Chapter 52: Chapter 23: Half an Ironwood Ship for Each Tribe!

With Shen Can utilizing Witch Power, only the Witch Runes on the Ring-Headed Saber lit up, without triggering any external energy.

Clearly, this saber is of a lower grade than the previous broken saber, probably a Tier Two Witch Weapon.

The role of the Witch Runes is to make the saber sharper and more durable.

“Uncle Huo Shan, it’s just right for you.”

Saying that, Shen Can tossed the saber to Huo Shan, while other nearby tribesmen showed eager expressions one by one.

“Don’t rush, keep searching, dig deeper, with sabers there might be corpses.”

Jifu said, the Lingyu Tribe came with four to five thousand people, even if it’s a small-sized Ironwood Ship, there would be hundreds of people.

Can all of them be saved?

In such a big tribe, losing a few tribesmen and leaving behind some weapons and armor, why not.

At this time, seeing Shen Can take a break, Huo Chong handed a clay pot to Shen Can.

“Master, have some water.”

Huo Chong is not one of the bodyguards but has come to learn.

And Ayu, he is responsible for carrying water and food for Shen Can.

During the days of entering the Ancestral Temple, Huo Chong worked very diligently, without any laziness or trickery.

But despite Huo Chong’s feeling towards Witch Runes, his cultivation in the realm of Witch Rune meaning is still extremely slow.

Shen Can is anxious but has no way, currently within the clan there’s only this lone seedling, he wants to let go in Witchcraft but has no choice.

Otherwise, today’s work should have been done by Huo Chong.

Looking at his apprentice serving him like a master, Shen Can sighed, well, loyalty, who needs a little genius.

Wait until extracting the basics of Witchcraft from Jifu’s mouth, then slowly select and cultivate talented tribesmen.

After continuously digging out fragmented pieces, they unearthed a Witch Blade, boosting everyone’s morale.

It’s something Shen Can couldn’t quite understand.

How come the fragmentation is so severe, the Upper Lingyu Division’s shipbuilding craftsmanship shouldn’t be this poor.

Isn’t there a fleet, how can they watch their Ironwood Ship break into pieces.

Could it be, the Ironwood Ship was hit in a short time, leaving others no chance to rescue.

Below the pit, Huo Shan, transforming into humanoid wild boar form, almost pressed his nose to the ground, directly flipping a piece of earth and stone upward.

“Found it!”

Soon, a skeleton was dug out from the mud.

It wore a black fish-scale pattern leather armor, adorned with metallic components, with a vague Lingyu Beast Pattern formed on the chest.

“A good thing, it’s far better than the leather armor our tribe makes.”

“Why do I feel the pattern is still alive.”

Finding a complete set of armor is elating, the group gathered around to observe the armor, still, Huo Shan scolded them away.

…

In the blink of an eye, a month passed, the found items piled into a small hill.

They found a total of one hundred and thirty arrows, all with Witch Runes-embedded wooden shafts and metal arrowheads.

Even buried in mud for a long time, the arrow shafts remained intact.

Seven bows, seventeen Witch Blades.

Only three sets of leather armor, including the one found at the very beginning.

Over three hundred fragments of the Ironwood Ship, only seven of which are over one yard long, the rest are mostly under one foot, even some not bigger than a palm.

This level of fragmentation, no wonder the Upper Huang Division didn’t excavate, with varying mud thickness, locating the fragments is not easy.

As for armor, it’s worn on the body, thinking the Lingyu Tribe would have fished out the skeletons.

The three skeletons found should be considered unlucky ones, not retrieved by their kind.

The sprawling area of a sunken ship is too large, busy for a month, now Shen Can feels he’s been drained dry.

Besides, while the three skeletons had some fragmented items, they didn’t have the desired Martial Arts Technique.

“If there’s a chance in the future, it’s better to turn this area over completely.”

Shen Can murmured while sitting under the shade, but thought, maybe by then, he wouldn’t need to dig for these scraps anymore.

“Acan, the clan leader is here.”

Shen Can looked up, a figure all blackened, with branches stuck on his body, approached from afar.

At first glance, it was hard to believe this was the Clan Leader of the Blazing Flame Tribe.

“Haha, Acan, how’s my disguise? Hiding in the Upper Huang Division’s mining zone for two months without being discovered.”

For Shen Can’s surprise, Huo Chang licked his parched lips, smilingly said, “How is your harvest?”

“Give the clan leader some water.”

Shen Can beckoned his companion Ayu to pass the water pot to Huo Chang.

While Huo Chang drank, Shen Can recounted the harvest of the period.

“Quite a lot unearthed here.”

“Clan Leader, why have you returned? Is there some new discovery?”

“Damn, how is Upper Huang so lucky to have found most of the skeleton of the Ironwood Ship.”

