Other than the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe, a few other tribes from the central region also set off.
When it came to banquets, experienced tribes knew that they had to compete at banquets. Battles without killing intent were everywhere. It wasn't always a battle of strength. There were many ways to suppress the other party, such as clothing, accessories, tools, and so on.
In terms of clothing, each tribe had its own characteristics. It didn't have to be ferocious beast skin or smooth silk. For example, the Mang tribe preferred to wear clothes made of plants that were similar to the color of bamboo. Their accessories were also made of bamboo or jade. The jade that symbolized their status was also different. People from other tribes could tell their status in the Mang tribe by looking at the jade ornaments they wore.
But this time, all the people from the Mang tribe had jade ornaments above the half-ring level on their waists. That was to say, this time, the Mang tribe's team was basically made up of senior totem warriors, and their status in the tribe was not low.
The Mang tribe produced a lot of jade. Many people had imitated the shape of the jade ornaments that the Mang tribesmen wore. However, the jade ornaments worn by the real Mang tribesmen looked simple, but they were very special. They were not carefully carved, but there were clear green lines like bamboo. This kind of jade was called Mang Jade, and it was exclusive to the Mang tribesmen. Even if other tribesmen obtained this kind of Mang Jade through some means, they would not dare to take it out in the open because the Mang tribesmen would not allow it.
The Eight Limbs tribe, who were allied with the Mang tribe, wore their tribe's famous silk clothing. For this trip to the Flaming River, they all wore clothes that they didn't usually wear. This was the only way to show off their status and to compete with the other big tribes. This was a clash of the tribe's pride.
The Mang tribesmen mostly rode on horses, but there were also a few strange beasts. Their fur was dark brown, black, or white. If Shao Xuan was here, he would be shocked to see that the Mang tribe's leaders were riding on beasts that looked like pandas!
The Eight Limbs tribesmen mostly rode on large spiders. These large spiders had different colours, long and short fur, thick and thin legs, and even the number of eyes. Some of them looked like a ball of fur, while others looked like they were pieced together by a few bamboo poles, and would be blown away by the wind.
Either of these two tribes would be very eye-catching. Now that they were traveling together, they were even more eye-catching. Wherever they passed, almost everyone who saw them would be curious. Where were the people of the Mang tribe and the people of the Eight Limbs tribe going? Moreover, it was in such a formation? It didn't seem like they were going to war. What was their purpose?
Those who couldn't suppress their curiosity and had nothing better to do followed from a distance, wanting to find out the answer. If they followed too closely, they were afraid of being caught by the people of the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe, so they could only follow behind at a certain distance.
The distance from the central region to the Flaming River region was quite far. Along the way, more and more curious people gathered but no one dared to go up and ask. Those who were brave enough joined the tailing team.
Both tribes knew about this, but they weren't interested in the people behind them. Plus, they actually wanted to bring more people over to watch the show. If Yanjiao really wasn't doing well, then they could have more people to help spread the news.
In most tribesmen's hearts, the central region was definitely the most prosperous. The trading point was also the most prosperous in the central region and had the most variety of goods. People from the borders of the mainland would travel thousands of miles to the trading point there to trade.
If they could prove that the Flaming River Trading Point was just a small and messy place, no one would go there even if Yanjiao did their best to spread the news. It would save them a lot of effort.
The Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe even met the Longboat tribe along the way. However, the Longboat tribe people were all on boats, so the two sides only traveled for a short distance before splitting up again. There were shortcuts on land and there were shortcuts on land.
"You can use boats at the Flaming River Trading Point?" After parting ways with the Longboat tribe, some of the Mang tribesmen were puzzled.
"Isn't it called the Flaming River Trading Point? If there's a river, of course you can use boats, "Huang Ye said with a frown. He didn't believe that Yanjiao could establish a foothold in such a short time. Even if Yanjiao could establish a foothold and start a new life, he didn't think that the Flaming River Trading Point would be better than the few large trading points in the central region.
Perhaps all of this was just Yanjiao's way of making their presence known.
"I wonder if Yanjiao will take out all their money this time?" Someone laughed.
"Who cares? When the time comes, the Yanjiao people will be the ones worrying. We just have to eat and drink to our hearts' content," someone from the Eight Limbs tribe also replied.
From the central region where most of the tribes lived, they walked along the route. There were very few people around, and sometimes they wouldn't even see a single outsider after a whole day. The surrounding soil wasn't very good either, especially the places far away from the river. The soil was very hard and not suitable for planting. There were only some barren hills with weeds growing in the vicinity. There weren't even any trees that could bear fruit. Even if there were, they were mostly short and had sparse leaves. No wonder there weren't any tribes living here.
Desolation!
This was what everyone who passed through this place was thinking.
At this time, the Mang and Eight Limbs tribesmen couldn't help but feel proud. Their ancestors were indeed good at finding good places. The soil in their own territories was much better than here!
