Fang Yuan followed Ge Guang and the others towards the west direction.
They had the hump wolf, the speed was not slow.
Along the way, the group’s atmosphere was uplifting.
On one hand, Fang Yuan was intentionally getting close to them, he had his motives. On the other hand, Ge Guang was doing his best to form a relationship with this expert, he had great respect for him in his heart.
Northern plains natives were brave and fierce, but they were also forthright and candid.
If you did not have strength, they would look down on you, they were hard to talk to. But if you had a strong and tough fist, they would respect you. And when your personality matched theirs, their enthusiasm would make you understand what was ‘to regret meeting too late’.
In just two days, Fang Yuan became very close to Ge Guang.
Fang Yuan intended to use this stepping board called Ge tribe to fuse into northern plains. After all, Chang Shan Yin had vanished for twenty years, now that he returned, it was hard for people to accept that fact.
At the same time, he had few primeval stones left, and he lacked a defensive Gu, he needed transactions to get them.
On Chang Shan Yin’s corpse, Fang Yuan did not find any defensive Gu, most likely it was destroyed during the battle with Ha Tu Gu.
And Ge Guang was also very gratitude, respectful, and curious about Fang Yuan,
Gratitude because Fang Yuan saved his life.
Respect because Fang Yuan’s wolf enslavement skill was first-rate. With just a bit of guidance, Ge Guang’s bottleneck was easily broken, it was truly the demeanour of a first-rate senior, the disposition for an expert.
Curiosity was because Fang Yuan spoke of the past, he often used a reminiscent tone and an old and wise gaze, he was obviously an expert with a deep story. Ge Guang had the desire to find out more, but he did not dare to ask excessively.
Five days later, the gang returned to Ge tribe’s camp base.
The campsite was huge, there was a thick sturdy wall at the outer border of the camp, it was around 6 meters tall, green in color as vines grew and intertwined on it. Large numbers of leaves covered bunches and bunches of grape-like fruits.
These were obviously not fruits, but the wood path mind confusion Gu. When wild beasts attack, these grape-like fruits would explode and their juices would splatter on the beasts, causing them to go into confusion, and their bodies would shake as they lose their balance, unable to continue fighting.
After the great wall, there were tall watchtowers. Three Gu Masters were stationed on top of each tower, one defensive and two investigative Gu Masters taking turns to keep watch.
When the camp gates were opened, many Gu Masters came out to welcome them back.
“Young tribe leader is back, young tribe leader is back.”
“Young tribe leader has only left for a few days, they’re back already?”
“I heard they met with a wind wolf pack, and almost lost their lives, thankfully an enslavement path expert helped them out!”
“That middle-aged man? These wolves are all following him, he is amazing! But I wonder he is expert from which tribe in northern plains.”
Before Fang Yuan and others reached the camp, they had already met with the investigative Gu masters patrolling the camp. Thus, the camp had already received their news before the gang even reached.
As the information spread, many people pointed fingers at Fang Yuan, extremely curious.
Some children were jumping and shouting, following behind the gang excitedly.
Fang Yuan was seated on the back of hump wolf, looking at Ge Guang wave his hand towards the tribesmen. Every time he waved his hand, there would be a loud cheer from the crowd. It showed this young man’s important position in the tribe.
From their conversations along the way, Fang Yuan had already understood Ge Guang completely. He was the brother of Ge Yao, a typical northern plains native, forthright and had a strong sense of brotherhood, he placed glory above his life. He had both wisdom and strength, and had the traditional northern plains mindset of patriarchy deeply ingrained in him. He was extremely angry and disgusted at his sister for escaping the wedding.
But his negative emotions did not mean that their sibling relationship was cold.
In fact, if he knew that Fang Yuan was the murderer of his sister, even without any primeval essence, he would use his teeth and limbs to try and exact revenge on Fang Yuan.
In Fang Yuan’s previous life, he had lived in northern plains, thus he had a deep understanding of their nature.
Along the main path, the gang moved towards the center of the camp.
All around them were tents, resembling the mongolian tents on Earth. These were the accomodation of mortals.
Many people heard the commotion and lifted their window flaps, as their expressions changed when they saw the wolf pack behind Fang Yuan. Upon seeing the young tribe leader, they used their right hand to cover their chest as they paid respects to Ge Guang, shouting loudly to greet him.
In southern border, mortals had to kneel down when they met Gu Masters. But in northern plains, the male warriors only kneeled to heaven, their ancestors, and family elders. Normally, they did not kneel even to the tribe leader or tribe elders.
These mortals wore fur robes. Some females with better family background would have some accessories, while the males would have golden or purple threads on their shirts. Those who were poor would wear tattered clothes, with holes covered by additional cloth.
But this was much better than slaves.
Along the way, the people Fang Yuan saw who were kneeling were all slaves.
These slaves wore barely any clothing, they were skinny and pale. In northern plains, these slaves had very lowly status, and lived a pitiful life.
In the hearts of northern plains natives, keeping slaves was the same as rearing cows or sheep. Slave trade was the most flourishing business in northern plains.
In northern plains, mortals lived in tents. The tents were scattered at the outer ring of the camp, while the inner area was the residential area for Gu Masters.
If beast groups attacked the camp, the morals were the first to die.
After Fang Yuan and the others passed the tent area, they reached the Gu Master domain.
