These were true treasures that the Gu shaman possessed. The ones he showed to them back then were just normal goods he took out to attract them.
It was probably because of this that the Gu shaman appeared to be slightly awkward, but Shao Xuan didn’t notice.
“I’ve never seen a stone like this before.” Shao Xuan picked up one of the Universal Pupils and studied its ability to look towards the sun.
“These were gifted to me by the Jing tribe. They give me one every year. I’ve held the shaman’s position for nine years, and these are all that I have,” the Gu shaman explained. The previous shamans didn’t receive as many as he did, so the pearls his predecessors possessed could be counted with five fingers. Their connection with the Jing tribe only improved after he took over the shaman’s position, that was why he received one each year. Previous shamans of the Gu tribe weren’t as lucky as him.
“The Jing tribe? This was the one you mentioned before that lived downstream? They’re the ones who produced these ground eye stones?” Shao Xuan asked.
“That’s right. In fact, the Jing tribe rarely bring these stones out to trade. Sometimes they might trade normal ground eye stones, but they rarely bring Universal Pupils to trade.”
Normal ground eye stones were only good for decorating and could not serve any meaningful purposes. They were not essential for tribes that were struggling to survive and could not even fill their bellies with enough food. It was similar to the crystals of the Zhi tribe. It couldn’t be traded for a lot of goods.
Seeing Shao Xuan’s interest in the Universal Pupils, the Gu shaman also wanted to use this opportunity to change their previous impression about them. After all, they were overconfident when they dealt with the giant beast and acted too defensively towards the Flaming Horns. Every word they said before sounded clearly like they wanted the Flaming Horns to leave as soon as possible, but after the Flaming Horns helped them, they noticed that the Flaming Horns had no intention to rob them, so the Gu shaman wanted to establish stronger ties between the two tribes.
“I’m not sure how the Universal Pupils are produced, but I know that they came from the Jing tribe. I’ve never heard of any other tribes having such a stone. We have a decent connection with the Jing tribe and we helped them quite a few times. We provide them with nets they use to fish and hunt. This was exactly why they gifted us with the ground eye stones and universal pupils,” the Gu shaman said.
“I’ll accept this gift of yours then.” After Shao Xuan studied the Universal Pupils, he passed it to Duo Li and the others who waited by his side.
They were all curious about this “Universal Pupil”. When they hunted in the forest, not all days were sunny. Sometimes the sky would be so cloudy that they couldn’t tell the right direction and time in the forest. Under those circumstances, even if they used the sun stone to look at the sky, they could not accurately tell the sun’s location, but with the Universal Pupil, they didn’t need to worry anymore. They could even tell the sun’s position during a thunderstorm.
They never thought they would encounter such a treasure on their exploration trip downstream. No wonder the Gu shaman kept all of these hidden.
“It looks a lot like a real beast eye!” Duo Li exclaimed.
“Indeed. Grand Elder, we can use these to decorate the beast bones in the Flaming River Castle.
There was a skeleton of a fearsome beast displayed inside the Flaming River Castle, but the skeleton was nothing but bones. There was only a hollow dent where the eye of the beast used to be. If they put the Universal Pupils there and coat the skeleton with a layer of fur, then it would look like a real beast.
“But these are too small. If there are bigger ones, they would be perfect.”
While the Flaming Horns were all discussing, the Gu shaman told Shao Xuan whatever he had on his mind. “Actually, the Jing tribe has another gemstone that is a lot more precious than this one. It is even harder to get those than Universal Pupils, but no one else besides the people of the Jing tribe has seen this stone. Foreign tribes have never seen this stone before. Even though I’m a close friend of the Jing shaman, I’ve never seen that stone. When I saw the Jing shaman, he already had another eye here, even more realistic than these Universal Pupils. No, I should say, that is already an eye.”
Shao Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. He straightened up and asked, “An eye? A stone like that? He can attach it onto his body and it’ll become an extra eye?”
“Yes, I’m not sure what the Jing people call that type of ground eye stone, but I know that every shaman of the Jing tribe has a special eye. They receive the eye the moment they take over the position as shaman.” The Gu shaman pointed between his own eyebrows, “So, the Jing shaman has one more eye that others don’t and it allows them to see things ordinary people can’t see.”
Seeing Shao Xuan’s interest in that type of eye, the Gu shaman told him whatever he knew. Of course, he wasn’t trying to bring any harm to his old friend from the Jing tribe. He only felt that the Flaming Horns wouldn’t go around and abuse their power and rob people, not to mention they were already wealthy. They had ample supplies of food and sturdy tools. If the Jing tribe could befriend the Flaming Horns, they could also benefit from their connection. They might even be able to use these ground eye stones to trade for food and tools with the Flaming Horns.
“The Jing people are not much different from ordinary people. Only their shaman is different. Of course, before the shaman took over the position, he only had two eyes, but in order to qualify to become the next shaman, he had to successfully merge with another eye. Only those who succeed can become the next shaman. So every shaman from the past till now had three eyes. If no one succeeded in merging the third eye in that generation, there would be no shaman for that time. They’d rather leave the position of shaman empty than have any individual with two eyes take over.”
All in all, ordinary people could not become the shaman in the Jing tribe. Only people with three eyes qualified.
