Chapter 291 – Sand Slaves? (2/2)

“Chi, with that kind of thing, our pace will slow down. Why not eat it now?” said a man from the Tian Shan tribe.

The response he got was a long puff from the camel’s shaking lips.

Huang Ye and others were a little familiar with the camel and weren’t against it, but they warned Shao Xuan to take caution and catch up with the traveling team.

The next day, the group left the Rain tribe and headed for the desert.

As Shao Xuan expected, the further they went, the more serious the desertification became. At first, there were some trees and grass but gradually, only the sand remained in their sights.

With the scorching sun in the sky, the sand on the ground was also extremely hot.

The group of people hurried on their journey since Huang Ye said they had to arrive at a resting place before it became dark, where they would be safer.

Up till now, there was no one left behind, after all, these people of the traveling team were selected based on a standard threshold criteria. As for those who failed to meet the requirements, they would bring back their legs. Even if some of these people really couldn’t keep up, the elders would let themselves go back and the team wouldn’t delay the journey because of a few people.

Shao Xuan looked at the camel named “Mud”, which was following on the heels of him, carrying a few hide bags with food and stoneware, as well as a few pieces of hide. It was still tagging along after the team.

Shao Xuan and the other two were quite relieved, although they could afford to carry those bags, which meant nothing to them after all. But they could keep their strength because they lightened their loads. What’s more, for Lei and Tuo, who came to such a dry land for the first time, it couldn’t be better than to reduce their load.

For others, however, who came here for the first time, they could only feel sad over their misfortune as they didn’t have the camel to help them. They had given Shao Xuan a dig before, but now, they could only glance at Shao Xuan with envy every few steps forward.

To withstand the strong sunlight, the camel’s brow ridge was very high; and to resist the sandstorms, its eyelashes were long. When it bent back its neck and looked down on the people, it seemed to give an impression of nobility and indifferent arrogance.

Above, five eagles glided around the Traveling team, and sometimes when they saw a stir somewhere in the desert, they would scramble for the prey.

Towards evening, the team finally arrived at the resting place which Huang Ye mentioned.

It looked like an abandoned village: the walls made of dinas, the dry wooden stakes, and some of the semi-buried broken pottery pieces and stone vessels.

Shao Xuan and others were not the only ones who arrived there. Before their arrival, another team was already there. They looked like slaves, but they differed a lot from the slave team they had met on the way there.

They were not tied up.

“It’s Sand Slaves.” said someone.

All tribes called the slaves born in the desert as Sand Slaves – Their ancestors were slaves and many slave generations had been before them.

These people were different from those new slaves. They didn’t have to be bound and they wouldn’t run away either.

Taking a look, Shao Xuan found that these slaves were similar to tribesmen in appearance, but they were thin and their skin was darker, which was one of the physical features shared by most desert residents.

Perhaps because of strong sunshine, excessive exposure, coupled with the harsh desert climate, frequently occurring sandstorms, and the habit of sitting around the fire to keep warm when it was cold, their skin lost elasticity and wrinkled, becoming stiff and rough.

Their teeth were yellow, their feet were bare, without any protective footwear, and their soles were larger than others.