I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself

"Outside, people are saying that this is a trick by the Bi Fang, that when the Bi Fang Sealing Furnace happened, they didn’t even take the major mineral ores, leading to a drop in ore prices while the prices of Witch Weapons are rising instead."

Inside the Flame Pavilion, two Blazing Flame Clan people in their twenties were reporting news from outside to Huo Yangg.

"Pavilion Master, should we take the opportunity to collect the ore?"

"The Witch Weapons forged by our tribe aren’t bad either. Should we take this chance to bring over some batches from the tribe to sell?"

The Flame Pavilion has never sold Witch Weapons here at the Bi Fang Ruins Market, mainly because many people only recognize the Witch Weapons from the Bi Fang Bo Division.

"You two watch the shop. If someone comes in to sell ore, exchange it at the original price. I’m going to check out what’s happening."

Faced with the sudden news, Huo Yangg prepared to go out and ask around.

Having spent years at the Bi Fang Ruins Market, she had a few acquaintances.

"Sealing Furnace every two hundred years to nurture the Earth Fire."

It wasn’t long before Huo Yangg returned, dispatched a letter to the clan, and then continued to seize strategic opportunities amidst the fluctuations in ore exchanges in the city, acquiring several high-quality ores.

...

Huo Yangg’s letter swiftly made its way back to the clan division.

Upon seeing it, Huo Shan summoned Elder Huo Jia and other elders.

The Great Elder Huo Zhang was far away in the Dai Land, so clan affairs were temporarily overseen by Elder Huo Jia, who was around the same age as Huo Zhang and ascended through Celestial Vein with the Power of Sixty-Four Desolations.

After reviewing Huo Yangg’s message, Huo Jia contemplated for a moment, then said, "Clan Leader, isn’t it normal for the Bi Fang Bo Division to seal the furnace and nurture the Earth Fire?

However, with the Bi Fang Bo Division suspending their weapon and armor forging temporarily, we have the chance to sell our weapons and armor.

The Gravity Witch Hammer forged by the clan wizards achieves the same result with one strike as hundreds or thousands by a blacksmith.

Plus, with Water Element Witch Power quenching and Witchcraft suppression techniques, a single Witch Hammer Forge from our tribe produces daily outputs equivalent to hundreds of blacksmiths.

It’s just because many tribes only recognize the Bi Fang, so our weapons and armor sales haven’t been many. Now that the Bi Fang has sealed their furnace, isn’t this precisely our opportunity?

I think Huo Yangg should try to contact those tribes that have no place to forge Witch Weapons and Armor due to Bi Fang’s sealing, they can entirely come to us Blazing Flame."

Elder Huo Jia had seen the armors of the Bi Fang Bo Division and didn’t find them superior to those produced in the Witch Hammer Forge of the clan.

Instead, the clan’s armors are now integrally forged, with Witchcraft markings inside and out, as well as overlapping Beast Pattern Armor with double Witch Ban, though Tier Two, it can withstand Tier Three blows.

Such excellent items, yet the sales are few.

"Then contact Huo Yangg, and also reach out to those stationed at other ruins markets, since Bi Fang Bo Division is not selling many weapons and armor now, it will affect the weapon prices in other markets too."

After Huo Jia and the others left, Huo Shan sat idly, folding the Beast Hide paper recording the news.

After folding for a while, he got up from boredom and left, preparing to head to the barracks to train with the clan soldiers.

But just as he reached the barracks gate, Huo Shan’s spirit jolted, and then he rushed back toward the Clan Hall.

The tribe soldiers guarding the barracks gate were just about to salute when they found their Clan Leader speeding away like a released rabbit, disappearing quickly.

Back in the Clan Hall, Huo Shan quickly unfolded the Beast Hide paper he had just folded.

"Bi Fang Bo Division Sealing the Furnace."

Afterward, Huo Shan went to the lower level of the Clan Hall, where the stone shelving held various Beast Hide Scrolls and books.

Since becoming Clan Leader, he has been adapting and learning to assume the position.

The intelligence sent from Yongyi were all originals here, while those sent to Shen Can were copies.

At this moment, Huo Shan suddenly remembered that Shen Can years ago ordered to investigate intelligence about Yongyi.

At that time, they investigated the situation of various divisions, but unfortunately, the clan’s capabilities were limited, only finding out a general picture.

After taking down a pile of Beast Hide Scrolls, Huo Shan began to flip through them one by one.

Thanks to the unified Great Wilderness Characters, writing is more convenient and easy, without having to guess due to non-uniform and pictographic characters.

Half a day later, Huo Shan walked out of the hall.

"Come."

"Send a message to clan members in various ruins markets, inquire about the Exchange Conference situations in the major ruins markets of Luo, Qing, and Yu, and report back as soon as possible."

On the Clan Leader’s orders, several Cyan Simurghs quickly took off from the south of the clan land.

A month later.

Huo Shan, holding a Beast Hide Scroll in his arms, walked into the side hall of the Ancestral Temple under the moonlight.

