Beseech The Devil Chapter 3

 p.r.i.c.kling silence

Deep into the night, Su Ming lay in his room as he stared into the pitch-black darkness, unable to fall asleep. Grandpa’s words lingered in his ears, causing the scene from 8 years ago to continuously replay in his mind.

With a long sigh, Su Ming sat up and silently pushed open the wooden door of the room. A gust of cool wind blew over his messy hair. The wind was very cool, as if it had descended with the moonlight that sprinkled onto on the land.

The surroundings were very tranquil, with only the occasional cry or two from the Wu Mountains. Most of the tribe area was covered in a pitch-black darkness, only some scattered flames remaining of the bonfire at the centre and also the torches that hung from the surrounding wooden walls. In this late night, faint burning ‘pa pa’ sounds could be heard.

Su Ming raised his head to look at the sky, where the bright moon shone in an almost starless night. The seemingly eternal milky way causing a lost look to be slowly revealed in Su Ming’s eyes.

“The people in the tribe have treated me very well……but I clearly look different from them……perhaps, this is related to my failure in calling on the Mán Statue….

Without the Mán Body I cannot cultivate the Mán. I can only spend all my life here, incapable of leaving, incapable of seeing the world described by the Animal Skin Book……” Su Ming silently sat down and leaned against his house, watching the sky. The sense of loss in his eyes became even thicker.

“Ancestors of the Mán tribe opened the skies and created men, their legacy has been pa.s.sed on for thousands of generations till today…..the ones who grasp the Mán, soaring through the skies, boring through the ground, moving the mountains and flipping the seas……with the Mán Mark, one can break the heavens and pluck the sun, the moon and even the stars from the sky……” In the late night, within the Wushan Tribe dwelling, a youngster gazed at the sky as he mumbled……

The current him did not notice the black colored shard, that hung from his neck, once again flash weakly.

Time pa.s.sed in an instant and it quickly came to the third day.

As this generation’s La Su Mán Enlightenment day, the entire tribe was abuzz since early in the morning. Practically every tribe member was out as they brought the La Su from their families and gathered at the plaza in the middle of the tribe dwelling.

The Mán Enlightenment ceremony usually needed a whole day. In particular, the La Su’s 16 years old’s Mán Enlightenment was akin to the rite to adulthood. After completing the Mán Enlightenment today, the La Su would even be able to select a mate.

A drumbeat with an odd rhythm resounded across the tribe dwelling.Following the appearance of the drumbeat, one by one, the La Su walked out of the crowd to stand in the center area.

This time, there were over thirty La Sus who had completed the Mán Enlightenment, most of which were youngsters. Although they were young, their bodies were extremely large and well built, displaying a valiant presence.

Even the girls were the same. As such, Su Ming was exceedingly distinct in the crowd, his delicate features even more out of place with the surroundings.

Despite this, the people here had long ago accepted Su Ming’s existence. He may have an appearance different from them but they did not exclude him. Instead, they integrated him into being a member of their tribe. Despite his different appearance, they did not exclude him but instead integrated him to become a member of their tribe.

After circling these La Su who were preparing for the Mán Enlightenment, all of the Wushan tribe members started the original dance one after another. They were dancing as a tribute to the heavens and using their bodies to express the reverence and scarification they offered to the heavens.

“Su Ming, I heard from others in the tribe that you went to Wulong Mountain a few days back and even brought back Wulong’s saliva.” While the surrounding tribe members were happily singing and dancing, a simple and straightforward voice was heard from Su Ming’s side.

It belonged to a youngster of the same age, whose skin was rough and had a rather st.u.r.dy body which was almost twice Su Ming’s in girth. At the moment, the youngster was looking at Su Ming with a pair of bright eyes as he let out a silly laugh.

A small smile appeared on Su Ming’s face as he gazed at the youngster who had spoken. This youngster was called Lei Chen and was one of the few good friends Su Ming had in the tribe.

“I brought some back and went to find you last night, but your father told me you went to the mountains with the hunting squad. Later on, after the Mán Enlightenment is over, come to my place and take some.”

Lei Chen’s eyes shone as he hastily walked forward, his silly laughter sounding out.

