Chapter 64 – The position of the totem pattern

Translated by Sunyancai

When Shao Xuan went down the mountain, he came directly to Old Ke’s place instead of going back to his residence.

Caesar had been waiting for Shao Xuan at the door for a long time. Seeing Shao Xuan, he immediately leapt towards him, and greeted him by jumping back and forth like a dog. Seriously speaking, he would be more like a dog if he wagged his tail a little.

“Hey, Ah-Xuan’s back!” Ge sat by the window, and lifted the straw curtain as he spoke to Shao Xuan.

“Uncle Ge.” Shao Xuan evaded Caesar, so as to prevent him from touching his wounded arm, and walked inside.

Inside the house, Old Ke sat upon the stone stool which he used to craft stoneware, and stared at Shao Xuan. He was smiling, which was rare.

“It’s good that you’re back…what’s wrong with your arm?!”

Of course Shao Xuan’s wounded arm was noticed by Old Ke in a single glance. Earlier when he was on the path of glory with the other warriors, he was fine and was carrying lots of game. There was no sign of injuries back then, but why was his arm wounded after the Sword Cleansing Ritual? Upon notice, Old Ke scowled again after that rare smile.

“Let me see.” Ge didn’t notice it, so he approached Shao Xuan to take a closer look at his arms since Old Ke said that.

“It’s fine. I’ll be okay after a few days.”

Seeing that Old Ke wanted to know the details, Shao Xuan told him about earlier when he encountered Keke and Tuo on his way down the mountain.

At Shao Xuan’s description, Old Ke thought about it for some time, and then asked Shao Xuan to show him his arm.

“Hmm?” Old Ke sniffed his nose, “Is this the herb that Tuo gave you?”

Old Ke took out the bag of herbs in Shao Xuan’s animal skin bag, and closely observed those few herbs inside.

“These are fine herbs.” He passed the bag of herbs to Ge, who was stretching his neck to look at the bag, “Go and decoct them.”

Ge said nothing, but he put the bag beneath his nose and sniffed it. However, there was nothing inside that he was familiar with. He hadn’t used such herbs before. It smelled completely different from the herbs he normally used.

Old Ke asked about the hunting, and Shao Xuan briefly said something about it.

Even though he had omitted a lot, it was still quite an adventure in Old Ke and Ge’s ears. They still saw it as an alarmingly dangerous mission, and neither of them had anticipated that Shao Xuan would encounter so many things during his first hunting trip. His survival was completely under the blessing of the ancestors.

“So it seems that the ground komodo tooth sword helped a lot!” Ge rubbed his hands, and smirked at Shao Xuan, indicating that Shao Xuan should take out the tooth sword so that he could admire it once again.

“Uh…” Shao Xuan began to stammer immediately.

“No, I didn’t lose it, but…” Shao Xuan embarrassedly took out the sword from the leather sheath.

The ground komodo tooth sword was even cleaner than when it was given to Shao Xuan from Old Ke, for it was freshly cleansed. However, the missing sword-tip was clearer than ever, which could be noticed at first sight.

It was completely unbelievable to Ge, he took over the sword with trembling hands and was more than distressed.

Shao Xuan looked up at Old Ke, only to find that he wasn’t as distressed at the sword as Ge, neither was he angry. Instead, he seemed quite gratified.

Old Ke took the sword over from Ge and had a joyful smile on his face.

“Don’t worry, I can craft and polish it into a smaller sword, and you can use it during your second hunting trip.” Saying that, Old Ke placed the tooth sword on the shelf aside. He decided to take up no other tasks these days and focus on polishing and adjusting the tooth sword.

The sword suffered from serious wear and tear, and there were a lot of small dents. However, Old Ke was quite happy about that, because all those traces proved that Shao Xuan had a very successful hunt, and he had fought against some ferocious beasts. Instead, if the sword Shao Xuan brought back was as good as new with little or no abrasion, he would be a little disappointed and upset, even though he probably wouldn’t say anything.

Old Ke drove away Ge, who was still sad over the sword, and he asked Shao Xuan to drink the potion properly decocted from the herbs.

