World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 84 Sand Painting Ritual
The people of the Xunlang tribe get up before dawn.

After the woman in the room left, Lin An opened his eyes. In fact, he hadn't slept all night.

It's not that the bed is uncomfortable, it's mainly because I'm afraid of something dangerous happening.

Stepping outside the cabin, Lin An stretched and greeted the dawn.

The men are burning firewood to start a fire, while the women are working together to prepare the tribe's breakfast.

The indigenous tribes maintain a relatively equal relationship between men and women, but the woman is the true head of the household, and she names the children.

The tradition of hunting and defending against external enemies has led the Xunlang tribe to continue practicing polygamy, with men typically having two to three wives, who are usually sisters.

The locals also have a particular taboo: talking to one's mother-in-law. This taboo comes from a myth about a giant serpent meeting its prospective son-in-law for the first time. Men overcome this taboo by marrying both their mother and daughter at the same time.

Women owned their own property, such as sheep and looms, while men were more or less idle, free to participate in singing, dancing and horse racing, and usually helped their wives and sisters with various tasks.

They had no personal resources, except for what their wives gave them.

Lin An had no intention of criticizing the local people's morality. The priest brought him a hot breakfast of baked flatbread and stewed wild vegetables, and as he ate, he listened to the various voices of the Xunlang tribe.

“This is something that Vasich and I traded.” The elderly woman was knitting a blanket and chatting with her companion. “They are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy transparent stones, but they don’t know how to properly wear turquoise.”

Vasichchu?
Lin An was taken aback, only to hear a neutral female voice coming from the side.

“‘Wasichu’ refers to people with white skin.” Little Canine Tooth leaned against the wall. “That’s what our grandmothers called them. Our mothers called them ‘neighbors watching from across the river.’ We younger generation just call them by their names.”

"Oh..." Lin An responded, "Good morning, Little Canine Tooth."

The girl was the only person he could communicate normally with; whenever he encountered other people, Lin An's voice would become like the wind.

"What kind of high-tech method did you use yesterday to actually walk out of the fire?" Little Fang hopped towards him. "Projector? Disc? Teleporter?"

What a mess.

These words made Lin An even more concerned about Little Fang's identity. Although she was a member of the Xunlang tribe, she not only spoke English, but also knew some modern terms pieced together from various sources.

Why don't you believe I am the incarnation of the god Mi?

"A god wearing a maple leaf Goose down jacket and Adidas sneakers?" Little Canine Tooth pouted. "Others might not recognize brand names, or they might think that animal gods can wear whatever they want, but I think it's pretty strange."

Lin An pulled his thick coat tighter around himself, his brows furrowing slightly.

This is true.

Why did the people of the Xunlang tribe accept me as the messenger of the moose so quickly upon seeing me?
They seem like a group of pre-programmed game NPCs...

My vision changes when the radiation level rises, and I was brought here by the moose's mysterious spell. Could it be that only the mysterious can see my "true form"?
Looking closely at Xiao Fang, her skin was reddish, her teeth were snow-white, and her features were rugged, which combined to create a pure, wild beauty. She wasn't particularly stunning at first glance, but after a few more glances, you couldn't take your eyes off her.

Feeling Lin An's gaze, she stood up straight and gracefully, lifting her feather-adorned black hair so that he could see her more clearly.

Sure enough, the little canine tooth also had an aura that seemed out of place on Titan, though it wasn't obvious.

A mysterious being about to awaken?
She may be an important part of the moose's so-called "mission".

“You don’t believe my identity, but you didn’t expose me in public,” Lin An said tentatively.

“At first I thought you were sent by that company,” Little Canine Tooth muttered. “But their answers yesterday were ambiguous, and now I’m a little… uncertain.”

"The company?" Lin An felt he had grasped the key point.

Seeing that Lin An had almost finished eating, an old man approached him with premeditation. Lin An's sharp canine teeth, fearing that Lin An would hear them, quickly ran away.

The old man bowed deeply and took out a cigarette.

“This is the incarnation of Lord Shenmi. Take it and participate in the sand painting ritual.”

Lin An accepted the ceremonial pipe, a conical, treated clay object from which the aroma of herbs rose.

Following the old man's steps, Lin An arrived at the campfire. The members of the Xunlang tribe, holding various musical instruments, looked at him with anticipation and reverence.

Observing the priest's expression, Lin An approached the campfire, the flames flickering, and lit his pipe.

"Pop, pop, pop!"

Four strong local men stood up from the four corners, each holding a rope about 3.5 meters long with a short, whittled piece of wood tied to the end.

As they spun the rope in a circle, the wood and the wind produced a wonderful reaction, filling the air with an indescribable primal sound.

Some women, carrying baskets, grabbed different colored sand and scattered it on the floor to create the initial shapes of totems.

This is an animal similar to a beaver. Legend has it that after the land was washed away by a flood, the muskrat took clay from the back of the earth god at the bottom of the sea to reshape the land, and then married the sun god in the sky, giving the spark of wisdom to all living beings.

