Chapter 258 - How big
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
Seeing Shao Xuan talk leasurely with the people above, Mai felt relieved. It was the first time they came here, but Kun Tu had told them that many tribes took refuge here. And the people of the stronger tribes rested in the higher holes.
Having fought against the Dishan tribe, the warriors of the Flaming Horns tribe were too tired and injured, they were not as strong as before. If they confronted with another strong tribe from the grasslands, they had a slim chance at winning. After all, they had no advantage in numbers. Moreover, Mai felt that the man named Gu La was much stronger than the leader of the Dishan tribe, and he was not sure whether he could defeat him.
Mai looked down to the hole of the Dishan tribe and his eyes once again looked fierce. When hunting in the ferocious beast forest, they had better kill the target, or a similar situation like with the Thorn Black Wind would occur, and they would suffer from unexpected attacks.
He was going to ask the slightly injured warriors to go with him to kill the rest of the Dishan tribe. At this moment, he heard the leader of that tribe above him shout loudly: “Gu La, I have something to say to you!”
Hearing his words, Mai prepared his sword to fight, and made a gesture towards the others to signal them not to take actions. Although they had heard about the Hui tribe from those other tribes, they were unfamiliar with them. After all, Mai was not sure about the response of the people of that tribe. So they didn’t act and looked on to see what would happen next.
The leader of the Dishan tribe, who had been aware of the intention of Mai, avoided starting a war fight them. Instead, he came up with another idea in order to get out of trouble.
Above him, Gu La frowned, he didn’t intend to intervene in the dispute between the Flaming Horns tribe andthe Dishan tribe. In this place the strong had the say. If two tribes had a conflict, they should have a fight. The winner could decide everything. The loser would retreat or would be slaughtered. Therefore, even if all team members of the Dishan tribe were killed, the people who rested here would not think the Flaming Horns tribe was evil.
However, why did the Dishan tribe ask them for help? They couldn’t have forgotten the basic rule, especially those from the Dishan tribe. They had slaughtered many teams before. The people of the Hui tribe would not engage in it unless they could get some benefits.
Gu La closed his eyes and the others failed to guess what he was thinking. Then he raised his head, smiled at Shao Xuan and said: “Wait.”
This meant he told Shao Xuan that he had to wait for those coming up from below.
Shao Xuan did not argue with him, instead he rose his hand to stop Chacha, who wanted to fight with Shan Dao.
The leader of the traveling team of the Dishan tribe climbed up and reached there, with blood on his body. He glanced at Shao Xuan with fear and vigilance. Then he walked to Gu La and whispered something. They went into the hole to have a secret conversation.
Gu La just changed his facial expression for an instant. Shao Xuan saw this and sighed silently. It seemed that they would not be able to kill the whole group. Walking to the edge, Shao Xuan looked down and signaled Mai and the others to clean their wounds.
About five minutes later, the leader of the traveling team of the Dishan tribe and Gu La came out. The former didn’t show his emotion on his face. The latter looked upset, as if he lost something very important.
It was likely that he had promised to give something good to Gu La.
After the leader of the Dishan tribe went down, Gu La asked Shao Xuan: “In your team, who is the leader?”
Shao Xuan shouted towards the people below: “Mai, come here.”
Mai was ready for this, he climbed up, said to Gu La: “Mai, Flaming Horns tribe.”
“Gu La, Hui tribe.” Gu La didn’t put on airs because of the mystery of the Flaming Horns tribe and the giant eagle mentioned by Shao Xuan.
“Let those of the Dishan tribe go.” Gu La said while pointing to those next to him. Three of the Hui tribe came down together, carrying several large bags. “This is the compensation for you.”
Opening the bag, he found there were a lot of jades, shells and some stones similar to the water moonstones of the Drumming tribe. They could exchange them with others. If all were exchanged for water moonstones, they could get more than twice they had gotten from the Drumming tribe.
Mai thought for a moment, and said: “Deal.”
Gu La only said to “let them go”. He didn’t care what would happen after they left, which meant he would not intervene in their disputes next time.
Mai also understood this. Over the past two years, before the return to the old land, they had been trained by the Shaman as leaders of the hunting teams, so they now had a different mindset.
Below, the people of the Dishan tribe left with the slightly wounded warriors. Most of those with serious injuries were abandoned.
Lang Ga and a few people saw this. They wanted to say something, but were stopped by Wei, who said, “Wait.” Since the Hui tribe got engaged, they could not keep fighting.
Besides the things that the Dishan tribe took out, there was a wooden box, which was given by Gu La. The box contained many rare herbs. Of course, the people of the Flaming Horns tribe had seen many quality herbs, but right now they didn’t have enough herbs for treatment and first aid.
Mai talked with Gu La again to confirm that Gu La would not interfere in their disputes in the future. Then he left to take care of the wounds of the injured warriors with the herbs.
