I felt a bit strange. This old man was rarely seen, so was he just eager to talk to me?
Did he think of me as his grandson, wanting to tell me stories for no reason?
I was about to refuse, but then I thought, this old man, Ye Sou, had lived so long that his beard had turned white in this savage tribe where the average lifespan didn't exceed 40. And he was a librarian, so he must know many secrets.
If I could pry some information about the black spider out of him, that would be good.
Thinking this, I readily nodded.
Seeing me agree, Ye Sou's eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled. As if performing magic, he produced two small stools from somewhere behind him and handed me one.
"Young man, do you know which tribe worships the Mother of All Creation?"
Ye Sou, like a white-haired old professor, didn't immediately start telling me a story but instead posed a question for me to answer.
Did this even need asking?
A flicker of annoyance rose in my heart, but I patiently played along with Ye Sou.
"Most of them are from the Lasha tribe."
"Correct."
"The story I want to tell you is related to the Lasha tribe."
Ye Sou cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound as loud as possible.
"On this land, when a tribe reaches its peak, it signifies that it will inevitably slide into the abyss!"
"And the story I will tell you is about that lost history, the downfall of Lasha!"
...
Time flew by, and more than two hours passed. Ye Sou's narration finally came to an end.
Ye Sou was hoarse from talking and was drinking from a large jug.
I stared blankly at the wall, my mind racing through countless thoughts.
Damn it, so that's what happened in that period of history!
I didn't understand it all, but I was greatly shaken.
When I had learned about the Lasha tribe from Keya before, I had asked her about the reason for their downfall. But no one in the tribe, not even the surviving elders, knew how Lasha had been destroyed.
In essence, excluding the one-third of the time spent reminiscing about the past, Ye Sou's two-hour explanation was packed with valuable information.
Simply put, the downfall of Lasha was directly related to the Mother of All Creation they worshipped.
My earlier guess after reading the animal skin scroll was confirmed by Ye Sou.
The Mother of All Creation had indeed deceived her followers. The divine blessing ritual she provided, which was claimed to grant eternal life, was actually a method of controlling their bodies.
After receiving the divine blessing, these people were subtly influenced by the Mother of All Creation until their consciousness was finally extinguished, turning them into mere vessels controlled by her.
At that time, these individuals were known to other believers as "Guardians," blessed with fortune that others envied.
The Mother of All Creation was supreme at the time, and under the conquest of these "Guardians," who possessed great martial power but no independent consciousness, the Lasha tribe had essentially conquered this land.
Other smaller tribes either submitted and became vassals of Lasha, or were wiped out by Lasha and turned to dust.
In terms of tribes, Lasha had reached its zenith. Had it not been for the existence of the Mother of All Creation, they might have even developed a feudal dynasty.
However, behind the peak of glory often lurked a fatal crisis, and the "Guardians" were that time bomb.
Ye Sou paused deliberately at this point. It was unclear whether he was intentionally concealing something or had forgotten due to his age.
The Lasha King, through some unknown means, managed to control a portion of the Guardians and launched a rebellion against the Mother of All Creation.
As Ye Sou narrated this part, although he didn't explicitly state it, I instinctively felt that behind the Lasha King stood the Shepherd God and other primordial deities who were dissatisfied with the Mother of All Creation's rule.
The Lasha tribe then split and attacked each other. Other tribes also chose sides and rallied behind them.
In short, after this war between gods and mortals, which essentially engulfed all the tribes, Lasha was finished.
The Mother of All Creation was forced into a deep slumber, and the surviving Lasha tribesmen faced retribution from the very tribes they had long oppressed, leading to their downfall as well.
Just hearing Ye Sou's account, I felt there were countless hidden agendas at play.
Why would a perfectly fine Lasha King want to rebel? Was he out of his mind?
Who helped him steal the method of controlling the Guardians from the Mother of All Creation?
However, these hidden agendas were not what I cared about. After all, this event had already happened, and I couldn't travel back in time to change its outcome.
I only cared about one thing...
"Ye Sou, is there any way for those Guardians you mentioned to recover?"
Ye Sou slowly looked up at me, as if he had seen through my subtle intentions.
"Only a god can defeat a god."