“They’re refining crude iron day and night, probably to go to the Copper Shell Ruins Market. I guess it’s mostly related to the Ironwood Ship they excavated.”

Shen Can nodded, no wonder Upper Huang Division isn’t continuing their excavation here.

Without witchcraft, finding things in such a vast area is like searching for a needle in a haystack, and they would even have to expand their excavation area. Too few people are ineffective.

This means they’ve found a new method.

“Once they have this Ironwood Ship, they can barter through the Great River, acquiring more resources from outside.”

For most tribes, hunting, gathering, and farming are all self-sufficient, but this also means they lack the potential for external development.

“Did they find witchcraft and martial arts through the Ironwood Ship remnants?”

“I hid inside the mine and eavesdropped on the martial artists guarding the mine; they don’t know the core secrets of Upper Huang Division.

The conversations of these guard martial artists were all about refining crude iron, nothing about martial arts. However, they mentioned the Ancestral Temple Keeper of Upper Huang Division recruited a youth into the ancestral temple.

As for the Ironwood Ship remnants, the guard martial artists said they’d seen a broken ship being brought to the tribe.”

“Are you sure it was a ruptured ship?” Shen Can asked in detail, “It’s not a whole ship broken into pieces, being transported segment by segment that ordinary martial artists wouldn’t know about, right?”

“I’ve listened to their chats for so many days. Concerning the shipwreck, they mentioned it five or six times, indeed saying it lost a large section of the bow with only half the hull.”

After hearing Huo Chang’s words, Shen Can couldn’t help but get up and look around.

If the information is accurate, it proves there is still a section of bow skeleton in the wild mountainous forest.

“Acan, I’m still worried that after Upper Huang Division repairs their Ironwood Ship, they might migrate to the Great Marsh.”

Ever since Huo Chang considered migrating the tribe, he has been concerned about this matter.

The Blazing Flame Tribe’s migration to the Great Marsh was advantageous due to the Witch Medicine Anesthetic Powder aiding the hunting of fierce beasts in the water.

Now, Upper Huang Division has the Ironwood Ship, which facilitates entry into the Great Marsh.

“Clan Leader, it’s also possible this fractured bow has completely disintegrated.”

Saying this, Shen Can rose and walked towards a newly opened cave; fragments found in recent days were hidden here.

In the cave, he carefully examined the gathered fragments.

“Acan, what are you checking?”

“Clan Leader, although we haven’t built ships, we know the hull and keel are differently constituted.”

Shen Can thoroughly inspected the collected fragments.

“All these fragments are of a broken hull; see, their thickness is uniform, and there are no fragments of keel structures, indicating the bow has not shattered into debris, truly possible it’s nearby.”

“Then let’s search; Upper Huang Division has half a hull, we need ours too.”

After resting for a night, Huo Chang once again headed toward Upper Huang Division.

Meanwhile, Shen Can also began to expand the search area, aiming to find the main body of the fractured bow.

…

“Buzz!”

That day, nearing dusk, outside the Sunken Ship Hills area.

This area also had pits excavated by Upper Huang Division, but far fewer in number compared to the Sunken Ship Hills.

Spiritual Response Technique reactions here were minimal; after several days’ digging, only a few broken fragments were found.

“Buzz!”

At this moment, when a colorful mist dispersed, it quickly sank and vanished.

“I’ll dig, everyone prepare to rest in the cave.”

Seeing movement, Huo Shan signaled to the surrounding tribe members relying on luck to dig, asking them to rest as he dug into the soil.

Shen Can also prepared to rest; performing the Spiritual Response Technique aids witchcraft training, but it’s exceptionally exhausting when busy.

Just as he returned to the Sunken Ship Hills, footsteps sounded behind him, turning back to see Huo Shan running toward him excitedly.

“Acan, quickly… big… big ship.”

…

After clearing thick soil, a nine-zhang-three-chich long, thirteen-zhang wide ruptured ship body revealed its true form.

Through the rupture, horizontal keel resembling fish fins could still be seen.

The main keel fracture position bore signs of fierce impact.

Why is the width greater than the length? Mainly because it’s a section of bow.

As it’s the bow, the deck housed a giant crossbow two-zhang in size.

There were three layers in total, the lowest layer being the bottom deck compartment divided by longitudinal, transversal fishbone keels.

Outside the ship’s bottom, it was wrapped in a layer engraved with Witch Runes iron plate.

“Acan, there are several skeletons here.”

“Quickly clean them out, we’ll return to the tribe immediately. Deciding whether to continue excavating can wait.”

Looking at the densely packed winding Witch Runes on the outer iron sheet, inner crisscross keels, and other areas, Shen Can immediately made a decision.

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