The slaves whose wrists were tied by the vines barely wore anything. And even the hides they were wearing were shabby, far from being shelters.
Being exposed to the burning sun, all of them were tanned, their lips were chapped, and all were in poor shape, walking barefoot. Without good treatment, some slaves with rotten injuries were surrounded and followed by some flying insects.
“Where will those slaves be sent to?” asked Shao Xuan. He knew if he didn’t ask, no one would explain it. So he had to take the initiative. Even he would be laughed at, he didn’t care, it’s enough for him to get the answer.
As soon as Shao Xuan asked this question, he was laughed at by some people, but there were also some people answered him, although they may be ridiculing him, Shao Xuan only wanted to know the answer.
“Of course the place where the slaves’ master live.” replied someone.
“Does the slaves’ master live there? The place where we will go?” asked Shao Xuan.
“It is, what’s up? Are you afraid?” said one of the Tian Shan, contemptuously.
Shao Xuan fell into silence. He looked at the sky, then looked at the surrounding environment, and recalled the terrain all the way. He said, “The slaves’ masters, where they are living seems not to be very good.” If they went straight, they would go to the desert area. The slaves’ masters lived in the desert? It made Shao Xuan very curious.
Although he knew that the slaves’ masters would escape from the central section to avoid the big tribes, he never thought that they would live in arid areas.
“Not good?” An older middle-aged man next to Huang Ye sneered, “They have a good time there! Only slaves are suffering.”
That’s for sure. The slaves’ master was exactly the one being served.
Just then, in the long slave queue, suddenly a slave broke free from the vines and ran towards Shao Xuan. Although he was skinny, he ran so fast that no one thought he was weak.
Someone in the slave queue shouted and looked at the running slave, and the slave running towards Shao Xuan, who was a shock-headed and dark-skinned slave, was shouting with a hoarse voice. He probably wanted to ask for help. Shao Xuan could see the hope from his eyes.
Poof!
A sharpened piece of wood pierced the body of the running man, and the blood dropped to the ground, the light in the slave’s eyes was annihilated.
With a whip in hand, a man in a hide walked over to the fallen slave. On his forehead, there was a tattoo seemed like the word “Tai”.
“It’s a “Tai” slave.” Said someone with a calm tone and there was no fluctuation for seeing a slave being killed.
Slaves were also graded. The lower slaves didn’t have any title, but for higher ranked slaves, the lowest level of entitled slaves was “Tai”. On their forehead was a tattoo, the shape of which was similar to the character “Tai”, so they were named “Tai” slaves. For their strength, they could rival primary totem warriors.
The initial goal of somebody who just became a slave was to be a “Tai” slave. Even though they had turned into slaves, they would be satisfied as long as they could gain the equivalent power to primary totem warriors.
The “Tai” slaves were just at the lowest level among the higher ranked slaves. The slaves ranking higher than “Tai” slaves were “Pu” slaves. There were some “Pu” slaves in this slave team, holding swords rather than whips. Generally, they didn’t manage the matters of this team and seemed very harmless. However, once they took action, it would be much more bloody than killing one slave. Therefore, when that slave just tried to flee, the “Pu” slaves just glanced at him. Some of them didn’t even raise their heads and continued on their way. Anyway, there were lower-level “Tai” slaves to cope with it.
That “Tai” slave strode to the slave who fell on the ground, having a glance at the direction where Shao Xuan stood. When he looked at the slave, there was no vigilance, no worries, and even no emotions. The only thing left was numbness, cold and tough as swords as if he was looking at some other dead things.
Leaning over, that “Tai” slave grabbed the feet of the slave, who had stopped breathing, and dragged him back to the direction of this team.
Because of that, a long bloody line was left on the ground.
That “Tai” slave dragged the dead slave back to the team and waved his arm to throw him into the lower slaves’ team. Then, Shao Xuan saw that all wizened slaves whose wrists were tied tightly rushed to the dead slave.
“That… that is…” Lei stuttered.
The Eight Limbs people said in an indifferent voice, “They are competing for food.”
Although their wrists were tied, their arms, fingers, legs, and feet could still move. They were scrambling for food, although the “food” was also a human being. If they didn’t eat, they were likely to starve to death, while if they ate, they could survive.
Noticing Shao Xuan and others silent, the Tian Shan people said, “Can’t bear their behavior? If you really can’t tolerate it, you could save one or two lower slaves. If that slave ran closer just now, you could rescue him in time.”
Observing carefully the reaction of other people in their team, Shao Xuan also understood that there were some things that they didn’t know. When most of these people looked at the slaves, their eyes were filled with disgust.
Many totem warriors surely looked down on slaves and thought that these slaves betrayed their ancestors. However, unlike many warriors, some people in the traveling team, especially the Eight Limbs people, looked at these slaves with hate in their eyes.
Shao Xuan learned the reason from Qu Ce. A few years ago, the Eight Limbs people who had encountered similar things, saved a few lower slaves and killed some “Tai” slaves.
“In fact, the people of the Eight Limbs tribe were very secret when they tried to save those slaves. They shouldn’t have been discovered, but finally, they were discovered in some way. A young girl from the Eight Limbs tribe gave a slave a piece of dried meat before leaving, and the slave saw a spider kept by her. Later, the slave failed to escape. He was arrested and confessed everything. And then these people who had rescued slaves were all killed when they went out with friends and elders.” Said Qu Ce.
There were more than a dozen people from the Eight Limbs tribe being killed, including even senior totem warriors. Among the slaves who attacked them, there were more than thirty “Tai” slaves and at least four “Pu” slaves. If they fought alone, even a “Pu” slave was equivalent to a normal intermediate totem warrior, and would not cause such a tragic result. However, these slaves almost attacked in a suicidal way. They never hesitated to cut themselves in order to attack others, and they were willing to hurt themselves even when the enemies were just slightly hurt.
Slaves were just tools. When the tools were lost, those slaves’ masters never felt pity and they would just find other tools.
“After that, people of the Eight Limbs tribe kill all slaves, regardless of their level. As long as they attack those slaves, they would not leave a single slave alive and would not give anyone a chance to inform others.” Qu Ce looked at Shao Xuan and the other two, “There are a lot of things like this, and almost every tribe has encountered. Remember, those slaves can betray their beliefs and ancestors and they can forsake anyone.”
“Would they betray their slaves’ masters?” Asked Shao Xuan.
“…It depends on whether they dare or not. For different slaves’ masters, their slaves will be different, and you will understand when you see more.” Said Qu Ce.
After the slave team left, the traveling team continued to move forward, and the slave who was eaten left only a smudge of blood and a few pieces of bones that could not be combined. Some scavenged insects surrounded it and carved up the last “meal”.
Later, Shao Xuan and the traveling team did not encounter the slave team again. The way they went was different.
The more they went forward, the more clearly Shao Xuan felt the dryness of the air.
The surrounding vegetation was sparse. Compared to other places, animals and plants were much less there. The grass on the ground had also withered.
The team continued marching for five days, and some members of the team had begun to languish.
“Let’s go further. There will be a tribe, and we can rest there for a few days,” said an elderly person.
When hearing these words, the young people became excited. “Is there a tribe? Is there a tribe in this place? What’s the name of the tribe?”
“The Rain tribe.” Replied someone.
Shao Xuan looked at the sunny sky. The Rain tribe.
How was the young boy Yang Sui going? Had he successfully become the Shaman of the Rain tribe?