I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 60 - 31: Tribal Migration, Journey to the Ruins Market
Before they kill me, they even serve a meal. They’re quite considerate.
Jifu was terrified; he didn’t want to die.
"Ayu, give the Upper Division gentleman a bowl of wine."
Huo Yuu grinned toothily and brought the wine bowl straight to Jifu’s mouth.
"Mmm... pphh..."
"Don’t just drink wine, eat some food!"
"Hoo!" Jifu breathed rapidly and hastily spoke, "What else do you want to know? Just ask."
...
Shen Can mentioned the strange ’ironwood’ obtained after defeating the Blood Witch.
"When I first studied witchcraft, the old wizard in the clan mentioned a strange Witch Artifact that could control a wizard, reversing the roles of master and servant—making the artifact the master and the wizard the servant.
What you encountered might be this strange Witch Artifact. The Blood Witch was probably under its control."
Jifu spoke, "That’s normal. The Blood Witch’s cultivation is different from ours as regular wizards, so they naturally have to pay a price, worshiping Disaster Beasts, offering sacrifices to evil spirits and such.
Such things are difficult to eradicate with ordinary witchcraft.
However, when I was in the tribe, I did hear a rumor.
It was said that the strange Witch Artifact absorbs the blood of living beings, which is actually another form of making people offer sacrifices, having some similarities with the Sacrificial Artifact of the tribe."
Saying this, Jifu paused and hurriedly explained, "I just overheard this by chance; I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just saying what I know."
To be honest, what Jifu said sounded quite similar.
The Ancestral Temple sacrifices also require beast blood, and this ’ironwood’ drained most of the Upper Huang Division’s clan members.
You absorb me, and I absorb you.
Seeing Shen Can still had doubts, Jifu quickly said, "I swear by my ancestors—no, by my ancestors and Lingyu, that it’s all true."
"Come, eat, I believe you."
Shen Can signaled Ayu to give Jifu some food.
"These past days, I really must thank you. You’ve told me about the basics of the Witch Doctor Chapter, Witch Talisman Chapter, Spirit Plant Chapter, Artifact Refining Chapter, Combat Chapter, and so on. I’ve remembered them all when I return."
With that, Shen Can looked at Ayu again, "Ayu, go to my place and bring the beast hide scrolls on the stone table."
After Ayu brought the beast hide scrolls, Shen Can looked at Jifu, "You’ve taught my division so much witchcraft, and I’m not one to be unreasonable.
Let’s do this: according to the previous records, you say it again, and I’ll see if what you say matches what I noted down.
If they match, we will send you off courteously. If your second telling doesn’t match the first, then I’m afraid today’s meal will just be a farewell."
"..."
Jifu stared at Shen Can.
He had never seen such a cunning wizard.
In these months, he had invented so much, asking him to repeat it would be like strangling him.
He had hoped that Shen Can would make a mistake in his cultivation, or if it didn’t go well, he would come over to consult him, giving him a chance to escape.
He waited and waited and ended up with this scene.
What a misfortune.
"Why aren’t you speaking?"
"Have you lost your love for talking?"
"You don’t even have last words?"
Ayu clenched the beast tendons in his hands, producing a zheng zheng sound.
"I’m wrong, I confess, the witchcraft I mentioned earlier had inaccuracies, that was my mistake."
"Suddenly, I remembered!"
"Give me a chance; I have so much more to say, and I’ll confess it all."
That night, the lanterns in the confinement cave stayed bright until dawn the next day.
Only then did Shen Can rise from the desk, surrounded by completed beast hide scrolls.
"Three months from now, I’ll come again and ask. If what’s on this isn’t much different, I’ll believe you."
"Ayu, administer the Mafei Powder."
...
Carrying the beast hide scrolls out of the confinement cave, Shen Can took a deep breath.
Huo Xian had already cleaned the Ancestral Temple and happily took the beast hide scrolls from Shen Can’s hands.
"Looks like the harvest was good."
He said, grabbing the records and returning to the ear chamber.
Standing outside the Ancestral Temple, Shen Can thought over Jifu’s words as the wind blew.
There are indeed some similarities between the Sacrificial Artifact and the strange Witch Artifact.
The Blazing Flame Division is still too closed off; they know too little.
It is crucial to quickly open up connections with the outside world to receive more external information.
Moreover, the tribe lacks skills in taming beasts, planting, mining, and other methods, which can completely be introduced from outside, then adapted and improved for the tribe, thus greatly reducing the time needed.
"Ayu, ask Uncle Huo Qii to come over."
Huo Qii quickly arrived at the Ancestral Temple, "Shen Can, what’s the matter?"
"Uncle, please select a portion of the tribe to move to the new clan land, cooperate with the clan leader to speed up the construction of the new clan land, just the most basic structures will suffice. Hopefully, we can relocate next month."
"Alright, I’ll find Elder Huo Yun to arrange the manpower."
...
