Chapter 1273: The Era of the Divine Shaman
Chapter 1272: The Era of the Divine Shaman
Afterwards, the Divine Worship Ceremony officially commenced.
On Vermilion Bird Mountain, atop the ancient divine altar, all the tribes across the mountain realm pledged their loyalty to the Divine Lord, to Mo Hua—the “Divine Shaman.”
The lower- and mid-level barbarian cultivators only needed to offer worship and sacrifices to maintain their faith.
But the high-ranking tribal leaders were different.
Whether from large or small tribes, their cultivation was higher, their power stronger, and their influence greater.
More importantly, they occupied high positions, closest to “power.”
Power breeds human greed, desire, and cruelty.
A person without authority or influence might not harbor ambitions of abuse or indulgence.
But once someone occupies a high position, holding authority in their grasp, they naturally become susceptible to corruption, their hearts altered imperceptibly—even without their own awareness.
This is not about the individual; it is about power itself.
Those who can remain true to their original intentions and resist the temptations of power are rare, regardless of cultivation. Across the entire cultivation world, they are one in a million.
Yet precisely such people are often the least favored, making it hard for them to rise to high positions.
Therefore, Mo Hua did not gamble on the hearts of these high-ranking tribal leaders—whether they would betray their faith or abandon their original intentions.
He didn’t care to gamble at all.
In the aftermath of a great disaster, what he needed was a strong power unified by faith.
Hence, during the Divine worship Ceremony, the most important task Mo Hua undertook was to have the high-ranking tribal leaders kneel atop the divine altar and swear allegiance to the Divine Lord in blood.
On the altar stood a massive stone stele.
This stele, created under Mo Hua’s instruction by Tie Shù-Gu, was named the “Stele of the Divine Shaman.”
All high-ranking tribal leaders had to kneel before it, swearing loyalty to the Divine Lord, pledging the steadfastness of their faith, and promising unwavering devotion.
They vowed to devote their entire lives to the welfare of the Great Wilderness’ populace, to exhaust themselves in service until death.
No personal gain, no abuse of power, no betrayal.
Afterwards, they needed to cut their fingers and use their blood to inscribe their names on the Stele of the Divine Shaman.
While inscribing, they had to imbue their faith into each character.
Under the overwhelming authority of Mo Hua, seated on the divine throne in flesh and blood, commanding obedience from sacred beasts and submission from demon beast kings, the high-ranking leaders complied.
The Vermilion Sparrow Tribe, Shugu Tribe, Flame Wing Tribe, Red Luan Tribe, Fire Hawk Tribe, and Bi-Fang Tribe—along with some chieftains and elders of the Wujiao Tribe who had changed their faith—followed suit.
They cut their fingers, leaving their blood and names on the Stele, marking their bloodline.
By offering their faith, they effectively entrusted a part of their “divine soul” to the stele.
Once the ritual concluded, all high-ranking leaders shared a subtle resonance with the Stele of the Divine Shaman.
They felt a delicate connection to the Divine Lord, as if he was watching them, bestowing blessings.
In that moment, all the great chieftains, elders, and barbarian generals were deeply moved, their reverence for the Divine Lord intensified.
What they did not realize was that the Divine Lord was not only granting blessings but also seizing control of their “life souls,” holding their lives in his hands.
This was one of the powers of the Great Wilderness’ ancient divine altar:
Through the blood oath list on the altar, the faith of the followers could be controlled at the level of their life souls.
Mo Hua had learned this method during his struggles against the Great Wilderness’ Evil God in the Qianxue State Realm.
In Qianxue, Mr. Tu secretly orchestrated, raised minions, organized sacrifices, and built a massive evil god faction.
The evil god’s core minions swore allegiance in blood, offering their loyalty and a fragment of their life soul.
Their blood, along with a fragment of their life soul, was offered at the altar of the Dragon King Temple by the Smoke-Water River.
Their names were inscribed on a list.
Boss Jiang held the list.
Fire Buddha led the evil god’s sacrificial minions.
Water Yama acted as intermediary between the evil god and influential elites.
Mr. Tu was the mastermind, founder of the evil god faction, the first Shaman Priest of the Great Wilderness’ Evil God.
In Qianxue, Mo Hua had confronted all kinds of such figures for a long time.
He had “learned” the entire system of the evil god and now applied it to the high-ranking leaders of the barbarian tribes.
Now, Mo Hua simultaneously held the list of the evil god’s sacrificial minions, led them, acted as intermediary to the powerful, created the faction, and was the first Shaman Priest under the evil god.
He was Boss Jiang, Fire Buddha, Water Yama, and the Great Wilderness’ Mr. Tu.
In fact, he was even the Great Wilderness’ Evil God himself.
Mo Hua, wearing multiple hats, had nearly single-handedly constructed a complete divine system in the barbarian lands.
Through divine faith, he unified the mid- and lower-tier tribes.
Through divine rituals, he controlled the life souls of the high-ranking leaders.
