Chapter 35 How the Holy Witch Clan Declined
Five hundred years have passed; everything has changed.
The familiar faces of the tribe are no longer there. Although Yu Shan is surrounded by her tribesmen, she still feels a surge of sadness.
Although every member of the tribe wanted to get close to her and receive the saintess's blessing, it was impossible for all of the thousands of tribesmen to have this honor.
In the end, several elders of the clan stepped forward and selected four outstanding candidates for the Holy Maiden, along with the current clan leader and four elders, to speak with her.
Feather Fan first looked at the four candidates for sainthood, who were between five and twelve years old.
This is also a tradition of the Holy Witch Clan. Every hundred years, they select a group of girls with outstanding qualities to be trained as candidates for Holy Maiden.
This is also to prevent any accidents from happening to the Holy Maiden, or to prevent the Holy Maiden herself from wanting to get married and have children and voluntarily stepping down.
If the current Holy Maiden does not wish to step down, then these girls, once they grow up, will become candidates for elders.
Even if they don't become the successors of the Holy Maidens or the elders, they can still become the backbone and elite of the Holy Witch Clan based on their own strength.
Therefore, every girl of the Holy Witch Clan would be proud to be selected as a candidate for Holy Maiden, just like Yu Shan back then.
Seeing the four flower-like girls in front of her, Yu Shan was reminded of her training partners. One of them had fallen in love with a boy from her tribe and voluntarily withdrew from the training.
Two others became elders in the clan; they were the second and fourth elders among the four elders who risked their lives to escort their souls away.
Thinking of her deceased friend, her eyes welled up with tears.
However, Yu Shan quickly restrained her emotions and reached out to touch the tops of the heads of the four girls.
The girls knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude, saying, "Thank you, Holy Maiden Feather Fan, for blessing us!"
"Get up, all of you! By the way, how old are you all, and what are your names?" Yu Shan asked gently.
"My name is Hua Man, I'm six years old; her name is Shi Yao, she's nine years old." The round-faced little girl pointed to herself, then to the little girl with dark skin and big eyes next to her.
"My name is Feng Lan, I'm eleven years old; her name is Nuo Xiang, she's thirteen years old," the bright-eyed girl said, pointing to herself and then to the tall girl next to her.
It's clear that among these four girls, Feng Lan is the most clever, the most opinionated, and the least shy; she has a lively and active personality.
"Feng Lan, I'd like to ask, since you are all candidates for Saintess, why didn't you stay at the Temple of the Witch God for training?" Yu Shan asked in confusion.
"Saintess of the Feather Fan, don't you know? Since you... left, the four elders have also passed away one after another."
The high-level cultivators in the clan who possessed witch spirit power also had half of their life force drained away, leaving them without enough power to frequently open the Witch God Temple.
Initially, it was turned on once a month, then reduced to once every six months, and later gradually became once a year, once every five years, and once every ten years.
"It's only been eight years since the Temple of the Witch God was last opened, and there are still two years until the next opening." Feng Lan blinked her beautiful phoenix eyes and said.
Yu Shan was stunned. Although she had a general understanding of the current weakness of the Holy Witch Clan, she did not expect that the clansmen could not even open the Witch God Temple once a month.
I remember when she was a candidate for saintess, the Temple of the Witch God could be opened four times a month, but it has indeed become increasingly difficult to open it since then.
By the time she succeeded as the Holy Maiden, the event had been changed to be held once a month.
However, she didn't know much about it at the time, because the Temple of the Witch God was opened by the four elders working together, so she didn't have to worry about it at all.
Looking back now, she realized that being a saintess was quite easy for her. She only needed to enter the Temple of the Witch God once a month to learn the magic seals of the Holy Witch Clan by following the murals left by her ancestors.
When you encounter something you don't understand, try to communicate with the spirits of your ancestors and ask them for help in answering your questions.
Unexpectedly, the Temple of the Witch God has fallen to the point where it can only be opened once every ten years. No wonder the current Holy Maiden, Lan Mi, has been the Holy Maiden for 150 years but has not been able to break through to the Heavenly Realm.
Yu Shan guessed that Lan Mi probably hadn't learned many of the magic seals.
Upon learning that the Temple of the Witch God could only be opened once every ten years, Yu Shan's hatred for Lan Mi lessened somewhat.
Presumably, she, as a saint, has devoted herself to this cause for the past 150 years.
Thinking of this, she decided to let her go and not hold her evil deed of trying to kill her against her.
It wasn't because she wanted to be a saint, but because she thought that in the past 150 years, Lan Mi had at least not abandoned her people and had always done her best for them.
Having served as the saintess's fan for decades, she understood better than anyone the pressure the saintess endured.
Back then, she had the full support of four elders, and the Holy Witch Clan was at its peak. Even as the Holy Maiden, she found it very difficult.
Now, with the Holy Witch Clan gradually weakening, Lan Mi's role as Holy Maiden must be very difficult.
After seeing off the four candidates for saintess, Yu Shan began to speak with the clan leader and the four current elders.
"When did the clan's territory move to Baiyang Town?" Yu Shan asked directly, as this place was a thousand miles away from the former clan's territory.
Clan Chief Ruoqiang spoke, his tone heavy: "Just half a month after the four elders activated the teleportation array to send you away, they were all very weak at the time."
At that time, Baiyang Town was just a big mountain surrounded by dense forests.
This place was chosen by the old clan chief and the four former elders through joint discussion.
On the third day after the tribe moved here, the volcano on the other side of the tribe's territory erupted, and volcanic ash covered the sky. It was not until two weeks later that the sun came out.
The old chieftain led a group of warriors back to the tribe's territory. When they saw lava flowing everywhere, they all wept uncontrollably.
It was around that time that the old patriarch discovered that although the gate of the Witch God Temple was not submerged by lava, most of the temple buildings were covered by rocks.
That time, the old patriarch almost exhausted her magical spiritual power in order to open the gate of the Witch God Temple. The twenty warriors who went with her also almost exhausted their magical spiritual power.
Although they managed to open the gates of the Witch God Temple with difficulty, the old patriarch and the others suffered severe damage to their foundations and fell seriously ill after returning.
In the six months that followed, the four elders passed away one after another, and the old clan leader only lived three years longer than them before also passing away.
Fortunately, before the old patriarch passed away, he appointed a new patriarch, who then elected four elders.
However, the cultivation levels of the four newly appointed elders are far inferior to those of the four former elders, and each time they open the gates of the Witch God Temple, it causes them to suffer a great loss of vitality.
Later, the intervals between the opening of the Temple of the Witch God became longer and longer, eventually settling on once every ten years.
Furthermore, each activation severely weakens the clan's elders, leading to a re-election of elders every ten years.
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