Chapter 62: A Yue's Death-Seeking Exit

"No, Ying, I was wrong, I shouldn't have gone after Nan Qinghuan, I'll never dare again, don't let Mos eat me, no, I don't want to—"

A Yue knelt in the river, begging ceaselessly. The tribespeople standing on the bank no longer wanted to help A Yue this time, because in their hearts, A Yue deserved to die too.

Seeing A Yue begging without stop, Ying turned his back, as though killing A Yue would make him uncomfortable too. But this time, he would not be soft-hearted.

"A Yue…"

Ying's voice was cold and indifferent, yet to A Yue's ears it sounded exceptionally pleasing.

A Yue's face was covered in tears as she looked up at him. Even his back was the most handsome sight in her eyes. She still harbored fantasies about him. "Ying, I truly know I was wrong, I…"

"You shouldn't have tried to harm Qinghuan time and again. I told you, Qinghuan is my life."

Those words made A Yue's legs go weak in an instant. She glared fiercely at Nan Qinghuan. "It's all you, it's all you, you female! I, A Yue, will curse you both in hell! Hahaha—"

"A Yue!"

Suddenly, A Yue jerked to her feet, grabbed that green copper piece, and in a flash slashed it across her own throat. Blood sprayed across the river's surface, redder and more vivid than the sunset glow on the horizon.

The death of a wicked A Yue had no effect on the tribespeople. After casually discarding A Yue's corpse, they threw themselves back into the tense, busy work of building the bridge. Finally, under Nan Qinghuan and Ying's guidance, a brand-new wooden bridge spanned both banks of the little river.

"Wonderful, the wooden bridge is finished!"

The tribespeople cheered one after another, and Axi was especially delighted. "Qinghuan, you're so amazing! Where did you learn to build this wooden bridge?"

Nan Qinghuan felt a bit helpless. Was she supposed to say modern society? Even if she told them, they wouldn't understand. She gave a bitter smile. "This wooden bridge is nothing. Later I'll find a way to build you an iron bridge that won't fear wind or rain, and it'll last at least a hundred years."

"A hundred years?"

The tribespeople were all astonished by that hundred years. Could the Ape Tribe where this Om existed have even better bridges? "Om, thank you for teaching us how to build a wooden bridge. From now on we won't need to use vine bridges anymore."

A Tu held some wild flowers in his hands to give to Nan Qinghuan. Nan Qinghuan was very happy to see A Tu and crouched down to take his flowers. "So fragrant. Thank you, A Tu."

"Since the bridge is built, everyone get ready to go trade."

"Trade?"

Nan Qinghuan was rather interested. Weren't they said to live communally in this Tribe? How did they trade? "Huaner, do you want to go see Otherworld?"

"Otherworld?"

Ying knew she would definitely be interested. "Go change your clothes. I'll take you to see Otherworld."

Hearing this, A Mu was rather worried and hurriedly stepped forward. "Ying, you can't take Qinghuan there. Otherworld is all males. No female has ever gone."

"Don't worry, A Mu. With me protecting Huaner, no one will dare touch her."

Nan Qinghuan went back, changed into clean clothes, and was about to head out. But the moment she stepped out the door, she suddenly saw… a woman not far away, spying.

"Who's there?"

She wanted to chase after that person, but Axi called out loudly to stop her. "Sister Qinghuan, what are you running for?"

Nan Qinghuan felt it was strange. Why did that woman just now look so much like A Yue?

Thinking of A Yue's deathbed curse, she still felt uneasy in her heart. That woman couldn't rest in peace even after death.

"Qinghuan, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Axi. Tell me what we need to trade for this time. I'll go do it."

"No need, Qinghuan. Ji Lei and Dashan have already gone. You just go have fun with Ying. But be careful and stay close to Ying."

"Why?"

Axi looked nervous. "The males there, when they see a white-skinned female like you, they'll all fight over you, and then…"

"They wouldn't dare."

