Chapter 237 - Conques

Edited by Ilesyt

Shao Xuan told the people of the Drumming tribe that he had just met a strange man, and after a careful check on the location, they quickly counted their own water moonstones to see if their stones were stolen. The previous years often saw theft.

They thought that the strange man was a “Thief”, but after they counted their stones, they found none were stolen. They felt relieved at once.

Every year some water moonstones were stolen, but they could not catch the thieves. That was just their speculation. Except the “Thieves”, they didn’t know who could do it.

The “Thieves” was a very special tribe and its members were relatively more independent. They did not even stay together for most of the year. This tribe was very mysterious, so the Drumming tribe knew little about it. That was why Shao Xuan could not get more information from them.

“Nothing stolen. This time, the man cannot be a member of ‘Thieves’, right?” Fu Shi’s wife, Ping, said.

“Who knows, no one knows who he is because we could not find him.” Fu Shi sighed.

After everyone exchanged their ideas, they went back home since none of the water moonstones was stolen.

Shao Xuan did not stay here. After the people of the Drumming tribe dispersed, he said goodbye and left. Just now he had noticed that the shaman of the Drumming tribe didn’t look good, but Shao Xuan didn’t ask him since he did not say anything. He just guessed if the man was a member of “Thieves”, he certainly stole something. This time, the others’ water moonstones were not stolen, so maybe the shaman’s was stolen.

Shao Xuan did not know that he was right.

After all the people of the Drumming tribe left, the shaman of the Drumming tribe called the chief and they talked alone.

“This year, the king water moonstone was stolen.” The shaman of the Drumming tribe spoke with a calm look while looking at the empty box.

Every year after the water moonstones were collected, they picked out the largest water moonstones for the Shaman to evaluate, and then he chose the largest, and brightest stone with the best quality, which was also called the “king water moonstone”. This piece of stone was not be used to trade but was kept by the shaman. At the ritual ceremony, it was used as one of the offerings.

But now, this piece of stone was stolen.

The shaman’s room was well-guarded. Even those of the Martyr tribe and the Jian tribe could not go in silently and steal it.

“Sure enough it a was a member of ‘Thieves’, but this time he was a high rank ‘Thief’.” Fan Mu said helplessly.

If Shao Xuan hadn’t discovered something abnormal and told them today, perhaps, they wouldn’t have found out that the king water moonstone was stolen until the ceremony.

“Choose another one secretly.” The shaman said.

“We have no choice.”

At the same time, a figure evaded the search of the people of the Drumming tribe and then left the area. After leaving the site of the Drumming tribe, he ran for a while and then sat down on a rock at the foot of the mountain.

“What happened? Were you discovered?” A voice with astonishment called out behind him. It was a woman’s voice, but you could not tell her age judging from her voice.

The man sitting on the stone did not look back and continually patted his legs. “Don’t talk about it. I met a strange guy of the Flaming Horns tribe. Unexpectedly he could recognize me at the first sight, and we almost fought against each other with our blades. But fortunately I ran fast enough. If we really fought, I may have been caught by the people of the Flaming Horns tribe that came there. I would not have been able to escape.”

“The Flaming Horns tribe? I have never heard of it before, they suddenly appeared. They are not weak. Although they are inferior to those big tribes in the central region, they should not be underestimated. In addition, they have several ferocious beasts.” The woman’s voice showed her suspicion, and after a pause, she asked again, “Did you get it?”

The man sitting on the stone took a leather bag out of the animal skin coat and from the bag took a shiny stone, like a very big bulb. The surrounding area was brightly lit instantly.

This was the king water moonstone of that tribe!

“I had planned to go board the Flaming Horns tribe’s ship. Maybe there were many good things there. What a pity.” The man sitting on the rock said with pity, patting his leg.

“The Flaming Horns tribe is rather interesting. We shall keep track of it, OK?” The woman said with interest.

“Yes, but we must stay a little far from them. The old methods don’t work. I feel that the methods we used before to blend into a tribe might not work with this tribe.”

“As far as I know, there have already been several idiots that have already started taking actions with those regular methods.” The woman said with disdain.

“Oh, let it be. They will soon suffer from it and be replaced by others.” The man sitting on the stone said.

