I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 39 - 10: Seas Change and Mulberry Fields, Humans Become Fish Feed
On the mountain top, Huo Chang said nothing, gazing for a long time.
This journey has taken them a thousand miles east of the tribe’s eastern division, well beyond the previous exploratory range of the tribe.
With the original tribe map they had gathered, they found the locations of five tribes in succession.
Using the maps obtained from these five tribes, they continued eastward.
They selected usable resources and gathered them in secret places, to be transported back to the tribe later.
Now, the terrain marked on the map had become a vast wetland, with only mountain peaks rising above water.
"Clan Leader, why don’t we circle the mountain range? There must be a tribe just on the edge of the flooding."
Having come so far, they were not here just to admire the waters, feeling somewhat unsatisfied.
Huo Chang took out the map and started looking through it. Although the terrain had changed, it was still somewhat useful as a reference.
"Head northeast."
Faced with disaster, the Human Race Tribe would not sit idly by; they would definitely migrate to higher ground.
They hadn’t encountered any survivors on this journey, and gathering some survivors was one of the objectives of this expedition.
They could also help carry resources on the return journey.
The edge of the wetland was interspersed with the mountains, some places shallow mudflats, others deep water, and some even a mix of both.
Huo Chang led the group cautiously along the shoreline, occasionally climbing to the peak for a distant view, looking for signs of smoke or campfires.
Survivors of natural disasters needed food to survive.
If the tribe’s food supply wasn’t salvaged, fishing in the water would become a means of survival, as cultivating land in wetlands also required space.
"Look for gently sloping hills and see if there are any terraces cultivated."
Fishing by the water, farming on gentle slopes.
Using Huo Chang’s experience, they quickly spotted a gently sloping mountain range that stretched for over ten miles.
The terrain on the southern-facing slope was gentle, with a series of stepped terraces above water.
"Clan Leader, look, there’s a boat on the water."
...
"Not many people, huh?"
From a distance, there weren’t many fields or cave dwellings on the cultivated gentle slope.
No children were seen playing.
In the distant wetlands, ten large wooden dugout canoes and a makeshift raft were fishing.
Having come so far and encountering this group, the party was delighted; the small group could easily be integrated into their tribe.
"Clan Leader, should we go down directly?"
"Wait until the people on the boats come ashore, then we’ll go down."
Huo Chang looked around; while their intent was to gather survivors, not to take slaves, some tactics were still needed to win over the survivors.
With one Celestial Vein, three Mountain Openings, and over forty Stone-Breaking Martial Artists, they quietly approached under the cover of night.
Under the night sky.
The hillside was quiet, only the aroma of grilled fish wafting through the flickering campfires.
There were campfires near the water, with two martial artists on watch.
They even hauled their canoes up the slope, alertly watching the water as if some terrifying wild beast lurked below.
"Who’s there?"
The sound of footsteps in the night immediately put the two guards on alert, one drawing back a wooden bow.
The other grabbed a long spear, striking a hanging pot in front of the campfire with force.
With a clang, people in the caves and dwellings were aroused.
Everyone grabbed whatever weapons or tools they could and came out.
All were like startled birds, huddling together.
Piles of campfires were lit, illuminating the hillside.
This revealed Huo Chang’s group in the light, though they hadn’t attempted to hide.
Tribal martial artists were easy to identify; the stronger and more robust, the greater their strength.
Huo Chang appeared with only three others, while the rest of the group stood at a distance, semi-hidden.
Yet the group, clad in leather armor, wielding iron weapons, with piercing gazes, were clearly not comparable to these refugees.
On the other hand, in this group of survivors, a warrior in his thirties, covered in scars, stepped forward.
Other women clutched their tools and gathered behind him, looking panicked and dejected by their situation, yet glaring angrily around them.
"We will never become slaves, we’ll fight!"
"Afu, let’s fight them, at worst we’ll die."
"Fight them, I must avenge my son!"
...
Seeing the united crowd, Huo Chang signaled his people not to move and said, "We Blazing Flame do not capture slaves."
The expressions of the crowd did not soften at all; they continued to look warily at Huo Chang, clutching their various ’weapons’ even tighter.
