Chapter 656 Shelf Life (1/2)

After Shao Xuan entered the Jing tribe, he noticed that besides wild fruits and vegetables, the rest of their food were fish and smaller wild beasts. After all, non-battle-style tribes were limited in their attacks so they couldn’t hunt different types of prey, so all those beasts were probably hunted with the Gu tribe’s nets.

However, this tribe with less than a thousand people had an even larger territory than the Gu tribe!

No doubt, in a remote place like this with few people and lots of unclaimed land, they got to set their own boundaries. In theory, they could claim as big a piece of land as they wished, but there were many factors they had to consider. If they set too large a boundary, they would not have enough manpower to guard the entire place. If there were too many entries and gaps along the boundary without enough guards, they would only be setting a trap for themselves.

So every tribe would draw the boundaries of their territories according to their own ability.

The Jing tribe was not dumb either. If they could survive up till now, how could they be stupid? How would they not know about this?

But still, they claimed such a huge piece of land!

Shao Xuan’s doubt was resolved only after he entered deeper into the Jing tribe. That was when he found the answer.

Although the Jing tribe had such a huge piece of land, more than half of it was a quagmire!

If you looked down from above, all the quagmires in the Jing tribe resembled an eye, similar to the eye drawing on the Jing tribe’s totem sign. The outer quagmire encircling the area acted as a barrier, preventing any external dangers from getting close, but within the Jing tribe, there was yet another round quagmire in the exact centre of the tribe.

The Jing tribe’s houses were also stilt houses, but they were not as complicated as the ones in the Gu tribe. Most of their houses were built directly on the ground. Only the shaman’s house was different. It was located above the quagmire in the centre of the tribe.

From the shape of the quagmire, it was obvious that the Jing tribe made these themselves, or else how could it be shaped like an eye?

The Jing shaman brought them into the tribe. They didn’t have a house large enough to serve all the Flaming Horns, so the Jing shaman received them outside. However, for private discussions, the Jing shaman brought Shao Xuan into the house above the quagmire in the centre of their tribe.

Hearing this decision, the Jing people also heaved a sigh of relief. Although they were not as defensive towards them because of the Gu tribe’s introduction, they still tried to stay vigilant. The centremost quagmire was closest to the fire pond, so according to traditional tribal thinking, the closer they were to their fire pond, the safer.

The Jing shaman was also quite surprised by Shao Xuan’s decision, but only for a while. He did not ask Shao Xuan about his reason.

After telling the others to wait outside the quagmire, Shao Xuan walked along the wooden bridge built above the quagmire and followed the Jing shaman into the largest and most special house.

The Jing tribe was similar to the Gu tribe. The shaman had an unchallenged authority. There was not really a need for a leader in their tribe and they could have one or not have one, but in the Jing tribe’s history, they often had times when no one assumed the position as the leader in their tribe. The shaman had many responsibilities and they had a powerful say in all their tribe’s decisions. Basically whatever the shaman said would remain undisputed. Within the tribe, no one would dare object the shaman.

After the Jing shaman opened the door into the wooden house and brought Shao Xuan inside. He looked quickly at Shao Xuan’s face. He was surprised when he saw no changes in Shao Xuan’s face in response to their fire seed’s presence.

Shao Xuan studied this house on top of the quagmire. Within the Jing tribe, this was already considered a mansion. It covered a large area, so they obviously had to think carefully before building. They put a lot of effort into choosing the materials and designing the place. Most of these buildings were made from wood and looked sturdy. They didn’t look tattered at all.

After they entered the house, Shao Xuan noticed some decorations in a corner of the room made from ground eye stones. One of these decorations had a bottom pyramid-shaped base.

On top of this base was a green “Universal Eye”.

This one was twice as large compared to the nine universal eyes the Gu shaman gifted to Shao Xuan. The colourless parts of the stone were almost transparent, and its green parts looked refreshed with a crystal glaze. It looked like a real beast eye, but its dead-cold stare didn’t make people feel uncomfortable. Instead, it gave people an urge to keep staring at it.

It was truly a shaman’s living space. Even his rocks were bigger and prettier than others’.

Seeing how Shao Xuan was staring at the Universal Eye with mere surprise and curiosity in his stare, without any greedy intentions, the Jing shaman relaxed. He smiled cheerfully and proudly and explained to Shao Xuan, “This has been passed down to me by my ancestors. If you count its age, it’s probably around eight hundred years old. It’s quite old.”

“Old?” Shao Xuan didn’t understand why the Jing shaman used this word to describe it. Isn’t this just a rock?

As if he knew what Shao Xuan was thinking, the Jing shaman continued, “Of course it ages. It will die too. Ground eye stones have a lifespan too.”

“Universal Eyes can live up to a few hundred or even a thousand years, but normal ground eye stones can’t. They can only live up to around a hundred years. Many of these stones could only last a few decades before they closed their eyes forever.”

Putting it this way made it sound creepy, but Shao Xuan understood what he meant.

“Where do they come from?” Shao Xuan asked again. Ground eye stones were products of nature. They were not polished by humans, so where did they come from?

“Where?” the Jing shaman stroked his beard slowly. “It came from within the “ground eye”. They were extracted from within the ground eye’s body.

“And the ground eye is?”

“It’s a beast that lives underground.”

This stone actually came from within an animal!

Hearing the shaman’s explanation, Shao Xuan thought of the reason.