Originally, the shaman wanted to send a few people who were familiar with the Jing tribe to lead the way for Shao Xuan and the others, but the Drumming tribe had just met with a disaster. Most of their houses had collapsed and needed to be rebuilt. It was a huge project, and they needed to take care of the dead and injured as well as their families, so he could only write a letter to Shao Xuan.
After Shao Xuan and the others left the Drumming tribe, the shaman thought for a while and asked the Ya tribe to send a letter to the Jing tribe. The Ya tribe wouldn't encounter any fearsome beasts when they traveled underground. It was faster and more convenient, so they might be able to reach the Jing tribe before the Yanjiao people.
With the Ya tribe in the middle, the Jing tribe's attitude towards the Yanjiao would be better.
However, the shaman didn't know that Shao Xuan and the others were even faster than the Ya tribe.
The people of the Ya tribe didn't need to cross the mountains to get to the Jing tribe, but not every place was suitable for digging tunnels, especially near the river. Sometimes, they had to take a long detour and rest after walking for a while.
Shao Xuan and the others didn't stop to rest other than putting up signs on the shore. They continued to travel day and night.
Ever since the giant beast was killed, the river near the Drumming tribe became much calmer. Smaller fish started to swim around, and they didn't see any other large and aggressive river beasts. The big fish that Bo Luo encountered before might have been driven away by the giant beast.
As they continued to travel down the Flaming River, the changes in the terrain weren't too obvious. It was similar to where the Drumming tribe was, but compared to the Drumming tribe upstream, the forest here was much denser.
Shao Xuan sat cross-legged in the cabin with his sword on his lap. There was a trace of blood on the sword. Shao Xuan had used his own blood to smear it on his sword. He thought back to how he ignited the net in the Drumming tribe and wanted to see if he could use the same method on his sword. Unfortunately, he never succeeded. He felt like he was missing something, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"There's someone!" someone shouted outside.
Shao Xuan also noticed the Jing tribe's fire seed, so he put down his sword and walked out of the cabin.
"We're here."
The Jing tribe also lived by the Flaming River. They weren't too close to the river bank, but they weren't too far away either. They were even closer to the river bank than the Drumming tribe.
The Gu shaman once told Shao Xuan that the Jing people migrated here later on. No one knew where they were before, but after the disaster a thousand years ago, the Jing tribe moved here.
There were people in the forest looking at them. There were also some sharp bird cries. Shao Xuan and the others knew that those weren't bird cries, but signals from people hiding in the forest.
As the two ships slowly approached the shore, the people in the forest retreated away from the riverbank, but they still hid in the forest and stared vigilantly at the two ships approaching the shore. They had never seen a boat before, so they were more wary of foreign tribesmen.
When the ships approached the shore, they could clearly see a man-made piece of land. There weren't any tall trees there. Other than some short wooden stakes, there was only grass. Even the weeds weren't as tall as the ones in the forest.
Those short wooden stakes were probably used to tie down wooden rafts. There were signs of ropes being tied around them. The dents in the grass were obviously stepped on by people. That was why the grass was crooked from standing upright. If people stepped on them often, the grass wouldn't be tall.
When they reached the shore, Shao Xuan looked up at the forest in front of him.
From the riverbank to the forest, there was a small path. It was only two to three meters wide, but in the dense forest, this small path was very obvious.
The Gu shaman once said that the Jing people would use the Drumming tribe's nets to catch fish in the river. They probably used this path to travel between the tribe and the river.
Shao Xuan brought his people forward. They didn't go deep into the forest, so they stood still.
"Are you from the Jing tribe? We're from the Yanjiao tribe. We have something to discuss with you. Please tell the Jing shaman. "
There were definitely other traps in the forest. Although Shao Xuan wasn't afraid of them, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Plus, he still needed to find "eyes" from the Jing tribe, so he had to leave a good first impression.
After Shao Xuan shouted, the forest was quiet for a while. Then, there were a few "bird calls" and some rustling sounds not far away. Someone must have left to report.
Shao Xuan wasn't in a hurry. He found a rock in the forest and sat down to wait. The others looked around to see if there were any differences between the plants here and upstream of the Flaming River.
After about twenty minutes, footsteps could be heard from afar. There were also people talking in low voices.
There were quite a few people here, no less than two hundred. It was about the same number of people as Shao Xuan's ship.
The crowd got closer and closer. The path was too narrow, so some people walked directly into the forest. The cracking sounds of branches being stepped on became clearer and clearer.
Soon, some figures appeared in the forest.
Yang Guang's light shone on the forest. Because of the tree branches above, only a part of the light shone on the path. There were even fewer Yang Guang's light in the forest on both sides of the path, so at a glance, the people who could see most clearly were the people walking on the path.
