Chapter 417
When he arrived at the main hall, Gongjia Heng peered around cautiously . He did not see Shao Xuan . After studying everything carefully, he realised that everything was just as before . The eighteen bronze statues were all standing perfectly still . Everything looked the same and the hidden traps and mechanisms were not triggered .
Shao Xuan did not step inside at all . Gongjia Heng heaved a sigh of relief though his emotions were in turmoil .
If it was another person with suspicious intentions, Gongjia Heng would definitely do his best to kill him, relying on the powers within the mountain . However, while Shao Xuan was curious about the Xia arts, he was not greedy . Other people might attempt to force themselves inside while Gongjia Heng was not present . Perhaps even threaten him so he would hand over the treasures . Shao Xuan did not do such a thing . Plus, Shao Xuan had been of great help . Without Shao Xuan, he knew he might not find this place in another twenty years .
Gongjia Heng would remember this favour .
However, Shao Xuan was just a peculiar dude .
Gongjia Heng touched the dense stubble on his cheeks . What happened when Shao Xuan stepped in was still fresh in his mind . That was… terrifying .
However, as long as Shao Xuan did not force himself inside, Gongjia Heng was still very willing to make friends with him .
Holding the fish in his hand, Gongjia Heng stood at the door and looked around . There was a crater ten-meter wide before him . It was very shallow, about one-palm deep . However, the entire crater was very smooth like someone had shaved a piece of the earth with a knife .
This crater had not been here before . This Gongjia Heng was sure because he would definitely remember it .
When he thought about the earthquake he felt when he was in the mountain, Gongjia Heng panicked again . What the hell happened when he was inside?!
As he searched for Shao Xuan, Shao Xuan was sleeping on the ground with a white melon as a pillow .
When he sensed someone approaching, he woke . They were familiar footsteps so he did not attack .
“You’re out?” Shao Xuan yawned .
“Must be nice sleeping here? Sweet dreams?” mused Gongjia Heng, seeing Shao Xuan sleeping so soundly .
“I dreamt of your ancestors,” said Shao Xuan .
“ . . . Hehe . ” Gongjia Heng did not take him seriously . He didn’t believe it at all .
Shao Xuan did not elaborate either . He cut open the melon he had used as a pillow and offered half to Heng .
“This melon is delicious . Can I take some seeds back and plant them?”
“You won’t be able to plant them, they only grow here . I heard many people had brought seeds back before . They didn’t even germinate,” said Heng .
“Then I can only eat them here . ” Shao Xuan thought it was a pity . When he saw the fish, he asked, “Where did you get the fish from?”
“There was a pond in the mountain, I got the fish from the pond . We can eat this later . ”
Shao Xuan looked at the few fish in Heng’ shand . He hadn’t seen these before, these fish had green stripes on them . Fish would definitely be better than fruits and melons .
“Finished reading your stuff?” asked Shao Xuan .
“No, I was just about to talk to you about it . ” Heng wiped his mouth . “I might stay here for a while . If you can’t stay, you can just return . When I finish learning the skills here, I will look for you at the Flaming Horn tribe . I’ll bring a few weapons I made myself . ”
“There’s ore here?” asked Shao Xuan .
“There’s a tunnel leading to mining locations in the mountain, you outsiders won’t be able to enter . ”
So there was a core seed here . Shao Xuan believed Gongjia Heng too . If it was that easy to access the core seed or ore, then there would have been hundreds of outsiders coming here . However, not a single person managed to remove the core seed over thousands of years . This meant it had its protection .
Shao Xuan did not have the capabilities to steal it . “I saw two words I don’t recognise . ”
He drew the two characters he saw on the ground using his sword .
As he wrote, Gongjia Heng’s expression turned odd .
“Where did you see this?” he asked .
Shao Xuan pointed at the face of the cliff where the carvings were .
Gongjia Heng’s eye twitched . He almost jumped . “How’s that possible?!”
Shao Xuan walked to the face of the cliff and pulled the leaves apart . He pointed at the characters he didn’t recognise . “Here . ”
Gongjia Heng’s face twitched . He wanted to be mad but couldn’t . In the end, he let out a long sigh and a bitter smile . “I didn’t know . ”
“Tell me what these words mean first . This isn’t from the inside of the mountain, it’s in broad daylight outside here . Plus outsiders carved here too,” said Shao Xuan .
Heng squatted on the ground and plucked a leaf from the creepers . He chewed on the leaf and after a moment, finally replied, “Those aren’t two words, that’s one word . It means Green Fangs . This was recorded in our ancestral records, it’s a character invented by our ancestor .
No wonder he couldn’t recognise it . He thought he was just not exposed to enough words . He hadn’t expected it to be a word invented by the Xia ancestors .
“Your ancestors are impressive,” said Shao Xuan .
“Hahaha, I think so too!” Gongjia Heng let out a chuckle of delight but it soon faded . “Initially, I thought things like that would only be hidden inside the mountain . I didn’t know they’d carve it outside too .
