After the Taihe tribe’s expedition departed, the shaman and the chief began to discuss their future plans. Recently they noticed other tribal people entering the forest. If they were all tribes that were migrating, then the Taihe tribe wouldn’t need to be so stressed. The problem was, all these people came from different tribes, not a single tribe, and they seemed to be looking for something.
“The expedition team will probably hear quite some news this time,” the Taihe shaman said.
This was not a good sign. Ever since the disaster, the slave masters had been acting weirdly. It was like they were preparing for a huge movement, but it didn’t matter to the Taihe tribe if it didn’t affect them. However, the changes happening in the forest were obviously related to the slave masters! Tribes like them who were located deep in the forest were always behind on news. They couldn’t tell what was happening, so they could only guess by observing the changes in the forest.
“I wonder what’s going to change next.” The Taihe tribe’s chief was also worried. They weren’t at their best at the moment, and ever since they grew accustomed to working with the Flaming Horns, they felt extremely stressed now that they had left. They could feel many greedy eyes watching them from within the forest. Fortunately they were still strong enough, or else their medicinal herbs would’ve been robbed; not completely, but there was still a possibility that a third of their harvest could be robbed.
This was also why their expedition teams departed immediately after their harvest this year. They would be too worried if all of those herbs were kept here. It was better to trade it for other goods first.
“I wish the Flaming Horns were still here,” the Taihe chief sighed. He had lost count of how many times he wished they were here. His partnership with Zheng Luo lasted for decades, and if they count from their ancestors’ time, it had been a few hundred years since both of their tribes became allies.
The Taihe shaman also sighed helplessly. No matter how stressed they were, they had to fight and live on. They couldn’t look on and hope for others to help them. The Taihe tribe were not weak people.
The Taihe tribe’s shaman and chief had been discussing their plans for a few days now. The more news they received from the people who entered the forest, the more worried they got. It hadn’t even been ten days, the number of people who entered the forest had already doubled. Most of these people were strangers. What shocked the Taihe’s chief the most was that even the Black Bear Trading Party was here. Although they know their leader, the Taihe tribe was not familiar with this group. They had only come into contact with them a few times.
However, the Taihe tribe’s connection with the Black Bear Party could not at all be compared to the Flaming Horn’s connection with them. Caravans like these always put their own benefit first. The Taihe tribe might not necessarily be able to provide them with what the Flaming Horns can.
As the leader of this tribe, the Taihe chief had been rolling in his bed while pondering this problem. He had a feeling something big was about to happen. Sometimes he couldn’t even figure out what was about to happen after thinking about it overnight.
The Taihe chief was growing impatient, but suddenly the soldiers on patrol ran over hurriedly and looked for him, “Chief, someone’s here!”
When he heard this, the Taihe chief’s first reaction was, ‘Finally!”
At first he thought that these were newcomers to the forest, so he asked, “Which tribe are they from?”
The patrolling soldier looked at him with a weird expression.
He said hesitantly, “He said he’s from the Chang Le’s”
“Who?!” The Taihe chief thought he heard it wrong. He thought of many people, but he never thought about this name.
“Cha-chang Le,” the warrior repeated.
“Bring him in. No, never mind, I’ll go out.” The Taihe chief did not want a Chang Le in the central region of his tribe. The Chang Le’s were notorious for what they did. If they didn’t come looking for them, no one in the Taihe tribe would want to approach any Chang Le’s.
The person who came was a young man. He was the only one there. They didn’t see any other Chang Le’s, but the Taihe chief did not let his guard down. He knew that the Chang Le’s rarely travelled alone. Seeing how this person was alone, he could only wonder how many others were hiding in the dark around them?
After the person arrived at the Taihe tribe, he had been constantly observing their tribe. Even though the Taihe tribe was known for planting medicinal herbs, nothing here really caught his interest. His eyes scanned the entire place, looking for something that might interest him. As he grew impatient, he noticed someone walking towards him.
“You’re the chief of the Taihe tribe?” the young man looked at the person who was leading the team.
“Indeed I am.” The Taihe chief frowned. He was wondering why a Chang Le would appear here and wanted to inquire, but the young man suddenly threw a bamboo tube at him.
The Chang Le’s were a notorious group that many guarded against. Anyone would’ve dodged if they saw a Chang Le throwing something at them.
The Taihe chief was no different. However, he hesitated for an instant and didn’t dodge it. Instead, he stood where he was and grabbed the bamboo tube.
Seeing how cautious they were, the young man pouted and looked like he wasn’t too satisfied with their reaction. After a while he said, “This letter is from your old friend. Reply as soon as you finish reading. I don’t want to wait too long.”
An old friend?
The Taihe chief hesitated. There were only a few who could be considered their old friends, but his eyes jerked when he saw the Flaming totem sign on the seal. He told the patrolling soldier beside him, “Hurry, take this gentleman to rest.”
The patrolling soldier was shocked by sudden command from his chief, but the Taihe chief already left with the bamboo tube in his hand. He looked a little impatient.
After knowing that the Flaming Horns sent them a letter, the Taihe shaman also went to look for the chief.
“Could it be that they decided to return? Also, why would the Flaming Horns let the Chang Le’s deliver their letter?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see what they wrote first.”