The entire divine faction fell completely under his command.
Thus, a vast, unified system modeled after the “Great Wilderness Evil God Structure” had fully formed.
At the end of the ceremony, Mo Hua instructed Dan-Zhu to inscribe his name at the top of the Stele of the Divine Shaman.
On the towering stele, among all the late Golden Core great chieftains and elders, “Dan-Zhu” appeared first.
This displayed the Divine Lord’s favor toward the young master of the Dan-Zhu Tribe, and the Divine Shaman’s high regard and expectations for his “disciple.”
Dan-Zhu’s heart was sincere, his expression respectful.
He left his name and blood on the stele.
His heart, like the blood of the Vermilion Bird, burned with fervor and purity. His faith was the cleanest and most genuine among all.
He was also the only high-ranking leader whose life soul Mo Hua did not bind.
Among all tribal leaders, Dan-Zhu alone retained a complete life soul, independent faith, and remained free from Mo Hua’s control.
In the flow of all things, human hearts are the most untrustworthy.
Yet sometimes, human hearts are precisely the most reliable.
Some are like floating duckweed, swayed by wind and water.
Others are like gold and stone—unyielding through wind, rain, sun, and frost, becoming even more resilient and brilliant through trials.
Mo Hua could see Dan-Zhu’s heart, so he trusted him.
But now, Mo Hua was uncertain of his own heart.
He worried that once he stepped fully onto the path of divinity, wielding absolute power over life and death, his own heart might change.
He feared the transformation of his divine nature, afraid that one day his divinity would extinguish his humanity.
He feared losing control of his Divine Dao, even turning into an evil god like the Great Wilderness’ ruler.
Then, his existence itself could become a disaster for the Great Wilderness.
The ignorant feel no fear.
Mo Hua had been fearless in the past because he did not know.
Now, after experiencing so much, he understood the great horrors and could not help but fear.
Thus, he left a safeguard.
Within this divine system, he preserved a “humanity” capable of repair and correction—Dan-Zhu.
If his divinity ever faltered, or he faced an accident and was no longer in the Great Wilderness, Dan-Zhu could use his heart and faith to maintain the stability of the divine system and lead the people forward.
This was Mo Hua’s true expectation for Dan-Zhu.
…
Time passed; the Divine worship Ceremony continued, and the masses worshipped the Divine-Lord.
Mo Hua sat alone atop the high divine throne, overlooking the countless beings who bowed and worshipped him.
His heart felt a mix of indescribable emotions.
There was the greatness of divinity, yet a faint melancholy of human detachment.
The ceremony concluded, and everyone departed from the altar.
Dan-Zhu, with admiration and a complex expression, saluted and bid Mo Hua farewell.
Mo Hua remained alone on the throne, like a solitary figure of power and faith.
The Big-Tiger, lying on the ground for most of the day, seemed to sense Mo Hua’s deep loneliness. Slowly rising, it approached and nudged his shoulder with its fuzzy head.
Only then did Mo Hua return to himself.
A subtle complexity appeared in his indifferent gaze.
He lightly patted the tiger’s head, whispering as if confirming to himself:
“I am the Divine Shaman of the Great Wilderness… but I am also…”
“…Mo Hua.”
Though he spoke his name, the tone was soft, uncertain, as if even he doubted it.
…
After the Divine worship Ceremony, Mo Hua became the supreme Divine Shaman.
The entire Vermilion Bird Mountain Realm achieved complete unification of divine authority—from top to bottom, inside and out.
And this unified, powerful “Divine Dao Machine” began operating at full force.
The first task: to accelerate the construction of the Profound-Earth Grand Formation.
Mo Hua’s design for the Profound-Earth Grand Formation expanded unhindered across the entire Vermilion Bird Mountain realm.
Almost all tribal resources and mobile cultivators, aside from soldiers, were devoted to its construction.
Every corner of Vermilion Bird Mountain began constructing the formation’s nodes.
Following Mo Hua’s teachings of “Man conforms to Earth,” witch cultivators inscribed formations imbued with the earth’s vitality across the realm.
The famine was cut off outside the mountains by the Profound-Earth Grand Formation.
The entire Vermilion Bird Mountain realm underwent tremendous transformation under the formation’s influence.
Massive accumulation of Profound-Earth Absolute Formations stirred the Earth’s Dao essence. Coupled with the reinforcement from numerous Earth and Gen-type formations, the quantitative change in the laws triggered a qualitative transformation.
Life force in the land began seeping outward, even altering the soil of the wilderness.
Once barren land gradually became moist and fertile, capable of sustaining certain crops.
These crops, as sustenance during disaster years, connected to the energy of the Profound-Earth Formation, nourished by the land while revitalizing it in turn.
The formation, land, and crops formed a perpetual cycle, rejuvenating the entire mountain realm.
To a certain extent, it even reshaped the barbarian civilization’s ecology.
