Inside the mountains, at the end of the lush green jungle irrigated by the island’s abundant rain, a valley lay adjacent to a low waterfall.
At the entrance of this inconspicuous valley resided more than a dozen short yet strong indigenous warriors whose bodies were wrapped in tanned, clean leather armor and whose brows were painted red with reddish tannins obtained from trees. They were holding a wooden spear with a spearhead made of sharp black iron as they patrolled under the bright sunshine.
Their chief, on the other hand, was a warrior with a gloomy face who had a bright-colored bird feather on the top of his head. He was riding on a huge spider that had its back covered with a light purple fabric of sort. Holding onto the spear several times larger than his own body, he stood like a sculpture on the huge rock on the right side of the mouth of the valley, watching for movements inside the jungle not far away.
Going deep into the valley from the valley’s mouth, one could see a hive-like primitive tribe composed of rings of densely packed bark houses arranged from short to tall, from small to large, and from new to old.
The branches on the roofs of the bark houses at the bottommost and the outermost areas of the tribe even sprouted out new shoots because of the irrigation from the rain.
The giant treehouse beside a tall thick stone pillar carved with bests and spirits had turned into a decaying gray-black color. From this comparison, one could tell that this tribe was slowly expanding and growing stronger as the days passed.
At noon, thousands of the aborigines were busy producing in the tribal valleys. The craftsmen would either tan the leather or produce ironware. Meanwhile, the women and children would dexterously deal with the fat beasts that the hunting team had brought back from a fruitful journey and had thrown on the ground.
“The powerfulness of Tudenan today is something that has never even crossed my dream before last time!” Tugra, who was wearing thick tanned leather, overlooked the lively tribe from a high point in the valley and marveled with emotion. “This is the outstanding feat of the Great Raider! May our living faith become a god that can grow his root deeply on the island under our feet!”
“May Tudenan’s Raider become a god that can grow his root deeply on the island under our feet!” Upon hearing the headman’s words, the several dozen indigenous chiefs who had feathers on their heads around him praised in a hymn.
When Tugra saw the chiefs lowering their heads tamely, a satisfied smile appeared on his face along with his teeth. Unfortunately, right at this moment, a deep voice suddenly came from afar. “Headman Tugra, it’s true that our tribe is getting stronger but at the same time, the prey in the hunting grounds has become increasingly scarce! This will be a problem if it goes on like this.”
Then, a group of chief warriors riding on the back of the giant purple-haired spiders appeared in front of Tugra.
“Chief Tumu, the reason why the prey in the hunting ground is lessening might be due to the fact that the tribe has raised too many giant spiders. I’ve already said that everything should be carried out in moderation. Greed has always been the greatest sin!”
However, now that they had their partners, just a few warriors were enough to conquer a large area of the jungle; not only that, the death of hunters during their expeditions had also lessened. “Headman Tugra, are you saying that we shouldn’t have used such a strong aid now that we’ve obtained it?” Tumu climbed down from his partner’s back and caressed the mellow hair of the giant spider tenderly. Mumbling a little, he commanded the silent spider to run back to the cave on the wall of the valley.
“Then you shouldn’t complain about the prey in the hunting ground getting scarce, Chief Tumu!” Tugra replied naturally in a manner wherein he showed that he did not cherish the tribal warriors’ lives with a frown as he raised his head to look at the chief warriors who were still riding on the giant spiders overlooking at him with disdain. “The Great Raider is casting his spell in the treehouse. Aren’t you afraid of being scorched by the thunder in the sky by riding on your partners outside of the house like this?”
His sentence seemed to possess some mystical magic as it sent an alarming jolt to all of the indigenous warriors who were riding on the big spiders, causing them to tumble down from their partners’ back and crouch down wretchedly in front of the treehouse to pay their respects; they no longer had any ounce of the arrogance they had just now.
Even Tumu calmly kneeled down to kowtow before finally standing up to ask, “Headman Tugra, the Raider did not leave to conquer the Moha tribe today…”
All of a sudden, a stiff puppet-like indigenous midget walked out of the bark house and stopped the chief warrior’s words.
After that, Zhang Lisheng who had his lower body wrapped in a piece of animal skin and who had restored his normal body shape, walked out of the bark house with his long beard and long hair. “Tumu, the spiritual monster guarding the Moha tribe is not as weak as I thought. Not only that, their tribal power of over 20,000 people evenly matches the Tudenan forces. It’s too unwise to set them as a target right now. It’s best to think of ways to save your strength before we make any plans. Tugra, I remember you said that the water source the Pavaro tribe that I conquered had relied on is a huge underground river, right?”
“Yes, Raider!”
“How big is that river?”
“Legend has it that it’s boundless,” Tugra replied. “But Tudenan Valley is rich in water too. Even though all of Pavaro’s land has been put under Tudenan now, I’ve never seen that big river with my own eyes before.”
