LSLFBW: Chapter 77

A group of a dozen skinny horse-shaped beastmen stood in front of the high wall in shock.

“Who are you?”

They finally came to their senses when they heard someone asking.

Following the source of the sound, they looked up and saw a handsome young man standing on the wall, leaning over and looking at them.

A horned beastman immediately changed into human form and replied loudly, “I am Ma Song from the Xishui Tribe. These are my people. We want to see the priest.”

As he spoke, he picked up the animal skin that had fallen to the ground and said earnestly, “We brought animal skins and bones to exchange for salt with the Black Mountain Tribe.”

At this time, the other horned beastmen also turned into human form.

Their human forms looked even thinner and more shriveled than their beast forms. Their cracked skin clung tightly to their clearly visible ribs as if they could be broken with just the slightest force.

Ma Song and Ma Tian had already described everything they saw in the Black Mountain Tribe. Everyone knew that the Black Mountain Tribe was a mysterious and powerful tribe.

However, with their poor imagination, they couldn’t see such a scene even in their dreams.

At this time, following Ma Song’s words, everyone raised the animal skins in their hands with fear and trepidation.

“You wait here. I’ll ask the priest and tribe leader.”

The people of the Xishui Tribe looked at the young man speaking with some arrogance and just nodded, not daring to refute it.

On the other side, Hu Qiao repeated Qi Bai’s words precisely. Then he turned around and ran to the observation tower nearby. He looked at the two people observing outside with some nervousness. “Did I say it okay?”

Qi Bai and Lang Ze arrived here as soon as they heard Hu Qiao’s signal.

Unlike the wall, the watchtower was built higher, and most importantly, it was covered with bricks.

Therefore, Qi Bai and Lang Ze could now observe the people of the Xishui Tribe, but it was difficult for the people under the wall to discover them.

Qi Bai smiled and nodded at Hu Qiao. “You said it very well. Go and tell the priest and the chief of the tribe about the arrival of the Xishui Tribe.”

Qi Bai and Lang Ze had already determined the identity of the visitors.

The first reason was time. According to their previous calculations, the salt brought back by Ma Song and Ma Tian should only be able to help the Xishui Tribe survive the winter.

They both believed that when spring came, the Xishui Tribe would come to the tribe to exchange salt. It was a few days late, but it was still within the time they had discussed.

The second reason was that there was a person with very obvious characteristics in their team. It was the reddish-brown horse-shaped beastman, Ma Tian.

His front legs were a bit lame when he left in winter, so even if he was far away, Qi Bai could see him in the crowd at a glance.

The reason why Qi Bai asked Hu Qiao to say those words was mainly to give Yang Luo and Hou Yan some time to prepare.

In particular, this was Hou Yan’s first time conducting diplomacy with a foreign tribe as the leader of the Black Mountain Tribe, so he had been anxious for several days.

The young beastman on the wall said only this sentence and turned away.

The Xishui Tribe didn’t dare to move. Under Ma Song’s command, they sat quietly on the land outside the wall.

Their current location was right in front of the tribe’s small gate.

Since there were people entering and exiting the small gate all the time, a relatively flat road had naturally opened up here. It was no wonder that they found this place directly.

They were already used to resting anywhere in the wilderness, so they surrounded Ma Song and a middle-aged beastman with a pale face in the middle of the group in an orderly manner.

There were two braver ones sitting at the outermost edge of the group, looking curiously at the wooden gate in front of them.

No one noticed that an old beastman at the end of the group was trembling all over.

The middle-aged horned beastman surrounded by the crowd was Ma Sheng, the chief of the Xishui Tribe.

Ma Song pulled out a piece of animal skin and covered his father with it.

Ma Sheng coughed a few times and asked in a hoarse voice, “What’s going on now? Will they let us into the tribe?”

Ma Song shook his head. “Last time, we fainted in the snow and woke up in the cave of the Black Mountain Tribe. We didn’t encounter such a situation.”

In fact, facing this high wall that blended into the soil and the Black Mountain, almost hiding the Black Mountain among the mountains and forests, Ma Song was no less shocked than other tribe members.

