Chapter 860: Funeral Song of Betrayal

Xu Qing fell silent.

From the history pieced together by these memory fragments, he understood why there were so many corpses in the Mountain and Sea Domain and what had transpired in this tribe's past.

Assuming this history was true, a stark irony emerged when compared to the current narrative of the Yanming Xuantian Tribe.

The Ancestral Shaman who died defending the Yanyue Xuantian Tribe had been buried by history.

Jiuli, the son who inherited his will, was demonized and reduced to a mere mount.

The role of the so-called Grand Minister of the Yanyue Xuantian Tribe, the Xuantian cultivator who matured under Jiuli's protection, became intriguing.

Xu Qing sighed softly.

His heart told him that this was indeed the truth.

Even though it wasn't his own tribe, through the memory fragments, he felt as if he had lived through the past ages, empathetically stepping into history itself.

So, how did Jiuli die? What exactly did that Grand Minister do? When did the Xuantian Great Shaman Tribe change its name to the Yanming Xuantian Tribe? And what was the connection between the Three Gods of Sun, Moon, and Stars and the tribe's history?

These answers lay within the memories of the remaining five skulls. Xu Qing lowered his head, gazing at the mud.

However, the brown flame had now extinguished, making it impossible to continue burning the Red Mother's flesh. After such consumption, very little flesh remained.

"Only six pieces left," Xu Qing murmured, sensing the four skulls that had appeared within the purple crystal and feeling his intimate connection with this Jiuli land.

At this moment, he no longer needed the bronze censer.

The gray mist here posed no threat to him; with a thought, he could make it churn around him. Its disturbing effect had also relatively vanished.

He clearly understood that if he wished to leave, the gray mist would move and accompany him.

However, such a departure had a flaw: his cultivation and divine power were still being repelled.

Unless he completely abandoned his cultivation and divine power, opening himself fully to accept the gray mist, allowing it to integrate into his body and soul, becoming a complete part of him.

"At that point, I would no longer be a divine cultivator, but..."

Xu Qing raised his head, gazing towards the horizon.

He was both unfamiliar with and familiar with "Wu." Unfamiliar because he had never encountered it, familiar because this gray mist was the very essence of Wu, and the four skulls he had absorbed were, in a sense, Jiuli's legacy.

But this was not the path he intended to take.

"Wu, at the cost of death, only severely injured that powerful deity," Xu Qing squinted, looking at the mud, contemplating a method.

He had actually thought of a method, but it required five skulls to be performed. Now, he was missing one.

After pondering, Xu Qing suddenly spoke.

"Little Shadow."

There was no ripple beneath his feet, nor any emotional fluctuation. Little Shadow seemed to be dead.

Xu Qing's expression remained calm. After three breaths, he spoke again, "If you don't come out now, you won't need to come out ever again."

As Xu Qing's words fell, a faint shadow appeared on the mud beneath him, and weak ripples of fluctuation spread out.

"Go down. Pierce a thousand zhang deep to form a medium for my spell."

Little Shadow's emotional fluctuations immediately turned anxious, conveying countless rejections to Xu Qing's mind.

"I will control the gray mist to prevent it from interfering with you along the way," Xu Qing said. As he waved his hand, the surrounding gray mist churned according to his thoughts, demonstrating clear control.

Seeing this, Little Shadow's anxiety decreased somewhat, as did its will to refuse.

"After it's done, I'll give you a piece of Red Mother's flesh," Xu Qing said calmly.

Red Mother's flesh was something Little Shadow yearned for deeply. Previously, it could only watch longingly as Xu Qing absorbed it, struggling even to catch a scent.

So, upon hearing Xu Qing's promise, its hesitation, anxiety, and refusal clearly diminished further.

"If you don't obey, then there's no need for our master-servant relationship to continue."

Xu Qing's voice carried a chilling indifference that made Little Shadow tremble. Finally, caught between the reward and a life-or-death decision, its emotional fluctuations released a desperate surge of resolve.

To survive, for the sake of the flesh, it let out a low growl like a fierce beast and plunged fiercely into the mud.

The next instant, the shadow sank a hundred zhang deep. The surrounding gray mist, about to close in, quickly dispersed under Xu Qing's interference, making Little Shadow's descent much smoother than before.

Soon, it reached eight hundred zhang. However, at this depth, Xu Qing clearly sensed a sealing force from below.

That power was currently dormant, but he could sense that if his aura touched the seal, it would immediately suppress him.

Therefore, he dared not excessively release his aura to interfere with the gray mist's spread.

Consequently, Little Shadow's descent gradually slowed, and its wails began to emanate.

But it was still better than its previous state. Little Shadow, for its part, exerted all its strength, enduring the gray mist's invasion, and descended to over nine hundred zhang. Here, it began to lose momentum.

After all, during the previous incident, it had split off too much and hadn't yet recovered, remaining in a weakened state.

Seeing this, Xu Qing suddenly said, "Two pieces of Red Mother's flesh!"

