My basement connects to another world.

Chapter 35 Blessing

Someone handed him a bowl that had just been served. Ke Shan took it, looked down at it, smelled it, and then stuffed a big mouthful into his mouth.

His face froze for two seconds.

Then he squatted down on a tree root next to him, bowl in hand, and began shoveling food into his mouth, one bite after another. After a long while, he looked up and finally remembered to ask the person next to him, "Where did you get this?"

The young warrior with the flat nose had his mouth stuffed full, and pointed his chopsticks in the direction of Jiang Yuan, "That human. I heard he was brought here using divine magic."

Ke Shan followed the chopsticks' direction. Jiang Yuan was walking towards the leader.

"It really was him..." Ke Shan muttered to himself.

Whatever new and unusual things have recently appeared in the tribe, they are all inextricably linked to humans.

He looked down at the contents of his bowl and took another big bite.

The veterans over there had already had their third bowl.

An old hunter with a white beard squatted on a tree root, holding a bowl. He ate very slowly, holding each bite in his mouth for a while before swallowing. Someone next to him urged him to hurry up, but he waved his hand in a hoarse voice and said, "Let me have a good meal."

The women holding the babies gathered on the other side, using small wooden spoons to scoop rice grains and feed them to the babies.

A baby cub, still nursing, was fed half a spoonful of milk. It smacked its lips and its two fluffy little ears twirled on its head.

There were hundreds of people in the open space, but no one spoke; the only sounds were the clinking of bowls and spoons and the occasional swallowing.

Jiang Yuan's gaze swept over a snow-white figure.

Hilu saw Jiang Yuan approaching, her sky-blue eyes lit up, and she ran to him in a few steps, looking up at him:

"Jiangyuan! Mother said you were the one who took those white pellets out!"

Before Jiang Yuan could answer, he saw someone walking over behind Xilu.

Moon Wutong

Hilu's mother stepped firmly into the snow and stood half a step behind Hilu. Her eyes were fixed on Jiang Yuan, her lips were pursed into a line, and her face was expressionless.

"Hello, Auntie." Jiang Yuan nodded.

Yuewu's cat ears twitched slightly, probably because she didn't understand the word "auntie," but the nodding gesture was the usual one.

She returned the gesture slightly. "Human, thank you for the food you brought to the tribe."

Her gaze swept over the large, steaming earthenware jars, over the tribespeople holding bowls on the ground, over the small mountain of white bags, and then returned to Jiang Yuan's face.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

Originally, she had been taking Xilu with her these past few days, intending to stay away from these humans.

Hilu was completely unaware of her mother's silence.

She tugged at Jiang Yuan's sleeve, her tail swishing behind her, "Jiang Yuan! Jiang Yuan! Do you still have that sweet, um, candy!"

"Yes." Jiang Yuan smiled and reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a handful of milk candies, a few pieces of chocolate, and two lollipops.

Hilu tried to catch it with both hands, but couldn't, and two pieces fell onto the snow. She quickly squatted down to pick them up, her tail held high.

Jiang Yuan, seeing Yue Wu staring intently at him, had a sudden inspiration and handed the remaining candy in his hand to her.

Yuewu paused for a moment.

She looked down at the few colorful little things and didn't take them.

Jiang Yuan said, "This is sugar, and it's also a kind of food that tastes very good."

Hilu had already unwrapped a candy and popped it into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out, as she mumbled, "Mom, you have some too! This is just like the candy from last time, it's so delicious!"

Yuewu glanced at her daughter's chubby cheeks, then at the few candies in Jiang Yuan's hand, but didn't reach for them.

Jiang Yuan just held it up like that.

After several breaths, Yuewu's fingers twitched, and she carefully picked up a piece of milk candy from his palm.

She unwrapped the candy, glanced at the white candy inside, then looked at Jiang Yuan, and popped it into her mouth.

I chewed it.

Her indifferent face remained unchanged, but her cat tail swayed slightly uncontrollably.

"How is it?" Hilu leaned closer, looking up at her.

Yuewu swallowed the candy, looked at her daughter, and uttered two words: "...It's alright."

Hilu giggled, peeled another chocolate and popped it into her mouth, leaving a ring of dark brown chocolate sauce around her lips.

Yuewu reached out and wiped the corner of her mouth.

After wiping her fingers, she glanced at them, then at the overjoyed expression on Hilu's face, and sighed softly.

"Don't eat too much."

Jiang Yuan stuffed the remaining candy into Xilu's hand and patted her head.

Hilu held the candy in both hands, her sky-blue eyes curving into crescents.

Jiang Yuan looked up and found that Ug was staring at him.

To be precise, he was staring at the colorful candies in Hilu's hand.