Up to now, he still had a feeling of unreality. If it wasn’t for him and Ma Tian repeatedly checking the route, he would’ve thought that he had led the group in the wrong direction.

After all, this was completely different from what he had seen before. He couldn’t even tell if there was something wrong with his memory.

At this time, a member of the Xishui Tribe exclaimed in a low voice. “Chief, Song, look…”

There was no need for his reminder because everyone heard a sound in the next moment.

Boom!

Just in front of them, the ‘wooden wall’ that had been tightly closed suddenly made a loud noise before slowly opening inwards.

“This…” Everyone in the Xishui Tribe stood there in a daze.

They couldn’t believe their eyes.

At this time, a young beastman with a handsome appearance and well-dressed in animal skins came out from the gap in the ‘wooden wall.’ He nodded slightly to everyone and said, “Everyone, follow me into the tribe.”

This time, the Black Mountain Tribe opened the gate generously and welcomed the Xishui Tribe into the tribe like friends.

The reason why they dared to do this was because the Black Mountain Tribe was now fully qualified to negotiate with the Xishui Tribe.

After only one winter, the warriors of the Black Mountain Tribe had already acquired the ability to defeat the large force with a smaller one, just as Lang Ze had said.

A dozen beastmen followed Qi Bai in a trance with their heads tilted back, and their eyes widened. As they passed through the ‘wooden wall’, some of them couldn’t help stretching out their hands to touch the huge log.

The last beastman looked at the high wall beside him nervously, muttering something.

Ma Tian, who was walking next to him, asked with some confusion, “Li, what did you say?”

Ma Li didn’t answer him but just moved forward on his own.

Ma Sheng, who was walking in front, had already arrived in front of Hou Yan under Qi Bai’s guidance.

Hou Yan adjusted his cloak somewhat awkwardly. The cloak was made by Yang Luo himself. It was similar to Yang Luo’s and was made from a whole piece of wolf skin.

However, wearing such a domineering cloak made Hou Yan feel that he couldn’t walk steadily.

Of course, the people of the Xishui Tribe didn’t notice this.

What they saw was a burly, middle-aged horned beastman and the orderly guards following behind him.

Ma Sheng should be around the same age as Hou Yan, but he looked much older. The moment he saw Hou Yan, a hint of nervousness appeared in his eyes.

Hou Yan spoke first. “I am Hou Yan, the chief of the Black Mountain Tribe. Hello, friends from the Xishui Tribe.”

Just when Ma Sheng was about to go forward and talk to Hou Yan, Xi Zhou, and his companions worked together to close the wooden gate again.

Click. The latch of the wooden gate was locked.

“Ah!”

Everyone was startled by the sudden shrill scream. They stopped what they were doing and turned to look.

They saw a horned beastman crawling on the ground, covering his eyes and shouting, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me. I didn’t see anything!”

Ma Tian quickly ran to his side and tried to pull him up. “Li, what’s wrong with you?”

However, Ma Li’s spirit seemed to be greatly stimulated. No matter how Ma Tian tried to persuade him, he kept his face pressed to the ground and refused to look up.

At this time, in addition to shock and curiosity, there was also a bit of fear on the faces of these outsiders.

After all, Ma Li was fine before entering the wall, but suddenly, it became like this. They couldn’t help but associate this change with the gate they had just passed through.

Lang Ze glanced at Ma Ling and Xi Zhou.

Ma Ling instantly understood what he meant and walked forward. He patted Ma Tian on the shoulder and said, “Tian, do you still remember me? Last time, you lived in my cave, and I even made barbecue for you.”

Ma Tian naturally recognized Ma Ling and nodded hurriedly.

Ma Ling walked to the other side of Ma Li and lifted him up easily. “He might be too tired from the journey. The priest has asked you to continue living in my cave. Why don’t you take him to rest for a while?”

Ma Tian looked up at the chief. After seeing the chief nod, he repeatedly thanked Ma Ling.

Xi Zhou also followed. He called the remaining members of the Xishui Tribe and followed Ma Ling to the left side of the Black Mountain. Only Ma Sheng and Ma Song were left since they needed to discuss the salt exchange with Yang Luo.

