C345 – Living Records
Posted on March 25, 2019 by AzureOrchid92
Not long after the three people went in, Shao Xuan heard the sound of a click followed by the voice of the blind slave.
In many desert cities, some slave owners do not want to see the records left by the ancestors. They couldn’t bear to have to study it, and were told to treat it with care and couldn’t be damaged. Over time, those who specifically look at the ancestors’ records were getting fewer and fewer.
Later, there were slave owners who arranged for their slaves to read the records and ordered them to memorize all the records they had seen. When they wanted to know something, the slaves in charge of remembering would recite it skillfully.
As a result, such a class of slaves dedicated to memorizing their records was created. Their full duty was to recite all the records for their masters.
These people were like living records. The slave owners could always have them in tow. Whenever they wanted to know something, they just needed to ask one. They could even be set to fight.
Shao Xuan listened to the sounds next door as he sneaked inside the stone room. Those two people were in really high spirits while just messing around, though still listening, of course!
However, the old slave whose voice has no ups and downs, was calm and not affected by the two people’s actions. Calmer than even Shao Xuan who speculated that the experience of the old man was just too deep.
For the chaotic relationship between the slaves and their owners, Shao Xuan did not have time to think more. The stone room contained a lot of skin rolls, wooden rolls, cloth rolls and others, which made Shao Xuan very excited. He finally found it!
Looking at the classification above the records, there was smelting related which Shao Xuan was looking for. These notes were very old. Some were even broken because of improper preservation as the strength of the medium used was a little bit easy to break.
This chronicled the seed, as well as where the smelting ore came from. Similar to what Shao Xuan thought, the stones that were placed around the seed for a long time would change and become an ore. A stone placed at a different distance from the seed would also produce a different ore. Since it had a different smelting method, the metal that could be obtained was not the same. The better the stone quality, the shorter the time required, the higher the metal content.
Shao Xuan looked at the smelting methods described in it. Either failed or successful, all were recorded. Looking at these records, Shao Xuan felt for the ancestors of the slave owners. It seemed that they have been exposed to smelting for a long time, but had mastered it through numerous trial and errors.
In this regard, Shao Xuan also had to find the origin of slave owners, about their older history.
However, probably because it was too long ago, Shao Xuan really could not find the records. He had looked at a lot but still did not find what he wanted.
At this time, the man and woman next door have also finished their matter, laughing as they left.
Shao Xuan put down the things in his hand, and immediately hid behind the stone shelf.
The curtain at the door of the stone chamber was lifted. Shao Xuan heard the footsteps walking inside the stone room. It was not light, every step was slow. This was the footsteps of the blind old slave.
Shao Xuan heard the sound of the old slave pouring water to drink. He seemed to be thinking of something. The old slave sighed, then got up and came to the side where Shao Xuan hid.
There was sunshine coming in the window. Shao Xuan could see the other side’s shadow, elongating as the figure got more and more closer. He silently took out a knife in his hand.
When the other side was five meters away from him, Shao Xuan suddenly got out and crossed two strides. He instantly come to the blind old slave’s side, the blade of his knife drawn to the old slave’s throat. However, before slashing down, Shao Xuan stopped his hand.
Looking at the still calm old slave, Shao Xuan did not move his knife, but looked at the man carefully.
There was no one outside the stone room. Inside, it was only Shao Xuan and this blind old slave.
It’s a bit weird.
“You’re not afraid?” Shao Xuan asked in a low voice.
“Why would I be afraid?” The voice of the old slave was flat.
“You’re not calling for people?” Shao Xuan asked instead.
“Why would I call for someone?” The voice of the old slave was still flat.
Shao Xuan looked at the man again. His eyes were blind and he looked like he had no power to fight or even some morbid trump card.
“How did you find me?” Shao Xuan asked.
“Smell. There is a smell of fruit wine.” The old slave pointed out earnestly.
Shao Xuan was surprised. In order to be more concealed, Shao Xuan infiltrated the palace after changing his clothes. The wine smell has to be very light. Even those guards have not been able to detect him, but now, he was unexpectedly detected by this old slave by his smell!
Seemingly aware of Shao Xuan’s doubts, the old slave continued, “I am familiar with the smell here. As long as there is a little change, I can detect it.”
The old slave did not care about Shao Xuan’s movements at all. He just dragged over a stool on his own and leisurely sat down, looking like he was going to continue to chat with Shao Xuan.
This made Shao Xuan feel that the old slave had mistaken himself for another slave owner in Snowfield City? However, the next words of the old slave overturned Shao Xuan’s guess.
“What did you sneak into Snowfield City for?” The old slave asked. Without waiting for Shao Xuan’s answer, he added, “At this time, sneaking into this city and coming to the place where the records were stored… Are you from someone in another city?”
Without waiting for Shao Xuan to answer again, the old slave shook his head and said, “That shouldn’t be. I can feel the place you had just looked through and you’re interested in the slave owners’ affairs? Most of the slave owners are not concerned about the records of their ancestors, so that means you are a tribe’s man?”
