Shen Nong pursed his lips, surprised that this orc was quite proactive. So he didn't stand on ceremony and leaned most of his body against Ze, adjusting himself to a comfortable position.
Yu Ji glanced at Ze, who was sitting upright, and then at Shen Nong, who was leaning against Ze like a boneless person. He continued, "This priest of the Wushan tribe suddenly appeared last autumn."
He can manipulate wood, an ability only the High Priest and his son of the Beast City possess. Therefore, although his appearance was sudden, his identity is easy to guess. It's just a mystery why someone like him would be here.
Shen Nong had heard from Bao Qiu that the priests of the Wushan tribe, like him, could manipulate plants. But did the high priest and his son of the Beast City also possess this ability?
Do they all possess supernatural abilities related to spiritual cores?
Forget it, we can't guess anything now. We'll see when we meet.
Yu Ji's voice continued, "The story begins the summer before last. Back then, the priest of the Wushan tribe was named Wu Qing. He was exceptionally kind, completely different from the one we have now..."
Chapter 63
"I saw it with my own eyes."
Because of their beast-like forms, the Feather Tribe was feared and ostracized by surrounding tribes no matter where they migrated.
They had no idea whether a member of the Feather Tribe might suddenly transform into a bird and stare at their tribe.
Three years ago, during winter, the Feather Tribe ran out of food and had to rely on snow to stave off hunger.
When the snow in front of their caves was so badly eaten that the dark mud below was visible, Yu Ji, the priest, decided to try to borrow some food from the nearest tribe, Wu Shan.
Yu Ji was extremely uneasy as he made this decision. The Yu tribe had never been treated kindly, and he consciously avoided getting close to any other tribe to prevent them from finding an excuse to attack them.
Wearing tattered animal hides, Yu Ji stood with Ying Xi in the icy snow and explained to the guards of the Wushan tribe why they had come.
The guards didn't drive them away immediately; instead, they said they needed to go back and speak with the priest.
Yu Ji and Ying Xi had long been prepared to be driven out by the Wushan tribe, but to their surprise, the tribe not only did not drive them away, but also said they would go and explain to the priest.
The two met for a moment, their eyes filled with disbelief.
It was so cold outside; the wind, carrying snowflakes, stung the skin. Yu Ji choked on the wind and snow, coughing incessantly while covering her mouth.
Halfway through his cough, the orcs from the Wushan tribe's guard returned. "The priest said it's cold outside and wants you to go inside quickly to talk."
Yu Ji was stunned for a moment, and then realized what the orcs of the Wushan tribe meant.
The two followed each other through the wind and snow to the priest's cave of the Wushan tribe.
The fire in the bonfire flickered in the cold wind outside the cave, making it bright outside but dim inside. The sudden change in brightness caught Yu Ji's eye off, and she felt her vision blurry and couldn't see clearly.
But he could vaguely see a young man sitting on the other side of the fire, smiling at them.
“Our tribe doesn’t eat much meat, but we have a lot of mushrooms. They’re all dried and still edible,” the man asked gently. “Would you like some?”
Yu Ji finally adjusted to the light and was able to see the other person's appearance clearly.
He didn't know how to describe it, but he felt that the person's smile made him feel very happy.
They're lucky to have any food at all; even the Grass Feather Tribe would happily accept it, saying, "We want it!"
After agreeing to hunt two deer, three wild boars, and ten large fish for the Wushan tribe in the spring, the Yu tribe received enough dried mushrooms from the Wushan tribe to last for half the winter.
In the end, the priest of the Wushan tribe still gave the Yu tribe enough meat to eat for four or five meals, but Yu Ji was afraid that he wouldn't be able to repay it in the spring, so he didn't dare to accept it.
The other party only said that they should be given about the same amount of meat in the spring, and that they didn't need to give them more.
Yu Ji knew that there was a huge difference between meat harvested in winter and meat harvested in spring. However, in order for his people to have more to eat, he accepted the meat and promised, "I will definitely return it to you in the spring."
That winter, the Feather Tribe survived the most difficult time by relying on meat and dried mushrooms.
Spring had just arrived, and the snow had not yet melted when the orcs of the Feather Tribe began to fly around, busy hunting for the Wushan Tribe.
Over time, the priests of the two tribes became acquainted.
Even after every rain, Wu Qing would call Yu Ji to go to the forest to collect mushrooms. He could recognize many edible mushrooms, and Yu Ji followed him to collect quite a few. Only then did he understand why many of the mushrooms eaten in winter were quite different.
When Wu Qing took Yu Ji mushroom picking, he would carefully explain to Yu Ji the characteristics of edible mushrooms and the characteristics of inedible mushrooms.
He spoke softly, like a spring breeze.
However, these mushrooms were really hard to identify. Yu Ji spent a long time trying to identify them, but could only confirm three kinds.
However, Yu Ji was already very satisfied, because thanks to Wu Qing, their tribe would have more mushrooms to use for food in the future.
Yu Ji would also give Wu Qing a lot of processed seaweed, and the relationship between the two tribes grew closer.
But no one expected that after the rain that ushered in summer, Wu Qing disappeared.
The Yu tribe and the Wushan tribe searched together for a long time, but they still couldn't find Wu Qing.
In the end, Quanfeng and Yingxi led the hunting team deep into the forest and found a dirty wreath on the edge of a cliff.
