Chapter 18 – Thumbs up (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

Outside the cave, it was still snowing heavily. A thick layer of ice covered the riverside, and now few people from the tribe would go outside. One could only see a boundless piece of white if he looked afar in the distance.

Inside the cave, there was a bonfire burning, and the atmosphere unlike old times, heated up.

After they installed the ice blocks on those vents (to prevent wind from entering the cave through the holes), the cave was much brighter than before, and they did not have to suffer from the cold wind as well. Those feelings were new to all the kids, so two days in a row, they were in a mood of extreme excitement. All of them sat around the fire and discussed about the letters and numbers written on the stonewall.

Yes, Shao Xuan had copied all the words and numbers in the animal skin roll that were left behind by the old hunter in charge of teaching, and wrote them on the stonewall. With the light in the day, they would see those words and numbers clearly without any fire. If they could memorize and master all that was written on the wall, the old hunter would not have to start from the very beginning the next time he comes.

Unlike the others, Shao Xuan had been staying at that stone room and carefully wiping out those stone powders all day long, except when it was time for eating.

Shao Xuan had moved all sundries in that stone room to other places, for the fresco on the wall was pretty large in size.

Shao Xuan stood up and took a deep breath after the whole fresco had finally been cleared. He moved his arms and legs to ease the sore and ache before he took a few steps back to look at the picture on the stonewall with the light that poured in.

Since it was not so bright inside, Shao Xuan still needed to rely on the torch to observe the details of the fresco, for some parts of it were not distinct enough.

Aside from the two pictures, that Shao Xuan saw in the first place, there were some more astonishing pictures hidden behind the layer of stone powder.

The pictures covered agriculture and stockbreeding as well. Look at those men working on a field, and those who were whipping up the sheep…

There was someone in a fancy leather robe holding an exquisite wine cup with complex fancy patterns, there were some women picking up fruits as they held baskets in their arms.

There was even someone riding a horse, in one picture there was a man riding on horseback with a kid.

Next to it, there was a picture describing a hunting mission or a war, which was relatively larger than others, and took nearly half of the wall. In its front there was a tall horse, on its back sat a sturdy warrior who was obviously stronger than the others, with feather decorations on his head. His head raised up high to show his imposing appearance. Perhaps he was the leader of the group.

No, they were not wolves.

Compared with Caesar, the animals on the picture had long and upturned tails. Some of them even had curvy tails. They were probably hounds.

Some of the hounds revealed their tongues with their mouths open, as if breathing heavily. Another two inclined their head to those men on horseback, as if listening to someone’s words.

In the background of the painting, there were some buildings, which were far bigger and taller than those that Shao Xuan had seen in the tribe. He heard that people up on the mountain had better living conditions. Shao Xuan imagined in his mind based on the information he had heard, and he figured that even the houses up in the mountain could not be compared to those mansions in the fresco.

He moved his sight back to the first picture that he saw. Inside it there was a woman with fine decorations on her head, they were not as rough and simple as those decorations that women in the tribe were wearing. Instead, they were more delicate and exquisite. As for the pot that the woman was holding…

If these pots with complex decorative patterns were not stone pots…What were they? Shao Xuan though about one possibility – pottery.

How long had these pictures existed?

If they were the same age as the stone room, then they should be at least hundreds or even thousands years old.

Before thousand years, there was agriculture like stockbreeding and farming. Even pottery existed, and hunting tools were in an unimaginable variety. They even had hounds, real hounds! Unlike Caesar, who was merely a wolf, brought back and kept by a human accidentally!

Shao Xuan suppressed the shock in his mind, and kept looking.

The fresco on the left had obvious differences from the fresco on the right part of the stone wall. In the middle that distinguished the left from the right, there were only abstract lines and shapes. So abstract that Shao Xuan could not understand. It seemed messy at first look, and Shao Xuan could not speculate its meaning by other pictures as well. However, what was obvious was that after these lines and shapes, the style of the fresco had changed very much. It fell down sharp with a feeling of loss from the earlier strong confidence. Many pictures were portraying something bleak and desolate.

Women kneeled down on the ground, weeping. Kids were standing up straight, with blank and lost looks, as if they had no idea of anything. The background was not filled with those mansions, but the cave that Shao Xuan was living in.

There was no more agriculture as farming and stockbreeding. No more pictures about three or five women carrying baskets to gather food. No more riding and shooting, no more hounds, and no more pottery, whose workmanship was much more delicate than stoneware.

However, both the left and the right part of the fresco on the stonewall, there was a logo carved above the picture – the tribal totem.

The tribal totem of the scorching horn tribe looked like the two horns of dicerorhinus, which was a rhinoceros with two horns. But the horns were longer, with flames around them, just like the name of the tribe tried to describe.

So, was it showing the life of the scorching horn tribe?

Shao Xuan recalled that archaeologist from his last life, who had said that basically, frescos and paintings on the wall described the daily lives of men of that age, or their fantasies and hopes, which was also a kind of spiritual sustenance of mankind at that time.

The pictures carved on the stonewalls of that room were absolutely no imaginary scenes. The emotions filled up in the images was so intense. Only true experiences and real things could arouse deeper, richer, and more intense emotions of people.

What had happened in the tribe?