At first glance, this salt land looked like a snowfield. Most of the ground was covered in white.
There were some shallow pits on the ground. The snow melted after it fell and gathered together.
On the snow-white ground, salt flowers emerged from the ground like coral. In the center of each salt flower, the color was either dark or light, red or blue. At first glance, it looked like a fairyland. However, people who knew about this place avoided it like the plague.
Although there was salt everywhere, the salt was poisonous. No one who had eaten it or licked it was spared. Therefore, for a long period of time, this place was recognized by everyone as a dangerous place. Anyone who entered would die. There were even Chilu people who said that this was the graveyard of the Salt Beasts. Whoever approached this place and violated their tombs would be punished. This was a demonized area.
It was not until someone walked into this salt land and discovered a salt mine that this dead land was revived.
Crack crack crack —
Subtle cracking sounds could be heard from the shallow pit.
Shao Xuan saw an orange-yellow crystal pillar emerging from the shallow pit. It looked as delicate as crystal, sparkling and translucent. The crystal pillar was like a seedling breaking out of the ground. It grew upwards and forked. As it grew, the crystal pillar's surface turned from transparent to translucent. Then, it was covered in a layer of white frost. When it reached the height of half a person and stopped growing, it was almost the same as the other salt flowers on the salt land. The only difference was the color. It had a faint orange hue.
This was only one of the salt flowers that had "bloomed". In the other shallow pits, there were also other salt flowers that had sprouted. The colors were green, red, and even black.
Although such a scene was beautiful, when one thought about the legends of this place, it made one's hair stand on end.
"Let's go. Just don't eat them," said Zheng Luo.
Stepping on the salt land, they heard a clear cracking sound. This was the sound of stepping on the salt layer. It was much louder than stepping on the snow. Below their feet were cracked salt crystals of all sizes. Some were lumps and some were flakes. The big ones were stepped on and the small ones were crushed into powder.
The group tried their best to walk on higher ground, avoiding the shallow pits. Their boots were soaked in water. When it dried, salt would seep out. They could not eat it either. It was poisonous.
"There are footprints!" Duo Kang pointed in a direction.
Footprints on the ground would stay for a while. Even if the temperature rose, they would not melt as quickly as snow.
"About two hundred people, less than three hundred. They were here less than four days ago." Wacha was very familiar with the salt land. He could tell from the tracks.
"It's probably a new group of people from the Fox tribe. These don't look like they left behind by the two tribes," said Susha.
The Fox tribesmen were more orderly when they left, but the Shen tribesmen were even messier. That was why these footprints could not have been left by either of the two tribes.
"We're not resting tonight. Let's continue!" shouted Zheng Luo.
Usually, they would stop to rest before meeting an enemy to preserve their energy. Even in the past few days, they stopped at night to rest. However, after hearing Shao Xuan's words, Zheng Luo decided to change his approach.
There was no piping hot meat soup or porridge to warm the stomach. When they were hungry, they could only gnaw on the frozen meat jerky. The air was filled with the salty smell of the salt ground. Apart from the whistling of the wind, they could only hear the crunching of footsteps on the salt ground.
Luckily, the wind was not strong tonight. There was no snow either. Compared to a few days ago, it was much calmer.
This kind of peace made it easy for people to slack off, but Zheng Luo kept urging them. Everyone's nerves were stretched taut. No one complained. They only knew that they had to listen to the chief. The chief would never harm them.
At the same time, in the salt mine.
A few Fox tribesmen and Shen tribesmen in thick fur discussed in a salt cave.
This was the Fox tribe's salt cave.
The salt below the mine was layered. One layer of rock, another layer of salt, then another layer of rock, then another layer of salt. However, they liked to keep digging until the first layer was finished. Not long ago, they finally dug something out. They didn't expect such a huge surprise.
After some consideration, they decided to ally with the Shen tribe. Shan Feng's personality was too strange. The Fox tribesmen did not like them. Yanjiao and Taihe were close. If one knew, the other would not be far away. So, after eliminating these three, the Shen tribe was the only one left. Although the Shen tribesmen seemed arrogant at times, when it came to fire crystals, they were smart enough to keep their arrogance in check.
At this moment, the six leaders of the two tribes were gathered together. Between them were a few fire crystals the size of an eye.
"This is what we dug out today. There are more fire crystals below, but the deeper we go, the harder it is to dig. We might not be able to finish digging without at least thirty to fifty days. I'm just worried that the Flaming Horns and Taihe will come over during this period of time," said a rough-looking man dressed in brown animal skin. His hair was loose and his face was rough. He was from the Shen tribe.
