Ch36 – Primitive Wedding
Seeing Xiong Ye coming over with Zhou Ji in his arms, the priest was concerned and asked, “Xiong Ye, how is Zhou Ji doing?”
Xiong Ye smiled at the priest and purposely tried to make himself appear relaxed, “Grandpa Priest, Zhou Ji is much better now!” In fact, Zhou Ji wasn’t better at all and had been just lying there not moving; he was worried to death.
But he couldn’t show it.
Xiong Ye held Zhou Ji against his chest and gripped Zhou Ji’s hand tightly.
“Should we postpone the ceremony?” The priest was a little worried too. When he saw Xiong Ye rush off to wash up so early in the morning, he had thought that Zhou Ji had recovered. Now, it seemed that Zhou Ji hadn’t gotten better at all…
Generally, people who suddenly came down with such an acute illness would die in a few days…
The priest didn’t want to see Xiong Ye lose his mate at such a young age.
“No need.” Xiong Ye said, Zhou Ji had forced himself into consciousness for the sake of the mating ceremony; how could he disappoint him?
“Let’s get started then!” The priest sighed.
After the crystal core in Zhou Ji’s body had turned red, its rate of energy absorption had increased, and by the end of the morning, he had already absorbed about two tenths of the energy that the fruit contained.
Coupled with his plentiful experience in dealing with energy in his body, he could finally do a little more. For example, say a sentence or something…
As for walking… Since the priest hadn’t objected to Xiong Ye carrying him, he might as well let him continue.
The priest had in fact wanted to raise an objection: Zhou Ji looked like he was about to die. He could overlook the fact that the mating ceremony required the two of them to stand together, but they still needed to both kneel down to worship the Beast G.o.d. Fine, fine, he’d change it and let Xiong Ye do it on his own!
Although Zhou Ji didn’t have any attention to spare on controlling his own body, he had at least opened his eyes and noticed the priest’s worried look as well as the ambiguous gazes of the Big Bear Tribe’s people. He also took in the beautiful spread of fiery red flame flowers.
Flame flowers bloomed on shrubs. This type of flower was very large, and the leaves of these shrubs had been covered by the flowers and couldn’t be seen at all. It appeared as if it there were just giant bouquets of flowers, and the scene was truly beautiful.
Zhou Ji had studied this kind of plant for a long time. He didn’t feel that there was anything miraculous about it, but it was still very pleasing to the eyes when they all blossomed at once.
Of course, now was not the time to be focusing on flowers.
The priest stood in front of Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji. He wore a long fur robe that was made up of several pieces of animal hide sewn together, and his expression looked compa.s.sionate.
He parted his lips and spoke slowly and piously, “The great G.o.d has given us peace and happiness, and today, your worshippers have gathered together to pray. May the glory of the Beast G.o.d shine upon the entire world…”
“Omnipotent Beast G.o.d up above, Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji of the Big Bear Tribe will become mates today.”
“May they be together forever with the Beast G.o.d as witness and with the blessing of the flame flowers.”
……
The elderly priest spoke slowly, and the people of the tribe all knelt down excitedly and reverently. Only Xiong Ye was left standing with Zhou Ji in his arms, but he slowly set Zhou Ji down by his side.
However, even though he had put Zhou Ji down, he still held him closely to his side so that Zhou Ji wouldn’t need to exert any effort and could lean his entire body against him.
“Xiong Ye, may the Beast G.o.d bless you!” The priest said to Xiong Ye.
Xiong Ye spoke firmly and earnestly, “Beast G.o.d up above, I will spend the rest of my life together with Zhou Ji.”
“Zhou Ji, may the Beast G.o.d bless you!” The priest then spoke to Zhou Ji.
The priest had said many things earlier, and the people in the tribe were all very excited, but Zhou Ji hadn’t felt anything at all.
There had been no change in the energy around him, and there was no difference at all in him or Xiong Ye. The priest looked a little ridiculous in his roughly st.i.tched animal hide robes, and he couldn’t feel anything special about this ceremony.
Any random modern wedding was still more ritualistic than this.
As expected, the Beast G.o.d didn’t exist.
The belief that mates could only be with each other for the rest of their lives appeared to be empty words.
Zhou Ji, who had watched with eyes wide open as everything in his world had died out, was still an atheist even after encountering something as magical as transmigration. At this time, he once again reaffirmed his own ideas.
Nevertheless, although he believed otherwise, he was still willing to outwardly express his belief in the Beast G.o.d.
He would also like to believe that he and Xiong Ye would be together for an entire lifetime.
Zhou Ji smiled then said to the priest, “Beast G.o.d up above, I will spend the rest of my life together with Xiong Ye.”
That Beast G.o.d, who was who knows where, who could be anything at all, couldn’t make him do anything, but he swore in his own heart that as long as Xiong Ye loved him and didn’t betray him, he would never betray Xiong Ye either.
The priest had originally thought that Zhou Ji wouldn’t even have the energy to speak. He was delighted when he heard Zhou Ji open his mouth to say his vows. He held a bunch of flame flowers and raised them above his head, “With the Beast G.o.d up above as witness, from today on, you two will become each other’s mates. You will accompany each other for life and live a happy life together.”
After the priest finished speaking, Xiong Ye brought Zhou Ji with him to kneel down.
At the same time, the originally kneeling tribespeople all stood up. The children of the tribe suddenly brought out many bright colored petals and scattered them in Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye’s direction.
They called out their best wishes in unison as they scattered the petals, “May you both be in good health!”
“May you be happy together every day!”
“May the Beast G.o.d bless you!”
……
The children spoke at the same time, and it was obvious that they had practiced this before. Occasionally, one of them would make a mistake and look around anxiously before continuing to chant.
With the petals in the air and the children’s tender voices adding words and blessings, the atmosphere of the ceremony suddenly became different.
After a while, two children came up and handed Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji two cups of honey water, “The Beast G.o.d will make sure every pair of mates is happy!”
“Thank you!” Xiong Ye accepted a cup of honey water and drank it. He wanted to feed the other cup to Zhou Ji but suddenly realized that Zhou Ji had difficulty eating right now, so he continued what he’d done before–mouth to mouth feeding.
In fact, the tribe’s mating ceremony was very simple. In the past, after the priest finished speaking that long string of words and blessed the two people who partic.i.p.ated in the mating ceremony, the mating ceremony would be over.
Both the petals and the blessings, and even the honey water, had been added because Xiong Ye wanted a different mating ceremony, and the priest had racked his brains to come up with something new and nicer.
Of course, it now seemed like… it had really worked out.
When the priest saw the two people ‘kissing’ each other, he felt that this could also be added to their mating ceremonies in the future.
The scene was so pleasing and delightful! It was so beautiful!
The priest was extremely gratified with the results.
The hearts of the tribespeople brimmed with blessings for the newly mated pair. Even Xiong Bai, who had always wanted to pry Xiong Ye away, was now wishing for the best for Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye from the bottom of her heart.
Zhou Ji’s and Xiong Ye’s mating ceremony was really especially beautiful. She now also wanted to be like Xiong Ye and find a mate who would stay with her for the rest of her life. In fact, that would be wonderful.
The most important reason why people in the tribe had been unwilling to form mated pairs with others in the past had been because there were too many accidents that could happen to the tribespeople.
Many people in the tribe would die in various ways every year. If they didn’t form a mated pair, they would be able to get together with someone else if the person they were with died. However, If they found a mate, wouldn’t they be unable to be with others if something happened?
In short, in such an insecure environment, many people were reluctant to establish a stable, committed relationship.
However, now that Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji were like this, many people began to have ideas about looking for a mate.
Only Shi Li’s expression was still as gloomy as ever.
This mating ceremony was very similar to his original mating ceremony with Xiong Ye, but there were differences–they hadn’t had the honey water or exchanged a kiss at that time.
Shi Li couldn’t know that this situation only happened because Xiong Ye had given the priest a lot of honey, and the priest had patted his head, come to a realization, and added another event. At this time, he just felt that it was unfair.
But soon, the irritation he felt over that bit of unfairness disappeared.
Xiong Ye hadn’t actually been that good to him in their last life, and now that things had come to a head, if he and Xiong Ye couldn’t be together, so be it.
Compared to Xiong Ye, the High Priest’s daughter was much better.
That beautiful and intelligent woman would become the next High Priest in the future.
If he could be with a woman so beloved by the Beast G.o.d, his life’s path would certainly become much smoother.
Of course, there were others who were also pretty good. For example, the Ape Beast King’s little son was also very likeable.
His vision shouldn’t be limited to this tribe.
With this in mind, Shi Li’s affections for Xiong Ye finally disappeared completely.
The ceremony was over, and people from the tribe went up to offer their good wishes to Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji.
“Xiong Ye, you guys are great!”
“You must be happy in the future!”
“You’ll definitely be able to accompany each other as you grow older.”
……
The tribe could only use the same few blessings over and over, but Xiong Qi purposely spoke out, “Xiong Ye, your mating ceremony was the best mating ceremony I’ve ever seen. With the Beast G.o.d blessing the two of you, your days will definitely be even better and better in the future…”
Xiong Qi started off by praising the mating ceremony, and then continued on and began to praise Zhou Ji to Xiong Ye, “You’ve found a very attractive mate. He is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen; you two will definitely be happy and fortunate!”
