CoPW 155 – Water Moon stones.
Translated by Jon
Shao Xuan ate only a bit of the deer meat, giving the rest to Chacha, who preferred eating raw meat.
This deer should be similar to the ones found in the Flaming Horns tribe, as they seem to taste the same.
After seeing the bloody manner in which they ate, Shao Xuan felt that he had learned a lot about the people of this tribe.
That night, Chacha flew outside and found a large tree to nest on, while Shao Xuan slept in Chen Jia’s room. Chen Jia slept with his parents instead.
During this season, the people of the Drumming tribe did not lay out any animal hides to sleep on, but rather slept directly on the wooden planks. Through the little cracks and holes in the planks, the pools of water could be seen.
From underneath the house, the sounds of small crocodiles moving about were clearly audible.
With the windows open, moonlight entered the house. The wind blew through, bringing with it a wet chill and a muddy smell.
With tonight being the first night that Shao Xuan would sleep at a different tribe, an extremely novel feeling overcame him.
As he was thinking of today’s matters, as well as how the ancestor’s hides failed to mention the Drumming tribe, Fu Shi entered the room.
In his hands, Fu Shi was holding something that illuminated the room, its appearance was similar to a small lantern.
“What’s this?” Shao Xuan curiously asked.
At a closer glance, he discovered that it was actually a crystal about the size of a fist. This was something he had never seen before.
“This is something that our tribe produces, the Water Moon stone.” Fu Shi answered, handing over the crystal.
On the ancestor’s animal hide, Shao Xuan had read about this “Water Moon stone”, only, what was written was so vague that it had just mentioned the name.
Shao Xuan could feel the energy within the crystal as he held it, it was similar to the fire energy. The totem flame inside his mind didn’t react, but the egg shaped object that was wrapped around the flame flashed once, gradually taking shape.
The object took on the shape of a brown crocodile, wrapped around a white colored flame. It gave off a feeling of coldness.
This was the Drumming tribe’s totem?!
The crystal could not absorb energy, and as the crocodile totem faded, Shao Xuan gave the item another glance before handing it back over to Fu Shi saying, “It’s very bright, and quite beautiful.”
Fu Shi stared blankly. This was the first time he had seen such a reaction. There were many people who, after looking at this stone, would either become extremely fond of it, or display their greed. When outsiders entered their tribe, the hosts responsible for them would show their hospitality and bring this stone out. After all, there were many people who didn’t like staying in the dark. By bringing out the biggest stone from their collection, they were able to test and see their guests true nature.
However, Shao Xuan had shown a lukewarm reaction towards it.
Could it be that he didn’t know how much this stone was worth?
“Are you not interested in this stone? The stones that our tribe produces are extremely sought after. This large piece could be exchanged for this many things!” Fu Shi exaggeratedly opened his arms wide.
Since Shao Xuan was a being who had seen electric lights before, he actually didn’t have too much desire towards this rock. What interested him more was the exchange between tribes that the Shaman had mentioned earlier. Since Fu Shi had mentioned it again, Shao Xuan used this opportunity to question him about it.
“During the exchange, we will bring our stones to trade with other tribes. A small chunk of this can be exchanged for a lot of things!” Fu Shi once again explained.
This stone was truly sought after in the other tribes. With only a small amount of them, it could clearly illuminate the dark night without the need for fire. Furthermore, this light wasn’t affected by the wind or water. This stone was even more prized in tribes that couldn’t stand the heat, thus explaining their worth.
The Water Moon stone was similar to gold, so when the Drumming tribe brought it out for trade, they would get high quality stones, precious medicinal herbs and even pottery in exchange. During every transaction, they would leave their tribe with a few chunks and return with many valuable items.
Interested, Shao Xuan listened attentively, and from time to time asked a few questions. Speaking about his own tribe’s specialty, Fu Shi in turn became engaged, revealing more information regarding the production of the stone. He was not being loose lipped, but rather, only revealed things that were already known by the other tribes.
It wasn’t until late into the night that Shao Xuan finally let Fu Shi go. He took the piece of Water Moon stone away with him, after all, how could anyone sleep with such a bright stone? When one got into danger, hiding with this stone would be impossible. However, with so many dangers in the night, it was also a form of protection.
Everyone else’s house around him was dark. If his room was bright, wouldn’t his location be too obvious?
Fu Shi didn’t know what Shao Xuan was thinking about while they talked, but his already good impression of Shao Xuan only improved further. When he got back to his room, Fu Shi even praised Shao Xuan to his wife, then reprimanded Chen Jia once more.
The next day, Shao Xuan ate a bloody breakfast, then walked outside.
The sun was already in the sky and the crocodiles were out, basking in the sun.
In the pond outside Chen Jia’s house, there were three crocodiles lounging around. Two had tan eyes and the other one had brown eyes.
When Chacha descended, he had purposefully frightened them, making them run back into the pond.
While racing towards the pond, Shao Xuan heard their cries. Only the tan eyed crocodiles let out a sound, while their brown eyed counterpart remained silent.
He thought that perhaps its cry was difficult for people to hear.