Those grey-blue eyes followed Hilu's movement as she unwrapped the candy for a moment, then quickly looked away.

"You don't want some candy too, do you?" Jiang Yuan thought to himself, then suddenly realized something and said:

"Chief Ug, bring the wine you requested next time."

Ug nodded, his expression serious: "Yes, don't forget my wine."

Immediately, he took out a handful of magic cores from the leather pouch at his waist, three in total, and handed them over, spreading them out in his palm.

All of them are third-tier magic cores.

"Take these for now," Ug said. "We'll give you the rest after the tribe has finished counting."

Looking at Jiang Yuan's expression, he saw that Jiang Yuan was not dissatisfied with accepting the magic core, and he felt relieved.

He had his own reasons. The tribe's magic cores weren't unlimited. If Jiang Yuan wanted too much of this food, he wouldn't be able to afford it next time.

Three Tier 3 and one Tier 4 grains in exchange for about a week's worth of food for the tribe is an acceptable deal.

"So many... Jiang Yuan was overjoyed, but maintained a calm expression."

Not only does it have one fourth-tier magic core, but it also has three more third-tier magic cores.

He has only absorbed two levels of magic cores from beginning to end.

I wonder how many levels these magic cores will allow him to reach, and how his abilities will change...

Another pot was temporarily added to the open space, and the crowd was still busy eating.

Ke Shan had already finished his second bowl and was squatting on the tree roots, eating and discussing with several veterans.

The veterans held their bowls, each eating slowly, as if reluctant to finish in one go.

"This rice stuff tastes even better than dried meat," an old soldier exclaimed, shaking his head.

"No dried meat is as soft as this," someone nearby chimed in.

"Even dried meat doesn't smell this good."

"What do you think would happen if this rice were cooked with dried meat...?"

On the other side, several teenagers had already finished their second bowls and were looking longingly at the pottery jar.

The woman in charge of cooking waved her hand, indicating that there was no more food in the pot.

The girl with her hair in a small bun licked her lips, squatted on the tree root holding an empty bowl, and said to her younger sister:

"I don't know when I'll be able to eat it again."

Her sister squatted down beside her, picked up the last two grains of rice from the bottom of the bowl, put them in her mouth, and mumbled, "That human is still in our tribe."

"What if he leaves?" The younger sister remained silent.

Several boys glanced at the campfire at the same time. The human was standing next to the leader, with black hair and wearing strange clothes.

"He won't leave," a boy said.

How did you know?

"He saved Hilda and gave us so much rice." The boy's cat ears stood up straight in the cold wind. "He must be a good person."

As Jiang Yuan, the kind-hearted man, was stuffing the magic core into his pocket, he glanced at the reactions of the hundreds of people on the open ground.

The cat-eared people looked at him differently now.

Previously, those eyes held curiosity, wariness, scrutiny, and a detached, emotionless detachment, like someone simply observing a stranger.

A woman carrying a baby passed by him from a distance and bowed slightly to him.

A soldier squatted on a tree root a few steps away, holding a bowl, and raised the bowl to him in thanks.

"One meal and my favorability rating is maxed out," Jiang Yuan thought to himself.

Suddenly, the noise from the crowd subsided.

Looking towards Jiangyuan, he saw Priestess Muye emerging from behind the giant tree.

He leaned on a wooden cane that reached his eyebrows, his dark brown robe trailing on the snow.

His grey-blue eyes swept over the large earthenware jars on the open ground, over the tribesmen holding bowls, and over the small mountain of white bags.

He paused for a moment.

Ug approached him from the campfire and whispered a few words to him.

As Priestess Muye listened, her grey-blue eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze passing over Ug's shoulder and landing on Jiang Yuan.

He stood there, staring at the stack of rice bags for a good dozen breaths.

When Jiang Yuan told him in the tree hole that he could help provide food, he didn't take it seriously.

How much can a young man, no matter how powerful his divine arts, produce if he can't even say which god he worships?

It's enough to sustain a few soldiers' rations at best.

Now that stack of white bags is piled on the floor...

His gaze was gentle as he looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "Human, come with me."

He turned and left after saying that.

Uge gave Jiang Yuan a wink, meaning "Go quickly."

"Is he going to bless me?" Jiang Yuan couldn't understand why the priest was suddenly asking him to do something.

He followed the priestess of Dusk Leaf, passing through the crowd, where people on both sides automatically made way for him.

Priestess Muye did not walk towards the outskirts of the tribe, but went straight to the central giant tree.

He walked halfway around the thick trunk of the giant tree, came to an inconspicuous spot, and lifted a piece of hanging animal skin.

There was a door hidden here.

Made of wooden blocks, the door panels are engraved with dense patterns.

Priestess Muye pushed open the door and went inside.

