Divine Revelation
Quiet and solemn.
One after another, Black Rat scurried inside the burrow.
Time flowed on, and after a while, a surprised and doubtful voice rang out in the cave.
"This means... it didn't work?"
One Black Rat after another looked up.
Black Spine also raised his gaze, his expression somewhat somber.
It shifted its gaze downwards slightly.
The Black Rat that had been lying there had all vanished without a trace, but they had gained nothing.
Even throughout the entire process, it clearly understands that this means the cost does not match the value of what is sought.
Then, what was just contributed was... one Tier 3 and five Tier 2 members of the clan.
Thinking of this, Black Spine spoke almost without hesitation, "Lame Claw, go and bring three more Tier 3 clansmen over!"
The Lame Claw lying nearby turned its head and looked over. It paused, nodded, got up, and walked outside.
After a while, it came in with several Black Rat.
Then, as before, the Black Rat walked forward blankly and lay down on the ground.
The Lame Claw then knelt down once more.
"By the Black Rat God..."
The Black Spine has an opening on the side.
Soon, the words fell silent once more, and the cave fell silent again.
Then, after a while, the deep sound rang out again.
"Didn't work again?"
There was no response. Black Spine raised its head, its expression growing even more somber.
"Lame Claw, go and bring three more over..."
"By the Black Rat God..."
"... Bring three more."
"The Black Rat God is here..."
"Again..."
"..."
Once, twice, three times...
After an unknown amount of time, the spacious cave was deathly silent.
Black Spine looked up at the front, his face extremely pale.
Since the beginning, they have offered up more than thirty Third Tier clansmen and five Fourth Tier clansmen.
However, they still did not obtain the information they wanted.
The sacrifices made earlier are one thing; they weren't sacrificed in vain. Their numbers accumulate as the sacrifices continue until the current one is complete.
But the problem is, with so many people in the tribe, how can they not know anything about those guys?
This time, it seems that there are far more people involved in the riots than they imagined!
What should we do now? Continue? Or...?
Black Spine's expression grew increasingly grave.
If this continues, it's unclear how long it will take.
But if we don't add them, all the sacrifices made by our clansmen before will be wasted, and then this whole thing will happen...
"Lord Black Spine!"
A cautious shout suddenly rang out from behind.
Black Spine turned its head and looked over; it was a Black Rat in charge of one of the mines in the valley.
It didn't speak, but its meaning was clear.
"Lord Black Spine, how about... we change our wish?" the Black Rat said hesitantly.
"Why?" Black Spine stared coldly at the Black Rat.
"Uh... it seems that many Calamity Beast have gathered together and are planning the next uprising. That's why we've sacrificed so many of our people and still haven't been able to get any information about them. There are just too many of them gathered together, so many that the people we sacrificed before can't keep up!" The Black Rat explained first.
There was no response, but many Black Rat nearby nodded.
In matters of sacrifice and prayer, the request and the value of the offering should not differ too much.
Therefore, they were not surprised that they had not made any harvest.
But their expressions grew increasingly solemn as the ritual progressed.
After all, the Calamity Beast they captured and brought back to mine were all of the first, second, or Third Tier.
In this situation, they sacrificed dozens of their own people, and it still wasn't enough?
It's unimaginable just how many of them have already gathered!
"So? What are your thoughts?" Black Spine looked at the Black Rat and asked in a deep voice.
The other Black Rat nearby also looked over with some confusion.
"Perhaps we don't need to pray directly to know which Calamity Beast are involved. Instead, we can pray to them to tell us how to find them. Since it's just about helping us find them, the cost will definitely be much lower!" the Black Rat said.
There was no immediate response; the cave remained silent for a moment.
Then, Moya, who was in front, nodded and said:
"This method does seem worth trying. The riots haven't happened yet, and even if many have joined, it hasn't caused any real chaos. If we hope to find a way to locate them, the cost should indeed be much, much less!"
"Hmm, that makes sense!" Lame Claw nodded from the side.
Seeing that both Moya and Lame Claw agreed, Black Spine pondered for a moment, and after confirming that there seemed to be no problem, said:
"Let's try it this way!"
As it spoke, it turned its head and looked once again at the tall, ancient statue in front of it.
He paused for a moment, then knelt down.
The surrounding Black Rat also followed suit and lay down again.
"By the Black Rat God, it seems Calamity Beast has appeared in the mine, plotting a rebellion like the one last time, but we cannot find it."
"Grieved by the casualties suffered by our people during the last riot, we earnestly pray to the Black Rat God to guide us on how to find the Calamity Beast hiding in the mines!"
The prayer ended.
Black Spine lay quietly on the ground.
This time, the prayer differed from the previous one only in the last sentence, which contained two additional words: "How".
But those two words completely changed the content of the prayer.
The Black Rat lay prone on the ground, waiting.
There was no divine intervention, nor any grand commotion.
After a while, a faint light began to illuminate the cave.
Sensing the change in light, the Black Spine, lying on the ground, slowly opened its eyes.
A few lines of text shone brightly on it.
"Pick..."
"... Anyway, that's about it!" The Two-Horned Lizard clicked its tongue, indicating that it had finished recounting the information it had gathered that day.
Shen Heng nodded slightly.
We didn't get much information today, but that's just how it is.
Firstly, the riot had made the other Calamity Beast very wary, making in-depth communication difficult. If it hadn't retained its ability to Hearing Inner Voices and hadn't previously maintained a good relationship with the Shadow Wolf, it wouldn't have been able to obtain those pieces of information.
Secondly, since it's no longer possible to talk to other Calamity Beast inside the mine, the available time is limited, and the amount of information that can be gathered is naturally even less.
Thirdly, although they did not stay in this valley for too long, they were already quite familiar with it, and much of the information was no longer within their purview.
In conclusion, a variety of circumstances led to their failure to gather much valuable intelligence today.
Of course, there isn't much information, but there is some basic information.