Chapter Seventeen: The Great Shaman

Ji Hao burst out laughing, curling his body as he launched himself toward Ji Wu, who lay collapsed on the ground.

Behind Ji Wu, crimson flames surged, emanating waves of peculiar, fiery energy. This unique scarlet fire, this strange fluctuation of power—Ji Hao, having grown up under the tutelage of Grand Shaman Ji Kui and other elders of the Fire Crow tribe, was intimately familiar with the signature bloodline powers of all the major clans of the Southern Wilderness.

What coursed through Ji Wu was the power of the Bi Fang clan's bloodline! He was a descendant of the Fire Crow tribe, yet he had awakened the Bi Fang bloodline. There was no doubt—this was a betrayal of the Fire Crow, and for such a thing to occur at the ancestral worship ceremony, no less!

Imagining the current state of mind of Ji Kui and the other grand shamans, Ji Hao could not suppress the urge to laugh wildly.

"Stop!" Ji Shu roared from afar, striking out a palm toward Ji Hao across the distance.

It was as if a mountain crashed down upon him. The surrounding temperature soared dramatically. Ji Hao grunted, his long hair twisting and igniting, filling the air with a harsh, burnt odor.

Blazing flames erupted from thin air, engulfing Ji Hao. The beast-hide armor, painstakingly crafted by Qing Fu, flared with dozens of radiant runes. Countless green vines, as thick as fingers, twisted up from the earth, coiling around Ji Hao and forming a verdant cocoon that shielded him from the fire.

The searing heat around him abruptly faded into a refreshing coolness. The spell Qing Fu had cast upon the armor was the Green Vine Ward, a secret shamanic art of the Qing Yi clan. With the abundant forests surrounding Golden Crow Ridge, the Green Vine Ward drew upon the life force of the wood, its power multiplied severalfold, perfectly protecting Ji Hao in time.

Panting heavily, Ji Hao retreated, the cocoon of vines moving with him.

Ji Shu was wreathed in fire, his heart, chest, and abdomen each radiating a fist-sized ball of red light, surrounded by over twenty thumb-sized crimson points, all blazing fiercely. These were the shamanic nodes he had opened in his body. When a great shaman summoned power, all the energy within these nodes roared to life, manifesting outward in this dazzling, awe-inspiring spectacle.

His face flickered between blue and white, but Ji Shu said nothing.

Ji Xia stepped forward, swinging his great axe with force. A gust of hot wind howled forth, sweeping away the flames that clung to Ji Hao. Ji Xia spread his arms protectively in front of Ji Hao, fixing Ji Shu with a cold glare and sneering, "Ji Shu, brother, have you no shame?"

Ji Hao let out a long breath, slapping the cocoon of green vines at his side. The vines dissolved into countless motes of emerald light, revealing his figure.

Most of his hair had been burned away, black smoke swirling about him, waves of heat rolling off his skin. The parts of his arms and legs not covered by the soft armor were blistered with angry burns. Ji Hao looked utterly battered, yet his gaze remained locked on the blazing Ji Shu.

Just a casual palm strike had nearly incinerated Ji Hao. If not for Qing Fu's armor, crafted with all her shamanic might and timely in its protection, Ji Hao would at best be grievously wounded, at worst crippled or dead.

Seeing Ji Hao, the assembled tribesmen erupted into an uproar.

"Shameless! A grand shaman, striking at a child!"

"Ji Shu, have you no shame? You disgrace all our ancestors!"

"Scoundrel—Ji Shu, you and your son are both scoundrels! He awakened the Bi Fang bloodline!"

"Is the Fire Crow blood not as good as Bi Fang's? It's one thing to marry a Bi Fang woman, but your son abandoned our ancestral bloodline. Are you even still of the Fire Crow, you traitor?"

Suddenly, among the Fire Crow tribe, hundreds of people began hurling curses. In the Southern Wilderness, the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest—was the way of all tribes, but within a tribe, bullying the weak was the most despised act.

For Ji Shu, a grand shaman, to attack Ji Hao, a mere junior, was disgrace enough to shame the Fire Crow tribe if word got out.

