No matter how widely scattered the Worwo tribe stood, they hadn’t strayed more than a mile from their original position. What they didn’t know was that several faint cracks had already begun to appear around the very ground they stood on.
The most prominent of these cracks led straight to the outer moat.
Water rushed rapidly into the fissures.
Yuan Zhan said to his priest with a touch of boastfulness, “Want to see what a Level 5 warrior is capable of?”
What he really wanted to say was, “Want to see what your man is capable of?” But with outsiders present, he feared that Mo, who had been growing increasingly violent, might fly into a rage and demand separate sleeping quarters, so he changed his words at the last moment.
Yan Mo did not stop him. He had already made it clear to Yuan Zhan that he intended to spare the dwarves’ lives; at most, Yuan Zhan was merely trying to scare them.
“Chief, your abilities never cease to amaze me.” With that, he playfully patted the man on the shoulder—of course, purely for Ancestral Shaman Opa’s benefit.
But Yuan Zhan took it as a compliment from Mo and chuckled arrogantly.
The Worwo tribe, however, was in for a nightmare. Amid Yuan Zhan’s terrifying laughter, the ground beneath their feet suddenly turned into a swamp!
The dwarves screamed and wailed. It wasn’t that they’d never seen a swamp before, but they’d never experienced solid ground suddenly turning into one. Fear, panic, and confusion set in, and the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.
Though it was clearly a human tragedy, Yuan Zhan and Yan Mo watched the scene unfold with smiles on their faces.
Meanwhile, someone—eager to impress his own priest—was giving the dwarves a hard time. As the Worwo tribe were busy with the swamp, an earthquake began to shake the Luoluo tribe’s territory, causing the little dwarves to roll around on the ground, crying and screaming.
Yan Mo also flinched—not because of the tremor, but because of the alert that had just flashed in his mind from the Guide.
—Warning! Due to the use of Level 5 Earth Ability by Yuan Zhan, a beneficiary of the Exile, the original terrain and topography within an area spanning up to 51,000 square meters and reaching a depth of 32.6 meters has undergone drastic changes, resulting in the mass death of various organisms—including plants and insects—that originally inhabited this land. The Exile bears joint liability. As this was an unintentional act by a beneficiary, Scum Points +9.
—Warning! The Exile must admonish the relevant beneficiary; otherwise, any future similar behavior will be deemed intentional negligence on the Exile’s part, and Scum Points will be added according to standard judgment.
—Special Note: Yuan Zhan’s actions fall under a dual-natured, ongoing category. Depending on the actual changes to this land in the future, the Exile may receive either an increase or a decrease in Scum Points.
……So, does that mean all the creatures Yuan Zhan accidentally kills while meddling with this land will be counted against him?
Although the Scum Points added aren’t significant, being implicated like this… Well, he understood the guidelines’ meaning now. He was implicated by Yuan Zhan, but those plants and insects killed by Yuan Zhan were also unfortunate bystanders caught in the crossfire.
The guide hadn’t mentioned this earlier, likely because the number of creatures Yuan Zhan had killed while manipulating the soil hadn’t yet reached the Guide’s threshold. But as Yuan Zhan’s abilities improved and the area of land he could control expanded, the number of creatures—originally living in the soil—who were caught in the crossfire and killed would inevitably increase.
Yan Mo wanted to stop Yuan Zhan from continuing to intimidate the dwarves, but he forced himself to hold back. He would rather accept a few minor punishments than let the momentum he had just built up be destroyed like this. Moreover, he didn’t want Jiuyuan’s chief to become timid and hesitant in his future actions due to various reservations. He needed to observe further and understand exactly what this so-called “dual-natured” category with a persistent effect actually meant.
Needless to say, the commotion here naturally alerted the mermaid warriors in the two rivers and drew the attention of the Jiuyuan warriors on the city walls.
“Chief, wipe them out!” shouted the A’wu warriors, who had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the dwarves.
“Send those little dwarves back to the forest!”
“Kill them!”
Some kept shouting mad ramblings like “The chief is so powerful” and “The chief is so terrifying.”
But as they gradually witnessed the full might of the battle, the shouts from the city walls grew fainter and eventually faded away.
To be honest, the A’wu tribe’s feelings toward the dwarves were quite complicated, especially since they had lived alongside the Worwo tribe for a time. Most importantly, the Worwo tribe had once helped the Jiuyuan tribe drive out the Luoluo tribe when neither the Jiuyuan chief nor the priest was present. Although the Worwo tribe suddenly turned on them after Lord Mo returned, at least they hadn’t killed a single A’wu tribesman, and even the Luoluo tribe hadn’t found an opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
With no casualties on either side and few serious injuries, although disgust and hatred still arose from the other side’s actions, this hatred was not entirely irreconcilable.
