Chapter 3: The Mysterious Needle

  In the dead of night, Su Ming lay in his own hut, staring at the dark surroundings and unable to fall asleep for a long time. His grandfather's words kept echoing in his ears, causing scenes from nine years ago to keep surfacing in his mind.

  He let out a long sigh, Su Ming sat up, silently pushed open the wooden door of the house, and a cool breeze blew his messy hair. The wind was very cool, as if it came with the moonlight, sprinkling the earth.

  The surroundings were very quiet, with only a few faint howls coming from the distant Wushan Mountains. The village was mostly dark, except for the central bonfire and some scattered sparks, as well as some torches on the surrounding giant wooden walls, where there was a faint crackling sound in the dead of night.

  Su Ming looked up at the sky, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, very dazzling. The starry river seemed eternal, and Su Ming's eyes slowly revealed a bewildered expression.

  People in the clan are all very good to me... but my appearance is obviously quite different from theirs... perhaps this has something to do with failing to worship the barbarian statue...

  Without the physique, he couldn't refine his body and could only stay here for a lifetime, unable to leave, and couldn't see the world described in the beast skin book... Su Ming sat down silently, leaning against the house, looking at the sky, and the confusion in his eyes deepened.

  Just then, a faint, mournful melody floated from the tribe, the sound exuding sorrow, as if merging with the moonlight and infusing the land of Wusiman.

  Su Ming's brow furrowed, and the sound of the melody interrupted his reverie. He didn't need to get up to look; he knew it was the tribe's Liu Di blowing its mournful tune again.

  Liu Di was a low-ranking barbarian in the tribe, and his favorite thing to do was play that strange tune on the flute. The sound of the flute was very sad, and Su Ming would feel a little down every time he heard it, not liking it much.

  "The Manchu people have ancestors, who created heaven and earth, leaving behind a legacy that has lasted for generations... Those who possess the Manchu spirit can fly through the sky and move mountains and seas... With the Manchu totem connecting heaven, one can pluck the sun, moon, and stars... On this deep night, in the Wusun tribe, a young man gazed up at the sky, murmuring to himself amidst the wailing wind..."

  At this moment, he didn't notice that the black fragment hanging from his neck flashed a faint light again...

  Time flies, and soon it was the third day.

  As the day of Rasu Berman's awakening as the leader of the Wushan tribe, from dawn till dusk, the whole tribe was in a state of excitement, almost all the tribespeople went out, bringing their own Rasu, gathering in the central square of the tribe.

  The initiation ceremony often takes a whole day, especially the one that Rasu had at sixteen, similar to a coming-of-age ritual, and even today, after completing the initiation, the initiated Rasus can still choose their own partners.

  Wave after wave of drums with a strange rhythm echoed from within the tribe, and as the drumming appeared, one by one, the Rasu walked out from the crowd and stood in the central position.

  This time, more than thirty people completed the rough La Su, most of whom were teenagers. Although they were not very old, their bodies were extremely robust, revealing a fierce and heroic spirit.

  Even those girls were like that, which made Su Ming stand out even more in the crowd. His clear and elegant eyebrows made him even more incompatible with his surroundings.

  Although that's the case, the people here have long accepted Su Ming's existence. Despite his appearance being somewhat different to them, they didn't reject him but instead assimilated him into their tribe as one of their own.

  After surrounding these prepared wild bulls, all the Wusun tribespeople jumped up and started their primitive dance to worship heaven, using their bodies to express their reverence and sacrifice to nature.

  "Su Ming, I heard from the people in your tribe that you also went to Wulon Mountain a few days ago and brought back some Wulon saliva." A thick voice came from beside Su La as the outer tribal people cheered and sang.

  He was a young man of the same age, with rough skin and a robust physique, almost a whole circle bigger than Su Ming. His eyes were very bright, and at this moment, he was looking at Su Ming with a silly smile.

  Looking at the talking young man, Su Ming's face broke into a smile. The young man was called Lei Chen, one of his few good friends from his clan.