Downing the bowl of potion in his hand, Shao Xuan suddenly felt as if a spring of warmth swept over his entire body, and made a special stop at his wounded arms. Instead of pain, he felt warm and fuzzy. He could even feel the bones growing back together gradually at a pace which wasn’t slow.

“Those are the herbs that the Shaman himself mixed especially. Since some of the herbs are really hard to find, so it would only be distributed to a few warriors. It’s impossible for everyone to get it.” Said Old Ke.

Because of that, whoever could get the herbs must cherish them a lot. Unexpectedly, Tuo gave a whole pack to Shao Xuan! Old Ke was confused. Even though it was Keke who broke Shao Xuan’s arm, but honestly speaking, that wasn’t considered as a severe injury in the tribe. Those with fine physiques would recover naturally after a few days.

Ah-Xuan wasn’t familiar with Tuo. If they were in the same hunting group, it would make some sense, but…the same hunting group? Old Ke shook his head. Ah-Xuan had only awakened this year, and he took one hunting trip. Technically he was nothing else but a fine new warrior. It was highly unlikely for him to be picked out to that hunting group. After all, it required the team leader’s and the other few senior warriors’ permission to get into that hunting group.

Since it was hard to figure out, Old Ke decided to let it go, “Even though I have only one leg, I can still avenge you. Just wait to see Keke’s arm the next time you see him.”

“No need for that.” Shao Xuan smile, “I can avenge myself.”

“Good! Then I won’t interfere.” Old Ke seemed to be more satisfied, “Now, display your totem power, Ah-Xuan.”

Shao Xuan quickly revealed the totem pattern on his face, as well as on his arms.

Old Ke stared at the totem patterns on his arms, and his eyes were wide open.

Click!

The cane in Old Ke’s hand was broken into half, and he had been using that cane for only a year.

…

At the other side, the team leader just finished up with all the formalities at the mountaintop and returned to his own place after the hunting mission, only to find that Tuo and Keke were already waiting for him inside.

“So how was the test?” the main leader Ta asked.

Before Keke could say anything, Tuo reported that Keke had broken Shao Xuan’s arm.

Blue veins stood out on Ta’s temples, and he glared at Keke hatefully, as if he was about to kick him again, “That was how you tested him?!”

Keke was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. He scratched his foot and said, “I didn’t attack using full strength…”

“You planned to attack using full strength?! Where’s your integrity, you moron?” Ta brandished his fist at him.

Keke jumped up and within the blink of an eye he got next to the door, as if he was planning to escape once Ta made any move.

“…I was just out of control.” Keke whispered as he scratched his head with the same hand he scratched his foot. He indeed felt a little embarrassed, thinking that he hit a kid after all.

“Since you can’t control yourself, you’d better tag along with other hunting groups next time.” Ta said with a straight face.

“No, no, no…I can explain.” Keke was anxious seeing that he was about to be kicked out from the group, “You told me to test that kid right, boss? I tested. In fact, I was only about to punch him twice, but seeing the totem patterns emerge on his arms, I couldn’t control myself and kept punching…”

“Totem patterns? What’s wrong with the kid’s totem pattern?” Ta stared at Keke with sharp sights.

“Boss, you said that newly-awakened warriors only had totem patterns up to here, right?” Keke placed his finger at his upper arm near the shoulder, “however, that kid’s totem pattern reached…there!”

Keke made a mark on his upper arm, which was about a palm’s away from the shoulder.

“That’s not possible!” Ta and Tuo shouted out at the same time.

But…

Impossible?

Nothing’s impossible…

In the past, people said that children from the orphan cave wouldn’t be able to be awakened until they turned twelve or thirteen…but now?

In the past, people thought that junior totem warrior couldn’t even slaughter or fight against adult healthy Thorn Black Wind even when there were only one or two of them. However, …

In the past, people assumed that no one could get out of that mountain once lost, but in the end?

The kid hadn’t been awakened for long!

“Hey, boss. I remembered that Mao’s totem pattern was only up there…”

Before Keke could finished his sentence, he got kicked on the leg by Tuo already.

“Fine, you guys go back now.” Ta waved his hand, indicating that they should leave for now.

Tuo and Keke pushed each other out of the door, but as they stepped out, they realized that the Chief was standing right outside.

“Ah…Ha-ha…Good day, Chief!”