Little Zhong Chi Returned
From the eldest to the youngest, from the sick and disabled, all members of the clan gathered on the square, displaying unwavering devotion, chanting, “Divine protection, sacred radiance, devout clan!”
Unknown deities blessed them, safeguarding the village’s peace and security.
The clan’s current task was to offer sacrifices to these deities to express their devoutness and gratitude for their divine protection and present the finest ceremonial offerings.
Every village or tribe was not haphazardly constructed but underwent rituals where divine radiance bestowed its protection, signifying that the deities would safeguard the village or tribe.
In truth, many powerful individuals understood that this was not a true miracle, nor were genuine deities protecting them.
Instead, it was a hidden spirit creature cultivating in seclusion that offered its protection.
Why would a spirit creature protect the human clan?
It was because when a spirit creature reached a certain stage of cultivation, apart from absorbing vital essence from flesh and blood, it also required the power of faith.
Protecting a village or tribe was the only way to obtain the power of faith.
Hence, mighty tribes referred to them not as deities but as sacrificial spirits.
After the beast tide receded, the village returned to its original state, and the divine radiance dissipated.
Led by the old patriarch, the Surviving Clan members set up an altar on the square, offering gratitude to the sacrificial spirit.
A large quantity of food, in full view of everyone, rapidly withered and eventually turned into powder.
This was the phenomenon that occurred after the sacrificial spirit absorbed the vital essence of the food.
Upon seeing the meat that had turned into powder, many children couldn’t help but salivate.
This was half of the food that their clan had stored, now reduced to powder.
However, the children understood that the sacrificial spirit had expended a great deal of divine radiance to protect the village, so it was essential for the clan members to offer their devout sacrifices.
If the sacrificial spirit protected the village, and the villagers failed to offer their filial sacrifices, it would incur the displeasure of the sacrificial spirit.
In mild cases, the sacrificial spirit would depart, but in severe cases, it would retaliate and slaughter all the villagers.
Such occurrences were not uncommon in the vast world.
Instances of sacrificial spirits retaliating and massacring villages or tribes occasionally happened.
The main reasons behind these incidents were that the clan members or tribe people lacked sufficient devotion to the sacrificial spirit or had offended it.
“I know you have been facing difficulties recently. I will leave this food for you, and you can compensate me later!”
For the first time, the sacrificial spirit spoke, leaving all clan members stunned, followed by great joy.
The sacrificial spirit was considering their well-being, which was undoubtedly a tremendous blessing for the clan members.
“Thank you, esteemed sacrificial spirit, for your benevolence towards our clan!”
The old patriarch led the way, devoutly kowtowing.
All clan members joined in, loudly exclaiming, “Thank you, esteemed sacrificial spirit, for your benevolence towards our clan!”
After the ceremony, the clan’s food remained pitifully scarce.
Even if the adults practiced frugality, the lack of sufficient food greatly affected the growth of the children.
The clan elders and the old patriarch were discussing whether they should use the flesh and blood of the ferocious beast to supplement the children’s bodies.
It had already been a month since Little Zhong Chi went missing.
The clan members had gradually accepted the fact that he was dead, except for Zhong Hu and the other children.
Nevertheless, the clan still faced the greatest food shortage.
While the children could temporarily rely on the flesh and blood of the ferocious beast to nourish their bodies, what about the adults?
The beast tide had just passed, and there were probably no fierce beasts around the ancient city now, not even wild beasts.
Did they have to venture into the Desolate Mountains?
The Desolate Mountains were a forbidden land that the clan members were unwilling to set foot in.
Although there were many ferocious beasts in the Desolate Mountains, there were also savage beasts lurking.
The village’s food remained critically insufficient, with the food reserves barely enough to sustain them for a day.
The old patriarch decided to mobilize all available forces in the clan and take the risk of venturing into the Desolate Mountains.
Otherwise, everyone would starve to death.
On the square, the women and children of the clan watched with reluctance as the men, led by the clan elders of the spirit communication realm, prepared to enter the Desolate Mountains to hunt for food.
It would be a life-or-death battle, but for the survival of the clan, they had no other choice, even if most of them would perish in the end.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Suddenly, everyone in the clan was startled as enormous footsteps resounded from outside the village.
Each step created thunderous echoes, causing the ground to tremble incessantly.
“Ferocious beast?”
“Ancient ferocious beast?”
The old patriarch and the clan elders’ expressions changed drastically.
Such loud footsteps indicated an immense body size.
It was either a towering ferocious beast or the king among ferocious beasts—an ancient ferocious beast!
Whether it was a ferocious beast or an ancient ferocious beast, it spelled disaster for the small clan.
“Quick, women take the children and evacuate!”
The old patriarch didn’t hesitate and immediately ordered the women to evacuate with the children.
Even though they knew it was already too late to escape, they still did so, hoping to preserve even a trace of the clan’s bloodline.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
The approaching footsteps grew incessant, each step shaking the earth and emitting a fearful sound.
The widows of the clan hurriedly ran towards the outskirts of the village, carrying their children, hoping to preserve even a trace of the clan’s bloodline.
