Chapter 238: Discovering the Tribe's Secret of Not Bearing Children

Nan Qinghuan, to protect the child, also began to babble nonsense; she muttered a chant under her breath, then went to embrace the child, originally intending to give it a try, since from such a distance she couldn't tell whether it would work.

But an eerie scene unfolded: two Fireflies bearing bright light flew in from the distant sky, and their appearance left the High Priest completely stunned.

"What is this..."

Nan Qinghuan let a Firefly land on the child, and the child was instantly enveloped by a beam of light, looking utterly mysterious.

When that white light enveloped the two of them, Nan Qinghuan began to babble, "This is the best proof: this child was born different, they are a Divine Child, the one who will change your Tribe, they must not die, nor be killed; this is the Sea Witch's DivineDecree. High Priest, what else do you have to say?"

The tribe members had never seen such a marvel, and they shouted, "It's Divine Light! Divine Light has appeared! She truly is Heaven's Daughter; I believe what she says."

"I... I also believe."

At night, the two Fireflies illuminated the area as bright as daylight; the tribe had never seen such a sight, and everyone assumed it was Nan Qinghuan who brought it, so naturally, when she said the child was a Divine Child, they took it as truth.

"High Priest, do you still not see the error?"

Youchao Xuan coldly rebuked, and A Gudda, upon seeing this, reacted sharply; he suddenly dropped his Scepter and knelt, "Divine Light bathes the Tribe; Heaven's Daughter, the Clan Leader truly has brought the Heaven's Daughter. A Gudda is guilty, guilty."

A Gudda kept bowing his head toward Nan Qinghuan; only after Nan Qinghuan embraced the child did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. One must admit the tribe is superstitious—using mythic arguments to persuade them works better than anything else.

"From now on, no one may dare to kill the Divine Child; it will bring disaster upon you, understand?"

"Yes, I won't dare, never again."

Indeed, now she can protect this child so that they will never face discrimination or harm for at least a lifetime.

The whole child‑killing uproar finally passed; after the tribe members dispersed, Nan Qinghuan's Xiao Bai and Da Bai still shone upon them.

At the edge of the sea, a reddish sun was about to rise.

Youchao Xuan stared in astonishment at the white light above her, "Goddess, your words today greatly surprise me; the High Priest is a hard person to deal with, she never kneels before anyone."

Nan Qinghuan, hearing this, quickly asked, "Is the High Priest here more powerful than the Clan Leader?"

She realized that it seemed every Tribe was like this; the Clan Leader and High Priest appeared equal, sometimes the High Priest even wielded more authority than the Clan Leader.

Just like A Yu of old.

And that Shamaness A Yue.

Their status in the Ying Tribe was also high, which made them look down on others.

Youchao Xuan nodded, "Exactly, the High Priest is in charge of our Rituals and sea‑going Divination; her divinations are very effective."

As long as the High Priest agrees, no one in the Tribe dares to oppose; Youchao Xuan knew that bringing her in would certainly be useful.

"When dawn comes, I'll show them the bodies; don't worry, I will definitely uncover the secret of why the Tribe members aren't bearing children."

Hearing this, Youchao Xuan naturally felt pleased, "I know you can accomplish it, Goddess, that Divine Light just now…"

"That wasn't any Divine Light; it was a Firefly, a gift from Ying—do you remember?"

"Ying?"

Youchao Xuan squinted slightly; he hadn't returned—why would his Firefly be here? Could it be... "Could Ying have also come?"

Hearing this, Nan Qinghuan was a bit puzzled, "What are you saying?"

How could that be? He couldn't possibly be here, yet it's strange why Da Bai appeared. Shouldn't he be by Ying's side? This made her suspect that the man might have arrived. Youchao Xuan, however, smiled, glanced around, and said, "It's odd that he let you come here this time; Ying has never been willing to let you leave his side even half a step."

Everyone knew Ying well; they stared at Nan Qinghuan intently, as if they wanted to carry her on their backs, yet this time he readily let her come.

Nan Qinghuan also didn't understand; if Ying had come, why didn't he appear? Forget it, I won't think about it.

