Chapter 794: Chongli and Li clans

Zhang Xu advanced through the wind and snow. The surrounding towns were desolate and miserable, indistinguishable from the empty countryside, for the lives that once resided within them had long since perished.

Rather than towns, they were ruins.

However, there was one difference from ruins: the houses here were still usable. Humanity would not waste firepower on buildings. Although all the people had died, most of these houses had only suffered ordinary damage, and no one had intentionally destroyed them.

This made Zhang Xu breathe a sigh of relief; he seemed to have found a slight moment of respite.

Because houses themselves possess power.

According to Shaman Dao theory, the land is like the human body. Under heaven, all things are one body. The head and feet are separated by billions of miles. Humans live on the land like fleas and lice on a person's body. Just as fleas and lice consume humans and harm their skin, so too do humans dig into the earth, harming the body of the earth. Therefore, the soil of a single house is like a single portion of human flesh.

Thus, living on the land, or even sleeping directly on the ground, will result in backlash from the earth, damaging the body. This is also why sleeping directly on the ground can cause one to catch a cold.

Therefore, a major purpose of building houses is to isolate this erosion. People inside a house can naturally receive protection.

Zhang Xu carefully found a house that looked relatively luxurious, because luxurious houses would have better effects. He then checked its feng shui to ensure it wasn't an inauspicious dwelling.

Then, he entered the house, took out a red paper from his mustard seed pouch, wrote the date and address on the ridgepole with the red paper, and patted it onto the beam with saliva.

At the same time, he threaded two strings of copper coins, a pair of chopsticks, and half a foot of large red cloth with red string, tying them horizontally in the middle of the ridgepole, and wrote the characters “Grand Ritual” on them.

Then, he lit incense and began to pray to the house god, writing some simple blessings.

This was a common trick used by rural Shaman. Essentially, it was a sacrifice to the 'House God,' hoping to gain protection through the House God's power.

After Zhang Xu finished his reverence to the god, he searched the house again and found some bowls. He took one out, filled it with his own dry rations, and then placed it next to the house outside. This was to share with neighbors and pay respects to lonely ghosts.

This series of rituals was actually meant to settle the House God in its place. Shaman Dao believes that gods exist everywhere in the world. Therefore, a House God exists from the day the foundation is laid. The House God itself belongs to the wanderer god, so red paper should be used to write the address and pat it onto the main beam, thereby attracting wanderer god from all directions to come and reside.

The bowls placed outside were also to ask the lonely ghosts to help spread the word.

If a wanderer god is willing, it will make its home here, become a House God, and protect the family.

Zhang Xu settled the House God in the middle of the ridgepole, placing it in the highest position in the entire family, high above to bless the family's health. The money strung with red string was an initial offering to the House God, placed beside its divine seat.

Only...

There was a problem.

After all the rituals were completed, a wanderer god should have returned to its place and become a House God, after which the power of the House God would protect the house, isolating the external cold.

But the wanderer god did not come.

Zhang Xu didn't understand, what was going on?

If he were a legitimate Shaman, he would quickly find the answer himself: it was because... the entire Song Kingdom no longer had a single wanderer god.

Humanity's purge was not just about eliminating living beings.

From the most basic plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, algae, to earth spirits, to various wanderer god, and specters—

All, without exception, perished completely.

Shaman, or their Shaman Dao, sacrifices, borrowing power from mountains and rivers, and assistance from various deities, were all obliterated.

This battlefield was originally created to restrain Shaman.

Although Zhang Xu was a martial artist and did not practice Shaman Dao, he was born in a Shaman Dao environment and had learned a few tricks from rural Shaman. However, all these methods were ineffective here.

Humanity had calculated everything and put it into practice.

Li Qi wanted to intentionally create a Grand Ritual node to lure Humanity and resolve the Baiyue crisis along the way?

Fine, then they would generously devour the bait, pulling the fishing rod and even the fisherman into the water.

You can fish, but do fish not want to eat you?

Humanity might not know Li Qi's plan, but they certainly knew Li Qi had some purpose.

That didn't matter.

Everyone had a purpose. It was better to see whose methods were superior and who could achieve their goal first.

This was a war, not a battle.

The battle between Fourth Rank cultivators had already been fought.

And the war had just begun.

For Li Qi and Humanity's strategist, their struggle had slowly begun.

The myriad beings of the Baiyue, countless billions of living creatures, began to be influenced by the wisdom of both sides. They didn't even perceive this influence, but all of this would advance steadfastly, without a hint of hesitation.