Shao Xuan initially believed all brown eyed crocodiles were like that, but he soon found out that in the neighbor’s pond, they cried the same as any other. The one in Fu Shi’s pond was just an exception.
Because of this, Shao Xuan asked Chen Jia, who was standing right beside him.
Chen Jia was somewhat awkward when it came to Shao Xuan. His father had told him Shao Xuan did not know anything about the theft, and that he was even uninterested in the Water Moon stone! Adding in the fact that Shao Xuan had saved his life, Chen Jia was truly embarrassed about his actions.
“He doesn’t cry out!” Chen Jia stated.
“Doesn’t cry?!”
“En. Since birth, he was unable to let out a sound. My mother said he was born a mute, it’s extremely pitiful. Therefore, we would always give it the best meat.”
While living in the tribe, Shao Xuan could hear the cries of the night swallows. Apart from the senior totem warriors, no one else could. And right now, Shao Xuan could hear the crocodile cry while Chen Jia could not. Fu Shi and Ping were both intermediate totem warriors; this was visible from their eyes. Compared to Chen Jia, their eyes were more yellow, a characteristic of the Drumming tribe.
Junior and intermediate totem warriors couldn’t hear it. And he didn’t know if senior warriors were able to, too.
After Chacha left the pond, the brown-eyed crocodile once again crawled out of the water to continue basking in the sun.
At this moment, someone ran over.
“Chen Jia, is your father inside?” The man asked.
“He’s inside the house.”
“Fu Shi, hurry up and come out!” The stranger shouted.
“What happened?” Fu Shi questioned as he walked out.
“You need to come with me, the chief has something he wants to say!”
Seeing his grave expression, Fu Shi knew something serious had happened. Without hesitation, he hurriedly left with the man.
Before leaving, he warned Chen Jia, “Don’t run all over the place! If you do, I’ll beat you to death.”
Chen Jia curled his lip, reluctantly agreeing.
Ping wasn’t at home, and so, only Shao Xuan and Chen Jia were left at the house.
Shao Xuan looked around at the neighboring houses, and saw that many people were being called out. Evidently, this was a major event.
“What happened in the tribe?” Shao Xuan asked.
“I don’t know. This matter is probably related to the Water Moon stones.” Chen Jia responded.
Thinking back to last night’s conversation, Shao Xuan asked, “Do you mean that someone has stolen some pieces?”
“Yes. Every year, around this time, a similar event would always happen. People would wait until we bring the stones out before they go and steal them.” Chen Jia responded, gnashing his teeth in anger. The stolen stone could have been exchanged for so many items!
“Who are the people that come to steal the stones?” Shao Xuan asked.
“Many are thieves from other tribes. Every time these thieves come, the amount of stolen stones continues to drastically increase. They should all die!”
In the afternoon, Fu Shi hurried home holding a stone tool, warning the two of them not to wander around.
“The tribe discovered thieves from the Martyr tribe. We’re increasing our security. Tonight, I’m in charge of guarding the tribe so I won’t come back. Don’t you dare leave this house!”
When he finished speaking, Fu Shi left once again.
Throughout the whole tribe, many people were like him, wielding stone tools and hurriedly going out. Every one of them wore a grave expression on their face, with eyes letting out a murderous light.
After Fu Shi went away, Shao Xuan asked Chen Jia, “What are the Martyr tribesmen like?”
Chen Jia surprisingly displayed fear and hatred on his face.
“The people from the Martyr tribe are crazy. For the sake of achieving their goals, they’ll stop at nothing… they do not fear death… they are extremely fast…”
Hearing Chen Jia’s chaotic explanation, Shao Xuan surmised that these tribe members resembled martyrs. All they could focus on was their mission. They didn’t care about anything else.
This group of lunatics weren’t close to the Drumming tribe, and they didn’t frequently interact with one another. Only, every time they appeared, they brought a reign of terror. And this time, the Martyr tribe was targeting the Water Moon stones.
Because the Drumming tribe had found traces of the Martyr tribe, everyone was extremely tense, to the point of even losing all appetite.
Ping and Chen Jia did not eat much. After dinner, Ping went to deliver some food to Fu Shi, leaving Chen Jia to obediently stay at home.
However, Chen Jia was not someone that would patiently stay at home and wait. When other kids arrived, he quickly joined them, discussing their own plans as they left.
And so, the only one left inside the house was Shao Xuan.
Though the night sky was dark, it wasn’t completely pitch black.
Shao Xuan sat on the wooden planks, dangling his legs over the edge of the floor, allowing his feet to touch the water.
The water rippled as a shadow swam closer to Shao Xuan.
It was the brown-eyed crocodile.
It showed no traces of fear as it swam towards Shao Xuan. Rather, it seemed to be curious about him.
After thinking for a while, Shao Xuan stuck his hand out to lift the crocodile up.
He noticed that its toes were connected in a weblike manner. Compared to the other two crocodiles, it was slimmer. The manner in which it crawled and swam in the water was much nimbler. Apart from its inability to cry, it was perfectly healthy.
The crocodile didn’t squirm or run after being lifted up, but obediently stayed still.
It’s temper truly was better than that of the tan-eyed crocodiles.
After observing it for a while, Shao Xuan then put the crocodile back into the water.