After a century of worship, I became the ancestor of the tribe.

Chapter 207 I come from Yongyi!
On the way to Xingchen Mountain, Shen Can trekked through mountains and rivers, and the situation he encountered was even worse than what he had heard from the earth spirit.

The earth reeked of fishy stench, and traces of earthworms could be seen everywhere.

In order to erase all traces of the human race, these earthworms really used all sorts of methods.

He even took a detour to visit a nearby former site of a bo tribe.

Human tribes mostly settle in places with convenient access to mountains and rivers, and the Bo tribe's territory is even more suitable for reproduction and life.

Upon arrival, however, what they found was a vast expanse of muddy swamp, with foul-smelling water and an unpleasant odor.

The place that could have produced a lot of food was completely destroyed.

The largest of the small settlements they passed through had no more than two thousand people, and they couldn't even be considered lower-class tribes.

The martial arts inheritance is limited to improving the level of power. The Heavenly Meridian Technique is missing, and the tempering method is crude, making it even inferior to the Blazing Flame of yesteryear.

This resulted in the strongest group of people in the settlement being only at the Mountain Opening Realm.

The dispersal of large clans, the destruction of martial arts traditions, and the destruction of suitable places for reproduction and life have truly severed the foundation for the resurgence of the human race.

As the elder Daji once said, there are powerful tribes in the Great Wilderness that raise humans and make them practice martial arts, so that they can take human martial arts experts as medicine.

The Tulou tribe is currently at the lowest level of the domesticated human race, and they are doing their best to eradicate the human race's heritage.

……

Star Mountain.

This is a place shrouded in dark clouds, surrounded by swamps and mountains.

This place was originally a territory of a human tribe called the Zhuoyang tribe.

Later, the Zhuoyangbo tribe was destroyed, and its territory was completely turned into a barren wasteland by the Tulou.

Because of the harsh environment, the human race in Xingchen Mountain has survived with great difficulty.

According to rumors circulating in nearby settlements, Star Mountain possesses a powerful martial arts tradition, where generations of human powerhouses have fought against earthworms and spirits.

When Shen Can arrived at Xingchen Mountain, he also found that many people were heading into the mountain.

Most of these people carried wooden bows and wooden spears, and few carried knives. They waded through the mud and water and headed into the mountains.

However, the mountain environment was not easy to enter. The surrounding swamps were full of rotting bones, and their grotesque appearance frightened many people.

But most people gritted their teeth and kept going.

Sometimes, lizard-like wild beasts would leap out from the mud and rush towards these people.

If you panic, you might accidentally fall into the mud and be dragged away by wild beasts that emerge from the mud.

Those who were nearby, even strangers, would offer their help, but their strength was too weak to fend off the wild beasts lurking in the swamp.

Before they had gone a hundred miles, some people were so frightened that they stopped in their tracks and began to waver.

"The swamp, the Bloodbone Mountain. If we can't even get through the swamp, how can we cross the Bloodbone Mountain and obtain the inheritance?"

Zaoshan gripped his great bow tightly and roared, startling several nearby figures.

If they're afraid of even this little difficulty, how will they ever be able to fight against the earthworms in the future?

Let's go together!

The group quickly huddled together, each using a piece of driftwood as a cushion to slide through the mud and water, holding hands to prevent themselves from getting stuck.

……

To enter Star Mountain, one must undergo several trials before being qualified to become a member of the mountain.

These trials were nothing to Shen Can, but for a martial artist at the Mountain Opening Realm, they were life-or-death crises at every turn.

The swamp was over two hundred miles deep, beyond which lay a hilly area shrouded in dark clouds.

Among the earth and rocks, there were countless corpses, adults and children.

Amidst the corpses, wisps of blackish liquid flowed out, gathering in the mountains, turning even the growing vegetation crimson.

In some cracked parts of the mountain, you can still see stones that have long been soaked in black blood. Some old trees have been dead for who knows how long, their bark cracked and dry, whistling in the wind.

Behind Bloodbone Mountain, in a tree hollow in a rock wall, a warrior dressed in tattered animal skin clothing leans on a rusty old spear, staring blankly ahead.

Behind Bloodbone Mountain, there was another undulating mountain range, with layers of black mist floating on it.

In the secluded corners of the mountains, some buildings can be seen hidden in the terrain, but there are not many human figures.

The entire environment gives people a feeling of oppression and decay.

……

In the heart of a remote and inconspicuous hill, the flickering light of an oil lamp dispelled the gloom.

The altars, along with broken and shattered weapons, and even blood-stained animal robes, were enshrined together.

