Chapter 153: Heading in the Wrong Direction

The Xuanyuan Clan in winter was not affected by the snow disaster at all, because they were located much further south and toward the winter, and their entire winter was much shorter than the locations of the Suiren Clan and the Baifeng tribe; they only felt that there was a lot of snow last winter and it was relatively humid.

The current Xuanyuan Clan has also begun to expand outward, and establishing villages is only a part of his strategy; first, the layout must be spread out, and small tribes relatively close to the Xuanyuan Clan even voluntarily merged into the Xuanyuan Clan upon learning that the Xuanyuan Clan was going to expand.

Because the Xuanyuan Clan split off from the Shennong Clan and has always been a very civilized, large clan with sufficient strength, joining them is beneficial and harmless, not to mention that they would not be treated as Slaves.

When the leaders of the various small tribes sought out Xuanyuan to say they wanted to merge into the Xuanyuan Clan, Xuanyuan also promised support in military strength and supplies, but those tribes that were slightly further away had to be made to relocate to a place closer to the Xuanyuan Clan, while the smaller tribes would just mix into their people to go and build new villages together.

If they were too far away, and Xuanyuan felt he lacked the ability to control the area, even if they came to find the Xuanyuan Clan, Xuanyuan would only give them an ambiguous reply: you can merge into the Xuanyuan Clan, but the Xuanyuan Clan cannot provide you with any support.

At this time, the Xiling had already walked out of the great mountains and were advancing on the plains; they had grown fond of this place where they could always see the sun, and there was not so much miasma or poisonous insects, nor were there dragons lurking everywhere in the water.

By this time, the probability of losing tribe members had already become much smaller; until now, they were still a tribe with a not-insignificant amount of power, and the person in charge, the Tribal Chief, was Leizu, without the slightest dissent.

It was not a very rare thing for the Xiling to have a woman as Tribal Chief; ever since the Heavenly God sent them the Heavenly Worm, women were the Tribal Chief most of the time, and unless a man was extremely powerful and capable enough, the women who cared for the Heavenly Worm would be willing to yield their position for him to take it.

But the person who devised strategies now was Boyu; originally, the strongest Soldier of the new generation had died in the earthquake, and although the remaining Soldiers were strong, they did not have as much experience and wisdom as Boyu, so although Boyu was physically disabled, no one looked down on him now, and it was mainly by relying on Boyu along the way that all of them could be considered to have successfully crossed the great mountains.

On the road, they also encountered many small tribes, but they did not go to attack or seize other people's territory, even though their strength was much greater, because Leizu always felt that this place was not their landing point, even though the Heavenly God had not given them a hint.

However, they could go and trade; the salt they brought was used up, and they did not have very good pottery techniques, so along the way, whenever they encountered a tribe, they would go to visit and trade; the Silk they wove with Heavenly Worm Silk was very precious, and the reputation of the Xiling was not small here, because there were always some wandering tribes or Sages who could bring news out of the great mountains, including the precious Silk.

Even a few winters and summers ago, the Xiling, led by a Sage, had participated in a gathering, and as a tribe of similar size to the Shennong Clan and the Suiren Clan, they would naturally be known to everyone.

Along the way, Leizu and the others exchanged for increasingly exquisite pottery; some pottery even had exquisite shapes and was relatively light, with various patterns on it, which Leizu watched in fascination—how good it would be if these patterns could also be added to the Silk.

The Heavenly Worm that Leizu carried, after spinning a cocoon once, had a second batch of larvae hatch; this was within her expectations, because the Heavenly Worm reproduces three times a year, but because there were not enough mulberry leaves to feed it, Leizu had to painfully abandon most of them again, finally leaving only a hundred or so.

Moreover, it was not easy to find mulberry leaves on the Wasteland; once found, they had to pick all the leaves off the entire tree, and then everyone would carry them on their backs, and even if they were not fresh, there was no other way, as long as the Heavenly Worm could live.

But as they walked, Boyu discovered that something was not quite right, because whenever they encountered mountains that were not too high or small hills on the road, they would subconsciously go around them, always walking on the plains, and at this time, the sunrise was not in the due east, but in the northeast.

They had never walked this far before, and the way to judge direction was to look at the position of the sun; they did not travel at night, but during the journey, they also learned the method of using the stars to determine direction when communicating with other tribes.

The place where they lived before not only had high mountains, but also thick clouds and heavy rain, so they did not pay much attention to the sun's position or the stars; now, not only did they learn to distinguish direction using the stars here, but they also learned that the direction of the sun's rising was not fixed.

This was no less than a bolt from the blue for them; the Sage of that tribe told them that from the time when all things were first born and grass and trees sprouted until the time when the weather was hottest, the sun always rose in the northeast, and only for a very short time did it rise in the due east; when the weather turned cold, it rose in the southeast (at a specific location, you can see the sun rise in the due south or due north, it is just impossible for it to rise in the due west).

That is to say, the goal of Leizu and her party was to walk toward the north, but in fact, following the sun all the way, they were now in a very northwest position.

Boyu did not really want to believe in his heart that they had gone in the wrong direction, so after learning how to look at the stars, he confirmed it again at night, and only then did he understand that they had really gone in the wrong direction.

So the next day, after discussion, they headed toward the northeast to correct their direction; in this era, it seemed that the results of divination must be believed and followed, otherwise it would only bring disaster upon oneself.

Unfortunately, they forgot one more thing, and that was how to know which day was the hottest day; they came from a place without Winter, and here they felt that every day was not the hottest day, so they missed the Summer Solstice.

They walked all the way to the northeast, thinking that the place they were going to was the north, and they met a tribe on the road and asked if this was the north, but the person asked also did not know what counted as the north, but hearing that Leizu had come over after crossing the high mountain in the south, then their place here was naturally the north.

And at this time, they had unknowingly walked to Qingqiu, the outer perimeter of the Xuanyuan Clan's territory, and the Heavenly Worm had spun its cocoon for the second time; because of the lack of mulberry leaves, only twenty or so Heavenly Worms successfully spun cocoons this time; Leizu's heart was incomparably anxious—if they could not find the landing point in the prophecy, then the Heavenly Worm might die out, and the Xiling would also be abandoned by the Heavenly God.

Helpless, she had Gui divine again; this time, the conclusion Gui reached was that the place they should go to was right ahead, and they were about to arrive.

Only then did Leizu heave a sigh of relief; as long as they could stop and rebuild the Xiling, everything would get better, and there were also some mulberry trees nearby, enough for the Heavenly Worm to reproduce for the last time this year.