Chapter Seventy-Four: Bloodline

“Father, you’re late!” Ji Hao looked at the blazing firelight rushing across the distant horizon and gave a simple, sincere smile.

“Great Ancestors, please accept these humble offerings from the descendants of the Fire Crow Clan!” Ji Hao raised his hands high, loudly chanting the ancestral sacrificial incantations that had been passed down by the shamans of his clan through generations.

“Their skin, their bones, their blood, their flesh, their spirit, their divinity, their very essence—all belong to you!” Behind Ji Hao, a blazing fire roared to life, and within the flames, the vague form of a fire crow danced and leapt, silently shrieking at the sky.

On the altar, amidst dense golden flames, the translucent three-legged Golden Crow slowly opened its narrow eyes.

Countless fine golden rays shot out from its half-closed eyes as the Golden Crow gazed down upon the chiefs gathered on the altar. Suddenly, its eyes widened and it let out a high, joyful cry.

The nine fire crows standing around the altar called out in succession, flapping their wings and dancing solemnly in a circle. The giant birds moved with slow, graceful dignity, like nobles attending the most sacred of court ceremonies, each motion filled with an ineffable, mysterious rhythm.

As the great crows danced, the giant crow carrying Ji Xia in the distance suddenly cried out and halted mid-flight. Spreading its wings, fire blazed in its gaze as it looked reverently toward the altar. A translucent sphere of light formed around it, sealing Ji Xia firmly inside.

The Nine Suns Blood Sacrifice Ritual soaring to the heavens—this was the most sacred ceremony inscribed in the very bloodline of the great crows. No one was permitted to interrupt such a rite. Not even Ji Xia had that privilege.

As Ji Hao chanted, invisible forces swirled and gathered in the air. The once deep and muddled sound of the incantation, bound by these forces, gradually grew loud and clear, ringing up into the sky. Above the clouds, thunder rumbled as invisible waves shattered the clouds, revealing a patch of pure blue.

A floating mountain, several miles across, drifted slowly over Ji Hao’s head, caressed by the mountain breeze.

At a touch from the mysterious force invoked by the ancient sacrificial chant, the floating mountain silently dissolved into dust, which the wind carried away in drifting clouds.

The offerings on and around the altar ignited without a sound, their flesh, blood, and souls burning away rapidly. A rich, bloody heat swirled in the air, which the huge Golden Crow phantom on the altar slowly inhaled with its open beak.

The once translucent image of the Golden Crow gradually solidified, seeming to regain flesh and blood from pure spirit. A terrifying pressure radiated from it, and even far away, Old Stone, Old Tree Demon, Lord Hengluo, and others watching from a hillside were thrown to the ground by the force, tumbling helplessly, unable to rise.

Even the two ancient tree demons, each over ten thousand years old and both at the peak of shamanic power, howled in terror and fled with all their might. They could not withstand even a trace of the Golden Crow phantom’s might.

Ji Hao could not imagine the true power of this Golden Crow.

A legendary Shaman King? A Shaman Emperor? Or something even greater?

Such legendary beings—even after their fall, reduced to but a wisp of soul enshrined in the Fire Crow Clan’s sacred land—could still, when given the chance, unleash a brilliance that would astonish the world.

Steadily standing on the altar, the Golden Crow phantom, a thousand yards tall, slowly raised its wings. Countless fine golden rays rippled across its feathers, gathering into nine great golden runes that rose into the sky.

High above, tens of thousands of feet in the air, the golden runes flashed and vanished. Ji Hao clearly saw them speed toward the sun.

In that instant, the sun burst forth with a blinding brilliance, and a surge of terrifying heat swept down from the sky. The mountains and forests became dazzlingly bright, and beneath this pure, snow-white light, mountains, trees, and the earth itself seemed to grow transparent—everything shone like flawless crystal under the sun’s rays.

No substance could block this light.

The purest, most primal force of light and heat descended from the heavens, enveloping the altar that Ji Hao had prepared, a hundred yards across.

Streams of heat continually burrowed into Ji Hao’s body. Dozens of meridians within him, already blazing like fire, grew even brighter as more complex pathways lit up, faint firelight gradually streaming from within.

A realization dawned on Ji Hao: the reward of the Nine Suns Blood Sacrifice Ritual had arrived. The Golden Crow had summoned a strange power, awakening within him the source of strength that countless generations of Fire Crow clanspeople had lost to the erosion of time.

His eyes burned, his body radiated heat, and the cluster of Golden Crow essence in his chest grew thicker and more refined. Powerful heat condensed quietly on his skin, forming delicate, translucent runes shaped like feathers.

Unconsciously, Ji Hao gained a fourth innate divine ability—one that, in the Fire Crow Clan, existed only in legend: “Golden Crow Heavenly Garment”!

This defensive shamanic power, these feather-shaped runes forged of fire, possessed incredible protective strength and greatly enhanced speed in flight, doubling the velocity of the Firewing Streamers.

The old crow perched on Ji Hao’s shoulder gave a joyful cry, raising its wings as countless fine golden rays shot into it from all directions.

Suddenly, three feathers on its head ignited, their black turning to a faint gold. Next, its claws began to burn, shifting from black-red to a magnificent golden hue, as if gilded.

The thin Golden Crow blood in the old crow’s veins was suddenly strengthened, opening up greater prospects for its future.

The nine giant fire crows circling the altar were even more elated, gulping down the divine light falling from the sky. As they swallowed, their bodies ignited; feathers on their wings or tails burst into golden flames, turning faintly gold.

Like the old crow, their Golden Crow bloodlines were enriched. Though their strength did not leap forth instantly, their future potential now far outstripped that of other giant crows.

Nearby crows chirped softly, each gaining some benefit, more or less.

Yet the greatest gain was undoubtedly that of the Golden Crow phantom on the altar. Its once dim, translucent body now shone with the splendor of pure gold, radiating divine brilliance.

Nodding lightly to Ji Hao, the Golden Crow gave a joyful cry, then transformed into a blaze of fire, vanishing into the void.

A wild wind swept by, and the altar, along with the surrounding ground, turned to white powder, drifting away on the mountain breeze.

***

Ah, our nation has discovered a human tooth fossil with modern features, dating back eighty thousand years.

Now, please, try to connect this with the hundred-thousand-year-old ruins from the first “Prologue” of my novel!

Hahaha, waving hands and begging for recommendations!

Marvelous!