Chapter 590
Putting Up Signs for Flaming River
After the arrival of the green ducks, Shao Xuan finally figured out where precisely the knots from his previous reading were pointing.
In that direction, it wasn’t just another part of this forest. Instead, it was farther away, on another continent.
The majority of the flocks that flew by their land probably came from the other continent. Judging by this fact, it might have been a large-scale migration.
In the past two winters, this continent was unusually hot, but on the other continent, the weather was on the other extreme. It was probably unusually cold. If this was true, perhaps the birds felt the warmth from another place, so they decided to migrate.
When they looked at the green ducks swimming happily in the lake, it seemed like the ducks were not troubled by anything at all. Nor did they sense any danger. So the probability of a disaster was lower than they had expected.
When they knew this result, the worried people in the tribe all calmed down.
The fact was, after their settlement, Shao Xuan had been thinking about the future of their tribe.
Before, the river that used to be in front of the tribe acted as a barrier that was hard to cross. It separated them from the rest of the world, and because of it, they rarely saw anyone from other tribes. But now, the river had disappeared, and the inexplicable phenomena in the sky that brought terror to their tribe had also vanished. Chacha flew back every day without encountering any more problems in the sky.
After they came over, Shao Xuan knew the reason why Chacha didn’t return to the Hui tribe, and the rest of the giant mountain eagles from observing his movements and cries.
Usually, great mountain eagles would only return to their mountain when they finished developing. After young eagles break out from their eggshells, they would not return until they had grown to become a mature giant eagle. Most giant eagles that hadn’t returned to their mountain yet were all younger ones.
Another group of eagles that returned to their mountain was the ones slowly approaching old age. If they did not return, they would continue to age and die. But once they returned to their mountain and came out again, they would go through something similar to resurrection and enter their next stage of growth. In theory, great mountain eagles were immortal creatures. No one told them this, but they knew by instinct, just like how humans ate in hunger and drank in thirst. Once they entered such a stage, they would receive a signal in their bodies that would tell them what they should do when they reached such a stage in life.
But Chacha was unlike the two types mentioned above. He wasn’t a young eagle, nor was he approaching old age. If he indeed returned to the mountain, he would have to suffer a much higher risk and had to stay there longer than other eagles. The eagles that returned to the mountain with him saw him as a reckless eagle that wasn’t afraid of death at all.
So, when Chacha finally could leave Eagle Mountain, the other eagles had already left him.
But when Chacha wanted to return to Fearsome Beast Forest, he sensed disaster approaching from all directions. Underwater, above ground, or up in the sky, it came from all directions. Seeing these changes, Chacha did not dare to fly recklessly, so he followed the trail that he was familiar with when he flew along with Shao Xuan and the rest of the tribe before. He reached the hunting area and flew towards where the Flaming Horn tribe used to live.
Chacha shooed away all the other birds and beasts that used to live here and waited for the disaster to end.
The truth was, Chacha was too worried about the river that was missing, or else he would have flown over. Even if the river had ceased to flow, Chacha was still afraid. He thought about the days when he used to travel on the same boat with Shao Xuan when they left the place, so even after the disaster had ended, he hesitated for a while before deciding to fly toward Fearsome Beast Forest. But when he decided to do so, the Flaming Horn tribe arrived.
The obstructions in the river and sky all disappeared, so the people from both sides would start to socialise more. The bridge was still there, the tribe could no longer live in isolation. They had to deal with more people. Every tribe had their skill and uniqueness, and they were all worth learning. Before, the Flaming Horn tribe was forced to live apart from the rest of the world because of natural barriers. They could not communicate with other tribes. But now the situation was different. The natural barriers were gone, and hence, communication increased. This was their opportunity to learn from others.
Plus, they also needed to keep themselves updated from news especially from the desert and the other side.
Winter was approaching. The people in the tribe were thinking about bringing their fur to the market to trade for other things.
The bridge could not handle too much weight, and it was not stable. The river had flooded, and water levels had been rising ever since they came. When they first returned, the river was only two to three hundred meters high. Now it was six to seven meters high. Although the levels had stopped rising when winter ended, the mountain ice caps of mountains upstream were still melting. The river’s water levels might still experience another change. Besides, there was also the monsoon season. The people from both sides of the river were prepared for any changes.
