The Great Worm Lich

Chapter 253: Miracle

The world underneath was immemorial and ancient, as if it had never changed with time.

“Judging from its depth, this should be under the ocean already. How amazing!” Zhang Lisheng walked up near the underground river and looked at the slightly dirty river for a bit before crouching down to take a sip. “The taste is not that bad.”

Then, he reached out his arm to put it into the river for the second time. Suddenly, a big loach-like fish that was lurking in the mud at the bottom of the river opened its black mouth and jumped up to bite Zhang Lisheng’s arm.

Naturally, the aborigines did not possess their Raider’s amazing night vision. They only heard a splash of water and with the help of the blurred fire coming from the torch, they saw a black ferocious shadow leaping up from the river. In a panic, Apani shouted loudly, “It’s the demon fish! It’s the demon fish! Be careful, Great…”

The moment his yell resonated through the air, that head of the big fish that was biting Zhang Lisheng’s arm had already burst open thanks to Lisheng’s arms that suddenly transformed and enlarged. Wriggling non-stop, it slowly died off just like that.

This big fish had a size equivalent to two aborigines lying horizontally with their bodies connected. It was covered in greasy gray scales and its head looked almost identical to catfish. However, due to the reason that it had been living in the dark underground for thousands of years, the parts where the eyes should have been positioned had become two subtle gray protrusions that were not that noticeable.

Zhang Lisheng threw the prey on the shore and cut its body. He noticed that the meat of the big fish was milky white while the fat was fine and juicy, appearing to be very delicious.

He used his sharp nails to cut a small bit of the fish and placed it into his mouth to chew it. There was no sweet smell of fish, but there was no fishy smell either so it was completely edible.

When Zhang Lisheng was savoring the taste of the fish, a live drama had already started to be acted around him. “Apani, you actually set a despicable trap to attack the Great Raider…”

“I-I didn’t, Headman Tugra! Last time when we Pavaro people took water from here, we had to throw some offerings to the demon fish first. There’s no need for too many of it, just a small forest sheep will do. Or we could also light many torches so the demon fish would not dare to come close to us. I was just too excited! I wanted to explain this to the Raider but, but he didn’t let me finish…” Apani, who was kicked to the ground by Tudenan’s headman, panicked and explained.

“You still dare to argue? Chief Tumu! Bring your spear here! Since you don’t want to slice your spear at the neck of this rebel, I’ll do it instead!”

“Headman Tugra, luring a big fish that had completely no methods to attack the Raider is something that even the most stupid mountain turtles in the jungle would not do! Even if Apani really is looking for death…” Of course, Tumu wanted to protect this chief warrior who was close to him. Instead of handing over the spear in his hand, he gripped it more tightly than before.

“Enough! There’s no need to fight over a small matter!” Zhang Lisheng grabbed the head of the big fish and stood up in satisfaction with a smile. “This kind of accident is insignificant compared to the harvest. I’ve decided to build a fishery here. Although a man-powered paddle is the only method that can be used to fish underground, it should be equivalent to the harvest of half of the existing hunting grounds in Tudenan already.”

“Fishing? C-Can this horrifying demon fish be eaten? Great Raider… Y-You’re a powerful spiritual monster so it’s natural that you can eat them. B-But we’re only ordinary Hellfire men so if we eat them, a hole may burn through our stomachs. Legend has it that the demon fish must not be offended! They should never be offended…” When Apani heard Zhang Lisheng’s words, he had forgotten his panic and exclaimed amidst the continuously flickering fire.

“The Pavaro actually has such a stupid legend? No wonder it was destroyed!” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself. After pondering for a moment, he tore a large piece of fish meat from his hand and threw it to Apani. “Apani, since Tugra accused you of setting a trap to murder me and Tumu has defended you, I don’t know which one of them is right or wrong so I can only use your piety to decide your destiny. As long as you believe in me and fear me, even just a tiny bit, you won’t suffer from any harm under the protection of my divine power after you eat the meat of this demon fish! However, if you have any malicious intent towards me, then your stomach will be burned and you’ll die a horrible death just as stated by Pavaro’s legend! Eat it now!”

It was hard for a normal person to understand the thought of a superstitious person. Zhang Lisheng’s test that was basically a joke in the eyes of civilized people was a matter of life and death in the eyes of the natives.

However, since things had already reached this point, the fate that he would face would undoubtedly be more terrible if he did not do it.

Trembling slightly, Apani kneeled on the ground and picked up the fish meat. After staring at it for a long time, he suddenly shouted, “Great Raider Zhang Lisheng! You’re the living faith in my heart! You’re the walking…”

Then, he threw the fish meat into his mouth.