Nan Qinghuan wasn't afraid of the men there. She was just curious and wanted to see how this Tribe and the tribes outside lived.

She had already discussed it with Ying. Step one: solve the Tribe's wooden bridge problem. Step two: improve the taste of the Salt they ate. Step three: strive to accumulate merit and wait for the third-level space to open, so she could buy Seeds from inside to plant crops. Once grain grew, the tribespeople could move beyond a life of eating fruit. The next step would be to improve housing and communal living.

The ideal was perfect, the reality stark. She knew that to live well in this Remote Antiquity Era, she'd have to put in double the effort. But to change a primitive Tribe, she needed to integrate with them. So she would go see Otherworld, treating it as a field investigation.

What she hadn't expected was that the so-called Otherworld would turn out to be… such a grand spectacle.

Not far away, in the mountains, there was actually a large ancient city. The ancient city appeared to sit amid the clouds, somewhat like the world in Miyazaki's anime—blue sky, white clouds, the ancient city serene, and the sound of copper bells. Everything about it filled one with wonder.

She stared in a daze, then turned to look at Ying behind her. "Ying, there's an ancient city here?"

Ying didn't know what she meant by "city" and assumed she meant those houses. "Huaner, this is Otherworld. It opens on the Full Moon Night and disappears at the end of the month. It's the paradise in every Tribe's heart. Here you can trade for everything any Tribe needs. It lasts only one night."

Hearing this, Nan Qinghuan grew even more curious. "You're saying this city will disappear?"

She felt this had a somewhat mythic quality to it. No, that wasn't right—there were no myths in this world. The city's appearance and disappearance must have another cause.

"Come, let's go in and see."

What Nan Qinghuan hadn't expected was that the goods displayed inside Otherworld truly opened her eyes. There were people selling tigers, lions, and elephants, people selling all kinds of gemstone earrings, and even… people selling women.

After entering the ancient city, she was drawn in by the architecture here. She had to admit she had never seen houses like these. They appeared to be built from wood, but the style was completely different from ancient architecture. Ancient houses were all blocky, standalone buildings, but these were built very tall, like towers—houses on top, streets below. The houses were empty with no one living in them and looked thoroughly dilapidated.

"Ying, do you know who built these houses?"

"Houses?"

Ying raised his eyes to look at these dilapidated houses. "Huaner, these are dwellings where the spirits once lived. No one knows how these things came to be, or how they were made."

"Spirits?"

She was speechless. They still believed in spirits? She had nothing to say. She wanted to see what kind of world she had transmigrated into, and to see what stage the tribal civilization here had reached.

She had to admit, there was no shortage of goods being hawked along the streets—stone pots, stone stools, camel humps, even enormous unicorns, as well as fine Beast Skins and beast robes. Those things had opened her eyes. It turned out that besides the Ying Tribe, people from other Tribes could also make simple beast garments and beast clothing. But the goods traded for these garments were very valuable, and ordinary tribespeople couldn't afford to wear them.

After reasoning through all the goods here, she roughly understood the historical period this place was in. It should be the middle period of the Remote Antiquity Era. At this time, the tribespeople had a preliminary grasp of fire and an intense desire to occupy food and territory. The Na Shan Tribe, the Ying Tribe, and the Xuan Tribe that made beast garments here frequently went to war over territory and food.

There were no women in this Market street. Besides her, everyone was a man. The status of tribal women was too low for them to show their faces and come out to trade. Ying was willing to bring her only because he doted on her far too much.

The moment they arrived, they drew many people's gazes. Those tribespeople from outside were still very tall, though some were very short. When they saw Ying, they pressed their hands together in a gesture of respect. Nan Qinghuan, however, felt as though she'd arrived at a vegetable market. The Ancient People had no concept of money, so the people here could trade anything for anything. The Ying Tribe produced Green Copper, and what they used most was Green Copper and hunted beasts to trade for other Tribes' Herbal Medicine. Suddenly, Nan Qinghuan's gaze landed on…