Yes, he is just one of the countless villages that rely on the Blood River for survival, a "weakling". How could he know all this?
"What's the use of the fruit of the Blood Bone Tree King?"
"This is something everyone is curious about," he told me, "but every time the south wind blows...some people can faintly hear the endless curses in the wind."
"'The blood river robbed me... The blood river robbed me...'" He imitated with a pinched voice, "Is that something like this? I was in a deep sleep last night and didn't hear it clearly."
"Then you are really useless!"
"Alessia, you look pretty, but your mouth is filled with poison..."
This conversation did not last long, because the blood and bone forest had been found.
It was a shadow covering the sky, and I was startled because at first glance I thought it was a group of skinny giants. But when we got closer and really put aside the interference of the mist, I could see clearly that it was a group of twisted and strange trees entangled together.
Sure enough, they are at least twenty meters high, and each of these trees has a human-like shape.
Of course, they only have "one leg", that is, there is only one main trunk rooted in the soil, but the secondary trunk spreading out from above has arms and shoulders growing out. Some tall ones even have skulls on their shoulders, and it is not known whether they have grown specific facial features.
"We are from Yifan Village."
I saw the butcher Rika go to negotiate with them, "Can you allow us to hang behind them and pick up some of your flesh and bones?"
"no problem!"
One of the trees was particularly sturdy. Its trunk cracked open into a bloody mouth and it moved its lips and tongue to reply, "But today we will move faster. You'd better send someone back to inform the village to dismantle the houses and follow us."
"what happened!"
"what happened……?"
“This is not normal…”
The branch pickers were in a panic. I found my father and asked him about it. Only then did I realize that the migration of the forest also had a pattern.
"The Blood Bone Forest only travels about 30 to 50 meters a day," said my father. "Not much... so it's too tiring to chase them every day. We usually wait until the forest has traveled a distance, which takes about four or five days. Then on the fifth or sixth day, we dismantle the houses and catch up with them, and rebuild the village to live in..."
“Why the sixth day?”
"Because darkness will fall on the seventh day." The father shuddered.
"Even the Blood River couldn't protect us then. Remember I took you to sleep in the cave every few days? It was to avoid this."
This is another mysterious thing about Yifan Village. What he called hiding underground is not just as simple as "hiding", but everyone seals themselves in coffins and will not come out until that day passes.
Coffins are also the most important property in Yifan Village. Everyone’s houses are very simple and can be easily dismantled and rebuilt, but coffins are different. They are precious items like heirlooms.
Everyone around was in a panic, discussing what caused the Blood and Bone Forest to speed up.
"I can't tell you this...knowing too much would be dangerous for you."
The blood and bone tree spoke again.
I was hiding behind my father at the time. God knows how it glanced at me, but its "face" without eyes turned towards me and stretched out a branch to me.
I went to see my father, and saw ecstasy on his face.
"Take it!" he growled at me.
"Take it!"
I obediently grabbed the end of the branch and saw that the stalk was cracking in the middle and began to bleed like flesh.
This must be very painful, right?
The blood-bone tree seemed to have no sense of pain. It separated its flesh-like stems and branches, revealing an object similar to a "core".
"The convert's certificate!" Rikka also rushed over, "Take it! Quick!"
I didn't understand, but I knew it was a good thing, so I reached out and grabbed the "core"-like object, pulling it out like a dagger.
That's a bone.
It has a white jade-like luster, and the surface reveals a few blood vessels and meridians.
It looked really fresh, far from being an old bone that the twig pickers had brought back.
"This is my new bone, which means we will have a new beginning."
The blood and bone tree spoke to me again.
"You hold my bones, and you will never lose your way in the mist again."
"No matter how far away or where I am, you can find my location with this bone."
That is indeed a good thing.
I woke up in shock and finally understood why my father and the others seemed so ecstatic.
"why?"
I asked it.
"Do you believe in that prophecy, too?"
"It has nothing to do with the language..."
The Blood and Bone Tree sighed softly.
"But if we don't find a human race to convert to, I'm afraid this forest won't be able to survive any longer..."
Chapter 60 Retrospective Ceremony 4
Of course, I don’t know why the survival of the Blood and Bone Forest is related to “conversion”. Seeing everyone led by the butcher Rika start to enter the outer forest, I followed in with my father.
I could clearly feel the difference in the looks of the people around me. They respected me more, made way for me, bowed to me, and some even humbly called me "Mr. Belem Kurud". I couldn't tell if they were trying to please me or my father.
I became more and more suspicious about whose child I was, because even though I knew nothing at that time, I could sense that it was impossible for an ordinary person to be given new bones by the Blood and Bone Forest.
"New bones are very special," my father whispered to me as we walked. "They symbolize new life and hope, which are the most precious things in the Kingdom of God."
I saw him bending down with difficulty and picking out a yellowed old bone from the rotten dead skin on the ground.
Those old bones were exactly what I remembered tree bones to look like - I had stood at the entrance of the village many times waiting for my father to come back, and every time he returned, the carriage following behind him was piled with these waxy yellow bones.
This quality is said to be quite good. Although it is old bone, it is not rotten and still has good firmness and toughness, enough to make some jewelry and utensils.
As for the new bones - according to my father, because of their special significance, the Blood Bone Forest rarely gives them to others.
That means conversion, which is to bind the forest and the other party's tribe together. From then on, the forest will allow the tribe of this person to live nearby, and they can walk together all the way, instead of having to wait until the forest is far away before catching up.
I have always been confused about this matter, so I asked my father directly: Why can't people without new bones do this?
Waiting to walk some distance into the woods and then catching up sounds like a specially developed tracing plan, but it is still inefficient. Why don't people just live in the woods?