“You’ve never seen it with your own eyes you say?” Zhang Lisheng shifted his gaze at the aborigine’s chiefs surrounding him respectfully. “In that case, who among here came from Pavaro and have seen that underground river before?”
Nearly a quarter of the Tudenan population was converted Pavaro tribesmen so there would be quite a large number of Pavaro tribesmen among the chiefs as well.
However, before other people could react in time, an aborigine who looked young and had a bright feather tied to his head cleverly threw himself at Zhang Lisheng’s feet before preaching, “Great Raider, I, Apani, was once a two-feathered warrior in the Pavaro tribe! I grew up outside of the Golden River Cave and have seen the river many times.”
“Good! In that case, tell me what the underground river in Pavaro looks like, Apani! Most importantly, is there any fish living within?”
“The Golden River is so large that it stretches out as far as the eyes can see, Raider. As for fish, of course, there are fish in the river but those big fishes are all monsters! They have no eyes, and they’re powerful in the dark river…”
“The reason the fish have no eyes is that something degrades their vision after living in the underground river. Of course, they’ll be strong when they’re in the water.” Zhang Lisheng commanded Ghostface that was sitting on his shoulder to land on the ground and enlarge its body. “Bring me to the Pavaro’s underground Golden River. I want to see it with my own eyes.”
The wizard gu enlarged to the size of the treehouse, with the grimacing face on its back appearing on and off. Its horrifying aura made the giant spiders they were rearing in the caves let out a series of disorderly howls.
Apani climbed up from the mud in a slight recoiling manner. He muttered a few times, but he could not summon his own partner.
“Sit here with me, Apani. Tugra, Tumu, the two of you can also climb up to the back of Ghostface! We’ll immediately set off to Pavaro!” Zhang Lisheng could not stand the way the aborigines wasted their times, so he ordered loudly.
The aborigines he called out had no choice but to grasp the wizard gu’s bristles and climb up onto Ghostface’s back, before being taken away by the wizard gu ostentatiously from the valley.
When they entered the jungle, Ghostface spat out colorless silk threads from his black mouth and moved in haste as he swayed under the canopy, allowing the strong wind to blow on the wizard’s long hair. Not long after, the wizard gu brought him to an abandoned indigenous tribe.
“Apani, where’s the underground river of Pavaro?” Staring at the ruins his own hands had caused, Zhang Lisheng could not see the slightest presence of an underground river at all. He stood up and trod on the mud barefoot as he asked after shrinking the wizard gu.
“I-It’s…” Glancing around at his once familiar tribal territory for a while, Apani pointed towards several collapsed tree houses and shouted, “Over there, Raider! The Golden River Cave is under those tree houses.”
Zhang Lisheng rushed to the collapsed treehouses along the direction pointed by the aborigine’s finger. He turned into a giant by using the Money Toad’s transformation power and jolted the ruins away with just a few kicks. Unexpectedly, he saw a black hole with a diameter of over one meter appear in front of him.
“It actually hid a boundless river under such a small cave?” he blurted out in puzzlement.
“Great Raider, the Golden River Cave gradually becomes wider as we go in. When we reach the bottom-most portion, we’ll come across a riverbank that connects directly to a huge river!” Apani stretched his arms with all his might in panic as he gestured.
“It seems possible.” Zhang Lisheng nodded. “You’ll walk in front and take us down. If everything is true, then you can put two feathers onto your head again.”
“Yes, Raider!” The young aborigine kneeled on the ground delightedly and kissed the huge footprint left by Zhang Lisheng before quickly walking down the sloping hole in the ground.
The deeper they went into the darker hole, it indeed became much bigger. At first, Zhang Lisheng, who had returned to his normal shape, needed to squat a little to advance, but after taking a few steps, he could already stand up straight. After walking for a while longer, he could no longer touch the slippery rock walls on both sides.
Walking for quite some time but still had not come across any end yet, Tugra, who was following closely behind Zhang Lisheng, could no longer stand the darkness and finally used flint to light a torch filled with burn-resistant animal oil, reflecting the shadows of the cave explorers and added a slightly terrifying atmosphere.
Fortunately, after walking for over 10 minutes, the end of the cave finally appeared in front of everyone. Apani excitedly hastened his footsteps and said, “In front! Raider! The end of the cave is just right in front! The Golden River is right there!”
Zhang Lisheng followed behind the aborigine without saying a word and soon walked out of the cave, suddenly feeling his vision had become wide abruptly.
This was a dark underground world that had a black and smooth rock wall stretching several dozens of meters above his head. On both of his sides, he saw a stony ground covered in moss that stretched out to as far as the eyes could see.
In front of him was the infinite flow of a river that was slowly flowing boundlessly while glistening a gold color under the illumination of the fire.