The bamboo tube was sealed with tree sap. If anyone opened it on the way, the tree sap would’ve definitely snapped apart. Seeing how it was still perfectly sealed, the Chang Le’s had never opened it to look.
He hurriedly opened the bamboo tube and carefully took out the beast hide scroll from the inside. After reading what was written on it, the Taihe chief was left deep in thought.
They had never expected the Flaming Horns to develop so well after they left, but that was not the most important message. The most important thing written on the scroll was to ask the Taihe tribe if they had plans to migrate over there.
If the whole letter was summarised with one sentence, it would be: We already reserved land for you and made suggestions for your future plans. Just come over and we’ll make sure you’ll do fine here!
For now, this was very appealing to the Taihe tribe.
Migration?
It wasn’t impossible, but how? How risky would the entire trip be? How much trouble would they face?
These still had to be considered.
It was no longer peaceful here in the forest. Soon, more people would enter the forest.
The Taihe chief and shaman thought about it for three days. The expedition team had arrived before their expected arrival time during these three days, and they also brought back some news.
Ths slave masters were indeed planning something big, but they still had no clue what it was, but everywhere from the king cities to the other cities, posters of wanted animals and plants were put up. If anyone found these, the six major aristocrat families would grant them huge rewards.
These plants and animals were rare and couldn’t be found in typical places. Some were even almost unheard of, but the bounty the slave masters put on them was so tempting that many people came to look for them in the forest. That was why so many people entered the forest recently. They were all looking for these.
“Oh, I also heard that the slave masters would also send people into this forest in the future. What should we do?” The hunt leader of the expedition team was worried. If that was really going to happen, they could no longer wish for peace here. If they met any of those people during a hunt, a fight couldn’t be avoided, so they had to be mentally prepared. They were not tempted or attracted by the bounties the slave masters were offering. All they wanted was a peaceful life and stable living conditions.
After hearing this news, the chief and shaman of the Taihe tribe looked at each other. They both wanted to migrate. The message on the beast hide scroll was too tempting, and their sincerity was clear and trustable. Compared to the troubles they were facing here and worries, they preferred to take a chance and migrate. Here, they couldn’t even hunt in peace and they had to deal with unnecessary fights that never happened before.
However, an entire tribe’s migration was no small matter. They still had to write in reply.
After a while, the Taihe chief wrote a letter informing the Flaming Horns that they were interested in their suggestion and also wrote about the situation here and the troubles they might have to deal with during their migration.
After the Chang Le man left with the letter, the Taihe chief gathered everyone in the tribe. “The Flaming Horns mentioned another language before. The people who know this language should teach those who don’t. Learn it well. We need to use it in the future!”
……
When the Taihe tribe’s letter reached the Flaming Horns, Wu He’s group was already finished with their drawing. The Flaming Horns even negotiated with them and came up with another plan. Shao Xuan wrote another letter in reply, and this time, he put a single Universal Eye within the bamboo tube.
“Here’s another letter.”
Another one?!
Are you kidding me?!
The leader of the Chang Le’s was unhappy. “Just forget about Wu He and those four. You can just kill them.”
Of course, these were all said out of anger. The leader of the Chang Le’s wouldn’t just leave these five people behind. He had already delivered the letter once, so the deal was already half-done. He wouldn’t want to give up in the middle. However, he no longer delivered it personally. Last time he also let his subordinates deliver it, so he decided to entrust the entire task of delivery to them.
The Chang Le’s leader still had other plans. He did not want to waste any of his time on this case.
Shao Xuan didn’t care whether the person who delivered the letter was their leader. His only concern was that the letter was delivered safely and the person who delivered it could keep this as a secret.
While the Taihe tribe wrote their letter in reply, quite a few events happened on this continent. The biggest change was the Hui tribe’s merging of their fire seed. Shao Xuan felt the change in their fire seed when it happened. Perhaps no one else sensed it, but Shao Xuan, Gui Ze, and the two ex-shamans all felt it.
This was only a start. Not long after the Hui tribe merged their fire seed, a few tribes in the central region also started to merge their seeds. They had been looking forward to the Hui tribe’s success, and this was also what reinforced their determination.
Even though the ancient fire seed had its benefits, it was too restricting, and as more people travelled to this continent from the other side, many of them became worried and even sent people to ask Shao Xuan about the detailed explanations of the merging process. Although they already asked about it before, they didn’t want any minor mistakes to happen. This matter was related to their fire seed, so they had to be cautious. They’d rather ask a few more times than have any mistakes happen during the merging process.
Shao Xuan believed that the smaller tribes would also make the same decision after they saw these tribes successfully merge their fire seeds, especially a few of the smaller tribes that relied on those larger tribes. They would definitely choose what was most beneficial to them. This continent would soon undergo a change on a scale never before seen.
If an ancient fire seed was destroyed, even if everyone in that tribe was still alive, they were no different from dead people. They all knew how wanderers lived. However, if it was a merged fire seed, even if an entire tribe was destroyed and only one of them survived, they still had a chance of returning to their previous glory. Even a small spark could keep the fire burning, so as long as a drop of their blood was still preserved, the tribe would never disappear.
