Hearing Wu Zhiqi say this, both Huo Tang and Shen Can thought of the Iron Wood Boat fragments.
"Of the three sunken ships, one sank in the great marsh, one sank on the road not far from Ling Yu, and the last should have sunk somewhere near you."
"I can take you to find the location of the nearby wreck."
At that, Shen Can stirred the honey in the jar again.
"I already told you. What are you doing?"
Seeing Shen Can's movement, Wu Zhiqi jumped in fright.
Shen Can said nothing. He raised a hand and smeared a handful of honey over Wu Zhiqi.
The Iron Wood Boat fragments did indeed prove that there was a sunken ship nearby.
But he did not believe Wu Zhiqi knew its exact location.
An exile, imprisoned even within his own tribe.
The road of exile stretched across myriad mountains and rivers, with floods reaching the heavens and the hundred thousand mountains layered one upon another.
Wu Zhiqi had either been locked in a cage or confined inside a cabin. At most, he had heard the Ling Yu Tribe members mention that a ship had sunk.
So this fellow merely wanted to use that as a way to get out.
Being captured by Wu Zhiqi was simply Wu Zhiqi's own bad luck.
The two great methods for attracting plague vermin and desolate beasts had not been wasted; every last bit of them had been lavished upon Wu Zhiqi.
If Wu Zhiqi truly escaped, the tribe would suffer endless sneak attacks from then on.
If he struck the tribe every few days, Blazing Flame would not be able to endure it.
For a time, the cave fell silent.
The eerie silence terrified Wu Zhiqi.
"I'll talk, I'll talk. I don't know the location of the ship that sank on the road ahead, but I know where the one in the great marsh sank."
"You're lying to me. The great marsh is vast. How could you remember where the ship sank?"
"It's true. After I was exiled, I followed them for a while and saw with my own eyes where the ship went down."
"You're lying again. Is the Ling Yu Tribe so wealthy that they would not salvage a sunken ship?"
Wu Zhiqi hurriedly explained, "The waves in the great marsh towered into the sky. There was no chance to salvage it at all. They were all smashed into..."
His words came to an abrupt stop.
The boundless great marsh flowed endlessly from west to east. How could shattered fragments possibly sink to the bottom and remain still?
And as for people who fell into the water—did he think the water beasts were all vegetarians?
Wu Zhiqi panicked. He felt that every means of survival he had hoped to use as leverage was proving useless.
"I know witchcraft, I know witchcraft."
Shen Can glanced at Huo Tang, then grabbed a jar of Mafeisan from nearby, pinched Wu Zhiqi's nose, and poured it down his throat.
This fellow naturally had to die, but before he had been squeezed dry, he might as well sleep a while longer.
After all, once dead, he would never wake again.
"A-Can, will this work?"
Huo Tang was somewhat worried. "What if he dies?"
"He won't die."
Shen Can spoke, though he actually felt that the secrets Wu Zhiqi carried had probably been nearly squeezed dry.
Ritual artifacts, martial cultivation—even in witchcraft, his strongest field, he likely did not know much.
If an exile had truly cultivated the tribe's core foundational witchcraft, he would probably have been executed before he ever left the tribe.
Over the next few days, Shen Can planned to repeatedly interrogate him on these questions.
Once he had emptied him of everything, he would dunk him straight into the cesspit.
After simply stopping Wu Zhiqi's bleeding and arranging for Huo Kui to stand guard in the cave, Shen Can and Huo Tang entered Huo Xian's ear cave.
Inside the ear cave.
Shen Can recorded everything on a Beast Hide Scroll.
Huo Tang sat cross-legged beside him, his brows sometimes tightly furrowed, sometimes easing open.
A long while later.
Shen Can organized all of Wu Zhiqi's words, and Huo Xian impatiently began reading them.
"A-Can, how much of what this man said do you think can be trusted?"
Shen Can sensed a state of anxious uncertainty in Huo Tang, along with a hint of confusion.
They had pried far more from Wu Zhiqi's mouth than they had imagined.
These things might have been common knowledge in Ling Yu, but countless mountains and rivers lay between this place and Ling Yu. What they lacked was precisely this kind of knowledge and experience.
"A-Can, how far has A'Shan's qi force risen now? Is there any chance he can reach Seventy-Two Desolate Power?"
Before Shen Can could answer the previous question, Huo Tang spoke again.
Now, he felt that Shen Can, as the temple heir, truly saw farther ahead than he, the chieftain, did.
Stopping Huo Shan from soaking in beast blood to advance into the Heavenly Vein realm back then had truly been the right decision.
"Uncle Huo Shan may be able to reach Seventy-Two Desolate Power. Uncle Huo Qi cannot."
"One is enough. I'm not picky. We can take it slowly." Huo Tang grinned.
"Looks like I'll have to show Huo Shan more concern from now on."
At that moment, Shen Can saw Huo Tang's face filled with profound love for Huo Shan.
Beside them, Huo Xian finished reading the Beast Hide Scroll and sighed. "Ritual artifacts, martial cultivation, the witchcraft path—we have none of those."
"We'll have them someday." Huo Tang's gaze was firm. "Tomorrow, I'll look for Shi Fu and the others. They are remnants of tribes from near the marshes, so I'll see whether they know anything about ships sunk in the water.
"But I think the chances of finding one are slim. With floodwaters reaching the heavens, shattered ships were probably swept away long ago, who knew where.
"Since we found Iron Wood Boat fragments near us, we should start with the ship nearby."
