Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 469 Ancestral Land
"Not only that, I've also discovered a very peculiar phenomenon," Lin Lun continued. "Compared to those herders who have stable lives, a fixed income even without working, and enjoy the conveniences brought by modern technology, these herders who live a life of hardship and low quality of life seem to have far fewer negative emotions than is unusual. Even the shadows behind some of the elderly people in the tribe who suffer from illness are very thin..."

"In some ways... they could be considered the 'happiest people' I've ever met in the world."

“But I know this is unreasonable.” Lin Lun slowly shook his head as he said this. “Many people might subconsciously think that these kind-hearted herdsmen don’t experience as much deceit and backstabbing as people in big cities. Their material needs are limited to having enough to eat and wear. Plus, they live in beautiful environments, so it’s normal that they have fewer negative emotions…”

“I admit there is some truth to this statement, but as someone who can ‘see’ negative emotions with the naked eye, you should also know very well that negative emotions are not so easy to control.”

Lin Lun looked at Sun Hang, who neither nodded nor shook his head, but instead picked his nose with his finger in an unseemly manner: "Continue."

"Especially those with congenital defects, those suffering from injuries or illnesses, will inevitably accumulate a lot of negative emotions. Wherever there are people, there will be society, and even the smallest society will have classes. This is due to human nature. In a tribe, the chief and shaman have more power and wealth than ordinary herders. Ugly women will be jealous of beautiful women, and weak and sickly men will be looked down upon by tall and strong men..."

"But if a person isolates themselves from society, it doesn't mean they can get rid of all negative emotions... Humans are social beings, and for those who isolate themselves from society, something called 'loneliness' will grow wildly in their hearts until it engulfs them completely..."

“I once met forest rangers in the Xingan Mountains. They guarded the fire towers day after day, year after year. To save water, they even shaved their heads. No one talked to them. There was no entertainment in the remote mountains. There were only a few dedicated radio channels available. There was no television, no computer, and no cell phone signal. When I saw them, the intense loneliness almost overwhelmed me.”

“But I’ve never seen these things on the people of that tribe…” Lin Lun let out a long breath. “Combined with the voice I heard in the dark, I realized that what I’ve been searching for may very well exist in this tribe.”

“In our daily interactions, I could clearly sense that they seemed to be hiding something from me. I also knew that if I asked them directly, they would not only not tell me, but might even kick me out.”

"Finally, after traveling with this tribe for six days, the chief found me and told me that I should no longer follow them. They were going to graze their livestock on a colder grassland. The chief thought it was unnecessary for me to suffer with them and advised me to return to the mining area."

"Of course I rejected the chief's offer. My reason was that I hadn't filmed enough footage yet, and as a 'professional journalist,' I'm not afraid of hardship. As long as I can capture those unique images, I can accept any amount of hardship."

"After much hesitation, the chief finally told me the truth—they were going to the 'ancestral land' for a festival that took place every four months. According to the rules of their ancestors, outsiders were absolutely not allowed to see or participate in the festival, otherwise the entire tribe would suffer annihilation. Because of the ancestral teachings, he could not take me to the 'ancestral land,' which is why he asked me to return to the mining area immediately."

“I was almost instantly certain that what I was looking for was inextricably linked to the ‘ancestral land’ and ‘ritual’ mentioned by the chief. I asked the chief for half a day to pack my things, and I would leave after half a day. The chief agreed.”

"Taking advantage of this opportunity, I bribed a child in the tribe with two chocolates and a small, exquisite windproof lighter. The child told me that the 'ancestral land' was at the source of a river whose name he didn't know, and there was a cave there. During the rituals, the people of the tribe would be blindfolded by a shaman and led into the cave... He told me that the feeling was magical. When he entered the cave, all his unhappiness would vanish, and he would feel as if he were floating on the clouds..."

"Half a day later, I left them as promised, but I didn't go far. Instead, I stayed far behind them."

"After leaving their previous campsite, they didn't go far before finding a small river that was almost dry. When I saw the tribe's saman dancing a strange dance by the river in the distance, I realized that the river was the 'unnamed river' that the child had mentioned."

“The people of that tribe started tracing the river upstream, while I kept a distance of five or six kilometers from them... A week later, they finally reached the source of the river.”

"The cave the child mentioned was actually a man-made pit. Above the pit, there was a canopy made of wood and mud to shelter it from the wind and rain. Outside the canopy, there were many totems stuck in the ground, and on the totems, there were many masks of ghosts and beasts painted in white and red paint."

“These herders did not start the ceremony immediately, but set up tents near the cave. That evening, my whereabouts were discovered by two herders who came out on horseback for patrol. I had no means of transportation and could not outrun the herders’ horses on foot. I was quickly caught and brought before the chief.”

“I thought they would kill me… but the chief didn’t. The shaman in the tribe also repeatedly emphasized that killing someone in the ancestral land was a desecration of the ‘sacred relic.’” Lin Lun sighed. “They locked me in a tent and left me a lot of mare’s milk wine and dried mutton… The chief ordered me not to step out of the tent until the ceremony was over.”

"But what they didn't know was that, with a master key and some survival tools at all times, that simple lock couldn't hold me back at all. At midnight, I secretly unlocked the lock and slipped out of the tent."

