I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 41 - 12: 500 Stone-Breakers, First Harvest After the Disaster

Chapter 41: Chapter 12: 500 Stone-Breakers, First Harvest After the Disaster

Huo Chang didn’t expect that in just two months of his absence, there would be such significant changes within the clan.

Outside Clan City, the terraces were lush with greenery, and artificial streams meandered through the mountains.

On Clan Mountain, medicinal gardens tailored to the land were beginning to take shape.

Children in the clan were chasing and playing.

On the martial arts field next to the fish pond, the sounds of chants were loud and clear.

Two clan members were sparring on the high platform adjacent to the martial arts field.

This was the martial platform.

When clan members practice martial arts, disputes are inevitable. Any conflicts are resolved by a match on the martial platform, with outcomes settling the issues.

If any unauthorized fighting is discovered, it will be severely punished according to newly established clan rules.

In the courtyards, some clan members were seen practicing the Kui Ox Fist during their spare time, clearly not abandoning martial arts cultivation.

On the steps outside the Ancestral Temple, various items like grass mushrooms and herbs were laid out to dry.

The ancestors watched over them reassuringly, knowing the food was safe.

As for the Mountain-Splitting Kui that Huo Shan rode, it was captured from deep within the mountains.

A total of nine were captured, and rumors say that misbehaving ones had already been eaten.

The remaining four were very obedient.

In a short time, three small classification systems of farming, animal training, and herb cultivation were initially established.

Is this the tribe after the epidemic swept through?

No wonder the group of Shi Fu was shocked outside the clan; even he, as the Clan Leader, was surprised.

He suddenly realized that perhaps the clan could do without him as the Clan Leader...

...

Upon arriving at the stone platform outside the Ancestral Temple, Huo Chang couldn’t help but pause once more to look back.

When Shen Can came out, he saw Huo Chang in a daze.

"Clan Leader, why don’t you rest for a few days?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Chang immediately regained his composure, "Acan, I am the only Clan Leader who has ventured beyond three thousand miles, and what I saw this time was overwhelming, leaving my heart feeling uneasy."

He began recounting his experiences from outside, tinged with a trace of fear.

"I suspect it could be the Lingyu Tribe’s doing. Apart from Lingyu, who else could be so powerful as to treat the flood as nothing? We aren’t aware of other tribes being this strong."

"The large ships capturing people, strange fish towing ships, while we, hidden deep in the mountains, managed to escape the disaster."

"Upon hearing of this, I believe we need dedicated people to explore the outside, at least to detect danger early and report back. If we can’t fight them, we should at least be able to flee."

Shen Can nodded, "Establishing effective information transmission is very necessary; if someone is lost for many days, the clan will panic."

Regarding information contact, he previously thought about training flying birds, but so far, he only managed to raise a few Mountain-Splitting Kuis.

For Blazing Flame, which is determined to expand outward, it is essential to understand external circumstances to develop and avoid risks.

"The clan hasn’t stopped nurturing its people; currently, the number of Martial Artists in the Stone-Breaking Realm is nearing five hundred, enough for us to arrange people for external exploration."

"So many?"

Huo Chang was startled.

But Shen Can didn’t think it was too many.

Since the epidemic, they have been consuming beast meat without concern for cost, and in the past two months, diluted Tier Three Beast Blood has been available.

This isn’t about advancing to Super God. If one can’t break through with the Power of One Wilderness, they might as well abandon martial arts.

"Is there enough food?"

After the initial surprise, Huo Chang considered the problem at hand.

Martial Artists consume a lot, naturally requiring more food; under normal circumstances, it’s difficult to support so many Martial Artists.

"The wheat and millet in the newly cultivated fields are growing well; in the surrounding mountain forests, Wild Beasts are increasing, so maintaining daily consumption shouldn’t be difficult.

"Before new tribes emerge around us, we should familiarize ourselves with the surroundings, map them out, and bring large areas under clan control.

"Much like Upper Huang, we can traverse three thousand miles at any time.

"During the exploration, we can also capture some juvenile Wild Beasts and Flying Birds for training, to make up for the clan’s lack of travel and information transmission."

Shen Can thought for a moment and added, "We should also search for ore veins; the current weapons used by Martial Artists in the clan are too poor. Without ore veins, we can’t forge more weapons."

