The Quest for Immortality

A person cannot be judged by appearances.

This refers to the malicious pretty boy in front of him.

Iron Skill Bone prides himself on his resilience and has suffered much torture, yet never any torment as unforgettable as today’s.

In fact, he doesn’t even know what means this malicious pretty boy has used on him.

How can a Foundation Building Cultivator make him, a Golden Core cultivator, writhe in agony to the point of passing out?

Iron Skill Bone was perplexed, his lips started to tremble.

Mo Hua asked him, ”Are you being honest now?”

Iron Skill Bone lowered his head.

Pain can mold a person.

Having experienced the taste of the ”Bone Etching Formation,” Iron Skill Bone no longer felt his bones were tough.

Mo Hua glanced at the now much more obedient Iron Skill Bone and nodded, ”Answer what I ask.”

Iron Skill Bone replied, ”Yes...”

”Why did the Shugubu raid the Danque Tribe?”

Mo Hua’s gaze slightly sharpened, ”Was it a spur-of-the-moment decision driven by a desire for murder and theft? Or did your esteemed Barbarian God give you ’revelations,’ telling you to raid and offer it as sacrifice?”

Mo Hua wished to pry some clues about the ”Evil God” from Iron Skill Bone to plan the next steps.

Unexpectedly, Iron Skill Bone shook his head, ”Not exactly...”

Mo Hua frowned, ”What do you mean?”

Iron Skill Bone said, ”There was a famine, hunger, nothing to eat, so we robbed other tribes...”

This answer, unexpectedly, was plain.

Mo Hua was briefly stunned, ”Famine?”

”Yes,” Iron Skill Bone nodded, his face pale, ”A widespread famine is spreading from the northwest, with plants wilting, Monster Beasts starving, and many tribes unable to survive, leading to large-scale riots. Our Shugubu was greatly affected...”

Mo Hua frowned.

He didn’t have a complete map of the three thousand Barbaric Wilderness regions and only knew some general locations.

He rode his Big Tiger to avoid war, moving from north to south, accidentally entering the Barbaric Wilderness.

The entry point was probably in the east, near the small Mountain Realms of Wutu and Wulu.

To the west, lies the Vermilion Bird Mountain Realm, where Danque and Shugubu reside in this large Peak of Third Grade Mountain Realm.

The Vermilion Bird Mountain Realm is vast.

The Danque Tribe is in the east, the Shugubu is in the west.

If what Iron Skill Bone said is true, a large-scale famine spreading from west to east will inevitably affect the Danque Tribe sooner or later.

It’s just unclear how large this famine is and to what extent it will spread.

Will it only affect nearby Mountain Realms or will it slowly envelop the entire Great Wilderness?

Mo Hua’s expression turned grave.

After pondering for a moment, he again looked at Iron Skill Bone and asked, ”Does your tribe have a tradition of cannibalism?”

Iron Skill Bone shook his head.

”Then whom do you eat?” Mo Hua questioned.

Iron Skill Bone quietly said, ”Hungry, nothing to eat, so we ate people...”

Mo Hua unexpectedly found himself unable to blame them...

On the brink of starvation, who cares about much else.

Mo Hua frowned and asked, ”Then why do you use cannibalistic rituals to please the Barbarian God? Who taught you this?”

”One should refer to the Barbarian God as ’esteemed’,” Iron Skill Bone tried to correct but, seeing Mo Hua’s cold gaze, dared not insist.

In this world, not everyone possesses faith.

The unknown youth before him dared even to impersonate the title of ”Shaman,” suggesting he is unfaithful, a ”believer-less” fanatic.

A person like him is bound to be ignorant in matters of faith.

Correcting his beliefs is akin to playing music to a cow.

If he were to get angry, Iron Skill Bone would fall prey to his poisonous hand.

Iron Skill Bone mumbled a few words and then said:

”It wasn’t really anyone who taught us...”

”At first, the esteemed Barbarian God did not send down any oracles.”

”We ’ate people’ only because the famine worsened, there were too many in the tribe, nothing to eat, hunger gnawed like knives, really starved, thus thought to kill cultivators from other tribes for food.”

”Initially, it felt uncomfortable, after all, it’s cannibalism, felt a bit nauseous inside.”

”But as they ate more, they got used to it. Even feeling that this world simply ought to be ’people eating people’.”

”So, this habit spread.”

”Nearby small tribes were all slain by us.”

”One day, our entire tribe was, as usual, gathered around the bonfire, eating human flesh. As they ate, they suddenly fell into a sort of seemingly real, seemingly illusory dreamland, Divine Sense exceptionally excited, ears seemingly hearing whispers of the esteemed Barbarian God.”

”The esteemed Barbarian God appeared to especially approve of our actions.”

”We could feel the joy of the esteemed Barbarian God, feel the appreciation of the esteemed Barbarian God.”

”Hence, we knew the esteemed Barbarian God favored our cannibalism.”

”Surrounding the bonfire, eating people, dancing, was able to please the esteemed Barbarian God, was able to receive the blessings of the esteemed Barbarian God.”

”Even feeling that because of our ’pleasing acts’, the Divine Power of the esteemed Barbarian God was gradually increasing.”

”The whispers we heard grew more and more clear...”

...

Iron Skill Bone recounted everything in detail.

Mo Hua was somewhat speechless.

If he was unsure about the Divine Way causality involved before, he now fully understood after Iron Skill Bone’s explanation.

This is a typical case of believers, in turn, trapping the deity.

The Barbarian God of the Shugubu, though not necessarily good initially, probably had no particular penchant for ’cannibalism’ originally.

But due to famine, the Shugubu had no choice but to resort to cannibalism.

Believers cannibalizing produced sin and Evil Thoughts, and their faith power ’deteriorated’.

And this corrupted faith supplied to the Barbarian God, eventually led to the Barbarian God’s influence, steadily corrupting it.