Chapter 773 - Flaming River Basin (2/2)

Seeing the Flaming Horns’ confused faces, Bai Xing smiled awkwardly, “Our Flaming Horn brothers, will you be so nice to lead us to our destination? We’ll pay you back in a fine sum!”

Shao Xuan knew that they were afraid of other expedition teams robbing them. There were too many expedition teams nearby, so it made sense that Bai Xing was so worried.

”Sure,” Shao Xuan looked at the Flaming Horn team. None of them looked unwilling. Since it wasn’t far and many of them were also interested in which plot of land the Lu tribesmen chose to settle on, they thought that it would be good if they went there first. They had to pass by in the future anyways.

Thus, Shao Xuan and the others escorted the Lu tribe to their final destination before they headed back to the trading point.

“More people are in the trading point now,” Shao Xuan remarked upon noticing the changes.

They didn’t come from the other side. Some of them had weird totemic signs that he had never seen before. Some of these people seemed like they were here for the first time. They beheld everything with curious eyes and remained vigilant towards everyone around them.

Gan Qie left without a word to the secret chamber underground to think about his life. Shao Xuan went to look for Zheng Luo. He wanted to understand the current situation at the trading point. These tribesmen who had come over to the trading point lived near the shores of the Flaming River, just a little farther away from the Flaming Horns. They either lived in places that were harder to find or the Flaming Horns had never noticed them before.

“What are they here for?” Shao Xuan asked.

“They said that they want to know how to merge their fire seed. Many of them met with the chief already. You can head back to headquarters and see for yourself. Gui He probably has a lot of questions for you,” Zheng Luo said.

Since this was the case, Shao Xuan didn’t stay in the trading point too long. He left for headquarters immediately.

When Shao Xuan arrived, Gui He was reading a beast hide scroll with a bitter expression. That was the map Shao Xuan had drawn before.

“Ah Xuan! You’re finally back!” Gui He waved as he saw Shao Xuan. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

Shao Xuan had never seen Gui He so perplexed before. It didn’t seem like something dangerous was about to happen. Rather, it was most likely something else.

“What’s there to discuss?” Shao Xuan asked as he looked at the map.

“Many tribes want to live under our protection.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“I know, but there are just some problems we need to solve,” Gui He told Shao Xuan about these problems.

Ever since the Flaming Horns named this river the Flaming River, many tribes on this continent also began to name the rivers, lakes, and mountains around them. It was like they were naming it for the sake of marking their own territory. It also gave them a sense of pride.

Even though most tribes that lived by the Flaming River were small tribes, they had their ambitions too. As the Flaming River’s name spread far and wide, the Flaming Horn tribe’s power and influence also grew. These small tribes also began to name natural landmarks after their own tribe.

The Flaming Horns used their power to force everyone to accept the Flaming River’s name. Those who were unhappy about this or weren’t willing to accept this name had to accept it because the Flaming Horns were too powerful.

However, in other places, tribes began to quarrel over naming natural landmarks. They were all equally strong in power and if they fought over such matters, both sides would only suffer huge losses, so at the end, they decided to ask the Flaming Horns to help them solve this problem. After all, in the Flaming River region, if the Flaming Horns claimed to be second in rank, no other tribe would dare to claim first place.

“I don’t think naming is the main predicament we’re facing. What I’m most frustrated about is how we divide their territory,” Gui He pointed to the locations he marked out on the map as well as the natural borders in the region such as rivers, mountains, and lakes.

Gui He was farsighted and he didn’t want to just solve the naming problem. He wanted to do more, like categorising the tribes.

After listening to Gui He’s thoughts, Shao Xuan nodded, “I understand what you mean now.”

“You really do? Then what do you think?” Gui He asked expectantly.

“Do you have some new beast hides to write on?”

“Yes!”

Gui He immediately brought over some beast hides, ink, and brushes.

Shao Xuan drew lines on this beast hide and compared it with the map in Gui He’s hands. The lines that he drew were the streams in the region. The thickest line on the map was the Flaming River and the others were all tributaries that flowed into it.

“Most of these tribes live near water,” Shao Xuan pointed to the lines he drew. He used red ink to mark out the Flaming River and blue to mark out the tributaries. “We can call this entire area the Flaming River Basin.”

Gui He’s eyes glinted when he heard the four words. What Shao Xuan said next was exactly what Gui He wanted to find out.

“As for the problem you mentioned, we can use these tributaries to divide the territories.”