Chapter 406: Chapter 175: Dai Land (Part 2)

...

After finding the Cloud Mountain River Valley, it’s not far from Dai Land.

After many years, Shen Can finally arrived at the ancestral homeland of Dai Land elders.

Piecing together clues from the ancient texts left behind at Cloud Mountain, Shen Can found the route to Dai Land and gathered some information about New Year’s Eve and the Cold Night Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, sacrifices are still held in the river valley; preparations last for three days at the start of the month.

The Cold Night Festival is not fixed.

Neither of these sacrifices is for the Human Race ancestors.

New Year’s Eve sacrifices the Earth Ants, while the Cold Night Festival sacrifices other things.

Unfortunately, the records from Cloud Mountain are too incomplete to know exactly what is being sacrificed until entering Dai Land.

...

Dai Land.

Ciluohuan.

Such a tongue-twisting name originated from the Earth Ants.

Thousands of years ago, this area was called the Salt River Basin.

After the Jiang Yan Clan in Dai Land, known as the Jiangyang Bo Division, was wiped out by Earth Ants, and other Human Race Bo Divisions were subsequently attacked, the entire Dai Land descended into carnage.

The names of places in the Human Race gradually got replaced by the Earth Ant’s native language.

The skull of the last Clan Chief of the powerful Jiang Yan Clan was forced by the Earth Ants to be polished into a wine vessel by Human Race artisans, and the skeleton has been hanging on Jiangyang Mountain for thousands of years.

Over the millennia, the scattered Human Race repeatedly resisted, only to be suppressed by the Earth Ants.

In Dai Land, Earth Ants and Mei Spirits are the rulers, and the Ant Slave Division is the Earth Ants’ minions.

Ant Slaves are the Human Race who submit under the Earth Ants’ feet, recognizing the Earth Ants as masters, oppressing the Human Race, and flattering the Earth Ants above.

After thousands of years, the Human Race in Dai Land has become food raised by the Earth Ants.

...

Caw, caw, caw!

The piercing cries of birds resounded as a flock of black crows flew up from the forest, forming a dark cloud that crossed the firmament.

Below Que Mountain, a small settlement of only a few hundred people was busy preparing offerings.

Beast meat, fruits, beast oil, and some grease-soaked wood pieces with mysterious runes etched on them.

The wood pieces were palm-sized, all roughly the same, placed in a large stone basin.

"Zaoshan, come over here and light the wooden coins."

A middle-aged Martial Artist, whose old face was covered with wrinkles and body slightly hunched, called to a young man inside, who was polishing a crossbow.

"I won’t light them!"

Zaoshan didn’t raise his head. "I have no beast ancestors!"

"Silence!"

Zaoshan’s father rebuked immediately, "I forbid you to say such things, do not say them to anyone, keep it all in your heart."

Zaoshan stubbornly raised his head to look at his father, but seeing his father’s sharp eyes, he nodded, "I understand, I haven’t said anything to outsiders."

"Come, light them!"

Under his father’s gaze, Zaoshan grabbed the Huo Shi and ignited the wooden coins in the basin.

The grease-soaked wooden coins caught fire easily, and the runes drawn with beast blood leapt up with the flames, forming a blurred beast shadow.

At this moment, each household in the settlement was lighting their wooden coins one after the other.

Zaoshan’s father didn’t look at the firelight; instead, he gazed towards the main hall of the house.

In the main hall, there was an empty stone table.

"May the ancestors bless Ashan, so as not to be detected by the Earth Ants."

After silently praying in his heart, he turned back to the burning stone basin at the door.

"Do not speak."

Though he didn’t look back, he seemed to know that Zaoshan, who was standing behind him, wanted to speak.

"Once tonight’s Cold Night Festival is over, I’ll go hunting in the eastern mountains and will ask the Clan Elders for a few Ironhead Arrows."

Hearing his father say this, Zaoshan felt a sense of joy.

The power of iron arrows far surpasses bone arrows. The damnable Earth Ants limit the Human Race’s ability to craft weapons, limit the size of settlements, and restrict the transmission of the Martial Dao.

Even worse are those traitorous minions who constantly flaunt themselves.

"Father, then you..."

"Hunting incurs injuries, disappearances."

