Chapter 149: The Earth's Fury

The earth shook and tore apart; rocks on the mountain shattered and tumbled. Countless tribespeople were crushed by giant boulders and died instantly. Moreover, the fissure grew wider and wider, swallowing even more tribespeople and houses.

Leizu just squatted there in a daze, not knowing what to do. Even the elderly Boyu did not know how to act at this moment; they could only wait for the disaster to end, leaving their life or death to the arrangement of the spirits.

This disaster did not last long, but everything was already unrecognizable. By now, Leizu could not even speak, nor could she cry. Watching an incomparably prosperous Xiling vanish in an instant, she did not know where her tribe had offended the spirits.

Finally, Boyu helped her up. The cave where the Tribal Chief Xiling Clan resided had collapsed, and his concubines had not managed to escape either. Only about two thousand living tribespeople remained; the others had already been buried or fallen into the fissures.

The tribespeople pressed under the rocks, even if they were not dead yet, would not live much longer. At this time, Leizu held the highest status, and everyone looked to her to command them and decide what should be done.

But no matter how precocious people were in this era, Leizu was only a half-grown child. At this moment, she was completely at a loss, so how could she know what to do?

Fortunately, Boyu had once been the strongest Soldier. In this state, he quickly calmed down, half-squatted beside Leizu's ear to give her advice, and told her what to do.

Leizu opened her mouth several times but could not make a sound. Boyu patted her on the back, and only then did she let out a breath of stale air, then said intermittently, "Save... save the people. Save as many as we can."

Afterward, everyone quickly searched the various grass huts and the caves that had not completely collapsed for surviving tribespeople, while Leizu turned and walked toward the Heavenly Worm Room to save the most important things of Xiling.

Boyu also cleared the ruins for Leizu with one hand. Under the cluttered bamboo and palm leaves, most of the bamboo sieves containing Heavenly Worms were overturned. In those that were not overturned, most of the small Heavenly Worms that had just turned white had already been crushed to death.

Leizu felt very sad, but she just could not cry. Now she was very calm; she took the bamboo sieves from the ruins, and then, one by one, picked up the Heavenly Worms she could see and put them back into the bamboo sieves.

At this moment, the earth began to shake again. The already loosened rocks fell crazily, and the caves that had not collapsed were completely blocked off this time. This time, many more tribespeople lost their lives.

Leizu pounded the ground and questioned, "Earth, what mistake did my Xiling commit to bring such punishment upon us? Are you going to destroy my Xiling here?"

After the shaking stopped, Leizu sat blankly on the spot, not even having the heart to pick up the Heavenly Worms, her eyes devoid of spirit.

The Great Shaman of Xiling and his successor had not died. At this moment, the two of them walked toward Leizu, then bowed and saluted: "Our Tribal Chief Xiling Clan is dead; now only you can be our Tribal Chief. I will now use my life as a sacrifice to beg the earth to calm its anger."

"If the earth's fury has still not vanished, then let Gui perform divination. If more human sacrifices are needed to calm the earth's anger, then please choose others to sacrifice. If it cannot be calmed, then leave this place quickly and abandon this land; our Xiling will always have a chance to become strong again."

Leizu agreed, because this was the duty of the Great Shaman.

The Great Shaman took off his robe, bared his entire body, took the Knife handed over by Gui, and plunged it into his own kidney without hesitation, saying, "Earth, I use my kidney as a sacrifice, begging you to calm your anger and spare Xiling!"

Then he took the second Knife, plunged it into his stomach, and said, "Earth, I use my stomach and intestines as a sacrifice, begging you to calm your anger and spare Xiling!"

Afterward, he successively plunged knives into his liver and lungs. By the end, he could no longer even speak, vomiting blood from his mouth. When he plunged the knife into his heart, the earth began to shake again, and the Great Shaman fell straight into a fissure, his eyes filled with despair at the end.

This shaking ended quickly and was very weak. Gui took out a Tortoise Shell, roasted it in the fire, then took it out to look at the cracks on it, and said in an incomparably desperate tone, "The earth does not intend to spare us."

After saying this, he took out a new Tortoise Shell and roasted it on the fire. This time, the result he divined was that if the tribe wanted to continue, they could only go north, and they must set out immediately, otherwise the disaster would happen again.

Gui knelt on the ground, begging Leizu to make a decision. He was merely a Shaman; the divination results were out, and all orders could only be issued by Leizu.

Leizu had no other way, and she believed Gui's words implicitly, so she immediately had Gui and Boyu gather all the surviving tribespeople.

In the interval while they went to gather the people, Leizu gathered the Heavenly Worms again. There were very many Heavenly Worms; if they were to flee, she could not take them all. However, the reproduction of Heavenly Worms was very fast; as long as a few were alive, more could be quickly bred.

In the end, she released the vast majority of the Heavenly Worms. Beside the tribe were mulberry trees planted for raising Heavenly Worms; although they had been shaken askew, they were all still alive, so Leizu poured all these Heavenly Worms under the mulberry trees.

The tribespeople arrived. There was no time to count them carefully, perhaps just over a thousand people. Many had blood flowing on their bodies; they had either been injured by falling rocks but still had the mobility to move, or they had been stained with blood while saving others.

Those crushed under the rocks could not live, even if they were still calling for help and groaning. This was the consensus of everyone; they did not think that people in such a state could survive.

Many people were crying, but more were already somewhat numb and did not know how to cry anymore; the whole person seemed to have suddenly lost the emotion of sorrow.

Leizu held a bamboo sieve of Heavenly Worms in her hands: "The Great Shaman of our Xiling Clan offered himself to the earth, begging the earth for mercy, but the earth is still very angry. Gui also performed divination; sacrifices are useless to the angry earth. We can only follow the guidance and go north until we find a new territory for our Xiling Clan."

"We are going to start migrating now, and we cannot delay for even a moment. Now everyone, hurry and collect the necessary things—food, Wax Seeds, Weapons—take as much as you can, and we will set out immediately."

Almost everything was buried under the rocks, so everyone searched with all their might until Leizu put the Heavenly Worms into a jar, then filled her back with mulberry leaves, and called for everyone to set out.