Huo Chang’s gaze fell on the leader.
"If my division came to capture slaves, why would we waste such a perfect night to conceal ourselves, giving you a chance to notice?"
Shi Fu wielded a heavy blade. It’s called a heavy blade but, in fact, it was due to poor crafting skills, which could only make the blade thick and heavy, resembling more a strangely-shaped stick.
"We do not welcome you, please leave."
Shi Fu spoke up, "You see, we are merely a group of refugees who escaped from the water, with nothing at all.
If you all want some fish, the catch from today’s hunt is here and can be offered to the martial artists present."
"Our tribe is growing and needs to absorb outsiders; since your life is so difficult, you could join my Blazing Flame Division."
Huo Chang looked at the caught fish, which were all small, with none over a foot long.
Within the clan land, apart from fish, there was practically no wild beast meat visible.
Unfortunately, even though Huo Chang spoke of recruiting, the people present didn’t relax at all.
Or rather, they simply did not believe.
"Don’t deceive us, my tribe was hiding in the mountains from the floods perfectly fine, and then suddenly you attacked, slaughtering the elderly and weak, capturing the youths, only a few of us narrowly escaped."
A scarred-faced man with one arm charged out, wielding a bone blade made from fish bones, trying to stab towards Huo Chang.
Before he could approach Huo Chang, he was kicked away by Huo Bai standing nearby.
"Our Blazing Flame Division has committed no acts of slaughter, nor captured fellow tribesmen as slaves."
Then, the one-armed man was caught by Shi Fu and helped upright.
Huo Bai’s kick was gentle; otherwise, the one-armed man’s organs would have been shattered and he’d be dead.
Shi Fu held back the one-armed man who still wanted to charge forward, looking towards Huo Chang.
"We are all people from small tribes, fortunate to be gathered alive with nothing, does your division truly wish to take us in?"
"Our Blazing Flame Division is the same, just luckier than other divisions, enduring both floods and plagues,"
Huo Chang spoke, his tone not condescending.
"Azhao, those who massacred other divisions commanded ships as large as mountains, riding the flood waves as if they were flat ground, wearing armors we can only dream of, unlike the men before us."
Shi Fu spoke in this way, bringing all the tense people to realization.
"Everyone, look at their appearance, isn’t it different from those on the giant ships back then?"
The one-armed man sat crouched on the ground, "They are not human, my child was only seven, only seven, and they threw him into the mouth of a monstrous fish."
"The clan leader was devoured by a monstrous fish in an instant; I jumped into the water with my youngest, who has also since passed."
The roar and sobbing lowered the mood in the small settlement, with whimpering echoing.
...
"In the second month of the flood covering the mountains, the ship as big as a mountain appeared outside the clan land, dragged by monstrous fish at the bow, cutting through the waves."
Monstrous fish were impervious to swords and spears, and could crawl up slopes, eating anyone they met.
The ship was full of cages everywhere, packed tightly with people inside.
The Shiyan Tribe was breached in the blink of an eye, the elderly and weak thrown into the water feeding the fish, the strong captured into prison cages, and the giant ship sailed away."
Before the bonfire, Shi Fu sat trembling, unable to hold his weapon.
"I hid in the mountains, and even saw them using people as bait on hooks to lure wild beasts from the water."
Under the night sky, with the bonfire flickering.
Huo Chang and the tribesmen shivered.
They had narrowly missed a huge crisis without knowing it.
Perhaps the Blazing Flame Tribe’s location being too close to the Giant Mountain Range, with towering mountains unsuitable for sailing, allowed them to avoid this extermination disaster.
The hundreds of refugees on the slope came from several tribes, and soon after the floods, giant ships emerged, riding waves and attacking divisions, slaughtering and capturing people.
As for where the ships came from, they had no idea, only knowing there were more than one, two or three dozen, forming a large fleet.
That night, Huo Chang led his people to settle in this small settlement.
Absorbing these refugees from many tribes did not meet with resistance.
Repeatedly escaping death, those who survived were already numb.
Rather than telling them to join the tribe, it was more like their mentality had drifted along with the current, taking one step at a time without expectations.
