Translator: Editor:
Meanwhile, old Mourbo had proceeded to support that young Takji lad, and offered him a mouth of intense alcohol. After allowing him to chew on grass medicines, he finally managed to pacify his condition. Yet after inquiring about what he had seen, that young lad only stared blankly, and repeatedly emphasised the phrase – ‘the Tree of Souls in the water’.
After interrogating him for a few times, Sheyan then injected this miserable warrior with a tranquilizer; allowing him to rest. Following that, he called old Mourbo over.
“The recent situation was extremely strange. Are you able to tell me, why the soul of your old friend can control such a frightening wild beast to assault us? And how he could temporarily possess your clansman’s body? Because this goes to show, the possibility of you and your clansmen being possessed to assassinate us cannot be excluded!”
Old Mourbo adopted a gloomy countenance, as he carefully pondered for a long time before answering.
“Your honor, I can only speak purely from my speculation.”
Listening to old Mourbo’s words, Sheyan nodded gently. No doubt, after hammering a warning into this old brat, he evidently became more reliable in his taskings.
“Please tell.”
Old Mourbo earnestly suggested.
“In the past, I had witnessed a Grand Mother Tashik casting a divine art. Speaking of this, your honor, you may recognize her as well; that Tsahik is the mother of the dragon’s daughter, Mo`at. She was deeply doted on by Mother Nature Eywa.”
“During that time, the bravest warrior of her clan had suffered a fatal injury, and her clan was on the verge of desperate straits. That Tsahik then casted that divine art, and transferred the soul of that invincible warrior into the body of a spiritual beast (Mountain Banshee); transmigrating him into a wild beast to continue commanding the clan into battle!”
“Experiencing such a miracle, the morale of the clan warriors was greatly boosted and they successfully repelled the enemy. Afterwards, she transferred his soul back into his original body. Proceeding that, that warrior managed to progress and eventually became a venerable Toruk Makto; which was reckoned to be deeply related to his experience inside that spiritual beast.”
Sheyan listened attentively while he deliberated. Old Mourbo then continued.
“Furthermore, during the fourth month of pregnancy, our na'vi females would have to pay a visit to the Tree of Souls, and beseech Nature Goddess to bestow a soul unto their child. Moreover, before Cherokee’s fall from grace, he was also a dominant Eywa Tsahik. Therefore, I can scarcely confirm there’s a possibility of him accessing that powerful ‘Soul Transmigration Divine Art’........”
After hearing Mourbo’s account, Sheyan suddenly recalled several analogous scenes of the original movie storyline; moreover, it was two scenes. The first time happened when Jake Sully had attained his identity as a Toruk Makto; where he pleaded with the Omaticaya clan to treat the gravely wounded Doctor Grace, transmigrating her soul into an avatar body. The second scene was the ending, where the main lead forsook his humanity to become a na'vi…...
No wonder. It was indeed far-fetched to imagine that Eywa was so omniscient and omnipotent, and could foresee the main lead needing to become one with his avatar body; thereby imparting such a divine art to Tsahik Mo`at a long long time ago, allowing her to specially employ it to transmigrate a human soul into an avatar body. Moreover, the Omaticaya clan members appeared to be rather familiar with such a process, being able to unanimously and skillfully conform with Tsahik Mo`at in casting her divine art; even her incantations offered not a shred of error.
Thus, the only reasonable explanation for that, was that the ‘Soul Transmigration Divine Art’ was all along in existence! This fully justified the validity of old Mourbo’s words. However, this would pose another problem….. Since the Mosake clan had degenerated into a corrupted clan, losing the favour of the Nature Goddess, how was Cherokee still able to accomplish such a feat?
The current Mourbo was also deeply worried at heart.
“With Cherokee casting such an ability, it seems like he should be able to allow souls to possess beast from afar; controlling their actions, while still allowing the souls to return safely after the wild beast’s demise. That itself is already very identical to Mother Nature Eywa’s divine art, and isn’t inferior in any aspects! But the specifics of how he can accomplish this, is something I cannot fathom.”
Sheyan crooked his finger as he tapped against the tree beside him. For some unknown reason, he suddenly reminisced over the deranged act of muttering to himself by that Takji young lad. After establishing ties throughout several vital points, it further confirmed the truth of Sheyan’s earlier conjecture.
“The Tree of Souls in the water…….if that’s really the case, then there’s still a chance.”
After figuring out this problem, Sheyan released a long exhalation as most of his inner apprehension had been eliminated. Why had he taken a stroll in the middle of the night without sleeping, that was obviously due to his anxiousness over the lack of information about the internal state of the Mosake clan. Instead, after an engagement with Yimutata, he finally understood that the Mosake clan was similarly unstable internally.
Perhaps initially, the Mosake clan would’ve banded together due to their rival’s cruelty. This information could be inferred through Sheyan’s previous encounters with them.
Yet, state of affairs were everchanging. There is a phrase – loose change is easily shared, while riches difficult. With the Mosake clan enhancing in influence throughout the years, they inexplicably became the overlords of this region. After living such comfortable lives, it would naturally sap away the fighting spirit and valor of most individuals. Especially, when one experienced an overwhelmingly crushing defeat after living in that state.
