Chapter 328: Releasing the God Sect Colludes with the Witch Tribe

"Qi disperses to heaven and earth, the soul returns to the ancestral spirits!"

"Ah, um..."

On the tribal altar lay the clansmen who had died of the Plague, their corpses all wrapped in linen cloth.

The heads of the corpses faced the direction of Zhong Yuan, which was the origin of the Witch Tribe and also the legendary place where their ancestors arose.

Outside the borders was not the home of the Witch people; Zhong Yuan was, a fact every Witch person knew from birth.

Even if they could not be buried in their homeland after death, through the guidance of the elders, they could still step onto the Tianthi after death to return to the home of the ancestral spirits.

A solemn ceremony was being performed in the tribe.

The elder held high the soul banner for guidance, shaking it continuously to point out the direction for the deceased.

The Plague swept through the tribe, and even with the warriors driving it away, the weak and sickly continued to die one after another.

The same scenes were playing out one after another in various tribes, and an aura of sorrow permeated the surroundings.

"Wouldn't it be better to burn them?"

A youth in white clothes looked at the scene before him and said in a firm tone.

He was as handsome as a maiden, with two large pearls stuck to his eyebrows, as if embedded in his brow bone.

Such an appearance could be called eccentric; even among the people of Zhong Yuan, he belonged to the most unconventional sort.

And the words that came out of his mouth simply provoked public anger.

The Witch Tribe revered ancestral spirits, and their funeral rites involved the elder performing transcendence to guide the departed soul back to its homeland, without damaging the remains.

Hearing that he actually wanted to cremate the remains of the deceased, they all looked over with fury.

"Apologies, I spoke out of turn just now; I shall leave at once."

The youth in white clasped his hands together and bowed repeatedly to apologize, his expression very sincere.

Under the gaze of many angry eyes, the youth in white backed away from the vicinity of the altar and had left this tribe step by step.

He looked at the vast sky all around and flicked his sleeves, "Customs are different; this situation is harder to open up than in Zhong Yuan!"

Then he smiled again, "Precisely because of this, the potential for exploitation is great. One only needs to conquer one tribe, and the rest will not be a problem."

Compared to the divided and entrenched cities of Zhong Yuan, although the Witch Tribe also had tribes, their communication with each other was smooth, without any barriers.

The youth in white clapped his hands and puffed out his chest, "I am even more ambitious now."

Half a day later...

He encountered Ge Er Bu Han and the Fist Intent Puppet.

"I heard the Release God Sect of Zhong Yuan sent an envoy to persuade our tribe to accept the White-Clad Funeral Followers; that would be you, right?"

The youth in white smiled and pressed his palms together, "It is indeed me. Lord Hunter, are you interested in hearing me talk about the principles of the Release God?"

"Not interested. I am looking for someone."

Ge Er Bu Han warned him, "You, a person from Zhong Yuan, be careful. Recently, we have been hunting down the remnants who escaped from Zunyang City."

"No, it is unrelated; I am not afraid."

The youth in white waved his hands, "Lord Hunter, let us talk about the benefits of cremation instead!"

Ge Er Bu Han had a cold demeanor, staring at him as he said, "I always feel that the Release God Sect harbors evil intentions. Whether in Zhong Yuan or here in our Witch Tribe, you have ulterior secrets."

Seeing the other party wanting to say something, he signaled for him not to speak yet, "Listen to me."

"The Release God Sect's main business is collecting corpses and cremating them for burial. Even in Zhong Yuan, it is hard for people to accept, and our Witch Tribe has fixed rituals for transcendence."

"Hmm, I happen to know a thing or two about the origins of the Release God Sect."

"Only when all living things wither can the True God be seen!"

"The world is a great cage imprisoning ancient gods. To release the gods, one must break the cage." "In other words, your ultimate goal is to destroy this world?"

The youth in white grinned, "The old fogies are just blowing hot air. In all these years, I haven't seen anyone manage to destroy heaven and earth!"

