C364 – Exaggerated Necklace
Posted on May 31, 2019 by AzureOrchid92
After separating with Old Ju, Shao Xuan continued to travel along his target direction, knowing that the Flaming Horns tribe really were there. His heart was a lot more solid. Even if he was far from the Flaming Horns tribe, Shao Xuan still felt relaxed on the road.
Without Old Ju, Shao Xuan’s pace sped up a lot. Midway, he saw some plants. He made a few herbal concoctions, poisonous as well as healing drugs were prepared from what Shao Xuan learned from the old man.
When he encountered good stones, he also made some spare stone tools. This was the advantage of using stone tools. They could be locally sourced and there was no need to forge it. Shao Xuan also polished a large pot of basin, though actually a lot deeper than the usual basin to use to cook soup and herbs. The stone pot has two left ears on both sides used for a straw rope to pass through and he could carry it on the road, ready for use at any time.
This sparse mountain was indeed very large. Shao Xuan reached the area with dense grass after a while from separating with Old Ju. Over the mountain, he could see the terrain had become flat with a vast prairie view. He did not know whether it was because of the season or there was less rain here, but even though there was a lot of grass here, they were still mostly dry.
Trees suitable for a grassland environment were grouped together or isolated in the middle of an empty meadow, which was also a major feature of the prairie. There was also a river on this prairie, but it is not too big. Along the curved banks of the river, there were walls of trees lined up that he could not name.
Compared to this vast prairie, the growth of the trees where he was was not much. The grass was richer and more varied, that even if Shao Xuan had learned a lot from following Old Ju, he still had more to learn after coming here. Shao Xuan did not have the same detoxification ability the old man has, so he did not dare to eat indiscriminately. He had to make a careful choice. Even something like a seemingly ordinary grass could be secretly hiding a killing machine inside. Sometimes, a humble grass could ask for a human life.
There were wild cattles lined up in formation, grazing slowly on the prairie. Even the sharpest predator on the prairie who wanted to drag a bison out of the herd would still have to think more about how to accomplish that. This group of wild cattle was not easy to deal with. In particular, those on the periphery were significantly larger than those in the center of the herd. Those with black pointed horns would meet their enemy with the sharp point first.
Seeing Shao Xuan, several bison on the periphery stomped using their strong hooves. Their stout and powerful limbs and calf hooves were like iron palms trampling on the grass, easily stepping out of a hoof pit.
They were demonstrating their strength and warning Shao Xuan.
A lion-like predator hidden behind the dry bushes saw the scene, and it unwillingly removed its sight from the herd. It moved to where Shao Xuan was, but, when it caught Shao Xuan’s eyes, the hairs on its back rose. Its intuition told it to avoid this seemingly small human. In the end, it decided to keep guarding the herd and wait for the right moment to launch another attack.
Shao Xuan created a suitable hunting opportunity for the big cat too. He first threw some pungent herbs towards the herd, causing the herd to be restless, then caught the chance to slaughter a bison. Afterwards, he ran away, carrying the cow. Meanwhile, the big cat hidden behind the bushes also took the chance to pick up one.
After roasting the cattle, he ate some. Then, Shao Xuan got the stone pot out and went to the river to scoop some water. After a thought, he threw a few thousand gold grains into the pot, most of which where the ones he got from the old man that were bitten over by the wild rats. In the words of the old man, these species were unlikely to survive with him, so eating it was better.
Shao Xuan also did not care that these grains were bitten by wild rats. He peeled the shell, then threw the golden grains inside the pot to cook it a little. Although there were fewer grains compared to the pot of water, the cooked soup still became a little cloudy yellow. With its faint fragrance, it was very tempting. It was also a good treat to drink such a pot after eating too much meat.
The cooked grain was soft and waxy inside. It tasted good. After the soup he drank went down his stomach, Shao Xuan felt a lot more comfortable. No wonder Old Ju did not care about any beasts in front of this. It was indeed much better to eat this than the flesh of a beast.
But even if it’s good for the body, Shao Xuan only has a thousand grains on hand. One thousand capsules could be considered a lot, but put together, you could only see a little bit. Shao Xuan saying that he wanted to try to plant the thousand gold grains was not just as a joke. He really has this idea, that if he could plant it successfully, later, when he went back to the other side of the sea, he could also take a batch back to improve the life of the tribe.
After eating and having a good rest, Shao Xuan carried his gear and went on his way.
The terrain to the grassland was with slight inclines. At times, he saw raised low hills in the wilderness. Occasionally, he also saw some ant nests.
Shao Xuan stepped into the prairie seven days later.
Under the clear sky, several riders rushed by on the prairie. The tamed horses stepped on the slightly arid prairie, raising up dust on their way. Those people were probably riding with competition against the others in mind.
