Since the cave they were living in now could no longer accommodate all of them and their food, Yang Luo and Hou Yan finally made a decision. It was that any tribe members over the age of 14 could choose a stone wall and carve their own cave.
Qi Bai was somewhat happy to hear the news. After all, it was really inconvenient for so many people to live together in the tribe. He had long wanted to move out and live on his own, but life in the tribe wasn’t where he could do whatever he wanted. There was no saying in the primitive tribe about ‘the world doesn’t belong to the king,’ but without the content of the tribal priest and chief, the tribe members weren’t allowed their own private property. This naturally included houses.
For example, Mao Bai used to live in the tent left by his parents. Even though the animal skin of the tent was very worn out, he still wasn’t qualified to repair a new tent until he came of age.
At this time, Qi Bai caught a glimpse of Lang Ze standing beside him. Suddenly, a question came to his mind. For the first time, Qi Bai rashly spoke in front of others. He asked, “Grandpa Priest, can each of us have a cave?”
Yang Luo knew that Qi Bai and Lang Ze were good friends. Seeing Qi Bai asking questions, how could he not know Qi Bai’s thoughts? “Of course, not everyone can get a cave. The tribe members who want to dig a cave alone need to come to me and explain it. It is only after I agree with Chief Hou Yan that they can dig. But in addition to the private caves of the tribe members, we also need to dig a collective cave to store the tribe’s supplies.”
Yang Luo’s words actually showed his attitude. After all, no matter which tribe, slaves weren’t considered members of the tribe but a type of resource of the tribe. An item that could be exchanged at any time.
The survival of primitive tribes was bloody and cruel. Once conflicts occurred between tribes, the members of the losing side would be captured and become slaves. But usually, the winning side would only keep the sub-beastmen who could reproduce and the beastmen who were very young. Adult horned beastmen and beastmen who were too old to work would be killed directly. Some cruel tribes even had the terrible custom of eating these beastmen as two-legged sheep.
From the day they were branded as slaves, these beastmen no longer had any freedom and could be bought and sold at will. On a trading day, a ten year old horned beastman wasn’t as valuable as a bag of salt. Children born between slaves, such as the brothers Ma Shu and Ma Ling, were destined to be slaves from birth.
However, the Black Mountain Tribe was different from those tribes. These slaves weren’t obtained by them through war, nor were they exchanged for supplies. Instead, they fled here because of the flood.
They weren’t the masters of these slaves, but at this moment, no one objected when they claimed themselves to be masters.
The reason was actually very simple. These slaves were branded with totems of different tribes. Perhaps it was because the tribes in the beastmen world were far apart, but people couldn’t know the exact meaning of these totems. One thing was for certain. It was that no tribe would accept slaves as members of the tribe. No matter where they went, they would always be slaves. Compared with other tribes where they might be slaughtered or used as bait for prey at any time, they could get food in the Black Mountain Tribe as long as they worked, and no one would blame them. This was already the best tribe that many slaves could imagine. For them, life these days was like a dream.
Therefore, they had no intention of refuting Yang Luo’s statement. AS long as they could have a cave that could shelter them from the wind and snow in winter, they would be very satisfied even if everyone had to squeeze together.
However, Qi Bai didn’t think so. He pretended not to understand and continued to ask, “Then in what order should we choose the location? If Shu Lin and I happen to like the same stone wall, what should we do?”
Shu Lin, who was sitting on the side, looked at Qi Bai in confusion and wanted to tell him, ‘Don’t worry, Bao Bai. If we both like the same stone wall, I will give it to you.’
Qi Bai secretly pulled him by the hand, and Shu Lin immediately understood what Qi Bai meant. ‘Don’t talk first. I don’t really want to compete with you for a spot.’
Yang Luo stared at Qi Bai for a while before asking, “Then what do you want to do?”
Qi Bai saw that Yang Luo finally asked this question and smiled widely, “Grandpa Priest, to ensure fairness, I think we should have a competition. Whoever wins the competition can choose the stone wall first.”
“How can this be possible? The horned beastmen are naturally stronger than us sub-beastmen. How can such a competition be fair?” Tu Ya asked first.
“That isn’t necessarily true. Zhu Ya can’t beat sub-beastmen.” At this time, Hu Meng in the crowd shouted loudly about Zhu Ya’s embarrassing story.
Zhu Ya’s face turned red. “I… I am a horned beastman. I won’t fight a sub-beastman. I lost to Sun Qing because I couldn’t use my strength.”
Zhu Ya’s words became more and more fluent. By the end, he almost believed it. He stood up excitedly, “I want to challenge you, Hu Meng. I will definitely defeat you!”
Qi Bai quickly stopped him. “The competition I’m talking about isn’t this type of competition. Now it is the critical time to prepare food for the winter. We can’t waste time on a competition among ourselves.”
Hu Meng had already been inspired by Zhu Ya. He was just about to accept Zhu Ya’s challenge and teach this ignorant boy a weapon. Hearing this, he asked, “Then how do you want to compete? I, Hu Meng, will never back down. You must not quit either.”
Zhu Ya’s neck stiffened. “I won’t back down! I will definitely defeat you! I will let you know that I am a strong beastman!”
Qi Bai hadn’t expected the two of them to unknowingly give him a good opportunity. Qi Bai quickly said, “We will limit ourselves to one day. At the end of the day, whoever collects more prey or collects more food will be the winner and have the right to choose the stone wall first.”
Qi Bai’s words ignited the fighting spirit of everyone in the tribe. In this world where strength was respected, every beastman didn’t want to be looked down upon by others. Now, everyone was aroused to fight after hearing what Qi Bai said about the method of competition.
“Okay! I agree!” Hu Meng clenched his fists and slammed them together. He looked at Zhu Ya provocatively, “Do you dare to agree?”
“Why wouldn’t I dare to agree?”
Yang Luo had already sensed that something was wrong. But even though he was a priest, he couldn’t arbitrarily obstruct challenges in the tribe. This was the right of every beastman warrior. Of course, the two children in front of him didn’t understand the honor and dignity of a beastman warrior at all. It was obviously a bet made in anger, but their bet didn’t affect the normal work of the tribe. This meant Yang Luo had no reason to stop it.
What’s more, Yang Luo was standing in a high place and could immediately see the expectant look in everyone’s eyes. Just as Qi Bai thought, even the sub-beastmen wanted to win and become the most powerful sub-beastman in the tribe.
Qi Bai looked at Yang Luo with bright eyes. “In this case, all of us in the Black Mountain Tribe should participate. As an ordinary beastman, I absolutely don’t believe that I will lose to any slave. Don’t you think so, Shu Lin?”
Shu Lin, whose name was suddenly called again, looked at Qi Bai in confusion. In fact, he knew that he wasn’t very good. If he really competed, he might not be able to beat many slaves in the tribe. But he also knew that he couldn’t easily admit defeat at this time. “That’s right. I won’t lose to slaves.”
The moment Shu Lin’s voice came out, sporadic voices of agreement from other people were heard around him.
Yang Luo took a deep breath before finally relaxing. He pointed to the sky and said, “From now on, until the sun disappears, I will be your witness.”
“Ah! I will definitely win!”
“No, I must be the winner!”
“I want the right to choose the stone wall first!”
The moment the morning meeting ended, everyone almost wolfed down their breakfast.
Qi Bai only took a short time to return to the cave to get his carrying pole. After coming back, it wasn’t just Lang Ze but all the members of the hunting team who had disappeared. Even Hu Huo and Xiong Feng, who had a limp and a hanging arm, insisted on going out to look for prey despite their disabilities.
Of course, it was impossible for the tribe to leave no one to guard it. The remaining ones were Yang Luo, the priest, and Zhu Zhu, the only old sub-beastman in the tribe.
There were four people left among the horned beastmen. They were Hou Yan, the tribe leader, and Xiang Yu, Quan Lie, and Lang Ye, three old beastmen over 80 years old. At their age, there was no need for them to compete with each other.
Moreover, during the trip, the tribe had changed a lot. It was late when they came back last night, and they didn’t see it clearly. At this moment, they were strolling in and out of the cave with great interest, praising it as he watched. Wasn’t this more interesting than a competition?
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