Chapter 261 - The ancestors' bone ornament
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
It snowed heavily in winter, which might be bad news for some wanderers. But for the people who came from the other side of the river, they thought it was warmer here.
The snow was falling. Standing at a high place, you could see that everything on the mountain was covered with white snow.
Although it was snowing here, the snowpile would not get taller than a person. It didn’t snow heavily every day and sometimes the weather was fine. Of course, deep in the forest, the weather was worse.
Shao Xuan and the warriors of the hunting team were carrying some prey as they stepped on the snow on their return to the tribe.
In the place they had walked past, there were some reclaimed fields. It was said that they could sow some of the seeds they brought back, even in the autumn and winter, because those plants could survive in cold weather. The field was not large, but they could try growing some plants here. Around there, you could see some people walking back and forth, busy doing things.
In addition to these fields, there was a livestock pen which was newly built. The old one was too small. Since the tribe expanded, they had more space to build a bigger pen.
When the wanderers came here, those who knew each other lived in one house, similar to a dormitory. At that time, the space was limited, but now their site expanded by nearly two thirds. They had much more space. Nowadays, some wanderers moved out of the “dormitories” and built their own houses in the designated areas.
Although the tribe allowed the wanderers to live here, they could not get the food for free. It meant that if they needed food, they had to work for it. Not only the wanderers from other tribes, but also those from the Flaming Horns tribe had to do so. The Shaman and the chief did not allow anyone to get things without working. The wanderers that could survive must have some skills, though they hadn’t been trained. Thanks to these skills, they could exchange for a lot of food from the tribe.
The wanderers from other tribes lived at the border of the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest. From there they could come out of the forest easily, but until now no one had left.
Although they lived in theFerocious Beast Mountain Forest, after removing the dangers, this place was not much different from the other forests. Moreover, close to the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest, it was guarded every day by warriors, in case some ferocious beasts broke in. Even though there had been some beasts, they were small and weak, so they were captured and cooked quickly.
The warriors patrolled on the outer border and the core area of the tribe. In the core area lived the Shaman, the chief, and other vital people, but most importantly, there was the fire pit.
The orphans were taken care of by those in the tribe as they could not catch any fish here, and there was still enough food supply. Now the tribe paid more attention to them. They were educated by others and received training together. Anyone who behaved well would get rewards, everyone was motivated.
Everything was going well.
Having arrived home with his prey, Shao Xuan was preparing to process the prey.Old Ke said at once: “I will process the prey, you go to visit the Shaman. The Shaman sent someone to call you to his place.”
What happened? Is it about the ritual ceremony after the end of winter?
If it was only about the ritual dance, the Shaman should just have someone tell him about it. It was unnecessary for the Shaman to ask him to come there. Shao Xuan set out confused. Without delay, he put down the prey, and went to find the Shaman.
The place where the Shaman lived was very close to the fire pit, and his house was similar to that of the ancestors, which was painted on the Shaman Volumes left by the ancestors.
When Shao Xuan got there, only the Shaman was in the stone house, he was writing something.
The Shaman did not stop writing and Shao Xuan did not bother him. He just found a stool to sit down on and took the earthenware kettle and the pottery cup on the table. He poured a cup of water to drink. The water was still warm.
Someone came in to pour some warm water into the Shaman’s kettle at intervals. It was also the case when they lived on the other side of the river.
About a quarter of an hour later, the Shaman stopped writing, rolled up the animal skin volume, put it aside, and then looked up to Shao Xuan.
“How was the winter hunting?” The Shaman asked.
“It was good, probably because we are not deep in the forest, the ferocious beasts we met are not strong. Even when it is snowing, we can still go out for hunting, but we get less prey. We’ve almost removed all the dangerous creatures on the border.” Shao Xuan said.
The border he mentioned was the junction between the Flaming Horns tribe and the Ferocious Beast Mountain Forest a thousand years ago. Now the Shaman and the chief had changed that into a border. The hunting warriors needed to reach there and remove all the dangerous creatures, only then would their task be completed.
At the border, large stones engraved with words and totem patterns could be found, which had been left by the ancestors. The stones were broken to some degree, and some were buried in the earth.
“Yes.” The Shaman said calmly and made a small nod. He had already learned about what Shao Xuan said, right now he was just asking him casually. This was not the reason why he asked Shao Xuan to come here today.
The Shaman turned around and walked into another room. He took out a stone box with a respectful attitude, as if it was treasure in his hand.
Shao Xuan saw it and sat with his back straight. He knew that the Shaman only treated the things of the ancestors in such a way. However, why did the Shaman take it out?
After carefully placing the stone box on a low table, the Shaman opened it and took out a bone ornament from it. There was also a faint ball in the middle of the bone ornament.
Shao Xuan was familiar with this. When he had carried the ancestors on his back out of the cave where the king stone worm lived, he had seen one of the ancestors wearing such a bone ornament. Later the Shaman also told him that the ancestor with the bone ornament was one of the elders in the tribe.
“Do you remember this?” The Shaman asked.
“I remember.” Shao Xuan said. He still remembered that this bone ornament was a treasure, for it could resist the attack of the king stone worm. That was why the ancestors could stay intact in the cave.
The Shaman sighed, held the bone ornament in his hands and passed it to Shao Xuan. “This bone ornament, you keep it. You wear it at the ritual ceremony after the end of winter.”
Shao Xuan was surprised, “This is... for me. What if I lose it?”
The Shaman’s sad face twitched and looked at Shao Xuan without a facial expression. [If you remember, poker face shaman, angry shaman.]
“Nevermind.” Quickly taking the bone ornament, Shao Xuan asked again: “Why do you want me to wear it? Didn’t you say only an elder can wear it?”
“Yes.” The Shaman looked at Shaw Xuan with mixed feelings, “If you can light it, you are an elder.”
“This is left by the ancestors, it cannot be lit so easily.” Shao Xuan said. He was not a fire seed, how could he light it? He thought he was too young to an elder in the tribe.
“I am not sure. Have a try.” The Shaman said. Since he brought it out, he did not intend to change his mind. The reason why he did so was that he just wanted to see if the bone ornament could be lit again.
In fact, the Shaman did not have much hope for this, after all, the fire seed was incomplete. But when he recalled that when Shao Xuan awakened, his situation was different. It was the kind of awakening that came from a complete fire seed. Because of his power of inheritance, the Shaman decided to let him have a try. After all, Shao Xuan was recognized as the man blessed by the ancestors. Even if he could not light it, it could protect Shao Xuan.