However, gradually, there was no obvious change in the terrain, but the landscape began to change. The surrounding trees gradually increased, taller, and denser. The surrounding mountains were no longer monotonous weeds, but lush forests. The further they went, the denser the forests on the mountains. Even in places far away from water sources, the forests were more full of green vitality than before.
There were some people moving around nearby. They were probably from a small tribe, hiding in the woods on the mountain.
"This place seems pretty good?" Qu Ce casually plucked a leaf from a shrub and peeled it open to check the moisture content.
Although the soil wasn't very fertile, they could still plant some crops if they wanted to. It couldn't compare to the farms in the central region, but it was enough to sustain a small tribe.
The others didn't think much of it. In their eyes, this place was far worse than the farms in their own tribes.
"Chief, there are some people on the mountain who have been following us for a while. Should we go and check?" Huang Ye asked the chief of the Mang tribe.
"No need." The chief of the Mang tribe didn't care and raised his hand. He didn't care about people from small tribes and didn't think they would be a threat to their team.
In the nearby forest, Abuli and his people were shocked to see the team passing by the valley.
"Who … who are those people?" Someone asked.
"How would I know?!" Abuli pulled at his animal skin clothes anxiously and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Before they came, Abuli spent two days choosing clothes. In the end, he chose a piece of animal skin he exchanged from Yanjiao and asked his wife to sew it into clothes. In the Drumming tribe, the best clothing material was the fearsome beast skin they exchanged from Yanjiao last winter.
Fearsome beast skin wasn't like wild beast skin and was much more difficult to cut. Abuli's wife found a few more people to help. Abuli, his wife and the shaman of the Drumming tribe all wore animal skin clothes and headed to the Flaming River Trading Point.
However, the animal skins that Abuli had chosen at that time were all furs with thick fur and not smooth or short fur. With the current weather, winter had long passed and it was indeed very hot to wear, but Abuli had no choice. After picking and choosing, only these furs caught his eye.
Originally, Abuli wanted to wear these fearsome beast skin clothes to the Flaming River Feast to show off. From what he knew, many tribes in this area had never seen fearsome beast skin before.
But who would've thought that when they were heading towards the Flaming River Trading Point, they would see a group of people with luxurious equipment passing through the valley. The other party's attire and carriage were so much better than the Drumming tribe's. Their aura was also much stronger than the other tribes in the area. Compared to them, the Drumming tribe's people were nothing. When they saw this team, they didn't even have the thought of robbing them.
This must be the legendary powerful tribe from the central region, right?
There was always someone better than you. The Drumming tribe was still too narrow-minded.
Abuli thought about it and took out a vine-woven bag from his back. He opened it layer by layer and took out a few crystal necklaces. He put them all on his neck. These were the backup necklaces he brought with him when he left the tribe. He wanted to give them away as gifts and pretend to be rich, but now it seemed like he should wear them first to boost his courage.
"Hmm, this is much better." Abuli looked at the sparkling crystal necklaces and nodded in satisfaction. His confidence had increased by a few levels.
The Mang tribe and Eight Limbs tribe who were hurrying on their journey didn't know how traumatized the people who were spying on them were.
Night gradually fell and the team found a place to rest.
Beside the fire, the chief of the Mang tribe took out the map on the back of the invitation letter. He looked at the two moons drawn on the top of the map. That was the time of the feast given by Yanjiao. He looked at the size of the two moons and gestured between them. Then he looked up at the sky.
The shape of the two moons in the night sky was similar to the one drawn on the map.
"We can make it." This was the conclusion of the Mang tribe's chief.
"Hmm, we should be able to reach the Flaming River Trading Point tomorrow," Huang Ye said.
Based on the rough terrain, the distribution of the mountains and the position of the river, they were very close to the destination marked on the map. They should be able to reach it before the time given by Yanjiao.
"I wonder what kind of food Yanjiao prepared? Did they really prepare a lot of fearsome beast meat? "Qu Ce looked at the beast roasting over the fire and felt even hungrier.
"Who knows?" A warrior from the Eight Limbs tribe yawned. They regretted coming with the team. Not only was the journey long, if Yanjiao prepared some strange food, would they bite the bullet and eat it or not? They heard that the food in the remote areas was very strange. They wondered how the barbaric Yanjiao would prepare it.
"Sigh, why think so much? We'll know tomorrow."
"You're right."
Under the night sky, the team gradually quieted down. There was only the crackling of the fire and the snoring of a few mounts.
The next day, the team set off again. Just as Huang Ye and the rest expected, when it was close to noon, they saw a flat road that was obviously man-made. There was a stone tablet on the side of the road with the words "Flaming River Trading Point" written on it. There was an arrow below the words, pointing in the direction of the road.
"Ha, this is interesting," Qu Ce said.
"Keep going." The chief of the Mang tribe pointed in front of them.
