8 Disciple of a Shaman

Ye Xi's face grew redder and redder, and he was on the verge of suffocating.

 He had been careless.

 Primitive civilization and primitive productive capabilities did not mean that these cavemen possessed primitive intelligence. On the contrary, living for so long amidst slaughter and battle had many the cavemen of this place extremely wary.

 One had to understand that the relationship between the tribes here was very tense. In the struggle for unique resources, particularly Beast Cores, some tribes that could not compete openly would resort to treachery to destroy an opponent. And no one could say if an enemy tribe might send in an infiltrator who would seek out a chance to assassinate the tribe's shaman. 

 So what should he do?

 He could not tell them that he was a transmigrator, as he couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't tie him up, roast him alive, and eat him. Roasting alive was too much; he would prefer being strangled to death.

 Plate loosened his grip and coldly said, "Talk! Who sent you?"

 Kaka… ka!

 Ye Xi held his neck and painfully coughed.

 "No one sent me. Do you think your enemies would recognize this thing?"

 Plate and the chief shared a glance.

 It was true. They had not heard of any nearby tribes digging up sweet potatoes or using some 'herb' called three-seven to stem bleeding.

 "Talk! How did you know?!" Plate tightened his grip a little.

 Ye Xi's face once more turned red from lack of oxygen.

 He painfully pulled at Plate's hand as he struggled to speak. "Let… me… go… first."

 Plate let go, and he viciously stared at Ye Xi. If Ye Xi made the slightest suspicious movement, he would tear him to pieces! The others also hostilely stared at him.

 Ye Xi felt a chill in his heart.

 He knew that if he answered poorly, he would come to a very tragic end. The unprecedented crisis made his mind work like never before. Suddenly, he had an idea. "…A wandering shaman told me about this!"

 Awl scoffed. This explanation...

 Without waiting for Awl to speak, Ye Xi began to speak in a low and somber tone. "A shaman! Above spans the heavens; below spans the earth. To the right and left are two humans, representing Yin and Yang. In the center is the unity connecting the heavens and the earth. The one who connects the heavens and earth and knows of Yin and Yang is a shaman.1

 "We were born on this desolate world, struggling for survival amidst drought and wilderness, trying to steal food from the mouths of savage beasts. The thorns of heaven and the brambles of earth can at times exhaust the power of shamans… Only by tasting all of the grasses can I offer some meager contribution to the people.

 "This is what that shaman said."

 Everyone was struck dumb by the bleak and somber tone of those words. Was there really such a revered shaman who would risk poisoning to sample all the grasses of the world, solely so that he could increase the chances of humanity's survival by just a little more?

 Not for the tribe, but for all humans!

 How could this be?!

 But this was how humans were. They were willing to believe what they wanted to believe, no matter how absurd it sounded.

 The chief parted the crowd and strode over, his eyes like knives as he coldly stared at Ye Xi. "You're deceiving us! No shaman would leave his tribe!"

 Ye Xi yelled, "I don't know! But that shaman called himself a wandering shaman!"

 The chief wanted to say more, but the shaman raised his hand and stopped him. He looked at Ye Xi and slowly said, "You said just now, 'a shaman! Above spans the heavens; below spans the earth. To the right and left are two humans, representing Yin and Yang. In the center is the unity connecting the heavens and the earth. The one who connects the heavens and earth and knows of Yin and Yang is a shaman.'

 "What did you mean by this?"

 Ye Xi squatted down and drew a straight line in the dirt with his finger.

 "This is heaven."

 He drew another straight line.

 "This is earth."

 He drew two human '人' characters. "Humans to the left and right are Yin and Yang."

 Finally, he used his finger to draw a vertical line between the two horizontals.

 "The center is the unity that connects the heavens and earth!"

 Ye Xi raised his head. "The one who connects the heavens and earth and knows of Yin and Yang is a shaman!

 "That wandering shaman called this a word, and he said that this word meant 'shaman'."

 The Mud Mountain shaman looked down and stared at the '巫' character for some time. Then, he looked at Ye Xi's thin and dirty face and slowly asked, "But what do Yin and Yang mean?"

 Ye Xi's heart skipped a beat.

 Yin and Yang were naturally the underworld and the mortal world. Ancient shamans were emissaries who communicated between the underworld and mortal world, but the cavemen of this world did not have this concept!

 What to do?!

 Ye Xi felt like he was hanging above a bottomless abyss, held by a thin metal thread. All the hairs on his arm stood on end.

 But he finally managed to calm himself.

 "The concepts of Yin and Yang are too profound, and the only one who understands them is that wandering shaman. I only have a rough understanding."

 Ye Xi squatted on the ground and drew the Yin Yang fish. "This is called the Yin Yang fish. This is the white fish, symbolizing Yang. This is the black fish, symbolizing Yin. The white fish has a black eye, and the black fish has a white eye. This symbolizes how Yin can be found in Yang and Yang found within Yin.

 "That wandering shaman believed that all things were both opposed and unified, that all things had a Yin side and a Yang side. Yin and Yang are contradictions between things, and every creature and thing in the world has contradictions. They exist throughout the universe. For example, the heavens and earth, night and day, man and woman, up and down, life and death.

