Bai Jin hurriedly said, "I co from the Daqiu Tribe, my na is Tie Chui."
The bearded middle-aged man frowned and said, "I know of the Daqiu Tribe. How did you end up here?"
"Our Clan Leader sent to ask if there’s any hardship in your tribe and whether you can endure through the night?"
The bearded middle-aged man glanced at Bai Jin with scorn and bellowed, "What if there is hardship? Can you actually help us? Go back and tell your Clan Leader that we’ve survived the pursuit of the Witch Demons, let alone this re night. I am surely stronger than him and will lead my people through the long night."
From the distance, mbers of the Human Clan turned their heads and shouted, "The Clan Leader speaks well!"
"Clan Leader is aweso~"
...
The Bearded Clan Chief also laughed heartily, displaying a poised and heroic deanor.
"So, it’s the Clan Leader himself."
The bearded middle-aged man slapped Bai Jin on the back, spoke boldly, "Stop with the formalities. A man who treks through forests to our tribe is a warrior, and I like you! Why not just stay with us and don’t go back? I’ll find you a few beautiful won."
"Thank you for your kind offer, Clan Leader, but I am here on orders, and I must return. Could you please tell us what hardships have you encountered?"
The middle-aged bearded man’s eyes revealed a hint of sorrow as he spoke irritably, "What’s there to ask?
Darkness, wild beasts, food, cold, disease, they’re all problems, isn’t it the sa for everyone?" He spat vehently and cursed, "This damn night is just too damned long."
Bai Jin turned to the elder under the talisman and asked, "Clan Leader, what is he doing?"
The Bearded Clan Chief glanced at the elder and explained, "Ah! You young folks don’t know. Once our Human Clan had its glory, with hundreds of thousands of Human Ancestors shining upon us like the Great Sun, each one with boundless mana, as if they were Immortal Gods."
The Bearded Clan Chief’s eyes filled with longing as he reminisced, "The Human Ancestor protected each tribe, bringing light and warmth into the night, driving away the Demons, and most importantly, the Human Ancestor could ignite flas with their Divine Skills, allowing us to cook our food."
He spoke sorrowfully, "But then ca the tragedy of the Witch Demons slaughtering our people. The tribe fell, countless of our clan perished, and all those hundreds of thousands of Human Ancestors fell. Now we are reduced to a life of eating raw ats and drinking blood."
Looking at the elder under the talisman, he said, "And yet, he refuses to accept reality. He wants to gain the fire’s Divine Skills of Immortal Gods by his own strength, haha~ But how could such a thing be possible? The fla is sothing only Divines can master."
Bai Jin asked, "What’s his na?"
"He’s Suirenshi, once the strongest hunter of our tribe, he and I protected our people from the encirclent of Witch Demons," the Bearded Clan Chief shook his head in sigh, "Don’t interact with him, he’s gone mad. People should accept reality and bravely look forward. Even without fla, we can still survive, and perhaps at daybreak, we might find fire seeds in the forests."
"Maybe he’ll succeed!"
"How could that be possible?! He is but a mortal," said the Bearded Clan Chief, shaking his head.
Bai Jin took steps towards Suirenshi.
The Bearded Clan Chief scratched his head and muttered, "Another madman, this accursed night!" He spat fiercely.
Bai Jin walked over and crouched beside Suirenshi, saying, "I heard you’re trying to create fire?"
Suirenshi nodded, looking up foolishly at the glowing talisman, silent, with a hint of bewildernt in his eyes.
"I believe you can do it."
Suirenshi suddenly turned to look at Bai Jin, his eyes brightening as he said, "You believe in ? You believe that we mortals can control fire?!"
Bai Jin nodded and said, "I believe."
Suirenshi showed a joyful smile, clenched his fist and declared, "I will definitely find a way for our Human Clan to ignite our own flas. In fact, we have encountered flas during the dayti, flas ford naturally, not ignited by the Immortal Gods.
At that ti, I realized that not only Immortal Gods could ignite flas, fire can be ford in other ways, thus I harbored the thought of finding our own Human Clan’s flas."
"Then why don’t you go and search for it instead of sitting here?"
"I once saw the Human Ancestor ignite the Divine Fire," said Suirenshi, raising his palm, "With a flash of light on the Human Ancestor’s hand, Divine Fire burst forth imdiately, and the Heavenly Fire we found was also during the day, so I think it must be the light that brings the fla."
