Chapter 580
A New Beginning
Shao Xuan was brought over by Cha Cha. Many houses on the mountain had collapsed but the cave that he lived in when he was brought to this world still seemed fine on the outside.
When Shao Xuan walked into the cave, there was some bird poop and signs of animals that stayed in it. They probably ran away when the disaster happened and after Chacha arrived, they wouldn’t have dared to come back.
He didn’t stay for long. Soon, he went to join the other warriors cutting down trees near the river. Many trees had fallen but most were still fine. They didn’t have time to go deeper into the forest for bigger trees so they stayed around a nearby hill to get their wood.
It didn’t take long for them to make a few rafts.
Shao Xuan calculated the width of the river. Although the water was still rising, for now, the two closest points were about two hundred meters apart. It may seem long but it wasn’t as far as one might expect. With twenty-something rafts tied together to form a floating bridge, it was possible for people to walk over.
A line was formed for people to cross over. As for the beasts, except for the snapping turtles, the others were lifted over by Chacha in batches.
The seven green-faced fanged beasts were dragged across the river. They were very repulsed by Chacha, this was a common occurrence for beasts. Luckily Shao Xuan was able to control them through the enslavement. A simple wooden cage would be nothing against those beasts.
As the last batch of people crossed over the floating bridge, Shao Xuan looked towards the wanderers. These people had placed all their bets on the Flaming Horn tribe. They completely trusted them with their lives. After this whole ordeal, most of them survived- nearly three hundred of them.
Shao Xuan had told the chiefs and shamans before that the tribe should accept these wanderers, especially when they were assisting with rebuilding the tribe now. Although the wanderers were weaker than warriors, they still had skills.
“Let’s go.” Shao Xuan looked at those few hundred pairs of eyes looking at him.
The few hundred worried pairs of eyes suddenly filled with hope. A few rushed over to thank Shao Xuan then called for their family and friends to cross the river.
There were a few crocodiles floating near the bridge, their cold eyes staring at the humans. The bridge wasn’t completely stable so some of the wanderers were worried too. They focused on the mountains which helped them calm their nerves. As long as they got across, they could start a new life. Although the Flaming Horn tribespeople looked unwelcoming, the wanderers were still able to exchange their labour for their living essentials.
The further they walked, the steadier they got.
When the last wanderer made it to the other side, Shao Xuan thanked Fu Shi.
“Thank you so much for today, please come over when you’re free.”
Fu Shi laughed heartily and patted Shao Xuan’s shoulder, “Sure!”
The rest of the Drumming tribe was in a good mood too. Having the Flaming Horn tribe as their neighbours was a good thing. One of the Flaming Horn warriors even told them they could trade animal meat and skin for the moonstones.
Hehe, with the Flaming Horn tribe around, they wouldn’t need to go to the Pu tribe.
Moreover, from the clothes they wore to the things they brought over, everything was better quality than theirs. They haven’t even seen most of the items before.
One of the Drumming tribe warriors looked at the other bank and said, “I’ll bring more moon stone lights over and trade with them. Their things are so much better than Pu tribe’s.”
The others agreed. They always knew that the Pu tribe was cutting corners with their trades but the Drumming tribe wasn’t willing to travel further to trade. They had an excess of water moon stones so it didn’t really matter anyway. However, they now had a much better alternative, who wouldn’t choose that instead?
“What should be done about the floating bridge?” Fu Shi asked Shao Xuan.
“Keep it here for now,” replied Shao Xuan.
“Sure thing, let me tie it again.” Fu Shi went around to tighten the loose logs on the bridge.
Shao Xuan bade them farewell and crossed the river.
It was already dark out, too late for them to be constructing their new homes. Luckily, the weather had been nice recently so to the people of the Flaming Horn tribe who had been through so much hardship, this was a piece of cake.
Some of the children had already laid out their sleeping bags on the ground. They knew this place very well, the sense of familiarity allowed them to sleep well that night.
The shamans called Shao Xuan over to discuss the placements for the wanderers. In the end, they decided to give them the nearby hill. There wasn’t much vegetation on the hill but there were a lot of caves which were like small houses. The warriors used them to rest when they trained on the hill last time.
The wanderers were grateful for the land, they were exhausted so they didn’t have any strength to build houses. The Flaming Horn tribe warriors still had to assign tasks to search the area for beasts.
After walking around the area, Shao Xuan decided to rest for the day. The house he and Old Ke used to live in had fallen in. Caesar laid at what remained of the door as Old Ke yawned immediately after resting his back on Caesar. Chacha was off to somewhere no one knew.
Shao Xuan laid out his animal skin and closed his eyes. This was one of the rare chances he actually got a good night’s rest.
The next day, Shao Xuan skipped breakfast to check on the floating bridge right after he woke up.
The bridge had sunk in a little. After flipping over some logs, Shao Xuan saw some weird bugs with long antennae attached to the logs that were causing it to sink.
They were close to dying. Their bodies lacked elasticity and they just seemed lifeless.
With the large river gone, the ecosystem had been severely disrupted. Those that could leave had left, the rest that remained were just waiting for death.
Maybe after some time, there wouldn’t be any bugs to eat logs in the river anymore.
Many of the usual river beasts were nowhere to be found. This was good news to the humans though, they had one less problem to worry about.
The people of the Flaming Horn tribe had once again returned to their land, but they would operate differently now. They would no longer live in seclusion. This time, they wanted to go out to trade, to connect with people- all that was just a river log-bridge away.