Gu God Stronghold.
As the political and cultural heart of the Barbarian Gu Tribe, Gu God Stronghold covered an enormous area—nearly a dozen times the size of an ordinary small gu village. Even large gu villages with tens of thousands of residents were dwarfed by it; the disparity in scale was immense.
Gu God Stronghold alone had a permanent population of well over a hundred thousand, far beyond what an ordinary gu village could compare with.
Even in ordinary times, guests from other villages often came to this stronghold, and the flow of goods was extremely frequent. It even had dedicated markets and trading posts, already bearing some resemblance to a city.
Recently, with the day of celebration drawing near, guests had been arriving in an unbroken stream, making the stronghold even livelier than usual. By day, people bustled to and fro, their voices rising in a great din. Even with Great Qian's army pressing down at the border, it could not dampen this fervor.
In just over ten days, Saintess-designate Jing would officially succeed to the position of Saintess and offer sacrifices to inform the ancestors. To the Barbarian Gu Tribe, this was an exceptionally important day—and a rare celebration that had to be prepared for properly.
Thus, the men, women, old, and young of the stronghold had begun busying themselves early on.
The sacrificial platform at the center of the stronghold was naturally the foremost priority.
This platform, used to worship their ancestors, had an exceedingly long history. It had been in use ever since Gu God Stronghold moved here. The bluish-gray stone, weathered by the passage of time, had become mottled and old, lending it an especially deep and solemn air.
Tall totem poles stood atop the platform.
At this moment, elderly villagers carried buckets of paint