  "I brought some back, went to look for you yesterday, your dad said you went up the mountain with the hunting team, wait till evening when the meeting is over, come to my place and I'll give you some."

  That youth named Lei Chen's eyes lit up, hastily stepped forward a few steps, and smiled foolishly.

  "I could have come back earlier, but on the way I met a sika deer. You said before that you needed sika deer blood for medicine, so I followed it and came back last night."

  Su Ming knew that the other party's words were understated, but in reality, the snow deer was extremely difficult to kill and quite dangerous. At this moment, he felt a warmth in his heart.

  As the two were speaking, the joyful singing around them gradually subsided, and the crowd dispersed. Only then did they see the old man from the Wusong tribe, wearing a coarse linen shirt, holding a pitch-black bone staff in his hand, walking over surrounded by several tribesmen, standing before these young people.

  His appearance immediately made the surroundings completely quiet, and these young men were even more fearful, obviously very afraid of this old man.

  "Sacrifice to the ancestors!" Ah Gong's eyes gleamed, scanning the crowd, and paused slightly on Su Ming. As he spoke, his right hand raised the black bone staff and swept it in a wide arc. Immediately, dozens of burly men rushed out from the nearby crowd, each carrying a bound wild beast.

  Those beasts are still alive, and at this moment they let out a mournful howl, struggling constantly but to no avail.

  There were forty-nine different kinds of wild beasts, which were all brought up soon after and surrounded the young men. The sound of their roaring echoed and gathered together, with a piercing power that seemed to penetrate the soul. However, there were people from the Wushan tribe beside them, holding them down tightly and not letting them break free.

  The sturdy men standing beside the beasts didn't hesitate in the slightest, all simultaneously lowering their heads, and with a swift motion of their left hands, produced sharp stone blades that directly stabbed into the necks of the beasts, severing their heads from their bodies.

  Even the screaming sound, at this moment, with the beheading of the head, reached its peak, as if it could shock heaven and earth, making more than 30 Rasus who were about to start, show a frightened and fearful color.

  Su Ming's face was pale, but he gritted his teeth and endured. His gaze swept past Lei Chen beside him, only to see a glint of excitement in the latter's eyes, as if he had grown accustomed to this kind of thing and was even savoring it, a far cry from his usual foolish and simple-minded self.

  Even more blood suddenly spurted out, like a fountain of blood, emitting a foul smell, pouring down on those thirty or so Lhasa people, falling on their hair, bodies and the ground beneath their feet.

  "You are lucky because there is no tribal warfare these days, but at the same time, you are also unlucky..." Grandfather looked at the young people in front of him and spoke softly.

  "When I was young, the coming-of-age ritual at 16 years old required going to behead a person from an enemy tribe and drinking their fresh blood to complete the ritual."

  "Compared to now, you are lucky... unfortunately, you only saw the beast's blood, but didn't get to touch the enemy's skull..." Ah Gong muttered, gazing deeply at the Rasus in front of him, his right hand holding the bone staff raised and pointing forward.

  At the same time, he raised his left hand with five fingers clenched into a fist and suddenly released it. A strong breath burst out of his body, swirling around him, forming a whirlwind that swept through the entire Wushan tribe.

  Only on Grandpa's face, there were lines of texture that transformed into a totem like a python head.

  The python's head was vividly present, as if it really existed, and appeared on Ah Gong's face, as if looking up at the sky and letting out a silent roar. Although no sound could be heard, all the people of Wushan tribe, including the strong tribal chief, couldn't help but tremble and retreat several steps back.

  "Black python pattern... This is Grandpa's tattoo..." Su Ming stared blankly at Grandpa, looking at the patterns on his face, his heart was shocked and replaced. The last time he saw this scene was nine years ago, now seeing it again, but the feeling was several times stronger than before.

  "An old man's power alone can annihilate an entire tribe, and yet he is only at the ninth layer of the Congealed Blood Realm... I wonder just how strong that person from the Kai Chen Realm must be..."