For example, the thick trees... the dead skin on them was falling off, and various cavities were exposed on the trunks. Those were ready-made houses. If we could live in them and walk with the forest, the village would no longer need to be afraid of blood beasts.
Because the blood beasts are somewhat afraid of the blood bone forest. A single blood bone tree is not a threat to the blood beasts, but once it becomes a forest, even some powerful blood slaughterers are unwilling to provoke them rashly.
"Because the Blood Bone Tree does not allow this kind of following behavior." Father said, "No one knows why... I heard a saying in the tavern in Flail Town that it is because the Blood Bone Tree is afraid of humans."
"fear?"
"Yes, they think the growth trend of the Blood Bone Tree is too weird. It is clearly a tree, but it is growing more and more like a human. It has flesh, blood, and bones like a human. Isn't it imitating the growth of humans?"
"What they mean is that the Blood Bone Tree wants to grow into a real person in the future and replace us humans?"
"...How dare you say that directly!"
My father was terrified, his face turned pale, and he covered my mouth with his hand, while looking up at the surrounding tree trunks.
Oh, I almost forgot, we're right in the middle of the Bone Grove. This is like speaking ill of someone in their own home.
That's why my father kept the volume down...but I forgot about that and spoke at a normal volume.
Rumbling--
The entire forest began to shake.
The tall tree trunks came alive at this moment. I saw them trying their best to pull out their roots from the mud, and controlling them like monsters with tentacles, using them to wriggle and move forward little by little.
This is difficult to do, because compared to their huge size, the tentacles and roots of each blood bone tree are too weak. But don't forget that their branches are tightly entangled with each other, just like the reinforcement of a house structure, so that the roots and tentacles can also be connected together, wriggling together, pushing the entire forest forward.
This should not be to take revenge on us, but the forest will start to move as it said.
The father reached up to wipe the sweat off his face, but at that moment, the tree he was leaning against pushed him away, split open a bloody hole in the trunk and said, "Get out of the way! Berenkurud!"
"Yes! Yes!" My father nodded and bowed to them, and took me with him, dodging back and forth in the gaps between the trees in a very embarrassed manner.
I can feel the breathing of the woods. Sometimes my father would hold me in his arms and walk on their roots. I could feel the wriggling sensation directly from the soles of my shoes. Sometimes we didn't have time to dodge, and those tiny whiskers would crawl across the backs of my feet like the feet of poisonous insects. To be honest, it felt a bit disgusting.
Why should I be so humble?
I saw the new bone in my hand and suddenly realized that something should be changed.
So I stopped being polite and climbed up a tree that was approaching, holding onto its dead skin and protruding bones to climb to the top of the tree, and asked my father to crawl into the hollow tree hole on its belly.
My father certainly wouldn't dare to do that, so I told him in advance: "Now we have new bones! They won't resist us anymore!"
"Alesia is right!"
"That's what happened!"
"We have converted to him, and from now on he is the master of this forest!"
The woods were filled with echoes and sighs, and finally the father reacted and walked into the tree hole fearfully.
"This speed is too fast... too fast..." he said, "I don't know how many meters I can walk today... Can the people in the village catch up?"
"Why did you run away?" I didn't have too many concerns and asked whatever I thought of.
"To avoid being conferred." The Blood Bone Tree I was riding on answered me.
"Actually, your guess is correct... The Blood Bone Forest wants to become a human. This is not something to be embarrassed about."
"Humans are smart! Only by learning from humans can we have wisdom and speak, which shows that humans are special. Therefore, there is nothing in the world that does not want to be a human. Even blood beasts devour flesh and blood to grow, and eventually they want to grow into humans."
This was the first time I heard of this statement, so I asked, "So that's why they love to eat people?"
"Yes."
"Does the Blood and Bone Forest like to eat people?"
"Love to eat."
"I've never seen you hurt anyone..."
"We are not that stupid." The blood-bone tree laughed strangely. "The way blood beasts eat only makes people afraid of them, but we will protect people. We will give you our shed dead skin, rotten flesh, and old bones in exchange for you to come to the forest to bury us when you are old."
"You will all be dead by then, but your useless bodies can be put to good use at the last moment. This is the contract signed between the Blood and Bone Forest and your ancestors."
I lowered my head and looked down. My father was leaning against the tree hole with lifeless eyes. It seemed that he didn't expect the truth to be like this.
I thought of those coffins. It turns out that people valued coffins because their relatives and descendants did not want their remains to be eaten by tree roots and wanted to give them a final protection.
Only my father had no relatives, so no one had ever told him.
My father felt sorry for me, so I immediately comforted him: "It's okay, Dad. I will take care of you from now on, okay?"
After comforting my father, I remembered what the Blood and Bone Tree had just said about "conferring an imperial decree."
"What does 'imperial title' mean?" I asked them.
"It's the king rewarding his subjects," they replied. "It sounds like a reward... a good thing... but you can't refuse it."
"What happens if you refuse?"
"will die."
"So that's why you want to convert to me?" I suddenly realized, "By converting to me you can avoid being conferred an imperial title? That king was unwilling to confer an imperial title on a forest that coexists with human villages!"
"He speaks so rudely!"
"How can you be so direct and bold!"
"He's prettier than any girl, but his tongue is more poisonous than that of a queen bee!"
The blood bone trees began to complain, but they could do nothing to me.
I was both nervous and excited, and I held the new bone tightly, wondering if this could be considered gaining strength.
"Then why..."
A contradiction suddenly occurred to me, "Why didn't you convert before?"
The noise in the forest gradually died down, returning to its original silence.
