Chapter 172: Soul of the Wild Beasts

As Bolso was considering the situation at hand, a Sumeer wearing four feathers on his head entered briskly, and dragged Bolso back from the group. He whispered quickly into the man’s ear. Bolso’s face bloomed with surprise, and he addressed Yang Ling. “Sir Yuri, the prophet of our tribe invites you to make a trip to the divine temple!”

Prophet?

For many of the native tribes, prophets were the most respected tribe members, despite not having official authority. They often lived deep in their tribes’ territory, and rarely deigned to meet outsiders. Yang Ling did not understand why he would be invited by the prophet. He had just set foot in Stone City.

Could it be that he had attracted the attention of the elder when he unintentionally absorbed a portion of the energy from the Black Obsidian?

Yang Ling thought to himself, observing the strange stone walls. Then he quickly followed Bolso outside, with Yuna right behind him.

They walked in silence across the snowy ground and through a stand of trees. Not long after, the three companions arrived at a heavily guarded area.

As they approached, Bolso produced some kind of token, and showed it to the guards. They waved the trio through. As Bolso guided Yang Ling and Yuna forward, the latter two noticed strange stone sculptures placed here and there among the landscape. Some carried axes; some were missing limbs. There were a few without heads. Yang Ling wondered why they would display such strange sculptures along the path.

Yuna quietly cast an agility boosting technique over Yang Ling while Bolso’s attention was elsewhere. “Brother Yang,” she whispered, “this valley is filled with unidentified power. Please keep your wits about you!”

“It’s alright,” Yang Ling answered. “You need not worry. Remember to stay close to me, no matter what happens!”

Yang Ling had sensed that the valley was filled with an obscure energy the moment they entered. That feeling was a little like the ripples of the fire element Magical Elements, while also feeling similar to the ripples of energy in the Black Obsidian.

But, despite not being clear as to why the prophet of the Sumeer people would be looking for him, he was not as worried as Yuna. The other party had no conflicts of interests with him, and thus would not have any reason to plot or scheme against him.

He reflected on his recent Wizard Power improvements, and had only a little more to go before he reached mid-level Earth Wizard. If something were to go wrong later, he could at least quickly recall Yuna into the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda and retreat to safety using the teleportation-like Earth Evasion Technique to escape.

At the far end of the valley was a large stone building, piled together with rectangular Black Obsidian blocks, each the size of a dining table. Each stone was embellished with pictures carved into their surfaces. There were boundless grassy plains, countless Magical beasts, and priests depicted prostrate, grovelling on the ground.

“Sir Yuri, this is the divine temple of our tribe. Legend has it that it is over eight thousand years old!” Bolso introduced proudly. As it turned out, the Sumeer people had lived on the Wilderness of Siberia since ancient times, staying in Stone City for thousands of years and leaving behind the ancient divine temple.

A tribe with eight thousand years of history, and a divine temple that’s eight thousand years old. I wonder if there are any clues to the Ancient Wizards! I wonder if there’s anything I need.

Yang Ling quickly recalled the Ancient Wizards that had vanished thousands of years ago. The more ancient a tribe was, the more isolated they were, and the possibility that they had kept a few ancient relics or records was higher.

After bringing the two of them to the temple entrance, Bolso said a few words to a man in black robes with five feathers on his head. The latter nodded, saying nothing, and walked into the temple, turning back and signaling for Yang Ling and Yuna to follow.

Seeing as the divine temple was built from giant Black Obsidian stones, Yang Ling had thought that it would have the same properties as the stone buildings outside: cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But as soon as he entered the temple, he realized that that was not the case. Other that the fact that there was no snow, the temperature in the temple was not much higher than outside, where cold winds howled. In fact, it got colder the deeper into the temple they went. Yang Ling wondered where the energy within the Black Obsidian had gone.

Inside the divine temple there was nothing on the ground, but there were many pieces of gray cloth draped over the roof. Other than pictures of ferocious beasts, there were also a few rows of small tadpole-like words. Looking at it, the words looked a little like ancient Chinese characters, but felt a little different upon closer inspection.

An obscure ripple of energy, an entire area covered with cloth, a bone-piercing chill…

The deeper they went into the divine temple, the more unusual it felt to Yang Ling. As a precaution, he grabbed a few Wizard Amulets with his left hand and formed a hand gesture with his right, prepared to summon his Magical Beast army at any time.

Whoosh…

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As a cold wind blew past, the cloth in the divine temple flapped noisily, the fierce beasts etched onto them sometimes being hidden from sight. Faintly, Yang Ling thought he could hear the roar of beasts, as if the lifelike Magical Beasts on the pieces of cloth were about to spring to life. There was even an instant when Yang Ling felt the pagoda-shaped mark between his brows throb in agitation, his protective Wizard Power quickly circulating, as if he was going to be hit by a surprise attack.

