When Shao Xuan saw the Taihe tribe, Zheng Luo and Guang Yi had already started chatting excitedly with their old neighbours.
Judging by their looks, Shao Xuan noticed that they were in a much difficult situation compared to when the Flaming Horns left them to migrate to the other side of the sea. Their clothes were all tattered and most of these holes were made by branches that hooked onto their clothing or beasts that bit them. Even if some of them were wearing thick beast hides, the wounds in their openings were stained with dried blood and there were marks left by ferocious beasts.
The migration of an entire tribe wasn’t easy. Often they had to make hard decisions and make sacrifices for the sake of the entire tribe’s survival. Most tribes had to go through this, no matter how weak or strong they were.
Luckily, even though all of the Taihe tribesmen were in a bad condition, most of them survived and made it here alive.
“I was...worried that we might have gone the wrong way....I never thought....we actually...... made it!” The Taihe tribe’s Fei Ang was friends with Tao Zheng. After they met, he didn’t even stop to take a breath and walked over with a big smile as he panted.
Duo Kang was talking with the chief of the Taihe tribe, Yu You. After he understood their current situation, he also introduced a few new faces from the Flaming Horn tribe and the people from the Longboat tribe.
Guang Yi also started to talk with his old friends.
They had walked for so long through so many obstacles. As they thought about the countless uncertainties that lay ahead of them and finally saw their old friends, the people of the Taihe tribe were so emotional that they cried. Even some of the elders who were usually stern-faced became teary.
Guang Yi looked at his old friends and welcomed them with a warm smile, “I haven’t seen you guys for so long! Come here!”
The people from the Taihe tribe who were filled with mixed emotions held their tears back and hid their faces with their arms. One of them pointed to his side and said to Guang Yi, “Zhi Feng is over there. I’m Hui Ji.”
Guang Yi hesitated for a moment, and then enthusiastically smiled at him, “Long time no see, Hui Ji.”
He was still the same after all. ‘Guang Yi still has the same goldfish memory,’ Hui Ji thought.
They arranged for the people who were injured to rest. They needed to be cared for, especially those who hadn’t awakened their totemic power and the younger children with a weaker immunity. They weren’t like the others. Even if they weren’t facing any dangerous threats, they still had to be careful. If they weren’t careful they could still lose their lives.
After inquiring about their injuries, Duo Kang told Shao Xuan the Taihe tribe’s current problems.
The Taihe tribe had around four thousand people, but only three thousand five hundred survived. The five hundred who lost their lives on the way were either killed by fearsome beasts, external circumstances, or other people.
After he found out that the slave masters were giving out rewards for people who found precious animals or herbs in the forest, the first thing Duo Kang thought about was the green faced fanged beast. Shao Xuan knew about the green faced fanged beast because of Gongjia Heng. How could the slave masters not know about it if the Xia people knew?
Perhaps they already knew about it, but they just didn’t care whether they found it or not. They had the Gongjia family’s weapons. It was already so much better than normal weapons. They were already satisfied with those. Now that the two continents were slowly getting close to each other, there were more threats they had to face. Perhaps the Rock Hill City made them suffer enough. That was why they were desperate for a quick solution.
“Luckily it’s winter right now. Many fearsome beasts have gone into hibernation, or else they would have suffered greater losses.” Duo Kang exclaimed. They had also experienced what migration felt like and knew that it wasn’t just physically tiring, but also mentally stressful. Those who couldn’t take the stress might even collapse. “Luckily they had enough medicine, or else the people who were either poisoned or severely injured couldn’t have survived.”
“Take good care of them. We hunted enough game to feed all of them. Feed them well so they can recover quickly. They can’t cross the sea if their bodies are weak,” Shao Xuan said.
Duo Kang understood this fact. Life at sea wasn’t that much better either. Without a strong physique, they would only suffer during this journey. If they got sick and ran out of medicine, they could only wait for death.