Huo Tang spoke, setting his sights on the Iron Wood Boat near the tribe.
"Elder Uncle, A-Can, do you remember how, just after the mountain flood passed, Huangshi of the Shanghuang Tribe came twice to question us about the whereabouts of the Iron Wood Boat fragments?
"It has been so long since the plague passed, yet we have not seen anyone from the Shanghuang Tribe.
"I had thought before that perhaps they had been badly hit and were recuperating, or perhaps they simply looked down on the small tribes around here.
"But is it possible that the Shanghuang Tribe's main force is searching for this sunken ship?
"The flood disaster has been over for so long. The Shanghuang Tribe may have already found more fragments."
At this point, Huo Tang's eyes hardened. "If this continues, we will fight Shanghuang sooner or later."
Huo Tang was thinking far ahead. If Blazing Flame had not developed, then this battle naturally would not happen.
They could simply cower and kowtow to them. Perhaps they would even be captured and made into slaves.
But Blazing Flame had now developed greatly. Three thousand li of land could not accommodate two tribes that were both growing.
"No. Tomorrow, I'll go take a look near the Shanghuang Tribe."
Returning to the ear cave, Shen Can lay down.
"Ritual artifact?"
When he calmed himself and sensed inwardly, he could feel the Three-legged Small Cauldron within his body. But feeling it was one thing; he simply could not summon it.
It seemed to be nothing more than a flexible imprint between his flesh and blood.
His ritual artifact absorbed the lifespan of sacrifices. It could protect his body, nourish his spirit, and derive martial techniques.
The ritual artifacts Wu Zhiqi spoke of were vessels that stored the power of ancestors.
Moreover, ritual artifacts needed yearly sacrifices for maintenance. When used, they required the temple heir to communicate with them. They were more like a tribe's trump card.
After failing to move the Three-legged Small Cauldron within his body, Shen Can intermittently recalled Wu Zhiqi's words.
"Ritual artifacts, ancestral power. There are no strong people in the tribe, so even if we had ritual artifacts, they would be of no use for now."
"What kind of special mineral deposit can store ancestral power? Could it be that warriors pour their blood qi into ritual artifacts before dying?"
Shen Can did not suspect Wu Zhiqi of lying when he said he did not know the materials used to make ritual artifacts.
If an exile knew the materials used to create the tribe's most secretive objects, that would be what was abnormal.
Muttering to himself, dawn came.
Shen Can rose and began attending to the ancestors.
Meanwhile, activity had begun in the tribe before daybreak.
Huo Tang led people out of the tribe under cover of night. He took Huo Yu's hundred-man hunting party, along with over a dozen agile tribesmen to serve as scouts and messengers.
After sweeping and cleaning the ancestral temple, Shen Can entered the cave where Wu Zhiqi was held.
Huo Kui sat opposite Wu Zhiqi with his eyes wide open.
Wu Zhiqi had yet to wake.
"Uncle Huo Kui, get some rest."
"A-Can, I'm not tired. He hasn't moved all night."
Shen Can reached for Wu Zhiqi's arm.
"Aah..."
Wu Zhiqi was forcibly awakened.
"Tell me what witchcraft can resonate with the witchcraft diagrams inscribed on the Iron Wood Boat."
After the Iron Wood Boat sank, its shattered fragments would have scattered across a vast area. Finding them would not be easy.
Still in pain, Wu Zhiqi immediately understood.
Here it comes, here it comes. Yesterday he acted as though he did not care about witchcraft. So he wanted to play hard to get with me.
Once I get the chance to get out, I will repay the pain I have suffered a thousandfold, a hundredfold.
"Aah!"
Before Wu Zhiqi could gloat, Shen Can began serving him with harsh punishment.
He discovered that although this mutated merman of the Ling Yu Tribe was a witch, his body was remarkably tough.
Whether Wu Zhiqi spoke or not would not change the final outcome. At worst, Shen Can could directly deduce it himself. He had only come to Wu Zhiqi to save some lifespan.
"I'll talk. The Artifact Refining Chapter of the Ling Yu Water Manipulation Manual has the Spirit Response Art, and witch script..."
"Huff, huff!"
Wu Zhiqi finished speaking quickly, sucking in cold breaths from the pain.
"I can teach you."
Half an hour later.
Shen Can returned to the ear cave, spread out the Beast Hide Scroll, and began writing.
According to Wu Zhiqi, the Ling Yu Manual was a complete encyclopedia of witchcraft.
It contained many large and small categories, including the Witchcraft Combat Chapter, Witch Rune Chapter, Hunting Chapter, Weapon Witchcraft Attachment Chapter, Spirit Plant Cultivation Chapter, Plague Treatment Chapter, and more.
Since the founding of the Ling Yu Tribe, generations of witches had continuously expanded and compiled it.
No wonder small tribes struggled to survive while great tribes stood like towering mountains. The gap was simply too great.
He had only deduced a few witch scripts, while they had already made endless patterns from combining witch scripts and compiled them into the "Ling Yu Grand Codex."
Because there were so many categories, the Ling Yu Tribe's witches would subdivide their witchcraft cultivation according to their own circumstances.
Some made talismans, some farmed, and some refined artifacts and attached witchcraft to them. It was truly applied to every nook and cranny of the tribe.
For example, before Wu Zhiqi mutated, what he cultivated was the Witchcraft Combat Chapter. He simply had not expected that, as he cultivated and cultivated, he would cultivate himself into a mutation.
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