Translated by Lesyt
Old He had said that the Flaming Horns tribe’s roots are still at the ancestral land, the flame’s veins still lie there. The totem flame has to be at the ancestral land to ignite once again. This, Shao Xuan did not really know about it, maybe the Shaman might have had some idea, but he did not say it.
No wonder the ancestors constantly longed to go back to their ancestral land, among the reasons there was still something like this.
For the wanderers that had been separated from their tribe and also for the tribe itself to regain their flourishing days, the return of the tribe was indeed really needed. Who knows how many are waiting to welcome their new lives.
The travel team would not stay long in the Feng Tribe, after all they were only passing by, this place only being their resting stop for their long journey ahead. After resting, the leaders will then call back the team and prepare to set out.
Shao Xuan left some stuff for Old He and his family, exchanging some cow or sheep’s meat for them. Old He did not want any water moonstones, his family only had two old and a young, not much battle strength. If they provoked other wanderers who coveted their stones and grew to become murderous, then that would be bad. The good thing is that Gua Er had already agreed to take care of them, letting Old He and his family be more relaxed.
Even if it’s hard, Old He wouldn’t mind it too much, because now he had hope. Maybe if he could just wait a few more years, he could bring his whole family and the wanderers living elsewhere back to their tribe. He could return to where he belongs within his lifetime, what a blissful thing that would be.
After saying farewell to Old He, Shao Xuan and the travel team left the Feng tribe.
Not long after the travel team had left, Gua Er’s father came back from his patrol. He thought of asking Gua Er how he used the wood block he dragged back that he was asking noisily for as he entered the house. If he had not used it, he planned to chop it into firewood.
Lifting up the leather curtains, he stepped into the house, but when his sight met a certain something in his house, his scalp had tightened, his hand almost swiftly taking out his knife on his waist.
But before he could make any more moves, a silhouette leaped out, letting out a sound that pierced through the lungs.
Dad—–
Gua Er firmly hugged onto his dad’s leg,
Dad, we already have a lot of firewood, don’t chop up my wood sculpture!
Wood sculpture?
Gua Er’s father was stunned for awhile before taking a clearer look around,
It really is.
No wonder he had felt something amiss, so it is just a wood sculpture. But then, for a wood sculpture to be carved to this point, it really is not simple. When he saw it the first time, he had thought he had met upon some beast that came out from the forest.
Where did this wood sculpture come from?
Gua Er’s father put away his knife, scrutinizing the wood sculpture in front of him like something rare.
Didn’t I tell you before already? This is something I asked from Shao Xuan, the traveller I found, to carve for me from the wood block I dragged back.
Gua Er narrated the story of how it came about, he had also mentioned about his promise to take care of Old He and his family. After he had finished speaking, he got a little worried, he hung his head down, hastily lifting his eyelids up to look at his dad, afraid a beating would come soon.
He didn’t think that his dad, who had been silent for a long while, would then say:
If you promised, then you should just do it.
Shao Xuan, who had already left the Feng tribe, naturally did not know the conversation between Gua Er and his dad. Him and the rest continued along another river. Upstream, this river directly went deep into the grasslands; downstream, it would join together with another river, becoming a river that would flow all the way to the central tribes.
This time there weren’t any rafts, therefore they relied on walking.
Just like what the other travellers had said, the team speedily kept on the road for a few days and they came closer to their destination.
Just a bit further ahead, the territories belong to the central tribes.
Let the travel team be more alert, in front is the territory of two big tribes, don’t offend them.
Some experienced travellers advised the newcomers.
A tribe that can build itself among the central tribes cannot be considered a small tribe at all. Each and everyone of them have their own unique traits, any small tribes could definitely not compete with them. And the tribes in the central tribes, generally, they would also not take the initiative to attack the travel team.
Coming here, you would also bump into many other travellers from other lands, but now, there would not be nice greetings and calm conversations among them, everybody was cautious against another.
When passing through a few hills, a few travellers beside Shao Xuan said to him:
Look over there.
Beside the travel team were a row of curving hills, and on the top of these hills, there were painted rocks of a tribe’s characteristic on it.
The paintings carved on the rock were not exactly elaborate. What was drawn was not like a human, but it had a face belonging to human beings. [If you’re confused, read the next paragraph clearly.]
In front of Shao Xuan, on a huge and almost rectangular rock, such painting of a round human face with a wide mouth was painted; strangely, the body part under this human face looked similar to that of common people but it had four more hands.
The painting style was rough and exaggerated, looking like a man with weird physical proportions and six hands standing there, whose mouth and six hands were opened wide and two legs were also opened at a certain angle, just like a spider watching people passing by. Behind him, on the other part of the rock were some interlaced lines, which looked like they were carved orderly and intentionally instead of being carved causally.
