The rain kept falling.
Floodwaters surged like muddy dragons from multiple mountain passes, the towering waves they raised battering the mountainsides.
The tribespeople stood on the shore, hoping to recreate the scene of catching He Luo Fish.
Within the tribe, word that the ancestors had manifested spread through every cave, and the atmosphere improved greatly.
From youths who had only just begun learning the fist art to Stone Splitter Martial Artists who had practiced for decades, all were cultivating the improved Kui Ox Fist bestowed by the "ancestors."
Shen Can was no exception.
Huo Xian specially permitted him to leave the ancestral temple and return after learning the improved fist art.
After putting on a show and practicing along with them for two days, Shen Can felt that his spirit had more or less recovered.
The night was deep, and rain crackled outside the cave.
He continued deriving the Kui Ox Thunder Sound.
When the previous derivation ended, he had been told that the Kui Ox Fist's evolution into the anomaly of thunder sound held even greater mysteries.
Moreover, the high-grade Kui Ox Fist could only mobilize eighty percent of the muscles and bones throughout the body. Shen Can felt it was still far too distant from perfection.
The phantom within the Three-legged Small Cauldron moved.
After practicing the fist art one hundred and fifty times, you finally opened all seven apertures and were no longer utterly clueless.
A year later, the thunder sound transformed into two echoes.
Thirty years later, the thunder sound transformed into seven echoes.
Another twenty years passed, and the thunder sound transformed into eight echoes.
After the Kui Ox reached eight echoes, you felt as if your skull had turned to stone again, unable to grasp the path forward. In the blink of an eye, another twenty years passed, and you became a bull once more.
Moo, moo, moo!
Within the Three-legged Small Cauldron, the phantom continuously opened its mouth and mooed, yet its movements never stopped. It performed the Kui Ox Fist again and again, over and over, without rest.
Finally, during a new round of the fist art, the thunder sound rang out once more. Seven, eight, nine...
When the ninth thunder sound rang out, the phantom performing the fist art trembled all over as a profound mystery surged straight into its crown.
Another thirty years passed. Through your stubborn, mule-headed cultivation without cease, the ninth echo of the Kui Ox Thunder Sound was finally performed.
Kui Ox Nine Echoes, the pinnacle of the Kui Fist, could temper the flesh, blood, muscles, bones, and internal organs throughout the entire body.
Congratulations, you stubborn mule. You have comprehended the auxiliary cultivation divine power, Myriad Transformations to One.
On the stone bed, Shen Can opened his eyes.
Sacrificial Host: Shen Can Martial Arts Realm: Unranked. Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Cauldron Tempering Method: Kui Ox Fist (high-grade) Witchcraft: Blazing Flame Tribe Witch Doctor Method (inferior), witchcraft (none) Cultivation Method: None Martial Divine Power: Myriad Transformations to One Lifespan: 15 Myriad Transformations to One: Allows the Sacrificial Host to perfectly refine and absorb the resources from daily cultivation, possessing the effects of embracing all rivers and gathering scraps of fur into a cloak.
A day later, after viciously wolfing down three meals of meat, Shen Can experienced the benefits of Myriad Transformations to One.
This divine power was simply too useful.
With it assisting his cultivation of the Kui Ox Fist, every scrap of meat he ate was perfectly transformed into strength that enhanced him.
Not only was nothing wasted, but Shen Can even found some dry leaves in the tribe and ate them, and they too were transformed.
So long as a cultivation resource entered his stomach, he would have to squeeze some oil and water out of it. What he excreted was nothing but dry husks and dregs.
At this rate, Shen Can felt that even if he ate only ordinary Desolate Beast meat, he could still advance into a martial artist. It was merely a question of how long it would take.
Squeezing oil from a toad—so this was what embracing all rivers meant.
The cultivation paths of the Stone Splitter Realm and Mountain Opening Realm had completely opened before him. The process of soaking in beast blood that the tribespeople required was no longer necessary for him at all.
Even the Celestial Meridian Realm no longer seemed so difficult.
The further one progressed, the greater the support provided by Myriad Transformations to One.
Gathering scraps of fur into a cloak—using the resources at hand to complete leaps into higher realms.
Why did the Blazing Flame Tribe have only one Heaven Vein Warrior? The main reason was that third-tier Desolate Beasts were difficult to find.
As long as they were not particularly troublesome, second-tier Desolate Beasts could easily be dragged back to the tribe when the tribe's Stone Splitter Realm martial artists focused their attacks together.
But with third-tier Desolate Beasts, relying on Second Tier Mountain Opening Realm martial artists to focus their attacks caused the success rate to drop considerably.
Moreover, the tribe needed luck to hunt third-tier Desolate Beasts.
The Blazing Flame Tribe was simply too small. Take the Shanghuang Tribe, for instance. They had several Celestial Meridian Realm martial artists and could spare people to wander the nearby Great Wilderness every day, specifically scouting for third-tier Desolate Beasts.
Desolate Beasts also had their own clans and territories, and they slaughtered one another.
The purpose of wandering about was to seek out old or injured third-tier Desolate Beasts. Once one was found, they would organize people to hunt it.
The Blazing Flame Tribe had only Clan Chief Huo Tang at the Celestial Meridian Realm, so naturally they could not send people wandering around.
