"You… you…" Before the dilapidated wooden hut, the village chief gaped at Yang Kai, his lips opening and closing, his murky eyes brimming with shock, unable to form a coherent sentence.
After only one night apart, he discovered that Ah Niu had become a true Shamanic Apprentice!
A Shamanic Apprentice!
He had toiled his entire life and was still only a Shamanic Apprentice himself, yet Ah Niu had accomplished the same thing in a single night. Compared to that, his own lifetime of effort seemed as pointless as a dog's.
Through his senses, he could feel that the vital energy and blood within Yang Kai's body was extremely vigorous. The power of the Shaman swirled around his skin, and he seemed at least twice as strong as the chief himself.
"Village Chief, time is short — let's skip the pleasantries. Whatever techniques you have, teach them to me quickly." Yang Kai strode straight into the chief's hut.
He had been in this village for three days already, with only two days left to make use of. He naturally had to seize every moment.
The chief froze for a moment, then followed him inside without protest.
The morning passed with the two of them deep in instruction.
The chief not only taught Yang Kai the few Shamanic techniques he knew but also explained the hierarchy of Shamanic power. The previous day, Yang Kai had only just awakened the power of the Shaman and earned the recognition of the Barbaric God — strictly speaking, he hadn't yet been a true Shaman. But today, he was a genuine Shamanic Apprentice, the entry-level rank of the Shamanic path.
Above the Shamanic Apprentice rank, there was the Shamanic Warrior, then the Shamanic Master, the Grand Shamanic Master, the Shaman King, the Shaman Saint, and at the pinnacle — the Shaman God!
Each rank was further divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers.
For instance, the village chief was a middle-tier Shamanic Apprentice. And Yang Kai now was a bona fide high-tier Shamanic Apprentice, one sub-tier above the chief, just one step away from promotion to Shamanic Warrior. Once he became a Shamanic Warrior, he could learn far more powerful Shamanic techniques — though sadly, the chief himself didn't know any, so he naturally couldn't teach them.
According to the chief, among all the ranks, the most powerful — the Shaman God — was nothing more than legend. None had appeared in many years. There were a few Shaman Saints, but they all presided over the most powerful tribes.
As for Cangnan Village, it belonged to the Southern Barbaric Tribe. The strongest Shaman within the tribe was only a Shaman King — an entire major rank below a Shaman Saint.
Through a full morning of instruction, Yang Kai not only learned many more ancient characters but also gained a far deeper understanding of this ancient world.
That was secondary, however. The most important thing was that Yang Kai had learned the Bloodlust Technique!
This counted as his first real harvest from this secret realm. The method of barbaric Shamanic Cultivation he had learned the previous day held little real value — it merely allowed him to Cultivate within this world. Once he left this secret realm, that Cultivation method would become useless. The Bloodlust Technique, on the other hand, might occasionally prove handy.
Still, the chief had noted that the Bloodlust Technique he knew was merely the lowest grade. Not only was its duration short, but its side effects were severe. The Bloodlust Techniques held by the great Shamans of the larger tribes were far superior — while they still carried side effects, they wouldn't leave a person weakened for days on end.
Of course, executing such advanced Bloodlust Techniques required formidable power to support them.
By midday, Yang Kai emerged from the chief's home.
It wasn't that Yang Kai lacked ambition — it was simply that the chief had nothing left to teach. Aside from the ancient characters, the chief had already passed on everything he had learned over his lifetime, and Yang Kai had absorbed it all in one go, leaving the chief utterly astonished.
"Come by each day for an hour to study the characters. As for Cultivation, you'll have to rely on your own efforts from now on. I have nothing left to teach you." As the chief saw Yang Kai off, his tone carried a mix of wistfulness and pride.
Though in every era the new generation inevitably replaced the old, Yang Kai's exceptional performance still made the chief feel his own inadequacy — his powerlessness.
Strained shouts and agonized cries drifted into his ears. Yang Kai was alarmed, thinking the village had come under attack once more.
He looked up and realized he had overreacted. In the open clearing at the center of the village, barbarians of all kinds were striking extremely peculiar poses — poses so embarrassing they seemed designed to shatter human dignity. Men and women alike held these positions.
Every muscle across their bodies trembled incessantly. Great beads of sweat rolled down their skin and pooled on the ground below.
Maintaining these various poses seemed to require tremendous effort. Occasionally, someone would let out a scream, yet they persisted regardless.
Yang Kai's eye was sharp enough to recognize this instantly as a body-tempering method. Intrigued, he walked over. Even without knowing what effects this approach to body tempering might produce, one only had to look at the physical constitution of the barbarians in this village to know that the technique was anything but ordinary.
"Ah Niu!" Ah Hu, who was upside-down with his hands braced against the ground, his body tensed into the shape of a bow, called out when he saw Yang Kai approaching. But the moment the words left his mouth, his expression changed violently — as though he had taken a powerful blow. His taut body sprang loose and launched him over thirty feet backward, slamming into a large tree. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
Yang Kai rushed over and helped him up. "Are you all right?"
"Fine, fine!" Ah Hu flashed a grin, reaching up to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth as though this were an everyday occurrence. "Congratulations! I heard from the chief that you've awakened the power of the Shaman?"
"By luck," Yang Kai replied with a smile.
Ah Hu shook his head. "It's not luck — it's the blessing of the Barbaric God!" He clapped Yang Kai heavily on the shoulder and said with deep earnestness, "Ah Niu, you are a Shaman. That means you're the next village chief. Cultivate well. The future of this village rests on your shoulders."