“I intended to go directly to the crypt, but I noticed that the chief’s tent was still lit. I assumed they were preparing for a ceremony, so I quietly went over.”

“But what I heard was that the chief and shaman decided to postpone the ceremony… They firmly believed that having an outsider like me present would incur the wrath of the ancestral spirits and divine punishment if the ceremony continued… They planned to send the best horseman in the tribe back to the mining area the next day, and then move the ‘sacred relic’ out of the ancestral land and relocate it to another unknown place.”

"I know that tonight may be my last chance."

“What I do next might make you angry, but in my opinion, it’s my only option,” Lin Lun said.

"What did you do?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes.

“I poisoned the leather bags they used to store sheep milk… I had previously observed their lifestyle. The herders of this tribe would gather together in the early morning to share milk tea… and the sheep milk they used to make the milk tea was the bag of sheep milk that I poisoned.” Lin Lun laughed as if mocking himself. “They didn’t kill me, but I killed their entire tribe.”

“It seems that the ancestral teachings of these herders are correct,” Sun Hang said calmly. “Bringing outsiders into the ancestral land will bring annihilation to this tribe.”

“I had no other choice,” Lin Lun said. “No matter what I did, they would stop me… and with my own abilities, if I wanted to achieve my goal, I could only resort to such despicable means.” “And then?”

“The entire tribe is dead, except for that blind old shaman… because he had a bad stomach, he rarely drank goat milk…” Lin Lun said. “I squatted in the corner of the tent where I was locked up, quietly waiting for the poison to take effect… I heard shouts and screams outside the tent, I heard hurried footsteps and the sound of people falling heavily to the ground… After all the sounds disappeared, I unlocked the door again and went out.”

“There were corpses everywhere, men, women, old people and children… I saw the child who told the ancestral land the secret. He fell to the ground, clutching the windproof lighter I gave him tightly in his hand, his eyes wide open,” Lin Lun said. “But his pupils were dilated, and white foam was overflowing from the corners of his mouth, flowing all the way to the grass.”

“You’re quite the birthplace,” Sun Hang remarked.

“I don’t care what others think of me, and I know that morally speaking, I’m the kind of scum who deserves to be executed a hundred times over,” Lin Lun said. “But to achieve my goals, I’m willing to use any means necessary… Can I ask you a question?”

"what is the problem?"

"If sacrificing the people of this tribe could save countless people in the future, would you sacrifice them?" Lin Lun asked.

Sun Hang suddenly laughed: "You know what? During my hunter recruitment assessment, my supervisor also asked me this question."

"So what's your answer?"

“I won’t make any choices.” Sun Hang shrugged. “That’s the kind of choice those in power need to make, while hunters just need to follow orders.”

"Is this the standard answer to this question?" Lin Lun asked again.

"I don't know what the standard answer is, but after I gave this answer, my supervisor told me that I passed the assessment."

“Alright…” Lin Lun nodded silently. “Then I’ll continue my story… After checking all the tents, I found the surviving shaman. He was over ninety years old and no match for me in terms of strength… Moreover, he didn’t seem to hate me.”

"You killed their entire tribe, yet he doesn't hate you?" Sun Hang's lips twitched slightly. "Is he some kind of saint?"

“He believes that the person who killed the entire tribe was not me, but him and the chief, and that I was merely the one who carried the wrath of our ancestors as the executor of divine punishment,” Lin Lun said.

Sun Hang: "Superstition kills people."

“I asked him to take me to the sacred relic, and he didn’t refuse. But before entering the cave, he took out a strip of cloth and asked me to cover my eyes,” Lin Lun said. “He told me that no one could look directly at the sacred relic, otherwise that person’s eyes would be burned by endless darkness… He also told me that in their tribe, to become a shaman, one must gouge out one’s own eyes.”

“I took the strip of cloth, but I didn’t blindfold myself. I lied to him and told him I was already blindfolded, and asked him to take me inside.”

"The shaman lit a candle—the blindfold wasn't very thick, and you could see the candlelight in the dark cave through the gaps in the fibers. The shaman told me to follow his candlelight, while he felt his way along the cave walls, stumbling deeper into the cave."

“At the deepest part of the cave, I saw a sapling, a sapling that looked like it was made of flesh and blood,” Lin Lun said in a low voice. “At the same time, I also saw the shaman’s negative emotions of sadness and regret being pulled away from him by some force and absorbed by the sapling.”

“That’s what I’ve been looking for all along.” Lin Lun pointed to the “tree” directly in front of them, “which is what you see right now.”

"I told the shaman that I wanted to take this thing, but at that moment, the old and frail shaman suddenly extinguished the candle, drew a curved knife from his waist, and pounced on me!"

"His negative emotions were generating wildly, then surging out uncontrollably, and then being absorbed by the sapling—if we weren't in that cave, I'm sure he would have turned into a monster."

"It's a pity there are no 'what ifs.' All his negative emotions were absorbed by the sapling. He didn't turn into a monster. He is still that frail and sickly old man."

"He was kicked away, and he crashed heavily into the rock wall and never moved again."

"When I turned on my flashlight, I realized that the back of his head had hit a protrusion on the rock wall."

"I turned to look at the sapling. After absorbing the massive amount of negative emotions surging from the shaman, it seemed to be slightly larger than when I first saw it."

(End of this chapter)