The surrounding land got arider, and the creatures in the forest also became less active.
After passing over several high mountains, they came to a hilly area.
Standing on the top of a small hill, Shao Xuan could see the houses scattered around the land and vast areas of farmland in the distance. However, the crops on the farmland seemed not to grow well because of the water shortage. Not only did lack of water result in the slow growth of crops, but also a high death rate.
As for the farther distance, it was hard to see clearly, as if there was shrouded with layers of gauze because of too much dust in the air, which blocked our sights. In the drought area, when the wind blew, it would bring the sand high.
As they kept going along that direction, more and more cracks were embedded on the ground. Although there were also some sparse grass, the cracked ground occupied almost all of our field of vision.
“Over there, it is the Rain tribe.” Huang Ye told the young warriors who came here for the first time.
During the journey to the Rain tribe, the elders would teach the young warriors something about various tribes. Now when they saw the Rain tribe, the elders would definitely tell them the customs and practices of the Rain tribe.
Although Shao Xuan knew Yang Sui of the Rain tribe, he had only limited information about the tribe. Therefore, when that middle-aged man explained the local customs to the young warriors of his tribe, Shao Xuan also picked up his ears to learn it. It was better to know more information.
“The totem of the Rain tribe is ‘rain’ and the Rain people worship water. Their belief in the rainwater is far beyond your imagination. If some people of the Rain tribe die from being drowned or eaten by the beast in the water, most of the time, other people of the tribe would not mourn the dead, instead, they believe that the dead must have the mysterious power that others don’t have. Depending on the power, they could send themselves to the place where Gods live in…”
Shao Xuan and others, “…” WTF!
If it’s really the case, the crocodiles of the Drumming tribe were simply the spokespersons of God.
It sounded ridiculous, but it could be understood. Each tribe had their own beliefs and worship. Many things that seemed extremely foolish to others were the unyielding conviction of some. For this, you couldn’t change their thoughts even if you opened their brain.
“It’s said that the Rain tribe’s shamans who cannot pray for rain would be burned to death?” asked someone.
“Not exactly. I heard that some shamans were burned to death at the beginning, but afterward, no one could bring the rain, and they couldn’t kill all shamans, so they changed the rule. But the result was that, in the Rain tribe, the status of shamans was gradually degraded. It’s said that the candidate of the Rain tribe shamans must peregrinate outside, hoping to find a solution.”
“Did they find the solution later?” A young soldier of the Feather tribe couldn’t help but ask.
The other guys looked at the douchebag-like warrior who asked the question, “It must be unreal, how could one bring rain whenever he prays for it? At least it’s impossible for shamans of our tribe, not to mention the Rain tribe’s shamans. The people of those small tribes just love messing about!”
“That’s for sure.” Others nodded, feeling that those small tribes couldn’t make it if their own tribes couldn’t. What’s more, praying for rain must be just a lie.
“How could God be related to ‘rain’? However, one thing is true, that is, God must be able to fly. Well, it’s for sure,” said some of the Feather tribe.
“Bosh! How could God have wings? He must have eight hands!” said someone from the Eight Limbs.
“Bullshit! God couldn’t be like that!”
When it comes to the appearance of God, tribes with different faiths would quarrel because of different opinions.
The people of the Tian Shan tribe thought that God lived on the mountain, while the Mang tribe people vetoed who strongly believed that God should live in the woods, especially with the bamboo forest.
The people of Thousand Masks tribe didn’t speak, but the dissatisfaction on their faces had told everyone what they thought.
Shao Xuan thought about the Flaming Horn tribe. As being brainwashed by the Shaman since childhood, or being taught by the Shaman since childhood, they only believed in three things — fire, totem and ancestor. What was God? Was it fire? Was it the incarnation of the totem? Or the passed ancestor? Or all of the three things?
Listening to the opinions of the people around them, Lei and Tuo touched their head at the same time, and they began to outline the appearance of God in their mind. If there was a God, should he have… a long horn on the head? Anyway, God would certainly not have those long wings or play spiders or be an incarnation of rain either.
Well, God must have long horns on the head, and must be very powerful! Lei and Tuo discussed and nodded, thinking that other people’s opinions were nonsense.
Noticing that they were about to fight, the older people who were irritated by each other had to calm down and pull the excited young soldiers away.
“Eh? Who are they?” Asked Lei, pointing to a group of people who passed by not far away.
Hearing these words, the crowd stopped quarreling and looked over there.
There was a team of nine people. The leading person was in green vine grass and yellow hay-woven clothes, with some wooden and bone ornaments. Each person held a pottery bowl in hand. Taking a few steps, they dipped the other hand in the pottery bowl, then shook the dipped hand toward the side of the road and repeated the action constantly. There must be water in the pottery bowl.
On their waists, there were some wooden bells made of walnut-like nuts. Every time they swung their arms forcibly, these wooden bells would also swing along with their bodies and made a pattering sound, similar to the sound of the rain falling on the ground.
“They’re the Rain people.” Said Huang Ye.