A hunched figure was wiping the gleaming stone platform, his movements unsteady and trembling.

"who!"

After the hunched figure finished wiping the stone platform, he glanced sideways without paying attention, but suddenly sensed a dark shadow behind him.

He thought he was seeing things, but then he saw a young figure standing on the open ground in front of the stone platform, quietly looking at the shrine and offerings on the platform.

"Wow!"

The old man, trembling, grabbed a long knife.

"Who are you? Why haven't I seen you in the mountains?"

The old man's body, which had been trembling, not only stopped trembling but also straightened up.

He pointed the knife at Shen Can.

“Old priest, if this lord makes a move, you won’t have a chance to take up your knife.”

At that moment, a response came from inside the long cave. Footsteps came from outside, and the newcomer was a burly man wearing an animal skin vest, his exposed muscles showing a bronze color.

He had already observed Shen Can after entering the ancestral temple, but he couldn't sense anything about him.

Shen Can also sensed the approaching person.

Of course, it was his deliberate aura that attracted this person.

Despite his seemingly robust physique, his internal energy was in disarray, and he was merely putting on a brave front.

"Luyang of Xingchen Mountain, may I ask which mountain of inheritance or grotto of transmission you come from?"

Lu Yang clasped his hands and bowed, his muscles tense, his feet straining to gather strength, ready to unleash his full power at the slightest movement.

Even though he knew that the person who could enter Star Mountain in this way was someone he couldn't handle, he still wouldn't surrender easily.

"I come from Yongyi, the Blazing Flame Tribe!"

"what!"

Shen Can's words sent a jolt through Lu Yang, whose breath was already on edge.

Yongyi!

The vast region south of the Nanyue Mountains.

Clang.

The old man who had previously pointed the knife at Shen Can suddenly jerked his hand, and the knife fell to the ground.

"You are finally here."

The old man murmured, his hands trembling, somewhat at a loss.

"Are you truly from Yong?"

Lu Yang quickly realized what was happening and stared intently at Shen Can. It wasn't that he didn't believe it.

Rather, they were simply too shocked.

For so many years, all I knew was that south of Mount Heng was Yong, but I had never seen a person from Yong. With a raised hand, Shen Can unleashed the Great Evolution Mystic Qilin Palm.

Do you recognize this supernatural power?

In truth, he wasn't sure if the person in front of him would recognize this supernatural power passed down from his predecessor.

"The Great Evolution Mystic Qilin Palm, a legacy of Jiang Yang Cave Heaven."

Lu Yang spoke, somewhat surprised, for this technique was one of the powerful divine abilities of the Jiangyan clan.

Not long after, three figures took their seats inside the ear hole of the ancestral temple.

On the table were some pieces of animal meat.

"Please forgive the limited resources."

After the old priest brought out the meat, he sat down to one side.

Through Lu Yang's words, Shen Can gained a clearer understanding of the changes in the region.

Shortly after the disappearance of the Marquis of Yongshan, the Tulou tribe attacked and destroyed the Jiangyangbo tribe established by the Jiangyan clan.

Jiang Yang's status was the same as Yong Shan's status in Yongyi.

The most powerful human tribe in a region was defeated, and the subsequent Tulou were unstoppable, successively annihilating various human tribes.

Although the earthworms were destroying the human race's heritage, the human race was not inactive; people continued to bring out the heritage.

Thanks to this heritage, there are now five heritage sites and two grotto-heavens in the Dai region.

Jiangyang Cave Heaven is one of the two cave heavens. It was built by a collateral branch of the extinct Jiangyang clan who found a cave heaven left behind by the Jiangyan clan.

Another grotto-heaven, named Yuezai, was also established by someone who was lucky enough to find a grotto-heaven.

The remaining five sites of inheritance were built on the former sites of the destroyed human tribe.

These seven places of inheritance have preserved relatively complete martial arts traditions, but they have also been repeatedly hunted by earthworms and monsters.

Shen Can was also learning about the concept of a grotto-heaven for the first time. However, considering that even the innate spirit race could create one, it was perfectly normal for them to create a grotto-heaven similar to a 'small world'.

The seven human heritage sites were barely holding on under the siege of the Earthworms, and their progress was insufficient.

For example, at Xingchen Mountain, only Lu Yang, a deity, remains to support the area.

It has always been the weakest of the seven heritage sites.

The reason it has been able to be passed down is because Xingchen Mountain is located at the southernmost part of Dai, while the true core of Tulou is in the northeast of Dai.

……

Shen Can also explained the situation in Yongyi, including the death of the Marquis and the inability to enter Dai to provide support.