  Not to mention the Bone Sacrifice Realm after opening the dust... The beast skin volume once said that the strong in the Bone Sacrifice Realm are extremely rare, even among medium-sized tribes. Only those unimaginable large tribes have a few Bone Sacrifice Realm barbarians." Su Ming's mind was shocked, and his heart yearned to become a barbarian even more.

  "With this land's blood, beastly corpse, and the Wu Mountain barbarian image!" Ah Gong's thunderous voice broke through Su Ming's thoughts. As soon as Ah Gong's words were spoken, the surrounding wild beasts' corpses suddenly burst open, and their flesh and blood, along with the blood on the boys' bodies, were all sucked away by an invisible force, gathering in mid-air to form a massive ball of flesh and blood.

  "Barbaric awakening!" The sturdy big man beside Ah Gong, the chief of Wushan tribe, shouted loudly at this moment.

  Including Su Ming, all the La Su bit their tongues without hesitation and spat out a mouthful of blood. Their blood rapidly rose into the air and was absorbed by the flesh ball. Amidst a deafening roar, the flesh ball suddenly transformed into a black stone statue.

  It was a grotesque statue with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a beast, exuding a savage and primitive aura. One hand grasped a long dragon, while the other held a gigantic spear, its eyes revealing madness and bloodlust.

  Its appearance made the sky suddenly dull, as if it was suppressed by its majesty.

  "Wow, it's just like...!" Su Ming's heart was pounding and racing as if it were about to burst, but at that moment, the shard on his neck emitted a warm flow that seeped into his body, making the uncomfortable feeling dissipate.

  This feeling made Su Ming stunned, subconsciously about to lower his head to look, just at this time, Ah Gong's voice echoed.

  "Proceed in order, enter the temple and pay your respects!"

  As soon as the voice fell, a young man quickly took a few steps forward and stepped into the place that seemed to be right below. In an instant, he disappeared without a trace. Not long after, at the place where he had disappeared, the young man reappeared with a gloomy face, retreated to one side, and remained silent.

  "Next!" The speaker was the chief of the Wushan tribe. This burly man had a serious expression, his eyes scanning over these Lasu people.

  One by one, the rough statues walked forward in succession, disappearing and reappearing until a woman stepped into the statue, at which point it emitted a flash of red light.

  At that moment, the entire tribe's people were all spirited and refreshed. Even the old man was staring intently, only to see the red light flashing nine times in a row, after which the girl's figure emerged.

  "I have a strong body!!"

  "It's like nine glows, which means having a strong physique!"

  The girl appeared with a surprised look on her face.

  "Your name is Ula, right? Good, come over here." Ah Gong's face broke into a smile as he looked at the girl and nodded.

  As he watched the girl walk towards Ah Gong, Su Ming fell silent, gritted his teeth and took a step forward, walking towards the barbarian-like figure. His movement immediately caught the attention of the people around him.

  For this young man who was distinctly different from them, the people of Wushan Department generally had kind pity. Their eyes were fixed on Su Ming until he stood under that barbaric statue.

  Su Ming took a deep breath, glanced at his grandfather not far away who was staring at him, closed his eyes, and in the instant when his eyes were shut, he felt an indescribable power enveloping his entire body, as if merging with the muddy earth. When he opened his eyes again, everything around him had completely changed.

  This is not the Wushan tribe, but a small space, surrounded by darkness, with only a black statue floating in front of it, emitting a red glow.

  The statue looked exactly like the barbaric statues he had seen outside, exuding a wild and primitive aura.

  Looking at the barbarian statue, Su Ming fell silent for a moment, then bowed deeply towards it.

  After a long bow, Su Ming's face showed bitterness. He knew that if he had the physique of a barbarian, just one bow would make the barbarian emit a crimson glow, but everything now was no different from nine years ago.

  "I will never become a barbarian in this life..." Su Ming bit his lower lip and let out a long sigh, turning to leave.

  But just as he turned around, he suddenly shook his whole body, and fiercely turned his head to look at that barbaric statue, stunned for a moment!

  At the same time, he saw that the fragment on his chest, which he had neglected, was emitting a faint, piercing glow...

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