After a century of worship, I became the ancestor of the tribe.

Chapter 1 Temples and Shrines

The Blazing Flame Section.

The rain keeps falling.

Today is the thirty-third day.

The torrential rain finally subsided a bit.

Chief Huotang gazed at the white expanse of sky and earth with a worried expression. He sighed and said, "While the floodwaters are still low, Ashan, you should go out and hunt wild beasts again. Take the young people from the tribe with you; they need to gain some experience."

The mountainside was dotted with caves, and with a shout, hundreds of figures emerged from the caves, leaping like monkeys towards the direction of the flood.

The floodwaters surged and crashed against the rocks, the murky surface of which was covered with vegetation.

The figures that rushed out were as strong as black bears, leaping several meters in a single bound, darting back and forth on the rocks exposed in the floodwaters, searching for prey washed out by the flash flood.

"Pfft!"

"Ah Chan was swallowed by the flood!"

Suddenly, among the many bear-like figures, a relatively small figure was swept away by the waves.

"Gululu..."

"Cough cough..."

"I was working overtime, how could I have choked on water?"

The thought popped into Shen Can's mind, and then he felt a sharp pain in his head as a flood of memories that did not belong to him rushed in.

Then I felt myself being grabbed by a large hand and pulled out of the water.

……

A month later.

"This rain is never going to stop."

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Shen Can stared blankly at the torrential rain, as if the Milky Way in the sky had burst its banks, and the world before his eyes was a vast expanse of white.

Through the rain curtain, one could still see tribal warriors appearing at the edge of the flood, salvaging logs and other items that had been washed out.

In this situation, only martial artists can protect themselves; the younger generation who are not martial artists have long since hidden in caves.

The rain kept falling, and the atmosphere was really unpleasant.

Besides making people feel very uneasy, it also makes them feel sticky and uncomfortable all over.

After a month, he was still somewhat dazed that he had come to the Great Wilderness.

This is a vast and boundless, primitive world, plagued by constant natural disasters and teeming with monstrous beasts.

Just like this torrential rain that has lasted for more than sixty days, the rolling mountain torrents have never stopped, and the roars of beasts like thunder can be heard from time to time in the deep mountains in the distance.

Without martial arts, it would be extremely difficult to survive in such an environment.

Shen Can touched his strong abs, never expecting that even a tall man of 1.83 meters could be so weak.

The Blazing Flame Tribe practices the Kui Bull Fist. The tribe members eat meat and practice fist fiercely, and they all grow up to be as big as calves. However, he was a step slower in growing.

He's only 1.83 meters tall.

Ah Yu could take on ten of him.

Ah Yu was his childhood playmate, who was only 2.3 meters tall.

Over the course of the past month, Shen Can has not gone to the floodwaters to retrieve prey again, for fear of troubling his tribesmen to retrieve him again.

He sighed, turned and walked into the cave. A piece of animal meat was roasting over the campfire, but the aroma of the meat did not arouse his appetite in the slightest.

But you still need to eat when you're hungry.

Shen Can took out a jar, pinched out a pinch of fine salt, and sprinkled it onto the meat.

He hadn't expected that a tribe with such a primitive and wild feel would have fine salt.

When Shen Can first saw that the tribe had fine salt, he felt like he had lost a fortune, and his chance to make a name for himself was gone.

As he gnawed on the roasted meat, finding it tasteless, his gaze wandered, his thoughts drifting to the heavens.

"If it were my past life... Mongolian brothers wouldn't do, I've had enough meat. Eating some Xinjiang people would be good, the temperature difference between day and night is big, and they're high in sugar, so they'd be like dessert. Guangdong folks would also be fine, drinking soup every day would be very nourishing. Shandong people are a must, with a bit of scallion flavor. Shanxi folks, with a bit of vinegar flavor. Friends from Sichuan and Chongqing, with enough spiciness... Xiangxi... Xiangxi won't do, I can't eat takeout... Yunnan..."

Before long, Shen Can, who was smacking his lips and imagining the scene of brothers being one big family, was suddenly awakened.

Like a bear, Ah Yu walked into the cave.

"Brother Can, Uncle Volcano asked me to call you to the Ancestral Temple."

What are we going to the ancestral temple for?

Shen Can hesitated. Could it be that he had been caught slacking off?
I haven't done anything for the past month; I've just been eating and sleeping all day.

……

The ancestral temple is located in the center of the tribe, surrounded by many caves.

At this moment, inside the spacious cave of the ancestral temple, a wet, cracked mountain Kui was tightly bound with vines, having just been pulled out of the flash flood.

Offering sacrifices to ancestors after a hunt is a tradition passed down through the tribe. Moreover, the sacrificial animals must be taken by the temple shrine chief to extract the blood, flesh, and bones before the game can be divided and distributed among the tribe members.

