I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 33 - 4: Third-Tier Wild Beast, Mafei Powder

Chapter 33: Chapter 4: Third-Tier Wild Beast, Mafei Powder

Shen Can’s excitement was immediately extinguished by Huo Chang.

Want to go out? That depends on the situation.

Within a thousand miles, there’s the only tribe, with wild beasts rarely seen.

No wild beasts, then for whom is the Neutralizing Witch Medicine to be used? Take so many clansmen out to gnaw on rocks?

Moreover, Huo Chang felt that the wetland he discovered might at most contain a Tier Two Wild Beast. It’s just that the water surface in the valley is a bit larger, and it’s not easy to drain the water.

He had been out for too long, so he came back first to prepare to bring tools and drain the wetland dry to capture the wild beast.

Dealing with aquatic wild beasts, draining the wetland dry is the most foolish, yet the most practical method.

Once out of the water, the combat power of aquatic beasts drops by seventy to eighty percent. As long as the method is appropriate, it is easier to hunt than the wild beasts in the mountains.

"Clan Leader, how large is the wetland in the valley?"

"The valley is narrow and long internally, approximately twenty to thirty miles in area."

Huo Chang carefully described his observations.

"There are fruit trees on the cliffs on both sides of the valley, mostly peach trees. I also saw some five-finger palm prints on the rock walls, which should have been inhabited by monkey-type wild beasts before the flood."

"But now they’re gone. I scouted around the valley and didn’t see any monkey-type wild beasts, nor are there any floating rotten corpses on the wetland.

The water surface is very clear, probably hasn’t hatched any plague insects.

Monkey-type wild beasts have habits like humans; they can climb and roost on rocks and can hide from floods.

So I deduce that when the flood occurred, an aquatic beast entered the valley and preyed on the monkey wild beasts inhabiting the valley.

If the water surface wasn’t so large, and if I didn’t know whether there were hidden pits in the valley, I would have captured it already."

After listening to Huo Chang’s description, Shen Can felt a bit disappointed.

A Tier Two Wild Beast indeed doesn’t warrant a large-scale operation.

Seeing Huo Chang come back to take a look, he organized Huo Shan and others to prepare the tools and head to the valley with the wetland the next day.

Meanwhile, Shen Can continued his role as the chief instructor of hundreds of martial artists, preparing to reduce the number to below three hundred.

The hoarded grain from the surrounding tribes was being used as cultivation resources. According to the clan elder Huo Yuo’s calculations, eating without limit like this could last for just over a year.

By then, solely relying on the two thousand clansmen, they couldn’t possibly support three hundred martial artists without other work.

Therefore, cultivating inner strength and expanding hunting to more distant places are the next developmental directions for the tribe.

...

Half a month later.

Noon.

While overseeing cultivation from a high vantage point at the martial arena, Shen Can saw Huo Shan and others returning from the east of the tribe.

"There’s a Tier Three Monster Fish with profound patterns and legs in that wetland."

"The Clan Leader asked me to come back and call for people to hunt."

Wild beasts are powerful. The reason small tribes can pass down their legacies is because they have cooperative abilities, and they use tools effectively.

When hunting wild beasts, they cooperated with each other. Even when facing Tier Three wild beasts, as long as they were well-prepared, there was a chance of success.

This is also why tribes formed by scattered people can give birth to Celestial Vein Realm martial artists.

However, progressing further in the Celestial Vein Realm becomes an insurmountable barrier for small tribes.

In the clan treasury, after moving aside the items on top, something wrapped in beast hide was revealed underneath.

Huo Shan’s return was also to fetch that item.

Using spiritual sense, Shen Can discovered that what was wrapped in the beast hide was a crudely made ironwood spear.

He immediately understood, recalling that when Huo Chang sneakily cleared out the storage hole behind the Ancestral Temple, he had carved the found ironwood ship fragments into wooden spears.

There weren’t many, only nine pieces.

Just as Huo Shan was about to leave, he found himself blocked by Shen Can at the entrance of the treasury.

...

A day later.

Huo Shan, with a look of wanting to stop them but to no avail, watched as a team of three hundred people left the tribe.

He was left behind to guard the tribe.

Shen Can was in the middle of the team.

Yes, he was on the back of a Huo Yuu.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to walk; everyone agreed that his body was frail, and walking on his own would mean he wouldn’t keep up with the team.

If he were willing, they would have been glad to carry him in turns.

Huo Shan staying behind in the tribe was certainly not of his own free will, but this time Shen Can was not simply restless and wanting to run outside.

According to the precise information relayed back by Huo Shan, there was a hidden world in that wetland; in the middle of the valley, there was originally a deep pool.

This was discovered after draining the water surface of the valley.