 "This is a rough understanding of Yin and Yang.

 "Once you know Yin and Yang, you have a rough understanding of all things."

 This profound explanation successfully dumbfounded the cavemen.

 The Mud Mountain shaman gazed into the distance for a long time. "To know all things… Was that wandering shaman a divination shaman?"

 He! Believed! It!

 Ye Xi steadied his trembling fingers, but his heart began to thump rapidly.

 Thank you, old ancestors back on Earth!

 "That shaman… where is he now?" Plate asked, his throat sounding rather dry.

 Everyone expectantly stared at Ye Xi.

 Ye Xi shook his head, his expression dim. "He's dead.

 "When I was picking sweet potatoes, I found him. At the time, he was seated on the ground and smiling as he waved me over. He said that he was a shaman and knew many things. He asked me if I was willing to learn from him.

 "I nodded, and he slowly began to tell me all these things. But his face grew more and more purple. He told me that he had tried too many herbs, and the poison was about to erupt.

 "I wanted to save him, but he said that no one could save him. He told me to go back, as it was getting late and would soon be dark.

 "At the end, he said those words which I've always remembered for some reason."

 A warrior screamed and punched the ground! Dust plumed into the air! A shaman like this had died in such a fashion! That wasn't how he should have died!

 Plate's eyes were brimming with tears. In his mind was a hunchbacked figure who, instead of staying safe in a tribe, journeyed the lands so that humanity could have a little advantage, but in the end, died in the wilderness.

 Ye Xi added, "…He said that he was called Divine Farmer2."

 Everyone fell silent, memorializing and revering this man known as 'Divine Farmer'.

 "'We were born on this desolate world, struggling for survival amidst drought and wilderness, trying to steal food from the mouths of savage beasts. The thorns of heaven and the brambles of earth can at times exhaust the power of shamans… Only by tasting all of the grasses can I offer some meager contribution to the people.'" The shaman had a sorrowful look in his eyes. "I am inferior to him.

 "That shaman had all of humanity in his heart, not a shaman like me who only thinks about his tribe.

 "How could a shaman like this… die like that?"

 "Shaman!" Awl, Plate, and the other tribe members could not bear to hear these words and dropped to their knees. Only the chief and Ye Xi remained standing.

 The shaman looked at Ye Xi. "I believe your words. Use your herb to save Carving."

 Ye Xi knew that the crisis had passed, and he sighed in relief.

 He had spent less than two days in this prehistoric society, but his life had already been in mortal danger three times. He did not know what things would be like in the future.

 Ye Xi bent down and picked up the three-seven root. "Does anyone have a way of grinding this into powder?"

 Plate stepped forward. "Let me!"

 Ye Xi passed over the three-seven root. "Just grind the roots into a powder."

 Plate nodded. He plucked off the roots, placed them in his palm, and forcefully clenched. When he opened his hand again, the three-seven roots had been crushed into fine bits.

 Truly, the Totem Warriors possessed abnormal strength. Ye Xi once more sighed in praise. Even so, he still shook his head. "No, it's not fine enough. It has to be like a powder."

 If there were time, a stone pestle slowly grinding away would have provided the best effect.

 The chief took the pieces from Plate. "Let me." He closed his hand, and when he opened them, the chunks had been crushed into powder!

 Ye Xi's jaw dropped.

 This was like the level of a martial arts expert, about the same as a main character from one of Jin Yong's novels.

 Ye Xi looked at the chief's chest, and in the center of that red totem that covered the entirety of his left chest was clearly two flame tattoos—the sign of a Level 2 Warrior!

 The chief anxiously asked Ye Xi, "How do we use it?"

 Ye Xi's reaction was a little slow. "…Just sprinkle the powder on the wound."

 The white powder was carefully poured on the wound. After a little while, Carving's wound miraculously stopped bleeding.

 Ye Xi relaxed.

 The entirety of the three-seven root was a treasure. The flowers, fruit, leaves, and root could all be taken as medicine. It was a common saying that ginseng was number one when it came to restoring energy, while three-seven root was number one for replenishing blood. Even the acclaimed Ming pharmacologist Li Shizhen had said that he would not exchange it for gold. The effect would have been even better if a bandage had been wrapped around the wound.

 "It stopped! It really stopped!"

 "This plant might not have been one of the miraculous plants, but its effects are truly divine!"

 "Ye Xi, thank you!" Courage gratefully said. This man who was two meters tall and covered in muscle repeatedly voiced his thanks.

 Ye Xi nodded in silence. He had not forgotten how he had almost been executed. If he had not reacted quickly, he might have already been roasting on the fire.

 But the crisis just now had not been an entirely bad thing.

 If he wanted to improve his living conditions, he could not keep all his knowledge to himself. Now, with the cover of 'Divine Farmer', he could act more openly.

 The shaman profoundly gazed at Ye Xi. "While that venerable shaman is dead, he passed his knowledge onto you, meaning that you are a disciple of that shaman, no longer a slave of Mud Mountain."

 Ye Xi's heart skipped a beat.

 Were they driving him out? One man alone in this primordial jungle had nothing to look forward to but death.