Chapter 108 – One year
Translated by Sunyancai
The situation looked a little weird.
If the crowd hadn’t known that these two were about to have a combat, they would think that this Shao Xuan was probably asleep!
Snowflakes kept falling down from the sky, with a chilly wind blowing heavily. Some non-awakened kids clenched on their animal skin clothes, but their eyes were still fixed on Shao Xuan and Tai.
Tai had been waiting for some time, but still, he did not see Shao Xuan make any reaction. He wondered what Shao Xuan was doing… Was he determined to have a real fight, or was he just fooling people around? Thinking about that, Ta began to somehow get annoyed.
Lei and the others were also very confused.
Was he not taking the combat seriously? Or was he not fully soaked into the mood?
No, that’s not the case!
In Lei’s eyes, a sharp light flashed.
The breath!
When in a hunting mission, warriors were accustomed to concealing their breath to keep themselves hidden.
Before a hunter attacks, he would never let the prey notice his presence. So, warriors would hide their breath when waiting, while many old experienced warriors had already formed their own habits of holding back their breath. Normally they would move and walk in silence.
Compared to old experienced warriors, most young totem warriors had no such habits formed. Of course, that kind of habit could not be formed overnight.
It didn’t require a deliberate preparation, but was just a habit that had been developed naturally after repeated hunting missions.
Inadvertently, they had already entered the best state!
In the past, when the seniors in Lei’s family were practicing with Lei, they were in similar states. They didn’t seem to be on the warpath at all, and no totem pattern were revealed either. On the appearance, they were a little off, but once they attacked, they struck a fatal move that could finish the enemy immediately.
However, that was the habit of the most experienced warriors. How long had the kid standing in front of him been hunting? He had only awakened for a year! Let alone that he was two years younger than Lei!
Thinking about that, Lei’s eyebrows twitched constantly. He opened his eyes wide, staring at Shao Xuan. He wanted to know what he was going to do next, and he would love to see whether his guess was correct.
“I’m ready.” Shao Xuan said a simple sentence, while standing there still, like a piece of log.
Tai was already a little annoyed earlier, seeing Shao Xuan’s behavior like that. He was about to say something, but before he could do that, he was surprised to hear Shao Xuan say that. However, since Shao Xuan had said that, he did not need take anything else into account. It was just that he was somehow feeling uneasy. He did not know why, but he felt uneasy.
As for Shao Xuan, Tai’s knowledge of him was only limited to the inside discussion that people had in the tribe. For example, he knew that Shao Xuan had found the ancestors, had been allowed in the advance group, and had adopted a spiritless wolf as well as a lousy bird. Some people said that Shao Xuan was the most outstanding warrior among his peers, towards which, Tai had always had his suspicions.
How strong could someone at his own age be? They had awakened in the same year, but Shao Xuan was from the orphan cave down in the mountain foot area! Also, he had no legendary tales about beating anyone.
“Fine!”
Tai stepped hard on the ground as he rushed towards Shao Xuan. Together with every step he made, the layer of snow on the ground would fly up. There were ‘boom’ sounds as he stepped on the ground very hard. In the meantime, a fierce atmosphere quickly spread out, and people all around could feel the suppression brought by Tai at that moment. It was obvious that Tai had an astonishing explosive power.
People looked at Shao Xuan, but he was still standing there in silence like a log. He showed no gesture of defense, nor were his totem patterns revealed.
Was he stunned?
People couldn’t help but wonder thus.
Not only the others, even Tai, who was punching his fist towards Shao Xuan, had started to feel confused. However, he was already in the middle of the movement, there’s no way that he would ever stop it without any reason. Who cares what he was thinking.. He shall be schooled first!
Bang!
Tai’s fist hit on some flesh.
What the fuck?!
All emotions in Tai’s heart changed to astonishment.
How’s that even possible?!
Everyone there was thinking the same thing.
Tai was so surprised, that he just stood there still, as if he’d just been struck by lightning. All his hairs stood up. It was clearly a chilly cold snowy day, but Tai was sweating on his back.
Staring at the palm that blocked his fist, Tai was totally lost. It looked like a normal palm, similar in size with his own palm, yet it stopped his fist from going any further.
He looked up along the palm that blocked his fist, but he could not see to what extent his opponent’s totem patterns spread, for both his arms were covered in animal skin sleeves. Then, he saw a face with clear totem patterns.
One moment earlier, the totem patterns were nowhere to be found, but now…
Shao Xuan’s totem patterns had not slowly spread out like Tai. The totem patterns on Shao Xuan’s face seemed to have appeared at once, just at that moment.
As was known to all, the totem patterns should appear from one’s top to the bottom. While the speed of the appearance was a reflection on how well the person mastered his totem power. The more control that the person had on his totem power, the more quickly would his totem patterns show from nothing. In fact, Shao Xuan’s totem patterns seemed to appear out of nowhere, without any notice. In the blink of an eye, the patterns appeared.
How well had this boy mastered his totem power? People dared not to ponder too much about it.
Tai looked into Shao Xuan’s eyes, and the moment they made eye contact, Tai felt a chill over his spine. Shao Xuan’s eyes were exuding a fierce atmosphere, and Tai felt as if he was confronting some ferocious beast with its fangs showing, who was about to bite his arms off the next moment.
Withdraw! That was Tai’s only thought now.
Tai stepped against the ground, as he planned to go backwards. However, soon enough, he realized the fact that he could not step back at all! The palm that blocked his fist earlier had been clenched and held his fist tightly.
Lei closed his eyes as he was standing on the side, watching the combat.
One move elaborated everything.
There was no need in continuing this funny show.
He could not know that someone in the tribe had already reached that level!
