Everyone in the mountain foot district knew that Old Ke no longer took stoneware jobs. No one knew what he was doing all day. Early in the morning, he would go out on a wolf with a walking stick, and only come back at night.
And Old Ke didn't need to trade for food himself. Shao Xuan had enough food. In Shao Xuan's words, it was called "tuition". Old Ke didn't refuse after thinking for a while.
One set up, the other set up. Although Old Ke was tired, he was in a good mood. Finally, after leaving the hunting team, he could use what he had learned. Although it was not as good as before, it was enough for Shao Xuan.
Every day, seeing Shao Xuan being tortured by those traps, Old Ke laughed happily. He was also trained like this in the past. However, he wasn't as talented as Shao Xuan. He was tortured for so long that he didn't want to think too much about it. Therefore, Old Ke was trying his best to make Shao Xuan feel the "mystery" of it.
Old Ke knew that Shao Xuan was too talented. Maybe after a while, the traps he could set now wouldn't be enough to trap Shao Xuan. If he was still at his peak, if his leg was not broken, he could at least trap Shao Xuan for a while longer.
"Alas …" Old Ke was a little sad, but not as gloomy as he used to be.
"Why are you sighing?" Shao Xuan climbed up from the foot of the mountain with a face full of mud. He sat next to Old Ke. In the past two days, Old Ke had taken out a few more difficult ones. Just now, when he was trying to dodge the short arrow that was shot out from the bushes, his face was covered with mud. That lump of mud seemed to know that he would arrive at that position at that exact moment. It appeared just in time, and Shao Xuan had no time to make a move, so he had to take the hit. What if it wasn't mud at that time, but something else?
Shao Xuan felt that he still had much to learn.
As the party being hunted, if one could see through thousands of traps with a single glance, and as the party being hunted, one could be considered a true expert when one's traps could be set to kill.
Although many people in the tribe would think that it was useless to learn these skills, they wouldn't have the time to set up traps in the hunting grounds. Didn't he still have to go personally?
However, Shao Xuan felt that learning this might be of great use in the future.
After mercilessly criticizing Shao Xuan's performance just now, Old Ke turned his head to look at Shao Xuan's reaction. He saw that Shao Xuan was staring at the area below where the traps had been set, deep in thought. Shao Xuan didn't have the slightest bit of dissatisfaction or resentment because of the criticism just now, so he felt a little relieved.
Although Old Ke had been merciless with his words, he was still worried that Shao Xuan would have a problem with him. It was rare to find such a suitable target to teach. If Shao Xuan refused to learn, Old Ke would be so angry that he would vomit blood.
Old Ke told Shao Xuan that his performance was better than Shao Xuan's in the past, but that was based on the fact that he had been learning for more than a hundred days. However, Shao Xuan hadn't been learning for more than twenty days. Less than twenty days …
Shao Xuan was analyzing the various shortcomings of the previous tests based on Old Ke's guidance, while Old Ke looked up at another place on the mountain. There was no one there just now, but now there was someone standing there silently.
Ta, the team leader of Shao Xuan's hunting group, the son of the current chief, and one of the few senior totem warriors in the tribe. He was also a candidate for the next chief.
Old Ke recognized him at first glance.
Old Ke didn't have much contact with Ta. When he was at his peak, Ta was just a junior totem warrior like Mao. When Old Ke was injured and left the hunting group, Ta was still in the hunting group. However, according to the information that Old Ke had heard from some of his old friends, Ta actually didn't pay much attention to traps, especially after he joined the advance group of the hunting team. Among those who were selected by Ta to join the advance group, very few of them were good at setting traps. At most, they were just good at setting traps.
That was because they had different views. People with different principles couldn't make plans together. Therefore, Old Ke didn't have a good impression of Ta.
And Ta didn't look at Old Ke in a friendly way, either.
Ta had intended to pull Shao Xuan into the advance group. Of course, he just wanted to give it a try. He thought that since Shao Xuan was protected by the ancestors, he must have been blessed by the ancestors. If he brought Shao Xuan with him, would his hunting results be better every time?
Since last year, Ta's hunting results weren't so good. Although in the eyes of the people in the tribe, Ta still brought back big ferocious beasts every time he returned, in fact, many of their tasks were not completed. In terms of merits, they were not as good as the other hunting group.