"From what we know, Shan Feng has probably allied with Yanjiao and Taihe. They might come here to steal the ore. Although we used the salt to recruit some people, we still have to be careful. The Yanjiao people are not that easy to deal with, "said the Fox chief.
"They'll come in this weather?" The Shen tribesmen were doubtful.
"If they really came in this weather, they must know the secret of the fire crystals!" The Fox chief's face was fierce. They had already given half to the Shen tribe. If they didn't have to guard against the other three tribes, they wouldn't have had to give them away! They would not allow anyone else to share the burden!
The Shen tribesmen had the same thought.
Squeak —
A strange squeak came from outside the cave. It sounded like someone was flying towards them.
One of the Shen tribesmen raised his hand, and with a whoosh, a grey shadow rested on his arm.
It was a bird. It looked like a bird of prey but it wasn't big.
The bird shook its feathers as if it was shivering. Then, it called out to the Shen tribesman.
Squeak squeak squeak —
The Shen tribesman's expression changed. "The Taihe people are coming to the salt mines. They're almost there. They really know the secret of the fire crystals! "
"If the Taihe people are already here, the Yanjiao people won't be far away. The Mountain Wind people must have found out about the fire crystals so they joined forces with them. Based on the estimated time, they will arrive at the salt mine the day after tomorrow, "said the Fox leader after some calculations in his head.
"The day after tomorrow?" muttered the Shen tribesman. "I'm afraid the weather will change in three days. We have to change our plans."
Speaking of this, the Fox tribesmen were also depressed. They had already made a few plans, but the weather suddenly changed. The Shen tribesmen were very sensitive to changes in the weather. They could predict the changes in the weather from the changes in the trees in the forest. If they said the weather would change in three days, or worse, it would definitely happen.
"We might not be able to stop them if we fight them head-on. Especially those arrogant Yanjiao people." The Fox chief was calculating the impact of the three tribes' alliance.
"Then what should we do?" asked the Shen tribesman, frowning.
A woman with long, narrow eyes sat beside the Fox chief. Her eyes flashed and she giggled, "It's not like there's no other way."
The others all looked at the woman.
She was dressed in fiery red fur. She stroked a white fox in her arms. "The weather will change but it won't be in three days. In two days, there will be a huge change! "
As if responding to her words, the fox in her arms whimpered.
"Two days? Are you sure? How do you know? "asked the Shen tribesmen.
"You don't need to know how I know but I'm sure the weather will change in two days," said the woman calmly. She was confident in her words.
"Even if the weather changes in two days, what can you do about it??"
"Well, it's simple," said the woman calmly. "When the weather changes, no one can stop it. Once it happens, we can only accept it or find a place to hide. In the salt mines, the only place to hide is the salt caves. "
"You mean …" The others started to understand. There were only salt mines opened by the five tribes, so the only places to hide were the salt caves of the five tribes.
"But if there's no more salt cave, tell me, when Mountain Wind, Flaming Horn and Taihe arrive, where can they hide?"
"Destroy their caves!" The others' eyes lit up.
"Taihe will arrive the day after tomorrow at the earliest. Yanjiao and Mountain Wind should be around the same time. We'll destroy their caves tomorrow. When they arrive, we just need to protect our caves. Salt caves are easy to defend but hard to attack. They're stuck outside. When the weather changes, even if they want to destroy our caves, they won't have the time, "said the Fox chief.
"That's right." The woman smiled and nodded in agreement.
"But the salt caves of the three tribes were destroyed. What about the people you recruited?" asked the Shen tribesman.
"Give up your caves and let them hide inside. We'll just send some people to look after them. The most important thing is to protect this place," said the woman.
It was not impossible to give up their caves. For the fire crystals, the Shen tribesmen were willing to give up their mines. "But what if Mountain Wind and the other two tribes take over their caves?"
"So what if they do? If they do, they'll suffer heavy casualties. What are we afraid of? "said the woman. Three out of the five caves were destroyed. Their side was heavily guarded. Even if the last cave was taken over, most of the people who died were the temporary helpers they recruited. So what if they died? It wasn't like they were Fox tribesmen. They could even wear down Mountain Wind and the other two tribes. Why not?
They made a good decision but they did not know that there was someone who did not play by the rules. They were rushing through the night.
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