Translated by Magpie’s friend
Shao Xuan sensed that the totems in his mind were rolling and jumping; the sudden movements woke him up from his light sleep.
His surroundings were closely sheltered by wooden walls, leaving him no way to see the outside. On the hay-covered ground there were many people lying or sprawled on their stomachs as they snored one after another.
Shao Xuan was quietly trying to feel where the source of movement came from.
It’s over there, in that direction.
But what in the world had happened that would make his totems move in this way?
Shao Xuan intended to go out and see, but soon, the movements stopped. The totem flame in his mind stopped rolling about and returned to normal.
He immediately gave up the thought of going out for the moment, as the people around were all strangers and this was also the territory of the slaveholders. If he casually went out at night, he would probably be taken as a malicious person and be attacked by the patrol guard.
After checking again and confirming that the totems were not moving, Shao Xuan closed his eyes and continued to rest.
People in the Pu tribe didn’t have any plans for the next day. Only a few main figures like Fan Ning in the traveling group would go and negotiate with other traveling groups, so there was nothing to do with the others in the group.
Therefore, Shao Xuan was going to go in the direction he had detected last night to investigate and see if he could find out the reason for the movements of his totem. But the moment he went out of the house, he was taken away by Yu. Yu had found a new poisonous frog from the other traveling groups. This kind of frog was nowhere to be found in their tribe. Yu originally planned to go and see it all by himself, but he had remembered what his grandfather had told him before they started off. So he took several more people with him, including Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan, what are you looking at?
One of them asked.
Are they all wanderers over there?
Shao Xuan pointed to the direction of the wanderers.
After taking a look over there, someone from the Pu tribe who had several years of traveling experience, said,
Almost all of them are wanderers. Yet, I advise you not to go there. The people over there are very crazy. If you go there, you will probably be badgered. Quite a few of them like to join other tribes, but no tribe would want to take them, as they are too dangerous.
Despair would make a person go crazy, and fierce emotions are easy to arise after a long time of depression. This was why many people who came here avoided them.
You want to check out that place?
Yu asked.
I just want to take a look.
Shao Xuan answered.
You don’t need to go there now.
One elder at the side said.
The wanderers there always go out early. Some go and look for food in the surrounding mountains and forests, while the others go nearby and see if they could find other opportunities.
Shao Xuan took a glance over at the wanderers and found there were indeed a few walking outside. So he went away with Yu and the others, planning to go there when he returned.
But not long after Shao Xuan and the others left, in the place where the wanderers lived together, Yan Shuo moved the wood plank away from the entrance of his house.
Although there was a weary look on his face, he was in a good mood. Compared with his dead-fish eyes in the past, his eyes now were bright.
Last night, for the first time, he saw the totem patterns of the legendary totem warriors on his body; moreover, it was the totem pattern of the Flaming Horns tribe.
Though the totem patterns weren’t clear and didn’t last for long, Yan Shuo felt the light in his life again. He was too excited to sleep all night.
Only a little bit of light could ignite the fire of hope for those who were in the dark for too long.
Last night, apart from the appearance of the totem patterns, Yan Shuo also sensed some slight changes in his body. His body looked the same as before, however he felt that his power had increased a little; as he had moved the wooden plank with ease.
Yan Shuo had originally planned to leave here with the others, but he gave up the thought of leaving for the moment after the situation had changed last night. After getting up and discussing their options with his wife for a while in the morning, he left the house later than usual.
The others had already gone out in search for food. Yan Shuo also wanted to start off, but as he was about to leave, he saw someone coming over from the river bank.
Seeing him, Yan Shuo frowned with knitted brows and turned around, saying to his wife,
Stay inside. Don’t come out!
The man was coming up leisurely, with a vine whip in his hand. Over on the river bank where the slaves handled goods, you would often see people like this man.
They were also slaves, but they were better off than the lower level slave.
They took charge of supervising the lower slaves, and would whip with no mercy those who loafed on the job. This small bit of power gave them such joy that they would whip those they felt dissatisfied with, and sometimes even whipped some to death. But as long as the slaveholder did not pursue it, no one dared stop them.
Well, the man walking over was called
Li
. He had moved together with Yan Shuo, until they reached this place. He couldn’t stand being refused by other tribes again and again, so he chose to become a slave.
Li was the first one who chose to become a slave among those who came here together.
At first, Li was just a slave of the lower level. Every day he had a lot of work to do, with little time to rest; at times, he was so dog tired and had also suffered being whipped. But he ran into a good opportunity, as someone offended a leader from one of the relative big traveling groups. The slaveholder directly killed some slaves to make amends to the traveling group. It was at that moment that Li was promoted.
After becoming slaves, they could get new strength from the slaveholder; while being promoted to a higher level meant they could get more resources and strength from the slaveholder. Their powers would surely improve.
The guy who came to Yan Shuo last night with broken arms and fractures was wounded by Li.
Maybe to show his power and show off the strength he regained, or maybe for some personal grudges, Li was merciless to his previous partners. If it wasn’t that a commotion had happened on the river bank that Li had to immediately settle, that man would have otherwise died.