The adults stood ready, prepared to fight to the death, striving to buy even the slightest bit of time for the women and children.
Suddenly, a towering beast, over ten meters tall, appeared at the village entrance, effortlessly toppling the trees in its path.
“No, that’s not a giant beast, it’s a carcass of ferocious beasts!”
“So many carcasses of ferocious beasts!”
Finally, a few sharp-eyed individuals realized that the towering ‘beast’ at the village entrance was not a single creature, but a stack of numerous ferocious beast carcasses.
Among them were white-spotted tigers, mountain boars, lynxes, tusker elephants, and barbaric bulls...
“What is that?”
“It’s Little Zhong Chi!”
“Patriarch, that’s Little Zhong Chi!”
Finally, when Little Zhong Chi entered the village carrying the enormous carcass of a ferocious beast, someone recognized his appearance.
Little Zhong Chi, standing just over one meter tall, held the carcass weighing tens of thousands of pounds in his hands, walking towards the village.
It appeared incredibly eerie and incongruous, defying imagination as to how Little Zhong Chi achieved such a feat.
Finally, everyone recognized Little Zhong Chi.
The old patriarch was overjoyed.His aged body trembled and his face filled with boundless excitement and joy.
It turned out that the one carrying the carcass of tens of thousands of pounds, the greatest hope of the presumed extinct bloodline of the clan, was Little Zhong Chi, the child with the blood of the third Divine King.
“Patriarch! Do you see? Do you see?”
“It’s Little Zhong Chi, truly Little Zhong Chi!”
The elders shouted excitedly, tears of excitement welling up in their eyes.
The colossal beast they thought would bring about the destruction of their clan turned out to be their greatest hope.
“Haha... this is wonderful, truly wonderful!”
“Quick, let the women and children come back. Our clan is saved! So many carcasses of ferocious beasts, so much food!”
Rumbling sounds echoed.
Little Zhong Chi finally arrived at the square, dropping all the carcasses of ferocious beasts to the ground, causing a violent tremor.
Little Zhong Chi looked at the old patriarch and the crowd in astonishment.
He saw each person holding a large blade, ready for battle.
He immediately understood what was happening, revealing his pearly white teeth as he burst into laughter, sprinting towards the old patriarch and the others.
“Grandpa Patriarch, Second Uncle, I’m back!”
Little Zhong Chi leaped onto the old patriarch, who was already ill and had been left with hidden injuries from the previous incident.
The impact of Little Zhong Chi’s jump almost caused him to collapse.
“It’s good that you’re back, so good!”
The old patriarch’s tears flowed freely.
Seeing Little Zhong Chi brought him even greater joy than seeing the tens of thousands of pounds of food.
At that moment, all the clan members cheered.
The women with their children returned, and Zhong Hu and the others embraced Little Zhong Chi, grinning foolishly.
Everyone was incredibly happy.
Zhong Chi had returned!
The food shortage was no more!
The adults no longer needed to risk their lives hunting for food in the Desolate Mountains!
Before long, the women in the village began to handle the mountainous pile of food.
They wore smiles on their faces, radiating genuine happiness.
The women were so busy that even the adults and children joined in to help.
Cooking and preserving began, and everyone tirelessly processed the towering pile of food.
They had previously worried about food scarcity, but now an abundance of food lay before their eyes.
“Take out some food for the sacrificial offering to the ancestral spirits!”
One elder hurriedly instructed. The words spoken by the ancestral spirits a few days ago were etched in the hearts of the clan members.
Having such an understanding of ancestral spirits was a blessing for the clan.
Meanwhile, the old patriarch, Zhong Chi’s second uncle Zhong Ye, and the elders gathered elsewhere, seeking to understand how Zhong Chi had escaped from the vortex during these days.
They also wanted to know how he had acquired so much food and managed to lift tens of thousands of pounds of it.
This display of strength left even the old patriarch astounded.
As for Zhong Chi, he briefly recounted his experiences during these days.
He did not mention anything about the Immortal Tomb, as the Coffin Man had instructed him not to reveal any information about it.
They didn’t want the news to leak, as it would disturb the peaceful slumber of their sovereign.
Naturally, Zhong Chi had no objections to this.
When he returned, he witnessed a massive upheaval of ferocious beasts on the desolate mountain.
Led by a colossal black ape, they ferociously charged towards the ancient city.
The onslaught unleashed by the black ape naturally caused many ferocious beasts below the desolate mountain to suffer unjustly.
Many emaciated creatures were trampled to death, reducing them to piles of flesh.
A few injured ones managed to escape but were subsequently killed by Zhong Chi, forming a towering mountain of ferocious beasts.
“Black Ape?”
Upon hearing this, the old patriarch’s expression changed, seemingly understanding something.
He spoke, “The ferocious beast we hunted down a month ago was a black ape. However, that black ape had just reached the ferocious beast stage. If I’m not mistaken, the black ape we killed is the offspring of the black ape that initiated the beast tide.”
“Most likely. The offspring were killed, which drove the large black ape into madness, leading to the beast tide and its assault on our ancient city!”
Zhong Ye nodded, clearly indicating that this was the case.