Chapter 551
To Each Their Own
Shao Xuan’s words sent the tribespeople into a frenzy. They had travelled far to this dangerous land just to catch the green-face fang beast.
They were jealous when they saw the Flaming Horn tribespeople catching one yesterday. Now, they had the chance to get one themselves.
The crowd carefully listened. They could hear shouts and the occasional roar which wasn’t out of the norm here. Nothing indicated that the beasts were coming.
“The sounds of the wind, that violent-sounding wind. That is the roar of the beast,” explained Shao Xuan.
“No wonder. I was wondering why the wind was so loud but the trees weren’t moving,” said someone from the Mang tribe.
“If there are many, we don’t need to focus in just one direction,” Gu Su from the Eight Limbs tribe.
“Not bad of an idea. Each tribe to their own,” agreed Mu You from the Longboat tribe.
Arguments may arrive from all the tribes working together so it would be the best if each tribe caught their own beasts with their own skills.
With each tribe having commented on the situation, the people of Flaming Horn looked to Shao Xuan for the next plan of action.
Shao Xuan gestured for them to calm down then said with a smile, “There are many beasts but that may not be a good thing. I also have to remind everyone that the beasts aren’t easy to catch. I already told you all which parts of the beast to be cautious of. Don’t come complaining when you’re severely injured.”
“Relax, we won’t complain. Instead, we want to thank you for your reminder. Or else we won’t even know the beasts are approaching,” said Gu Zhi from the Feather tribe.
The tribespeople had their heads filled with ideas on how to catch the beasts already. They did listen to Shao Xuan’s advice but they still haven’t caught on to how scary the situation was. After entering the forest, they had seen all sorts of beasts. They don’t think the beasts are as scary as Shao Xuan made out to be seeing that the Flaming Horn tribespeople were able to catch one.
Shao Xuan did his part in warning everyone. It was their choice if they didn’t listen.
Each tribe was busy preparing even though it was deep into the night. The tension was thick in the air. Everyone held a water moon stone and tree vines. The Eight Limb tribe also started placing their cobwebs.
The sound of the wind got louder.
Shao Xuan could clearly hear the shouts of the Rock Hill people.
“Hurry down the mountain!” shouted Shao Xuan.
The rest were now able to differentiate the roars of the green-faced fanged beasts from normal sounds of the wind. They got their weapons ready and rushed down the mountain.
Within three breaths, there were only five Flaming Horn tribesmen and a few Hui tribesmen left in front of the cave.
The great mountain eagles were not skilled night hunters so the Hui tribe didn’t plan to call them over. Since there were so many beasts, they were in no rush to catch them. It wouldn’t be too late to call them over in the morning. The people from Flaming Horn were also in no rush which probably meant they didn’t need to be that anxious too.
“Ah Xuan, what do you plan to do?” asked Mai who had his net ready.
“There are too many beasts chasing after the Rock Hill people. Our base camp is closer than theirs so there will be some beasts coming up there. We should try chasing the few stray ones and not go after the large group.”
After checking the traps laid around the camp, Shao Xuan made a few adjustments then planned the next course of action.
It was hard to find the type of grass the beasts liked. They had no beasts to help them with this too so they had to use another way.
If they couldn’t use the grass as bait, they would use humans as bait!
Using bait to lure the prey as standard practice for the hunters. Shao Xuan described his experience of catching the beasts to the others.
The large group of beasts were chasing after the people of Rock Hill with no intention to stop. However, there were some beasts that chose to notice the motions they sense in the other directions.
The tribesmen that went downhill were extra careful with their actions as Shao Xuan had told them the green face gang beasts are highly sensitive to any motion. The tribesmen planned to wait until the majority of the beasts were gone and target the beasts that strayed from the group.
Although they knew there were a lot of beasts, seeing it for themselves was another experience.
It was hard to see the beasts running in the darkness. They could only hear the huffing passing by like the wind, reminiscent of a continuous gale. The rustles of leaves hid the sound the tribesmen made as they hid between the grass and branches. They quietly paid attention to what was happening around them.
Sure enough, a few beasts seemed to notice something and headed towards the tribesmen.
A nearby warrior from the Eight Limbs tribe cursed in his mind, he thought he was exposed but he was safe for now as the beast was chasing after a mouse.
However, that relief came too soon. With a loud crack, the tree he was hiding in had fallen from the impact of something hitting it.
A lot of the beasts noticed the fallen tree but it did not intrigue them enough to go closer to check it out. Hence, they followed the large ground and charged forward.
The man that was hiding in the tree did not follow the tree to the ground. Instead, he seemed to be suspended mid-air. His foot was tied up to a vine that kept him from falling.
Whoosh–
Soft noises were covered by the rustling leaves.
A large net was formed by the five hidden Eight Limb tribe members. The net was currently flying towards the green face fang beast that left the large group in silence.
Six nocturnal birds came while cawing and rested on a tree nearby. The running beast did not pay attention to them.
Except the caws didn’t come from the birds, it came from somewhere not far from them.
As soon as the bird heard the noise, they got into formation. Each bird held a vine from in their claws, throwing and catching the vines among each other. They were forming a net!
“Caw caw!”
An instruction was sent out. The six birds moved as a unit towards the green-faced fanged beast.
These six birds weren’t completely domesticated. They were used to help members of the Feather tribe through this secret technique that gave them instructions telling them exactly what to do.
Other than the Eight Limb tribe and Feather tribe, the other tribes were busy catching the beasts using their own techniques.
The large group of beasts passed Shao Xuan and his team. Shao Xuan led the rest to join the group up the mountain while the rest led a few beasts to where the traps were with the help from Gu La and some other members of the Hui tribe.
It was much easier to handle the beast one by one. They could observe its personality and tailor a plan specifically for it. It was much harder to do this with a few beasts at the same time.
A green-faced fanged beast fell into a trap. It struggled hard to get rid of the vines around it. Shao Xuan and Gu La rushed towards it to tie the nearly free beast.
The air exhaled out of the tied up beast had vibrated the air around it with an odd frequency. It howled. Steam coming out from its nostrils had a higher temperature than boiling water. Although Shao Xuan and Gu La had backed off, they could still feel the heat coming from it.
After tying it up, Shao Xuan took out some needles filled with poison. He got the poison from a tree in the forest. He used one of the needles to inject it into the beast.
The poison could cause some larger animals to faint and even cause death for some less poison-resilient animals. Shao Xuan wasn’t sure whether the poison would work on the green face fang beast, he didn’t try it on the previous beast they got.
After three injections, the struggling from the beast had significantly subdued. Its breathing rate was much slower too.
“Three to five injections, no more,” said Shao Xuan.
Soon after, Shao Xuan caught another one that dropped into a trap they had laid out. The beasts were much easier to catch when they were in the traps. Their speed was no use then and the tribespeople could easily tie them up and inject the poison.