From those who came here at the beginning, some left, some died, and others were wounded. Except for Yan Shuo and his families, the last man couldn’t bear the pressure and instead chose to become a slave last night. Now, Yan Shuo was the only one to hold out.
Li headed straight towards Yan Shuo, step by step, with a long whip in hand, wearing a malicious smile on his face.
If they were both the slaves of the same slaveholder, Li may not dare to kill him directly. Although, sometimes the slaveholder would not care about whether a lower level slave was alive or dead, Li was afraid that the slaveholder would have another idea. It had taken a long way for him to get promoted, so Li would not try to annoy his slaveholder. In spite of the smiling face all day, the slaveholder would be extremely cruel when he took actions. When thinking about the slaves effortlessly killed by the slaveholder with no hesitation or mercy, Li would feel a chill climbing up his back.
Anyway, in the case of wanderers, the slaveholder would not interfere. These wanderers were ungrateful people, who couldn’t tell what was good for them. There were some who even refused the slaveholder when they were picked out.
At the beginning, the first one that the slaveholder actually picked out was Yan Shuo, who had the greatest strength among them. But it’s a pity that Yan Shuo didn’t know what was good for him and refused. Yet Li took the chance; he chose to follow the slaveholder and left Yan Shuo and the others.
Yan Shuo just had greater strength, wasn’t it? We are all wanderers without our own tribe. The flame was extinguished a long time ago. Then what’s the difference between us?
As to the
Flaming Horns tribe
that Yan Shuo always talked about on the way here, Li didn’t believe even one word he said.
If the tribe still exists, why is he in such dire straits?
If the tribe still exists, why doesn’t Yan Shuo go out and look for it?
If the
Flaming Horns tribe
really exists, why does no one in the traveling groups coming and going know about its existence?
At that time, Yan Shuo appeared to be one of the sanest amongst them. But in fact, in the eyes of the others, Yan Shuo was a madman, always dreaming about something that was impossible.
What Li was most disgusted with was the way Yan Shuo’s eyes filled with hope as he talked about the
Flaming Horns tribe
. In the past, he was no match for Yan Shuo, but Li gained strength after becoming a slave. It’s only that he had had no time to come over and
chat
with these men who used to be his partners. Yet now, he had plenty of free time. Yesterday, he came over for one of them; today he came for Yan Shuo.
In order to avoid being called away in the middle of his ‘chat’ like he was yesterday, he asked another ‘promoted’ slave to keep his eyes on the slaves on the river bank.
With a whip in one hand, Li brought a palm-sized shell in the other hand for amusement.
It’s said that in some place in the central area, delicate shells could be exchanged for things. What a pity that the shells in this place were far from being delicate, but were ugly and fragile, just like the people here!
Ka!
The shell in his hand crumbled into pieces instantly.
Someone told me that you are badly off now?
Li sneered at Yan Shuo as he stood in front of his messy wooden hut; a hut that looked like it could be blown down by a gust of wind. The next moment, he raised his hand and gave a heavy slash.
The whip fell on the fragile wooden hut; some of the wood blocks cracked and fell down immediately, one corner of the roof was ripped down.
Li!
Seeing Li intending to ruin his house, Yan Shuo couldn’t bear it any more, as his wife and kids were inside. If the house was ruined, where would they sleep tonight? There were too many dangers in the surroundings; moreover, his two kids were too small and vulnerable to accidents.
Li came to kill him. Yan Shuo knew the reason, so he didn’t expect a peaceful talk.
With the chipped stone knife he usually used, Yan Shuo rushed at Li.
Li looked at Yan Shuo with a flicker of confusion. Yan Shuo seemed different from how he was in the past? It should not be so, after all, what could have happened to Yan Shuo?
Still, Li was not worried. No matter what had changed, Yan Shuo, a wanderer, was still no match to him.
Yan Shuo, who had dashed out in an instant, was waving his knife based on his experience from hunting beasts; thoughts of fighting welling up in his mind beyond control.
In the past, Yan Shuo had greater strength than the others, but there seemed to be a big stone inside his body, preventing him from generating more strength. But it was different now. Although there was some feeling of obstruction as before, Yan Shuo felt the resistance was smaller. He had a pleasant feeling hard to express in words when waving his knife.
Is this the so called power?
The knife had the power of destruction. Yan Shuo slashed towards Li as if he was hunting a prey, while the totem patterns on his face became clearer and appeared.
Almost at the same time, Shao Xuan, who was taken away to see the poison frog by Yu and the others, moved his eyes away from the poison frog and looked over to the direction where the wanderers lived.
Yu, I have something that I need to do and need to be excused for a moment. Help me get some poison.
Shao Xuan gave a water moonstone to Yu and quickly went away.
Hey! We’ll go back to the house after a while!
Seeing Shao Xuan leaving in a hurry, Yu didn’t think about it much, but moved his eyes back onto the poison frog in front of him.