However, due to the recent continuous heavy rains, hunting teams can only retrieve prey from the floodwaters, making it difficult to catch live prey.

Volcano, the leader of the hunting party that brought the prey, didn't leave. Instead, he chatted with the temple guardian.

“Uncle, didn’t you say a long time ago that you were not in good health and needed someone to carry on the ancestral temple’s lineage? What do you think about letting Ah-Can follow you?”

“This child is a bit frail. He couldn’t keep up with the hunting party on the last few hunting trips. This time he almost drowned. We thought he wouldn’t survive.”

"Such a frail body would hardly withstand the impact of beast blood even if it were soaked in it. Going hunting with you again would be too dangerous. Why don't you just help me sweep the ancestral temple? I hope the ancestors won't blame us."

Huo Xian rubbed a grayish-brown herb in his hand and replied without turning his head, "They are all children of our own tribe. How could our ancestors blame us?"

“I’m really getting old. The temple can’t be left without someone to carry on the tradition. If Ah-chan agrees, he can come with me. The hunting team doesn’t need another one of him.”

Upon hearing this, Huoshan hesitated for a moment. Becoming a temple deity meant that he would never be able to leave the tribe and would have to clean and sweep the ancestral temple every day, living a repetitive life.

The younger generation of the tribe are hot-tempered and unwilling to guard the ancestral temple. They prefer to go out hunting in the wilderness, where they can show their bravery and get to hug big-butt women.

He had tried to talk to A-Can about it before, but A-Can had always stubbornly refused.

Shen Can arrived at the cave where the ancestral temple was located. Before he even entered, he heard the roar of beasts, followed by the call of the volcano.

"You two, come in quickly."

"Ah-Can, does your head still hurt?"

After seeing the two of them approach, Volcano's gaze fell on Shen Can.

"It's much better."

Shen Can spoke, bowed to the temple's fire god, and obediently called him "Master".

There was no other way; everyone in the tribe, including the middle-aged cultivators like the one from the volcano, had eaten the secret medicinal dumplings made by Huoyan.

As soon as he entered the cave, he saw the tall, vigorous old man, and compared him to the one in his memory. Then came a long memory of being stuffed with pills.

“Ah Can, Uncle Huo Xian is getting old, and the ancestral temple can’t be short-handed. Why don’t you come and help Uncle Huo Xian take care of the ancestral temple?”

"To guard the ancestral temple?"

Shen Can was taken aback. The memories he had merged with told him that the ancestral temple was the spiritual home of the tribe and a sacred place in the hearts of all its people.

Of course, he used to be very resistant to guarding the ancestral temple, as that would only trap him.

But now...

"I am willing to protect the ancestral temple."

After hesitating for a moment, Shen Can agreed.

There was no other way; the merged memories told him that the Great Wilderness was too dangerous.

With his physique, he could easily die out hunting.

Uncle Shan asked him to come to the ancestral temple to follow Old Master Huo Xian, which was clearly an act of protection for him.

Don't do things that are suicidal.

They went out to deliver food instead of hunting, and they also became a burden to other members of the tribe.

Taking care of the ancestral temple isn't exactly doing nothing.

Huoshan was somewhat surprised to see Shen Can agree; he had thought Shen Can would refuse again.

It seems they've grown stronger after being flooded this time.

"Uncle, everyone is impatient. Let's finish offerings to our ancestors and quickly distribute the meat."

Huo Xian nodded as he looked at the tribesmen approaching from outside the cave. "A-Can, come here."

Shen Can quickly agreed, straightened his disheveled robe, and walked towards Huo Xian.

The ancestral temple cave is very deep, and at the end there are rows of wooden shrines, which do not seem to have much of a sacred feel to them.

But as he got closer, Shen Can still felt a sense of solemnity for no apparent reason.

A wooden shelf beside the altar held a knife, a bronze vessel, and other bronze artifacts.

The handle of the knife is raised into a hollow spherical shape, containing a copper ball, which makes a crisp bell sound when held in the hand.

This is the special phoenix knife used when offering meat to ancestors.

The bronze vessel was covered in black lacquer and shaped like a three-legged cauldron, its surface having long since dried up countless drops of beast blood.

At this moment, Huo Xian, with his back to Shen Can, grabbed the Luan Blade and asked, "You dare to preside over this time?"

　P.S.: 守祧 (tiāo)

　　Duties: Dedicated to guarding imperial ancestral temples, responsible for the safekeeping of sacrificial objects, temple repairs, and preparation of sacrificial rites.

　　The "Spring Official" section of the Rites of Zhou states that "the Guardian of the Temple" is in charge of guarding the ancestral temples of the former kings and dukes. This was a hereditary official position that had to be held by direct descendants of the clan.

　　The ancestral temple symbolizes the orthodoxy of bloodline, and the guardians of the temple hold a lofty position, comparable to "living historians."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)