Days passed. As the thousand grain gold on the mountain ripened, there were strange movements in the forest below the mountain. The ducks were so scared that they started to move deeper into the tribe to seek shelter.
The number of people patrolling in the tribe had increased every day, and most of them were patrolling in the forest outside the tribe. This was because many wild rats had appeared during this period of time. There were many kinds of wild rats, big ones, small ones, burrowing ones and jumping ones.
It wasn't just rats, there were also birds in the sky. There were often flocks of birds flying around. Now, Shao Xuan's house was surrounded by Zheng Luo's men. They had enough bows and arrows, shooting down one rat and a flock of them.
Other than normal beasts, there were also fearsome beasts. However, they weren't large beasts since they were far away from the tribe.
Some people even joked that they didn't need to go out hunting. They could just wait for the birds to come to them.
Quan Bai and the others from the Taihe tribe said that if Yanjiao didn't have enough people, they could send reinforcements but Zheng Luo rejected them. Their tribe could handle this themselves. They didn't need the Taihe people's help. Plus, the Taihe people wouldn't help for nothing. They would definitely ask Shao Xuan for a reward. The reward they were interested in was naturally the ripe thousand grain gold.
Zheng Luo couldn't bear to give away so much of the good stuff. Quan Bai and the others had helped with the planting of the thousand grain gold so they didn't object if he gave them a little as a reward. He couldn't bear to give more.
When the patrol team was changing shifts, the person who came to take over looked at the piles of rats on the ground and asked the person who had just finished his work.
"How many did you catch today?"
"I don't know about the others but I've caught more than thirty by myself. Almost forty!" The warrior who spoke walked over with a rat half the length of an arm. Although he looked worried, he was also happy. These rats could be used as food too. The chief said that they could keep half of what they caught. They didn't need to go out hunting to get twenty rats of this size. If they didn't eat them, they could give them to their families.
It had only been half a day and they already had such a harvest.
"We caught more than yesterday." The person who just came over stretched his arms and took out an arrow.
Whoosh!
A wild rat that wanted to sneak through the grass was nailed to the ground.
The soldier didn't pick it up immediately. Instead, he shot three arrows in a row. Two of the arrows nailed the long-tailed wild rat with thick fur on the tree, and the other arrow shot towards the tree not far away. The gray short-haired wild rat that had just revealed half of its body was killed by the arrow.
"Alright, leave this to me. You've been tired for half a day. Go back and rest." The soldier picked up the three wild rats that he had killed and said to the other soldier.
The warrior who had been standing guard for most of the day finally had the time to tie up the fruits of the morning with a straw rope and carry them back. When he left, he was still reluctant to part with them.
The warriors who had returned to rest gathered in groups of three to five and chatted about their gains. However, there was also something to be worried about.
"These days, the wild rats coming over are getting bigger and bigger, and they are moving faster and faster. We have to continue to send more people. A few days ago, it was very easy to guard them, but now it's getting a little too busy. We almost missed one."
"It's the same for me. We have to be more careful next time."
"Fortunately, there is a river in front of our tribe. Some wild rats can't swim and can't cross it."
"There are many wild rats that can swim. Don't be careless."
As they spoke, they looked towards the peak of the mountain. There were some birds circling in the sky. Occasionally, a bird would dive down and be shot down by the arrows.
After another two days, the wild rats were even crazier. They continued to send more people. All the warriors in the tribe were on the move, and a portion of them stayed on the mountain.
Shao Xuan didn't expect the Thousand Grain Gold to attract so many birds and rats this time. Although the few grains he saw before also attracted a group of rats, there weren't so many birds.
In the backyard of Shao Xuan's house, the entire yard was covered with a large net to prevent birds from diving down and destroying the Thousand Grain Gold if they didn't shoot in time.
"It should be soon." Qi Qi looked at the golden grains with a smile on her face. According to their thinking, the bigger the changes, the more extraordinary the crops were. This was a good thing.
"Watch, keep your eyes open. Don't miss a single one!" Duo Kang said to the warriors outside.
The warriors all had their own markings on their arrows. Once they hit the target, they would know who the prey belonged to. To the warriors, the prey was small but the contribution was big. If they made a big contribution this time, they might be rewarded by Elder Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan discussed with Zheng Luo and announced publicly that the remaining nine weapons Gongjia Heng left behind would be given to outstanding warriors in the tribe. There were limited places so those who wanted it had to work harder. It was no wonder the people in the tribe were so excited. No matter if they were young or old, they all looked like they were on steroids. Sometimes, they would come in shifts but they didn't want to leave.
