundred tribal warriors, one hundred accompanying First and Second-Order shamans, six Third-Order shamans, led by the Second Elder Jiao Qi, who is at the fourth realm of Martial Arts, the Divine Treasury Realm.

We crossed eighteen thousand miles to hunt water beasts in the Great Marsh, and incidentally captured wildling tribes along the way to be used as mine slaves, burial slaves, and for sale."

"The fourth realm of Martial Arts, the Divine Treasury, you probably don't even know the name..."

As Wu Zhiqi spoke, he saw the cold glint in Shen Can's eyes and immediately shut his mouth.

"Well, I, as an exile, experienced bloodline mutation. Can this change be blamed on me?

I was born with powerful shamanic talent and thought I would become the most powerful shaman of the Ling Yu Tribe, but I never expected to become neither human nor fish.

From then on, I became an outcast in the tribe. They locked me in a cage and exiled me thousands of miles away. Why?"

"Are you the only exile?"

"Of course not."

"The Ling Yu Tribe was founded because of the Great Wilderness Variant, the Ling Yu, and has a history of three thousand six hundred years. At some point, children born within the tribe began to resemble mutated Ling Yu.

I only discovered this after my mutation. After mutating, practicing shamanism could strengthen control over water, and practicing martial arts could generate water-elemental vital energy.

However, this mutation also had its drawbacks. The tribe began to expel us mutated bloodline members. This time, a few of us were unlucky and happened to be caught in the flood, so we were exiled thousands of miles away.

I didn't eat any of my own kind; I ate gnats. With the Ling Yu talent, I could become incredibly powerful in the future..."

"Slap!"

A loud slap interrupted the excited Wu Zhiqi.

"What about the other exiles sent to the Great Marsh?"

"Who knows if they're alive or dead? The depths of the Great Marsh are full of dangers; even those in the Divine Treasury Realm dare not go to some places. I was lucky to reach the edge.

I wanted to find a place to replenish myself, but after searching for a long time, the tribes along the water's edge were either wiped out or ravaged by plague. I only found a small settlement that had just gathered.

Later, I smelled blood and encountered you, so I followed."

"How does one advance to the Divine Treasury Realm from the Heavenly Meridian?"

Shen Can inquired.

Wu Zhiqi's eyes darted sideways again, then he quickly said, "Hey, hey, don't hit me! You need to open nine Heavenly Meridians and unblock the circulation throughout the body to advance to the Divine Treasury Realm."

"Is there a significant gap before advancing to the Heavenly Meridian from the Mountain Opener stage?"

"Yes."

"The stages before the Heavenly Meridians are all about building a foundation, purely improving physical strength. Naturally, the stronger the physical strength, the more vital energy is generated, allowing for the opening of more Heavenly Meridians."

As he spoke, Wu Zhiqi glanced at Huo Tang.

"Your path in Martial Arts is long over. I'm not targeting you specifically; I'm targeting the Heavenly Meridians of all small tribes, they are all..."

Hearing this, Shen Can raised his hand.

Wu Zhiqi flinched.

"Elaborate on the Mountain Opener and Heavenly Meridians."

"I'm not a martial artist, I'm a noble..."

Wu Zhiqi paused. "In the Ling Yu Tribe, only those whose Heavenly Meridians advance with seventy-two Desolate Power are qualified for tribal cultivation. Martial artists whose Heavenly Meridians advance with less than seventy-two Desolate Power have no hope for the Fourth Realm.

Specifically, it seems to involve whether the subsequent blood and qi can open up the Divine Treasury and fill it sufficiently. This is a tribal secret, so I don't know the details."

"What did you mean by Sacrificial Artifact just now?"

"Of course, it's an artifact for ancestral worship. The reason why small tribes cannot be passed down for long, appearing like ephemeral ants that live and die in a single day..."

"Don't be afraid, continue," Shen Can urged the paused Wu Zhiqi.

"Besides lacking Martial Arts and sorcery inheritances, it's also because they lack Sacrificial Artifacts."

"Sacrificial Artifacts are the foundation of ancestral worship. Do you really think that the reason why tribes of all sizes in the Great Wilderness have passed down ancestral worship is simply to worship ancestors?"

"If the ancestors don't manifest, what's the point of worshipping them?"