Longzang

Chapter 585 The Old Demon

“There are many single women everywhere, but very few with only one child. The population in this area has changed a lot recently, and I can’t know the details of every place. I can only tell you about the situation a few days ago, or even a month or two ago,” Wolf Bear said.

Why are there so few children with only one child?

Wolf Bear said, "There have been too many battles this year. Almost all the able-bodied male witches with some strength have been conscripted. In the past six months alone, 11,000 male witches and 3,000 female witches have been conscripted from this region. Basically, more than half of the able-bodied men have been conscripted. But I heard that we actually lost the great war with the human race, and we lost badly. Most of those conscripted will not be coming back."

This year's conscription is particularly severe, although it has happened every year. For some reason, there's been constant fighting for the past four or five years. As you can see, many houses in town are now uninhabited.

Therefore, three years ago, following the guidance of my ancestors, I reopened the sacrificial feast, which is now held every six months.

Wei Yuan asked, "What is the sacrificial banquet to the gods?"

Wolf Bear said, “You are a esteemed shaman lord, and you do not understand the customs of these common people. Whenever the number of common people is too small, a sacrificial feast is held. When the sacrificial feast is held, all the female shamans in the village who are still able to have children but do not have the protection of a male shaman must participate.”

On the night of the sacrificial ceremony, they would drink a secret herbal concoction, and then mate with all the males in the village after the ceremony. After the sacrificial feast, they would usually begin to conceive. The children born this way would be raised by the village; if they couldn't survive, the town would provide some food.

Wei Yuan thought he knew the Wu tribe quite well, but he never expected they had such customs. Many of the Wu tribe's lower-class members had many offspring and grew up quickly, reaching adulthood in just five or six years. No wonder the Wu tribe was so difficult to defeat, and they didn't care about losing hundreds of thousands of lives.

"Which single witches do you think are worth paying attention to, and where do they usually live?" Wei Yuan pressed.

Wolf Bear said, "Come to my house, where you'll find the only map in town."

The wolf-bear's home is located upstream of the stream, a domed house built in the style of the Wu tribe. Water from the river is channeled into the courtyard, making it half water and half land. Many plump fish swim around in the water in the courtyard.

As Wei Yuan and the wolf-bear flew overhead, they saw several light-colored female bears relieving themselves by the river. Large clumps of unspeakable matter fell into the river and were carried downstream by the current.

There were many strange and unusual fish in the river. These creatures were devoured before they had gone very far. Then, downstream, many witches speared the fish out of the river and ate them raw.

At first glance, the town doesn't seem particularly dirty or chaotic, except for the scarcity of witches. The strange smells floating in the air are mostly poisonous gases unique to the witch realm, harmful to humans but beneficial to witches.

The river water was crystal clear, with almost no debris visible on the surface. It was originally a pristine and beautiful scene, but Wei Yuan now realized that what lay behind the clean facade was far from what he expected.

Upon entering the wolf-bear's lair, Wei Yuan saw a female bear, who had just relieved herself, walk in and bring out a large fish. Wei Yuan was highly suspicious that she hadn't washed her paws. He remained calm and scanned the town with his divine sense, discovering that not a single member of the witch clan in the entire town was washing their paws.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt fortunate that he had only drunk a few cups of wine at the inn, and he could tell at a glance that the wine was the one he had sold to the Wu tribe.

Wolf Bear enthusiastically offered him food, but Wei Yuan firmly declined.

Wolf Bear thought Wei Yuan was unhappy, and he was so anxious that he scratched his head and quickly called in several young, beautiful, thick-legged, and furry female bears to serve the Spirit Shaman.

Wolf Bear only regretted that this place was too small and remote, full of ordinary women with four legs, and he couldn't even find a beautiful witch with five legs, let alone a peerless witch with six legs.

Wei Yuan sternly refused!

Finally, Wolf Bear had no choice but to take out a map and point out some villages where shamans still lived. Then, Wei Yuan snatched the map and disappeared instantly. This move shocked Wolf Bear so much that he collapsed to the ground. He had always thought that his strength was about the same as this spirit shaman's.

The two female bears looked relieved, saying that it was fortunate they hadn't been interested in the witch, otherwise they would have had to accompany such an ugly witch, and they would have nightmares at night.

Upon hearing this, the wolf-bear suddenly swung its paws and slapped them hard several times, cursing, "You ignorant bumpkins! Lord Peacock has said several times that he is a spirit sorceress! Do you know what that means?"

The two mother bears were shocked: "Spirit Shaman, isn't that an adult equivalent to the Ghost Shaman?"

The other female bear said, "What do you mean by being equal to a ghost witch? He's clearly stronger than a ghost witch, okay? I heard that this time, several of us ghost witches were beaten to a pulp by a spirit witch. He's a spirit witch, doesn't he?"

The wolf-bear was so angry that the fur on his face stood on end. He roared, "Spirit Shamans are different from us! Those among them who are recognized by the elders and are considered to have a great chance of becoming Spirit Shamans can also call themselves Spirit Shamans! Sometimes, such people are more terrifying than real Spirit Shamans! This is a real big shot. I was almost able to cling to him, but you two idiots ruined it all! Can't you read more books?"

A mother bear scoffed, "What's the use of studying? You're not doing it so we can learn to read; you're just after us, aren't you?"

The wolves and bears couldn't reason with them at all, and could only roar incessantly.

Following the map, Wei Yuan had arrived at the first village. He concealed his aura, changed into a tattered cloak, and entered the village.

Right now, Wei Yuan looks like a somewhat down-on-his-luck power sorcerer who has just advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage. It is said that in many sorcerer villages, a sorcerer at the Foundation Establishment stage is enough to become the village chief. So this is just right, neither to be looked down upon nor to cause a stir.

In the Witchcraft Domain, one cannot be too discreet. If a Witch of the Forged Body rashly enters an unfamiliar village alone, he is basically just adding food to the villagers' plate.

Several children of the Wu tribe were playing at the village entrance. When they saw Wei Yuan enter the village, they curiously gathered around him.

Just as Wei Yuan was thinking of what to do to get rid of them and ask for more information, a sudden exclamation came from behind him: "That old devil is amazing!"

Wei Yuan silently turned around and saw a witch child with dark red skin, a long tail, and a short arm under his left armpit pointing at him and exclaiming in surprise. It had a pair of unusually large dark red eyes, each about the size of an egg.

To humans, this appearance was utterly bizarre and incredibly ugly, but clearly, this three-armed fellow was the most beautiful child in the village, and all the other witch children revered him.

When the child looked at Wei Yuan, circles of ripples appeared in his pupils, as if he wanted to suck in the soul.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly. Under its gaze, he felt a vague unease, as if something had been seen through him.

The witch child shouted again, "Run! This is an old demon who has lived for hundreds of years!"

The group of witch children were shocked and scattered in all directions. Wei Yuan frowned inwardly, and was about to grab the witch child to ask him what was going on, but then he sensed something unusual about a house, and it seemed that the target he was looking for was there.

In that courtyard, an ordinary witch woman was teaching a witch child to write. The problem was, the child was already quite grown up, but there was only one child in the courtyard. Moreover, Wei Yuan had discovered many hidden witch experts in the village, distributed around this small courtyard, secretly protecting it.

(End of this chapter)