Chapter 181 – Central Tribes (2/2)

The paintings carved on the rock were not exactly elaborate. What was drawn was not like a human, but it had a face belonging to human beings. [If you’re confused, read the next paragraph clearly.]

In front of Shao Xuan, on a huge and almost rectangular rock, such painting of a round human face with a wide mouth was painted; strangely, the body part under this human face looked similar to that of common people but it had four more hands.

The painting style was rough and exaggerated, looking like a man with weird physical proportions and six hands standing there, whose mouth and six hands were opened wide and two legs were also opened at a certain angle, just like a spider watching people passing by. Behind him, on the other part of the rock were some interlaced lines, which looked like they were carved orderly and intentionally instead of being carved causally.

“What’s this?” Yu asked the experienced travelers beside him, wanting to know more exact answers from them.

Yet Shao Xuan knew the answer the moment he saw the painting.

The “Eight Limbs” tribe was once drawn and recorded on the animal skin volumes, as well as on the walls in the cave.

In the cave near the mountain foot district, when Shao Xuan saw the pattern on the stone wall for the first time, he thought it was a spider. After seeing more records on the animal skin volumes, he knew that it was not a spider, but a weird person with eight limbs, like a spider.

There were some huge black rocks nearby, on which various faces and weird men with eight limbs were also carved.

It deserved to be a large tribe in the central area, who started to draw out the boundary and set up the boundary monument at such a great distance, as if they did it for fear that no one knew here was the Eight Limbs tribe. As far as the eyes could see, the row of hill rock paintings were all full of the characteristics of the Eight Limbs tribe, some large and others small. People passing through this place, even with a bad memory, would be impressed with this long row of hill rock paintings, which were hard to forget.

Somebody at the side said: “This is not yet the territory of the Eight Limbs tribe. The place we are walking on belongs to somewhere between the Eight Limbs tribe and the Mang tribe.”

“Jades in the backwoods of Mang and silk garments in Eight Limbs. What this means are the two tribes?!” Yu had heard of these two strong tribes in the central area from some travelers long before, as well as the products of these two tribes. But he never saw the jades of the Mang tribe. Nor did he see the legendary garments made of silk.

Jades in the backwoods of Mang and silk garments in Eight Limbs were the well-known products of these two tribes. No matter if it’s the jades of the backwoods of the Mang tribe or the silk garments produced by the Eight Limbs tribe, both were extremely expensive. Usually, small tribes coming from regions far away, they would not exchange for these two products, as there was no need to do so. Linen had already kept many people away, let alone more expensive silk garments. Even if the silk garments were brought back, they would just be put aside.

Simply speaking, their consumption level was not that high and they didn’t have the taste to appreciate the silk garment. Moreover, it was useless for people who focused more on practical uses.

“Apart from the rock paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe, there are marks of the Mang tribe somewhere nearby. There, look ahead. Those are the totem marks of the Mang tribe.” The traveler at the side showed Shao Xuan and Yu.

Over there was a bamboo grove which was not too high, but quite sturdy and thick. They looked quite strong, whose leaves could even wrap Shao Xuan’s hands.

There were paintings like the totem tattoos of the Mang tribe carved on almost all the sturdy bamboo. Also, some things made of bamboo similar to wind chimes were hanging on the bamboo. Strings of bamboo chimes tapped against each other with the wind, making sounds of different pitches, which were extremely pleasant to the ear.

If it were under normal circumstances, many people would have gone there to cut the bamboo or would have taken away those bamboo chimes which could play music. But the truth was that extremely few would touch those things, just as most people dared not touch the hill rock paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe. These were the symbols of the two tribes. Anyone who touched them would be considered as defying against the two tribes.

Members of the travel team would not do anything risky like that. That’s why they warned those who traveled for the first time not to offend the strong without knowing it before they arrived.

There were often travelers coming and going through this place, which already made a clear path. On the left of this path were a long row of hill rock paintings. On the paintings of the Eight Limbs tribe, men with eight limbs in an awful look were watching the passersby, imposing great mental pressure on every traveler and making them dread the Eight Limbs tribe even more. It was the so-called strong tribe, even their paintings were so mighty.

The other side of the path was of totally different style, with fresh bamboo chimes. It didn’t make anyone feel relaxed at all; instead, every tapping sound of the bamboo would make them tense up, as if in the bamboo grove, there were eyes watching them, which made the team speed up unconsciously, not to mention touching those bamboo or wind chimes.

This was the demonstration of the strong in their own way, making passersby remember their strength, not just knowing the jades or silk garments.

Not until that passage was over, when there were no hill rock paintings by the side and the tapping sounds of bamboo faded away, did everyone feel relieved with the nervous mood dying down gradually.

“Move further ahead and we will arrive at a valley. That’s a good place for trading. Also, it’s very close to the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe, so no one dares to make troubles.” One traveler in front said.

Soon, Shao Xuan saw the place for trading. It was just like a small-scale market over there, with houses made of wood and bamboo located around. There were travelers from different places or people from nearby tribes making deals in this market. As this market was adjacent to the two “large mountains”, sometimes they would have to give some gifts to people of the two tribes.

Entering this market, Shao Xuan felt that it got busy right away. Some people put the items they wanted to trade on the ground, with a layer of straw sheet or animal skin at the bottom, while others built a simple shelf to display the items for trade.