Chapter Forty-Four: Secrets of the Wilderness—Are the Demon Clan and the Mysterious Sect One Family (?)

Tang was six hundred and eighty-two years old this year. Her tribe had long followed a tribe of Shamans, living and migrating with them since her childhood. Because of her innate supernatural abilities, an elder of the Shaman tribe had given her this great bone club, said to have been forged from the thigh bone of some monster.

If not for the fact that she was human, lacking the bloodline and constitution of the Shamans, that tribe might have taught her the unique cultivation methods of their people.

This particular Shaman tribe was not well-known across the primordial wilderness and was relatively small. Precisely because of this, they were defeated by a rival demon tribe; their chieftain and three elders fell in battle, and the whole tribe scattered and fled. Tang had been escaping with one of the Shamans, but that Shaman had stayed behind to buy them time, and now their fate was unknown.

This Shaman tribe was called Heat.

Their adversaries, the demon tribe, were called Vengeance Pheasant.

“How far are they from here?” This was Zu’s main concern.

“Thirty-eight thousand paces,” Tang replied.

Zu was startled by this answer but then wondered if their units of measurement might differ somewhat from his own.

“From where to where is your ‘pace’?” Zu pointed to a nearby hill and gestured a few times.

Tang thought for a moment and answered, “From there to here.”

She followed his finger, estimating the distance to be about three hundred meters, roughly one hundred chi. So, the Shaman tribe was about three million eight hundred thousand chi away, which would translate to over ten thousand kilometers.

That was rather close.

Zu felt a flutter of anxiety. He hadn’t expected such formidable Shaman and demon tribes to be within a radius of twenty thousand li.

Judging by the giant ape from earlier and Tang’s account, these two tribes were likely not weak. The two demon tribes Zu had previously defeated could hardly even be called tribes in comparison; they were mere beasts.

“Are you planning to return with us, or will you keep fleeing?” Zu asked after a moment’s silence.

Tang smiled, her expression bright and radiant. Her sun-kissed skin, unmarked thanks to her supernatural gifts, and her ample chest, only wrapped with a straw mat Zu had given her, drew the unblinking gazes of both men and women in the tribe with every word she spoke.

“She could nurse eighteen children,” Ironhead muttered, his tone dopey.

He was immediately silenced by a sharp look from Zu and could only bow his head sheepishly, not daring to speak further.

Tang paid no mind to the stares, sitting casually as she replied with a carefree air, “We’re afraid we can’t go back with you. Each of us bears the scent-mark of the Vengeance Pheasant demon tribe. If they have any strength to spare, they’ll certainly send people to hunt us down.”

“I only hope you’ll help us heal our wounds and let us rest for a while. That’s all we ask.”

As for provisions, given the formidable nature of this woman, with her leading these humans, unless they encountered those great beasts, they would never lack for food.

“I can also share with you knowledge of Shamans and demons,” she added.

Zu nodded. “Agreed.”

“By the way, I’d like to know: how far is it from here to Buzhou Mountain, and where in the primordial wilderness are we?” Zu finally voiced the question that had long lingered in his mind.

He had harbored this question for quite some time, but unfortunately, there had never been anyone who could answer it.

Tang was taken aback, then replied, “Buzhou Mountain… I don’t know exactly how far. Probably many, many billions of paces.”

Seeing her uncertainty, Zu worried that her unit of measurement might not be “paces” at all, but perhaps light-years.

Though that seemed a bit exaggerated too—if it were truly so distant, how had the second generation of humans managed to traverse mountains and seas to reach this place?

Could it be they all possessed the power to shrink distances at will?

Well, it wasn’t impossible, Zu mused.

“As for where we are,” Tang continued, “this land is governed by the Great Shaman Hou Yi, in the domain of Great Yi Township.”

“Hou Yi? Great Shaman? Great Yi Township?” Zu wore a suitably puzzled expression.

Tang proceeded to explain the “common knowledge” of the primordial world to Zu and the others.

“In ancient times, the Shamans and demons fought a great war. In the end, neither side prevailed, so they agreed that the demons would rule the heavens, and the Shamans would rule the earth, maintaining peace.”

“The demons divided the heavens into three hundred and sixty-five star realms, each governed by a demon god. The Shamans divided the earth into twelve ancestral domains, each ruled by an Ancestral Shaman. Below the ancestral domains are townships, each overseen by a Great Shaman serving under an Ancestral Shaman. We are presently in the Great Yi Township under the domain of the Earth Mother Ancestral Shaman.”

“If the demons rule the heavens, why are there so many of them on earth?” Ironhead asked.

“Because they too are born and raised upon this land,” Tang replied with a resigned sigh.

“What exactly are Great Shamans, Ancestral Shamans, and what are demon gods?” Zu steered the conversation back on course.

Tang considered for a moment before answering, “The Ancestral Shamans are the leaders of the Shamans and the source of their bloodline. They are extremely powerful—some say they rival the Mother Goddess herself.”

For humans, the Mother Goddess was, of course, Lady Nuwa.

Zu was not sure how valid this comparison was. After all, Lady Nuwa, having crafted humans from clay and achieved enlightenment, was now a saint. In this primordial world, the concept of sainthood was still abstract—no saint had yet acted openly—but the Ancestral Shamans had fought the demon emperor and demon gods in many epic battles, scenes etched into the collective memory.

Of course, perhaps the Ancestral Shamans truly could rival Lady Nuwa—Zu himself was unsure what kind of primordial world this truly was.

“And the Great Shamans?” he pressed.

“The Ancestral Shamans created the cultivation methods of the Shamans, enabling ordinary Shamans to become as powerful as the Ancestral Shamans. The Great Shaman is a stage in this cultivation, likely the highest stage. The chief elder once said that the Great Shaman Hou Yi is the most powerful among the Great Shamans, nearly equal to the Ancestral Shamans,” Tang explained.

“If this is a progression, then there must be other stages. Do the demons have corresponding ranks as well? I’ve heard of False Immortal, True Immortal, and Heavenly Immortal—what do those mean?” Zu fired off three questions in a row.

Tang looked at Zu in surprise; she hadn’t expected someone living in these “desolate” mountains to know so much.

She then answered, “The cultivation levels for Shamans are: Shaman Folk, Shaman Priest, Earth Shaman, Sky Shaman, Great Shaman, and Ancestral Shaman.”

Without waiting for further questions, she continued, “The demons don’t have their own rank system—they borrowed the Daoist immortal ranks, said to have been passed down by a great being named Hongjun: True Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Profound Immortal, Golden Immortal, Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and Great Luo Golden Immortal.”

“Later, as more ordinary beings appeared, a new rank called False Immortal was added.”

“The elder also said that the demons and the Daoists are one family, which is why they use the same cultivation system.”