In the hall, Shen Can sat cross-legged, contemplating the Heaven-Riding Race’s Tier Five technique.

Unfortunately, the inspiration brought by the solitary copy was limited.

"Acan, I’ve discovered an issue."

After Huo Shan entered, he handed the Beast Hide Scroll to Shen Can.

"A month ago, our clanspeople from the Bi Fang Ruins Market sent a message back, saying that the Bi Fang Bo Division was going to seal the furnace and even stopped collecting ores.

Suddenly, I remembered the information about Yongyi you had the clan collect a few years ago.

So, I went through the previous intelligence again and asked our people to investigate the situation of the exchange conferences in various Ruins Markets.

And guess what, in the major Ruins Markets in Luo, Qing, Yu, Ze, etc., not a single Tier Four exchange conference has been held recently.

These Great Ruins Markets are controlled by the major tribes behind them.

I searched through over thirty years of intelligence and found many records of related exchange conferences, basically every one or two years there would be a Tier Four exchange conference.

Yet in recent years, nobody has been holding large exchange conferences."

Shen Can opened the intelligence brought by Huo Shan. Indeed, looking at it from the perspective of exchange conferences, it was a novel approach.

Exchange conferences can be very profitable. If organized well, they can yield several times or even tenfold profits.

Suddenly not holding them anymore, it couldn’t be because they had too many resources.

"What’s the matter with Bi Fang sealing the furnace?"

"It’s publicly declared that the furnace is sealed every two hundred years to nurture the earth fire." Huo Shan spoke softly, "I didn’t think much of it at first. It wasn’t until Acan that you had the clan investigate the news of Yongyi a few years ago, that I started feeling something was off."

"Nurturing earth fire?"

Shen Can recalled the fire dragons of the Bi Fang Bo Division back then, which were intensely blazing in his perception.

However, speaking of it, nurturing earth fire really was quite normal for them.

"By the way, Acan, I’ve sent people to Bi Fang, Ao Mountain, Celestial Monster, and other tribes, asking them to wander around the peripheral clan cities and major Ruins Markets."

At that, Huo Shan scratched the back of his head, a gesture he hadn’t done in front of others since becoming the Clan Leader.

"I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?"

"No."

"That’s good, that’s good. When Brother Atang was the Clan Leader, he seemed quite at ease. Even though I’m in the Divine Treasure Realm, every time I sit in the Clan Leader’s position, I feel pressure."

Casually seated in front of Shen Can, Huo Shan felt very relaxed.

"Being vigilant towards the various divisions in Yongyi is right. Let’s not forget that we even eliminated an Elder of the Ao Mountain Bo Division. We also want to recover the Witch Artifacts left by Yongshan back in the day, and sooner or later, we’ll have to confront them."

Huo Shan nodded his head. That night, Huo Shan didn’t leave; he directly lay on the desk in the main hall of Shen Can’s side hall and fell asleep.

The next day, after following Shen Can to clean the Ancestral Temple, he walked resolutely toward the Clan Tower Hall.

After three months, the clanspeople that Huo Shan had arranged to visit Ao Mountain, Celestial Monster, and other divisions returned.

After reporting the relevant information, Shen Can instead left the Ancestral Temple and went to the Jishan Bo Division.

There are quite a few divisions in Yongyi Bo Division, but those that can be considered strong Bo Divisions are just these few like Celestial Monster and Ao Mountain.

These Bo Divisions indeed were retracting, and their external contacts with other tribes had also decreased, such as tributes, normal interactions, and transactions between tribes, etc.

This information could be heard while the tribesmen wandered nearby.

Heading to Jishan was to seek guidance on what was going on with this situation among the various divisions in Yongyi.

Jishan might not be a Great Bo Division, but it has been passed down for eight thousand years with a complete lineage.

...

"After decades of not seeing each other, Ancestral Temple Keeper is still as impressive as ever."

Lord Jishan was quite surprised to see Shen Can arrive.

He hurriedly brought Shen Can into the Clan Hall and invited all the Elders to pay respects, looking very solemn.

"Lord Ji Bo is the same, full of vigor and spirit, seemingly on the verge of advancing to the late-stage Divine Treasure Realm."

It was kind of a mutual flattery: you compliment me, and I compliment you, not to mention that Blazing Flame and Jishan have shared hardships together.

After a round of pleasantries, Shen Can did not conceal his intentions. After all, barging in unannounced surely meant something was up.

Even if he dawdled, he would have to speak up eventually.

He spoke about the Bi Fang sealing the furnace and the reduced activities of various divisions.

After hearing Shen Can out, Lord Jishan chuckled and said, "It seems that the Ancestral Temple Keeper knows what’s going on with Yongyi affairs even without leaving the Ancestral Temple, showing that the Blazing Flame’s rise is well-deserved."

"What you mentioned isn’t really a secret; roughly every two hundred years, all divisions do this.

If the Ancestral Temple Keeper hadn’t come, I would have forgotten about this. Calculating the time, it really does seem about right, and there are clear records of this in our clan history.

As for the reason, it remains somewhat unclear."