Chapter 423 (2/2)

When they heard him say that non-Gongjia people could not enter Gongjia Mountain, they sighed in pity. However, their eyes brightened when he took out the animal skin scrolls with stuff he had copied down.

Zheng Luo pulled out a piece of animal skin hurriedly and copied down the key points. He could not wait to bring it to the tribe’s blacksmith. Zheng Luo was as interested in forging and casting as their blacksmith. However, they were still not as good in forging because any tribe with a little more information refused to share their techniques.

Shao Xuan’s notes were straightforward and helped answer questions that plagued the chief. Although it wasn’t like a shower of milk to his head, it was still a huge inspiration.

[Note: A shower of milk to the head (idiom) = enlightenment/a gush of wisdom; I kept this in because I loved this expression]

“Take a look at these. Anything that’s rusty or broken can be re-casted.” Shao Xuan took out the stuff he took from the robbers and gave them to Zheng Luo.

These weapons varied in quality. Some good ones could be used immediately while the rest had to be fixed.

Zheng Luo rubbed his palms, picked up the stuff and left in a hurry.

Only Shao Xuan and the shamaness were left in the house. Shao Xuan told her about activating the bone ornaments.

“Great! That’s great news!” The shamaness smiled so hard her wrinkles deepened. “If you’re alright, you can proceed. I’ll clear a spot in the village for you to practice. It’s better to practice here than in the forest, plus you won’t have to worry about threats around you.”

Shao Xuan stayed for a bit then returned to his house.

When he arrived, his two games had already been cleaned. Qi Qi had been waiting at his doorstep for a while.

When he saw her struggle to hide her grin, Shao Xuan knew the Thousand Grain Gold must be doing well.

“Elder Shao Xuan, you’re back! The Thousand Grain Gold are doing very well, come look at them!” Qi Qi brought him to the backyard excitedly.

When he had passed by his house, he had noticed his backyard had been expanded. The fence around the backyard was built taller too so he could not see inside.

Now that he was back home, he walked into the backyard to see three-meter tall plants. Shao Xuan stopped in shock.

When he had seen the plant on that hill, it was not like that. It wasn’t this tall.

There were about forty plants left in his yard when he left. At that time, they were barely at his shoulder. Now, although there were only twenty-three of them left, all of them were growing very well. They weren’t just taller than humans, every leaf was wider and thicker than he remembered! And their stalks were almost as thick as a person’s waist.

Most importantly, there were grains growing on the plants too!

Even an idiot would know that these plants were growing a lot healthier than the wild ones! They just didn’t know what would happen to the grains after harvest. If they were valuable, he would plant the rest of his grains.

In the yard, there were both Flaming Horn and Taihe tribe members. They surrounded the plants, never growing tired of staring at the twenty plants every day. They used to visit twice a day but now, they even slept in this yard. The yard was expanded partially for this reason.

“Everyone wanted to watch over the plants but there was limited space in the yard so the shamaness told us to expand it.” Qi Qi looked at his face timidly. When she realised he was not mad, the weight on her shoulders lifted.

“Thank you for your hard work!” said Shao Xuan.

“It’s nothing at all, it’s all worth it!” Qi Qi had a sense of pride and accomplishment as she looked at her plants.

Since he was back at the tribe, he could finally relax and that night, he slept soundly.

During the next few days, Shao Xuan was summoned by Zheng Luo to talk about crafting. His position was not even needed here-- Shao Xuan met a Xia and went to Gongjia Mountain. Naturally, the blacksmiths here were all willing to listen. They asked him questions when they did not understand the notes. Shao Xuan also briefed everyone about the development of the core seed and the Xia people so everyone had an understanding of it.

A few days had passed when he went down the hill again.

On this day, he planned to check on the duck.

Everyone who lived at the bottom of the hill plus the ones on patrol all knew of it. The fat duck bobbing its head left and right, fluttering here and there was Elder Shao Xuan’s prey. No one dared touch it, some even voluntarily tossed some food at it.

On the first day, the fat duck, being in a new environment, was flighty. It was always worried, flying off whenever there was a slight movement. Then, it realised these people meant no harm, it even received food from them. Although it did not like the food, it still thought it was a good thing.

On the second day, the fat duck attempted to swim in the water. It swam around in the manmade river surrounding the Flaming Horn tribe. However, every time someone passed by, it would immediately fly away into the forest, only returning when there was no one.

The third day, fourth day passed…

When Shao Xuan arrived, the fat duck was swimming happily along the river, sometimes even diving into the water. When someone approached, it merely looked cautiously at the person but did not fly immediately.

Looks like this duck isn’t leaving.

Since it was living well, Shao Xuan did not chase it away. He just told someone to watch it and make sure it did not cause trouble.