The Gu Masters on the grassland did not live in tents, but lived in Gu houses.
Gu houses were houses made of Gu. Simple Gu houses were made using one Gu. Complex Gu houses were made from a combination of many Gu.
In southern border, the large size caravans that travelled across mountains and forests had such Gu houses.
Back then on Qing Mao mountain, Jia clan brought a Gu house that was made using a wood path Gu worm, three star cave.
It was 18 meters tall, a truly tall tree. The roots were thick and strong, intertwining like coiling snakes, a small portion were exposed on the ground, while the rest were deeply buried underground.
The tree trunk had three layers, and on the surface, there were windows. The defensive power was on another level compared to the ordinary tents.
When used, the support Gu Master would plant the seeds, and inject their primeval essence for it to grow. When they wanted to keep it, the tree would turn back into a seed.
But in northern plains, ordinary Gu houses were not large trees like three star cave. Such a tall tree would be an easy target for lightning when it rained heavily.
Thus, the first Gu house that Fang Yuan saw was the most common house lizard Gu.
This was a rank two Gu, its outer appearance was like a lizard with many colors. The most commonly seen colors were dark green, sky blue, and milky white. They were huge in size, like the buses on Earth, the lizard had two eyes that acted as windows. The two sides of their body also had windows.
The lizard sprawled on the ground, opening its mouth to reveal a door.
After opening the door and entering, one would see a long passage. On the left and right, there were two rows of rooms. At the end of the passage, it was the toilet, the temporary area to store body waste.
When the tribe relocates, the lizard would get up and move with its four strong limbs.
When there was too much waste in the toilet, these lizards would defecate, lifting their tails to expose their anus, excreting all of the waste they had.
A family living inside a Gu house needed to have at least one Gu Master.
Such living environments were a level higher than the tent area.
At the door of the Gu house, there were often big stomach horses standing there, as their ropes would be tied to the lizard’s huge teeth. A small number of families even had hump wolves.
Fang Yuan and gang moved past these lizard Gu houses and saw the mushroom forest Gu houses.
These Gu houses were formed by planting large numbers of mush room Gu. Each house was a large mushroom, with a grey colored round top that can let rainwater flow away, they did not attract lightning from storms and were very stable when strong winds blew.
The mushroom had a strong and circular stem, the interior was white walls with windows on it.
A few mush room Gu formed together to create a unique living environment. With dozens of mush room Gu, the area turned into a small mushroom forest.
Those who lived in the mushroom forest were tribe elders or affluent Gu Masters.
Hearing the movement from Fang Yuan and gang, the windows of these mushroom houses opened, showing some women and children. Some lively children ran out to touch the wind wolves or poison beard wolves’ fur, they were more bold than mortal family’s children.
“Benefactor Chang Shan Yin, ahead is the king tent of our Ge tribe.” Ge Guang said.
The gang came to the center of the campsite, and there were over a hundred mush room Gu here.
An old man, with an amicable appearance, led a group of Gu Masters to welcome them.
Fang Yuan guessed that he was the Ge tribe leader, and to express his politeness, he got off the hump wolf.
Old tribe leader came before Fang Yuan, placed his right hand at his heart as he bowed deeply: “Esteemed expert, you saved my son, you saved the future of our Ge tribe. Please come in, we have already prepared high quality kumis 1 , and the beef and lamb are also grilling right now. I will arrange for people to feed your wolf pack.”
“Alright.” Fang Yuan nodded, following Ge tribe leader into the this largest mushroom forest.
In the mushroom forest, people sat in order of status in the largest mush room Gu.
Fragrant kumis was placed in a leather water bag, presented before the people by young beautiful girls.
Large numbers of delicacies were placed on the table.
Soon, someone placed the grilled lamb and beef in the center of the room.
Old Ge tribe leader worked personally, he got to the center of the room and used a dagger to cut out the eyes of the cow and sheep, and also their back and chest meat, before placing them on a golden plate and bringing them to Fang Yuan with both hands.
“Benefactor, please.” Old Ge tribe leader lifted his wine cup and stood before Fang Yuan as he toasted.
Northern plains natives respected honorable men the most, and were extremely hospitable. In northern plains, if the host toasts a guest, and the guest drinks it all, then that is respect to the host. Similarly, if they did not drink it, that means they did not respect the host, or held disdain towards him.
When Fang Yuan drank the entire bowl of kumis, the room cheered as the atmosphere became more lively.
After Ge tribe leader toasted, Ge Guang followed, and Fang Yuan drank it all in one shot. Afterwards, the tribe elders started toasting him, and Fang Yuan drank them all, his grand attitude won the good feelings of everyone.
After the toasting ended, the atmosphere in the room was absolutely heated.
“Benefactor Chang Shan Yin, you name is very familiar, are you a member of Chang tribe? In Chang tribe, I have several friends, my second daughter is married to Chang tribe. We might even be relatives.” Old Ge tribe leader placed his cup down as his slightly red face had bright shining eyes.
“Ge tribe leader, I know what you want to ask. I am a tribesman from Chang tribe Yuan Feng faction, a Shan generation descendant who is the sole child in my family. My father is Chang Sheng Dun, and my mother is Chang Cui.” Fang Yuan sighed, replying in a solemn expression.
Old Ge tribe leader’s eyes were wide as he stared at Fang Yuan in shock: “You, you are really Warrior Chang Shan Yin?!”