The wreath was filthy from the mud after the rain, but no one could deny that it was a dark, grimy wreath.
Wu Qing loves flowers, especially weaving branches into wreaths and inserting all sorts of flowers into them to wear on her head.
That wreath was the one Wu Qing wore on his head the day he went missing.
The wreath fell onto a sheer cliff, and because of the heavy rain, the surrounding area was spotless, and nothing was found.
At this point, it's more accurate to say that Wu Qing is dead than that he has disappeared.
Wu Qing had not yet chosen a successor to the priesthood for training, and his sudden departure caught the entire Wushan tribe off guard.
Only priests can activate the crystals that awaken and advance orcs.
When a priest activates a crystal, the crystal becomes imbued with the priest's aura. Awakened orcs, and those who advance in rank, will unconsciously become loyal to the person who activated the crystal.
Especially awakened orcs will have higher loyalty.
It's like having your soul branded.
Without priests, the Wushan tribe will no longer have any orcs awakening, and the orc warriors who have already awakened will be unable to advance.
In the years that followed, Yu Ji watched helplessly as the Wushan tribe gradually declined.
Finding a new priest for the tribe is something that can only be done with the help of the Beast God.
Otherwise, a tribe without a priest only has two paths.
One path leads to extinction, the other is to join another tribe.
In the second summer after Wu Qing's death, Quan Feng came to the Yu tribe to find Yu Ji.
He didn't want to watch his people perish under his leadership, nor did he want the Feather Tribe to have to share some of the meager food they received from each hunt with them.
Belonging to any tribe is not as good as belonging to the Feather Tribe.
Yu Ji and Ying Xi asked Quan Feng to think it over carefully, since if he really decided to join the Yu tribe, there would be no more Wu Shan tribe.
Just tell them the answer before the orc awakening ceremony takes place in the fall.
Perhaps it was truly the Beast God's blessing upon the Wushan tribe, for before autumn arrived, the Wushan tribe once again had a priest.
He did not explain his origins, but anyone who knew the abilities of the High Priest of Beast City could guess where he came from.
Yu Ji was happy for the Wushan tribe, but also had many doubts.
Why would someone like that come to such a far place to be a priest in a small tribe?
With the new priest, the Wushan tribe and the Yu tribe drifted further and further apart.
Until we lost contact completely.
It's impossible for the people of the Wushan tribe to suddenly lose all contact with them.
Yu Ji was really worried, so he secretly sent someone to find Quan Feng and ask him why.
That day, Yu Ji waited from day to night until he found his severely injured and unconscious clansman. He was caught by a withered vine and then slammed to the ground.
He is Muqi, the new priest of the Wushan tribe.
The withered vine quickly wrapped around Yu Ji's neck, slowly contracting and gradually taking away Yu Ji's air.
He coldly warned the Yu tribe that anyone who approached the Wushan tribe again would die.
Having experienced the feeling of near death, Yu Ji developed a great fear of this person.
Yu Ji involuntarily covered her neck. Even though a long time had passed, just thinking about that scene still made her feel like she couldn't breathe.
Shen Nong noticed that Yu Ji was in a bad mood. After he calmed down, she asked, "Did the tribesman you sent see anything in the Wushan tribe?"
Yu Ji nodded. "He met with Quan Feng, the chief of the Wushan tribe. Quan Feng told him that their tribe's priest had been forcing them to destroy Wushan."
"Smash Wushan?"
"That's right, but I don't know why Quanfeng smashed Wushan."
Yu Ji paused for a moment, carefully recalling what the tribesmen had said at the time. "According to Quan Feng, that person only wanted stones from Wushan Mountain, and then burned them. However, every time he finished burning them, he would get very angry looking at the black stones in the fire, and would whip the tribesmen with withered vines. But next time, he would still make them continue to break open the black stones and burn them in the fire."
Shen Nong felt something was off about what Yu Ji was saying.
He had read in ancient books that iron ore was transformed into iron in ancient times. The process required high-temperature firing, turning it into iron with more impurities. Then, some wood ash was added as a flux to lower the melting point, and the ore was repeatedly hammered and smelted until the impurities were removed, thus turning the iron ore into iron.
The fact that they kept using the method of burning iron ore suggests they know something.
But that's all I know.
Shen Nong suddenly remembered what Yu Ji had said about the crystal that only priests could activate. The system had also told him before that orcs needed to sense the energy emitted by the special crystal that existed in the beast world in order to awaken.
He asked the system what this special crystal was.
The system replied that his crystal core was a special crystal in the Beast World that could awaken orcs.
Shen Nong had never seen such a special crystal before, nor had she ever had the chance to see it.
If Yu Ji hadn't mentioned it today, he would have forgotten about it long ago.
"Yu Ji, may I see the crystal you used for awakening?"
Yu Ji was a little confused at first, but then she understood what Shen Nong meant.
The priest's crystal is the most important thing in the tribe. Not to mention showing it to outsiders, even the priest himself will not take it out casually unless absolutely necessary.
However, Yu Ji didn't say anything. He got up and walked to the innermost part of the cave. He squatted down and started fiddling with something. He didn't know how long he had been fiddling with it, but he came back with a stone tied with vines in his hands.
Looking at the ordinary, unremarkable gray stone, Shen Nong asked uncertainly, "Is this a crystal?"
Yu Ji sat down and placed the medium-sized stone in his hand on the stone table covered with animal hide.