Jiang Yuan followed him inside.

A vast space comes into view.

The interior of the giant tree had been completely hollowed out. It was at least three zhang tall from the ground to the dome. The dome was inlaid with more than a dozen clumps of amber-colored moss, and orange light spread down, illuminating the entire space.

A stone statue stands in the very center.

The goddess statue, standing two zhang tall, wears a floor-length gown, the folds of which are etched into the stone to reveal the softness of the fabric. Her hands are clasped together in front of her chest, her palms cradling a crescent moon.

The crescent moon's arc and her body's posture form a complete circle.

Every line of his facial features was clearly defined, and his eyes and brows conveyed a compassionate yet aloof sense of distance.

But Jiang Yuan couldn't make out her face.

Your gaze will involuntarily drift away when it falls on it, as if your eyes are refusing to focus.

Jiang Yuan tried it three times, and each time it was the same.

I saw it clearly, yet I didn't; I remembered it, yet I couldn't hold onto it.

Priestess Twilight Leaf stood in front of him, turned around and smiled slightly:

"This is the moon goddess."

Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze from the stone statue's face and exclaimed, "Truly extraordinary."

Priestess Muye walked to the stone platform in front of the statue.

The stone platform was waist-high, its surface polished smooth and shiny. There were no offerings on it, only a crescent moon pattern the size of a palm carved into it.

"You desire the blessing of the moon goddess."

"But we lost contact with the Moon Goddess over a hundred years ago," Priest Twilight Leaf said gravely. "Since then, the tribe has never received a new blessing, except for Hilu."

"So, you appointed Xilu as the Guide of the Moon?" Jiang Yuan suddenly realized.

Priestess Twilight Leaf nodded.

He walked to the stone platform and stroked the crescent moon pattern with his hand: "Over the past hundred years, I have tried to awaken the moon goddess several times. Each time I stood here, and each time there was no response."

He turned around halfway through his sentence, his grey-blue eyes looking at Jiang Yuan, "Do you still want the Moon Goddess's blessing?"

Jiang Yuan understood his underlying meaning: "Is the priest trying to use me as a test?"

Priestess Twilight Leaf nodded. "But it's not an experiment; it poses no danger to you. I just feel that you are different from others, and your presence here may be an arrangement by the Moon Goddess."

He paused for a moment: "You've come here with your eyes closed. You're not a believer in the moon goddess, so try to keep your mind as clear as possible."

Jiang Yuan glanced at the stone statue whose face was obscured, then at Priest Muye, and walked to the front of the stone platform.

He also wanted to find out the origin of the crystal finger bone inside his body.

Now is an opportunity, and he's willing to give it a try.

Standing in front of the stone platform, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

On the other side, seeing this scene, Priestess Muye went to the side of the stone platform, raised her hands, palms down, and aimed them at the crescent moon pattern on the stone platform.

His withered fingers parted slightly, and his lips moved silently a few times.

A cold, white light seeped from his palm, falling drop by drop onto the crescent moon pattern.

The faint light on the stone platform shone for a moment.

The Priestess of Dusk suddenly raised her head, a burst of light exploding in her gray-blue eyes.

"This, this is?!" His lips trembled, and the cold white light surging from his palm grew a full circle thicker, pouring into the stone platform almost frantically.

The giant stone statue lit up, and even its previously indistinct face seemed to become clear for a moment.

Then, it suddenly went out.

All movement and noise have ceased.

The stone statue was still the same stone statue, the stone platform was still the same stone platform, and the faint light on the crescent moon pattern had completely disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

Priestess Twilight Leaf stood with her hand raised for a long time, her withered fingers frozen in mid-air.

He slowly lowered his arm, gave Jiang Yuan a deep look, and shook his head, saying:

"Almost."

Jiang Yuan stood there, not sensing anything unusual, until he heard Priest Mu Ye speak, at which point he opened his eyes in surprise:

"What do you mean, 'almost'? Is it already over?"

Priestess Twilight Leaf was taken aback. "You didn't feel anything just now? You didn't experience the Moon Goddess's gaze?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head.

The priest of Dusk remained silent, lost in thought.

Jiang Yuan paced back and forth beneath the stone statue, looking at the silent Priest Muye, and took the opportunity to ask him another question:

"Priest, what did you mean when you told me last time that winter wasn't as simple as it seemed? Is there some danger in the Frostclaw tribe?"

"Chief Ug is a fourth-tier beast, you should be even stronger than him. The only thing that can pose a threat to the tribe is the White-Maned Beast Pack? The other magical beasts shouldn't be much of a threat as long as they don't enter the Gray Cover Forest."

"Moreover, now that I'm providing the food, there's no shortage of food, so getting through this harsh winter won't be difficult."