What’s this?
Yu asked the experienced travelers beside him, wanting to know more exact answers from them.
Yet Shao Xuan knew the answer the moment he saw the painting.
The
Eight Limbs
tribe was once drawn and recorded on the animal skin volumes, as well as on the walls in the cave.
In the cave near the mountain foot district, when Shao Xuan saw the pattern on the stone wall for the first time, he thought it was a spider. After seeing more records on the animal skin volumes, he knew that it was not a spider, but a weird person with eight limbs, like a spider.
There were some huge black rocks nearby, on which various faces and weird men with eight limbs were also carved.
It deserved to be a large tribe in the central area, who started to draw out the boundary and set up the boundary monument at such a great distance, as if they did it for fear that no one knew here was the Eight Limbs tribe. As far as the eyes could see, the row of hill rock paintings were all full of the characteristics of the Eight Limbs tribe, some large and others small. People passing through this place, even with a bad memory, would be impressed with this long row of hill rock paintings, which were hard to forget.
Somebody at the side said:
This is not yet the territory of the Eight Limbs tribe. The place we are walking on belongs to somewhere between the Eight Limbs tribe and the Mang tribe.
Jades in the backwoods of Mang and silk garments in Eight Limbs. What this means are the two tribes?!
Yu had heard of these two strong tribes in the central area from some travelers long before, as well as the products of these two tribes. But he never saw the jades of the Mang tribe. Nor did he see the legendary garments made of silk.
Jades in the backwoods of Mang and silk garments in Eight Limbs were the well-known products of these two tribes. No matter if it’s the jades of the backwoods of the Mang tribe or the silk garments produced by the Eight Limbs tribe, both were extremely expensive. Usually, small tribes coming from regions far away, they would not exchange for these two products, as there was no need to do so. Linen had already kept many people away, let alone more expensive silk garments. Even if the silk garments were brought back, they would just be put aside.
Simply speaking, their consumption level was not that high and they didn’t have the taste to appreciate the silk garment. Moreover, it was useless for people who focused more on practical uses.
Apart from the rock paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe, there are marks of the Mang tribe somewhere nearby. There, look ahead. Those are the totem marks of the Mang tribe.
The traveler at the side showed Shao Xuan and Yu.
Over there was a bamboo grove which was not too high, but quite sturdy and thick. They looked quite strong, whose leaves could even wrap Shao Xuan’s hands.
There were paintings like the totem tattoos of the Mang tribe carved on almost all the sturdy bamboo. Also, some things made of bamboo similar to wind chimes were hanging on the bamboo. Strings of bamboo chimes tapped against each other with the wind, making sounds of different pitches, which were extremely pleasant to the ear.
If it were under normal circumstances, many people would have gone there to cut the bamboo or would have taken away those bamboo chimes which could play music. But the truth was that extremely few would touch those things, just as most people dared not touch the hill rock paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe. These were the symbols of the two tribes. Anyone who touched them would be considered as defying against the two tribes.
Members of the travel team would not do anything risky like that. That’s why they warned those who traveled for the first time not to offend the strong without knowing it before they arrived.
There were often travelers coming and going through this place, which already made a clear path. On the left of this path were a long row of hill rock paintings. On the paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe, men with eight limbs in an awful look were watching the passersby, imposing great mental pressure on every traveler and making them dread the Eight Limbs tribe even more. It was the so-called strong tribe, even their paintings were so mighty.
The other side of the path was of totally different style, with fresh bamboo chimes. It didn’t make anyone feel relaxed at all; instead, every tapping sound of the bamboo would make them tense up, as if in the bamboo grove, there were eyes watching them, which made the team speed up unconsciously, not to mention touching those bamboo or wind chimes.
This was the demonstration of the strong in their own way, making passersby remember their strength, not just knowing the jades or silk garments.
Not until that passage was over, when there were no hill rock paintings by the side and the tapping sounds of bamboo faded away, did everyone feel relieved with the nervous mood dying down gradually.
Move further ahead and we will arrive at a valley. That’s a good place for trading. Also, it’s very close to the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe, so no one dares to make troubles.
One traveler in front said.
Soon, Shao Xuan saw the place for trading. It was just like a small-scale market over there, with houses made of wood and bamboo located around. There were travelers from different places or people from nearby tribes making deals in this market. As this market was adjacent to the two
large mountains
, sometimes they would have to give some gifts to people of the two tribes.
Entering this market, Shao Xuan felt that it got busy right away. Some people put the items they wanted to trade on the ground, with a layer of straw sheet or animal skin at the bottom, while others built a simple shelf to display the items for trade.
It’s a very simple and crude market, but it’s also the biggest and busiest trading place that Shao Xuan had ever seen since he came to this world.