Mai went down with only the wooden box filled with herbs, he carried none of the animal skin bags that contained jade and shells.
“Hey, you don’t want this?” A man next to Gu La shouted.
He had just said that, and then a gust of wind blew.
The several bags on the ground were all grabbed by Chacha, and then he flew down.
The people of the Hui tribe glanced at Chacha and looked towards Shan Dao, who was standing next to Gu La. They thought this eagle was really a lot more helpful than certain others, for it could help carry the bags. On the contrary, their eagle even had difficulty in catching a rabbit.
“Go in and chat?” Gu La pointed to the hole where they rested and said to Shao Xuan.
“Good.” Although Shao Xuan was unhappy for the intervention of the Hui tribe, he saw Gu La and noticed he had something to say. He didn’t refuse him.
After entering the hole, Gu La told someone to guard the hole to stop others from getting close.
“Do you know what he just said to me?” Gu La asked.
This “he” referred to the leader of the Dishan tribe.
“No idea.” Shao Xuan had not expected Gu La to even tell him this.
Gu La said in the low voice: “A fire crystal mine.”
Shao Xuan’s eyelids twitched. No wonder the people of the Hui tribe were willing to help those of the Dishan tribe. The fire crystal mine was really tempting.
“In the grasslands, there is a small mine. The Dishan tribe found it, but they have not been able to grab it yet. There are others trying to snatch it.” Gu La said with irony, “I know what they’re playing at. They want us to fight for it so that they can get it without much effort, isn’t that right?”
Gu La paused and asked Shao Xuan: “Do you want to have a look at it?”
Shao Xuan shook his head, “Since it is in the grasslands, we will not go there, for it is too far.”
Gu La had asked this in order to guess the situation of the Flaming Horns tribe based on Shao Xuan’s reaction. Unexpectedly he got such an answer.
“Where is your tribe? If we come out for travel again, we may visitthe Flaming Horns tribe.” Gu La said.
“Oh, it is not too far away.” Shao Xuan pointed to one direction. “Go in that direction. It is in the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest.”
Gu La: “...”
The others of the Hui tribe had been listening carefully: “...”
Even Shan Dao, who had stretched to look outside also made a strange cry.
Gu La no longer looked calm and said: “If I remember correctly, the Wan Shi tribe is over there.”
“Yes,” Shao Xuan nodded, “it is just next to the Wan Shi tribe. They are outside the forest, but we are inside it.”
Gu La asked more questions about the Flaming Horns tribe, but Shao Xuan didn’t reply. Gu La knew that even if he kept asking, he would not get the answers. Then he talked about the Hui tribe and his keeping of Shan Dao.
“It’s not easy!” Gu La sighed.
Shao Xuan nodded while listening to him: “Raising them is really not easy.”
“Indeed.” Speaking of this, Gu La was excited again, “In the beginning, Shan Dao was the smallest egg in the nest, like this.”
Gu La said, and also swung his hands to show how "small" it had been.
Shao Xuan looked, as Gu La said, if the egg was put vertically, it came higher than his knee. It had been “the smallest egg in that nest”. Because of this, Shao Xuan looked strange.
Gu La spoke excitedly, “When Shan Dao came out, he was the weakest among his brothers and sisters. After all, it was the smallest egg. Some people said it is difficult to hatch the smallest egg of the giant mountain eagle. Even if it hatched, it would also be difficult for it to survive, let alone grow up. When I brought Shan Dao here, I had little hope. Unexpectedly, Shan Dao survived, and now he became the strongest among his siblings. Even in the whole tribe, among the mountain eagles of the same size, he is the most powerful!”
Gu La said with obvious pride on his face.
In the Hui tribe, he really deserved praise because of this. Unexpectedly, During Shan Dao’s first outing, he encountered Chacha and was defeated. He suffered a crushing defeat.
The fight between the giant mountain eagles had always been like this. There were many fights among the mountain eagles in the tribe, and many losers even suffered a lot more than Shan Dao had. Gu La thought he wasn’t bullied, for the giant mountain eagles should meet challenges head-on and become tough. In this way, they would be able to overcome difficulties in the future. This was why when Gu La saw Shan Dao defeated, he didn't get very angry.
Thinking of this, Gu La curiously asked Shao Xuan: “Chacha looks very good, and very strong. It is the strongest among the eagles of the same size I have seen. The egg was also very big, right?”
Shao Xuan: “...Oh.”
“How big was it in the end? Don't worry. Tell me the truth. I have seen bigger eggs. Tell me, how big it was?”
Shao Xuan showed his index finger and thumb, and made a gesture: “Like this.”
Gu La: “...” Do you think I have not seen the giant mountain eagle eggs?!
Shao Xuan was helpless, for he didn't know there were big and small eagle eggs. There were totally different sizes. He had held the egg in his hand and he had intended to cook it.