This enticing sound echoed in Little Shadow's mind. Little Shadow trembled and erupted with frantic emotion. Stimulated by such a generous reward, it fiercely plunged downward.

With a boom, it directly pierced a thousand zhang, reaching the cavern beneath the mud. Here, Xu Qing could not release any aura to interfere, so the mist surged in a wide range, and Little Shadow's wails became even more agonizing.

Xu Qing's expression was grave. He knew the opportunity was fleeting, so he didn't hesitate. After Little Shadow pierced through, he raised his right hand, and the "Moon in the Well" technique instantly unfolded.

The ripples of heaven and earth formed a water surface, and the fifth skull clearly emerged. With a scoop from Xu Qing, it was immediately brought up.

The moment it was swallowed and sealed within the purple crystal, Little Shadow collapsed, seemingly dead. Yet, a tiny wisp of it drilled out from three zhang below Xu Qing in the mud, returning.

Xu Qing was not surprised by Little Shadow's cunning nature. Although there was some truth to its previous actions, exaggeration was also clearly present, which was why Xu Qing didn't believe it would truly disregard everything.

Hiding a tiny wisp of shadow-silk was also expected. Little Shadow had indeed almost reached its limit; after this wisp returned, it was very dim within the purple crystal, on the verge of falling into slumber.

Yet it struggled not to fall asleep immediately, instinctively sending out faint emotional waves towards Xu Qing, seemingly wanting confirmation.

"My... flesh..."

Xu Qing nodded, sensing Little Shadow's condition. He understood that whether it received the flesh now or not wasn't crucial, as it didn't even have the strength to eat.

But Xu Qing was kind-hearted, feeling that necessary reassurance was still due. "I'll give it to you when you wake up."

Hearing this, Little Shadow contentedly fell into slumber. Xu Qing, for his part, closed his eyes and meditated to recuperate.

Days later, his eyes suddenly opened, revealing a sharp glint.

Now that he had five skulls, he could employ another method to retrieve the remaining ones.

This method didn't require melting the mud to form a passage.

Once activated, it could make the skulls beneath spontaneously surface within the "Moon in the Well" divine ability.

"I'll trust Senior Brother once!"

Determination flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. His cultivation surged into the purple crystal, causing a violent tremor.

Immediately, the purple crystal emitted a violet light, piercing through Xu Qing's body and spreading outward. Simultaneously, the five skulls within it emerged in this purple light, floating above Xu Qing's head, arranged in a pentagram.

Gazing at the five skulls, Xu Qing formed hand seals and chanted softly. Soon, rings of ripples emanated from one skull, then a second, a third... until all five skulls simultaneously released ripples. These ripples collided fiercely, forming a swirling black hole.

Staring at the vortex, Xu Qing let out a low roar and chanted, "Souls of heaven and earth, return to your origin."

The voice, carrying an ancient resonance, echoed through heaven and earth.

The moment it was uttered, the vortex spun even more intensely. Faintly, four clusters of gray fire, as if being pulled, appeared within the black hole.

Those four clusters of gray fire were essentially identical to the skulls within the purple light.

This technique was precisely the "Five Lives Tracing Origin Heartless Dao" that Chen Erniu had taught Xu Qing. Its principle was to trace origins, allowing it to attract items from the same source.

However, the prerequisite was to first possess five pieces.

At that moment, as the four clusters of gray fire appeared, Xu Qing immediately activated his "Moon in the Well" technique, reaching for the vortex. The four clusters of gray fire summoned back within it trembled individually. Three of them broke free from the vortex and were directly pulled out.

As they appeared in the watery reflection on Xu Qing's palm, a surge of excitement rose in his heart. Although not all were retrieved, pulling out three skulls at once was enough to demonstrate the astonishing power of Senior Brother's technique.

He immediately swallowed the watery reflection. A massive amount of memory fragments erupted like a storm in Xu Qing's mind, rapidly merging with the previous fragments, and soon, even more memories were pieced together!

The ancient winds returned, as if stirred, playing a funeral song.

They told the story of the Grand Minister, who was highly regarded by Jiuli and the tribe, and entrusted with leading the tribe within the Divine Sealing Great Formation.

This individual was indeed a genius. Under his leadership, the Xuantian Great Shaman Tribe, united in purpose, showed signs of revival, and the new generation gradually matured, supporting him wholeheartedly.

This brought Jiuli, who was guarding outside, great comfort. He stopped focusing on the tribe within the formation and instead devoted all his mind and energy to battling the deities.

He was determined to uphold his father-shaman's will and inherit the spirit of the Xuantian Great Shaman Tribe, refusing to retreat even half a step.

Behind him was his tribe, the people he was sworn to protect. Even if he died in battle in the future, he would have no regrets, for he had found his successor.

The Grand Minister, whom he valued and protected, was the next Ancestral Shaman he had designated in his heart.

Thus, with no worries about the future, he led his Great Shamans into a long and arduous war of resistance. Years passed until a bloody feast, prepared for him by the very person he had protected with all his might, appeared.