The people riding on the horses were wearing fur and cloth combined with knitted clothes. Their long hairs were not cut short, woven into a few braids, with men and women having similar hairstyles. Their faces were also painted with some patterns.
Shao Xuan, carrying two roasted bison thighs and a large basin as a stone pot, stepped forward easily on the prairie. Compared to the rapid hooves and tense atmosphere nearby, Shao Xuan appearing here was a contrast, a stranger passing by particularly leisurely. This abrupt change in the scene made the riders notice him even if they didn’t want to.
The young man who was at the front pulled on his horse as he approached Shao Xuan. The man behind him looked too, then the rest stopped in succession, their eyes all looking at Shao Xuan. Two of the young men also drew the dagger in their waists, one pulled it out, while the other placed his fingertips on the knife hanging on the side of his horse.
After the head person swept a circle around Shao Xuan, his eyes became more cautious, but his face was not so serious. With a smile on his face, he went to ask Shao Xuan from which side he had come.
Seeing their leader like this, several other people looked at each other, then changed their guarded expressions. However, the young man who had just touched his knife did not move his hand away, but the one who pulled out his dagger put it back to the holster at his waist. Their sight strayed on the string, an extraordinary necklace hanging on Shao Xuan’s neck and stayed for a moment, then like the others, both exposed their white teeth, smiling at Shao Xuan.
The string of necklaces hanging around Shao Xuan’s neck was actually made of the big horns of the bison, as well as the fangs and claws of other predators. For these people, a person who could hunt these prairie beasts and carry so many easily on their way, was enough to make them think first before they act.
One shouldn’t look down at these people, chatting with Shao Xuan with a friendly smile. Shao Xuan knew it was not good to provoke them, but not provoking them didn’t mean he would make friends with them immediately. He would not fight or kill them directly, but he wouldn’t be the underdog. In such a primitive environment, there were moments like these at all times, which was the reason why Shao Xuan left these souvenirs after hunting to make exaggerated necklaces.
With just a few words with those people, Shao Xuan did not directly say which tribe he was from. He only said that he was out after a training and was going back, but he did not seem to remember the way. He asked about the surrounding terrain, with a cow leg as a reward.
These people’s tribe was just in the vicinity, so they were familiar with the surroundings. After receiving Shao Xuan’s cow leg, they listened to Shao Xuan’s questions about the tribes in the dense mountains. Since they were idle, they pointed Shao Xuan to the right direction. One even got off his horse to talk to him, then lent one and accompanied him. Although they had not been to further places and only reached as far as the prairie area near the tribe, they listened to the elders saying things about that dense mountain areas. When they became more powerful, they would take a chance to travel farther out, so they had learned about some of the important geographical locations around.
“From here, go straight, then climb over a few more mountains, and you should be able to see it.” The leading young man said.
They could only lead the way up to there. It was impossible to go further and there were more danger farther away. Then, they looked at Shao Xuan who looked the same age as them. This person could travel in this perilous prairie alone and also live well. Few of them who were dissatisfied before knew they were no match.
“Thanks.” Then, Shao Xuan got off the horse and organized this equipment to continued walking.
After walk through the prairie and over a mountain range, he finally saw the scenery he wanted to find.
Standing on the high mountain, looking upon the thick green in the distance, breathing the moist air, Shao Xuan then took the stone pot to carry it on his back, then went down the mountain.
Hello, everybody!
So, I’ve noticed that my views have increased for the last three days. When I checked, the chapters I posted were actually linked in Novel Updates! I never expected that to happen since I didn’t even translate these chapters. I had Bing and Google translate the Chinese ones, meaning these were machine translated or MTLs, then edit the translated to make it readable, I guess. As a fan, I still wish for a good translator to pick this up.
(′-ω-｀)))。。
I don’t know if you all noticed, but I started this last year when it’s been months since Lesyt last translated and I wasn’t sure if anybody would pick it up. I became impatient so I planned to just read the MTLs. My problem is that I often reread great novels and it’s annoying to always do that with MTLs, so I decided to edit the chapters as I read. That’s why the chapters still needs proofreading, especially the earlier ones, and I only have one fan of CoPW to mostly correct my spelling mistakes. He’s Rextraos ━╤デ╦︻(????????? ?) on NovelFire. Also, I’m lazy, so I probably wouldn’t even entertain someone who would be willing to proofread it since that will add to the stuff I’ll do.
So, I chose to post the edited chapters here since, why not. If anybody saw it and chose to read, then they’re welcome to. Just that I never thought it would get a lot of readers since it was not the official translation.
Anyway, this has gotten long. I only wish that someone will still translate this and the fans of Chronicles of Primordial Wars won’t really depend on me. I’m sorry if this might be showing that I’m ungrateful for the increase in views, but *sigh* yeah, I’ll still post chapters here. Glad that I got out this rant though.
(*′︶`*)?Thanks for reading!