After swallowing the few mouthfuls of tasteless fish meat, he closed his eyes and waited for fate’s ruling. After not knowing how long, a redemptive voice suddenly reverberated near his ears. “Apani, my devout believer, get up! You’ve proven your faith in me with your actions and so the demon fish will not be able to harm your body. You’re sinless and have done great merit! You’ll wear two feathers when we return to Tudenan and you’ll receive cheers from everyone. ”

“I, I, I am fine, the demon fish didn’t hurt me! I-I ate the meat! It… It…” Apani stood up in a daze and constantly rubbed his belly as he gradually realized what was going on. When he looked at Zhang Lisheng’s shadow that was enveloped by the firelight, an unknown devoted gaze slowly appeared in his eyes. “You have unparalleled power, oh Great Raider! I-I praise you…”

When fear and awe had reached an extreme point, it was basically no different from devout faith.

“Since you feel that I have the ability to protect you, eat the meat of the demon fish later in front of every Tudenan tribesman, allowing all of them to witness my power and be willing to come here to build a fishery.”

“Great Raider! The Tudenan tribesmen will obey all of your orders even if there’s no such testimony!” Tugra kneeled at the feet of Zhang Lisheng in a timely manner and said while he crouched down.

“It’s better for everybody to be willing when we carry out such a matter that is related to the future and destiny of the tribe!” Zhang Lisheng explained and strode out of the cave. The Tudenan headman hurriedly climbed up from the ground and followed the Raider’s pace.

When they returned to the tribe, Apani ate the fish meat raw in front of thousands of their tribesmen. After having his second feather personally placed by Zhang Lisheng and receiving cheers from tens of thousands of natives, the Tudenan’s Raider randomly selected 3,000 strong native warriors and brought hundreds of skilled craftsmen to trudge towards the ruins of the Pavaro tribe.

Standing in front of the cave that led directly to the underground river, he pointed towards the narrow hole and said to the tribal chief craftsman, “Tumulu, this is the cave leading to the Pavaro’s Golden River. Do you have any way to transport an entire log down there?”

“Raider, judging from the situation so far, the method of laying some round wooden rail on the ground should be able to transport the logs down. If the method really cannot be used, then we’ll use a pulley block…” Tumulu, who looked as though he was very old, whose beard and hair had already fallen off completely, looked at the cave and said after a moment of silent contemplation.

“It seems that you’ve learned a lot from the knowledge I’ve taught.” Zhang Lisheng looked at the old aborigine in surprise and felt that his impression towards the intelligence of these foreign world’s aborigines had been slightly raised again as he said in satisfaction. “Let’s get to work then! From now on, everyone here is now under your command. ”

“Yes, Raider!” Tumulu said respectfully. Right at this moment, a young native hesitated a moment before suddenly chiming in, “Father, I’ve touched the entrance of the cave just now and the inside is made from slippery rock wall. Let us make a trip down there first and if the entire journey is very smooth, we can just send the wood sliding down directly. Since it’s a big river underneath anyway, we can always use an iron hook to fish the logs out after they have tumbled into the river…”

Tumulu was stunned for a moment before intuitively casting a secret glance at Zhang Lisheng. All of a sudden, he snarled angrily, “Aruba! You should know that this is not a game but we’re in front of the Great Raider instead…”

“Alright, Tumulu! Even though I approve of your method just now, it doesn’t mean that it’s actually the most intelligent approach. Your son’s idea is obviously simpler and more practical so let’s do as what he said,” Zhang Lisheng smiled and interrupted the chief craftsman’s reprimanding facade.

Just like this, under the Raider’s command, the Tudenan tribesmen began to work hard and every time they encountered difficulties, Tumulu, who was the engineering commander, would carefully hold a tablet that could be charged by solar energy and contemplated while looking at some of the diagrams, trying to slowly come up with some solutions to solve them.

That tablet, of course, was the source of knowledge given to the Tudenan tribe by Zhang Lisheng. It was filled with the manufacturing diagrams of various manpower, hydraulic and wind engineering tools that ranged from simple to complex, and all sorts of extremely detailed wooden fishing boat manufacturing methods.

After Zhang Lisheng gave it to the chief craftsman Tumulu, he gave the old aborigine a meter stick too. After he taught the method of calculating the length of the diagram and the name of the diagram to him, he had completely disseminated the knowledge they needed to know.

In truth, he even if he wanted to do more, he could not do anything about it.

Zhang Lisheng could not imagine what kind of sparks would be produced when this group of craftsmen who put all their minds and bodies into toolmaking received these gifts that were not worth mentioning in the eyes of modern engineers in an indigenous tribe that had almost no entertainment at all where everyone struggled for survival.

At this moment, miracles were gradually forming in front of his eyes.

Thick pieces of wood with a diameter that would not be stuck in the hole were sliding down with a roaring sound. After they rushed into the underground river, they would be fished up by the aborigines using iron claws to the banks of the underground river that was brightly lit up by hundreds of torches.

Half of the craftsmen on the shore used a circular saw to cut the giant pieces of wood into pieces while the other half started fires to make furnaces as they began to produce the various parts using molds.

Under the supervision of several old craftsmen, these plates and parts were slowly being rebuilt by the warriors and were slowly stacked to form a simple shipyard and fishery on the shore.

Seven days later, the first wooden boat appeared on the bank of the underground river.