Chapter 174 – The slave owner (2/2)

Shao Xuan looked at the slave owner heading straight towards him. He was wearing clothes made of higher quality linen than the kind the Pu tribe could get their hands on. A finely polished stone battle axe hung on a leather cord on his waist. The stone axe wasn’t that big, with a flat body and a broad blade. The blade was dramatically curved and its edges slightly curved upwards. The engraved decorations on it were done with meticulous care. The axe clearly wasn’t for cutting down trees; this kind of primitive weapon could only be used as an accessory for the upper class.

Other than that, Shao Xuan also sensed the power of inheritance from Shi Shu. Slave owners were like a combination of a tribe’s chief and shaman; they have absolute authority over their people and some spiritual powers too. It’s just that their slaves aren’t as lucky as the warriors in tribes.

Shi Shu looked at Chacha and turned back to Shao Xuan to say, “Apologies, the slaves under me were disobedient.”

Clearly, this slave owner already knew the whole story. He didn’t attack Shao Xuan like everyone thought he would, but he wasn’t apologetic like he claimed to be either. On the contrary, he was rather engrossed in watching Chacha tear the snake apart.

Shi Shu watched for a bit longer and then finally took his people away. He acted like he was only there to take care of those two disobedient slaves of his. However, the way his gaze hovered over Chacha’s claws made Shao Xuan think otherwise.

Shi Shu probably noticed the tribe’s totem mark.

Could it be he knew about the Flaming Horns’ situation?

It wouldn’t be weird, as slave owners were known to travel to different parts of the continent before. Perhaps he really did know but he was keeping mum about it anyhow.

When Shi Shu left, the two slaves that followed him also dragged away the dead slaves. There were only two bloodstains left on the ground as evidence of what had happened.

After they left the wanderers’ area, one of the slaves asked about the now vacant positions.

“I killed them, so be it. I can just promote some new ones,” Shi Shu said nonchalantly.

The slave at his side respectfully bent his waist and made a sound of agreement. The slave owner’s response was just like he expected. Perhaps the owner didn’t even know the names of the two dead slaves.

Slaves were stratified into the ranks of “li”, “liao”, “pu”, “tai”, and so on. Slaves ranked below “tai” were the lowest of the low. The snake slave was only a little more powerful because he took care of the snakes for the owner. But in reality, he was still one level below “tai”, simply not worth it for Shi Shu to remember his name. He naturally wouldn’t care about the life or death of worthless slaves.

After Shi Shu left, Shao Xuan started chatting with Yan Shuo.

Shao Xuan was definitely going to take a trip soon to the central tribes to gather information. But with Yan Shuo’s current abilities, it was far too dangerous. It wasn’t like he could bring Yan Shuo’s wife and kids along either. Shao Xuan wasn’t familiar with the central tribes’ situation. He just knew that a lot of the people there were very strong. Before knowing more, it wasn’t convenient to bring them along.

Yan Shuo was also aware it wasn’t a good idea to follow to the central tribes and wanted to stay where he was. When Shao Xuan came back from the central tribes, then they could meet up and leave together.

Shao Xuan was planning on having Yan Shuo move to a different area. The slave owner clearly wasn’t the type to get along with others. But Yan Shuo turned down his idea.

“It’s okay, there’s no need. If that slave owner really wanted to kill us, he wouldn’t wait. He would have just killed us off right then and there like he did to Li. Since he didn’t take care of us earlier, he won’t make a move against us for now.” Yan Shuo said. He was somewhat familiar with how the slave owner acted.

“In fact, I’m pretty familiar with this area. I know what these people are like. But if I move someplace else, that won’t necessarily be true.” Yan Shuo added.

Shao Xuan gave it a thought. That’s true, he only knew the Drumming tribe and the Pu tribe. The Pu tribe didn’t allow outsiders to stay inside their tribe for long. As for the Drumming tribe, it was too far and out of the way. The road there would be too dangerous for Yan Shuo’s family to go by themselves.

After some consideration, Yan Shuo’s way of thinking was indeed more practical.

“Then you can just stay here for the time being, I’ll help you build a house.”

The new wooden house was built pretty quickly with Shao Xuan’s help. As for the person who came to find Yan Shuo last night, he was dizzy all night from his wounds. He got up really late and the first thing he heard about was Yan Shuo’s affairs. He hastily rushed over to find Yan Shuo.

He was once Yan Shuo’s comrade-in-arms, Yan Shuo also wanted to help him out. Since he hadn’t gone to find the slave owner yet, he might as well live together with Yan Shuo’s family.

The newly constructed house was considerably bigger than the previous one. Another person living in it was completely feasible.

Shao Xuan also thought it was a good idea since they could all look after each other.

“Wait for me to come back from the central tribes, I’ll bring you all back to our tribe.” Shao Xuan left some water moonstones with Yan Shuo. He also crafted some stone tools for them.

Yan Shuo’s strength had increased a bit compared to before. It was more than enough for his family to survive, and who knows? Maybe he would be able to hunt some prey too.

The day came for the travel team to set out. Shao Xuan said goodbye to Yan Shuo and his family for now. He left with the newly expanded travel team, continuing onwards to the central tribes.

According to Yan Shuo, he wasn’t clear on what had happened to the Flaming Horns tribe back then. But as far as he knew, there should be a lot more wanderers from their tribe like him.