I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 157 - 78: The True Ancestral Temple Keeper! (Part 2)

"Sacrificial offering!"

Subsequently, the temple attendants shouted in unison.

"Sacrificial offering!"

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The roars of the wild beasts echoed, as three towering Mountain-Splitting Kui were brought toward the ancestral temple.

The largest of the Mountain-Splitting Kui had a faint purple pattern on its horn, with a circle of purple fuzz on its forehead, appearing extraordinarily mystical.

After placing the three Mountain-Splitting Kui down, the temple attendants quickly approached, holding copper vessels filled with clean water, using tree branches dipped in water to clean the bodies of the Mountain-Splitting Kui.

In fact, these Mountain-Splitting Kui had already been starved for several days, their bodies meticulously cleaned, with even the crevices between the scales scrubbed multiple times by the tribesmen.

Shen Can emerged from the ancestral temple, followed by two temple attendants, one holding the Simurgh Blade, and the other cradling the Blood Vase.

As he appeared, he became the focal point of all attention, with numerous eyes cast upon him.

The tribesmen's eyes burned with fervor, their mouths muttering.

The clan leaders of various divisions widened their eyes, eager to behold the Ancestral Temple Keeper of the Upper Blazing Flame Division, the only Tier Three Wizard, and what sort of figure he was.

Regrettably, no matter how the clan leaders observed, Shen Can's visage seemed perpetually shrouded in a layer of mist, eluding clarity.

Mysterious, powerful.

Arriving before the first purple-haired Mountain-Splitting Kui, Shen Can raised his hand, and the temple attendant handed over the Blood Vase.

Using the blood as ink, and his finger as a brush, he began to draw Witch Talismans on the Mountain-Splitting Kui's ear.

This set of Witch Talismans was taught to him by Huo Xian, Shen Can had drawn it countless times.

Yet at this moment, when his fingertip touched the Mountain-Splitting Kui's ear, his fingertip glowed, and a wisp of Wish Power gathered above the clan division, descending onto the tip of his finger.

As the Witch Talisman took shape, a brilliant radiance erupted.

"This…"

Cang Hex stood at the forefront of the clan leaders, gazing at the winding and twisted patterns emerging on the Mountain-Splitting Kui's ear, he instinctively mumbled, yet unsure how to articulate.

The other clan leaders were the same.

Clan sacrifices were held annually for each division.

But there had never been such phenomena.

It seemed that the ancestors truly manifested.

Could this be the true gap between small tribes and the Upper Division?

Soon, both ears of the Mountain-Splitting Kui were adorned with Witch Talismans, and as the Witch Sacrifice Curse sounded, the Witch Talismans inscribed on the Mountain-Splitting Kui's ears illuminated again.

This time, as the blood ink coursed through, it seeped into the Mountain-Splitting Kui's skull.

Shen Can took the Simurgh Blade, stabbed the Mountain-Splitting Kui, and beast blood flooded into the Blood Vase.

[Sacrificial Master extracts 999 years of lifespan from the Tier Three Mountain-Splitting Kui]

Later, Shen Can carried the blood-filled Blood Vase back to the ancestral temple, smearing the blood onto the Sacrificial Tripod Cauldron.

At this moment, the symbols previously inscribed on the beast blood illuminated, seemingly acting as communication mediums, immediately attracting the attention of the blurred shadow, which started consuming the beast blood.

However, the blurred shadow, despite consciously swallowing the beast blood, was too weak to compete with the innumerable residual souls in a Chaotic State.

Seeing this, Shen Can replicated the process, offering the remaining two Mountain-Splitting Kui together.

Yet, even the offered beast blood failed to completely materialize the blurred soul shadow.

He quickly realized there was insufficient energy; the three Mountain-Splitting Kui were swiftly segmented, the Sacrificial Meat was placed on the offering table.

But the Sacrificial Meat wasn't consumed.

Soon, other offerings were presented, but Shen Can discovered these offerings could be devoured by the unconscious chaotic mass of residual souls, while the manifested independent soul shadow showed no interest.

At this moment, the peak of Wish Power gathered in the clan was already depleted.

The fervor and spirit of the tribesmen had also fallen from its peak.

"Still not enough."

Shen Can stood motionless before the Sacrificial Tripod Cauldron.

The entire sacrifice seemed to be frozen; outside the ancestral temple, the tribesmen all gazed toward it.

Outside, Huo Chang stood solemnly; when the tribesmen saw Huo Chang standing quietly outside the ancestral temple, their hearts steadied.