There were people looking in their direction. They should be Yanjiao people.
The road was wide and sturdy. Even giant beasts could walk on it steadily.
They walked along the road. Not long after, someone in the team suddenly exclaimed.
"Look, what's that?!"
The people in the team looked forward. In their field of vision, there was a tall stone house in the distance, higher than the height of the forest. Because most of the trees in front of them were cut down, there were no obstacles. They could clearly see the grey-white building with its "head" sticking out.
Not long after, a wall appeared in front of them.
They didn't care about the wall made of stone, but the painting on the wall made all of them excited.
It wasn't that the paintings were scary, but the style and color of the paintings were very eye-catching.
The sudden appearance of colors in the green forest attracted a lot of attention.
Unlike the walls in other places, Yanjiao's wall was smoother. The protruding parts of the wall were shaved off and the depressions were filled in, so the wall became a good drawing board. The paintings on it were more detailed and had more variations.
There were many people in the paintings on the outer walls. Due to the collective stylization of the tribal mindset, most of the paintings of the tribes had one thing in common. When drawing people, the shapes of the figures would omit the beauty of the individual, but at the same time, it would produce and strengthen the overall impact. This was especially obvious when the paintings were for outsiders.
People from big tribes like the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe could be said to be experienced and knowledgeable. Ordinary paintings wouldn't surprise them so much, but the paintings on the wall in front of them gave them a different feeling.
The dark brown paint painted the land with some people lined up on it. Although the faces of the people in the paintings were basically the same due to the collective stylization, their clothes and weapons were slightly different. There were stone ropes, swords, spears, axes and sticks, and some strange tools, like broken knives, which they had never seen before.
The posture of the people lined up on the painting was solemn. Set off by the flame-shaped streamline, there was a specific rhythm and rendering feeling. Because the wall was smoother, there were more places to display the painting skills. The lines of the paintings also changed from hard to soft to thick. Under the full color filling, it looked more vivid. Some of the paintings were decorated with rare golden paint to outline the lines or fill in the blanks. Among the plants in the paintings, there were some painted in gold and purple, but most people who saw them didn't recognize those plants.
If it was in other tribes, the paintings with different thicknesses would look awkward and unnatural. But here, because of the combination of dots, lines and surfaces, there was more beauty. In the smooth and delicate painting, it didn't lose the wildness of the tribal style.
Those were only a few groups of paintings. There were more paintings behind. Between every two groups of paintings, there were some red flame-shaped decorative patterns. In the flames, there were obvious double-horn patterns, and the flame patterns that connected the groups of paintings looked natural. The flame body's spiral and arc were combined together, giving people a feeling of flow, and could be smoothly placed between each group of paintings.
There were not only paintings of people, but also paintings of ferocious beasts. All kinds of ferocious beasts that had never been seen before were shown on the wall in the primitive tribal style. In addition to the combination of lines and decorative patterns, the impact of colors, and the exaggerated transformation techniques, people who saw it couldn't help but feel a sense of fear at the moment when they saw it at first sight.
On the grey-white wall, the combination of large paintings and colors, set off by the surrounding green mountains and clear water, gave people a more obvious visual conflict. It could be said that every person who came here for the first time was deeply impressed by the paintings on the wall.
Most of these paintings were made by Shao Xuan. Of course, Shao Xuan could make more detailed and complex paintings, and more vivid, but that would be beyond the acceptable range of this period. Here, the mainstream was this kind of primitive tribal style. If it was a little more than that, it would be called improvement and innovation. But if it was a complete change of style, it would be completely out of the mainstream and acceptable range of this period. Not to mention that people from other tribes couldn't appreciate it, even people from the Yanjiao tribe would feel abrupt when they saw it. They might even think that Shao Xuan's aesthetic was abnormal.
The result was just as Shao Xuan expected. People from the Yanjiao tribe were very satisfied with the final result on the wall.
In the past few days, people from other tribes who came one after another would stop when they saw these paintings, including the teams from the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe.
"What kind of tree is this painting?"
"I don't know."
"What about that?"
"I've never seen it before."
"And that … Oh, I know that one over there. That's the crop Yanjiao discovered before. What's it called?"
"Cabbage?"
"Yes, yes, yes, that cabbage! We saw Yanjiao planting it when we went to the Murderous Forest during the winter! "
The warriors of the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe in the team were pointing at those paintings and discussing.
At the front of the team, the chiefs from the Mang tribe and the Eight Limbs tribe looked at the tall wall in front of them and the stone tower in the middle of the trading point. They felt very conflicted.
This was Yanjiao's new settlement?
This was the so-called "Flaming River Trading Point" that Yanjiao built?
It seemed, seemed, should be … different from what they expected.
What was that saying again?
I'm relieved to know that you're not doing well. Similarly, they were depressed to know that Yanjiao was doing well.
How could they not be doing well if they could build a place like this?
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