Chapter 198 – The drifting flames of the Boat River
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
The old haunt of the Flaming Horns tribe was a little far from the Longboat tribe,
so it took them more than two days to reach there and they had to rest a few times on their way.
Yang Sui was more familiar with this place. Although he couldn’t give much detailed information, he could tell the locations of tribes and markets.
In the old haunt, Shao Xuan had been injured and his clothes had been tainted with blood because of his fight with the warriors of the Wan Shi tribe. There were many scratches and tears so his clothes were ragged. He looked quite poor and haggerd.
In the central region, members of many tribes, especially those big tribes, paid much attention to dressing well and judged others from their clothes. If you dressed well, you would be thought to be a member of a big tribe. On the contrary, if you looked dirty and poor, you would be considered as a member of a small tribe.
When Shao Xuan arrived at a market, he exchanged for an animal skin coat. The coat was not so comfortable to wear because it was made of a regular beast skin, rather than a ferocious beast. But he ignored this and just hoped to look a little decent. After all, he now travelled in the central region and didn’t want to lose face. Otherwise, he would be lectured by the shaman.
In addition to some winter clothes, Shao Xuan also prepared some food for his journey and inquired about the pattern of the surrounding area to improve his map.
Yang Sui also put on some winter clothes made of thick fur. To exchange for the winter clothes, he didn’t use water moon stones or jade, but some kind of shell.
The shells were polished, chiseled and strung on a rope, which was the “currency” that many people used to exchange for things. Shao Xuan had heard of this kind of “currency” when he had stayed with the Pu tribe. He had even seen this kind of “currency” in some markets, back then he had had many questions about it. Yang Sui often used shells to exchange for other things, so he gave Shao Xuan a simple explanation.
“This kind of shell is very useful. Many people in the central region like to polish this kind of beautiful shell to make ornaments. In addition, this kind of shell can be ground into powder to make medicine and pigments. It is said that the people of the Lu tribe often mix the shell powder with food to feed the animals. and then many tribes followed suit. Oh, pottery craftsmen also use the shell powder… Anyways, many people often use this kind of shell, so it can be used to trade in the central region.”
Yang Sui handed Shao Xuan a shell, “In our tribe it is said that some people traveling across the distant sea often bring many shells like this. We can get many shells only by giving them few things. When I left the tribe, I took many shells with me.”
Speaking of this, Yang Sui was very proud. Although the tribe often suffered from drought and didn’t have good harvest, the shells they got from the other tribes helped them go through it. Those who often travelled could bring back many things thanks to the shells.
To a certain extent, the Rain tribe could be considered a rich tribe. When the harvest was not good, the people of this tribe could still survive relying on the shells.
Not every kind of shell was popular. Shao Xuan also asked about the shell coin, which was recorded in the animal skin volumes in details thousands of years ago. This unpopular way of “payment”, he still had to teach them about this kind of currency in case that they knew nothing about it when they came here.
Since it was a kind of “coin”, Shao Xuan couldn’t just accept those shells from Yang Sui. He used the water moon stone in exchange for a string of shells with Yang Sui. He put it into the animal bag, and planned to bring it back to the tribe.
Shao Xuan pinched those shells and noticed they were quite hard. The colors of the shells were not exactly the same, and the white shells looked as white and bright as shiny pearls. The other colors looked pretty good. No wonder those living in the central region who pursued “beauty” liked jewelry made of the polished shells.
“It becomes colder and colder.” Yang Sui wrapped his coat around his shoulders, he had just bought this from the market. He shivered in the wind, looked at the sky, and said, “Shao Xuan, I think in three days it will probably snow here. It will also snow in the place where the Longboat tribe is.”
“So we have to hurry up.” Shao Xuan said. Once it began to snow, it would be much more difficult to hurry along the road.
But luckily, the winter here was not as cold as in the Flaming Horns tribe. Shao Xuan knew that it didn’t keep snowing all the time here in winter, and there were not always heavy snows. Even some local rivers did not freeze.
He was accustomed to the winter when everything between the heaven and the earth was covered by the white snow, and ice cold winds were always blowing. He didn’t feel cold here in winter.
“Shao Xuan, don’t you feel cold?” Yang Sui looked at Shao Xuan who wore a thin animal skin coat, and asked.
“I am fine.”
Shaking his head and looking at the landing Chacha, Yang Sui put on the animal skin coat and cloak he bought. He was wrapped up like a cocoon. His head was also covered, only his nostrils and eyes were revealed.
While flying in the air he felt even colder. With the temperature beginning to drop significantly, Yang Sui felt uncomfortable in the blowing wind.
