Chapter 635 Strange Fish (1/2)

When they were planting the signs, they also noticed some traces of human activities. They deduced that people rarely came by the river because although there were traces, they were not new. They also noticed that other than the net-patterned pots and tools they found earlier, there were also others with different designs.

After sensing the fire seed, Shao Xuan marked out its approximate location on his map.

“Should we go take a look over there?” Duo Li asked Shao Xuan. If they could travel upstream and locate the position of the fire seed, then they would be able to identify the characteristics of that tribe.

“There’s no need.” Shao Xuan rolled up his map. “We don’t need to care too much about that. Heading in that direction would waste a lot of time. The Flaming River is long, and we’re not even sure if we can finish exploring the area within the scheduled time. Let’s not pay too much attention to the smaller tribes for now.”

Looking ahead at the Flaming River, Shao Xuan said, “I feel like there’s going to be a slightly bigger tribe in front.”

It was rare to hear Shao Xuan say “slightly bigger”. Most tribes along the Flaming River were smaller tribes with fewer people. Some of these tribes did not even have more than a few hundred in total. These were tragically low numbers, Duo Li and the others couldn’t understand how they even survived.

When they heard Shao Xuan say “a slightly bigger tribe”, all of them looked surprised. Finally, a larger tribe?

If the tribes around the Flaming River region consisted of only tribes with a few hundred people each, they wouldn’t bring much trouble to the Flaming Horns. Even if they joined forces against them, they would still be too weak to fight the small group of Flaming Horns from the central region.

“Did you all notice the river widening the more we travel downstream?” Shao Xuan asked.

“Yeah!”

They wouldn’t have noticed if Shao Xuan didn’t mention it, but the two shorelines did seem farther apart. They had been travelling along the side of the river opposite the territory of the fierce beasts. Now, when they looked at the forests on the other side, everything appeared smaller. It was just like Shao Xuan said. The river widened as they travelled downstream.

But the good thing was that the boats continued to travel normally in the river. There were no wood-eating bugs or giant beasts in the river.

No, to be more specific, there were no longer river beasts that lived in the river like before when the great river still existed. However, whether there were fierce beasts that entered the river, they were not sure. A wider river meant a larger habitat. Perhaps a few fierce beasts that liked water had already come out from the forest and entered the river.

“Stay alert. Keep a close watch on everything happening in the waters. We’ll continue to travel along the shore,” Shao Xuan said.

Usually, there were fewer aquatic beasts near the river shores. They usually settled in the middle of the river where the water was deeper. Shao Xuan and the others still could not tell whether there were any beasts in the river. It was always good to stay more vigilant. The closer they were to the shore, the easier it was for them to escape if anything happened.

“Where’s Chacha?” Shao Xuan looked around in the sky. He did not see Chacha’s figure.

“Probably went hunting for food?” Tuo said.

Shao Xuan did not care. He had been like this for a while now. Every time after he brought Shao Xuan up into the skies to scan the grounds below, Chacha would fly far away to play or look for clues farther ahead. Sometimes he even went to the territory of the fearsome beasts to search for prey.

…………

Somewhere downstream from where Shao Xuan and the others were.

In the centre of the river, a wooden raft was shaking violently.

Atop the wooden raft, a frightened young man held onto it tightly. He still had some hope if he stayed on the raft, but if he fell into the river, that would be the end for him.

The reason why the raft was shaking so violently was that something was shaking it from underneath, in the river.

On the shorelines, a few young men shouted. Even if they wanted to help, they could not do anything. If they jumped into the waters now, they would die. If the fish swallowed them in the river, they would also lose their lives.

Shoot arrows?

There’s no use. That fish was too cunning and wouldn’t give them a chance to shoot. It either hid in the waters or behind the raft. If they shot arrows, they might even end up hurting the person on the raft. So they had to be careful if they fired.