“Originally, I could have returned earlier but I encountered a Sable Deer. You previously said that you needed a Sable Deer’s blood to make medicine, thus I chased it and ended up returning very late.”

Su Ming knew that though the other party had played it down, the reality was that a Sable Deer was extremely difficult to kill and furthermore rather dangerous. At this moment, a warm feeling bubbled in his heart.

While the two chatted, the surrounding sounds of singing gradually quietened down. The crowd split open to reveal the Wushan Tribe’s Grandfather. Wearing a coa.r.s.e set of clothes and holding an entirely pitch-black bone cane in his hand, he walked over while being escorted by a few tribe members to stand before the youngsters.

His appearance caused the surroundings to fall into complete silence. Reverence revealed itself on the youngsters faces, they were clearly very afraid of this Grandfather.

“A sacrifice for the Mán Ancestors!” Grandfather’s eyes were bright as they swept across the crowd, slightly pausing on Su Ming. As the words were spoken, the pitch-black bone cane in Grandfather’s right hand waved and immediately, ten or so huge men hurriedly walked over from nearby, carrying some binded beasts.

These beasts were still alive as they let out mournful growls while constantly struggling to break free to little avail.

There were a total of forty nine different beasts. A short while later, they were all carried over and circled around the the youngsters. Wave after wave of growling and howling reverberated about, condensing together and bringing about a penetrating power that battered at the soul. It was only the surrounding tribe members existance that firmly suppressed this power, not allowing the beasts to struggle free.

The huge men that stood beside these beasts did not have the slightest hesitation as they all bowed their heads together. Sharp stone knives appeared in their left hands which were directly stabbed into the beast’s’ necks, chopping off their heads.

In that same instance, the growling and howling noises reached their peak, seemingly able to make the world around to shudder and causing fearful expressions to be revealed on the thirty plus La Sus’ faces.

Su Ming’s complexion was pale but he gritted his teeth and endured. His gaze turned to his side and swept across Lei Chen, only to see an ominous look in his friend’s eyes. Within those eyes, was a blood-thirsty look, as if he was already long used to such a situation and even faintly enjoyed it. Compared to the simple and honest demeanor he had before, it was as if he was a completely different person.

An even larger amount of blood suddenly spurted out, like a fountain of blood, emitting a pungent smell. The blood sprayed towards the thirty over La Sus, falling on their hair, bodies and the ground beneath their feet.

“All of you are fortunate because there are no wars between the tribes these days. Yet at the same time, all of you are also unfortunate……” Grandfather looked at the youngsters before him as he softly spoke.

“When I was young, for my sixteen year Mán Enlightenment ceremony, I needed to chop off the head of an enemy tribesperson and drink his blood to complete the Mán Enlightenment.

Compared to now, all of you are fortunate……yet it is unfortunate that all of you have only seen the blood of beasts and do not have the chance at an enemy’s head……” Grandfather muttered as he deeply glanced at the La Sus before him. Lifting the bone cane in his right hand, he pointed it forward.

At the same time, the fingers on his left fist abruptly opened as a strong aura suddenly spread out from his body. This aura rolled over the surroundings, taking the form of a violent wind as it blew over the entire Wushan Tribe.

Lines of Mark appeared on grandfather’s face, intertwining together and to everyone’s astonishment, turned into the picture of a python’s head.

The vivid appearance of the python head looked truly realistic as it seemed to face the sky and emit a soundless hiss. Though no one could hear it, every member of the Wushan Tribe, including the st.u.r.dy Chief, could not help but tremble as they retreated a few steps back.

“Wu Python Mark……this is Grandfather’s Mán Mark……” Su Ming blankly stared at Grandfather, looking at the mark on his face as shock filled his heart. The last time he had seen this scene was nine years ago. Now that he saw it again today, he could feel that it was several times stronger compared to the past.

“Grandfather’s power alone is enough to exterminate the entire tribe. Even being so strong, he is only at the 9th Layer of Condensing Mán Blood……I wonder how powerful an Open Earth Stage pract.i.tioner would be……

Or even the Bone Sacrifice Stage after the Open Earth……it was written on the Animal Skin Book that a Bone Sacrifice Stage pract.i.tioner was extremely rare even in a medium sized tribe. Only those almost unimaginable large sized tribes possessed a few Bone Sacrifice Stage Mán pract.i.tioners.” Su Ming’s mind shuddered, in his heart, the longing to become a Mán pract.i.tioner grew even stronger.