Whether they could hunt a third-tier Desolate Beast depended entirely on luck.
But luck was the sort of thing one might not encounter even once in decades.
Shen Can did not think the tribe would specifically hunt a third-tier Desolate Beast for him. The ancestors did not have such great fortune either; whether he could eat one depended wholly on luck.
So he might as well forget about obtaining a third-tier Desolate Beast as a resource.
And that was only for third-tier Desolate Beasts. By the fourth and fifth tiers... relying on numbers to surround and hunt them would become increasingly impossible.
But with this divine power, as long as he could perfectly refine the resources already available, he could rely on the nourishment of second-tier Desolate Beasts, or even vast quantities of First-Order Desolate Beasts, to advance into a Celestial Meridian Realm martial artist through perfect conversion.
Gathering scraps of fur into a cloak—this was how one gathered them.
With the perfect Kui Ox Fist and an auxiliary cultivation divine power, Shen Can had no other thoughts. He simply squatted in the ancestral temple and waited to eat.
Huo Xian ladled out a bowl piled high with beast meat for him.
Seeing that Shen Can practiced fists every day yet was still shorter than the other tribespeople, Huo Xian patted his shoulder. "Eat more. Your body is still somewhat frail."
Over the next ten days, activity constantly sounded from every cave in the tribe, while Shen Can unconsciously forgot the crackling torrential rain outside.
Inside the west-side cave of the ancestral temple.
His fist art ended, and Shen Can stood without moving.
Feeling the warm current coursing through his entire body, Shen Can's eyes lit up.
He had advanced. He was so hungry. He wanted to eat more.
Looking over his physique again, he had grown a little taller, but compared with the tribe's burly bear-like men, he still fell far short.
Crack!
He reached for the Black Yuan Stone placed in the cave, strength surging into his right hand.
The portion of the Black Yuan Stone caught in his grip was crushed by sheer force creating a miracle.
He forcibly crushed off a corner of the Black Yuan Stone, which stood over a meter tall, and a crack ran straight through it.
When the tribe tested a Stone Splitter Realm martial artist's punching strength, they directly smashed the stone with their fists.
Shen Can was not that violent. In truth, there was no clear dividing line between the Stone Splitter and Mountain Opening Realms; both emphasized the increase of one's own strength.
Soaking in second-tier beast blood was more like reaching the limit of one's strength, then using the beast blood to break through that bottleneck and open the upper limit for improvement once more.
As for him, he had no bottleneck blocking his path.
So long as he ate, ate, and ate, he would naturally become a mountain opener realm martial artist.
Sacrificial Host: Shen Can Martial Arts Realm: Stone Splitter Realm (one Desolate Power) Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Cauldron Tempering Method: Kui Ox Fist (high-grade) ...
While he had been busy advancing into a martial artist, the tribespeople had also all gained an initial grasp of the improved Kui Ox Fist. The overall results were quite good.
Why was Shen Can so sure?
Because...
Inside the East Ear Cave.
Several Beast Hide Scrolls lay before him.
One was a beast hide illustrated record imprinted with the improved Kui Ox Fist.
One was a list of tribe members.
Shen Can glanced at it and discovered that two people shared his name, both born while everyone had been warming themselves by the fire at the foot of the mountain.
The list was densely packed with names and corresponding portraits.
Most of the portraits could display each person's characteristics.
There were a total of one hundred and thirty-three people, twenty-seven of whom had been newly added. A'Yu's name was among those additions.
These were all tribespeople believed to have the potential to become Stone Splitter Realm martial artists.
Since the newly improved fist art had appeared, the number had increased by one-fifth in a short time.
Anyone in the tribe who felt they had a chance would come to Huo Xian to register their name, then wait in line for beast blood.
"Add Huo Xun's name. He's over forty already. If he can advance into a martial artist, it can be considered basking in the ancestors' light."
Huo Xian instructed Shen Can, yet his sighs never ceased.
It was good that the ancestors had manifested, but the current situation was truly far from good.
There was no beast blood.
The rain poured down in sheets. Where could there be prey near the tribe?
Once the rain stopped, the Desolate Beasts that had escaped the great flood and been driven mad by hunger would become even more savage.
Not to mention that after heavy rain came plague insects. That was the tribe's true great crisis.
Plague insects were a great nuisance even to martial artists, much less the old, weak, women, and children of the tribe. Once the plague insects spread and infected everyone, the entire tribe could become a place of deathly silence.
In fact, Shen Can had already been studying witch doctor prescriptions concerning the prevention and treatment of plague insects during his free time these past few days.
Plague insects were also a kind of Disaster Beast of the Great Wilderness. Once they spread, they blanketed the heavens and covered the earth.
After releasing the plague fluid from their bodies, people would readily swell all over with plague blisters. Then their internal organs would rot, turning them into breeding beds for plague insects.
Within the crisis, he saw an opportunity.
Plague treated everyone equally. If they could defend against it properly, then for the Blazing Flame Tribe, it might become an opportunity to expand the tribe.
So long as the tribe became stronger, would the ancestors not be able to eat better?
When it came to honoring the ancestors, he was the most sincere of all.
Before you continue