The Taihe tribe probably saw hope. The stress that was on their minds and the thoughts of uncertainty all faded away. After the Taihe people rested for a night, they felt a lot better mentally. Some people slept even longer. After all, they had not rested in a very long time. Now that they could finally relax, some of them slept for several days in a row. After they woke up they would be as energetic as dragons and tigers once again.
Most of the people who recovered had already begun their search for medicinal herbs. They couldn’t lift heavy wooden logs or build ships, so the most they could do was search for some medicinal herbs. If they noticed any medicinal herbs that the Flaming Horns missed, they would uproot it and take it with them.
“We’re leaving on these... ships?” the chief of the Taihe tribe, You Yu, asked Duo Kang after seeing the fleet of ships in front of them.
“Yup, that’s right! You’ve never seen these before, right? Hehehe!”
Here, even if there were ships, they couldn’t compare to these in size. Perhaps the six aristocratic families of the King City were powerful in other aspects, but they couldn’t at all compare to the Longboat tribe when it came to ship crafting. Many places had suffered from drought during the past few years, so fewer people used ships.
Many Taihe tribesmen were shocked when they saw these. They thought that the other continent was less developed compared to them, and they even heard that many tribes were still using the ancient fire seed. According to some rumours, they were still using stone weapons. Now they knew those rumours were not at all true.
“This......” You Yu gestured at the green axe in Duo Kang’s hands, “Is this metal?”
Duo Kang was excited. He had been waiting for this moment to show off in front of his old neighbours. He turned the axe in his hands and held onto the handle tightly as he slammed it down onto a rock beside them.
Bang!
With a loud clashing sound, a deep gash remained on the giant stone.
You Yu’s mouth gaped as he looked at the axe in Duo Kang’s hands and then to the stone that had been hacked. He took a few large strides over and tested the hardness of the stone. He smashed his own axe down on the same rock a few times and cursed. He looked at Duo Kang and his eyes widened in disbelief. “This was the weapon you guys mentioned in the letter?”
“That’s correct!” Duo Kang said proudly. “We call it the new green bronze. The Grand Elder Shao Xuan named it.”
They didn’t want to talk too much about it in the letter, so they only briefly mentioned it. They told them not to worry about weapons because the Flaming Horn tribe had high-quality metal weapons that surpassed the other metals.
Before this, the Taihe tribe had doubts about what they read in the letter. After all, the Flaming Horn tribe wasn’t too talented in forging and agriculture. Their techniques were limited, but who would’ve thought! They were all true!
“Haha. there’s so much more that will leave you impressed. Once we get there, you’ll see what I’m talking about,” Duo Kang was excited to see how the Taihe tribe would react if they saw them now.
The Flaming Horn tribe was not at all the same as before. The Taihe tribe never imagined that they would become like this.
“Right, you guys actually built your own city?” You Yu was very interested in this.
“Something like that. Zheng Luo also suggested that we call it a city like the slave masters. We call it the Flaming River City!”
“Flaming River? Really? Nice! Nice! Nice!” the Taihe tribe’s chief, You Yu said “nice” three times in a row.
Duo Kang was stunned. “Why are you so excited?”
We named the river after ourselves and then named the trading point after the river. Why is this guy so excited?!
“Flaming River, Flaming River. There’s a ‘River’ in this name! Sounds very cordial! Nice!” You Yu tapped on Duo Kang a few times as a friendly gesture.
He seemed to be thinking, ‘How considerate of you, brother! You even named the place after us!’
[Note: The character for river in chinese is 河 (He), which is the same character for the He in Taihe (泰河 ) tribe]
Duo Kang, “...You’re overthinking it. It’s an actual river.”
It wasn’t snowing too heavily on this side of the sea. Only a section of the water near the coast was covered with a thin layer of ice.
Even though the snow wasn’t strong, the winds were, and they weren’t just blowing from one direction.
Days passed by one after another. Most of the people in the Taihe tribe had recovered and were all helping with the work every day. This was also for their own benefit.
They prepared food, medicine, new ships, and all they had to do now was wait for a good time to depart.