The Flaming Horns tribe did not know that they had been eyed. Even if they knew it, they would not be afraid.

The next two days, Shao Xuan led ten members of the Flaming Horns tribe together with the trading team of the Drumming tribe to the Pu tribe. They traded for a lot of things. Even though they themselves did not use some things, the others in their tribe may need them.

Finally, Ao allowed for Ke Ke to follow the team to go to the Pu tribe. To him, the rare things in the eyes of other people were not attractive to him, except for those fat frogs which jumped everywhere. If he hadn’t promised Ao to listen to Shao Xuan and not to eat the frogs in the Pu tribe, he would have secretly taken away a few fat frogs from the Pu tribe and eaten them.

Nowadays, people of several tribes around there knew that in order to cope with the crisis, the Drumming tribe had gotten help from the Flaming Horns tribe, an unknown tribe. However, this time, almost all of the people sent by the Martyr tribe and the Jian tribe were killed, and even the bird did not come back.

Therefore, everyone was curious when they saw the Flaming Horns tribe coming with the Drumming tribe.

But the people of the Flaming Horns tribe people did not feel that they were being watched by the crowd. They just did what needed to be done and asked questions about what they wanted to know. They gradually got acquainted with such transactions. The chief had said that in the future they must master relevant skills like those transactions.

Besides frog poison and other things that Shao Xuan exchanged with Yu, he also exchanged with the Luo tribe that arrived at the Pu tribe on the same day for some fishing nets. When he sailed, he could catch some fish with those nets.

That place was different from the hunting mountains, where you gathered what you wanted. In a place where many human tribes lived, you had to exchange for many resources and store them. Whenever you needed them, you had access to them. Saving you time.

Returning from the Pu tribe, the people of the Flaming Horns tribe were ready to set out again.

Upon leaving, many people of the Drumming tribe came to see them off, led by Fan Mu and the shaman.

In addition to the people, there were groups of crocodile which probably came here because of the cheers. After all, those ferocious beasts that annoyed them were finally leaving.

“There are some smaller tribes ahead that may shoot arrows to stop us. So be careful!” Shao Xuan said.

The warriors of the Flaming Horns tribe standing outside the cabin held wooden and stone shields to block the arrows, but they did not see any arrows when they passed by.

Shao Xuan thought about the reason, and suddenly he wanted to laugh. He had suddenly remember a joke a friend had said to him in his former life: You dared to attack me when I was on a raft. But now I am on a ship, you have lost your courage.

When Shao Xuan had been on a raft, many arrows had been shot at him continually to stop him. But now he was on a ship, no arrows were seen. Hiding behind the bush on the banks, the people were cautious and looked at them. They did not shoot the arrows for they were not stupid. They knew they could not provoke them.

In the early morning, the air there was a little damp. There were high and low mountains and many trees on both banks of the river, but they were inferior to those in their hunting areas.

In the past, when they had still been on the other side of the river, they had been able to climb mountains the height of thousands of meter in the hunting areas. Crossing the high snowy mountains was a conquest, but the mountains here were not as high as those in the hunting areas. The beasts here were not as strong. However, there were people of other tribes and other challenges. Here, the challenges brought by the people were far greater than those mountains and ferocious beasts.

Ao achieved his goal. Thanks to the incident in the Drumming tribe, the people of the Flaming Horns tribe had a preliminary understanding of the life here. Their attitudes had changed. They had to adapt to new life and face new challenges.

Shao Xuan stood on the head of the ship and told Ao and the two team leaders about what he had learned from the Pu tribe. In the past two years, some tribes disappeared and some tribes that did not exist had emerged.

“Well, Yan Shuo asked me whether he can bring several of his wanderer friends along. Shao Xuan, what do you think?” Ao asked.

“Take them, including Yan Zhi’s friends in the Longboat tribe. They can help us in some ways, though they are not that strong.”

Ao nodded, “Ok, you and Yan Shuo bring them here.”

“Right, chief, since we are here, the wanderers of the Flaming Horns tribe may feel it.” Shao Xuan said.

Mentioning the wanderers of their tribe like Yan Zhi, Ao said in a high-spirited voice, “Indeed.”