After making their way past the several layers of cloth, the black robed man finally stopped in a clear space, the light around them dim. Looking closely, Yang Ling could see a dark robed elder with nine feathers on his head sitting in the low light, a strange statue with a broken arm in front of him.

“Visitors from far away, I can feel the aura of our ancient tribesmen on you. Come, do not be afraid, come sit by my side!” The dark robed elder with nine feathers on his head spoke, turning toward them. Yuna could not help but scream seeing his face; Even Yang Ling gasped.

The elder had long white hair, and his face was skin and bones. Rather than call him an old man that was about to die, a better description was a skeleton that had crawled up from the ground. His eye sockets were empty, as if he had been born blind, or his eyeballs had been gouged out many years previous. Even though he was blind, he seemed to be aware of every action Yang Ling and Yuna took.

“You are the prophet of the Sumeer people?” Yang Ling asked the obvious, trying his best to calm himself down. He worked to steady his breathing.

“That’s right. I am the thirty-eighth prophet of the Sumeer people. Come, don’t be afraid, come sit by my side!” The old man spoke and smiled a friendly smile, but this only made his ghastly face even more terrifying.

Yang Ling took a deep breath and then walked forward quickly and sat opposite the old man, cross-legged. Yuna had no choice but to steel her nerves and walk forward, sitting down right next to Yang Ling.

“You are the only strangers that have entered my divine temple in the past hundred years!” The prophet of the Sumeer people nodded in appreciation. Then he began relating the history of the Sumeer people and how the divine temple had come to be.

The old man spoke slowly, but his words were clear and well arranged. The two visitors quickly gained a deeper understanding of the Sumeer people’s history.

As it turned out, the Sumeer people had stayed on this piece of land since ancient times and had proliferated for eight thousand years. After the efforts of the Sumeer people spanning generations, they finally built a divine temple deep within their territory.

Other than the history of the tribe, the black robed elder did not attempt to hide the abilities of his clansmen. As it turned out, they had the ability to communicate with wild beasts from birth, and could strengthen this ability to communicate with any wild beast through training.

“At the start, we could only communicate with wild beasts with more demure temperaments, but after a certain level of training, we would obtain the Soul of the Wild Beasts. It not only enhances our ability to communicate with wild beasts, we could also summon powerful Magical Beasts as our war pets, and through that obtain powerful capabilities!” It seemed the prophet had worn himself out explaining. He took a few deep breaths as he finished his story.

Yang Ling finally understood how Bolso and the rest had controlled so many Vicious Dogs and Cloud Leopards with nothing but bull’s horns. His happy understanding, though, was quickly eclipsed as he wondered why the prophet would tell them the secrets of his tribesmen so easily.

Could it be that the old man really thinks that we are a splinter of their tribe, or tribesmen that lost contact many years ago?

Thinking back to the words of the elder, Yang Ling found a logical explanation. He thought about how he could capitalize on this mistake and obtain the greatest benefit.

He could not afford to miss the training mantra of the Sumeer people that allowed them to communicate with wild beasts. Furthermore, Yang Ling believed that it would be a good idea to get a few strong men from there and form a team of fighters that used wild beasts in combat. Of course, it would be even better if he could convince the Sumeer people to settle permanently in Wissen Town!

“A long time ago, we had been scattered across the continent, and we had created a magnificent civilization of Beast Tamers!” After a pause, the black robed elder continued. “Back then, besides the ability to communicate with wild beasts, our tribesmen also had another ability. We could directly absorb the energy harbored in the Black Obsidian and advance through the levels at high speeds, from there obtaining powerful battle capabilities. Unfortunately, the method to absorb the energy has been lost.”

Directly absorbing the energy within the Black Obsidian?

Seeing how the black robed elder turn his face to look at him as he spoke, and giving him a meaningful smile, Yang Ling quickly thought of another possibility. While he had been searching for the secrets of the Black Obsidian outside, he had unintentionally absorbed quite a lot of energy and released a ring of red light around him. He might have been able to fool the inexperienced soldiers with his nonsense, but he would not be fooling the Sumeer prophet that had been dealing with the Black Obsidian all that time.

Could it be that the old man was assuming that he was an ancient tribesman that they had lost contact with since the ancient times because of that?

Yang Ling shook his head in frustration, smiling ruefully. He had not expected to absorb so much energy, nor to begin glowing. He had not intended to attract the Sumeer peoples’ attention so quickly.

Could it be that the true motive behind why the elder was speaking so much was in hopes that Yang Ling would hand over the technique he used to absorb energy?

As the revelation of the prophet’s motives settled on Yang Ling, he felt his heart shudder. He was not sure if the case of mistaken identity would turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing!