Chapter 775 - The Gathering (1/2)

Chapter 775

The Gathering

This was the first time the Flaming Horn tribe made a public announcement to gather everyone in the Flaming River region. The tribes that were invited this time were different from the last grand feast, back when the trading point was first established. Back then, even tribes from the central region were invited. This alliance was going to influence the future of the Flaming River Basin.

Something huge was about to happen in the Flaming River Basin, and no one could deny it. Anyone with eyes could tell.

Some were happy while others fretted. The Flaming Horns, especially the senior members, hadn’t slept for a few days now. They couldn’t help it. It was too stressful!

What if only a few tribes came upon hearing the announcement? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing for the Flaming Horn tribe?

All of them were extremely worried, Gui He included. Shao Xuan was the only one who was still able to do what was supposed to be done.

“Leader, how many tribes do you think will come over?” Duo Kang asked worriedly as he gazed down from the top of the Flaming River Tower, the highest tower in the trading point. He was standing under the Flaming Horn flag. Obviously, the number of people in the trading point had greatly decreased.

Zheng Luo sighed as he looked out the trading point. He scanned the grounds far away and said, “I can’t say for certain.”

“There should be at least ten, right?” Duo Kang counted with his fingers. The Rain tribe, Tai He tribe, Drumming tribe, and the Lu tribe were definitely joining the Alliance. Duo Kang wasn’t sure if the Pu tribe, Tu tribe, Ya tribe, and Gu tribe were going to come. He didn’t know these tribes very well so he had no clue what they had in mind.

Some tribes that lived even farther away as well as the others who came to seek for the Flaming Horn’s help would probably join them too, wouldn’t they? Even if many of them were unwilling to join, shouldn’t there be one or two of them at the very least?

“Yes, there should be ten tribes at the very least,” Duo Kang mustered some confidence and said firmly. They were astonished when they first heard Gui He and Shao Xuan’s plan too, especially when Shao Xuan told them about the future they envisioned. Of course, their plan sounded ideal, they just never implemented it before, so they weren’t sure if it would succeed. They could only wait patiently for the results.

“I didn’t hear the horn sound today,” Zheng Luo sighed as he watched the sun set.

“It’s still too early. Let’s wait for a few more days. I’m sure it will sound then,” Duo Kang said after some hesitation.

After he descended the Flaming River Tower, Zheng Luo walked out of the trading point.

There were three gates into the trading point. After this announcement was made, they began renovating one of these gates, making it the biggest gate into the trading point.

Two giant beast heads made of stone were placed on the side in front of this gate. They were roughly the same size.

These two beasts belonged to different species. One was a carnivorous beast and bore sharp fangs while the other was a giant herbivore with huge horns. They were both at the top of the food chain and weren’t easy targets to hunt in the forest. Every time the Flaming Horn hunting team set out to hunt for these prey, they had to plan carefully and work as a team to successfully capture them.

This time, even though the material they used to make these beast heads were carved from stone, the fangs and horns were all real. They were precious items they kept after a hunt. Now, it was finally time to put them to use.

The carving of these two beast heads was not done excellently and there were many rough parts that were not polished.

Even though the job wasn’t excellent, people could already recognise the looks of these beasts. The vague outlines of the statues only filled the statues with more life and wildness.

The stones selected to make these beast heads were material of middle to upper grade. The Flaming Horns invested a lot of effort into this alliance. No wonder Zheng Luo and the others felt concerned and anxious, even stressed about this.

This gate was the largest entrance into the trading point, so it was called the Beast Head Gate.

The horn sound Zheng Luo mentioned were horns that were placed inside the beast head statues. If any tribes arrived to join the alliance, the guards here would sound the horns.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t heard the horn sound up till now.

The reason the Drumming tribe, Taihe tribe, Rain tribe, and Lu tribe didn’t come right away was that they lived too close. They could come over as soon as the feast was about to begin. That was why the people the Flaming Horn tribes were expecting were mainly tribes that lived farther away.

After taking a glance at the Beast Head Gate, Zheng Luo asked the guard who stood at the gate, “Did you see the Grand Elder?”

“I think he’s over there,” the warrior pointed in one direction.

Zheng Luo began to walk in that direction. That was where the King Stoneworm had passed and it was now part of the Flaming Horn’s territory. They just haven’t begun construction there. Initially, they wanted to expand the trading point to this area but they didn’t have enough manpower, and since the trading point was already big enough to contain everyone who was coming over, there was no need for such an expansion.

When Zheng Luo saw Shao Xuan, Shao Xuan was sitting on some rocks with a beast hide scroll in his hand. He seemed to be drawing something.

Zheng Luo went over to look at what he was drawing but he couldn’t understand it.

“What are you drawing?” Zheng Luo said.

“A blueprint,” Shao Xuan stopped drawing and stretched his stiff neck. He had been sitting here for a whole day.

“A blueprint? Are you planning on expanding the trading point?” Zheng Luo was shocked. If it wasn’t for expanding, what use was there for a blueprint?

“I think it’s about time we expand,” Shao Xuan stood up from the rock he was sitting on.

“But you said before that we don’t have many people so there’s no point for an expansion.”

“Very soon more people will arrive,” Shao Xuan said.

After some thought, Zheng Luo understood what Shao Xuan meant.

“Are you that certain that the alliance will succeed?”

“Yup.”

Seeing how calm Shao Xuan was, Zheng Luo regained some confidence. Initially he wanted to ask Shao Xuan to perform a knot divination to predict how many tribes were coming, but seeing how confident he was, there seemed to be no need for it.

Zheng Luo felt less burdened after he heard what Shao Xuan said. Since Shao Xuan was so confident about this, they only had to wait a little longer.

Actually, Shao Xuan’s confidence was just an intuitive feeling. Besides making the announcement public, he had also asked the Ya tribesmen to help spread the message to everyone in the region.

Most tribes in the Flaming River region disliked people from other tribes and refused to get along with anyone other than their own, but the new threats in the region left them no choice since they didn’t have enough power to defend themselves. One of the reasons they never came up with a plan to fight against these threats was the fact that news often arrived too late.

Shao Xuan didn’t just ask the Ya tribesmen to deliver this news. He was also spreading a new way of thinking. He wanted to let these people know that the foreigners that came over this time were not just strong, they had great ambition too. Luckily, there were only very few of them here at the moment, so as long as the local tribes worked together, they could stand strong against these foreigners. The Flaming Horn’s role in this alliance was merely to function as the core, bringing everyone together.

If it wasn’t for all the foreshadowing and threats they were facing from foreigners now, Shao Xuan wouldn’t have been able to find out how these local tribes were planning to react.

He already did what he had to do. Now, all that’s left was to wait.

After Zheng Luo left the trading point, some Flaming Horn soldiers who were guarding at the Beast Head Gate also began to discuss how many people were coming. They didn’t have to take turns guarding here to find out how many tribes were coming. As long as they heard the horn sound, they would know that a tribe had arrived.

“How many tribes do you guys think are coming?”

“Five?”

“Nonsense! If you count all the tribes that are already on our side, there are already four. There can’t be just five!”

“Seven?”

“Nine!”