In this process, Shao Xuan never answered a word, but this old slave would guess the answer instead. Rather than just a gentle tone, when he listened carefully, the voice of the old slave actually had a hint of curiosity and interest, but no hint of fear or worry.
Is this really a slave to Snowfield City?
“What you want to know, just ask me and don’t look through here,” said the blind old slave. With those eerie sunken, white turbid eyes looking at Shao Xuan, he waited for Shao Xuan’s words.
Shao Xuan thought about it. He temporarily retracted the knife in his hand and asked, “What is the relationship between a slave owner and a slave?”
If anyone else was hearing this, they would surely despise the person: That’s obvious. Of course, it’s a master-servant relationship!
But this blind old slave did not.
Hearing Shao Xuan’s question, the old slave thought, and sighed, “Slave owners and slaves… Slave owners enslaved slaves as if they had planted a seed without any other chances, to germinate in the land under his jurisdiction, giving them the opportunity to grow up. The slave owners would be able to harvest the fruit later. But there are several barriers around the seed. If the barrier is not lifted, even if the seed can germinate successfully, its growth will be limited. The slave owners lifted the chains as if they had lifted the barriers that prevented the plant from growing, so that they can continue to grow.
“When the slave owner dies, it is equivalent to no one caring about these growing plants anymore. What about the barrier? What will happen to them? If you are lucky enough to have a slave owner willing to take over, you can pull the plant out of the ground and then plant it under the jurisdiction of the new slave owner. The size of the plant will not change, but to grow to what extent was still based on the past extent. It’s just that there will always be a problem with transplanting. Plant transplanting, if there is a problem with this process, such as rhizome, the other core places were also damaged. Or transplanting when there are other different conditions and it has not been able to be planted again, then it will die. Just as a slave owner has a certain mortality rate, the slave will die if there is any mistake in the process of the next owner.
“So the slave exchange is like transplanting, and there is a risk in it. If you have bad luck, aside from the opportunity to continue to grow, you could also be buried alive. As for breaking the shackles… Not every seed planted by slave owners can break through the barrier on its own. Even if they had a smooth break, the cases of broken branches and leaves will appear. Serious damage will even affect the original power, which is the same as the slave breaking through the shackles.
“At the earliest, slave owners would not easily lift the chains of slaves. The slave owners would lift the chains for them only when they were slaves for generations and they were faithful slaves. But then, in order to compete for that, they had to fight, go to war, else unlocking will become commonplace.”
Shao Xuan listened to the old slave’s answer. While he wrote down these words, he marveled at what the old slave had learned. It looked like this old slave really knows a lot.
The blind old slave in front of him was just a low-leveled slave. In terms of strength, he was even lower than other low-grade slaves. Being in his age, his body was weak, that any inferior slave could kill him with his bare hands. But it is such a person that wrote down almost most of the preserved records inside this stone room. After summing up these things, with more abbreviated words, all was told to Shao Xuan.
“Overconfident, arrogant, prideful, not taking others seriously, self-righteous, if they continue to go on like this, it will eventually lead to their destruction.” In the end, the old slave lamented, “There have been more and more slaves rebelling.”
The old slave even recited a roll of sinned slaves, written by the slave owners of Snowfield City, which listed the most influential high-leveled slaves of the city in the past thousand years. They wrote the most heinous, ungrateful and cowardly slaves, coming from the slave owners. Those who chose to rebel, but just died.
There was no doubt that every slave in the sinned-slave roll died very badly, but when the old slave said it, he said it with pity.
Was it because, unfortunately, the slaves who betrayed the slave owners failed to succeed? Or was it just a pity for the others? Shao Xuan was not sure.
Seeing that the old slave continued to pity those slaves, Shao Xuan hastened to pull the subject back.
“How much do you know about the fire of the tribes?” Shao Xuan asked.
“Fire. It’s really a word I miss.” The old slave paused and seemed to recall a memory of a long time ago. “I don’t know much about this, but only that the fire of the tribe is weakening. Your tribesmen seem to be looking for a solution too.”
The old slave could not answer more questions about the fire which made Shao Xuan a little disappointed. However, what the old slave knew was already enough.
“If the slave owners of Snowfield City can keep the records left by their ancestors, perhaps you can find the answers you want. Unfortunately… there’s too much damage!” The old slave was very emotional.
Shao Xuan’s expression changed. Should he really look for Shi Shu? He knew that Shi Shu had planted a pit there, should he still jump in? Shao Xuan was a little hesitant.
Without getting an answer about the tribe’s fire, Shao Xuan asked a question he had been puzzled about, “Where did the slave owners come from?”
“From the sea.” The old slave replied.
Shao Xuan: “…” You think I’m an idiot?
Hey, guys!
I saw a new translator for CoPW in NovelUpdates, with indicated update sched of 2-3 chapters/week. Translation was better than the last one so we may not have to depend on my edited MTL if the new translator managed to catch up. I’ll still stick to editing the MTL though. (^o^)