Blood Pool

With winter approaching, the Wind-Fire Tribe did not have much time to build houses.

Feng Xu spent five hundred Merit to dismantle and refine the wolf corpses. The Wolf King's skeletal frame was released from the Heavenly Net and Earthly Web and slowly lowered over the enormous pit.

Tribal warriors carried dozens of thick logs over one after another, using them as supporting pillars beneath the massive bones.

The interior space followed the curve of the skeleton. It was thirty zhang long, eight to twelve zhang wide, and three to five zhang high.

A passageway was left down the middle along the spine. House sites were planned on both sides and their foundations dug, then filled with earth and compacted.

Drainage ditches were dug around the perimeter.

The walls were mainly made of wood.

The gaps between the wolf bones were large and needed timber to complete the framework.

Aside from the wooden walls buried while digging the foundations, the walls near the wolf bones were woven from vines like baskets. Every wall was coated with a layer of clay and smoothed flat.

That gave them the basic shape of houses. The first floor was three zhang high, and another floor could be built in the taller interior areas next year.

Only one floor was built on the sunward side. The roof was mostly level, with a slight slope.

If it rained, the water on the roof could flow outward.

The skeleton on the other side was entirely woven with vines, then covered with treated wolf pelts once completed.

The ground in the public areas was covered mainly with gravel, while the rooms had packed hard earth floors.

Then came all sorts of details. Feng Xu explained the precautions and left the rest to Feng Xi.

He went to find Feng Sui and check on the brick firing.

After several rounds of firing bricks, the success rate had risen to eighty percent. Looking at the neatly stacked piles of bricks, Feng Xu arranged for a kiln to fire pottery.

Its overall structure was similar to an earthen kiln, only much larger.

While they had been away trading, Feng Sui had been studying pottery firing the entire time. He had far more experience than Feng Xu in this regard, so Feng Xu did not interfere.

"Sui, is there a large, relatively flat area near the tribe?"

Feng Xu had obtained a large amount of rice seed and needed to choose a place to plant it. Flat terrain would be much more convenient.

"Cross that hill over there, and you'll reach Wild Boar Ridge. The terrain there is flat."

Feng Sui pointed into the distance.

"Is that where the boar herd that attacked the tribe came from?"

"That's right, but our current strength still isn't enough to deal with them."

Last time, the wild boars had been the attackers. Once their leader died, the rest scattered like birds and beasts. But if the Wind-Fire Tribe took the initiative to attack Wild Boar Ridge, even without a leader, the boars would instinctively defend their home.

Even building catapults would not work. Wild boars were not wolves; every one of them was thick-skinned and tough-fleshed.

Unless they built a larger catapult, the damage would be very low.

"Are there any other places?"

"Past Wild Boar Ridge, there are no more mountains farther out. The land is very flat there, and there is a great river. On the other side of the river are other Human Race tribes."

Nüwa had created humanity and attained sainthood through it, while Fuxi watched over the Human Race. Lord Fuxi had brought the Human Race to the Great Wilderness, but no one had seen him since.

The Human Race lived in three separate regions: the Great Wilderness Mountains, the Southern Plains, and the shores of the Southern Sea.

The Great Wilderness Mountains were tens of millions of li from the Human Race tribes on the plains. The Human Race of the Southern Plains was another tens of millions of li from the Southern Sea, with other great mountains in between.

The plains did not have as many wild beasts, but everything was exposed at a glance. Once powerful demon clans invaded, the Human Race would have nowhere to hide.

Feng Xu did not know which place was safer either.

No matter where they were, the Human Race was struggling to survive.

Wild Boar Ridge truly was a problem.

If they could eliminate this hidden danger, they could establish another base at Wild Boar Ridge in the future.

Using Wild Boar Ridge as a stepping stone, they could head east to farm on the plains.

Feng Sui did not need any help here, so Feng Xu prepared to visit Feng Ling.

She had been searching for materials suitable for making thread.

On the night they returned, she had told Feng Xu about the results of her work during this period and asked him to take time to look at them.

"Xu, what do you think of these threads?"

