The two tribes remained peaceful with each other along the way. Occasionally, they would exchange glares, at times, bare their teeth, but nobody started a fight. Even the few who had been eyeing Shao Xuan had not provoked him directly.
In both teams, everyone understood restraint. Those who did not know how to restrain themselves would not be allowed to follow the team.
The people in the Taihe tribe kept looking at Shao Xuan though. He was practically a stranger to them. After all, in the past, the candidates every time were about the same. If there was a change, it wouldn’t be a major one and they would still be familiar even to Guangyi. They could also recognize some of them because they often met them during hunts. Some even got along after a long time and could always remember some characteristics of the warriors.
The Flaming Horn tribe ignored the Taihe tribe’s curious stares. While walking, Duo Kang introduced their destination to Shao Xuan– Anba City.
In this region, there were six major cities, once belonging to six tribes—the Ji, Chao Qiu, Yi, Feng, Mu and Anba, each turning into a city. It was also the largest of the six tribes, but after the Ji tribe reunited the five other tribes, the place where the Ji tribe was located turned to Royal City after several expansions.
The descendants of the six major tribes lived in Royal City, but the cities which were originally built by the five other tribes still existed.
The people of the Flaming Horns tribe had also been to Royal City. Du Kang told Shao Xuan that because they had caused trouble before, they have not gone back to Royal City for a long time, instead of going to Anba City like this time.
As one of the six major tribes of the past, the people of Anba had not been idle after embarking on the path of being slave owners. Some went to Royal City, while others remained in this city, making Anba City the largest concentrated trading point for the tribesmen living in this large area.
There were also wanderers here. However, the status of wanderers here was not like what Shao Xuan had seen before, which was likely caused by the integration of the fire. The dependence on the tribe was less apparent, hence, the people became more independent and a little ambitious.
Some people would leave their tribe to develop and become wanderers. If they had the ability to leave their tribe to survive alone, they were all very capable people, or they would have been murdered long ago.
From the Flaming Horn tribe, it took at least 3-5 days to reach Anba City at their pace. If the weather was good, their time would’ve been shorter, but if they encountered trouble midway, it would take longer.
This time, they didn’t meet anyone who wanted trouble. On the morning of the fourth day, the line of people arrived outside the Anba City gate.
At the gate of Anba City, there were guards around. Every team entering the city needed to pay in the form of goods for them to be allowed to pass.
Shao Xuan saw Duo Kang directly handing over the ten prepared animal skins to the gatekeeper. For every ten people, he had handed in one roll of good quality animal hide. The guard picked it up and checked carefully in fear that Duo Kang might have given him shoddy goods.
After checking it, he circled behind Duo Kang to eye the remaining bundle of animal skins like he wanted to say something. A few people stepped up next to Duo Kang. The tall and strong men of the Flaming Horns tribe carried that big bundle of stuff easily, exposing their muscular arms as they moved. They opened their mouth to grin slightly, revealing their big white teeth.
The gatekeeper did not utter a word, knowing that this was the Flaming Horn tribe, a tribe known for their temper. The one who’d suffer in a confrontation would certainly be him, so after sizing them up, he gave up. Everyone knew that the Flaming Horn tribe would not hold themselves back in a fight, even here in Royal City.
The people of the Taihe tribe were safe because they travelled together with the Flaming Horn tribe. They were not bothered. However, several teams who had entered earlier were exploited badly.
The city was much larger than the cities in the desert. The houses were also neatly built, and there were houses on both sides of the street. Duo Kang had told him that half of those selling cloth, pottery, food, ornaments and such were wanderers.
After entering the city, the crowd went straight to their destination, which was also a relatively special area of Anba city, where it was used exclusively for tribesmen trading in the cities. The area had no pavements, relatively free but more dangerous.
“All right, hurry up and find a place,” Duo Kang, with a wave of his hand, told the men behind him.
Without further ado, the people in the back began to assign tasks. Some people would carry their stuff down, while some would use their strength to make a clearing for their tents.
The trunks they had cut down on the way were placed on the ground to act as a frame. The large rolls of burlap were unfolded afterwards. There were many places with holes in the cloths, but no one cared since they could still use it.
The people of Taihe tribe had built theirs next to the Flaming Horns tribe’s. When one saw everyone’s movements, one could tell they were skilled. The division of labor was clear.
After a few tents were set up, the crowd unloaded the goods and put them inside, leaving a man to keep guard. The others took out pieces of animal skins, spreading them out on their arms or putting them on simple shelves so that interested traders or slave owners of Anba City could look at them better.
Shao Xuan helped set up a good tent and spread his animal skins too for people to look at. Although the people of the Taihe tribe also brought animal skins, they also brought some others.
The people of the Taihe tribe knew a lot about herbs, so every time they came over, they would bring some herbs to sell. These sell faster than the skins.
A man who was holding some stuff passed by Shao Xuan’s area but with one look, he immediately turned away.
Shao Xuan remained calm, turning to look at what the other tribesmen were fiddling with elsewhere.
There were many people selling animal skins and bones around. There was also a variety of stuff that slave owners liked to use as raw materials to make things.
He did not take out the glowing stone at first. Shao Xuan intended to observe the trading first, then set the price.
The market was noisy. In order to attract the eyes of the purchaser, they’d shout out exaggerated stories about the goods in their hands. One said he took the skin from an adult striped beast deep in the mountains. Another said he had the skin of a cave lion king beast. They all vied for the customer’s attention.
Although they were loud, it was a pity the Flaming Horn people were selling adult bearskin. Their product simply could not rival the stall opposite them, selling smaller pieces of bearskin. These people claimed they were the skin of fearsome bear beast cubs but a customer called them out with a touch, saying it was just a common cave bear, not the fearsome bear beast they claimed it was. The seller denied this.
Several people started pushing and yelling. Some of the stones used to stabilize the poles holding the tent were kicked around, one of which rolled towards Shao Xuan.
This was just one of those common things that everyone could pick up anywhere or was thrown by the people who come here. They were all ordinary stones.
Shao Xuan picked up the stone that rolled to his feet and looked at it. The stone was not good enough to be a tool, but it was good enough for other things.
After a thought, Shao Xuan took out a small stone hammer and a knife he had made in the tribe from his selection of tools.
Ding. Ding. The sounds of him working on his tools cut through the shouts and fights.
Some people followed the noise to see exactly what was making this sound. Then, they found that someone was just knocking on some stone!
Shao Xuan, with a small stone hammer on his hand, hammered so fast that his other hand had to keep turning the stone to knock at the right places. When the shape became irregular, he had to apply changes at a speed not visible to the naked eye.
“What is that?!”
With the widespread use of gold and pottery, stone tools were always the most easily overlooked. Therefore, seeing Shao Xuan dealing with some stone, a few who came to see the animal skins suddenly had an interest in him. Since they were bored, they turned around to watch.
One of the men was particularly conspicuous. He was dressed in a brown animal leather coat, his tall, burly body squeezing steadily between the people in front as if the crowd had no effect on him. His two large palms were like fans, shoving away the men in front of him and the people would only realise it after it happened.
Seeing the man, Du Kang’s eyes lit up. He handed what he was holding to the man behind him. The crowd hastened to give way to this conspicuous man.