The Profound-Earth Formation thus became the first “livelihood-type” grand formation in wilderness history—capable of altering the fate of every barbarian and the course of Great Wilderness civilization itself.
…
With The Profound-Earth Grand Formation securing the people’s welfare in the rear, the Divine Shaman War swiftly began.
Under the Divine Lord’s guidance and the blessings of the Divine Shaman, advanced, secret, and extraordinary Four-Symbol Barbarian Armor formations and forging techniques spread among the tribes, unified and overseen by their tribal elders.
Powerful barbarian armor forged formidable barbarian soldiers.
Combined with unified faith and fearless conviction, the Vermilion Bird Mountain tribes’ “Divine Shaman Army” reached unprecedented combat power.
After nearly a Millennia, Mo Hua launched the largest, most glorious, and most impactful Divine Dao Unification War in the history of the Great Wilderness.
Later historians would refer to the period from the Divine Shaman War to the end of the Strange Daoist’s Great Disaster as the “Era of the Divine Shaman.”
The year the Divine Worship Ceremony was held and the start of the Divine Shaman War was called the first year of the Divine Shaman.
…
Year 20,042 of the Dao Calendar, Year 9 of the New Great Wilderness Calendar.
(TN: I’m not sure whether the author mixed up the dates or something. Mo Hua entered the Great Wilderness at age 21 and ignited the Royal Court rebellion, which marked the beginning of the New Great Wilderness Calendar. So it has been 9 years since Mo Hua sparked the start of the Royal Court’s rebellion? So Much time has passed, Huh?)
Autumn, Year One of the Divine Shaman.
Under Mo Hua’s command, the Vermilion Bird barbarian soldiers, in the name of the Divine Lord, surged like an unstoppable iron tide across the famine-stricken lands of the Great Wilderness.
Under the banner of the Divine Shaman, barbarian soldiers entered one mountain realm after another, annihilating enemy groups, conquering tribes, and spreading the Divine Lord’s renown across the land.
Among them, the impact of the Divine Slave Tribe was greatest.
Born as slaves, lowly in status, yet once liberated, they possessed the unshakable faith, fearless courage, and the largest numbers and influence.
They wore uniform red barbarian armor.
Red like blood, like fire, stretching across mountains and valleys in a blazing sea.
This was war, and also the fire of faith.
This crimson fire of faith spread from east to west, advancing with the Divine Slave Tribe Division’s campaigns, eventually engulfing the entire wilderness…
Increasing numbers of tribes were ignited by this flame.
They either were reborn in the fire or perished in it.
Amid the flames, more and more tribes and mountain realms were incorporated into the Divine Lord’s domain…
…
This fervent momentum continued for over half a year. With strong logistics and manpower, nearly half of the famine-stricken wilderness fell into Mo Hua’s hands.
But progress eventually had to slow.
Despite the Divine-Shaman Army’s strength, some “tough nuts” in the third-grade mountain realms could not be cracked quickly.
These tribes were large and powerful, with complex conflicts, deeply entangled with Dao Court families, especially the Hua family.
They also harbored extreme hostility toward Mo Hua, their faith unchangeable, each side fighting to the death.
…
Year 20,043 of the Dao Calendar, 10th year of the Great Wilderness New Calendar, Year Two of the Divine-Shaman.
Third-grade Lüyu Mountain Realm.
Mo Hua, accompanied by the Sacred Beast Big-Tiger, personally led the campaign in the name of the Divine-Shaman, encountering his greatest obstacle yet.
The Gaotu Tribe.
A third-grade major tribe, they lived off poison, fed on toxic herbs, practiced venomous arts, and dwelled in a vast poison swamp.
The swamp stretched endlessly, brimming with toxins, blocking Mo Hua’s advance.
The Gaotu barbarians ambushed the Vermilion Bird soldiers from within the swamp, inflicting heavy casualties.
Even more troublesome, the Gaotu general practiced the Hundred-Viper Poison Art and hid within the swamp—almost impossible to defeat.
The swamp’s toxicity was extreme; no ordinary living person dared touch it, let alone kill the general within.
Mo Hua’s Divine-Shaman army was stalled for several days before the poison swamp, unable to make progress.
At night, Mo Hua entered a heavily guarded campaign tent.
Inside was a massive coffin.
Mo Hua stood before it and, after a moment, pointed, dispelling the formation on the coffin. The lid opened with a sound.
His gaze sharpened, blue light glimmering in his eyes.
Inside the coffin, a massive and ferocious corpse opened its eyes in the darkness.
In the hollow black sockets, a strange, profound blue light flickered.
Blue patterns, fierce and grotesque, ran across its flesh, accompanied by a heavy, terrifying breathing.
It was as if the awakened Taotie hungered for “food”…
….
Translator Notes:
In the 1st chapter: “Year 20022 of the Dao Calendar, Tenth of the Ninth Month,”
Mo Hua was 10 years old. That makes him 30 years old now. Mo Hua’s official age confirmed.