When Xiong Qi said that, the people in the tribe all looked at Zhou Ji.
Zhou Ji was indeed very attractive, but… now that Zhou Ji was standing propped up against Xiong Ye, why did it seem like he was actually a bit taller than Xiong Ye?
Also, although his skin was still very pale, how come his arms were so thick?
Something seemed to be off…
The clothes Zhou Ji made for himself had sleeves, which covered up his arms and everything else. However, the wedding robe he was wearing now was sleeveless.
Although the muscles in his arms weren’t big, they were as obvious as Xiong Ye’s.
The people who belonged to the hunting team in the tribe all had such a figure, but the people in gathering team didn’t generally have muscles like that because they usually weren’t able to eat as much meat as they needed.
Zhou Ji’s current appearance was very different from the soft, weak youth they had imagined.
The people in the tribe started to become curious, but at that moment, Zhou Ji opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.
People in the tribe: It’s confirmed. He was still the same, weak Zhou Ji.
But wasn’t he a bit too weak? Hadn’t Xiong Ye been a little too fierce, even making him spit up blood…
Everyone began to sympathize with Xiong Ye. Would Xiong Ye be able to find happiness in the future with a mate like this?
When Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji had spat out blood again, he was frightened and quickly embraced Zhou Ji.
Actually, Zhou Ji was fine…
Just now, his crystal core had undergone another upgrade and shifted from red to purple.
This change had happened too suddenly, and the energy in his body flew into disorder, causing him to finally spit out a mouthful of blood.
However, this wasn’t a bad thing for him… His crystal core was absorbing energy faster and faster. If this speed continued, he would soon be finished with absorbing all the energy, and it wouldn’t delay their ‘wedding activities’ that night.
While Zhou Ji was still thinking, the priest spoke up, “The Beast G.o.d Sacrifice has begun.”
Although Zhou Ji had just spat out blood, the Beast G.o.d Sacrifice couldn’t stop just because something was wrong with someone in the tribe.
There weren’t many customs for the Beast G.o.d Sacrifice within the tribe. After the priest spoke, everyone began to keel down facing the priest one after another.
“Great Beast G.o.d, please hear our voices…” The priest started to speak again.
He talked a lot and then asked the people to offer sacrifices.
After that, he spoke to the people of the tribe, “The Beast G.o.d loves each and every one of his people. You may share your wishes now.”
The people in the tribe all began to speak.
Zhou Ji was still unable to use his spiritual powers as he liked, and had no attention to spare to listen to what everyone was saying, but he still heard Xiong Ye’s words, “Beast G.o.d, please let Zhou Ji get better. I’m willing to split half my life with him…”
Zhou Ji’s heart clenched, and his spiritual powers rampaged chaotically.
After the crystal core in his body turned purple, the rate of energy absorption had increased many folds. It was now very easy for him to suppress those energies, but at this moment, he actually lost control.
A lot of energy streamed out of his body.
It was a little uncomfortable, but not only had his crystal core changed by now, his body had also changed, and having this bit of energy rush chaotically out of his body wasn’t too painful.
On the other hand… The energy that left his body refreshed everyone around him.
Some of the tribespeople who were currently in the midst of praying suffered from illnesses, and now they suddenly discovered that they were no longer in so much pain.
Others felt very sad or depressed, but at this time it seemed as though a light wind had swept through them, leaving them much more relaxed in its wake.
As for others…
Shi Li was also praying secretly, “Great Beast G.o.d, you’ve given me the opportunity to come back, so you must want me to become stronger than before…”
As soon as he finished, he felt that he had a little more energy in his body.
Shi Li was ecstatic for a moment. He just knew that the Beast G.o.d existed!
The great Beast G.o.d had always looked out for him.
While Shi Li was delighted, Zhou Ji finally recovered completely. He held the hand Xiong Ye had been using to embrace him tightly, “Xiong Ye, I’m alright now.”
“Are you truly alright?!” Xiong Ye was both surprised and happy.
“I’m fine.” Zhou Ji smiled as he spoke. He lifted Xiong Ye’s hand, and the power in his grip wasn’t weak at all.
His grip was strong, and his facial color had returned to normal. He really appeared to be fine now. Xiong Ye reached out and hugged him tight, “Bless the Beast G.o.d, you’re really alright!”
After saying that, Xiong Ye put his palms together and said piously, “Thank you, Beast G.o.d!” It must have been the Beast G.o.d who heard his prayers and helped Zhou Ji recover!
Zhou Ji: This really has nothing to do with the Beast G.o.d!