There were three strong warriors in front. Maybe it was because they were always exposed to the sun, but they looked darker. The Drumming tribe's people were already tan, but the Jing tribe's people were even darker than the Drumming tribe's people. However, the paintings on their bodies were painted with bright colors. White, red, blue, yellow, green, and so on.
The three Jing warriors in front held horns, bones, or stone weapons in one hand. In the other hand, they held round shields in front of their chests, covering their entire torso. Only their legs and noses were exposed. Their clear eyes showed unconcealable nervousness. They could probably tell that the Yanjiao people weren't easy to deal with. It would be strange if they didn't take precautions when facing powerful foreign tribesmen.
Their shields were made of wood or rattan. After all, they weren't as strong as the Yanjiao people. Shields made from stone or bone weapons were indeed sturdier, but they were too heavy. For people who didn't have the advantage of strength, a heavy shield wouldn't be able to unleash its full potential. Instead, it would become a burden in battle.
Looking at the Jing people's equipment, Shao Xuan had a rough idea of their strength. He looked past the three warriors and looked at the person behind them.
There was a skinny middle-aged man there. His gaze was like a knife. When he looked at Shao Xuan, his gaze was like a sharp blade shooting out from his eyes. It made people shiver. Other than that, the middle-aged man also had the dignified aura of a leader. It was obvious that he was different from the others.
The Jing shaman?
Shao Xuan remembered what the Gu shaman said. He looked at the middle of the man's eyebrows.
There wasn't the third eye the Gu shaman mentioned, but there was a vertical line between the man's eyebrows.
It had to be him. Shao Xuan thought to himself.
The three people in front protected the middle-aged man closely. When they were about twenty meters away from Shao Xuan, they stopped moving forward. It wasn't just them. The other Jing people who came with them were also nervous. They were on guard and uneasy.
The middle-aged man raised his hand and gently pushed the three warriors in front of him. The three warriors hesitated for a moment before they moved aside. However, their gazes were still fixed on Shao Xuan and the others. If Shao Xuan and the others made any strange movements, they would immediately pull the middle-aged man back.
The weather was already very hot at this time of the year. The lower reaches of the Flaming River seemed to be even hotter than the upper reaches. Because of this, the tribesmen Shao Xuan and the others met on the boat didn't wear much. Most of their skin was exposed under the Yang Guang's eyes. The Zhi tribesmen wore linen and ropes as decorations. On the other hand, the Jing tribesmen didn't have such complicated clothing. Most of the warriors who came over were bare-chested. Only their waists and feet were covered.
As the distance between the two parties got closer, they could see the brightly colored drawings on their bodies more clearly.
It wouldn't have mattered if the drawings were other things, but the Jing tribesmen all had eyes on their bodies!
The Hui tribesmen liked cloud tattoos, the Zhi tribesmen liked net tattoos, and the Jing tribesmen liked eye tattoos. Their tribe's totem looked like three vertical eyes. Most of the tattoos on the Jing totem warriors' bodies were eye tattoos, but their drawing skills weren't bad. The different shades of the tattoos were layered, as if there were countless eyes growing on their bodies. The bright colors contrasted against their tanned skin, making the existence of these "eyes" even more obvious.
People with trypophobia would feel disgusted and nervous when they saw the Jing tribesmen. They wouldn't be able to look straight at them.
They didn't wear much, but they had many accessories on their bodies.
There were necklaces on their ears, necks, wrists, waists, and feet. They were all made from ground eye stones. Together with the eyes on their bodies, it made people feel like they were being stared at by countless eyes. It was scary.
"Are you Yanjiao tribesmen?" the middle-aged man who walked out asked.
"That's right." Shao Xuan could tell that the Jing tribesmen had heard of the "Yanjiao tribe" before, but he didn't know which version they had heard. Looking at how nervous they were, and thinking about their relationship with the Zhi tribe, the version that the Jing tribesmen knew was definitely not the real one. Perhaps the short-sighted Ya tribesmen were gossiping too much.
"What do you want?" the man asked again.
"We just came from the Zhi tribe. We have some questions." Shao Xuan took out the cloth scroll that the Gu shaman gave him and threw it over.
The man caught the cloth scroll and looked at Shao Xuan suspiciously. His gaze lingered on the cloth scroll for two seconds before he opened it. He was probably checking if there was anything bad on the cloth scroll, such as poison or other traps.
However, after seeing what was written on the cloth scroll, the man's tense expression relaxed. "Zhen wrote this?"
The Gu shaman's name was "Zhen", so after the Jing shaman said this name, Shao Xuan nodded.
The Gu shaman had already written the general situation on the cloth scroll. After the man read it, he raised his hand to tell the people behind him not to be too nervous. He turned around and said to Shao Xuan, "Please."
This meant that he agreed to let Shao Xuan enter the Jing tribe for a detailed discussion.
Shao Xuan only brought half of his people with him, leaving the other half to guard the boat.
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