Now, seeing so many dwarves swallowed up by the earth and the swamps, the A’wu people fell silent; some even felt a flicker of sympathy in their hearts for these dwarves—the sympathy of the strong toward the weak.
Yan Mo had been listening to the sounds coming from behind the crowd. When he heard the cheers fade away, a smile—one he had long anticipated—flashed across his face.
They had long anticipated the possible reactions of the A’wu tribe when Yuan Zhan stepped in to teach the dwarves a lesson— this was one of the essential measures for ensuring the two tribes could coexist in the future.
On the other hand, the warriors of the Yuanji, who had rarely witnessed Yuan Zhan’s abilities, were now staring in wide-eyed amazement. So Yuan Zhan was this powerful? Was this the capability of a Level 5 Divine Blood Warrior? This was just too, too, too incredible!
The techniques Yuan Zhan had demonstrated also made Yan Mo realize once again that Yuan Zhan’s abilities were absolutely devastating in scale. And this was merely at Level 5; once he reached Level 6, or even higher, perhaps stomping his foot to summon a city or waving his hand to create a river would no longer be a fantasy.
However, Yan Mo also couldn’t help but wonder: if there were Divine Blood Warriors above Level 5 in this world, and if they too sought the Fruit of Shamanic Fortune, would Jiuyuan still be able to hold out against them?
Ancestral Shaman Opa trembled all over. Clenching her fists, she cried out in a low voice, “Demons! Demons! Spirits of our ancestors, save your descendants!”
Yan Mo was slightly surprised. Were they already talking about demons at this point?
Come to think of it, if there were gods and ghosts, it made sense that there would be talk of demons as well.
However, in the locals’ understanding, they seemed to have always viewed gods and demons as one and the same, unlike in his original world, where gods represented good and demons represented evil.
Yan Mo patted Yuan Zhan on the shoulder. “Send Ancestral Shaman Opa back.”
“Huh?” Was it over already? He hadn’t had enough fun yet; he still had enough energy to unleash a couple more big moves.
Yan Mo smiled with a simple, honest grin. “We’ll take turns. There’s no rush. We have to give the chiefs of both tribes and the Great Ancestral Shaman enough time to consider.”
Ancestral Shaman Opa wept. The young priest’s words meant that the people of both tribes were in for a rough time. By the time the four of them had finished taking turns deliberating, who knew how many would be left.
Ancestral Shaman Opa wanted to lash out, to roar and take Jiuyuan down with her, but… looking at the surviving members of her tribe, she simply couldn’t bring herself to shout.
“I choose to repay the debt. I will persuade them…”
Yan Mo, however, acted as if he hadn’t heard a word. He turned to Ancestral Shaman Opa and said kindly, “To demonstrate our mutual sincerity, I have left you the ancestral gift. May I then insert a few more needles into your body? Rest assured, they will not hinder your speech or movement in the slightest. You will simply find that your abilities are somewhat less effective when you attempt to use them.”
Yan Mo, who had devoted himself entirely to researching how to awaken others’ bloodline abilities—even going so far as to dissect himself for the sake of his studies—would he not also investigate how to “influence” the manifestation of others’ abilities?
Of course, he would.
If he could awaken others’ bloodline abilities, he could naturally also influence or block their use to a certain extent; it was just that he hadn’t fully mastered it yet, and everything was currently in the experimental stage.
With such excellent test subjects as the Ancestral Shaman Opa right before his eyes, could he possibly resist the urge to experiment?
Obviously, it was impossible.
Ancestral Shaman Opa was half-forced back to her original spot, but out of respect for this little old lady—and to demonstrate his own sincerity—Yan Mo stopped Yuan Zhan from stuffing her into a cage. Instead, he marked out a prison on the ground, allowing her to sit a bit more comfortably.
Yan Mo made it clear to Ancestral Shaman Opa that he wasn’t afraid of her escaping.
Besides, if this little old lady could actually escape while surrounded by the bee guards and with her abilities locked down by his needle technique, what would that prove? It would prove that she must possess abilities and secrets he was unaware of. If she dared to use them, the bee guards would surely detect something, and once the bee guards knew, he would know as well.