After closing the door, Zaoshan’s father quietly sat on a chair beside the stone table, seemingly asleep.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

As night fell, even the moonlight was obscured, and a chill swept out from the deep mountains, carrying the sound of screeching whispers. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

This chill wind quickly blew into the settlement, like a pack of wild beasts invading the village, rummaging everywhere.

These were ghostly monsters from the deep mountains, rampaging across the vast lands with the Earth Ants.

Whenever the moonlight was concealed, they would fly out from the deep mountains, sweeping through nearby settlements.

If any settlement was unprepared with offerings, it would be massacred entirely.

Even with offerings, these ghostly monsters might not just leave after consuming them; if unlucky, a settlement could still become their blood feast.

Outside, crackling noises arose as Zaoshan’s father sat quietly, appearing as if asleep.

Zaoshan gripped the crossbow, his excitement overwhelming the fear invoked by the whispers outside.

Tomorrow, he would be able to journey to Star Mountain, truly a land of cultivation for the Human Race, where Martial Dao was passed on, Earth Ants slain, and spirit monsters eradicated.

...

That night, many places in the Salt River Basin were disturbed by spirit monsters and ghostly shadow assaults from the deep forest.

In some settlements, cries and wailing were heard.

...

Roar, roar!

On a hill.

Shen Can observed the spirit monster fluttering its spectral claws before him, witnessing this life form for the first time.

Like an Innate Spirit Body, but composed of Acquired Qi, with chaotic soul power fluctuations and a bloodthirsty instinct within.

Buzz!

As Shen Can’s scorching Fire Qi was unleashed, the attacking spirit monster evaporated like a water droplet under the blazing sun.

The searing aura was as conspicuous as an erupting volcano under the night sky.

From afar, more spirit monsters were charging towards him.

...

Until dawn approached, a spirit monster, two meters tall and Earth Ant-like in shape, was trampled under Shen Can’s foot.

"Human, how dare you defy the Holy Race! When our Holy Race’s might descends, you will be torn apart!"

"The elders of Star Mountain can’t last much longer, and impassioned young Humans like you will soon become our food. Our powerful ones prefer the vibrant Humans."

The Earth Ant spirit monster howled, only to emit a wretched cry immediately after.

"Tell me everything you know."

Shen Can’s Divine Sense formed a torrent, smashing into the Earth Ant spirit monster before him.

A thunderous crash left it dazed.

"Puff!"

After obtaining the information, Shen Can incinerated it with his Fire Qi completely.

He now had a rough understanding of the situation in Dai Land.

Compared to Yongyi, the Human Race in Dai Land had fallen to become food raised by the Earth Ants.

The main Human Race had been scattered, forming small settlements scattered across the vast land.

Earth Ants and ghostly monsters had become the overlords of this region.

Shen Can had not yet figured out how the spirit monsters were formed, but Earth Ants could integrate with them—a subject for later research.

After scattering the Human Race Bo Division, the Earth Ants practiced cutting off the heritage in Dai Land, adopting small settlements to rear techniques, prohibiting ancestral worship, and cultivating war beasts.

Yet, it had not severed the Human Race’s resistance. Star Mountain, for instance, remained a bastion of resistance.

Named after "Star," it was an inhospitable, plague-riddled place—ironically, providing survival under Earth Ants’ siege.

"Jiang Yan Clan, Jiangyang Bo Division."

This Bo Division’s status was similar to Yongshan’s in Yongyi, but it had been utterly destroyed over time, even the Clan Chief’s bones hung outside by Earth Ants to intimidate and crush Dai Land’s Human Race spirit.

Perhaps the Dai Land predecessors came from this Bo Division.

Afterward, Shen Can set off for Star Mountain.

According to the Earth Ant spirit monster’s revelations, the Human Tier Four Divine Treasure at Star Mountain was aging and couldn’t hold on much longer.

He wanted to take a look.

When he first obtained the map to Dai Land, he thought of finding a path for the tribe here, allowing joint development with resources from both Dai and Yong lands.

Now, he had finally reached Dai Land, and although the situation differed from expectations, with the right plans, it could still aid the tribe’s growth.

The missing heritage in Dai Land, he could supplement.

The Earth Ants in Dai Land, he, Blazing Flame, could kill!