Chapter 131 – The New Route

Translated by Sunyancai

If Shao Xuan did not go hunting, every few days he would go up the mountain to hand in the animal skin volumes that the Shaman asked him to draw.

This time, Shao Xuan drew common volumes, rather than the Shaman volumes.

The Shaman planned to tell everyone that the ancestors had also kept hunting animals. In this way, he could stimulate them to raise and train cubs. But some content in the ancient volumes could not be disclosed, and he would reveal the rest, which would be drawn by Shao Xuan, who had more excellent drawing skills than the others. The annotations were derived from part of the original version of the ancient volumes.

It was much simpler to draw the common volumes, for drawing the Shaman Volumes needed the power of inheritance.

Unexpectedly, one hundred copies of the volume with annotations were finished by Shao Xuan within ten days.

Today, Shao Xuan took the last ten copies to the Shaman, up the mountain.

Shao Xuan often visited the Shaman, which was not strange to those in the tribe. Moreover, the man who guarded the door for the Shaman no longer stopped him, because the Shaman had said that Shao Xuan could enter his house directly.

“These are the last ten.” Shao Xuan put them on the stone table in front of the Shaman to let him check whether all their contents could be released as planned.

The Shaman quickly opened and glanced at them. Then he put them aside, but did not let Shao Xuan leave right away like before.

Shao Xuan knew that this old man had something to tell him, and would have a long talk so he sat down, waiting for what he would say next.

Seeing Shao Xuan’s reaction made the Shaman smile. Then the smile gradually faded, and he said: “Do you know what the Chief, several elders in the tribe, and I are discussing about?”

Shao Xuan shook his head. He knew that recently the Chief, the two team leaders, as well as several old warriors often came here together to talk with the Shaman. He guessed they discussed something important, so each time, Shao Xuan did not stay in the Shaman’s house for a long time. The Shaman would tell him what he needed to know sooner or later, so Shao Xuan was not curious about it. But now, it seemed the Shaman did not intend to conceal it any longer from from him.

The Shaman took out a large animal skin reel and unfolded it on the stone table, and said, “Do you know what is in this reel?”

Leaning forward, Shao Xuan glanced at the drawing on the reel.

Although some details of the drawing were omitted, something could still be seen. He said, “This is the tribe, and these are the hunting routes.”

The animal skin reel on the stone table was a simple map, on which only the location of the tribe and several hunting routes were painted.

The Shaman raised his finger to point at the red route, and said, “This is what we are discussing.”

Staring at the route, Shao Xuan thought about it. He raised his eyebrows, looked at the Shaman, and said, “Are you planning to start a new hunting route?!”

The Shaman did not expect Shao Xuan to understand his plan so quickly. After all, the majority in the tribe never thought about how to start a new route. Even if they saw the map, they might not consider starting a new route.

But the Shaman was distracted for just a moment, he smiled and said, “Exactly.”

The number of people was growing in the tribe, but each time, only a limited number of them could go hunting. Although those warriors who had to handle the incidents of their domestic life or got injured were excluded from the list of the hunting groups, it was inevitable that some healthy people were also left behind.

It was too wasteful.

But it was not necessary to increase the number of people in the hunting group. The increase might have an adverse effect. In terms of hunting, the ancestors had recorded the drawbacks of too many people in the group.

The Shaman had been considering the design of a new route for a few years. Caesar’s change gave him the resolve to do so.

If some cubs in the tribe grew up and were branded the profound craft successfully, they would become more helpful, whose power could not be underestimated.

It was very necessary to start a new route.

Therefore, the Shaman asked the head, the two team leaders, as well as several respected old warriors in the tribe to have a discussion with him.

If the Shaman did not mention the new route, the others would not adhere to it. Since the Shaman proposed it, the old warriors all felt very excited, because this would be a milestone for them.

They respected and admired the ancestors. But they were also obedient to the Shaman. Those summoned generally supported his idea.

A new route could not be designed overnight, and they must first finish the preparations. Most importantly, they must choose those who would be responsible to start the new route.

After discussion, they finally decided to start the program in three years. If everything went well, they might start it in a year. If something unpredictable happened in this process, it would be delayed. If it wasn’t implemented within three years, the Shaman would cancel it.

As for the number of people who would be responsible for this program, they initially determined thirty was enough. The quality of the members was more important than the quantity. The quality here referred to the comprehensive strength.