The team leaders of the two hunting groups were both candidates for the next chief. They had been competing with each other for a long time. Seeing that the other team's merits were better than his, Ta had been anxious for a long time. This time, because of the ancestors, he turned his attention to Shao Xuan, who was about the same age as his son.
Ta had heard some details about the last hunting trip from Mao. The more he knew, the more satisfied he was with Shao Xuan. At first, he only thought that Shao Xuan was not much better than his son. He thought that Shao Xuan just had better night vision and good luck. But later, after Keke went to test him, he knew that Shao Xuan improved very fast … Maybe, that was the reason why the Shaman valued him?
Ta didn't tell the others about Shao Xuan's improvement speed. He also asked Keke and Tuo to keep it a secret.
Although there was no explicit rule in the tribe that said that newly awakened warriors couldn't join the advance group, generally, those who were selected to join the advance group were experienced warriors who had at least a few years of hunting experience and had the ability to protect themselves. Actually, no one would recruit a newly awakened warrior.
The next hunting trip was coming. Ta planned to talk with the Shaman in a couple of days. Even if there was no explicit rule, he still had to ask for the permission of the Shaman. As for the Chief, he was his father. Of course, he would be on Ta's side. When the time came, the Chief would not stop him.
Originally, he heard that Shao Xuan often came to this area for training, so he wanted to have a look. But he didn't expect that Shao Xuan was just learning how to set traps from the old guy who had quit the hunting team. What a waste of his talent! He was so disappointed!
Just when Ta and Old Ke were looking at each other with the same unfriendly look, Shao Xuan, who was in deep thought, suddenly said, "Yo!"
Ta followed the eyes of Shao Xuan and Old Ke, and saw the wolf marked by the Shaman running up the mountain. It was running so happily that it didn't look like a wolf at all! It was so different from the wolves in the deep forest!
Ta didn't like Caesar at all. In his opinion, such a wolf should be eaten as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would be a waste of food to keep it. The more he thought about it, the more dissatisfied he was. Ta felt that there were too many things that he didn't agree with Shao Xuan. If it weren't for the protection of the ancestors, even if Shao Xuan could become an excellent middle-level warrior in the future, he might not have allowed him to join the advance group that he was in charge of himself.
On the other side, Shao Xuan didn't care about other people's opinions. He was happy with the result of Caesar's training.
Caesar ran to Shao Xuan happily and put a palm-sized animal skin bag in his mouth in front of Shao Xuan. Then he squatted beside him and asked for praise.
"Well done!" Shao Xuan praised him generously. Then he gave Caesar a piece of animal meat that he had prepared beforehand. It was his reward for completing the task.
"Xuan, what are you doing?" Old Ke was confused.
Shao Xuan poured out a few fruits from the animal skin bag and put the bag away. He smiled and said, "There's a saying that 'a good dog is the hunter's eyes and ears'. I'm trying to make Caesar a good dog. Maybe he can help me in hunting in the future."
Ta, who was about to leave with disappointment, stopped when he heard this. He continued to listen.
"A good dog?" Old Ke was still confused.
"No matter how cunning a fox is, it can't escape the nose of a hunting dog," Shao Xuan said.
"A hunting dog?" Old Ke asked.
Ta also pricked up his ears to listen. He was very interested in using the wolf's sense of smell.
"A hunting dog is a domesticated wolf."
Shao Xuan trained Caesar to use his sense of smell to find things. At first, it was clothes and bones. Later, it was fruits. Now, Shao Xuan wanted Caesar to try to find things with a lighter smell.
"A wolf's nose is good." Shao Xuan smiled.
"The Shaman taught you? That's a good idea, "Old Ke said casually.
Shao Xuan just said "Hmm" to Old Ke's words and didn't explain further.
In fact, he really wanted the painting in the cave to reappear in the tribe. However, since someone had deliberately covered it, Shao Xuan would not easily reveal it. When he left the cave, Shao Xuan took advantage of the fact that the group of boys were out fishing to paint a layer of stone powder on the painting. The window of the stone room was also blocked with something so that no one would find out.
When they rested and were about to go back, Shao Xuan looked at the place where Ta was standing. He sneered and left with Old Ke's toolbox.
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