The Drumming tribe decided to settle closer to the river, but now that the water levels had risen, they decided to move further inland to prevent any casualties. As for the Flaming Horns, they did not have to worry about their living environment. All they were concerned about was their farmland because it was at a lower elevation.
The tribe did not have high hopes for the bridge made from thin wooden scraps. Now, the tribe had already begun to build boats so that in the future, when the tribe needed to cross the river to trade, they could follow what the Longboat tribe usually did. With boats, they could cross the river and even enter the smaller streams into the mainland. There were many smaller streams inland that connected to the river, and their boats could depart from there.
For the past few days, Shao Xuan had been thinking. If the tribe had already decided to settle here permanently, and the river was no longer something that they had to avoid, then more people would be coming from the other side of the river. Up till now, there had been no name for it. If other teams that came from farther places came to trade and asked them where the Flaming Horn tribe was located, how should they reply?
Should they say, “We live on the other side of the river?”
There are so many rivers! How would they know which one we are referring to?
However, the Flaming Horn tribe seem to have had their fates tied to this river since a thousand years ago. Why not give it a name related to the Flaming Horn tribe?
Nowadays, there was no such thing as naming an entire river, stream, lake, or pond. Most tribes just claimed their territory and called the part of their river “their portion.” Unless it were a stream within the tribe’s land, like the Drumming tribe’s stream, then they would give it a name. If it wasn’t part of their territory, most tribes would not care to name it. Even the part of the river where the Longboat tribe’s famous story of “the boat that floated down the burning river” happened did not receive a name.
The Flaming Horn tribe can take the lead and name it first!
A giant river... The river in front of the Flaming Horn tribe...
The Flaming Horn River?
Maybe not. That’s not such a good name. It just makes it sound like the entire river belongs to the Flaming Horn tribe. The river was too long, even if the Flaming Horn tribe wanted to expand, they could not cover the territory from one end of the river to the other.
The Flaming River?
After he thought about a few different names, Shao Xuan went to the mountaintop and looked for the other hunt leaders and shamans. He told them his ideas and his final decision.
Shao Xuan voiced his ideas, and all of their eyes sparkled with excitement.
It was a great idea!
The shaman was also thinking of a way to establish the presence of their tribe in the area, but this was not a time of conquest. The Wanshi battle had already helped them increase their fame, but that was not enough.
As long as it was an opportunity to increase their fame, the shaman would not hesitate to take it on. Shao Xuan’s suggestion hit right on the spot! It was precisely what the shaman wanted!
Of course, they wanted to name it the Flaming Horn River, but they knew the other tribes would object and then call parts of the river by their respective tribe’s names. Then it would be a fight between all the tribes. So this name was not the best option.
“Then I think we should follow what Shao Xuan suggested and call it the Flaming River,” Zheng Luo said.
The shaman thought about it and nodded.
The others had no objections, so the name was decided. Flaming River it was.
The river had already been named, but nobody knew this name. Even if they knew there was a Flaming River, they would not know where it was located.
“We can put up a sign,” Shao Xuan said.
In many places, a stone sign or other significant markings would tell outsiders the name of the site or object.
“Yeah! We can put up a sign! We can even carve a totem sign for our tribe on the sign, so people know that we were the ones who named the river!” Duo Kang rubbed his hands with excitement as he thought about the idea.
With this decision made, the people in the tribe began to work.
Shao Xuan used some bone plates he collected from previous hunts and carved the words “Flaming River” onto them, and also added the words “established by the Flaming Horn tribe” with Flaming Horn totem signs beside them.
Although they did not name it Flaming Horn River, it wasn’t much different, just slightly more implicit.
Besides this part of the river, the Flaming Horn tribe had also sent other warriors out to the other side of the river to put up more signs at different parts of the river.
The other tribes that lived nearby also saw these people carrying giant stone plates carved with the same words.
Flaming River? Why the Flaming River? Some people were doubtful, and others were unhappy.
The people from the Flaming Horn tribe suddenly smiled confidently and stabbed the stone sign into the ground.
We’re calling it the Flaming River!
What? You’ve got a problem with that?
Don’t worry! It’s no big deal! Tell us your opinions, and we shall talk about it.