Chapter 189 – The Wan Shi tribe (2/2)

Shao Xuan went over and jumped on the cart, which was taller than his height.

The wheels of this giant cattle cart were huge stone wheels, whose shafts were round and relatively thick. Probably for buffering, circles of straw vines were also tied around the stone wheels.

In order to load more meat birds, they didn’t add a roof to the carts, they were only open wooden carts.

The good thing was that the thick wood boards were strong enough, or the carts would break down from just a pull.

After counting the heads, the leader of the transport team shouted out, “Let’s go.”

The rumbling sounds of the stone wheels grinding the ground and the creaking sounds of the wooden boards, together with the cries of the meat birds, rang up when the team started off.

To Shao Xuan, this was a fresh experience.

Sitting on the wooden cart with the his legs hanging off the edges, Shao Xuan listened to the others talking about rumours of some tribes in the central area, for example which tribe went to war again, who of which tribe got beaten, which tribe finding some treasures again, and whose leader or shaman was getting changed, and the like.

The sunshine of the afternoon was still strong. Maybe because it was almost the end of the year, so the temperature was not that high.

Listening to the chatter of the people of the Lu tribe all the way, Shao Xuan asked some questions once in a while, acquainting himself with the surrounding situations and improving the map as well.

When nearing the old haunt, Shao Xuan didn’t hear anything about the Flaming Horns tribe. No one mentioned the name of the Flaming Horns tribe, only the Wan Shi tribe, which was said to have great strength but bad tempers could be considered a clue.

Beside the old haunt of the Flaming Horns tribe, this new strong Wan Shi tribe rose up, taking up the new territory. From the meaning of the words said by the people of the Lu tribe, in the eyes of the old strong tribes with a long history, like the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe, the Wan Shi tribe was probably the second Flaming Horns tribe, while the flourishing Flaming Horns tribe in the central area of the ancient time had already been forgotten.

While chatting, Shao Xuan heard a long and high-pitched sound of an elephant horn from the front.

Looking over there. Black figures were appearing at the horizon. The vision was blurry because of the movements over there.

“The Wan Shi tribe.”

“They are people of the Wan Shi tribe.”

The people in the team didn’t have the mood to chat leisurely anymore as they did just now, putting on tense faces, while others had taken out weapons noiselessly.

The Lu tribe built good relationship with many tribes. In the central area, lots of tribes would not attack this “nice tribe” as it didn’t have any threat; even in case of fighting for territories, they would not put their hands to the Lu tribe. Nevertheless, the Wan Shi tribe was an exception.

Yan Jiu said that people of the Wan Shi tribe had bad tempers, so there were frequent conflicts between these two tribes.

“Look at their formation. They’ve fought against other tribes again.” One man on the cart said.

“Probably so. See how many things are on the back of their mammoths.” Another man said in disgust, “If they have the power, why won’t they go hunting the ferocious beasts in the woods instead of always robbing other tribes?”

The Wan Shi tribe was relatively close to the mountain woods, with the many ferocious beasts, but they seldom hunted the beasts in the woods. Every time they almost ate up the food in the tribe, they would rob the goods and materials from other tribes. Their targets were those tribes which were smaller than their own tribe, but they would not bother the large strong tribes.

“I heard that long time ago, in the woods with the ferocious beasts, there was one large tribe. But it has died out. It’d be nice to hear that the Wan Shi tribe would die out someday.” One man lowered his voice and said.

“Stop talking. Protect the goods.” Yan Jiu said to those men on the cart in a whisper.

“Got it.” The others on the cart replied.

“Shao Xuan, be careful. Though the Wan Shi tribe would not necessarily start fights against us, we’d better be on guard against them.” Yan Jiu looked towards Shao Xuan.

“Ok. I’ll be careful.”

Shao Xuan looked at the figures coming closer.

Many people came and went through this place for a long time, so it created a dirt road with little grass. The giant mammoths treaded on the ground, stirring up the dirt. A team of several hundred people and dozens of mammoths, which were larger than the giant cattle, all had bloodthirsty looks on their faces.

In view of the massive people in front, and to avoid conflicts, the team leader of the Lu tribe took the initiative and told the others to keep to the side and leave the main road open.

Those coming from the front, however, didn’t have any intention to compromise; the speed of the mammoths was even faster than before. If the Lu tribe didn’t step aside, they would probably have run into each other directly.

On every mammoth sat several people. Apart from some goods and materials robbed from other tribes, there were also a few tied-up young women on the back of the mammoths. From their looks and clothes, these women were not from the Wan Shi tribe, but were robbed as one of the trophies. In fact, the Wan Shi tribe was not alone in this case. Wars between the tribes were all like this: some captures would be killed, and some would be sold to the potential slaveholders, while some young women would be taken back as trophies.

The leading mammoth had long ivories. Some decorative ornaments colored with blood were put on its body, which included bone, stone and wooden ornaments. The man sitting on the head of the mammoth wore a headwear, like a grimace carved in ivory. His stiff and short hairs stood on end like steel needles, while the long hairs were simply tied up by bone ornaments. This man was robust; his uncovered strong muscles seemed to contain explosive power, and his eyes were full of obvious ferocity and haughtiness.

This was the team leader of the Wan Shi tribe.

He glanced at the transport team of the Lu tribe, his eyes filled with greed, as if seeing meat at the sight of the things on the carts of the Lu tribe. But thinking of the warning he got not long ago, he suppressed the impulsion of taking out his blade to rob.

Not only this team leader, but those people of the Wan Shi tribe walking on the ground also coveted the goods on the carts of the Lu tribe. They looked at their team leader time, and just waited for his order to take actions.

People of the Lu tribe were all tense. They didn’t expect to encounter this team of the Wan Shi tribe today, but they would not cower or even send out their goods.

The team leader of the Wan Shi tribe ignored the looks from his subordinates, just taking a rough glance at the team members of the Lu tribe. When seeing Shao Xuan, he looked away immediately and didn’t linger his vision at all. But he paused for a while every time he looked at the meat birds on the carts. He blackened and scowled, whipping at the mammoth and shouting “hurry up”.

The mammoth gave out a loud cry with pain, speeding up the pace.

The raising dirt was blown with the wind towards the transport team of the Lu tribe, which made people of the Lu tribe choke with anger many times, and suppressed their intention to fight. They were outnumbered by the enemies who were not easy to handle, so they had to endure when they should. The disgust with the Wan Shi tribe was getting deeper.

The long whips of the Wan Shi trube were almost swung towards the giant cattle of the Lu tribe. If that warrior of the Lu tribe didn’t defend with his knife, the whip would have fallen on the cattle.

When passing by, many people of the Wan Shi tribe also bared their teeth towards the transport team and waved their swords and spears in their hand, as if saying that we are going to rob all the things of your tribe sooner or later.

Only after all people of the Wan Shi tribe passed by and went away, and the raising dirt dispersed, did the men of the Lu tribe relax and the team started off again.

Looking at the receding backs of those people, Shao Xuan thought, “Is this the second “Flaming Horns tribe” in the central area?”