Dissecting Runes and Dividing Villages

As Liang Ji refined more Demon Cores, the volume of his Natal Star continuously grew, and the strength of the Spirit Veins within it also steadily increased.

From Tier 1 (3%) to Tier 1 (4%), Tier 1 (5%)... all the way to Tier 1 (12%), the Spirit Vein's strength increased fourfold, and the entire Natal Star's volume also grew several times over in these twenty-odd days.

The changes, like wind and clouds shifting, like seas turning into mulberry fields, were greater than those of the past few months.

Similarly, due to the improvement of the Spirit Veins and the growth of the Star, the number of Retainer Half-Dragonfolk also rapidly increased in these twenty-odd days.

The total number had already approached one hundred thousand, with over twenty thousand Retainers awakening their bloodlines, gaining sentience, and advancing to Tier 1.

This was still a short period; the Retainers' growth rate had not yet caught up with the growth rate of the Star and Spirit Veins. Otherwise, with the Spirit Vein at Tier 1 (12%), the Star could have nurtured up to one hundred and twenty thousand Half-Dragonfolk Retainers.

And as the population of Half-Dragonfolk Retainers continued to grow, new problems also began to emerge.

The biggest of these problems was the issue of food and resources.

Nearly one hundred thousand Half-Dragonfolk Retainers gathered together, residing in Dragon Soul Village and its surrounding areas. To feed so many tribesmen.

The tribe's economic leader, 'Nong,' continuously led his tribesmen to open up more farmland, having already developed all the suitable areas near Dragon Soul Village for cultivation.

The warrior leader, 'Chi,' led his Hunting Team, who had to constantly venture further afield to hunt more prey and enter deeper seas to catch more fish and shrimp.

This was because the consumption of the large number of Half-Dragonfolk had depleted the prey, fish, and shrimp in the mountains, forests, and seas near Dragon Soul Village to the point where they could no longer meet the tribesmen's needs.

Seeing the situation worsen, the tribe's four leaders gathered to discuss and made a decision: to split the village.

A group of tribesmen would be separated from the village to go to a new area, develop new territory, establish a new village, and set up a new settlement, thereby solving the problems of overpopulation and insufficient resources.

The location for the new village had already been chosen. It was discovered by the tribe's Hunting Team during their hunts. It was also situated by mountains and water, with fertile land and abundant resources, making it very suitable for the Half-Dragonfolk Retainers to settle, survive, and develop.

Moreover, and more importantly, the Hunting Team had discovered a metal ore vein there that could be mined in open pits and had extremely rich reserves.

Coincidentally, the metal ore deposits near Dragon Soul Village, after tens of thousands of years of mining and use by the tribe, were nearing depletion, with severely insufficient output.

With the continuous growth of the Half-Dragonfolk Retainer population, the number of Tier 1 warriors was also increasing, leading to a greater demand for Rune Artifacts such as armor, battle axes, Flying Snake Spears, and shields. In addition to this, the ironware needed for daily life, farming, and other activities also consumed a large quantity.

The tribe's ironware production had long been unable to keep up with the demands of development.

This time, splitting the village would coincide with the relocation of the village's ore smelting, ironware forging, and weapon casting facilities to the new village.

This would also resolve the issue of the tribe's ironware production not keeping up with demand.

In the center of Dragon Soul Village, in front of the Heavenly Emperor Temple.

The four leaders currently presiding over the village affairs had already passed down to the thirteenth generation.

The Priest, 'Xi the Thirteenth,' led the tribesmen in a grand sacrificial ceremony in front of the Heavenly Emperor Temple, burning bonfires, offering tributes, and lighting incense and candles to pray to the Heavenly Emperor, informing him of the tribe's impending 'split the village' action and seeking his protection and blessings.

Compared to the sacrificial ceremonies of several generations ago, the current sacrificial forms of the Half-Dragonfolk Retainers had undergone some changes. They retained the most primitive bonfire form, symbolizing the Heavenly Emperor's gift of fire and wisdom, but also added forms such as tributes, incense, and candles.

As the Half-Dragonfolk Retainers continued to develop, the civilization within the tribe was constantly evolving. The changes in the sacrificial ceremony were merely a small part of it.

After the sacrificial ceremony was completed, under the leadership of the Priest, 'Xi the Thirteenth,' the action of 'splitting the Rune Token' began.

After the Half-Dragonfolk Retainer tribe cultivated Rune Masters, not only were the warriors' equipment gradually updated to Rune Artifacts, but many household items in the village also gradually changed from ordinary artifacts to Rune Artifacts.

This included the farming tools used by the tribe, as well as the 'Rune Tokens' held by the tribal leaders, which represented their power and status, all of which had long since been replaced by Rune Artifacts.

Therefore, this village-splitting action was called 'splitting the Rune Token village.'

At this moment, the Priest, 'Xi the Thirteenth,' first took out the 'Rune Token' representing the Priest leader. Then, holding a rune knife, he cut a small piece from the 'Priest's Rune Token' and handed it to a young priest waiting below.

The young priest stepped forward, received the small piece of 'Rune Token' that had been cut off, symbolizing that he had received part of the Priest leader's authority and responsibility from 'Xi the Thirteenth.' He would serve as the Priest leader of the newly established village.

After 'Xi the Thirteenth,' the tribe's political leader, 'King the Thirteenth,' the economic leader, 'Nong the Thirteenth,' and the warrior leader, 'Chi the Thirteenth,' also performed the action of splitting their Rune Tokens, handing over a small portion of the 'Rune Tokens' representing their leadership positions to new individuals.

These four newcomers were chosen from within the tribe through duels. They would become the Priest leader, political leader, economic leader, and warrior leader of the newly established village.

At the same time, their positions were slightly inferior to those of 'Xi the Thirteenth,' 'King the Thirteenth,' 'Nong the Thirteenth,' and 'Chi the Thirteenth' of Dragon Soul Village, and they would be under the leadership of the four tribal leaders.

Beside the ceremony site, a Half-Dragonfolk was writing diligently, recording the significant event of 'splitting the Rune Token village.'

Since the Priest, 'Xi the Eighth,' created the first epic of the Half-Dragonfolk Retainers, over the years, the Half-Dragonfolk had developed a relatively complete tradition of record-keeping and historical writing.

Within the Retainers, there were specialized Half-Dragonfolk responsible for recording major tribal events and compiling them into the tribe's historical records.

There were already signs of a historical scribe lineage.

Furthermore, these hereditary scribes were continuously refining the epics. They had even created the tribe's system of dating, calling the year when the first awakened bloodline and sentient Priest, 'Xi,' who was bestowed a name by the Heavenly Emperor, awakened as 'Dragon Soul Year One.'

With this, they assigned chronological dates to the epics previously created by the tribe, including many events recorded in the first epic created by the Priest, 'Xi the Eighth.'

Whether this dating system was accurate or not aside, at least the historical writing civilization of the Dragon Soul Tribe was becoming increasingly complete, which was undoubtedly beneficial for the gestation and growth of the Dao Fruit within Liang Ji's Natal Star.

In Dragon Soul Village, the 'splitting the Rune Token village' ceremony had concluded. The four young leaders who received the 'split Rune Tokens' led a small half of the tribe's population to depart from the Dragon Soul Village area, heading towards the chosen new territory to build the second village for the Half-Dragonfolk Retainers on Liang Ji's Natal Star.

New book seeking support. We can't even break into the top five of the Xianxia new book charts right now! o(╥﹏╥)o

Please read, vote with monthly tickets, leave comments, and give rewards. The more, the better!