Only... there was a hidden danger.

Li Qi would be relatively tired.

He had just fought a battle with Humanity's Fourth Rank Commander. With the opponent knowing his background, he was forced into a stalemate by targeted tactics.

But the opponent could recuperate well, while Li Qi had to drag his severely injured body and continue to contend with the opponent's wise strategist.

His inner body spirits were so severely damaged that his Nascent Soul had to take on other aspects of the Inner World's arrangements, which directly led to severe limitations in his computing power.

Using a CPU to run a GPU's tasks was extremely demanding on his computing power, and deductions under such circumstances were naturally severely limited.

In other words...

Li Qi's intelligence was currently reduced.

Perhaps this was also within Humanity's calculations?

In any case, the situation remained unknown.

— — — — — — — — — —

On the other side, Bai Di arrived on the battlefield.

He was ordered to come and collect intelligence. Humanity certainly had similar roles, after all, a Seventh Rank cultivator was neither small nor large, just right for such tasks.

He climbed a rough, potholed road and arrived at a desolate wilderness.

It was dusk, and the wind whipped up orange-red snowflakes. Scattered rocks and thorns dotted the plateau, and shrubs were bent under the weight of the snow. The vast winter sky enveloped everything.

It wasn't the season for snow, but the magical arts had caused a thousand miles of wind and snow.

The ground was now covered in snow, and the orange-red sunset reflected on the snow, dazzling the eyes. What fell from the sky was more like ice crystals than snow. Blown by the fierce wind, it swirled up in plumes, flying down through the air, hitting the ground with a rustling sound. From time to time, a shrill whistling sound emanated from the wind, piercingly harsh.

Snow fell heavily, the wind was biting, and cold light scattered, a scene of bitter cold.

“The method of praying for disaster... This snow disaster is a Shaman Dao technique.” Bai Di looked at the snow. He had been investigating for several days and had almost reached a conclusion.

Heaven has three luminaries, and Earth has the Five Elements. When the Five Elements are out of balance, it is due to the Qi of the Earth. Water does not moisten downwards, fire does not burn upwards, wood does not bend or straighten, metal does not follow reform, and earth does not cultivate. If cultivation is not ripe, it is said to have lost its nature. The nature of the Five Elements is rooted in the Earth, and humans are attached to the Earth. The five affairs of humans also correspond to the Five Elements of the Earth.

The current situation was that 'water does not moisten downwards.'

When water does not moisten downwards, it is a sign of calamity.

All prolonged cold, prolonged yin, snow and frost, hail, fish anomalies, locusts, pig calamities, Dragon and snake anomalies, horse abnormalities, epidemics, drum demons, meteorites, floods, water changes, black omens, and black auspicious signs—these disasters all belong to water.

At this moment, a Shaman performed a spell, causing water not to moisten downwards, unbalancing the Five Elements, which led to this thousand-mile snow. Moreover, the cold of this snow was almost impossible to resist.

For individual strong cultivators, such cold could be endured; at worst, it would cause frostbite, not fundamental damage. But for an army, such a snow disaster would not only affect morale but also lead to large numbers of non-combat casualties.

“Humanity's Shaman, huh...” Bai Di pondered for a moment and finally came to this conclusion.

Humanity also had Shaman.

In ancient times, when humans and Shaman separated, the Two Clans of Chong and Li did not follow Shaman Dao but chose to follow the Human Emperor of that time.

It now seemed that Shaman from Humanity's side had made a move.

He copied the intelligence and sent it to the secret service through magical arts.

Soon, a team of experts would take over this intelligence and study methods to break it.

The battlefield was like this: you make a move, I make a move, competing with each other's methods. If you can't break it, then the advantage should be taken by the opponent.

Having done this, Bai Di continued to wander on the battlefield, searching for traces of the enemy army. Upon discovery, he would immediately report it. Through this clumsy method, the fog of war was gradually lifted, and Humanity's movements began to become clear.

There was no other way; only clumsy methods could be used. Direct deductions would certainly be interfered with, and observing from afar with magical arts, or even looking down from the sky, could be affected.

For example, Bai Di, at this moment, was under interference, and ordinary deduction methods could not find him.

So, they could only use people, sending scouts to the battlefield to see for themselves, and then report to the higher-ups. This way, fragmented information could be pieced together into a complete picture of the battlefield.

However, he did not make a move. After all, surrounding and killing a Seventh Rank cultivator was not impossible for these Humanity armies. He had to be careful; intelligence was more important.

