Ancestral Temple.

The middle-aged man faced Shen Can, yet his gaze seemed somewhat vacant.

“Yes.”

Shen Can nodded.

As the Ancestral Temple Keeper, he should also be considered a Temple Guardian, right?

Both the Sacrificial Spirit and the news obtained from Ji Land have mentioned that during large-scale sacrifices such as a tribal ascension, if the tribe’s opportunity is sufficient, it can summon the lingering spirit remnants of Human Race ancestors residing in the mountains and forests.

The figure before him resembled mist and smoke, ethereal as if a mere gust could disperse it.

One person and one soul silently gazed at each other for a long time, the middle-aged man seemingly frozen in place.

If not for his Divine Sense being able to sense the fluctuation of soul power, Shen Can would have thought the scene was a mirage.

In such a situation, Shen Can now understood.

This was because the remnant soul was too fragmented, and merely being able to ask him a question might have been a fleeting return of consciousness or perhaps a default response to meeting someone.

Seeing this, Shen Can quickly took the beast blood from the Blood Vase, selected a copper vessel, and began to inscribe a Witch Talisman on it.

As the blood-colored Witch Talisman shimmered with a blood glow on the copper vessel’s surface, the frozen middle-aged phantom indeed showed fluctuations, lifting his head once more towards Shen Can.

“Are you the Temple Guardian?”

“Has the Shan’s North Expedition begun?”

Hearing this, Shen Can was taken aback.

The Shan’s North Expedition, that was eight thousand years ago.

This remnant soul originated from eight thousand years ago!

At this moment, fluctuations appeared on the middle-aged remnant soul, evidently indicating that the Shan’s North Expedition was a crucial part of his life, so deeply ingrained that even as a remnant soul, it remained instinctive.

Shen Can hesitated for a moment, then said, “The Yongshan Bo Division was wiped out eight thousand years ago.”

Instantly, the eyes of the middle-aged remnant soul opened widely, emitting an unmatched sharpness that caused the sacrificial artifacts in the Ancestral Temple to hum in unison.

One by one, the dormant remnant souls were awakened by this sharpness, the humming of sacrificial artifacts resonating inside and outside the Ancestral Temple.

After sending off the various clan leaders’ Huo Chang, he quickly returned to the Ancestral Temple.

“Acan?”

At the entrance of the Ancestral Temple, just about to speak, Huo Chang saw the suspended remnant shadow, and the words he was about to utter instantly became inaudible.

Shen Can gestured for silence, nodding towards Huo Chang.

“Eight thousand years have passed.”

The middle-aged man lowered his head, the once vacant eyes now burgeoning with black, increasingly resembling the normal black eyes of the Human Race.

“Yongshan is gone.”

“Senior, according to the passed-down clan records, Yongshan Bo Division back then pushed northward all the way to the Giant Mountain Range, which is where our Blazing Flame Division stands today.”

After a few breaths, the middle-aged man sighed, his tone tinged with regret.

“So it wasn’t Yongshan who failed the promise; it was I who failed.”

“Why am I still lingering here?”

“I came by the order of Dai Bo to Yongyi for aid, the Dai Land Ant forces were overwhelming, attacking various divisions… Three generations of Dai Bo fell in a hundred years… If Yongyi could have crossed Giant Peak Mountain to strike northwards at the Earth Ants, the Human Race of Dai and Yong lands would have merged into one.”

“… Eight thousand years… too late, too late…”

The middle-aged man spoke to himself, momentarily forgetting the presence of Shen Can and Huo Chang, his tone growing increasingly wistful.

“Yongshan is gone, does Dai Land still exist?”

…

“North of the Giant Mountain Range.”

Shen Can and Huo Chang exchanged glances, now certain of the origins of this Human Race ancestor’s remnant soul.

The Giant Mountain Range stood lofty and boundless, and according to the legends of Yongyi, the Shan’s North Expedition led by Yongshan Bo Division had also halted due to the barrier of the Giant Mountain Range.

The person before them actually hailed from north of Giant Mountain.

How did he cross over?

The Giant Mountain Range is not merely a mountain akin to an insurmountable chasm but rather a series of high peaks spanning north to south, its breadth unknown, and dangers within immeasurable.

From its inception, the Blazing Flame Tribe set its goal southward, never considering the direction north of the Giant Mountain Range.

Seeing the middle-aged man sinking into self-reproach, his already unstable soul shadow trembling more intensely, Shen Can hurriedly approached with the copper vessel inscribed with runes.

With the Beast Blood Witch Talisman serving as a medium, the middle-aged man’s soul shadow slightly twisted, merging into the copper vessel.

“I’ll go catch a Wild Beast.”

Huo Chang turned away towards the outside of the Ancestral Temple.

Before long, he brought a Mountain-Splitting Kui into the Ancestral Temple, and Shen Can quickly grasped its ear to start drawing the Witch Talisman.

With fresh beast blood, he swiftly smeared it onto the copper vessel; each drop of beast blood infused with Witch Light seeped into the copper vessel.

Feeling the middle-aged man within the copper vessel absorbing the energy from the blood, Shen Can accelerated his inscribing speed, nearly exhausting the beast blood held in the Blood Vase, and finally, the ethereal soul shadow of the middle-aged man barely stabilized.

“The Great Sacrifice summoned this yesterday.”

After a while, Shen Can explained the origins of the middle-aged man to Huo Chang.

“I’ve heard that the Jishan Bo Division of Ji Land inherited for eight thousand years, and the founder of the Jishan Bo Division once went north with the Yongshan Bo Division in the past.”

Huo Chang felt a sense of awe, “Eight thousand years is such a long stretch of time.”

Shen Can’s Divine Sense remained on the copper vessel, not withdrawn.

In the Ancestral Temple right now, besides the countless composite remnant souls forming Sacrificial Spirits within the Sacrificial Tripod Cauldron, there was now an additional, relatively independent Sacrificial Spirit.

One, now acting purely on instinct, occasionally muttering fragmented Cultivation Methods.

One, with an unstable soul body, with thoughts continuously fragmenting.

Observing for a long while, and noticing that the two independent Sacrificial Spirits were relatively stable, only then did Shen Can retract his Divine Sense.

“Clan Leader, have all the tribal leaders been sent off?”

“They’ve all left.” Huo Chang nodded, “I also told them to be prepared for a drought; the weather is getting hotter, and I’m afraid there won’t be a cold season this year.”

“I hope this drought won’t last too long.”

Though he said this, Huo Chang felt uncertain within.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep