Chapter 2 – Such A Plain Life (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

Shao Xuan’s destination was not at the top. He walked towards the back of the mountain along a road scattered with gravel, right after, he climbed a short distance.

Reaching the other side of the mountain, he raised his eyes and looked up. Endless mountains stretching into the distance covered with forests entered into his view, among which a few hills, relatively blank and bare, with few plants. These hills were training grounds for hunting warriors in their tribe as well as the main source of stone they used. Due to the stones, the place was not suitable for plants but was indeed a fine place for training.

Shao Xuan was standing on a gravel yard. The gravel was made out of smashed stones instead of naturally formed ones. All useful stones that could be produced into stoneware had already been picked up by others in the tribe and the rest were just worthless slag, and so no one would usually visit.

It was quiet, but still, clangs could be heard from hills nearby. Shao Xuan himself had never seen a totemic warrior’s training, it was said that the destructive force created by totemic warriors was so great that the vulnerable people, like Shao Xuan at this age were forbidden to come close. Many have tried to watch the training in silence but were eventually hurt by mistake.

Shao Xuan looked away and loosened the straw rope in his hand, “Now go and eat your ‘noodles’.”

Caesar was already tempted and instantly began to run around the gravel yard. Sniffing around as he ran, he promptly used his forelimbs to dig into the gravel upon smelling something. Before long, he pulled a large worm the length of a foot and the thickness of an adult’s thumb out from the digging spot; Caesar swallowed it immediately and went on looking for another one.

Those worms were called “stone worms” by the people of the tribe. They looked like earthworms, yet much larger in size. The one Caesar just ate was a relatively small one, for Shao Xuan had seen a stone worm as thick as a human’s arm. It is said that there were larger ones. However, the larger a stone worm grows, the deeper it buries itself underground, so there were only small ones left amongst the surface.

Stone worms tasted rather bad and many people would suffer from severe diarrhea after eating them, so no one from the tribe would keep stone worms on their menu. This was actually good news to Caesar since he had a strong appetite for stone worms.

Being a wolf, it’s rather sad that he had to stoop to eating worms.

Shao Xuan found a suitable place to air-dry the bundle of grass. He tied the grass down so that it would be more comfortable to sleep on when they got back to the cave at night.

The meat jerky was dry and fishy, and only the size of half a hand. Shao Xuan in his last life would never have taken a second look at it, but now after starvation had settled in, rubber-tasting food became a delicacy.

You see, a plain life like that…such is our fate.

Shao Xuan felt vigorous again after eating and stood up to do a few stretches. After that, he practiced the fitness boxing he remembered from his last life. Every day, Shao Xuan would exercise, for the body he awoke in was quite weak.

Meanwhile, Caesar was still digging for worms with no lower vigilance. He would constantly look up and pay attention to the surroundings. This was the reason why Shao Xuan dared to take out food in the open, for if he was caught, the food would be taken to satisfy the hunger of others. Shao Xuan was alone, helpless, sallow and emaciated. He would neither have the spirit nor the courage to walk out of the cave if it weren’t for the experiences he had in his last life and the ruthless mind he developed in this one.

After practicing fitness boxing for a while, Shao Xuan stopped to catch his breath, only to notice Caesar suddenly turn his head with half a stone worm still in his mouth. The sudden turn of his head had torn the worm into two parts and the other half quickly burrowed back into the ground. A stone worm could still heal its wound and grow into a complete one after some period of time. The other half in Caesar’s mouth was twisting its body, lashing Caesar’s mouth.

Caesar did not swallow the worm or care about the worm’s thrashing. Instead, he stared in one direction growling, indicating that someone was there.

Shao Xuan figured that it should be someone he knew, for Caesar did not bare his teeth. Shao Xuan also stared in the same direction, and very soon, he heard a soft sound, like wind blowing leaves on the ground. Gradually, a figure appeared in Shao Xuan’s sight.

It was a very tall, big man, with fine but simple clothes of hide and fur. On his clothes was a layer of stone chips and on his face, a few scars, giving him a ferocious look. There were also scars visible on the parts of his body not shielded by his clothes. A ring of carefully selected stone tools made of fine stone was hanging on his waist.

The stones used to make these tools were different from the gravel under Shao Xuan’s feet, they were harder. These could be made into much more advanced tools for hunting and were of much higher quality than the rough stone knife in Shao Xuan’s hand. If traded for meat, even the smallest tool on that ring would fetch more meat than that which could feed Shao Xuan for days.

Perhaps it was a habit of his from hunting in the woods, the approaching

person walked in the same silent way, even when having no intention to hide. Caesar would not have been able to spot him at once and Shao Xuan would never have heard the slightest sound if he truly wanted to conceal himself.

Before Caesar ceased his growling, he immediately tightened his body

revealing four long fangs as the approaching man gazed at him for a

moment. Not even the remainder of the stone worm’s split body falling to the ground from his mouth distracted his attention.