I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 61 - 32: Ruins Market, Part 3 – Buying Slaves

Chapter 61: Chapter 32: Ruins Market, Part 3 – Buying Slaves

Early the next morning, Shen Can watched as Huo Chang and another disappeared into the mountains and forests, before returning to the Ancestral Temple.

The clan had just relocated, and the members were still in the adaptation period, organizing the water resources and fields.

He headed towards the cave where the Ironwood Ship was located.

Nowadays, there’s no need for Ironwood at both the prow and stern of the ship.

The back half of the ship is almost fully prepared by the Upper Huang Division. Huo Kui is busy working at the fractured keel at the prow, creating a mortise and tenon connection structure.

For now, the Blazing Flame Tribe can only assemble the ship so that it can be used at all.

Hunting isn’t meant for naval combat.

Shen Can couldn’t manage to concoct an all-purpose adhesive that seemingly sticks to the sky and earth.

For now, rivet structures connect the joints, and the gaps are easily filled with a type of tree sap from the forest. He will use a Witch Talisman to seal it then.

Besides hunting and cultivation, the hunting team has also added swimming and diving practice.

After checking the repair progress of the ship, Shen Can returned to the Ancestral Temple.

Within the Ancestral Temple, Huo Chong is organizing items extracted from Jifu’s mouth.

This filthy dog had a lot of stuff in its belly, revealing a pile every time it’s asked, of all sorts and kinds, requiring sorting.

Huo Chong is initially organizing, and once he’s done, Shen Can will deduce and discern the truth therein.

After breakfast, Shen Can routinely began cultivation.

After advancing to the Power of Seventy-Two Desolations, the effectiveness of meat halved again, as though the flesh and blood within were becoming complacent.

To increase the Power of One Wilderness now requires three to five times more consumption than between thirty-six to seventy-two Wilderness Power.

Calculating this, it’s more than ten times the consumption of ordinary Wilderness Power up to thirty-six Wilderness Power.

The clan’s Tier Three beast meat has been completely consumed, even though he possesses the All Transformations Return to One Divine Technique, which maximizes the use of low-tier resources to enhance strength. However, it cannot shorten cultivation time.

After all, the energy gap between low-tier and high-tier cultivation food is vast.

Extracting essence from low-tier sources is already extremely difficult, requiring an abundance of low-tier meat sources. It hasn’t come to the point of squeezing oil from low-tier resources just yet.

Shen Can reckons starting with Tier Three Wild Beasts is the way forward.

After finishing sweeping the Ancestral Temple every day, he strolls by the water outside the clan lands, attempting to see if he can manage a Tier Three Wild Beast.

In the evenings, he infers witchcraft to enhance his Divine Sense.

He also tries doubling his intake of the fish, shrimp, and crab caught from hunting daily, but after a few days, it becomes overwhelming with a mouthful of fishy taste.

...

Copper Shell Ruins Market.

Inside the house adjacent to the Ruins Slave Market.

In residence here is the tribal elder Shui Anx, leaning on the wide stone bed snoring loudly.

An Upper Lake Division member enters to report, waking Shui Anx, "Elder, they’re asking again from the slave market, when we’ll deliver that batch of slaves."

"What’s the rush? So many slaves, yet they can’t do without our batch?"

The now awake Shui Anx retorts fiercely, "I think they ask about the slaves as a ruse; they truly want to know where the Clan Leader went."

Copper Shell Ruins Market is jointly established by the Upper Lake, Cyan Bird, and Ape Mountain tribes.

A few months ago, a mountain tribe ventured out to procure resources, fortuitously intercepted by our Upper Lake Division members.

These dozen people wore armor and carried bows, impossible not to stand out.

After discovering this, it was reported internally, and the clan made a barter agreement with this mountain tribe.

Following this, rumors spread at the market about tribal soldiers heading north; it’s unclear how they spread, but it’s likely tied to Cyan Bird and Ape Mountain.

To this day, the Clan Leader hasn’t returned; these two tribes possibly speculate that the Upper Lake Division found better resources in the mountain.

Even Shui Anx suspects this.

Two Celestial Veins with three hundred clan soldiers, plus an unknown Blood Witch, face virtually no adversary.

Most likely, the leaders have incurred greater gains, hence haven’t returned.

Concerning danger, only small tribes within the mountains present threats.

"Oh, Elder Anx is in quite a temper."

Then two figures entered from outside the stone house, one of them a white-haired old man spoke, "The Upper Lake Clan Leader mobilized soldiers northwards, and hasn’t returned for so long; wouldn’t it be an incident?"

"Old fool, what filth have you been feeding your mouth?"

...

Elsewhere, traversing the mountains and forests, across the mighty river, Huo Chang and Huo Shan, brothers finally arrived at the market.

This time, they brought ten Tier One beast hides, two Tier Two beast hides, along with some sinew, scales, tusks, and other items from the tribe.

