Ritual artifact.
A few words from Wu Zhiqi changed Shen Can's expression. Without realizing it, he pinched Wu Zhiqi's crushed bones again.
"Aow!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong! I won't call you ants anymore. You're the strongest."
"What is a ritual artifact for?"
"A ritual artifact gathers the power of ancestors who have ascended to Nirvana. It is also a medium for communicating during sacrifices offered by the entire tribe."
"With a ritual artifact, and through the communication of the temple shrine, ancestral protection is no longer empty talk."
"A temple shrine can be a shaman, but a shaman is not necessarily a temple shrine."
"What is ancestral power? Can ancestors come back to life after dying?"
Huo Tang was somewhat puzzled by what Wu Zhiqi meant.
"If the dead can live again, then they were never dead." Wu Zhiqi said, "Ancestral power is ancestral power. I'm not a temple shrine, so I don't know much either."
"Hm?"
Shen Can gave a soft hum, and Wu Zhiqi shrank his head back.
"I really don't know."
"I only know that ritual artifacts require the tribe's yearly sacrifices to gather ancestral power and slow its dissipation into heaven and earth.
Whenever a tribal settlement faces a catastrophe that could wipe it out, the temple shrine can use the ritual artifact to unleash ancestral power against the enemy.
The Ling Yu Tribe used ancestral power twice in its history. The last time was a thousand years ago, when it encountered an incomparably powerful Disaster Beast, the Two-Headed Fei Yi.
Where Fei Yi appeared, the earth dried up. In the end, they relied on the ancestral power awakened through sacrifice to kill that Fei Yi across realms, lifting the drought from the lands surrounding Ling Yu."
"What does a ritual artifact look like?"
"My tribe has a fish-scale drum. I heard that the Blackbird Marquis Tribe, far away, has a bronze bird."
"Marquis is an honorific title for the leader of many tribes in a region. Legend says that after the distant era when sacrifices were made to heaven and earth, humanity multiplied and thrived, and tribes gradually increased in number.
To join hearts and strength against natural disasters, there had to be a leading tribe to govern a region and unite everyone's efforts.
That was why the title of Marquis Tribe came to be."
"Ling Yu is one such Marquis Tribe."
"I heard that farther beyond the Giant Peak Mountain Range, there are even stronger Marquis Tribes."
Without waiting for Huo Tang or Shen Can to ask, Wu Zhiqi consciously began explaining.
Huo Tang listened with great seriousness. Things that seemed like a single sentence were matters the Blazing Flame Tribe had failed to even enter the doorway of for three hundred years.
"What lies below a Marquis Tribe, then? Are they all savages?"
"Below a Marquis Tribe, there are upper and lower ranks. Tribes like yours are Lower Tribes. Hey, hey, don't hit me. I'm telling the truth."
"A tribe's standing is not determined only by the number of its people, but also by its influence.
Living in the mountains and forests, born at dawn and dead by dusk, their destruction unknown to anyone; their lives full of rough pits and ridges, their deaths silent and soundless. Would it really be wrong to call you wild tribes?"
"To become an Upper Tribe, your tribe must at the very least have a Heaven Vein Warrior who advanced with Seventy-Two Desolate Power. Only then is it possible for a Martial Dao warrior of the fourth realm, Divine Treasury, to emerge."
"I said it was only possible. Even among the Heaven Vein Warriors cultivated by the Ling Yu Tribe who advanced with Seventy-Two Desolate Power, the chances of advancing into Divine Treasury are not high.
The current tribal chief advanced into Divine Treasury with power far surpassing Seventy-Two Desolate Power. He once resisted a juvenile Disaster Beast, a Tiger Flood Dragon, without being defeated."
"Besides that, you need matching witchcraft. Beyond battle, witchcraft is the foundation for improving every aspect of a tribe's accumulated strength. Planting, hunting, forging—every aspect requires witchcraft."
After speaking, Wu Zhiqi glanced at Shen Can.
He could tell that Shen Can cultivated the Lingyu Water Control Art.
Over all these years, it was not impossible that the Ling Yu Tribe had let some related witchcraft leak out.
As for Shen Can claiming that he had learned it at a glance after watching him perform it, Wu Zhiqi treated that as nothing but fart.
Even the Ling Yu, the origin of Water Control Art, would not dare claim they could use it from birth.
"Does becoming an Upper Tribe not require a ritual artifact?"
Wu Zhiqi nodded.
"Few Upper Tribes possess ritual artifacts. Tribes that do tend to preserve their inheritance for longer and may one day become the leader of the tribes in a region."
"The existence of a ritual artifact is like a tribe's strongest guardian. It can allow a tribe to endure natural disasters."
"The longer its inheritance lasts, the more naturally it can become the strongest tribe in an area."
"Without a ritual artifact, yearly sacrifices are merely empty words.
The Wish Power produced when tribespeople worship cannot be stored, wasting their expectations toward their ancestors.
But then again, no powerful warriors were ever born among your ancestors. Even if you once had a ritual artifact, it would have been mere decoration, incapable of unleashing much power."
Shen Can spoke. "As the leader of a region, you just said that a Marquis Tribe should lead its subordinate tribes to cross the river in the same boat. Why, then, did you hunt during the flood?"
In truth, he already had an answer in his heart. He simply wanted to ask.
Sure enough, Wu Zhiqi began glancing sideways at them again.
"That's right, Ling Yu is a Marquis Tribe and commands quite a few tribes beneath it. But you're savages."
Wu Zhiqi's words practically said that they were too weak to be included, that they were not one of their own.