As the beaver's sand painting neared completion, the priest sprinkled corn pollen on its face and then in four directions. The tribespeople caught the powder with their hands and applied it near their lower lips.

Lin An also dipped his fingertip in the pollen, which had a faint sweet smell. Traditional Chinese medicine sometimes uses it in medicine to benefit the liver and gallbladder or relieve fatigue.

Some members of the tribe played music, while others sang hymns. They used their songs to give thanks for the blessings of nature—thanking the mountains; the trees, shrubs, grass, and flowers; the sunshine, moonlight, and starlight; the clouds, rain, snow, rivers, and the fruits of the fields.

Perhaps, if all the stories of indigenous religions were written down, it would fill a book thicker than the Supreme Book. Hymns and prayers detail the relationship between gods, nature, and humanity, but they can only remain in fleeting fire sculptures and sand paintings.

However, no gods appeared this time.

The "images" of the Yellow Sand tribe, which allow the wind to scatter the sand and gravel.

The members of the Xunlang tribe looked at the sand painting with disappointment until it disappeared. The atmosphere was gloomy, and Little Canine Tooth's eyes grew even darker.

Lin An hesitated for a moment, then stood up, drawing all eyes to him.

Energy flowed into the wand, creating a gust of air that made the campfire flicker violently and caused withered leaves to swirl and fly up.

Under Lin An's control, the leaves formed an upward staircase.

His sleeves fluttered as he stepped on the light, floating leaves, circling the crackling fire, and gradually walked into the air.

His body was relaxed, his knees slightly bent, and with each step forward, the fallen leaves would just touch his feet, making it look like an illusion of dancing in the clouds.

The pipe burned, and the smoke obscured Lin An's eyes. When he was some distance away from the tribespeople, he waved his hand slightly, and the flames of tobacco ash ignited the gathered dry leaves. The bright light seemed to add the outline of a holly tree to the campfire.

In an instant, a dazzling display of lights stretched towards the endless sky, illuminating the shocked expressions on everyone's faces.

The pale purple sunrise paled in comparison to the miracle of the flames.

Finally, Lin An stopped atop the sky full of sparks, and everyone had to crane their necks to see him.

"Two-legged creatures, take courage! My strength will become your strength, and you need this strength too. A beautiful nation will soon roam the earth!"

These are the dance steps and conversation techniques that Lin An learned from observing for a day.

No matter what he says, the syllables that come out of his mouth will turn into the sound of wind that can only be understood but not explained, as if it is blowing from all directions, buzzing.

Brother Lu, I was awesome, right?

Stop being a riddle reader! Give me a hint!

The Xunlang tribe stared blankly at the young man. After a long while, they burst into enthusiastic cheers, rallied their spirits, and played their instruments with even greater vigor. They gathered around the huge bonfire with Lin An at the center, shouting continuously.

"White Mist Clan, guide my way! Lord Shenmi, walk with me!"

Not far away, Little Canine Tooth held a feather stick and stared intently at the young man in the air. His voice and dance steps echoed in her mind, lingering for a long time, and she couldn't help but murmur to herself.

"Could he really be a god?"

The sand painting ritual came to a perfect end. The priest told Lin An that they would climb the cliff the next day to find the two great gods who had created the world together—the Thunderbird and the Coyote.

The winter night fell quickly. Without any means of telling time, Lin An wandered aimlessly. Beside a stream, he saw Little Canine Tooth all alone.

Hearing footsteps, the young girl in the tree lowered her head, her long hair slipping down her shoulders.

“Lin An, you are a very good sun dancer. Now if you tell me again that you came from nature, I am willing to believe it.”

“Everyone has long accepted my identity, except for you.” Lin An smiled slightly. “In a sense, that dance was performed just for you.”

Little Canine Tooth's youthful face flushed, and he moved aside to make room for Lin An to climb on.

The wand stirred up a gust of air, and Lin An landed lightly on the treetop. Even though Little Fang was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but widen his dark eyes.

"Your witchcraft is real! It's not a staged performance using technology!"

“After all, I am the incarnation of the god Mi.” Lin An smiled. “Little Fang, I need your honesty.”

Locals are quicker to accept the mysterious than most city dwellers. The girl bit her lip with her sharp teeth, remained silent for a long time, and looked slightly confused.

"What do you want to know?"

What's the deal with the company you mentioned during the day?

The little dog looked around carefully and then cautiously pulled out a cell phone from its pocket.

The contrast between the ancient and the modern left Lin An feeling surrounded by a sense of unreality and absurdity.

This is a brick-like phone similar to Nokia, but its hardware has been specially modified so that it can receive signals in deep mountains and forests and can be charged by solar power.

Lin An assumed that wherever there were mystics, there would be St. Anne-Lov. However, the logo on the back of the phone was not the "Tree of Life," but rather the outline of a familiar city.

The blurry letters read: Zion.

Xiaoqiang said, "About half a year ago, people from the 'Wood Group' approached me, hoping that I would become a guarantor for a company to develop a tourism project in the Xunlang Tribe."

(End of this chapter)