Chapter 527
There Are Many Thieves These Days
Zheng Luo, Duo Kang and Gui He were among those that followed Shao Xuan. They were neighbours to the green-thumbed Taihe tribe and had experience in digging things so the shamans weren’t that worried about them.
The reason why Gui He went instead of Ta was that Ta was the owner of the white falcon in charge of air patrol after Chacha went missing.
Even though they knew they couldn’t hide from everyone, precautions were still necessary.
Ta was upset at this arrangement. He missed his chance when the brothers came from the sea and this chance. The visitors that were out talking to Flaming Horn tribespeople could see this long face.
Shao Xuan exhaled in relief when he saw the surroundings of the cave in the same state as he left it.
“This is it.” Shao Xuan pointed out the Veins of the Sky to everyone.
The crowd got excited at the thought of their tribe owning such a precious plant.
“Eh, is that the cabbage you mentioned?” Zheng Luo pointed at an oval plant.
“Yes, it is. I only brought back the middle part.”
Zheng Luo nodded in satisfaction at the large vegetable. Without wasting time, he delegated work to everyone in the team.
The normally gruff men of the tribe were extra cautious here knowing that this area was filled with treasure. Each step was carefully calculated, afraid they would accidentally kill a plant.
The lack of roughness when handling the treasures were apparent.
Which was new for the people of the Flaming Horn tribe.
Shao Xuan knew they weren’t familiar with Veins of the Sky so he marked out each plant in the area for them to work more efficiently.
These warriors, who usually used a stone club thicker than a human to whack beasts, were now nervously using a shovel no larger than their palms to delicately dig the plant out.
A few digs in he asked, “Grand Elder, am I doing this right?”
A few more digs in, he asked, “Chief, do I continue?”
“Yes! Dig! Hurry up! At this rate, we’ll be here forever!”
Zheng Luo couldn’t stand waiting around anymore and took a small shovel himself. He sat down with great force but as soon as his shovel hit the ground, it was as if he pulled the breaks on his strength. The shovel was only a nail deep into the ground.
Shao Xuan was speechless.
These strong brutes could kill beasts without breaking a sweat but they were all sweating buckets now from digging a few holes.
They were all too nervous from their first time doing something like this.
Shao Xuan was in charge of the largest plant. Zheng Luo didn’t want to miss out on this as chief and headed over after a few digs at his original plant.
Zheng Luo, Duo Kang and even the comparatively calmer Gui He were all shaking from nervousness before they started digging. They shivered at every move Shao Xuan made, afraid that the Grand Elder might damage the plant. In the end, they knew this wasn’t helping anyone and followed Shao Xuan’s lead to dig.
Their goal was to plant these Veins of the Sky in the tribe so they had to keep the roots intact for it to survive.
They didn’t need to shake off all the soil from the roots so they all started a large circle around the plant before going into detail.
Sometimes he used the shovel, other times he used the brush, Shao Xuan was having fun in this mission to bring back the plants.
Even though the roots looked thin, they were all quite strong, especially for the seemingly thousand-year-old plant. Duo Kang accidentally hit one of the roots while digging. As he nervously went to check on that part, he declared it to be mostly fine except for a tiny dent. Its skin was not even scratched.
As the tribesmen got used to the motions and their nerves relaxed, the productivity was greatly increasing.
The white hawk in the sky had a few warming cries. If it spotted anything suspicious headed their way, the people had to move.
Caesar was dragged out by Shao Xuan too to guard the area with the warriors. Wolves had sharper senses than humans and could catch something the guards missed.
By the time the sun was setting, the largest Vein of the Sky was out from the ground. From far, the roots looked like a circulatory system of a ten-meter giant.
Shao Xuan used a large cloth and some dirt to cover the roots.
It wasn’t advisable to stay in this area for long so they took their treasures and headed back to the tribe.
“Is everyone done?” asked Shao Xuan.
“Most of them. All the Veins of the Sky are done but some smaller cabbages are still in the ground,” said Zheng Luo.
“Never mind those, wrap those that are done and leave the rest. We can come back later. You all pack up, I’ll head to the cave for a while.”
Shao Xuan brought a clay pot and lifted the stone slab. Then, he jumped down.
The three skeletons were still in that same position. Maybe they were stuck in the same position for the past thousand years.
Shao Xuan placed the small pot beside them and put some grains in it.
Finders keepers. It was the common rule for the tribes. Shao Xuan didn’t feel remorse for taking everything here. The Flaming Horn tribe had grudges against many of those from the Ji family in King City anyway. Those King City people even tried to kill them before.
Although he didn’t know the identity of these three, nor what happened here long ago, Shao Xuan still came back here. This was only because Ji Ju said that if he was ever found in a situation like this, he hoped a kind stranger would place a pot of grains for him, nothing fancy just a pot of grains.
Ji Ju was one of the few Ji family members that treated Flaming Horn tribespeople well. The seeds they had and the techniques to plant them were all from Ji Ju so Shao Xuan kept his words to heart.
Shao Xuan emerged from the cave and looked to the sky. He then joined the group and carried the freshly dug plants back to the tribe before it got dark.
As the sky got darker, it got harder to see things clearly. Those that followed the group there could only see the figures of warriors carrying things back from afar.
Some went to try to locate the cave after the warriors left but it was impossible to find any clue to where it was. The tribesmen did a very good job of hiding it by moving all the surrounding soil around.
The followers could only guess that the tribesmen dug something here but they didn’t know what.
The people of Flaming Horn didn’t try to hide everything, people knew that Shao Xuan had found a new type of food and brought people there to dig it out. However, even people in the inner circle weren’t informed about the Vein of the Sky.
The visitors went to bed with a head full of confusion only to find out the next day something big had happened in the tribe.
In one of the newly cultivated areas, the tribespeople had barricaded the land with tall wooden planks without leaving a single hole to peep into. There were also several guards stopping people from getting too close.
The tribespeople from Tianshan tribe couldn’t resist being in the dark and went towards their eagles but just as they ascended, the guards forcefully stopped them.
The guards were strict with the visitors. It was their land if you didn’t want to follow the rules you can leave! No need to deal with the networking bullshit. They’ll shoot you down the next time!
The upset Tianshan people didn’t complain for once but they were still very curious. What were the Flaming Horn people guarding so tightly?
The other tribes were also advised to stay back for the guards to explain the situation.
Except when they heard their explanation, the excitement immediately dissipated.
A new vegetable? That’s it? Every tribe there had enough food, even the Tianshan tribe and Hui tribe that didn’t rely on agriculture.
There was nothing exciting about a new type of food for the tribes.
Why were they guarding it so tightly for something so small?
These Flaming Horn people are really petty and ignorant for making that such a big deal!
At the same time, all the Veins of the Sky were planted in the fields in the forests. After a few days, the plants were showing a stronger sense of vitality with fewer competitors in the area for nutrients.
Gratified smiles hung from the faces of the two shamans as they looked at the Veins of the Sky. The large cabbages got everyone’s attention so these Veins of the Sky were more low-key.
“We need extra hands here.”
“For sure.”
“Do not loosen the security for the cabbages.”
“Understood.”
As the shaman and chiefs chatted on, Shao Xuan looked in a direction.
“What is it, Shao Xuan?” asked Zheng Luo.
“There are many thieves these days.”