Chapter 242 – Only once
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
Thanks to the food brought by Shao Xuan from the Lu tribe, the tribe was in a much better condition.
The tribe had been travelling if they were not sleeping or taking a short break.
The tribes and the wanderers who saw them were very curious about the Flaming Horns tribe.
They had seen a tribe migration on such a large scale, but most of them had never seen such a powerful tribe. The Flaming Horns tribe became famous gradually thanks to the traveling teams.
In the center was the carriage where the Shaman stayed.
The Shaman was sitting next to the fire seed in basin and counted the days silently.
The fire seed was much bigger than ever before and was blazing. But if you looked closely, you could see that there seemed to be a faint barrier around the small fire basin.
The barrier was created by the Shaman. According to the animal skin volume the ancestors had left, if the Shaman carried the fire seed past other tribes, without barrier, it would fight against the other fire seeds. The loser would be temporarily suppressed. No one was willing to see the suppression of their fire seed, for it would affect the tribe’s morale. Currently, the Flaming Horns tribe did not want to antagonize any other tribe.
This is why that besides the wanderers of the Flaming Horns tribe, few could feel the fire seed here. And those who guessed the fire seed was inside and wanted to steal it were all defeated by the warriors in the most direct and most violent way.
There were more than two hundred wanderers they had picked up while traveling over the water and on the land, all the way from the Drumming tribe. Some wanderers of other tribes also followed them. Shao Xuan counted the number and found it was almost two hundred now.
Getting closer and closer to the destination, the people became restless.
The ones being restless were not the Flaming Horns tribesmen, but rather the wanderers who had joined.
Now, these wanderers knew the destination of the Flaming Horns tribe. Hearing that it was the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest, some people became afraid.
Especially in recent days, those warriors of the Flaming Horns tribe who protected the wanderers had always mentioned the ferocious beasts were sturdy and fierce, and some of them had been killed by the beasts and some had almost been killed. Those injured and disabled warriors had also talked about the dangerous situation they had faced with while meeting the ferocious beasts.
The Flaming Horns tribe warriors could continuously talk a lot about the ferocious beasts, because they had dealt with the ferocious beasts since childhood.
Originally, the topic of ferocious beast scared these wanderers, for they felt they were listening to horror stories. But many people talked about this topic every day, so it was impossible to avoid hearing about the stories. Gradually, they thought about leaving there more and more frequently, day by day.
This night, the team stayed at the foot of a mountain.
He Er was asleep, but then was woken up by the whisper of the man next to him.
“What’s up? Are we being attacked?” He Er awoke at once. They were in the wild, and recently they had heard many stories about ferocious beasts. After being awoken, he first thought the ferocious beast attacked them.
He Er was about to say something, but his mouth was covered.
The man who woke him up had a good relationship with him when they had been in the Longboat tribe. They were familiar with Yan Zhi and the others.
“Look over there!” The man who woke up He Er said in a low voice.
The burning fire around them was about to die down. The flame was very small, so only people near the fire could see it clearly. Those a little further away from it could just see a faint shadow.
He Ee and others were slightly far away from the fire, but they could see the figure on the other side of the fire.
Several figures got up from the ground. With animal skin bags and few packages, they tiptoed away from the crowd.
A hunting warrior around there noticed these people, and asked, “What’s up?”
The people shivered and stepped back after they were called, but still pretended to be calm and replied, “We drank too much water and want to relieve ourselves.”
The warrior yawned, did not care about it and said, “Come back soon, and do not go too far!”
“Yes! We will come back soon and we will not go too far!” The several wanderers promised hurriedly.
After those few people left, He Er was going to talk to the several friends who were woken up next to him. But he saw another few people get up and leave because of “diarrhea”, which was just an excuse. The warrior just muttered “Troublemakers” and did not say more.
“What do we do? He Er, shall we leave?” The man next to him asked.
Those decided to leave because they had heard much about the ferocious beasts, and knew that the destination of the Flaming Horns tribe was the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest.
Compared with the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest, they preferred going to other tribes.
Some had to find another place, because they had been oppressed in their original living place. They had always wanted to find a new place. This time they followed the Flaming Horns tribe because they had thought they would have a better life. Unexpectedly, they were about to face more severe problems. The good news was that on the way they had seen quite a few good places. The living conditions around several tribes were in line with their standards as they had planned.
The wanderers did not understand why the Flaming Horns tribe went to the dangerous Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest. It was a tribe with so much potential, that it would certainly be able to get a good safe place, much better than some other small tribes in the central region. Although it was a small tribe, within one or two decades, the number of its members would double. Why did they want to go to such a dangerous place?
Even if they had a few ferocious beasts, so what? In the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest there were millions of ferocious beasts, even the big tribes in the central region were reluctant to go in the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest!
They just wanted to have a better life, instead of ending their lives together with those of the Flaming Horns tribe!
Two days ago some had left, but not so many. But tonight, maybe they were aware that they would soon arrive at the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest. This may be their last chance to leave. If tomorrow the people of the Flaming Horns tribe people noticed so many people had left, would they be angry?
“He Er, what do you think? Should we leave? Maybe tonight is the last chance. If we don’t leave this time, after entering the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest, we cannot run away.” One person asked He Er .
The people of the Flaming Horns tribe had said that along the way they had hunted a few beasts. Even some large beasts in the mountains on the way were scared by the ferocious beasts of the Flaming Horns tribe and ran away. The remaining beasts became food for the warriors of the Flaming Horns tribe. Those beasts had been chased away, and at least for a short while they would not come back. As long as they return following the route of the Flaming Horns tribe, it is much less likely for them to meet those dangerous beasts.
Go now and return following the route. They will be safe!
Over the past two days, some of them had also specially collected the excrement of those few ferocious beasts so that they could be safer after using these ferocious beasts’ excrement to scare the beasts in the mountains.
He Er did not answer, and then the man next to him poked him and asked, “Go ?”
He Er clenched his teeth, laid down again and whispered,“I won’t go! I do not want to go back! I believe in Yan Zhi and the others.”
Several people around were silent, and then laid down one by one. Well, let’s bet on it!
They made up their mind and layed down again, but they did not fall asleep. Listening to the sound made by those who were leaving, each of them opened their eyes wide and were in daze.
In the dark, where the fire light was not shining, the night guard was leaning agaisnt a tree. He was looking disdainingly at those who were running away, but did not stop them.
The next day, they continued the journey. Nearly a third of the wanderers had left.
Obviously, everyone could notice this at a glance, but it seemed that the people of the Flaming Horns tribe people did not know it and even did not mention it. Strangely, no one told the wanderers about the stories of the ferocious beasts again.
Some were clever and realized that the Flaming Horns tribe gave them a test.
When Yan Zhi and the others saw He Er and his friends, their tight faces relaxed. Fortunately they were still there.
The Shaman had planned to test the wanderers in advance, and no one dared to tell them the truth. Even when Yan Zhi saw the restless wanderers, they could do nothing but feel worried.
Shao Xuan got on the Shaman’s carriage holding a fully-written animal skin roll.
“More than seventy have left. Six of them are wanderers of the Flaming Horns tribe.” Shao Xuan said as he handed the roll to the Shaman.
They didn’t care that wanderers from other tribes left, but they felt disappointed because some of the wanderers of the Flaming Horns tribe, who were treated well by the warriors, left. Although the warriors hadn’t fully trusted them, they helped them a lot. Some of the warriors gave the food they had saved to them over the past two days.
But some of these people still left. Fortunately, it was a small number.
The Shaman took over the animal skin roll and did not read it. Instead, he closed his eyes and showed no disappointment or grief on his face. But the people familiar with the Shaman knew that when the Shaman had no facial expression, it was the most horrifying. Even the two team leaders here became anxious.
Shao Xuan did not interrupt the Shaman’s silence, quietly waiting for him to make a decision.
A moment later, The Shaman opened his eyes and said, “Let them go. But they can never come back again.” Although he spoke gently, he still showed his anger and aggression.
Shao Xuan had expected the Shaman to answer like this. He nodded and said, “I got it.”
The names of those who left or stayed were recorded.
There was only one chance. The Shaman of the Flaming Horns tribe only placed trust in them once.
Those who joined them later felt the chief was the decision-maker in the Flaming Horns tribe, which was common in many tribes. They thought the Shaman couldn’t make the final decision. But those who grew up in the Flaming Horns tribe understood thesupreme authority of the Shaman in the tribe.
Since the Shaman made such a decision, Ao, the chief, or any others could not object.
Going down from the carriage, Shao Xuan looked at the sky.
“The weather is not good.”
After leaving from the Shaman, Shao Xuan went to another carriage. The disabled and the women who had not awakened stayed in this carriage. Even though these people could not move much, they were busy sewing the animal skin boots with the tools brought here and some animal skins placed here by the warriors after their hunts.
Putting down the skins and a few rolls of linen threads, Shao Xuan said to them, “Please make some long boots, the children will also need them.”
Although they did not understand the reason, they did not ask anything. They just did as Shao Xuan instructed.
