Chapter 54 – Stone worm below the mountain (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

Sponsored by Anon1 and Nathanael

In the wild, the vulnerable and weak ones were more susceptible to attacks, so Shao Xuan had been paying extra attention to the surroundings. He was merely a newly-awakened boy, and in the eyes of animals, especially ferocious beasts, he was one of the two weakest ones in the group.

When they arrived at the other side of the basin, it was almost dusk. Shao Xuan thought that there would be a cave to rest, after all, the rule in the hunting team was- No hunting at night. Staying out at night was far too dangerous, and resting without a cave also seemed to be unsafe in such an environment.

To Shao Xuan’s surprise, the cave of the second location was not on this side of the mountain.

The second hunting location was located at the other side of the mountain, but…

Shao Xuan looked up at the mountain, whose peak and border could not be seen at all. It would be extremely difficult for them to climb over that mountain, even with the strength of a totemic warrior, it might take them more than a whole day to get there. Let alone that it was already late, and there were some glinting eyes staring at them from the woods.

Instead of stopping there, Mai continued to lead the group up the mountain.

Near the mountainside there was indeed a cave, a big one, which was neither formed naturally, nor excavated by people from the tribe. In fact, it was drilled out by some kind of creature.

Specifically, it was a passage. Every time when hunting groups came here, they would have to go through the mountain, to get to the other side.

On the wall, near the entrance of the cave, there were a lot of names carved out. At the end of the name list, Shao Xuan found Mai’s name carved on the wall.

Every group leader would carve his name on the wall when he led his group through the passage. All the names above were carved by former leaders of hunting groups. When Mai becomes too old to serve as the hunting group’s leader, there would be a new leader selected, and the new leader would carve his name after Mai when he comes here one day. For them, it was a symbol of honor.

Before they enter the cave, warriors in the hunting group needed to hold a small ceremony, to show their appreciation towards their ancestors who had established this hunting route.

Mai put down the long spear beside his feet, and got down on one knee. With his palms facing each other, he raised his hands in front of his forehead, and bowed towards the wall full of names.

“To our ancestors!!”

“Thank the ancestors!”

Shao Xuan followed the example of the other warriors of their hunting group and gave the same salute to show appreciation.

Later on, there were more people in the hunting group, so different teams were established and each hunting group would follow one of the routes that was established by their ancestors.

The reason for following the routes was to avoid those unforeseen and unpredictable factors. What kinds of animals lived along the route? How many of them were ferocious beasts? How was the geography? All those questions could be answered from the experiences which were passed on by the previous generations. However, if you went on a new route, you might not be able to quickly react towards incidents, which would lead to a huge loss.

Of course, the hunting route was just a rough direction made by the ancestors, and people could feel free to make smaller decisions along the path. For example, the route for Mai’s group was to climb over the mountain where the first location was, and then go through the basin, and then get to the other side of this mountain.

What if some in the tribe had their own ideas of establishing a new route? Well, only if the Shaman and the Chief both agreed to it, else the others would just forget about it.

What… are you delusional? Trying to create a new hunting route by your own?