Worse still, Ji Shu's son, upon reaching the tenth level of the shaman path, had not awakened the Fire Crow's ancestral blood, but the Bi Fang's!

At the most sacred ancestral worship, a child wielding foreign bloodline powers had appeared. In the Southern Wilderness, where bloodline inheritance was revered above all else, such an act was nothing short of treason.

Clamor exploded as thousands of hot-tempered Fire Crow warriors drew their weapons, eyes ablaze with fury directed at the flaming Ji Shu and those at his back. Even among Ji Shu's own supporters, nearly half instinctively took several steps back, distancing themselves from him.

Amid the crowd behind Ji Shu, Jiang Bo grew so livid that darkness danced before his eyes; he nearly collapsed. Shooting a thunderous glare at the ashen-faced Jiang Yao, he longed to strike her dead. Ji Wu had abandoned his paternal bloodline, awakening instead the Bi Fang blood of his mother. Aside from his foolish daughter, who else could have orchestrated such a colossal blunder?

How was Jiang Bo to salvage this? To put it harshly, Ji Wu's actions today could be seen as the Bi Fang clan deliberately provoking the Fire Crow at their ancestral ceremony. The Fire Crow now had every excuse to turn against the Bi Fang and start a war.

The Fire Crow, after all, were the most powerful and warlike of the Bi Fang's subordinate clans. Should they truly break with the Bi Fang, Jiang Bo, the grand shaman of the Bi Fang, would be ruined—likely replaced and stripped of all power.

Frowning, Jiang Bo's eyes flashed with fire. A low, rumbling voice sounded in Ji Shu's ear.

Ji Shu suddenly stiffened. He lifted his foot and stomped down hard on Ji Wu's head, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

"Wu!" Jiang Yao wailed in agony, her body convulsing as she collapsed. Instantly, all the furious, agitated Fire Crow tribesmen fell silent, every gaze fixed in shock upon Ji Wu's shattered skull.

"Grand Shamans, honored elders," Ji Shu ground out each word through clenched teeth, "it is my failure to discipline my son that led him to betray our tribe's blood. At the ancestral ceremony itself, he dared betray our forebears' line. He deserved to die, and so he is dead."

Taking a deep breath, Ji Shu used his nails to tear open his wrist, blood streaming down.

"I swear on my blood, on the souls of all my ancestors, that I, Ji Shu, have not betrayed the Fire Crow. The traitor is dead by my own hand. I still intend to challenge Brother Ji Xia."

Ji Wu's body still twitched, crimson blood and pale brain matter spreading in a pool. The assembled shamans, including Ji Kui, glanced at the corpse and nodded.

Fingering the blood jade dagger floating before him, Ji Kui spoke in a slow, hoarse voice: "In the presence of our ancestors' spirits, any member of the Fire Crow bloodline has the right to challenge any other—be it the warriors' chief of Golden Crow Ridge or even me, your grand shaman. As long as you carry our blood, you may challenge for any position."

He pointed at Ji Xia, his voice cold. "Xia, accept the challenge. Let all our people see: after defeating your father and inheriting the title of chief defender, are you still worthy of your seat?"

Ji Xia answered with a thunderous voice, his body shaking as golden-red flames erupted from beneath his skin, transforming him into a giant of fire.

A blazing aura the size of a human head burned fiercely at his abdomen, while each of his arms and legs radiated twelve smaller, thumb-sized flares of crimson light.

Ji Hao stared in shock, instinctively taking several steps back. "Father, didn't you fall from the rank of Grand Shaman? Are you... still a Grand Shaman?"

Ji Xia turned, giving Ji Hao a raucous laugh, then faced the contorted features of Ji Shu, booming, "Ji Shu, brother, come, let us fight! My shamanic nodes were destroyed, but I abandoned those ruined ones. In these ten years, I have rebuilt forty-nine new ones!"

The crowd fell into utter silence before the warriors of Golden Crow Ridge raised their weapons and burst into triumphant cheers.

***

Doesn't this get your blood pumping?

It's Saturday—I'm begging for a day off! Can I just post one chapter today?

Two days of meetings, two nights of drinking—basically pulling all-nighters. I'm exhausted and still have things to handle, so I'm pleading for a break. Also, please, I beg for your recommendation votes!