"Martial artists are always shouting about killing the heavens and trampling the earth, destroying the universe, but look, heaven and earth remain, and the mountains and rivers endure forever."

"Destroying the world or whatever, I have no interest in that. Climbing step by step by relying on the big tree that is the Release God Sect is my goal."

"I came here this time to solicit business. You have been fighting recently, many people have died, and you need our Release God Sect."

Ge Er Bu Han refused flatly, "Ancestral customs must never be changed."

"That is fine, the Witch people can carry on as usual, but inside and outside Zunyang City, there are hundreds of thousands of casualties. They do not fall under your jurisdiction, and handling them is troublesome. Why not hand them over to my Release God Sect to cremate on your behalf?"

The youth in white bowed and said, "I am just an errand runner. The people above have already negotiated it; right now, it is just going through the motions."

"Although your tone is heavy, you already knew about this matter; otherwise, the moment you first saw me, you should have struck to kill."

"How could an elite Hunter riding a Witch Beast lack even this bit of killing intent?"

Ge Er Bu Han did not speak. He had long since seen that beneath the youth's flippant exterior lay a wisdom no less than his own.

The Release God Sect had sent an extraordinary up-and-comer.

"What is your name?"

The youth was slightly stunned, then introduced himself, "A nameless nobody, Southern Hall of the Release God Sect, Jiangnie."

"Ranked as a White-Clad Priest, and, well, I have a nickname: Eight Great Conveniences."

The Gate of Convenience refers to a flexible path, opening a door in a dead end to allow passage.

The world has four faces and eight directions; if one can open a Gate of Convenience in all eight directions, one is truly a savior in a desperate situation.

Jiangnie uses Eight Great Conveniences as a nickname to represent his style of conduct: providing convenience to others and to himself, most skilled at creating situations that are the best of both worlds and satisfying to all.

Ge Er Bu Han grasped the meaning of this nickname and became even more wary of Jiangnie.

"Lord Hunter, I believe the concept of the Release God Sect is not wrong, but as for destroying the world, we certainly wouldn't do it ourselves."

"Look at how the situation has deteriorated over these years, with natural and man-made disasters occurring frequently. Your Witch Tribe is returning to Zhong Yuan, and war is already inevitable. Famine, Plague, and demonic chaos—there are too many factors that could destroy the world."

"May I ask, is there any need to worry about us, the Release God Sect?"

"Jiang believes that the path of the Release God Sect should be that of a bystander and recorder, witnessing life and death, experiencing changes; perhaps one day, we really might, as the old fogies say, live to see the world destroyed."

"If that day truly comes, the cage is broken, will what emerges be a true god, or something else?"

"Hahaha!"

The white-robed cleric Jiangnie left, leaving behind words that made Ge Er Bu Han fall into deep thought.

The Shaman Tribe had just entered Zhong Yuan and encountered the Golden Immortal Dao and the Release God Sect one after another; these ancient schools appearing in succession represented the enormous changes occurring in the world.

After the Martial Saint had been extinct for many years, the stable situation of the world began to waver.

"The Nine Cauldrons; the future and the way out for our tribe all lie upon the Nine Cauldrons."

Ge Er Bu Han's gaze became resolute; his wisdom allowed him to see the path ahead, and he also knew the strategic goals of the Shaman Tribe's upper echelons.

Occupying the cities of Zhong Yuan and usurping the nest was not the ultimate goal.

The path to survival that the Shaman Tribe sought was to trace the marks of the Nine Cauldrons and restore the precious wealth and secrets left behind by the Celestial Beings.

Zunyang City was built by the grandmasters of Zhong Yuan and was also one of the locations where the Nine Cauldrons had once appeared, burying the traces of the Nine Cauldrons.

The savage wilderness beyond the borders they came from was a barbaric land where even the Nine Cauldrons disdained to appear, a place outside the true world, a land of abandonment.

The Shaman people stepping out beyond the borders meant participating in the contest for the Celestial Nine Cauldrons and vying for this world.

(End of this chapter)