Chapter 1518: A Lump of Bird Droppings

The Shennong Clan did not know that their territory and population had already been carved up in advance; Shennong still believed that he would reunify those rebellious tribes and continue to consolidate his rule, feeling not the slightest panic in his heart.

Why? Because he had a great general, Xingtian, a Sage who could compose poetry for sacrifices, and also a Soldier who could command armies and wield a Weapon to fight for the tribe; in every aspect, Xingtian was extremely successful and outstanding.

When Xingtian returned last year, he brought excellent news to Shennong: everything was a success; the tribes he had campaigned against had all submitted once more, either beaten into submission by him or having surrendered of their own accord; in the entire east and south, there were almost no tribes left to campaign against, and the situation had been completely stabilized.

Shennong rewarded Xingtian handsomely for this; most of the Iron Weapons handed up by the Jiang Surname Tribe were given to Xingtian as a reward for him, and how he distributed them in the end was left to him; it was estimated that he would also reward those Soldiers who followed him and achieved significant results.

In spring, when all things revive, the Shennong Clan was conducting sacrifices again, and Xingtian was the main figure of the sacrifice; he was responsible for using an axe to cut off the heads of those Slaves and dig out their viscera to sacrifice to their ancestors.

As for where the Slaves came from? They were formerly their own tribesmen who had rebelled and then been defeated under Xingtian's command, so naturally, they became Slaves; the higher their status, the faster they died, and using them for sacrifice would better secure the protection of the ancestors, making the ancestors all the more pleased.

After the sacrifice, it naturally could not go without divination; before the sacrifice, one had to divine to determine on which day the sacrifice should be held, and then on the day of the sacrifice, continue to divine to see if the ancestors and the gods of Heaven had sent down revelations and whether they had accepted the offerings.

Shennong was responsible for the sacrificial matters, Xingtian was the one who chopped the offerings, and the people of the Jiang Surname Tribe were responsible for the divination because they were the core of the Shennong Clan and also Great Shamans; the Shennong Clan had many Shamans, and the loss of Fengbo and Yushi, two Great Shamans with special abilities who had fled the Shennong Clan, was a loss for the Shennong Clan, but fortunately, there were other Great Shamans remaining.

Jiang Yuwang was responsible for divination and interpretation; he took the Tortoise Shell out of the fire and carefully searched the cracks for revelations given by the gods of Heaven and the ancestors, but no matter how he looked at it, he considered it a sign of great misfortune; combined with the situation of the Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe he had seen last year, Jiang Yuwang felt this was a disaster of clan extinction.

He could deceive Shennong, but he dared not deceive or falsely report the divination results in such a sacrificial situation, in front of the gods of Heaven and the ancestors; so, holding the still-hot Tortoise Shell, his hands trembling, he informed Shennong: "Shennong! A sign of great misfortune, a disaster of clan extinction!"

Shennong was so frightened that he could not even hold the battle-axe in his hand steadily; he took the Tortoise Shell to look at it himself; as the Tribal Chief, he naturally understood sacrificial matters, or rather, the Tribal Chief was the greatest Great Shaman, and even if his ability was insufficient, he would not make such low-level mistakes.

Shennong looked at the Tortoise Shell and interpreted it carefully, also seeing the sign of great misfortune; every crack foretold a terrifying outcome.

This made Shennong exceptionally panicked; he shouted at Xingtian: "Xingtian! Quickly, axe two hundred more Slaves! The gods of Heaven are dissatisfied and will bring disaster upon the Shennong Clan! Quickly, bring more offerings!"

Xingtian, already covered in blood and standing in a pool of blood, heard Shennong's arrangement and could not care about himself; he hurriedly ordered people to continue dragging Slaves over; he could not chop them all by himself, so he called over another Soldier and had them chop the heads of the Slaves together with him.

The large Bronze axe was raised high and swung down fiercely; it was ground sharp enough, and having already killed too many people, it did not get stuck at all when hitting the neck, and he was able to chop the heads off cleanly and efficiently.

However, after chopping too much, the blade of the axe became notched and could no longer chop cleanly, which was also an ominous sign; therefore, he could only chop the heads of the Slaves faster and with more force; blood splattered everywhere, the entire sacrificial site was almost covered in blood, and the smell of blood filled the entire altar.

The bonfire used for the sacrifice crackled loudly under the blowing of the biting spring wind, and the flames were almost leaving the wood; all signs indicated that this sacrifice was unsuccessful and the gods of Heaven were angry.

Those kneeling and prostrate on the ground below, participating in the sacrifice, did not dare to breathe loudly; Shennong already had symptoms of hysteria; he had Jiang Yuwang divine incessantly, divine incessantly, to see when a good result could be obtained.

Shennong, agitated, was about to step onto the sacrificial altar with his battle-axe when a flock of mysterious birds flew past, which was undoubtedly a good omen.

Mysterious birds, that is, crows, have always symbolized auspiciousness and good luck; the idea that they represent misfortune was introduced from the West, because during the Black Death in medieval Europe, those responsible for disposing of corpses wore crow-beak masks, and over time, the crow became synonymous with death and bad luck; on the land of China, the bird that represents bad luck and misfortune is the owl, that is, the Xiao, the Xiao god, which is a fierce god representing contention and snatching.

A flock of mysterious birds representing auspiciousness circling overhead undoubtedly brought hope to all the people of the Shennong Clan; the content of the divination was bad, but this auspicious omen had appeared, indicating that the gods of Heaven were happy and would not feel dissatisfied!

Shennong was no longer nervous or depressed; instead, he laughed heartily and told Xingtian to speed up, chop off the heads of those Slaves, and then cook those that could be cooked, and throw those that could not into the fire.

Jiang Yuwang, who had been kneeling by the fire waiting for the divination result, took out the Tortoise Shell, but after seeing the cracks, he still felt despair; in order to prevent those former tribesmen from dying again and to avoid further complications, he took advantage of the moment Shennong was not looking and struck the Tortoise Shell hard, and the cracks indeed changed instantly.

When he interpreted it again, the divination had turned into auspicious; he grinned, squeezed out an excited expression, held the Tortoise Shell to find Shennong, and shouted: "Shennong, Shennong! The divination has changed! Auspicious! Great prosperity!"

Shennong eagerly took the Tortoise Shell, scanned it roughly, and also believed it was an auspicious sign, so he laughed happily and pointed to the flock of crows still circling in the sky, saying: "Indeed, indeed! How could it have been a sign of great misfortune! An auspicious omen!"

A lump of bird droppings fell from high in the sky and landed on the altar, but no one noticed.