It was still a fresh memory to him, that his great grandpa once said to him, “You need to look further, and do not get trapped by those around you.” He had paid no attention to that reminder until now. Aside from people living in the upper half of the mountain, who else would deserve his attention? Now it seemed that he made a huge mistake, and he was after all, a short-sighted man.
When he opened his eyes again, Lei managed to control his astonishment on his face.
“You lost, Ah-Tai.” Lei said calmly.
Lost? Ah-Tai came back to himself as he was thinking about how to step back. Yes, he lost.
Tai felt a release on his fist, and his arm regained freedom, although one moment ago it was tightly controlled by his opponent.
“I lost.” Said Tai.
Looking at the person in front of him again, Tai noticed that one moment earlier, Shao Xuan’s face was covered with clear totem patterns, but now, they had all disappeared, as if they had never appeared.
“Your fist is meant for the ferocious beasts, then your target should be the ferocious beasts.” Said Shao Xuan.
“That’s correct.” Lei thought about it and said, “It’s indeed boring if we only combat within the tribe…I understand what you are implying.”
Shao Xuan looked at Lei…What do you think you know? He sensed that there was something wrong…
Lei himself thought that he fully understood Shao Xuan’s point, and he continued, “Just like when every time we get back from a hunting trip, we walk along the Path of Glory. The best way to show our abilities is by competing with each other by the game we hunted!”
The others all acted like “That is true”.
Even Tai, who was pretty upset earlier, regained his spirited, “Okay! Then we compete by the game!”
“Me too!” said Lei.
Anything could happen during a hunting mission. It was not like the most kick-ass fighter could put down the most game. Many other factors were crucial in hunting. With a year’s adjustment and adoption to the hunting missions, the young totem warriors would turn into experienced ones in the second year. They did not need to step back.
“I want in, too.” Mao said.
With Lei and Mao’s leading effect, the other young warriors shouted out and tried to participate in this competition.
Shao Xuan stood beside, totally lost… I was not fucking implying any of that shit!
Originally, Shao Xuan wanted to say, that when you have the energy and strength to fight useless fights with people in the tribe, you may just as well go back and practice more, so that next year when going out with the hunting team, you could apply all your killing moves on the prey.
Due to the fact that stoneware was not durable, everyone in the tribe cherished their fine stoneware. So normally, when they started a fight or spar, they would not take out their good stoneware as tools or weapons. Most of the times, people would fight each other with their bare hands. As for wooden sticks…well, they were only meant for those who were not awakened.
That kind of combat should only be used to communicate friendship, and for normal practice. It was totally unnecessary if people wanted to distinguish a clear winner. That was only Shao Xuan’s thought, for totem warriors had a different temperament when they were holding hunting tools and when they didn’t.
However, Shao Xuan did not expect his words to be misinterpreted like that. Those folks were all so excited. Seeing their red faces, Shao Xuan assumed that even ten ferocious beasts couldn’t pull their thoughts back.
“Since we compete with each other by the game…then, do we compete by quality, or do we compete by quantity?” Someone asked.
Mao and Lei turned to Shao Xuan at the same time.
“Ah-Xuan, what do you think? You are the one who proposed it.” Mao asked.
I proposed nothing!
Shao Xuan lifted his hand to rub his forehead. If he could, he would love to swallow back what he said before, and replace it with some more plain words. He himself was the one to blame for triggering so much trouble.
However, if you think about it, you’ll find that it was not a bad idea. It was better for them to try to put down more prey, than to start more in-fights within the tribe. After a whole year’s hunting, young warriors were much more mature regarding their minds and temper. They were fully aware that they couldn’t be impulsive in the hunting field, and hence, they would control themselves. Under such circumstances, it was a good thing for them to fight for more and stronger game.
It can’t be over a short term, in case that anyone would be too eager to prove themselves. Moreover, they belonged to different hunting teams. And the two hunting teams took hunting missions in turns. The environment also could affect the results.
“One year. Next winter, we take out our harvest and have the contest.” Shao Xuan said.
Mao and Lei both agreed that it was a good idea, “Okay, then one year it is.”
There were too many people shouting to join the hunting contest, so Lei said, “Perhaps we should write down all the names of those that want to participate.”
“I have an animal skin!” A young warrior took out a piece of animal skin.
“Then what about the pen? Does anyone have a pen? And pigment?” Mao looked at the crowd behind him.
“Use mine.” Shao Xuan took out a carbonated pen that he made himself, and passed it along.
“What’s this? It can write?” Someone asked.
Many people were seeing Shao Xuan’s carbonated pen for the first time. But Mao had spent some time with Shao Xuan when they were in the same hunting group, so he knew how to use it.
Mao took the carbonated pen, and wrote down his name on the animal skin, before he passed it back to Shao Xuan.
When Shao Xuan finished writing his name on the animal skin, the carbonated pen got snatched away by Lei. He grabbed the pen as if it was a stone knife, and wrote down his name.
After that, the other warriors all rushed to put their names on the list.
In the end, every totem warrior there, including Mo-Er and Ku, had put their names on the animal skin roll, and officially took part in this one-year competition. Many people like Mo-Er had absolutely no interest in fighting one another, but when it comes to competing by hunting, they were quite interested.
The twins, and some other kids that had potential to be awakened after this winter, were itching for a try, but all they could do was itch. Mao and Lei would never allow them to be part of the competition. Newly awakened warriors all needed some time to adjust to the change, and people did not wish them to be anxious for success, and hence to break the rules they had in the hunting team. For example, Ah-Fei, he was so careless that he almost caused severe consequences.
So, this bunch of “fat dumplings” could only clench on their thick animal skin clothes, and stare at each other, pouting.