I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 29: Acan, Why Don’t You Be the Clan Leader Instead?
The Blazing Flame Tribe was bustling, the meat and provisions, witch medicine, beast hides, and other resources brought back by Huo Shan, attracting the tribe’s attention.
But in Shen Can’s view, each time Huo Shan returned with goods, it represented a desolate silence outside the tribe, evidencing the Blazing Flame becoming the only one in this nearby wilderness.
Oh, maybe not, perhaps there are still some scattered remnants who have survived the plague by luck.
During the transport of supplies, Huo Shan also took the opportunity to scout for signs of plague insects.
The attaching plague insects were gone, the flying winged plague insects were also gone, as if they had suddenly disappeared.
This matched the tribe’s records, plague insects would disappear without a trace at certain times, as if taken away by someone.
Of course, Shen Can also speculated it might be because the plague insects had gone far away, and the people from small tribes couldn’t explore further distances, subconsciously feeling the insects had vanished in an instant.
He stood outside the Ancestral Temple Cave looking down, didn’t join the bustle, and turned to enter the cave beside.
Compared to the supplies brought back by Huo Shan, the beast hide scrolls collected from various divisions were what he truly desired.
This cave next to the Ancestral Temple Cave had been converted into a Library Cave.
The cave was filled with a thick scent of witch medicine, even though the plague’s momentum had passed, these beast hide scrolls were fumigated with burning witch medicine when carried to the tribe.
The supplies brought back by Huo Shan were treated the same way.
Inside the cave, Huo Xian looked at the beast hide scrolls placed on the shelves, with joy never leaving his eyes.
"Cough cough..."
"Master, you should rest for a bit."
Upon hearing the cough, Shen Can once again urged Huo Xian to leave, yet Huo Xian didn’t respond, grabbing a scroll and tucking it under his arm as he returned.
The beast hide scrolls inside the cave totaled over three thousand, and their number was still increasing as Huo Shan traveled outside.
The books collected by the tribe mainly included prescription and medical experience, maps, legends, armor-making steps, cultivation and farming, herb catalogues.
Though the categories seemed numerous, the content was actually quite limited.
Many descriptions were vague and chaotic, mismatched.
The so-called experiences narrated the same event differently, barely convincing anyone.
Yet it could still be seen that each division, despite their primitive state, strived to live, wanting to record things to pass them as experiences for future generations.
"Marquis sacrifices at the river Mang, with Jade Gui thrown into the waters, innumerable slaves accompanied..."
Shen Can held a beast hide scroll without any fur, despite most inscriptions being blurred, the scroll remained preserved due to the toughness of the material.
However, there were only such few left.
He remembered his master mentioning when he first entered the Ancestral Temple that the Human Race had sacrificed to heaven and Disaster Beast, an event long past.
After all, it had shifted from sacrificing to heaven to worshipping ancestors, spanning quite a long time.
The beast hide scroll was made from Tier Two Beast Hide, mostly not from the era of sacrifices to heaven, likely recorded later, yet still dated.
"Mang should be a place name, Marquis, does it mean Prince?"
Pondering, Shen Can placed the beast hide scroll onto the wooden shelf, then continued to examine the remaining scrolls.
He sought information related to witchcraft.
Those legendary items could only be enjoyed for entertainment now.
While flipping through these scrolls, Shen Can also organized the contents, categorizing them systematically.
After the plague subsided, his main energy was focused on this.
...
Within the tribe, supplies brought by Huo Shan began to be stored in warehouses.
On the high ground at the southeast corner of the Clan City, Huo Chang, who had slept for several days, opened his eyes, and without rising, lay sideways observing the tribal scene.
His eyes still slightly bloodshot, his face showed no joy despite the plague passing and the tribe’s gains.
Leading the clan division through the plague disaster intact didn’t differ in merit from that of founding ancestors.
Enough to pride oneself.
But there was no trace of satisfaction on Huo Chang’s face.
Staring dazedly at the clan division, he waited until darkness fell.
Huo Chang suddenly got up and went straight into the Ancestral Temple.
Inside the Ancestral Temple.
Shen Can huddled by the lamp, stacked with a dozen beast hide scrolls, still searching for what he wanted among the scattered scrolls.
Until Huo Chang’s giant silhouette blocked the light.
"Acan, why not you become clan chief then."
Huo Chang’s words frightened Shen Can, almost making him throw the scroll onto Huo Chang’s face.
Beside him, Huo Xian was also startled. He didn’t really mind, he had no objections to Acan becoming the Clan Chief.
Shen Can looked at Huo Chang, his eyes bloodshot and very serious, and didn’t quite understand.