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
On this day, at the break of dawn, all the people of the Blazing Flame Tribe stepped out of their homes and gathered outside the Ancestral Temple.
On the high platform outside the Ancestral Temple, Huo Xian was in front, Shen Can and Huo Chang behind, leading the people in worship.
For the tribe’s relocation, only the Divine Tablet can be brought; the graves behind the Clan Mountain will remain untouched.
For three hundred years, the bodies of successive generations have been cremated and buried with wooden coffins behind the Clan Mountain.
The reason for cremation is primarily because without it, the remains might not persist.
"Ancestors, we are moving to a new home!"
A group of children shouted loudly outside the Ancestral Temple, and then one by one entered the temple, carrying the Divine Tablet, Sacrificial Artifact, and other items down the Clan Mountain.
The rest of the tribe gathered together, protected by the clan soldiers at the front and back, heading towards the Eastern Marsh.
All the resources of the tribe, herbs, grains, and so on were taken along.
...
The new clan land, Blazing Flame Mountain.
It borders a Giant Mountain to the north and a Great Marsh to the south.
A dam was constructed in the southeastern part of the clan land, filling in some shallow water areas.
A defense system was built in all four directions, with beacon towers established and led by the martial artists of the tribe, accompanied by young and robust tribe members in rotations.
The new clan land is centered at the mountain’s core, with the high platform on the mountaintop, descending into step-like platforms, consisting of three platforms.
On the highest platform are the Ancestral Temple, Treasure House, and residences, the second platform is the martial arts field, and the lowest third platform is constructed by the water.
In the eastern section of the platform, a large watery cave was carved out inside the mountain, where an ironwood ship is placed, though not yet repaired.
Arriving at the new clan land, Shen Can ceremoniously invited each Divine Tablet onto the sacrifice stage.
"Shen Can, should we hunt some wild beasts for sacrifice?"
Huo Chang entered the cave, bowing to the Divine Tablets.
"No need."
Shen Can was wiping the Divine Tablet, speaking, "Ordinary wild beast ancestors do not care for. When our clan’s strength grows, we’ll hunt Tier Three Wild Beasts for the ancestors daily; I think they would certainly appreciate it."
Once all Divine Tablets were placed properly.
Huo Chang spoke, "Before, you were so anxious for the clan division’s relocation so I could go to the Ruins Market. Can I depart tomorrow?"
"Sure, you can go with Uncle Huo Shan, have some company on the road."
"Uncle Huo Shan’s cultivation won’t miss a month."
"The clan leader has several tasks going south to the Ruins Market this time."
"Find out specific information about the Upper Lake Tribe; though no one knows it’s us, we can’t be too careful."
"Our Blazing Flame Tribe has long dwelled in the mountains, too isolated from outside news; we need to pay attention to all information to prepare for future exchanges.
See if we can recruit some skilled craftsmen. There are too many lacking skills within the tribe; having external artisans join can accelerate the tribe’s development."
"During this period, I’ll try to repair the ironwood ship, and when you and Uncle Huo Shan return, perhaps our ironwood ship can enter the Great Marsh for hunting."
"Great, Huo Shan and I will set out tomorrow."
"No hurry, before you were busy constructing the new clan land, I spent a month arranging some items for defense."
Huo Chang followed Shen Can into the cave residences.
The new Ancestral Temple’s interior residence, carved out, no longer had the former darkness and dampness, with stone windows facing sunrise.
Inside the cave, two wooden frames supported two Witch Armor from the Lingyu Tribe, beside which were two bows and arrow quivers.
The armor and bows had beast patterns from the Lingyu Tribe, now indistinct and overall looked worn out.
The broken Tier Three Witch Blade was also packed into a beast hide bag, to be worn at the waist.
"Open and check the leather armor?"
Huo Chang responded, taking down the leather armor and discovering inside, pasted with Witch Talismans, imperceptible from the outside.
"Why are there two types of talismans?"
"These are Witch Armor Talismans, enhancing defensive capabilities, but against the attacks of a Celestial Vein Martial Artist, I feel they’re effective to only about ten percent."
"That’s good enough."
Huo Chang excitedly put on the leather armor, "Never thought old Chang would have a day fully dressed in witch artifacts."
Shen Can further took out two beast hide bags and two bamboo tubes, like a caring mother, continually handing things to Huo Chang.
"These two bags, one contains universal antidotes, and the other has improved Mafei Powder; dilute with alcohol when using."
"Only drink water we bring on the road; if there’s no water, find a water source, try to camp at smaller sources, fill water in bamboo tubes, and then pour Mafei Powder into the water source."
"The lesson learned by Upper Huang Division following someone must be guarded against; if anyone truly follows, I doubt they won’t drink water along the way, and if they follow you to the water, they will taste our Blazing Flame Tribe’s specialty."
"Oh, by the way, I’ve poisoning the arrows, you mustn’t use them as grills to skewer meat."
"Same with the blade, don’t use it for cutting meat either."