Before the Thousand Grain Gold ripened, Shao Xuan discussed with the others what to do. Based on the current situation, the birds were already behaving like this before the Thousand Grain Gold ripened. What would happen when the Thousand Grain Gold ripened?
Shao Xuan shuddered at the thought of those crazy wild rats in the mountain, and then looked at the flock of birds in the sky, as well as the groups of wild rats of different shapes and sizes that the warriors in the forest brought out.
Even if these were just wild animals, when there were too many of them, they would still cause a lot of trouble. Especially when they lost their minds.
Due to the continuous disturbance from the birds and rats, the ducks all hid. The funny thing was, the fat duck even opened the door to the duck shed and let many ducks in. When he saw this, Shao Xuan told the tribesmen who were not involved in the defence to separate the ducks from the others. Then, he opened the door to the duck shed so the fat duck could bring the ducks in.
In the sky, the birds were also fighting because of the competition. They fought all day long. Feathers were white as snow and bird droppings were everywhere. Shao Xuan's roof was covered in a layer of bird droppings and feathers. The smell was …
However, for the Thousand Grain Gold, Shao Xuan endured it.
On this day, Shao Xuan was guarding beside the Thousand Grain Gold.
"It's one of these two days, right?" Qi Qi asked Shao Xuan as she looked at the feathers falling from the sky like snowflakes.
Shao Xuan stared at the heavy ears of the Thousand Grain Gold. After a moment, he said, "I think it's today."
Qi Qi and Zheng Luo's hearts skipped a beat. Qi Qi took a few steps back and stood inside the house. She had no choice. She did not have much fighting power. At times like this, she had to make way for the warriors to move.
Meanwhile, Zheng Luo had already called for his men to get ready.
A whistle sounded in the forest at the foot of the mountain.
When they heard the whistle, the people guarding the forest knew that this was a critical moment.
The wild rats that were still hiding in the bushes and probing suddenly paused. Then, as if they had been stimulated, they no longer hid and rushed forward fearlessly.
The birds in the sky stopped fighting. As if they had agreed, they charged towards Shao Xuan's backyard.
"It's ripe. Collect!" Shao Xuan roared. Before he finished, he had already charged out and cut off all the grains, putting them into a bag he had prepared beforehand.
It was not just Shao Xuan. Zheng Luo, Duo Kang and the rest who were guarding nearby also attacked.
In the blink of an eye, the originally heavy golden ears of grain were swept clean. Even the grains that fell to the ground were picked up by the people who came later. When the birds in the sky swooped down, there were only a thousand golden green plants left in the courtyard, but the ears of grain were nowhere to be seen. What greeted them was round after round of arrows.
The birds chirped incessantly. After the Thousand Grain Gold disappeared, the birds flew up again to avoid the tribesmen's attack range. However, they didn't leave. They just chirped unwillingly, as if they wanted to wait for a chance to see if more grains would grow there.
The Thousand Grain Gold was harvested when it was close to noon, but the flock of birds only left when night fell.
The rats at the foot of the mountain had already retreated. Some warriors were fishing for drowned rats from the river. These rats were not good at swimming, but they rushed into the river with other rats that could swim. They broke through the warriors' defensive perimeter and drowned in the end. It was as if they were brainless. There were more than one or two rats like this. There were at least thirty rats that were picked up from the river. Now, the tribesmen were cleaning up the rats that had sneaked into the village.
Shao Xuan looked at the twenty-three animal skin bags in the house. Including him, there were twenty-three people. Each person had a bag and each person was responsible for one plant. Although he did not count, Shao Xuan knew that there were more than a thousand grains in each bag. There must be thousands to tens of thousands of grains!
Ignoring the stench of bird droppings, Shao Xuan carefully opened the bag. Qi Qi, the shamaness, the chief and the others were waiting. Shao Xuan plucked a grain from the ear and carefully removed the shell.
The dark gold shell was removed, revealing the purple-gold grain inside.
"Why is it this colour?!" Shao Xuan exclaimed.
The grains he brought back from the peak were all gold in colour. Why were they purple-gold in colour? This was too different from the previous grains!
Shao Xuan then opened the other twenty-two bags. Inside each bag, there were five grains randomly plucked from different ears. When he finally peeled off the husks, he found that they were all purplish-gold in colour!
"Why … why did they change?" Qi Qi was puzzled.
Shao Xuan did say that these grains were better than the ones he found before, but that did not mean they were different!
The color difference was so big, was it a coincidence or was it inevitable? Did they grow normally or mutate?
Shao Xuan thought about it. He felt that the reason for the change was probably the way they grew them. After all, they fed them so much beast meat.
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