After their meal, Yang Sui sent people back to deliver food to the rest of the tribe. He stayed in the Flaming Horn tribe for a while.
With a few pieces of meat and a bowl of soup, the nearly dead Yang Sui was revived.
Knowing what Shao Xuan actually wanted to know, Yang Sui cut to the chase.
“When we left the place, the situation in the desert was not good.” Yang Sui paused for a slight moment when he said ‘the place’. His people had lived there for thousands of years at that point, it was only of the main reasons people didn’t want to leave.
Tribespeople held their roots close to their heart. As long as it was their homeland, the place their ancestors lived, they would be willing to put up with the harshest conditions. The only reason the Rain tribe moved was because of the slave masters, who were a growing threat.
Obviously, the situation was only ‘bad’ to wanderers, some slaves and slave masters, and the surrounding tribesmen. Rock Hill City was doing well.
“You need to know this. Only half of the vast desert remains now!” said Yang Gui emotionally.
Although he was prepared for this news, Shao Xuan couldn’t help but feel shocked. How could only half of the desert remain?
Shao Xuan worried for the slave that was deep in sleep because of him. He could still feel that Sapphire was still alive but he didn’t know how its condition.
Yang Sui looked at Shao Xuan’s expression and asked, “You want to go there and take a look?”
“I’ve thought about it.”
“I advise you to not go, the desert is half its size now. This makes it easier for Rock Hill City to control it, and they are still ‘purging’ it. You’ll get attacked.”
Half the size of the original desert was still very big for a human but what Yang Sui said was true.
If the information Yang Sui got from the slaves was true, then the Rock Hill City people could have known for a while. Connecting their actions these past few years and their move to look for the green-faced fanged beast, then their sudden exit saying there was nothing in the forest, Shao Xuan did not trust them.
If Rock Hill City had already known, plus were sitting on a thousand-year-old grudge, did they really have that many people? Or to be exact, did they really have that many slaves to go against other slave masters?
They wouldn’t have attacked if they knew they were going to lose so that meant they had enough people and prepared early.
Where were the people coming from?
Shao Xuan wasn’t able to know but he knew the city had a trick up their sleeve!
Even though Shao Xuan wanted to go to the desert to take a look, he knew this wasn’t the time for that. For one, Rock Hill City posed a serious threat to his safety. In addition to that, the tribe had just settled into their new home so he was needed here.
After some thought, Shao Xuan decided to focus on his tribe first. As long as his tribe was strong, everything else would be easier.
Once Yang Sui left, Shao Xuan went to look for Zheng Luo, he wanted to join them on a hunting trip in a few days’ time.
As soon as he got out of the door, Shao Xuan bumped into Old Ke who was coming back from a cave.
The tribe didn’t need many stone tools since clay and metal tools came around. Old Ke just liked making stone tools during his free time. He was teaching a class for children at the foot of the mountain.
The orphans were still kept in that small cave. As the tribe progressed, they started to focus on children’s education.
When they were here the first time, Shao Xuan did have some small classes for the kids. When they went back to the homeland, they built some simple huts for learning activities. Not too long ago, the leaders of the tribe came up with a more defined curriculum for their youth. They even built three brick houses halfway through a mountain to form a small school.
For those orphans, other than school, they would ask some not so busy adults to teach them new skills. Old Ke was one of them.
Although the need for stone tools was low now, it didn’t mean that the skill wasn’t important. In some situations, making stone tools is essential to one’s survival in the mountain. Hence, Old Ke happily thought the children the skill. He didn’t need them all to be interested in it but as long as someone wanted to learn, he was happy.
Although the tribe was progressing well, the children who lost their families still yearned for the old days.
Old Ke always encouraged the kids by saying, “Your Grand Elder, Shao Xuan, came out from this cave too!”
Although the cave didn’t look like how it did when Shao Xuan lived in it, its spirit was still the same. It looked much better now too.
The water moon stone lit the cave up at night. The children didn’t need to worry about their meals at all. This was already much better than what Shao Xuan had to deal with then.
The place was cleaned up thoroughly. Other than the room with the wall painting, the others were turned into bedrooms.
The beds were designed and made by Shao Xuan and the carpenters. The bedding was made using animal skin or burlap. If the children wanted to get more things than the essential supplies, they could work for it. The tribe didn’t want to raise entitled kids.
When Shao Xuan went to take a look the day before, the children were near the mouth of the cave, holding sticks to write and count in the sandpits. As for the crooked words on the wall that were written using burnt sticks, they were words of encouragement written by the previous tenants of the cave.
Everything was going smoothly. Shao Xuan stood at the mountainside and looked out. He was once able to see small low huts, and a surging river, but the view was much different now.