“The Green-faced fanged beast is a type of fearsome beast . It’s not large, its face is green and has thick skin . It has hooves but no horns, and two long canines . It often roams the mountains . Although they look fierce and are very aggressive, plus they attack other animals, they are actually herbivores . ”
Gongjia Heng spoke as he made a few strokes on the ground .
They were just very simple sketches he saw in the records . The records were very simple too .
“However, after that people proved that the blood of a worm that eats rock is many times more effective than the Green-faced fanged beast . But that worm is very rare . Regular worms won’t work, they have to be of the fearsome beast family .
“Stoneworms?” Shao Xuan was familiar with it .
“I think so . Different places have different names for it . ” Gongjia Heng read the debate on the face of the cliff . A lot of secrets were written on it . Even the best timing to add the blood was written there . Gongjia Heng would have probably torn the wall down if he could . Could they really reveal secrets like that?!
However, since they were left behind by his ancestors, it was not appropriate for him to destroy the carvings too . He hesitated . However, as he thought about it, his people had mastered the arts . They were not afraid if outsiders mastered the same art . The quality of the products would still be far from what the Xia people could produce .
Gongjia Heng felt guilty about it too . He had a lot to learn from his ancestors in terms of both the arts and his attitude .
When he realigned his perspective, he was a lot calmer when he read the words on the wall . He even left a comment and carved his name in the end .
Shao Xuan learned a lot from the discussion . IN addition to the current skillsets he had, he was confident that he could forge his own bronze wares with ore . He wasn’t sure about the quality though .
“Where did the core seeds come from?” asked Shao Xuan .
Gongjia Heng didn’t know before this either . However, he read about it in the ancestral records yesterday . Since it was not a secret, he replied, “The core seed comes from beyond the heavens . ”
“Beyond the heavens?!” Shao Xuan exclaimed .
“Yeah . More than two thousand years ago, the core seeds arrived and were separated in different parts of the world . In the beginning, many people worshipped them as magical objects . However, after that, more and more people from the tribes that owned a core seed died . So everyone then treated the core seeds as evil objects, symbols of death . They tossed the core seeds far, far away but…”
When he spoke, there was pride in his eyes . “There was a core seed near our Xia village too . However, we were different from other tribes . We discovered the secret of the core seed . It was not an evil object, it was a priceless treasure that could change the world!”
The rise of the Xia tribe came from the core seed . They were the first to discover its uses and started to forge bronze wares . Other tribes started to trade with them . At the same time, the Great Six also started to collect core seeds and also mastered the core seeds . Since then, wars started and spread across the mainland . In the Xia ancestral records, it was named ‘The War of the Core Seed” .
In the history of the mainland, there were two significant events-- the first one involved the fire seed . After that, the tribe’s fire pit no longer had the fire seed . The second event involved the core seed . After that, the Great Six became powerful and controlled most of the core seeds . Other smaller tribes could only make do with what little they had .
After that, the Ji tribe conquered the other five tribes and called themselves ‘Hong’, The cities were slowly built . They had many slaves working under them so they were also called slave masters . The chief of the Ji tribe was now lord of a city .
However, to the Xia people, this was not relevant to them . They had immersed themselves into the art of casting and forging . The Great Six did not come looking for trouble, instead heavily rewarding the Xia people for helping them make gold wares .
Under the temptation of rewards, many Xia people left . After that, due to the change in terrain and the core seed, the Xia river dried up and became the Xia valley . Over time, under the influence of the core seed, it became a dead valley and a maze .
The Xia ancestors had to leave this place for the survival of their tribe . Before they left, they created Gongjia Mountain and drew all the cloud patterns that hid the secrets of their people so their descendants would not forget about this place . Generations upon generations, every Xia person who arrived here would offer their proudest product here . It was a sacred place for them .
Slowly, this place accumulated a wealth of treasures . That was because all the Xia people put all their most unique and best work inside .
The first Xia people who created bronze wares did not belong to the Great Six . The Xia tribe was also a distance away from the cities . They became more and more dispersed so bringing the people together became more and more difficult .
Shao Xuan privately sighed . This was the difference between a tribe that emphasised on politics and a tribe that focused on mastering a craft .
When Heng finished, he felt ashamed that he had no personal secret technique or craft that he could offer to this place . All he could do was leave an offering in the form of some bronzeware here after he learned the skills .
“That is why I have to stay a little longer . Shao Xuan, what are your plans?”
“I’ll probably leave in a few days . ”
Heng nodded . “Once I master the skills, I’ll visit you at Flaming Horn . Also, what happened to the crater there?”
“I took a step and it happened . ”
Gongjia Heng was speechless . You’d better leave, or you’d destroy this place sooner or later!
A while after Gongjia Heng entered the mountain, Shao Xuan walked to a spot in the valley . He wasn’t lying when he said he dreamt of the Xia ancestors .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login