Chapter 69
Chapter 69 – Joining the advance group
Translated by Sunyancai
Shao Xuan was about to have his second hunting trip. Even though he wanted to work on Old Ke’s newly-invented serial traps, he did not have enough time to spend on placing traps and ropes. It was close, but time was limited. It had been nineteen days since the other hunting team left, and they would be back in a few days. Now, all the warriors in Shao Xuan’s hunting team were preparing to set off.
It would be the second hunting trip that Shao Xuan would take part in, and the third hunting mission this year. According to the traditional standards within the tribe, there would be more newly-awakened warriors hunting this time around. In order to look after those new warriors during the mission, there would also be more experienced warriors tagging along with the team as their guardians. Because of this, Shao Xuan anticipated that there would be about fifty more warriors in the hunting team than last time. (E/N: In case you’re confused it’s the third hunting trip for his team, not counting the other team.)
For example, Sai, who used to have a problem with Shao Xuan, and Sai’s father, who had missed the past few trips in order to train his son, would join this hunting mission. Luckily, many residents in the mountain foot district, who were unable to store as much food as people in the mountain side or mountaintop, were able to go fishing. Hence, they had to focus their attention on those fish in the waters. Even though the energy the fish contained was not comparable to beasts from the forest, it could at least keep the residents from starving.
Old Ke did not ask Shao Xuan to go to the training ground any more, for Shao Xuan had to use these last few days to craft more pieces of stoneware to be used. The stone cores all came from the Shaman and the Chief as gifts for his great deed in finding the ancestors. Naturally the stoneware crafted from them would also be of fine quality.
Perhaps Caesar also sensed that Shao Xuan was about to leave, as these days he followed Shao Xuan closely everywhere, and sometimes he would even act like a spoiled child, with his nose and head clung to Shao Xuan’s hands.
Shao Xuan was not sure whether it was an illusion or not, but he felt that after feeding Caesar the meat of ferocious beasts over the last ten days, Caesar had grown much bigger and stronger than before. Caesar liked the meat of ferocious beasts very much, and was especially fond of the Thorn Black Wind meat. After eating these, he would refuse to eat fish sometimes. Well, he grew picky.
“Health recovering herbs, do you have any?”
He was asking those kind of herbs for Old Ke. Based on his performance when setting traps, one could easily find that Old Ke’s ability was falling short of his wishes. He was getting old fast. Due to stone crafting for a long time inside the room, he caught some occupational diseases. Healthy warriors of course could heal and have those pains relieved by their tough physiques, but Old Ke could not do the same. Shao Xuan could constantly hear his subdued coughing.
For most of the year, Old Ke would lock himself in the dim room of his, crafting stoneware. He was not as tough as before having lost one of his legs, and most of the food he traded for, with the stoneware, was the meat of inferior beasts or other animals. Yet, Old Ke was a mid-level warrior back in those days; the energy contained in inferior food would never be able to meet up with his needs. As time went by like that, the strong body of this mid-level warrior degenerated as well. It seemed that Old Ke was getting older much faster than the others.
Now since Shao Xuan was able to join the hunting team, he didn’t worry about the meat issue anymore. However, after suffering from chronic illness for so many years, Old Ke could use some herbs to nurse himself back to health. Normal herbs might not work, so Shao Xuan wanted to take some more effective herbs from the Shaman. The tribe had a tradition of elite preferential treatment, so normally all good stuff would be distributed to only those who were the elites. Other warriors had no access to fine herbs, for after all, they were hard to obtain and limited in quantities. This time, since Shao Xuan had the chance for being considered as an elite, he planned to take advantage of that. Ta had raised the proposal, even if Shao Xuan declined him this time, he would be facing a second round after all. That team leader was not someone that easily gave up.
Shao Xuan knew at heart that even if he could not be of great help to the mission, he would be kept safe by Ta, for Ta wanted him only for the reason that he was blessed by the ancestors. Ta would definitely try his best to ensure his safety. What’s more, Shao Xuan figured that if this time’s hunting result was still not good enough, he would be kicked out of the advance group, and then his next opportunity in rejoining would not come by so easily again.
However, Old Ke was getting older and weaker as every day went by…
This was an incredible opportunity.
When the Shaman was having the conversation with Shao Xuan inside the guest room, Ta waited patiently some distance away from the stone room. He could not hear the talk, but he knew that the Shaman would surely reject his proposal if Shao Xuan refused to comply.
After a while, Shao Xuan came out and left with an animal skin bag in his hand.
Ta entered.
“He chose to join.” Said the Shaman.
Ta felt quite happy about it, and as he looked up to express his gratitude, he saw the Shaman’s old cloudy eyes.
It seemed that the Shaman’s eyes were just like normal, but Ta felt an enormous psychological pressure. He sensed that the Shaman was angry, and all his anger was on him.
Ta dared not continue to look at the Shaman, so he looked down again, and made a sincere salute to him, “Please trust me. I’ll bring him back, safe and sound.”
The Shaman said nothing but waved his hand to let Ta leave.
After he left the stone room, Ta wiped his forehead and found a handful of sweat.