According to the subsequent procedures, after the offerings, there was still a Nuo Dance, followed by Huo Chang, as the clan leader, reciting the sacrificial texts before the ancestral temple, announcing to the ancestors that the Blazing Flame had advanced to the Upper Division today.

Huo Chang glanced at the ancestral temple, he could only vaguely sense changes, yet unable to truly perceive.

The temple attendants and guards stationed outside the ancestral temple only felt the mystical aura inside, making them deeply perceive its mystery.

As for the tribesmen gathered outside, they saw even less clearly.

Inside the ancestral temple.

Shen Can placed his hand on the Sacrificial Tripod Cauldron.

The blurred residual soul shadow moved again, Shen Can's witch power and blood energy flowed as if the floodgates had opened, rapidly being devoured by the residual souls.

The faintly forming clearer body of the shadow suddenly murmured unconsciously.

Fragmented thoughts gathered into words, but they were not connected, more like sporadic utterances.

This scene had occurred before when the Treaty Book was offered; however, at this moment, an independent figure emerged from the many residual souls, without the chaotic noise.

"Desolate Tiger Perch Mountain… bowstring… Deer Hanging… Qingtian…"

"…Bear Hug… circle… one…"

…

"Five Desolates… stake… Beast Stake… True… Beast…" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

…

"Five Desolates True Beast Stake."

After capturing the fragmented oscillations, Shen Can suddenly realized that the Sacrificial Spirit had transmitted a Technique.

This was an incomplete Body Tempering Technique, based on five beasts, aligning with the Five Elements, considerably more comprehensive than the current Kui Ox Technique passed down by Blazing Flame.

It was already astonishing when the predecessors passed on the legacy to Huo Chang, unexpectedly they could further transmit techniques.

Subsequently, Shen Can continued to communicate with this residual shadow of the Sacrificial Spirit, regrettably the residual soul's external oscillations were unconscious, making it impossible to communicate with him.

He could only capture the oscillations released outward by the residual souls.

Shen Can speculated that this Technique might be one that the residual souls had cultivated before their passing, deeply imprinted in their memory, even becoming instinctual.

Upon awakening, it was inadvertently spoken out.

Early on while invoking the Sacrificial Spirit, Shen Can knew the Sacrificial Spirit was a residual soul of an ancestor.

After the ancestors passed, the residual instincts remained to protect the subsequent tribes.

Now it appeared, not only could the ancestors protect the future tribes, but they also possessed the function of passing down the Martial Dao.

Unfortunately, the Great Wilderness posed numerous crises, with small tribes gathering and scattering from dawn to dusk, the frequent migrations having long lost the capacity to invoke the residual souls of the forebears, naturally forgoing any talk of receiving martial arts legacies.

If any, tribe rituals thus became a custom, without the possibility of communication with the predecessors.

As for those large tribes, according to news returned from Ji Land, the present differs from the past, fewer and fewer ancestors can be invoked from the forests.

Long-standing divisions like the Bo Division, consist of retired clan strongmen transforming into Sacrificial Spirits within Sacrificial Artifacts.

Sacrificial spirits forged from the tribe's own members naturally have no need to pass on the martial arts.

The only regret is the Martial Dao legacy from the predecessors is incomplete, Shen Can is unsure whether this is an isolated case or a vast situation.

Yet he has a feeling, the ancestors' martial arts legacy could often be incomplete, the capacity for legacy after passing is not determined by the predecessors themselves.

Though this technique is incomplete, to Shen Can, whether incomplete or not doesn't matter, possessing this technique is what matters.

He differs from other Ancestral Temple Keepers of the Upper Division or Bo Division.

While everyone can communicate with the Sacrificial Spirit, other tribes' Ancestral Temple Keepers lack his ability to innovate.

Completing a cultivation technique requires a lengthy time span, and rectifying a fragmented technique likewise could take generations, centuries, or thousands of years to replenish, or possibly never restored to its former tier.

Of course, this doesn't exclude a tribe yielding a genius who swiftly perfects the inherited incomplete technique or even surpasses the original version.

Yet, this remains a rarity.

Given the current situation of the Human Race, discontinuous legacies should be unexpected.

Previously, when Shen Can worked on the Lingyu Technique, starting from the Beast Pattern Map on the Ironwood Ship, it was due to the scarcity of information that it unfolded so slowly.

But the technique transmitted by the Sacrificial Spirit at this juncture, though incomplete, has its foundational structure intact, simplifying the extrapolation considerably.

Provided the Elder Sacrificial Spirit recalls a portion, then he can bring the ancient technique to revival.