The epidemic is over, the tribe is reviving, this should be a matter of joy.
What kind of madness is this?
The epidemic just ended, could there be another disaster?
Why is there always something coming up, can’t we just have a couple of peaceful days?
Being the Clan Leader is impossible, it’s so tiring, wouldn’t it be better to just hide in the back and be an ancestor?
Seeing Huo Chang staring at him, Shen Can thought for a moment and spoke, "Clan Leader, I really have no intention of taking your place, please don’t test me."
It turns out Shen Can was overthinking it, the experience from his previous life was useless here, Huo Chang really wanted him to be the Clan Leader.
"Acan, I really feel old."
Seeing Huo Chang plop down opposite him, Shen Can was finally sure, the Clan Leader was really getting stuck in a rut.
People say that enduring setbacks is what makes you stuck, but something seems off with Huo Chang.
Under the floods and the plague, the tribe remained intact, gathering resources from nearby tribes, clearly showing signs of great prosperity.
At this point, one should be full of ambition, why does Huo Chang look so depressed?
After a conversation, Shen Can understood why Huo Chang felt this way.
Huo Chang felt like he didn’t have the ability to lead the tribe. If it weren’t for the improved Witch Medicine and Witch Talisman, Blazing Flame would likely have been wiped out in this epidemic.
As the Clan Leader, he hadn’t really played a significant role.
Additionally, Huo Chang felt his vision was lacking. For instance, siding with the tribes where the Plague Insects had gone, immediately sending tribesmen to scavenge, seemed a bit short-sighted.
If anything had happened to Huo Shan and his team sent outside at that time, most of the tribe’s strength would have perished outside, causing a major blow to the tribe.
Huo Chang was retrospectively filled with fear.
"Clan Leader, we are not Lingyu Tribe, living day to day, if there’s an advantage in front of us, of course, we have to grab it.
This isn’t short-sightedness, it’s practicality. Only after surviving a disaster can we talk about long-term vision."
Shen Can consoled Huo Chang.
Even though Huo Chang had the Celestial Vein, the tribe hadn’t encountered such a severe epidemic in three hundred years since its founding.
Who would have thought that after more than a month since the floods passed, the Plague Insects that seemed to have dispersed would strike again fiercely?
At that time, Huo Chang sending people outside to fetch resources was entirely reasonable; Shen Can would have done the same. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
If you have the opportunity, it’s best to seize it first rather than waiting for everyone to react and then fight for it.
Who isn’t a god to foresee that the Plague Insects that seemed to have dispersed would return for a surprise attack, spreading Plague Qi across the mountains, making people afraid to go outside again.
In the face of natural disasters, everyone is a player being played.
No matter how forward-looking you are, you still have to meet it passively.
"Clan Leader, think about it, if it weren’t for you arranging to transport Witch Medicine from several other tribes, what would we have used to fend off the Plague Insects’ invasion and treat the tribesmen over the next month?"
During the epidemic, arrangements were somewhat chaotic, yet they accidentally turned out well.
Witch Medicine was boiled into soup and burned every day in large bundles; if it weren’t for relocating it from other tribes, how could we have endured?
Looking at it now, if it weren’t for Huo Chang’s arrangements, the tribe couldn’t have possibly gained over five hundred women, at least setting up the bachelors within the tribe.
And now, according to Huo Shan’s reconnaissance, almost all the tribal areas nearby are deserted.
Listening to Shen Can’s explanations, Huo Chang’s expression finally softened a lot.
Seeing that Huo Chang hadn’t dropped the idea of making him the Clan Leader, Shen Can felt he needed to find something for Huo Chang to do.
As resources transported back from several annihilated tribes increased, they couldn’t all be stored without use.
Before, he had said everyone should eat meat heartily and had discussed it with Huo Chang.
At that time, he hadn’t anticipated the epidemic to expand so severely, still thinking of cultivating while waiting for the tribe to go and empty other tribes hit by the Plague Insects.
But afterward, as the whole tribe was plagued, naturally they didn’t eat much.
Now the epidemic has dispersed, it’s time to improve the tribe’s overall Martial Dao level under current conditions.
He could also pass down the Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist.
"Clan Leader, with so much meat in the tribe, I was thinking we could select a portion of the tribe members to be directly freed from hunting and gathering and focus for a while on improving Martial Dao?"
The benefits of the Middle Grade Kui Ox Fist and Neutralizing Witch Medicine were exhausted; he was ready to renew them.
Shen Can’s method was collective training.
In the Great Wilderness, there wasn’t a term for this, he described it to Huo Chang as concentrated martial training.
"As for who to select, the Clan Leader knows the tribe best, we’ll need a specific list from you."