During the drainage process, they found the legged monster fish.

And it wasn’t just one, but one Tier Three plus a group of juvenile fish.

Although they were juvenile fish, they were about the size of adults.

According to speculation, this Tier Three Monster Fish most likely took advantage of the flood to swim upstream from the Eastern Marsh specifically to breed.

The hidden pool in the valley also proves that the Monster Fish didn’t choose its location at random.

It deliberately chose a place with water to ensure living conditions for decades, waiting for the next mountain flood.

The location chosen by the Monster Fish is excellent, but for the tribe wanting to hunt it, it’s quite difficult. The pond’s depth is unknown, and trying to catch it...

Forget it; Huo Chang’s life isn’t easy either.

Besides bringing people along, Shen Can also brought the Witch’s Boiling Hemp Powder made from eight witch medicines, including Aconite, Arum, and Toad Venom.

As for why he prepared the anesthetic, hmm... he had some lifespan leftover previously, saved for emergency.

This formula for the anesthetic is based on the tribe’s existing herbs and isn’t the most optimal witch medicine formula.

Therefore, the tribespeople carried many beast hide bags filled with medicines.

If the efficacy isn’t sufficient, then just increase the quantity.

Because of this witch medicine formula, as the tribe’s most authoritative and sole witch, Huo Shan could only reluctantly stay back at the tribe.

After Shen Can’s intensive training, among the people he brought, there were many close to becoming Stone-Breaking Martial Artists.

As for how much meat was wasted on these people, that’s another issue.

The cultivation of Martial Arts as the foundational support of the tribe cannot be calculated by cost.

This time, his goal was towards the group of Monster Fish.

The group arrived at the wetland valley.

Huo Chang not only had people dig out a waterway at the valley entrance but also carved out several large caves on the valley sides, the water release more extensive than a flood discharge.

Inside the valley, there was no longer any wetland, only a deep pool.

When Shen Can arrived, Huo Chang was leading people to throw stones down into the pool from a high point.

"I had people lower vines, didn’t reach the bottom at a hundred zhang, and they were attacked by Monster Fish."

"Clan Leader, there’s too much water."

Looking at the constantly overflowing pool, Shen Can felt the anesthetic he brought was still too little.

Throwing it in now would at most add some flavor.

He looked at the busy tribespeople, knowing that’s why the Human Race survives.

No matter how frequent the disasters in the Great Wilderness, how harsh the environment, people always find ways to act instead of pleading to the heavens.

The Monster Fish trapped inside the pool didn’t expect to be trapped like this.

With the three hundred tribespeople Shen Can brought, the gathered numbers approached four hundred, expanding the stone-throwing team several times over.

"Splash!"

"Splash!"

On the two sides of the valley peaks, tribespeople were tossing stones.

In truth, doing this poses a risk; if there are hidden channels deep underwater, the Monster Fish might escape, leaving them with nothing.

But digging downwards isn’t like building up, with the flood passage over not long ago, the groundwater’s abundant, water surfaces just a few zhang deep.

Though they foresaw the issue, Shen Can never considered diving into the pool to demonstrate his witchcraft.

The basic principle that a Tier One Witch can’t handle a Tier Three Beast, he understood very well.

His current witchcraft could manage sneak attacks, but not stand as the main force.

Crash!

Amidst a rain of falling stones, several stones unexpectedly flew back from the water, crashing into the cliffs on both sides.

"Couldn’t wait to come out."

"Keep going!"

Huo Chang ordered the tribe members to increase their efforts, his hand holding a specially made large bow, approaching the pool from the outside.

As the stones kept plummeting, stones from the water kept flying out, many colliding mid-air.

However, with several hundred people overlooking without regard, no matter how much the Monster Fish waved its tail, more stones still fell into the water.

The water inside the pool kept overflowing and flowed through the channels.

"Gulp!"

Amidst the heavy splashes, a sound similar to a bird’s cry rang, a shadow leaped out from the water.

Whoosh!

In a flash, Huo Chang made his move outside the pool.

His arrow was specially crafted, with a very fine but incredibly strong beast tendon at the tail.

Once released, the arrow shot like lightning, piercing into the shadow’s skull.

Then Huo Chang pulled frantically in the opposite direction with the beast tendon rope, forcefully dragging the shadow from the pool.

Seeing the Monster Fish hauled out by Huo Chang, Shen Can called out to everyone, "Collect the beast blood properly, don’t waste it."

In the past, the blood of non-tiered Wild Beasts wasn’t used for soaking baths.

But Shen Can thought that after cultivating Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist for so long, the absorption efficiency is better, perhaps offsetting the decrease in the quality of beast blood.

He came to try this out with the people he brought.