But as Bai Di was doing this, he suddenly turned his head sharply.

In that instant when he turned—

Two flying knives had already reached within two feet of him.

The Xiezhi Sword in his hand directly unsheathed. With a clear and pleasant sword cry, the two flying knives were shot down. At the same time, a phantom began to appear around Bai Di.

It was like an ox, with one horn, green fur, a body like a deer, and four feet like a bear.

That was the phantom of the Xiezhi, the form of a righteous beast.

“?” Bai Di showed a bewildered expression; he hadn't detected anyone's presence.

But clearly, there had been an attack just now.

Before he could figure it out, two more flying knives appeared.

The flying knives cut two thin lines in the snow, silently sweeping through the air, smooth and beautifully curved.

They were fast, and the blades were light.

However, in front of the Xiezhi's eyes, which could see through right and wrong, this was nothing. The Xiezhi Sword swung again, piercing through the flying knives.

Then, almost simultaneously, Bai Di's Demon-Slaying True Qi surged into the sword body. The rotating sword edge instantly changed, and a storm-like barrage of attacks arrived in an instant!

In the seemingly empty air—

The sword edge entered flesh, stirring up a splash of blood. The friction between the blade and muscle and cartilage produced a grating sound.

A figure then fled, dodging Bai Di's pursuit.

“Body Fused with Nature... Indeed, a Shaman.” Bai Di shook his sword. Blood fell into the white snow, then melted into the orange-red sunset, as if nothing had happened.

That was Body Fused with Nature. The opponent seemed to think this could deceive his eyes.

Fortunately, the Xiezhi's eyes could see through people's hearts.

He couldn't find the opponent, but he could clearly see the fluctuations of 'emotions.' This was different from the principle of 'penetrating people's hearts' used by high-rank cultivators; this was the Xiezhi's innate Divine Ability, but in any case, it was enough to see through the opponent.

As long as he sensed the opponent's 'emotions,' then Body Fused with Nature would have nowhere to hide.

So, Bai Di immediately followed, using his movement speed to stay close behind.

Perhaps realizing he couldn't escape, the Shaman who had fused with nature chose to stop and simultaneously disengaged from the Body Fused with Nature state.

It was an ordinary Shaman, also a Seventh Rank cultivator, but... the cultivation method he practiced was significantly different from that of Shaman God Mountain.

“As a Shaman, yet serving Humanity. The Two Clans of Chong and Li are truly... unconventional.” Bai Di also immediately stopped and spoke.

While speaking, he also observed the opponent.

The cultivation method was strange, vastly different from the Shaman of Shaman God Mountain, but one could clearly discern a 'common origin.'

The Two Clans of Chong and Li, these two branches of Shaman, were the two that ultimately chose to join Humanity when humans and gods separated in ancient times.

Zhuanxu, who was both a Holy Emperor and a Human Emperor, commanded Chong and Li to use their Divine Ability to separate humans and gods, cutting off the connection between heaven and earth. This was a major change.

The result of the change was 'different professions for humans and gods.' From then on, the officials of Humanity and the officials of Shaman Dao were distinguished. This was reflected in official titles no longer being given divine names, and it also directly led to the end of the ancient era, with humans, gods, and Shaman completely drawing a clear line.

To this day, Shaman still have good relationships with gods and demons, but Humanity has already advanced rapidly on its own Dao, reaching the point of 'replacing heaven with humanity.'

“Humans and Shaman were originally one; how can you speak of unconventionality? Rather, Shaman God Mountain, unwilling to relinquish its authority and refusing to acknowledge the name of the Holy Emperor, presuming to mediate all things, isn't that even more arrogant? Their mediation of all things inherently presumes they are nobler than all things. What difference is there then from Humanity?” The person replied.

But Bai Di did not respond to that. He didn't care about ancient matters; it had been too long. Let things be as they were.

He was only focused on the opponent's magical arts, saying, “Chong and Li are mentioned together, and both belong to the Fire Master. Fire Master Li oversees the land to manage the people and is located in the south. So... you used fire magic to prevent water Qi from moistening downwards? This great snow is your masterpiece.”

“Indeed, but... why do you care about that? Aren't you going to pursue me?” The Shaman asked with some curiosity.

“No need. This isn't your true body. Killing it would be useless. It's better to chat a bit more.” Bai Di said.

“Chat a bit more? Yes, you have a remnant soul of a Xiezhi attached to you, capable of discerning the truth of words. If I chat with you more, who knows how many things you'll trick out of me.” The Shaman smiled, exposing Bai Di.