“Are they for a sacrifice?” Asked someone.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s related to their sacrifice.”
“Anyway, let’s find a place to rest now.”
“Right, the Rain tribe will provide houses for travelers to live in. Let’s have a rest there.” Said one experienced traveler.
The team of the Rain tribe didn’t proceed fast. When the traveling team walked over, Shao Xuan’s party just crossed them.
All the Rain people painted the totem on their faces with pigment, so no one could see their faces clearly. But Shao Xuan recognized Yang Sui who was walking in front of the team.
Yang Sui’s dressing was slightly different from the other eight people who walked behind him. His cloth was more complicated, and the pottery bowl in his hand was also not the same as others, which was a little higher. Besides, the bowl was painted with stripes and dots, symbolizing the running water and rainwater.
At the same time, Yang Sui also noticed Shao Xuan. He was stunned for a moment and wanted to say something, but realized that it wasn’t a good time to catch up on Shao Xuan. He saw people around Shao Xuan and thought of something, then motioned Shao Xuan to go to the Rain tribe by rolling eyes quickly.
Yang Sui signed to Shao Xuan to go there first. After his work was finished, he would take a chance to look for Shao Xuan and catch up on each other.
There was a row of wooden houses at the border of the Rain tribe, which were built for travelers who just needed to pay a little “accommodation fee”.
The original translation from wangmamaread.
Sure enough, the fee was at their own expenses and the people from each tribe would not pay for outsiders. Fortunately, Shao Xuan took a lot of ‘money’ with him. They gave the guardians of the Rain tribe some shell money and exchanged for a three-person cabin.
The cabin was very primitive, but in the place where it was hard to find a tree, it was tolerable.
Shao Xuan exchanged some food with the Rain people, a kind of hard bread. All they were not accustomed to eating the food, especially Tuo and Lei who always fed themselves with fierce beasts by hunting, if in the wild. It was the first time for them to encounter such a place and eat such kind of food.
“I think the place our tribe lives in is really great.” Said Lei.
Nibbling at the dry and unpalatable bread, Tuo nodded with agreement and asked Shao Xuan, “How long do we have to stay here? During the adventure, are there some places that worse than this?”
“It depends on the elders’ opinion. And as for the rest of the journey…you’d better be mentally prepared.” Shao Xuan showed a look, meaning “There must be some places worse than here, you know”.
The expecting look on the faces of Lei and Tuo suddenly disappeared. There would be places even worse than this! They would rather go to the Ferocious Beasts Mountain Forest to stay alone for ten days but didn’t want to stay here where they couldn’t even see one beast.
No wonder they said that the travel would be extremely difficult.
After a short break, a young girl who came in with water smiled at Shao Xuan and gave Shao Xuan a leaf.
After the girl left, Lei and Tuo squinted and said, “Ah-Xuan, is sending leaves the custom of the Rain tribe?”
“Is there anything written on the leaf? Let me see!”
Shao Xuan avoided the two, quickly glanced at the words on the leaf, and then ground the leaf.
Lei and Tuo were disappointed.
“I am going out. If there is anything urgent in the team, whistle.” Said Shao Xuan, who paused and then continued, “Be on guard against people of the Tian Shan tribe.”
“We know, go ahead, the Elder.” Tuo waved.
Before leaving the chalet, Shao Xuan saw people who looked at their room from the window of another room. It was the room for the Tian Shan tribe. Someone was holding a bow in the window and the arrow was facing Shao Xuan, but it was not shot but just kept the aligned position.
Noticing that Shao Xuan was looking at his direction, the man smiled, which was quite annoying.
Were people of the Tian Shan tribe hostile to Shao Xuan and the other two because of the Di Shan tribe? Or because of other reasons?
Anyway, their hostility made Shao Xuan be always on guard against them.
Shao Xuan didn’t pay much attention to the man over there as he knew that they would not act brazenly at that moment. After leaving the chalet, Shao Xuan walked towards one direction. There was a small hill over there and some wooden houses on the hill. It was beyond the territory of the Rain tribe where Shao Xuan would not be stopped.
These wooden houses were much worse than the houses where they rested. Looking at the straw rope hanging on one of the wooden houses, Shao Xuan walked towards that house.
The door panel was half-closed. Shao Xuan saw the people in the room. One was the young girl who gave him water and the leaf and the other person sitting on the ground was Yang Sui.
At this moment, Yang Sui was holding an oxtail and staring at it.
Before the young girl delivered water and leaf to Shao Xuan, he had seen her once. She was behind Yang Sui at that time, but the clothes she wore and the pattern painted on her face made it hard to recognize her.
When Shao Xuan came, the girl was whispering something, and she stopped when she heard the noise. The two looked up at Shao Xuan.
“You come.” Yang Sui didn’t look good. After the pattern on the face was cleared, Shao Xuan could see dark circles around his eyes.
“You don’t look good. You failed to be the Shaman?” Asked Shao Xuan.
“No, I am the Shaman now, but I’m going to fail.” Sighed Yang Sui.