"So you’re sitting here idly, trying to grasp the secret of light giving birth to fire?"
Suirenshi nodded awkwardly in embarrassnt.
Bai Jin guided, saying: "Have you ever considered that perhaps fire brought light?"
Suirenshi murmured: "The light brought by fire?" Shaking his head, he said: "No, it’s clear that light appeared first, and then ca the fire."
"You can think about it the other way around!"
Suirenshi looked at Bai Jin with disdain: "Young man, we must trust our own eyes."
Fine! You have longer hair; you’re right. Can’t be bothered to argue with you.
Bai Jin continued guiding: "Then, let’s change our perspective. Since we can’t unravel the mystery from light, why don’t we think about what else fire has, aside from light?"
Suirenshi froze for a mont, muttering to himself: "Aside from light, what else? There’s also...heat." He sat cross-legged on the ground, staring blankly into space.
As ti slowly passed, Suirenshi sat motionless as if dead, yet his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
With the passage of ti, under the cover of night, Heaven and Earth grew colder, and gusts of chilly wind blew by.
The Bearded Clan Chief walked out from within the tribe, dressed in a fur coat, carrying a dry pig’s leg, and handed it to Bai Jin, saying: "Eat, you won’t last without food."
Suirenshi suddenly awoke, leapt up from the ground, and ran wildly outside, his expression mad and frenzied.
The Bearded Clan Chief was taken aback and then angrily shouted: "Hey, what are you doing? It’s dangerous out there!" With a stomp on the ground, a thunderous vibration ensued, splitting the earth, and like a cannonball, he shot forward, crossing over twenty ters in the air, and with a heavy thud, landed in front of Suirenshi.
The Bearded Clan Chief turned around, bellowing: "Get back here!"
Suirenshi seed not to see the Bearded Clan Chief at all, his gaze fixed only on the forest a kiloter away, as he frantically ran forward.
The Bearded Clan Chief’s gaze intensified, his hand reached out like an eagle’s talon, aiming to snatch Suirenshi back.
Bai Jin lightly tapped the ground, arriving in a float, casually parrying the Bearded Clan Chief’s hand aside.
The Bearded Clan Chief staggered back two steps, looking at Bai Jin in disbelief: "You’ve entered the Tao?"
Bai Jin smiled and said: "Clan Chief, just watch what he’s about to do."
Suirenshi ran into the forest, searching the ground, found a piece of dry wood, and another stick, squatted next to a large rock, planted the stick on the wood, and began to vigorously rub with both hands.
The stick spun rapidly in Suirenshi’s hands, with his strong physique providing powerful kinetic energy, turning into a blur of light and shadow.
The Bearded Clan Chief approached, puzzled: "What is he doing?"
Bai Jin spoke leisurely: "He is doing sothing that will affect the entire future of the Human Clan, isn’t he?"
The Bearded Clan Chief scoffed: "Him? A mad and useless person, if it weren’t for his past contributions to the Human Clan, I would have expelled him long ago."
As the stick spun at high speed, the wood on the stone began to blacken, emitting wisp after wisp of faint smoke, and tiny sparks shined.
The smile on the Bearded Clan Chief’s face gradually vanished, his eyes widened as he watched the wood slowly turn black, murmuring: "This is... this is fire?"
A gust of wind blew; the Bearded Clan Chief quickly took off his coat, enduring the severe cold, squatting next to the large rock, holding up the fur coat to block the cold wind, afraid that the flas might extinguish the tiny sparks.
Bai Jin extended his hand, and a bunch of dry grass flew from afar, landing next to Suirenshi.
Suirenshi glanced at the dry grass, his eyes lit up. He imdiately stopped his hands, picked up the grass, and carefully laid it on the wood with sparkling embers, then puffed air from his mouth.
The smoke grew thicker and thicker, choking Suirenshi into a fit of coughing, but the smile on his face was unmistakable.
A fla ignited on the dry grass, and with a sudden burst, it beca a towering column of fire, radiating intense light and heat, forcing Suirenshi and the Bearded Clan Chief to retreat.
The Bearded Clan Chief collapsed to his knees on the ground, exclaiming with ecstatic excitent: "Fire, fire oh! Our very own fire."
Suirenshi, too, stared blankly at the fire, tears of emotion gleaming in his eyes, I’ve succeeded, I’ve successfully created fire.
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