"Of course, if your tribe can become an Upper Tribe, then cross ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains to bring Ling Yu a little tribute. Perhaps you'll qualify to tend the fire at the tribal assembly.
And don't act unconvinced. Countless small tribes want to work for the Ling Yu Tribe. Being able to compete for such a chance would already be your good fortune."
Seeing Shen Can raise his hand, Wu Zhiqi shut his mouth.
"What exactly is a ritual artifact made of?"
"I'm an exile. How would I know?"
"How many witchcraft characters from the Ling Yu Water Manipulation Manual have you mastered?"
The moment those words came out, Wu Zhiqi immediately fell silent.
He could tell that the older one beside Shen Can still wanted to pry more information out of him.
But this younger one was no decent thing. Once he spilled everything, this man would definitely crush him bit by bit until the pain killed him.
"State your terms," Shen Can said.
"I can teach you the witchcraft characters in the Ling Yu Water Manipulation Manual, but you must first help me recover from my injuries. And I want fresh flesh and blood."
"I don't know where you obtained the Lingyu Water Control Art, but this technique is only the most basic of basics. If you want to go any further, without my help, you won't comprehend it even in ten thousand years."
"If you pinch me again or scare me with those ants, I'll kill myself immediately and leave you with no witchcraft to learn!"
Wu Zhiqi glared with wide eyes, looking as if he would die for them to see otherwise.
Huo Tang looked at Shen Can, conflict filling his eyes. Wu Zhiqi had devoured more than a dozen tribespeople. The injured were not even counted. He truly wanted to kill him.
But this fellow happened to have useful things in his head, things the tribe needed most.
Whether to take revenge or gain more secrets—he was torn.
As silence fell, Wu Zhiqi thought he had achieved the effect he wanted.
He gave a cold snort and continued, "I've said this much already, showing enough sincerity. As long as you release me and provide for me with good food and drink, I guarantee your tribe will become an Upper Tribe.
Once you become an Upper Tribe, you may not be unable to become a Marquis Tribe of a region in the future."
He said this while looking at Huo Tang, wearing an appearance of patient persuasion.
Then—
"Aow!"
Shen Can kneaded Wu Zhiqi's boneless little hand. "Those were only words. At the very least, bring out something real. Otherwise, how can I trust you?
Forget witchcraft for now. First, show your sincerity by giving me a Martial Arts cultivation method related to the Celestial Meridian Realm."
"Hiss..." Wu Zhiqi sucked in a breath. "I'm a shaman, not a warrior. The Martial Dao cultivation passed down within the tribe has rules. I don't have any Martial Arts cultivation method."
"You've spent so many years in the Upper Tribe. Didn't you obtain any incomplete cultivation methods? I don't mind if they're incomplete."
Shen Can continued.
"Didn't I say before that I'm an exile? When I was in Ling Yu, I was held in custody. Where would I get incomplete cultivation methods?"
"Tribal Chief, it seems this person has no sincerity either. Kill him and use him to sacrifice to our dead tribespeople."
"You don't want witchcraft anymore?"
Wu Zhiqi's eyes widened. Ignoring the pain, he wanted to see whether Shen Can was merely frightening him or truly intended to kill him.
"Without me, you won't comprehend witchcraft even in ten thousand years!"
Shen Can ignored Wu Zhiqi's words. Trying to threaten him with witchcraft meant Wu Zhiqi had truly found the right person.
"Since you are from the Ling Yu Upper Tribe, we mountain-forest savages have always respected the Upper Tribe. Tribal Chief, give me that Broken Blade. Using an Upper Tribe's blade to send off an Upper Tribe's person can count as respect for the Upper Tribe."
Shen Can seized the Broken Blade, casually smearing honey over it.
"Don't be afraid. With honey on it, it will be very sweet."
"..."
"Madman! You disaster fiend, a Disaster Beast turned human!"
Wu Zhiqi was practically going mad. The witchcraft he had relied upon was thrown straight to the back of his mind.
This was completely different from what he had imagined.
In this small tribe, he himself was witchcraft incarnate!
Did this small-tribe shaman who cultivated the Lingyu Water Control Art truly not care for subsequent witchcraft?
Ancestors of Ling Yu, how could there be such savages in the mountains and forests?
Feeling the sticky coldness at his neck, Wu Zhiqi suddenly shuddered. "I know where there are cultivation methods! Move the blade away, quickly move the blade away!"
Shen Can drew the blade. With a tearing sound, skin split open and blood flowed out.
"See? I didn't lie to you. Isn't the wound very sweet?"
Wu Zhiqi trembled, terror filling his heart.
He really dares to kill me. He truly wants to kill me.
After panting twice, Wu Zhiqi spoke in a trembling voice. "During this eastern hunt, three ships sank. Quite a few warriors sank with them, and they may have recorded cultivation methods on them. I know where the wrecks are."
Fang Bo was an ancient Chinese term from the Spring and Autumn period. It referred to the leader among ancient feudal lords and originated in the Book of Rites: Royal Regulations.
As early as the Shang Dynasty, there were already titles such as duke, marquis, and earl. Beyond the lands directly governed by the Yin-Shang Dynasty lay vast regions where numerous tribes stood guard and administered the land.
The leaders of those tribes were called Fang Bo, or Bo for short.
In ancient times, bo meant the eldest or the leader. The ancient sequence bo, zhong, shu, ji ranked from eldest to fourth.
A Fang Bo was the leader of a region, similar to the frontier grand officials spoken of in later generations.
Ji Chang, the Western Marquis, was the leader appointed by the Shang Dynasty to command the many tribes throughout the western region.
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