Chapter 769 - The Lu Tribes Migration (1/2)
The next day, Bai Xing went to look for Shao Xuan. The Lu tribesmen had not selected the reared beasts that they were giving the Flaming Horns from their animal pens.
“We decided to merge our fire seed and will head to the Flaming River region after that. Please help us on the way, Grand Elder.” Bai Xing had not slept the previous night. He looked unwell but his eyes still gleamed. He was rather relaxed as he spoke. They had finally made a decision after so long.
Shao Xuan studied this new Lu chief closely. He didn’t mind when they were getting their reared livestock. If the Lu tribe decided to migrate to the Flaming River region, there was no need to hurry. He wouldn’t mind even if they gave the reared beasts they promised to the Flaming Horn tribe after they migrated. It was better that way. However, Shao Xuan still had a doubt.
“Where will you guys go? The Flaming River region is quite large,” Shao Xuan asked.
“We’ve actually decided on the location a long time ago,” Bai Xing laughed. “Back then when we went to attend the Grand Feast at the trading point, our chief already brought us there.”
Bai Xing was talking about the previous chief who had passed away. That chief was not the strongest member in their tribe, but he was prudent and far-sighted. When he was invited to the Flaming River trading point, he brought a few warriors over with him to survey the grounds and even drew a map to mark out the area they wanted to migrate to.
The Lu tribe’s water source was drying up and there was no way for them to keep living here. Water insufficiency would affect their reared beasts greatly. The previous chief had such thoughts about settling in that area, but he also found a few other locations nearby so he had more than a few options. Now, Bai Xing decided to settle in the location near the Flaming River trading point.
Shao Xuan studied the map Bai Xing took out. There were a few simple strokes on the area near the trading point. On the map, the trading point was clearly marked as well as the estimated locations of the Rain tribe and the Drumming tribe. The Lu tribe had their eyes set on a location upstream from where the Rain tribe was. That location wasn’t too close to the Flaming River, but it wasn’t too far either. What’s most important to them was that there was a small stream in that area that flowed into the Flaming River.
Shao Xuan knew about that stream. He had been to that location upstream and he guessed that stream probably appeared after the disaster since it wasn’t there before. This stream was about ten meters wide and twenty meters long. The water there was more than enough for the Lu tribe. Plus, this stream flowed into the Flaming River, so it wouldn’t dry up easily. Even if it dried up one day, they could still walk down to the Flaming River to get water. Simply put, if something big happened again, they could immediately migrate to a better location because they didn’t have to worry about their fire seed anymore.
“When will the merge begin?” Shao Xuan asked.
“Tomorrow, but latest on the day after,” Bai Xing said.
The Lu shaman had already consulted Shao Xuan about the merging process .
Even though they acquired much experience from understanding the merging process of different tribes, they still had to be careful since they were changing their fire seed.
The Lu tribe decided to merge their fire seed the afternoon three days after the forest massacre. They didn’t dare to do it at night because their reared livestock would panic. These animals were bolder in the daytime so it was a better choice to do it in the day.
Dian Fa had already left with the other Thousand Masks the day before. No one knew what their next move was. Perhaps they would follow in the slave masters’ footsteps and take in more middle to small sized tribes and establish an empire of their own with their government system. Regardless of what they chose later on, bloodshed was inevitable because the situation here was different from the Flaming River region. These middle to small sized tribes were once powerful tribes in the central region. If the Thousand Masks were not careful, they might be backstabbed by these tribes.
There was bloodshed back in the days when the Ji family in King City fought for power too.
That was the Thousand Masks’ business, so Shao Xuan didn’t want to think about it. He stood with the other Flaming Horns along the boundaries of the Lu tribe as they began the merge. The energy from the Lu fire seed would greatly affect the Flaming Horns during the merging process, and they would feel a strong repulsive energy from it. This was the Lu tribe’s territory after all. The energy of the fire seed would be completely activated during the merging process. None of the Flaming Horns wished to risk their lives by staying near it.
As the Lu fire seed’s energy grew stronger, the people outside the fence all felt the repulsive energy from the foreign fire seed. Gan Qie also felt it too. He felt lucky as he kept a curious gaze at the Lu tribe.
“This is the fire seed’s merging process?”
“It’s just a part of the process. They have to fully activate the energy in the fire pond at first, but the energy will gradually increase,” Shao Xuan explained.
Gan Qie felt a sense of familiarity to the entire process. It wasn’t the Lu tribe’s fire seed, but rather what he was feeling from the Lu fire seed that was familiar. It was similar to a memory in his mind.
Back then, their tribe encountered a similar situation, but too bad only eleven of them were allowed to be there when the fire seed was activated. Those eleven had the entire Han tribe’s fire seed merged in their bodies. If it weren’t for the fact that their fire seed was already damaged in the previous battle, the eleven of them would’ve died during the merge.
The Han tribe’s shaman never expected anything like that to happen. When he finally noticed what he did was irreversible and out of his control, he had no way to fix the situation. He could only watch as their destiny unfolded. Even if anyone tried to reenact what happened to the Han tribe, they wouldn’t succeed because it was an accident back then. Even if the Han shaman was still alive now, there was no way for him to make it happen again.
As the muddy-yellow coloured flame burst upward into the sky, the fire seed’s energy reached its peak. The strong energy from the fire seed sent a repulsive force toward all the Flaming Horns in the area. It was like the Lu tribe suddenly became the origin of a storm, sending out destructive winds all around them.
Guang Yi was forced to take a step back and draw himself away from the Lu tribe. He looked up and saw Shao Xuan standing there calmly and not moving as if the repulsion didn’t affect him at all. After some thought, he immediately walked over and stood behind Shao Xuan. Suddenly, the repulsive pressure decreased greatly, as if Shao Xuan blocked away the repulsive energy of the Lu fire seed.
The others followed suit after they noticed what Guang Yi was doing. One, two, ten, a hundred…
When Shao Xuan turned around to look, the Flaming Horns who were initially spread out across the field now stood in a triangular arrangement behind him, and Shao Xuan himself was the edge of the triangle pointed at the Lu tribe.
Gan Qie did not hide behind Shao Xuan like the others. Even though he was also affected by the repulsive energy, he had a different mindset. The pressure from the fire seed was enough to take the breath out of most ordinary humans. Although he no longer had a need for breath, the pressure was still strong on him.
The Flaming Horns just wanted to have an easier time against the repulsive energy, but Gan Qie was feeling quite the opposite. He wanted to refresh his memory of the time this happened to his own tribe. Everything that he was feeling now matched with the scene in his memory.
“It was a merge indeed.” Gan Qie closed his eyes. Back then when it happened, the Han shaman let his injuries worsen and didn’t tend to them. It was no different from suicide. If their shaman knew this was a merge back then, perhaps he wouldn’t have blamed himself so harshly. No, there was no way he couldn’t free himself from the guilt since he was the one who did this to their fire seed. He was the one who decided to merge the fire seed within the eleven selected tribesmen, leaving the rest of the Han tribe no different from wanderers without a fire seed or totemic power.
Regardless, what happened already happened, and it was already so long ago, so there was no going back now. Nothing would change even if they regretted what they did.