“Offer the fresh blood and the beast’s body to the Wushan Mán Statue!” Grandfather’s thunder-like voice derailed Su Ming’s train of thought. As Grandfather’s voice rang out, the surrounding beast’s bodies immediately exploded. The blood and flesh on the ground and even those on the youngsters were all sucked up by an invisible power to condense together in the sky, forming a huge ball of flesh.

“Mán Enlightenment!” The tall and st.u.r.dy man beside Grandfather, the chief of the Wushan tribe suddenly shouted out.

Including Su Ming, all of the La Sus did not hesitate as they bit off the tips of their tongues, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. Their blood swiftly soared into the sky and was absorbed by the ball of blood and flesh before a huge boom rang out. To everyone’s astonishment, the ball of blood and flesh transformed into a black statue.

Half of the statue was in the image of a person while the other half was a ferocious beast. The statue was filled with a wild and primitive aura. In one hand, it held a dragon and the other hand grasped onto a huge spear while its eyes were colored with madness and bloodthirst.

Its appearance caused even the sky to darken, as if being suppressed by the statue’s power and might.

“The Wushan Mán Statue……” Su Ming’s heart thumped in his chest, seemingly about to explode. But at this moment, the fragment that hung from his neck faintly shed a warm current which fused into his body, causing the unbearable feeling to fade away like smoke.

This feeling caused Su Ming to be stunned for a moment, just as he was about to look down, Grandfather’s voice once again rang out.

“Come forward one by one and enter into the Mán Statue to pay your respects!”

As the voice faded, a youngster quickly walked forward and stepped into the area under the Mán Statue as his whole body abruptly disappeared. Not long after, in the place he disappeared, the youngster once again appeared, having a dark look on his face as he stepped back to one side without speaking a word.

“Next!” The owner of this voice was the Chief of the Wushan Tribe. He had a grave expression on his face as his gaze swept across the La Sus.

One by one, the Mán Enlightenment Su Las continued to walk forward. After disappearing for a while, they once again appeared until one of the girls stepped into the Mán Statue and it emitted a scarlet flash.

Immediately, the all of the tribe members were shaken and even Grandfather looked over with rapt attention, only to see the scarlet light continuously flash nine more times before the girl’s figure once again materialized.

“A Mán body possessor!!”

“Nine flashes of the Mán Statue indicates the possession of the Mán Body!”

After the girl appeared, delight filled her face.

“You are called Wu La right, very good, come to my side.” A small smile surfaced on Grandfather’s face as he looked at the girl and nodded his head.

Watching as the girl walked towards Grandfather, Su Ming was silent. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward, walking towards the Mán Statue. When he walked out, he immediately drew the attention of the surrounding tribe members.

Most of the Wushan Tribe members felt kindness and pity towards the youngster that looked distinctly different from them. Their gazes concentrated on Su Ming until he came to stand below the Mán Statue.

Su Ming took in a deep breath as he glanced at Grandfather who was also looking at him from nearby. He closed his eyes and in that instance, he felt an indescribable energy surround his body, it felt as if he was blended into sludge. When he opened his eyes, the surroundings had already completely changed.

This was not the Wushan Tribe dwelling but a huge empty s.p.a.ce. A pitch-black darkness filled the surroundings and only the black statue that floated towards his front emitted a scarlet light.

The appearance of the statue looked exactly like the one he had seen outside as it emitted a primitive aura.

Gazing at the Mán Statue, Su Ming was silent for a moment before he deeply bowed towards it.

After bowing for a long time, a bitter look appeared on Su Ming’s face. He knew that if he possessed the Mán Body, only one bow was needed to let the Mán Statue emit scarlet flashes. Yet the scene before his eyes were no different from nine years ago.

“I will never become a Mán pract.i.tioner in this life……” Su Ming bit his lip as he let out a long sigh before turning to leave.

Yet, just as he turned, his body suddenly jolted and he immediately turned back to look at the Mán Statue, dazed!

At the same time, he saw the fragment, that he had neglected on his chest, emit an eye-piercing radiance……