Chapter 1175, The Shaman of the Coiled Goat Tribe’s Ability

Translator: Silavin

 

Snow fell steadily from the sky. No one had come outside in the Coiled Goat Tribe during the snow season.

 

Everyone stayed inside their wooden houses. The cold outside was genuinely unbearable.

 

It was the sort of cold that made your teeth ache just thinking about it. Nobody wanted to be out in it.

 

Luo Lan, Pi, and Bu Lu had returned to the Tribe. They were gathered now inside the Shaman’s wooden house, talking through what had happened.

 

There was a great deal to discuss. Things had changed very quickly, and not in the direction anyone had expected.

 

“I sent you to negotiate a cooperation agreement. How did you come back as members of the Flame Dragon Tribe?” Shaman Zha’s expression was thoroughly dark.

 

He was the Coiled Goat Tribe’s Shaman, somewhere around fifty years old. By Shaman standards, that was relatively young.

 

Most Shamans were in their sixties or seventies, and tended to look as though they might fall over at any moment.

 

“Shaman, there was nothing to be done. We were no match for the Flame Dragon Tribe at all. That Tribe is genuinely formidable…” Luo Lan began his account.

 

He laid out everything he had seen and heard in the Flame Dragon Tribe clearly and without leaving anything out. Though he did add a fair amount of colour to the tale, because if he made things sound more serious, perhaps the scolding would not be as severe.

 

They had gone to negotiate cooperation and come back belonging to another Tribe entirely. Anyone would be angry.

 

“The Flame Dragon Tribe is that capable? Are you sure everything you’re saying is true?” Shaman Zha asked.

 

He looked at the sincerity on Luo Lan’s face and couldn’t quite bring himself to berate him, and yet the account did seem fantastically exaggerated.

 

What Tribe operated this way? The whole story sounded like something from a dream.

 

Then again, upon reflection, it was not impossible. There had to be a reason they’d handed their own Tribe over.

 

“If you’ve been lying, you know what comes of that. Don’t forget how formidable a Shaman Technique can be.” Xi Qi said, his voice sharp with anger.

 

He was the Coiled Goat Tribe’s Chieftain, roughly in his forties, with a broad and powerfully built frame. After listening to the full account, the Chieftain was furious. He was convinced the man was spinning one lie after another.

 

How could any Tribe genuinely be that extraordinary? Military strength formidable. Food stores formidable. Living conditions formidable. Everything without exception, good beyond all reason.

 

According to what they were saying, there was not a single flaw in the Flame Dragon Tribe. The more impossible it sounded, the more suspicious it became.

 

“I know exactly what a Shaman Technique can do. That is precisely why I would not lie. Everything I have said is true.” Luo Lan’s voice was steady.

 

His expression was resolute. Though inwardly, he was perhaps the slightest bit uneasy. He had embellished the telling more than a little.

 

He talked himself around in his head, though. Even with the embellishment, the real was not really that different.

 

So even if the Shaman Technique was used, nothing would change. That was the reasoning Luo Lan offered himself.

 

“I can say with certainty that he has not lied. As the leader of this expedition, I witnessed everything myself.” Pi stepped forward.

 

He was not particularly articulate, and under different circumstances, he might have been the one to give the account. But he had worried he would muddle it and make things worse, so he had stayed quiet.

 

Now, though, if he didn’t say something, all three of them were heading for serious punishment.

 

“Everything the Leader and Brother Luo Lan have said is true. Any of it can be verified by going to the Flame Dragon Tribe directly. We have no reason whatsoever to deceive anyone.” Bu Lu felt things sliding toward something uncontrollable, and pressed on, “Moreover, we have already joined the Flame Dragon Tribe. There would be no point in lies.”

 

“In that case, you’ll each submit to my Shaman Technique. We’ll verify whether you’ve been telling the truth.” Shaman Zha said.

 

His technique was Lie Detection. A Shaman Technique capable of revealing whether someone was being truthful.

 

Beyond that, he also had a Blessing Shaman Technique that could increase a Warrior’s Stamina and Movement Speed.

 

Shaman Zha was not a combat-oriented Shaman, so the Coiled Goat Tribe’s true fighting strength was not especially great.

 

But with his Blessing Shaman Techniques, their Warriors could keep rising back up again and again. It was a war of attrition, in essence.

 

“We will submit to it. We have no reason not to.” Luo Lan said, his voice firm.

 

“As the leader of this expedition, I’ll go first.” Pi said.

 

He was not good at lying and he was not good at talking, and he hadn’t been the one doing the talking, so going first was not difficult for him.

 

“I’ll go after.” Bu Lu said, with rather more courage than he felt. He was a little afraid, if he were being honest.

 

The fear came from never having been through Lie Detection before. The uncertainty of it was enough to make anyone’s heart unsteady.

 

“None of you are going anywhere. Every one of you will be tested. The only question is the order.” Xi Qi said, his tone unyielding.

 

As Chieftain of the Coiled Goat Tribe, this business had lit a fire in him that he was struggling to contain. He had been waiting, full of expectation, for good news. Waiting for good goods to come back with them.

 

Xi Qi had even begun imagining how the Tribe might develop from here. And then they came back as members of someone else’s Tribe. Who could stomach that?

 

Only, his patience kept him from having all three dealt with harshly on the spot. The Tribe had rules for that sort of thing.

 

Though in fairness, so many years under the pressure of the Dark Scorpion Tribe, it had worn down most of his sharper edges.

 

“That goes without saying. Come then, Shaman. I’m ready.” Pi said plainly.

 

“En.” Shaman Zha closed his eyes and began to cast his Shaman Technique.

 

He extended both hands and drew on his power. A faint yellow light began to gather in his palms, building from almost nothing into something visible. The glow took a long time to fill.

 

By the time his hands were truly shining, half an hour had passed. The casting time was genuinely long.

 

Pi quietly gulped. His expression was complicated. He closed his eyes slowly and accepted the Shaman Technique.

 

“Is everything you have said the truth?” Shaman Zha placed his hand on Pi’s forehead and asked.

 

He had to make contact. Without it, there was no way to read whether someone was lying.

 

“It is, Shaman.” Pi answered without hesitation.

 

Shaman Zha glanced at the light in his hand and found it still a pale yellow. No change.

 

That meant Pi was telling the truth. A lie would have turned the pale yellow black.

 

“Next.” Shaman Zha moved on.

 

Bu Lu and Luo Lan both gulped. Their palms and foreheads had begun to perspire.