Hou Yan pointed to the other side of the Black Mountain and said, “Let’s go. Priest Yang Luo is waiting for you.”

Ma Sheng was nervous but exchanging salt was the most important thing for them on this trip. Other things had to be put on the back burner, so he followed behind Hou Yan without hesitation.

Everyone walked into the cave and saw Yang Luo standing next to the stone wall. On the back of the stone wall was a whole black bear skin. What he was staring at was the ferocious head of the wolf king above the skin.

He turned around slowly when hearing someone come in.

Yang Luo was only wearing a pale animal skin robe today. He stood in front of the gorgeous stone wall covered with feathers and stones and felt aloof from the wall.

Yang Luo looked at the beastmen walking beside Hou Yan and said, “You are the chief of the Xishui Tribe.”

He didn’t use a question mark, but directly confirmed Ma Sheng’s identity.

Even Qi Bai admired Yang Luo a bit, let alone Ma Sheng, who had never seen Yang Luo before.

After all, the chief of the tribe rarely joined the team going out to exchange salt. At least, that was the case in Mao Bai’s former tribe.

For Yang Luo, who had been in the cave, it wasn’t easy to directly guess the identity of the visitor.

Ma Sheng was naturally intimidated by Yang Luo, and his attitude became more respectful than before. He placed his right hand on his chest, lowered his head, and said, “Master Priest, I am the chief of the Xishui Tribe, Ma Sheng.”

Yang Luo nodded and pointed to the stone table next to him. “Sit down.”

The Xishui Tribe had always lived in low tents. The best house of the Xiaoniu Tribe, which they had the closest interactions with, was nothing more than a cave where the chief lived.

Ma Sheng felt a bit uncomfortable when he first saw such a spacious cave and the carefully carved stone tables and benches. Once Yang Luo and Hou Yan were seated, he carefully sat down in front of the stone bench.

Everyone knew the purpose of the Xishui Tribe’s trip, which was to exchange salt.

Since the two tribes had already exchanged once in the winter, both sides already had a rough estimate of the exchange ratio and quickly reached a consensus.

Before the Xiaoniu Tribe migrated, the Xishui Tribe would trade with the Xiaoniu Tribe at fixed times. However, they couldn’t always exchange enough salt, let alone such white salt without any odor.

Therefore, after determining the amount to exchange, Ma Sheng was obviously a bit excited.

At this time, Yang Luo casually said, “The flood caused many tribes to migrate to other places. We need to find a new trading day.”

“Two of your tribe members mentioned it to us last time, but what they said was useless. I need to know the specific time and location of the trading day.’

As the ‘useless’ person, Ma Song stood behind his father, and his neck shrank back guiltily.

Ma Sheng had no doubts and quickly repeated the route.

“Follow the direction of Xishui and walk forward for two days. Cross the plains and head towards the tallest Xushan Mountain. After another ten days, you will see traces of the beastmen activities. There are dozens of tribes gathered at Xushan Mountain for trading.”

On this trading day in the Xushan Mountains, Ma Sheng had only been there once while following the former chief of the Xishui Tribe. He had just reached adulthood at that time, and it had been at least 20 years since then.

However, every turn of direction and every iconic mountain and river on that route was deeply engraved in his mind.

After he became the chief of the Xishui Tribe, he always reminded himself to never forget.

“This is the nearest trading day to us. At least the last time we saw the Xiaoniu Tribe, they were still exchanging supplies on this trading day.”

Ma Sheng said hesitantly, “After experiencing such a flood, I’m not sure whether this trading day will also be flooded.”

According to Ma Sheng’s description, this trading day had already penetrated deep into the inland of the Beastman Continent. Qi Bai felt that the possibility of the flood affecting that place wasn’t great.

In addition, in Mao Bai’s memory, apart from the beastmen who were dispersed by the flood and forced to move eastward to the Black Mountain, most of the tribes migrated westward and southward in an organized manner.

Therefore, this Xushan trading day might be more lively than usual.

Hou Yan saw Lang Ze nodding and said, “We will verify this.”

It was only after everything was settled that Yang Luo stood up.

“Let’s go and see your tribe members.”