There were threads made from pig tendons and pig intestines, as well as threads made from various plant fibers.

The threads made from animal tissue could be used for surgery, but they had a limited shelf life.

Threads made from plant fibers did not have shelf-life concerns, but could only be used to stitch external wounds. Still, under their current conditions, having something usable was already good enough.

Feng Xu told Feng Ling his thoughts and selected several types of thread, asking what materials they were made from.

These were meant for mending clothing, so the main considerations were thread quality and production cost.

In the end, he chose a thread made from the most common material.

It was a plant recorded in the Merit Mall but without a name. Feng Xu named it Cloud Hemp.

This plant was tall and slender, with many small leaves.

Feng Xu improved the thread-making process and taught it to Feng Ling, telling her that this material would be extremely useful once properly made.

"Ling, needles and thread aren't only for stitching wounds. They can also be used to make clothes."

Feng Xu gestured as he spoke.

"What are clothes?"

"Clothes are what we wear on our bodies. What we have now is too crude. If animal hides are cut and prepared with scissors, then sewn together with needles and thread, they can be made into more comfortable clothing."

Feng Xu continued explaining.

Feng Ling nodded to show that she understood, but the confusion in her eyes did not lessen at all.

It was not a big problem. She would understand once they made some.

"We need more thread. During this time, you can lead the children in making thread. The more, the better."

Feng Xu made his request, and Feng Ling readily agreed.

No matter what, Feng Ling had made usable thread, so she should have gained quite a bit of Merit as well.

As for the children, they had nothing else to do anyway.

They were not needed for building houses, so helping make thread was perfect.

The entire tribe of more than one hundred and fifty people was busy, except Feng Xu.

He planned to build a Blood Pool to help the tribal warriors break through to Earth Immortal.

The Blood Pool was set in the cave where they had originally lived.

Feng Xu found two warriors with iron pickaxes and had them dig into the underground rock layer.

To make it easier, they first heated the stone with fire, then doused it with water. The warriors transformed into giants and hammered the ground with all their strength before digging with iron pickaxes.

Repeating this process, they spent ten days digging a pit five zhang in diameter and five zhang deep.

The bottom was all rock, so there was no need to worry about the Blood Pool leaking.

Feng Xu had not been idle either. He had been searching nearby for the medicinal herbs he needed.

Once the pit was finished, Feng Xu poured in a large amount of Wolf King blood, then added refined boar demon essence blood.

After adding several medicinal herbs that accelerated the fusion of bloodlines, the Blood Pool began to boil.

This was a normal phenomenon of bloodline fusion. The stronger the bloodline, the more intense the fusion reaction.

The Human Race was naturally weak, but highly compatible.

They could incorporate the bloodlines of many different ferocious beasts. Cultivators entering the pool would absorb the bloodline power suited to themselves.

The more types of ferocious beast bloodlines there were, the greater the compatibility, but the lower the absorption efficiency would be.

It could only be said that each had its pros and cons.

Over the following days, Feng Xu gradually added other medicinal herbs to balance it out, preserving the Blood Pool's effects while reducing its risks.

Next, he needed someone to test it.

He decided to try it himself first.

Feng Xu did not enter the Blood Pool directly. He first cultivated beside it to see whether there were any abnormalities.

It truly had an effect. The blood in his body became more violent, and his bloodline power was strengthened as well. Once he became accustomed to it, he entered the shallow section of the Blood Pool.

The Blood Pool was divided into three areas. The shallowest area was the size of a meditation cushion and only one chi deep. Then there was a platform seven chi deep, occupying one-fifth of the entire Blood Pool.

Because so many medicinal herbs had been added, the thick scent of blood mixed with the smell of herbs into something strange, but it was not foul and did not make people nauseated.

Of course, someone afraid of blood or obsessed with cleanliness would probably faint on the spot.

Feng Xu cultivated in the shallowest area, and his cultivation speed increased considerably, especially for Three-Turn Blood Refinement.

Going deeper was not feasible.

Feng Xu was too young and not very tall.

If he went down to the seven-chi depth, the blood would submerge his entire body.

He was not obsessed with cleanliness, but he still could not accept that.