Without witchcraft’s assistance, and when metal witch artifacts aren’t sturdy enough, tribes use the fangs, scales, and bones of Tier Two or Tier Three Wild Beasts to make weapons.

Hence, these items become vital consumables and also serve as currency at the market.

Bringing items over here is also an attempt to see if they can exchange for needed people or goods when returning.

"Remember to say little, and don’t shout."

Before entering the market, he again warned Huo Shan.

"I know, alright."

After the two circled around twice, they finally found a relatively spacious spot near the Slave Market.

The Slave Market is the center of the entire Ruins Market, with a dozen or so dwellings nearby, making up the main structures of the market.

They took out a tattered beast hide, spread it open, and placed some items on it.

Last time when he came with Upper Huang Division, Huo Chang saw that many people set up stalls, so he also planned to use this method to gather information.

There’s no way around it, asking around rashly could easily lead to trouble.

Huo Shan squatted beside Huo Chang, constantly turning his head to glance back at the Slave Market.

Huo Chang sat cross-legged, quietly listening to the exchanges of those passing by.

With such loud voices, there was no need for him to deliberately eavesdrop.

"The prices are way higher than before the plague. Previously, five intact beast hides could be exchanged for a woman of suitable age to bear children. Now, they dare to ask for twenty regular beast hides."

"You should consider how many fewer people are around since the disaster."

"Young ones aren’t cheap either; it used to be one beast hide, now they dare to ask for three, and you can’t even keep them alive, which is a waste."

...

When the sun began to set, Huo Shan fished out some jerky from his backpack and handed it to Huo Chang.

There’s no concept of closing shop when night falls here; you simply sleep where you are.

For several consecutive days, the two took turns watching over the stall.

Sometimes, they would wander around the market, keeping in mind everything they saw and heard.

Within the market, what’s sold is quite varied, predominantly beast hides, bones, scales, herbs, and the like.

Huo Chang also heard about Upper Lake Division.

The entire market was established jointly by the Upper Lake, Cyan Bird, and Ape Mountain tribes.

The three tribes possess great power, with several Celestial Vein Martial Artists, including mid-stage ones, holding the fort.

Hearing these details, he couldn’t help but be thankful for having shot that Upper Lake Division Martial Artist wearing a Beast Bone Crown with a giant crossbow before.

Not only did he learn the names of the divisions, but he’s even aware of the rumors about Upper Lake Division’s soldiers heading north into the mountains to capture the remnants of the tribes.

The market-goers treat this as casual conversation, some say the Upper Lake Division Martial Artists didn’t return because they got lost in the mountains.

Others claim the plague originated in the mountains, leaving few survivors, making Upper Lake Division’s efforts futile.

Some speculate that the Upper Lake Clan may have stayed in the mountains to hunt.

In short, there’s plenty of gossip within the market.

Seven days later, feeling he had gathered enough information, Huo Chang packed up his stall and took Huo Shan into the Slave Market.

Before heading back, seeing if they could purchase a skilled slave.

Inside the Slave Market, the stench of rot permeated the air, with bloodstains visible everywhere.

Stone railings and small houses stood in rows, but what was most conspicuous were the tall pillars adorned with hanging people.

Some pillars bore several figures, with the ones at the bottom having turned into skeletons, while the ones at the top were still dripping blood.

No one bothered them, allowing Huo Chang to take a round inside the Slave Market.

Each slave looked listless, their spirits dreary.

"Didn’t find any to your liking?"

Seeing Huo Chang ready to leave, a shiny-faced figure quickly stepped up and blocked Huo Chang’s path.

"Why not wait a couple more days, a batch of new slaves will arrive, guaranteed to be spirited."

"Do you have a blacksmith?"

"Yes!"

Jia Gu didn’t even think before agreeing readily.

"However, the price will be expensive."

"Alright, then we’ll wait a couple more days," Huo Chang pondered and nodded; it was only a matter of a few days.

As he watched Huo Chang leave the Slave Market, Jia Gu quickly walked toward the deep areas inside.

From the moment Huo Chang and his companion entered, he’d spied the beast hide carried by Huo Shan.

With years of accumulated experience, Jia Gu was certain the beast hide was of good quality, likely from a large Wild Beast.

While beast hides weren’t scarce in the forest, heading further south, the terrain gets flatter and large Wild Beasts become rarer.

Small prey’s hide can’t match forest Wild Beasts in quality and size. As one of the essential materials for crafting armor, its value naturally increases.

The slaves available for sale were naturally screened, skills-laden slaves being so scarce that each tribe couldn’t meet its own needs, let alone display them for sale in the market.

"Achen, stick to the old rules, pick those with burn scars and rough hands with calluses."

"By the way, don’t do like last time; poisoning them mute, what are the chances that they all turn mute?"

"Instruct them more, tell them leaving the Slave Market is their path to survival."

"Don’t create situations where they die without even leaving the gate."

"Those exchanged for genuine hides should at least survive three to five days, so none should perish en route."

"After all these years, haven’t you made any progress at all?"