“Took some back. Went to look for you yesterday, but your father said you went up the mountain with the hunting party. When the Manqi ends later, come to me and take your share.”

The youth called David Harris’s eyes lit up, and he hurried forward a few steps, grinning sheepishly.

“I could have come back earlier, but on the way I ran into a sable deer. You said before you needed sable deer blood for medicine, so I followed it. I only got back last night.”

James Walker knew that the other was making it sound easy, but in reality, sable deer were extremely hard to kill and quite dangerous. At this moment, he felt a warmth in his heart.

As the two spoke, the joyful singing around them gradually quieted down. The crowd parted, and the elder of the Wushan tribe appeared, dressed in coarse hemp clothes, holding a pitch-black bone staff. Surrounded by several clansmen, he walked over and stood in front of the youths.

His appearance instantly silenced the surroundings. The youths looked on with awe in their eyes, clearly quite afraid of this elder.

“Worship the Man Ancestor!” The elder’s gaze was piercing as he swept over the crowd, pausing briefly on James Walker. As he spoke, he raised the black bone staff in his right hand and waved it. Immediately, dozens of strong men hurried over from the crowd, each carrying a bound wild beast.

The beasts were all still alive, letting out shrill howls and struggling desperately, but it was all in vain.

A total of forty-nine different beasts were carried over and placed in a circle around the youths. The chorus of howls echoed, merging together into a force that seemed to pierce the soul. But with Wushan tribesmen holding them down tightly, none could break free.

The clansmen standing beside the beasts did not hesitate in the slightest. All at once, they bowed their heads, produced sharp stone blades in their left hands, and stabbed them directly into the beasts’ necks, severing their heads.

The howling reached its peak at that instant, as the heads were chopped off, the sound seemed to shake the heavens and the earth. Several of the thirty-some Lasu preparing for the Manqi showed expressions of fear and terror.

James Walker’s face was pale, but he grit his teeth and endured. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at David Harris, only to see a cold gleam in his eyes, a bloodthirsty look, as if he was already used to this, even faintly enjoying it—a stark contrast to his previous simple demeanor.

A torrent of blood suddenly gushed out, like a fountain, filling the air with a pungent, bloody stench. It splattered over the thirty-some Lasu, landing on their hair, their bodies, and the ground beneath their feet.

“You are lucky, because there is no tribal war now. But at the same time, you are also unlucky…” The elder looked at the youths before him and spoke softly.

“When I was young, the Manqi rite at sixteen required you to cut off the head of an enemy tribesman and drink his blood to complete the Manqi.

Compared to now, you are lucky… But the unlucky part is, you have only seen beast blood, and have not touched the head of an enemy…” The elder murmured, giving the Lasu before him a deep look. He raised the bone staff in his right hand and pointed forward.

At the same time, he raised his left hand, clenched his five fingers into a fist, then suddenly opened them. Instantly, a powerful aura burst from his body, sweeping around and forming a howling gale that filled the entire Wushan tribe.

On the elder’s face, lines of markings appeared, intertwining to form a totem resembling a python’s head.

The python’s head was vivid and lifelike, as if it truly existed, manifesting on the elder’s face, seeming to roar at the sky in a silent howl. Though nothing could be heard, all the Wushan tribesmen present, including the strong chieftain, couldn’t help but tremble and take a few steps back.

“The Black Python Mark… That’s the elder’s Man Mark…” James Walker stared blankly at the elder, looking at the markings on his face, his heart filled with shock. The last time he saw this scene was nine years ago. Seeing it again now, the feeling was many times stronger than back then.

“With the elder’s strength alone, he could wipe out an entire tribe. And yet, he is only at the ninth level of the Blood Condensation Realm… I wonder how powerful those at the Kaichen Realm must be…

Not to mention the Bone Sacrifice Realm after Kaichen… The beast hide scroll once said that Bone Sacrifice Realm experts are extremely rare even in medium-sized tribes. Only those unimaginably large tribes possess a few Man of the Bone Sacrifice Realm.” James Walker’s mind was shaken, and his desire to become a Man Warrior grew even stronger.

“With this blood and beast flesh, I invite the Wushan Man Statue!” The elder’s thunderous voice interrupted James Walker’s thoughts. As his words rang out, all the beast corpses around them suddenly exploded. Flesh and blood, along with the blood on the ground and on the youths, were all drawn up by an invisible force, gathering in midair to form a massive ball of flesh and blood.

“Manqi!” The burly man beside the elder, the chieftain of the Wushan tribe, shouted loudly.

All the Lasu, including James Walker, unhesitatingly bit their tongues and spat out a mouthful of blood. Their blood shot into the air, absorbed by the ball of flesh and blood, and with a thunderous boom, the ball transformed into a black statue.