Secondly, he also wanted to verify whether his needle technique for sealing others’ abilities was actually effective.
Third, there were only two possible outcomes if Ancestral Shaman Opa fled: either she would take the dwarves far away, or she would bring them back to attack him. Either way, he welcomed it.
The two emerged from the woods and had gone quite a distance before Yuan Zhan, still brimming with excitement, asked, “Weren’t we supposed to take turns?”
“No rush. You need to recover too. There are still plenty of dwarves fleeing toward us from across the river, and that Graman tribe is still holding the opposite bank. Remember, as the chief and the strongest warrior of this tribe, you must always keep a third of your strength in reserve, no matter the time or place, so you can respond to sudden changes at any moment.”
Yuan Zhan nodded. When it came to caution, Yan Mo probably couldn’t hold a candle to him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to keep the secret of his Divine Bloodline hidden under the old priest’s nose for so many years. He might occasionally go a little crazy, but he wasn’t recklessly arrogant.
“We’ll take turns each day. We have to give them time to talk and make plans, after all.”
Yuan Zhan said, “Hearing about something from others can sometimes be even more terrifying than seeing it with your own eyes. Hmm, you really are a scoundrel.”
“……” Yan Mo produced his long-unused scalpel. “Four days is plenty of time for those dwarves to learn their lesson. By the way, next time you dig up the ground, you’d better pay more attention to the various creatures living there. You can control plants now, so it’d be a shame to just bury them all under the soil. Or maybe you could try moving them out and bringing them back after you’re done? Think of it as practice for your plant-manipulation skills.”
“That’s hard.” Yuan Zhan frowned; he still couldn’t multitask. “Did the Ancestral God punish you again?”
Yan Mo waved the scalpel.
“Even if I can control the plants in the soil, what about all the insects and animals living in the ground?”
“I don’t know,” Yan Mo admitted honestly. “You can choose to ignore them, or you can try to figure out a way to solve the problem. Fortunately, this isn’t quite the same as deliberate slaughter. Just as rain from the sky nourishes some creatures while causing others to die, everything has two sides. When you turn over the soil or turn it into a swamp, some creatures will die because of you, but the soil there will also gain nutrients or other benefits, allowing the various creatures that come after to live better.”
Yuan Zhan looked a bit dazed; Yan Mo’s words made him feel as if he were tightly bound with grass rope.
“Don’t overthink it, really. Just follow your heart.” Yan Mo was also afraid of ruining the best knife he had.
Yuan Zhan rolled his eyes. “I’ve already thought it through. Haven’t I told you before? You’re nothing but trouble.”
“Well, goodbye then!”
“Hey! Where are you going? Yan Mo, come back here! You’ve been causing me trouble more than once or twice—when have I ever complained about you? Hey! Stop right there!”
Upon returning, Ancestral Shaman Opa naturally recounted the horrific, tragic scene she had witnessed to the other three.
The other three dwarves were overcome with grief; they could hardly believe their ears.
“How dare they?! The Ancestral Worship Clan won’t let them get away with this! Let’s go find the other Ancestral Worshippers and unite…”
“Enough! Chief Logan!” Kathi covered her face. “If even our two clans, who share the same ancestor, can’t get along, how could the other Ancestral Worshippers possibly agree to join forces with us just like that? Even if we were to reluctantly join forces, we’d only end up distrusting one another. And… even if we did unite and ultimately defeat Jiuyuan City, who would this land belong to? Wouldn’t we, the Ancestral Worshippers, have to fight another war among ourselves? How many of us from the Worwo tribe and your Luoluo tribe would survive in the end?”
Logan opened his mouth several times but couldn’t bring himself to voice a rebuttal.
Human legends were always full of contradictions, but among intelligent beings, how many races were truly as united as a single family?
There were many Ancestral Worshippers, but just like humans, they each had their own clans or tribes, and wars and conflicts often broke out between them. Ancestral Shaman Opa’s suggestion to unite with the other Ancestral Worshippers in the forest to attack Jiuyuan was as unrealistic as a dream.
The dwarves were terrified. Every day, the leader and priest of Jiuyuan came to visit them, taking one of them away each time to “watch” how the dwarves wailed and screamed under the might of a Level 5 warrior.
The dwarves seethed with hatred, desperate to pounce and tear the two men to pieces, but their violent outbursts resulted in Langlang and Logan being beaten so badly that their heads swelled up like balloons.
On the fifth day, Yan Mo felt the time was right. This time, they took four dwarves together to the outer walls of the inner city.