“The eye that you mentioned. What are the qualifications for the merging process? Can people from foreign tribes use it? Besides humans, can it be used on fearsome beasts?” Shao Xuan asked a few questions continuously.
“This...... I’m not sure.” the Gu shaman was honest. “Even though I have a good connection with the Jing shaman, I’ve never been able to ask about his third eye. He rarely talks about it. It’s a secret in their tribe.”
“Oh, right!” the Gu shaman thought about the handwritten records his ancestors left behind. “According to the ancestors, people who are not part of the Jing tribe cannot use that type of ‘eye’.”
Different tribes had different blood types and faiths, and there’s also a clear difference in their totemic strength. If it was related to the fire seed, it was clear that different fire seeds repelled one another and could not coexist, so this was the same case too.
“I see.” Shao Xuan was very disappointed. There were many people in his tribe who lost both their eyes either during a battle or a hunt. If they could regain their eyesight or even just one eye, it would mean giving them a new life.
“You think we don’t want to try?” the Gu shaman also sighed. His ancestor’s records also mentioned that some people from earlier years also tried to search for eyes to replace the ones their families and friends lost, but were all rejected by the Jing tribe. The only reason they gave was: People who are not part of the Jing tribe cannot use that type of eye.
Shao Xuan thought for a while, and then asked again, “If it can’t be used on humans, what about fearsome beasts?”
Fearsome beasts?
The Gu shaman never expected Shao Xuan to ask such a question. He knew more about humans than beasts. In the past thousand years, the Gu tribe rarely came across any fearsome beasts, so there wasn’t much he had to say about the Jing tribe’s eye’s connection with beasts.
“I really have no clue about this. The ancestor’s records never mentioned it either.” the Gu shaman shook his head.
Shao Xuan couldn’t get an answer from the Gu shaman, so he decided to approach the Jing tribe and ask.
“Elder Shao Xuan, are you trying to find a replacement eye for a fearsome beast?” the Gu shaman was very curious about this.
“Yes. I have a fearsome beast. It’s a wolf that lost an eye during a battle with another tribe. Since humans cannot use this eye, I was wondering if fearsome beasts could. I’m not sure if the Jing tribe has any extra eyes,” Shao Xuan said.
He had heard rumours of the Flaming Horns taming fearsome beasts, but to hear Shao Xuan mention it, the Gu shaman was envious. However, after the past battle, the Gu tribe also gained some experience. There were also many fearsome beasts on the other side of the river. They could take baby steps first. Hunt, then tame. Perhaps they could even revive the previous glory and experience of their ancestors and relive the lives their ancestors once lived.
The Gu shaman thought about the strong physique of the Flaming Horns. Did they become so strong from eating fearsome beast meat?
“Right, I have a question for you, Elder Shao Xuan,” the Gu shaman asked after a moment of hesitation.
“Yes?”
“How come you could ignite the net just now?”
If it was that easy to ignite, a lot of people would have already done so. The Gu tribe was special because of how hard and complicated it was. Plus, even if he knew how to ignite, he was on the Gu tribe’s territory and very close to the Gu tribe’s fire pond. How come he wasn’t affected by the fire seed’s energy at all?
The Gu shaman still couldn’t understand it. Even if Shao Xuan was an elder of the Flaming Horn tribe, he wasn’t the shaman. How did he gain such an ability?
“I still haven’t found the answer to this.” Shao Xuan recalled the moment it happened. It was so strange, like a sound was telling him that he would succeed if he did that, but now that he thought about it, he was really too impulsive at that time, but he wanted to test if it could actually work. Maybe this was why the rope divination told him to return.
Shao Xuan also planned to find a time to study it carefully.
“It might be our ancestors’ protection,” Shao Xuan said.
The Gu shaman was left speechless. ‘Are you kidding? Why would your ancestor be doing here on our territory beside our fire seed?’
Seeing the Gu shaman’s stunned expression, Shao Xuan laughed. “Do you know why I could become the Grand Elder of the Flaming Horn tribe?”
The Gu shaman shook his head.
“Because the ancestors picked me.”
The Gu shaman looked at him for a while, and realised that he was not bluffing, so he became even more puzzled.
Leaving the Gu shaman there to think, Shao Xuan walked over and instructed some people to go take care of the giant beast. He could not tell anyone his biggest secret.
Shao Xuan had already discussed with the shaman about how to split the spoils of their battle.
The Flaming Horns were given half of the giant beast’s scales and meat. Since they helped during such a crucial moment, and even Shao Xuan helped, no one in the Gu tribe objected to this. Speaking of effort, the Gu tribe obviously did more, but without the Flaming Horn’s help, who knows what would’ve happened to them. So this was a reasonable arrangement.
The Flaming Horns only took the scales and beast meat. The scales were to be used to make armours. The giant beast’s scales were indeed high quality material. Even though it was singed on the edges , it could still be hammered flat in the forge. The beast meat was an essential food they could use on the ships. Fearsome beat meat of this grade could keep them full for quite a long time. They left the bones and claws to the Gu tribe because they couldn’t bring all of it on their ship.
After knowing that Shao Xuan wanted to look for the Jing tribe, the Gu shaman even wrote on a long linen scroll for him to bring along to pass to the Jing shaman so he could save a lot of trouble from the Jing people being too defensive and unyielding about their secrets.