As a result, it is now almost impossible to rely on the Yongyi people.

Inside the ear piercing, there was a certain silence.

“We’re used to it. As long as the lineage continues, the human race will not perish.”

After a long silence, the old priest spoke.

Even if they continue to burrow into the mountains, the local rats will definitely persevere.

Shen Can had thought about it on his way here. There was no need to hide anything. The current Zhiyan tribe already had a strong foundation and was no longer a small, insignificant tribe.

The rise of Zhiyan back then originated from its attack on Xiaoyang from the mountains.

Now that we're here to kill ants on the land, what's the difference between us and other races?
Of course, there are some things that need to be clarified before we go any further.

Cooperation is impossible; Zhiyan wants to annex Xingchen Mountain and become its behind-the-scenes master.

Currently, Xingchen Mountain has four commanders, each stationed on a mountain peak, and their combined troops number no more than ten thousand.

These tribal soldiers rarely went out to fight; their main task was to guard various passes and defend against attacks from the Tulou.

The number of people engaged in additional farming is no more than 300,000.

The total population of over 300,000 has not increased for a long time; it's not that we don't want to increase it, but that we can't.

The harsh environment made it impossible to grow food on a large scale. Even though there were a constant stream of young people from other places coming to join them, the casualties from fighting with the earthworms and monsters were still very high.

However, under these circumstances, the proportion of martial artists born is quite high.

Lacking sufficient strength and unwilling to spread their techniques too widely, they were confined to this remote and impoverished place.

As for imparting the techniques, that's easy. He simply made countless copies and threw them into various settlements under the cover of night.

This has been tried before.

Such actions could not be kept secret from Tu Lou. Cultivating martial arts techniques takes time; it's not like you can master a technique instantly just by having it.

Given enough time, someone will eventually spread it.

In the Dai region, there were many tribes of the Loot Slave. These tribes were established by the human race who had submitted to the Loot Slave. The smaller ones had tens of thousands of followers, while the larger ones had hundreds of thousands.

In comparison, the small human settlement, divided into fewer than a thousand people and lacking any martial arts tradition, was no match for these lowly slaves.

In order to curry favor with the local antagonists, these antagonist tribes were extremely ruthless towards their own kind, sometimes even more vicious than the antagonists themselves.

Any settlement that receives the copied technique will be completely wiped out.

The place closest to a heritage site will be besieged by earth ants.

Over the course of thousands of years, several sites of tradition have been destroyed.

In this situation, settlements dare not openly accept martial arts inheritance, and the places of inheritance dare not expand outward on a large scale.

……

"Saying it would be an exaggeration to say it would help Daidi, but it would be fair to say it would help Xingchen Mountain."

As Shen Can spoke, he looked at Lu Yang, whose aura was fluctuating wildly, clearly indicating that he had suffered severe injuries.

An energy was constantly eroding his body and devouring his life force.

Lu Yang hesitated for a moment, then asked, "What do we have to give in return?"

"Become a part of my Blazing Flame Division."

"Of course, it's best not to reveal the name of my Blazing Flame Tribe or mention Yongyi in the short term, lest the Earth Fools find out."

Lu Yang nodded. Not all of the many people in the mountains had the strength to fight the earthworm to the death.

Just as he had arranged for people in many settlements and slave tribes outside the mountains, he also had people arranged by slave tribes inside the mountains.

"The Nanyue Mountains are vast and expansive; have you already found the path?"

Shen Can did not respond. The route he had taken was somewhat circuitous and needed to be re-examined.

He was looking for underground rivers.

That's why this idea came to me.

It was the same earth spirit we had captured before. When describing the situation in Dai, it mentioned that in the eastern part of Dai, there was also a vast and incomparably large swamp.

There are large lakes on both the north and south sides of the Jushan Mountain, which seems like a coincidence, but it is actually quite normal.

According to the earth spirit, more than ten years ago, the water level in the giant swamp to the east suddenly dropped for a long time.

If you really calculate it carefully, that was right when the sun was passing through.

At that time, the Blazing Flame Tribe was still very weak, located near the Great Swamp, where the entire Great Swamp dried up completely.

Along with the Ōzawa swamps to the east of Ōnozawa, the water level also dropped rapidly and the swamps dried up.

But later, the river's waters returned to their source.

The mountain range separates the north and south sides, with the water in the south drying up and the water level in the north dropping at roughly the same time. This suggests that there is a strong possibility of an underground river connecting the north and south sides of the mountain range.

If an underground river can be found, the north-south passage will be much more convenient.

(End of this chapter)