"If he followed, he'll appear sooner or later; later, gather all the females of the Tribe, and I'll examine their bodies for you."

"Alright, Goddess, you're hungry too, let's go eat something."

She was indeed hungry, reached to pat her stomach, and said, "Alright, what do you all eat here?"

The tribe's food was indeed quite good.

A seafood feast.

The seafood included clams, Sea Conch, octopus, and…

Indeed, the Youchao Tribe lives by the sea, so they naturally eat seafood; just as the Tribe people live off the mountains and eat the mountains, they subsist on the sea.

"Heaven's Daughter, come eat something—eat a Big Claw Monster."

"Spider crab?"

She was stunned when she saw the spider crab larger than an Earthen Bowl—so big, even bigger than her face. ChaoJi frowned, "What crab is this? Heaven's Daughter, you must have never eaten or seen such a thing; only our Youchao Tribe has these. Want to try? It's delicious."

After saying that, they actually began to pray, their manner very solemn.

Nan Qinghuan, unfamiliar with their customs, also paused; she saw them clasp their hands and face the sea, murmuring chants she couldn't understand.

It seemed to be a prayer before a meal.

She followed local customs and kept silent, waiting for them.

Soon, that strange supplicatory ceremony ended.

"What is this?"

She realized the Ying Tribe didn't have this custom; she had to admit it was rather novel.

Youchao Xuan hurried to explain, "When our people eat, we pray to the Sea Witch; only after praying can we touch the food."

"Sea Witch?"

What kind of deity is that? She had heard of it many times but didn't quite understand; she had to say the primitive people's beliefs were wildly varied and strange.

"Indeed, Heaven's Daughter, the Sea Witch is our Sea God; the foods we eat are gifts from her, so we greatly respect the Sea Witch. This time the females aren't becoming pregnant, we all thought the Sea Witch was angry."

"Angry, why?"

"It's…"

"Alright, let's eat, Heavenly Maiden, give it a try."

Nan Qinghuan discovered the spider crab was still alive, uncooked—'What the heck, how are we supposed to eat this?' Youchao Xuan politely offered to hammer the stone spider crab to death, then scoop out its pale flesh for her.

"Hey, wait, how do you eat it? Shouldn't it be cooked?"

"Cooked?"

Youchao Ji looked at her, "What cooked? We've been eating it like this since childhood; it tastes great, try it."

Youchao Xuan understood her meaning, that she wanted to cook the thing, but this is something from the sea, not from land, and cannot be cooked.

But Nan Qinghuan immediately understood, "I know the reason."

Youchao Xuan, hearing that she knew, hurriedly stood up, "Goddess, what's wrong?"

"Youchao Xuan, do your tribe members all eat raw seafood?"

She hadn't expected that the Youchao Tribe, such an advanced civilized people, would still eat sea crabs raw; that was really… Youchao Xuan then tried to explain, "Goddess, I know you want to cook them, but we've tried and the taste is terrible. Our people like to scoop them up and eat them immediately; generations have always eaten them that way, what's the problem?"

She saw some tribe members nearly vomit from eating that octopus raw, its tentacles still writhing.

So disgusting.

"Go call those women over; I'm going to treat them now."

Youchao Xuan had originally intended to skin an Octopus Monster for her, but upon hearing that, he was puzzled, "No rush, eat until full first, then go."

"Fine, I can't eat any more; I'll go right now."

Good fellow, what Nan Qinghuan didn't expect was that the women within the tribe total fewer than a hundred, and only half of them are of child‑bearing age.

In other words, if Youchao Xuan's people don't resolve this, there truly is a danger of the tribe's extinction.

Those women stood there scratching their ears and cheeks; although they wore Hemp Robe and hemp trousers, their feet were still bound. Most of them had very dark skin, tanned by the sun; she had never seen a fair‑skinned woman on the Ancient Land.

Of course, she, being an outsider, doesn't count.

Nan Qinghuan had them come one by one for examination; those women, knowing she was the Goddess, respected her greatly and, smiling, asked, "Goddess, looking at my thick waist and big hips, can I bear children?"

PS: (Little cuties, enjoy reading, Happy National Day!)

)