Chacha looked at him wrapped with layers of animal skins with disdain. Its claws reached out and its wings flapped. It flew up again.
Following the direction that Yang Sui pointed at, two men and an eagle hurried ahead. It was more convenient for them to travel in the air because they wouldn’t need to take detours. As Yang Sui said, the Longboat tribe was not far from them. They might reach there in three or even two days.
But it was too early for Shao Xuan to feel reassured.
One day later, Shao Xuan looked at a fork in the river and asked Yang Sui, “Which is the right way?”
Yang Sui looked hesitant, kept silence for a while and then replied, “No idea.”
Even though Shao Xuan had a map, he roughly drew it only according to the description of others. There was no way that a map of this place could be accurate in such an age. Even if others showed him a local map, it might be inaccurate. That was because it was roughly drawn with a few simple lines on it so that he couldn’t find the exact location.
Shao Xuan totally believed the experience and the sense of direction of Yang Sui.
“I remember walking along the river from there.” Yang Sui also felt helpless. He had followed the traveling team past the Longboat tribe from the other side to the central region, which was not far from this river. He remembered he had been walking along the river, but he did not know there was such a fork. When he returned from the central region to the borders, he forgot the way.
Go left or right?
In general, if there was a wide stream and a narrow stream, the Longboat tribe would naturally walk along the wide stream. But now…
Looking at the two streams with the almost same width, even Shao Xuan couldn’t tell the right direction.
There was no one around, and no traces of mankind were found. They couldn’t see any tribes nearby.
This was an isolated place.
They could stay here to see if someone went past here and then ask him. Otherwise, Chacha could fly ahead and find the right way or return to look for someone to ask the right way.
The former solution was uncertain. As Yang Sui said, now winter was coming, less and less people would come here. No one knew how long they had to wait before they could see another person. But the latter solution was time-consuming.
“What… what to do?” Yang Sui clutched his belly, felt hungry and asked.
Shao Xuan thought about it for a while, made a decision, and said, “It is late. Let’s first rest tonight and work it out tomorrow.”
“Agreed. Maybe some teams of the Longboat tribe haven’t gone back yet. When they go back, they must go past here. If we wait, we may be able to see the teams of the Longboat tribe. It’s said that they all return to the tribe before or after it snows.”
“Well, let’s wait for them nearby.” Shao Xuan glanced around, pointing to a mountain next to them, and said,“Go there.”
Shao Xuan hunted a beast, set it on the fire, and roasted it to eat. Then he arrived at a place on the mountain, from there he could clearly see the other side of the river so he would not miss anything.
“If a convoy of the Longboat tribe goes past here at night, you can see it clearly from a long distance. The drifting flames of the Boat River are not nonsense.” Yang Sui said.
“The drifting flames of the Boat River?”
“You will understand when you see it.” Yang Sui yawned, and found a leeward place to take a nap.
At midnight.
Shao Xuan opened his eyes to look at the river fork, but he found nothing. But when he looked above, he saw the drifting flames.
No, they were not just some flames, but the burning torches on he boats.
When the boats on the other side got closer, the “flames” became a burning line.
It was the convoy of the Longboat tribe, and on each boat there were burning torches. There were so many boats, it looked like a moving burning line.
Is this the so-called drifting flames of the Boat River?
This river was called “Boat River” because often the convoys of the Longboat tribe travelled over it. The current scene was probably described as the drifting flames.
Chacha saw the “fire”, and flapped his wings, which woke Yang Sui up.
Yawning and looking down, Yang Sui felt excited and thought, “We really met them! This is the drifting flames of the Boat River!!”
Shao Xuan had seen too many things over the past years, so this scene wasn’t surprising. But under these circumstance, this was undoubtedly shocking.
The boats of the Longboat tribe were really big, even bigger than Shao Xuan expected. They moved in a stable way, and there were masts and sails on the boats. But now, most of the boats were propelled by men, Shao Xuan could clearly hear the sound of water.
“They also travel along at night?” Shao Xuan asked.
Without radar or navigation, the boats of the Longboat tribe could still move stably at night.
“The convoys of the Longboat tribe often go past here, and they are very familiar with the route. Many people whole sailed at night met with accidents. Some hit the bank, and others had other accidents. But it was rarely heard of the convoys of the Longboat tribe having accidents. The drifitng flames of the Boat River was a unique scene of the Longboat tribe.” Yang Sui looked at the long line of fire and said with admiration.
Above the Boat River, Shao Xuan saw these “drifting flames” gradually coming to the fork and going over the right stream.
“That’s it!”