Therefore, even if Cherokee didn’t change, it didn’t mean others wouldn’t change! Hence, it wasn’t hard to deduce that with such tremendous pressure placed on them by Sheyan, there should be distinct cracks surfacing within the Mosake clan.
Of course, there was a possibility of swindling by Yimutata, that his words were false. Sheyan had long considered this factor! No doubt, such a ‘Soul Transmigration Divine Art’ would impose harsh casting criterias. If not, why would there be only 3 possessed wild beast in this sneak assault? Furthermore, the spell subject would have to incur a tremendous price. When Yimutata had mentioned ‘sacrificing 5 years of his life with every body possession’, that would surely not be false. That was a fact that old Mourbo similarly agreed on.
Therefore, this sole fact that Cherokee was driven to such desperate actions of assassinations, sufficed for Sheyan to determine one fact – That malicious wily old fox had definitely sensed discord and restlessness amongst his ranks, therefore, his heart became flustered.
On the contrary, if it was truly like what old Mourbo had described earlier – ‘becoming more unified over the flesh and blood of their comrades’, then Cherokee could’ve simply coup themselves up in their nest; wasting themselves to death rather than stepping out! Why would he exhaust such an immense price (5 years of life) to run out in bid of an assasination? There wasn’t even a huge chance of success; could it be their brains had spoilt, and resented themselves for living too long?
*************
During the following two days, serenity ensued just like the past few days. By this time, both Mogensha and Reef started feeling slightly nervous, slowly believing that Yimutata had truly resorted to deceit to prolong their survival; dragging out precious time for their clan. Yet, during the afternoon of the 6th day of their besieging, when the scorching sun was at its peak, their painstakingly anticipated event finally occurred – Discovered by the nearest overlord lingering nearby the Mosake clan, a large pack of Mosake na'vi clansmen had charged out. Furthermore, they were currently being pursued by mutual clansmen, and an intensified battle had broke out between both sides!
Sheyan immediately boarded an overlord to to inspect the situation for himself. Of course by now, Mourbo had adorned his war armour, having been hammered previously, he no longer slackened off. The Mosake clan’s disadvantage resided in its utter absence of aerial influence, which allowed Sheyan to swiftly survey the specifics of the current battling. It appeared as if the Mosake clan had indeed been plagued by internal strife.
Sheyan pondered for a moment, before dispatching 400 zerglings to to be airboned into the battlefield; providing cover for Yimutata’s group to escape.
In this manner, even if the enemy was covertly injuring themselves to fuel his confidence, Sheyan wouldn’t need to fear. Based on the reproductive capabilities of the Blackthorn tribe, replenishing 400 zerglings would only require 20 minutes; and another half an hour to transport them here with the overlords. Moreover, Sheyan’s possession of a thousand over zerglings was sufficient to deal with the Mosake clan until reinforcements arrive. Once the Mosake clan was beaten to retreat, without a lack of aerial presence, it was impossible for the Mosake clan to break away from the overlord’s shadow like tailing!
In actual fact, there wasn’t much to this ploy. With the mobilization of 400 zerglings, they could at least hinder the pursuing na'vis behind; earning possibly 10 minutes of buffer for the na'vi clansmen ahead to escape! After the pursuing na'vi realized things weren’t in accordance to their favour, they withdrew back into their buildings.
*********************************************************************
Under Sheyan’s instigation, old Mourbo took charge personally. Along with the trump of the thousand over zerglings, they carefully inspected the Mosake clansmen that had escaped. After affirming that Cherokee wasn’t part of them, they straightforwardly released them to leave.
Of course, overlords were still dispatched to monitor those freed na'vi clansmen, guaranteeing that they wouldn’t seize this opportunity for a sudden thrust against Sheyan and the rest; capturing the king before capturing the thieves*. Either that or harbouring ideas of orchestrating an exterior and interior pincer assault. Sheyan’s shrewd thinking would absolutely disallow them from such reckless deception!
(TN: *idiom, meaning capturing the mastermind (vital point) to cause the defeat of the opponent)
Nevertheless, those Mosake clansmen appeared exceedingly exhausted mentally and physically. Besides, having been besieged for those few days, the threat of being cannibalized for food had placed immense pressure onto them. Hence, though Sheyan had granted their freedom, the majority of them would rather pledge allegiance to the Takji clan; forsaking their identities as corrupted clansmen, reuniting into the embrace of Mother Nature Eywa. Thus, such a conduct eliminated any other unusual possibilities.
When night descended, another large flock of Mosake clansmen fled out again; this time led by Yimutata. Therefore upon careful considerations, after experiencing two batches of turncoats, the amount of Mosake clan turncoats had exceeded the amounts of loyal retainers. However, from henceforth, Sheyan could no longer probe further into the internal affairs of the Mosake clan/ Yimutata then exerted that since they had renounced their own faith, if they proceeded to further divulge intelligence, that would essentially be forsaking their own souls. If Sheyan remained bent on compelling information out of them, they would rather die.
In view that he presently possessed sufficient cannon fodder, and the current state was completely within his grasp; similarly pricked by his own conscience, Sheyan was reluctant to go overboard and compel information from them. Besides, he still required the Takji clan to serve his personal purpose.
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