"Alright, let’s learn from Upper Huang and first understand the terrain and landscape within three thousand miles around."

Upon hearing the name Upper Huang, Huo Chang felt a competitive urge arise.

Upper Huang Division has a more ancient lineage than Blazing Flame, and during the previous flood, the Celestial Vein Martial Artists from Upper Huang came twice arrogantly, leaving him agitated for some time.

...

For most clan members, tribal life was routine, and the days quickly passed by counting them.

In the blink of an eye, five months had passed.

Thanks to the efforts of the clan members, the first harvest period after the flood arrived.

Unlike the wheat and millet of previous times, in the Great Wilderness World, these grains were many times larger, heavier, and denser.

The reason it’s called a harvest period is mainly because the harvest time lasted a bit longer.

It’s been more than two months since they started harvesting, yet the fields outside the city still show a mix of golden and yellow-green.

The fields are crowded daily with clan members gathering the wheat and millet.

The city walls, rooftops, even the stone platform and steps outside the Ancestral Temple are all covered with drying wheat and millet grains.

Due to the scattered nature of the plots, Shen Can couldn’t precisely calculate how many acres were cultivated.

Looking out from the clan land’s mountain, as far as one can see, it’s all wheat and millet fields on the mountains and in the valleys.

The soil in the Great Wilderness is very fertile, and even millet planted in newly cleared lands this season has yielded unexpectedly high. Using the clan’s containers as a measurement, each acre produced thirty to forty containers.

Weighing one container, Shen Can estimated it to be around one hundred jin.

An acre seems to have high yields, but this is the Great Wilderness where everything is different — the land, the crops, and the people consume more, incomparable to beings of past generations.

The high yield per acre is partly thanks to Shen Can.

The clan members executed the plans he set forth for weeding, breaking up clods (using hammers, wooden mallets, or rakes to crush clumps of soil into fine dirt), along with the Witch Medicine pest removal methods he provided.

The phrase "mountains have four seasons, every ten miles different weather" applies, but this millet field doesn’t extend beyond ten miles — yet its growth cycle appeared in several stages.

Some were harvested in just under three months, while others took a full six months and were still green.

The planning and staggered maturity periods, harvesting a few at a time, were unexpected for Shen Can.

Even though he carried a genetic imprint of farming, he had never seen such an entirely atypical growth cycle.

He even asked the Clan Elders, who only vaguely knew that grain should be stored during the cold and planted after the chill.

To generally cope with the changing seasons, autumn harvest and winter storage, whether it’s because Blazing Flame is too small to have inherited the knowledge of solstices or such development simply doesn’t exist, can only be analyzed later.

At the head of the fields, Shen Can happily greeted clan members, occasionally patting the heads of children approaching him.

These children carried specially woven small vine baskets made by their mothers, collecting millet spikes in the fields.

With the same environmental conditions, wheat and millet maturity times differing, he suspected it’s an issue with the soil, ready to investigate further.

Another month passed, and finally all the wheat and millet were harvested.

Though the harvest period span was long, an unprecedented harvest in the clan’s history was certainly worth celebrating.

"The hunting team is back!"

On the city walls, several little children saw a group returning and immediately shouted loudly.

During the final stages of the harvest, Huo Chang had Huo Shan lead a group out for hunting.

A party of dozens returned, dragging or carrying their prey.

At the very front, a unique, fainted Mountain-Splitting Kui was carried on a wooden frame.

This Wild Beast, besides having two crescent-shaped horns on its head, also bore a single black-striped horn on its nose bridge.

With the hunting team entering the city, clan members from various families came out of their homes.

Children carried their little vine baskets, inside were the large spike millets selected from the fields during harvest.

Primary offerings after the flood aside from hunting Wild Beasts were these large spike millets.

"Ancestral Sacrifice!"

Huo Xian’s horn sounded again.

This time, Shen Can did not step out from the Ancestral Temple first.

Huo Chang stood on the stone platform outside the Ancestral Temple.

"Thanks to the ancestors’ protection, our Blazing Flame survived the floods, the epidemic, and now has ushered in bountiful harvests."

"Today we offer the hunted Mountain-Splitting Kui as a tribute to the ancestors and hold a clan-wide sacrifice."

"Informing the ancestors that Blazing Flame’s legacy still persists, our sacrifices remain uninterrupted, and the clan lineage continues!"