After the initial decision, the two team leaders and old warriors went back home and told this program to their offspring secretly. They hoped that their offspring would have better performance during the next two years, so that they would have more chance to be selected to start the new route.

They were not afraid of starting a new route. Almost everyone was very excited on hearing the news, especially those young and middle-aged warriors. They were now in good physical condition, so each time they went hunting, they had eye-catching performance. It was natural that they would do their best to become members of those who would start a new route.

They thought starting a new hunting route just like their ancestors was a great honor, which would go down in the tribe’s history. How couldn’t they be excited?

That was why recently, some people trained crazily in the training ground.

When the Shaman finished talking about his plan, he looked at Shao Xuan, who sat opposite him.

Shao Xuan’s reaction was different from the others. As the Shaman knew, those who heard this news were all very excited, and several of them were even excited for several days, including the Chief. It was necessary for the Chief and the two team leaders to participate in this program.

However, why was Shao Xuan so calm? Was he pessimistic about this program?

The Shaman fixed his eyes on Shao Xuan, who was in deep thought. He was curious about what Shao Xuan was thinking about.

Shao Xuan kept silent for a while. Then he looked up to the Shaman, instead of asking about the program, he said, “Have you considered contacting the other tribes?”

Shao Xuan mentioned the “other tribes” without uncertainty. The Shaman knew that Shao Xuan was sure that the other tribes existed!

The Shaman had fixed his mind on the program, but at the moment, he looked very serious with sharp eyes, different from the person who used to be calm. Now the Shaman looked like a sword targeted at Shao Xuan.

At that moment, Shao Xuan almost directly jumped away. But he still stayed seated in the original place, with the same expression on his face, and looked at the Shaman.

The atmosphere remained tense for a long time, and then the Shaman gradually became gentle and looked like usual, but it was rare that he looked so serious.

The Shaman no longer talked about the new route, taking a deep breath, he stared at Shao Xuan’s eyes, and said, “How do you know?”

Were there other people outside the tribe? People in the tribe had also discussed about this question privately in their spare time. They had heard rumors about the real existence of other people outside the tribe. Many in the tribe believed that only one tribe existed in the world, while some people believed that there were the other tribes, but the world was too large for them to travel around.

No more than five people in the tribe knew the right answer, and among them, the Shaman was undoubtedly clearest about it. After all, he could read and understand the Shaman Volumes that were passed down, and knew more than the others. However, he remembered he never showed any of the volumes about the other tribes to Shao Xuan!

“I have come from the cave near the the mountain foot. In that cave, there is a stone room whose walls had some drawings.” Said Shao Xuan.

The Shaman felt his heart beating fast suddenly. He was not clear about whether there were drawings inside the cave. Someone once had been to the cave, but found nothing apart from some old and broken stone tools.

“The drawing is covered.” Said Shao Xuan, and talked about how he found the drawing, “I re-coated it with a layer of stone powder when I left the hole. Until now, no one else has seen it besides me.”

The Shaman felt reassured, but he was also curious about the drawing in the cave at the mountain foot, for he did not remember the relevant records.

“What are the drawings?” The Shaman asked.

“There are hunting animals, farmland… and fine pottery…”

“And what else?” The Shaman continued asking.

Shao Xuan paused for a moment and said: “One day, we will return. The glory still exists. Long live the Flaming Horns tribe.”

From the first word of this sentence that Shao Xuan said, the Shaman’s hands began to tremble, which showed that he could not control his emotions.

“…Zan.” The Shaman said with a hoarse voice. In the ancient volumes, the third name in the ancestors’ list was “Zan”. The sentence Shao Xuan mentioned was also recorded.

He no longer felt excited about starting a new route, and said with bitterness on his face, “If we could go out…why would we start a new route!”

Shao Xuan looked at the the Shaman, whose eyes had turned red, he almost shed tears. He could not calm down in a short time.

After thinking about it, Shao Xuan did not tell him the records in his notebook.

When Shao Xuan walked out of the stone house, the Shaman was still in a low mood. Originally, Shao Xuan did not intend to tell him about the drawing in the cave. He did not expect a program for a new route, so he told him about the drawing after considering it.

It seemed that the Shaman also wanted to go out, many of our ancestors probably had also tried, but they failed.

Well, there was still a long way to go.

While walking, Shao Xuan suddenly heard a scream from above, and he looked up. Shao Xuan was so anxious that he might have thrown a spear at what made the noise.

At this moment, Chacha was holding a cub which was trained by someone in the tribe, which was crying scaredly.