Chapter 427 (1/2)

Harvesting Thousand Grain Gold

The days passed. As the Thousand Grain Gold ripened slowly, there were irregular occurrences in the forest at the foot of the mountain. The ducks grew more and more anxious and started to move closer to the tribe in search of protection.

The number of patrolling members increased, most of them in the forest outside the tribe because many wild rats had appeared. There were all kinds of rats, big and small, digging holes and hopping around coming continuously.

Not just wild rats, there were birds in the sky too. There were often birds circling the area. Now, around Shao Xuan’s house, Zheng Luo had sent his men with a sufficient supply of arrows to shoot the birds.

Other than regular animals, there were fearsome beasts too. They were not the large kind though, those lived far away from the tribe.

Some people even joked that they did not have to go out hunting because all these animals would just arrive at their doorstep.

Quan Bai and the rest of the people in the Taihe tribe mentioned that they could send people over if they needed help. They were turned down by Zheng Luo because they could solve the problem on their own and they did not need help. The Taihe tribe definitely wasn’t helping for nothing too, they would ask for a favour, and it would be the ripe grains.

Zheng Luo could not bear to share such a good thing. Quan Bai and the rest had already contributed to the planting of these grains so they were naturally given a portion. However, Zheng Luo did not want to give out even more.

When it was time for the switching of shifts for patrol, the new members looked at the pile of rats on the ground and asked the patrol team, “How many did you hunt today?”

“I don’t know about the rest but I hunted thirty, almost forty today!” as he spoke, a warrior walked over with a rat as long as half his arm. Although he was worried, he was happy too. These were food. The chief said anyone who hunted these animals could keep half for themselves, they didn’t have to go out hunting. Now that he had twenty for himself, he could give them to his family if he could not finish them.

And it was just half a day's work.

“More than yesterday.” The person who just arrived made a swift movement and shot an arrow.

Whoosh---

A rat that wanted to slip out of a bush was nailed to the ground.

The warrior did not pick his arrow up immediately, shooting three more consecutively. Two wild rats with thick fur and long tails were shot on a tree, the other killed a grey rat in another three instantly.

“It’s fine, I’ll take it from here. You’ve been working for half a day now, go get some rest,” said the warrior going to pick up the three rats.

The warriors returning from their stations grouped together talking about their hunt of the day. However, the conversation was peppered with worry too.

“The rats coming have become bigger and quicker. We have to send more men. A few days ago, it was easy but now it’s getting too many. I almost missed one.”

“Me too, we have to be more careful.”

“Thank goodness we have a river in front. Some rats can’t swim so they can’t cross it.”

“There are many rats that can swim, don’t’ let your guard down.”

As they spoke, they looked towards the top of the hill. There were birds flying back and forth nearby. Occasionally, a bird would dive down and then get shot by an arrow, finally collapsing to the ground.

Two more days passed. The wild rats that came were manic. All the warriors in the tribe were on duty, a portion of them sent to the hill.

Shao Xuan didn’t know the Thousand Grain Gold would attract so many birds and rats. The previous plant he saw attracted a swarm of rats but not birds.

A huge net was deployed around his yard to prevent the diving birds from damaging the plants in case they weren’t killed in time.

“Soon, I think.” Qi Qi looked at the golden grains, all smiles. From their perspective, these large scale peculiar occurrences signified that the plant was very special. It was good news.

“Keep watch! Keep your eyes open, don’t miss even one!” said Duo Kang to the warriors outside.

Every arrow had the warrior’s own symbol on it so that they knew whose prey it was. To the warriors, the prey was small but the feat was huge. If they did well here, they might get some reward from the Elder.

After talking to Zheng Luo, Shao Xuan had made a public announcement that the other nine weapons left behind by Gongjia Heng would be given to nine outstanding warriors of the tribe. There were limited spots so anyone who wanted one had to work hard. That was why they were all so enthusiastic. Both the young and old were excited as ever, sometimes unwilling to leave their posts when the next shift arrived.

Shao Xuan also held discussions about the strategy to tackle the ripening of the grains. At this point, the grains were not fully ripe yet and the animals were already so riled up. Once they ripened, what would happen?