Chapter 110 – The ritual dance (2/2)

“Not bad. You are learning fast. Just now you made zero mistakes.” Said Tuo.

Shao Xuan moved his arms, and nodded, “I will do more practice when I go back.”

“Yes, indeed. Practice makes perfect. Don’t make any mistake during the ritual ceremony.” Tuo stopped smiling and said seriously, “If you are confused about anything or have questions, you know where to find me.” Since the Shaman assigned him to teach Shao Xuan, he had the responsibility to teach him well.

There should be no mistakes during the ritual ceremony!

————

After the last snowflake had fallen down from the sky, and the clouds began to fade, finally, the moons revealed their faces in the sky. After a whole silent winter, the tribe resumed its vitality.

The Shaman had appointed someone to announce the time for this year’s ritual ceremony of the Snow Festival to the public.

On the day of the ritual ceremony, Shao Xuan took a good bath. That was something that everyone in the tribe was supposed to do before ritual ceremonies. As for the little whelps in orphan cave down the mountain… they had been properly brushed and washed already yesterday!

Caesar and Chacha stayed in the house today. Chacha was behaving quite well today, and he refused to go anywhere outside, as if he had already sensed something. Chacha went inside the roof since early in the morning. It seemed that beasts and animals always had an instinct that helped them to avoid danger.

“Now, hurry. You should do the ritual dance in this outfit!” Old Ke took out the outfit made from the Thorn Black Wind’s skin that he had already cleaned a few times. He wanted Shao Xuan to be used to this outfit first… He was even more nervous than Shao Xuan.

Shao Xuan’s face twitched once. He took the clothes from Old Ke, and put on the outfit with thorns on the back.

Before, when he heard talks about dancing, mostly it would be referring to those slim and gentle women. Shaking shoulders and butts, with light paces and moves. The dancers were good, and the audience was happy.

However now, Shao Xuan felt that he was baring fangs and brandishing claws in that outfit. He felt so barbaric, like some alien creature invading the Earth. The good thing was that all people in the tribe were dressed like that. They turned into animals today, and it was a grand feast.

Old Ke had painted colorful patterns on his face with plant pigment, but Shao Xuan hadn’t. He needed to go up to the mountaintop in advance, for the Shaman would draw patterns on the fifty people’s faces himself. The pigment would also be different from the normal kind.

“I’ll be heading up first.” Shao Xuan walked out of the door with that Thorn Black Wind outfit.

“Sure, go quickly. I’ll go up with Ge and the others later.” Old Ke waved his hands, indicating that Shao Xuan should leave now, so as not to make the Shaman wait. Shao Xuan was the only one from down the mountain in the fifty. He couldn’t be late, he shouldn’t, or the others would assume people down the mountain had no sense of punctuality.

In front of the Shaman’s stone room, the others had already gathered. Many of them had learned from the team leaders that Shao Xuan was part of it this year. So, when they saw Shao Xuan in person, they were more surprised, but didn’t say anything. Today was a very serious and grand day for them. No one had extra energy to pay attention to other things.

It was already dark when the Shaman finally finished painting colorful patterns on fifty faces.

“Let’s go.” Some middle-aged man in the team said.

With the awakening of his totem power, Shao Xuan grew a lot in the past one year. However, when he found himself in in the midst of a bunch of grown adult warriors, he was still very obviously the shortest one in the crowd. Even in animal skin clothes, people knew that the little one was him.

“How is that possible? What’s he doing there?” Someone whispered as people were walking up to the mountaintop.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s Ah-Xuan! I recognize that outfit made from the skin of a Thorn Black Wind.”

Someone wearing an outfit made from Thorn Black Wind at that age, it could only be Shao Xuan.

“Is he really walking in the same crowd? How could he be one of the fifty? How old is he?”

“Can’t you just shut up?! That’s the Shaman’s decision!”

Some were astonished, and some were jealous. People shared different emotions in the crowd.

Lang Ga and the others had already learned the truth from Old Ke. But even now, they still found it unbelievable. Being one of the fifty had always been their dream since childhood. However, now their dreams came true for someone who was way younger than them.

In the circle of timber piles around the fire pit, stone basins contained with fresh fruits and ferocious beasts’ meat were already placed.

Shao Xuan followed the team and stopped by a timber pile. He had reached his spot.

The ritual ceremony was about to start, and there were already a lot of people standing on the mountaintop, while some others were climbing up the mountain. Many people in the crowd were talking about Shao Xuan. Naturally, the youngest person in the fifty, as well as the only one who had become one of the fifty after being awakened for only one year, gained the most attention from people, let alone that such a thing hadn’t happened in the last century!

There were more than eighty kids sent to the mountaintop for awakening, two more than last year. Tuo and Jie Ba from the cave, and the twins of Mai and Qiao were all in the crowd.

It grew completely dark.

Just like in Shao Xuan’s memory, one step after another, the ritual dance went smoothly. When the Shaman finally began to sing the chorus, Shao Xuan clearly felt the reaction of the totem in his mind.

At the same time, the little flame in the center of the fire pit began to grow quickly. One moment earlier, it didn’t seem to be able to light up a timber pile, but now, as if a full bucket of petroleum had been poured in, it grew big in the blink of an eye.

Being totem warriors, naturally they had a stronger perception of the totem. The totem in their minds began to expand its size together with the rising flame in the fire pit.