Chapter 154: Socializing

At this time, the Xiling Clan did not yet know they had reached the territory of the Xuanyuan Clan; they only felt that the land here was flat, and having seen no fierce beasts, it was indeed a good place to settle down and make a home.

Everyone truly felt they had come to the right place and decided to find a spot near a water source to settle down completely and rebuild the Xiling Tribe, because whether for human consumption or for the Rice seeds they had brought, water was essential; although it was much drier here than where they had come from, the precipitation was still acceptable—rainy but not humid, dry but not arid.

The group was in high spirits, and even their voices grew louder; the various hardships along the way, as well as the pain of losing their home and loved ones, had left them feeling very repressed after being released, but now they had finally seen hope.

Besides searching for water, finding mulberry trees was also a top priority; not only did they need to know the locations of wild ones, but they also had to plant mulberry trees around their living area, as this was something their Xiling Tribe had to do.

But their group of nearly a thousand people—even if the surrounding area was vast, desolate, and devoid of human presence—did not mean that no one in the shadows had discovered them; this area happened to be the territory of a new village of the Xuanyuan Tribe, where they had just built wooden fences and erected conical, semi-subterranean thatched huts, and the surrounding land had yet to be cleared or developed, when those who had gone out hunting discovered this large troop.

Judging by their clothing and the language they spoke, they did not look like any tribe from nearby, which was very important news; if it turned out to be an enemy coming to attack, it would be a disaster, so they hurried back to report to the Leader of their village.

The Leader here was named Changxian, just an ordinary Soldier, only more outstanding in physique and martial strength, but because Xuanyuan was not very familiar with him, he had been sent to manage this peripheral village; if he could develop this village, Xuanyuan would also promote him to his side—this was Xuanyuan's way of employing people: give those who are capable more power.

When Changxian received this news, his first thought was also that there was an enemy invasion, but looking at the number of people on the other side, they were about the same as them; if a real fight broke out, they could hold them off, but their village would be completely gone.

So Changxian planned to first find a way to scare these people off and find out their purpose before deciding whether to call for reinforcements; it was best if they could avoid a war, for if he had just arrived and ended up destroying a village, even if he didn't die in battle, he would have no face to return to the tribe.

Learning that they were still quite far from the village, or rather, that they hadn't found it yet and were still searching, Changxian had time to prepare, so he had people cut many leafy branches and arrange them neatly outside the village's wooden fence; he set them up in three rows, half a person high, and covered the outside of the branches with Grass so that the situation behind them could not be seen.

Finally, he placed Spears behind them, exposing the spearheads to create the illusion that people were standing behind them; if the enemy attacked, they would stand outside the branches holding their Weapons, and combined with the non-existent Soldiers behind the branches, they would outnumber the other side by half.

Changxian even walked to a distance to take a look; outside the throwing range of the Spears, it looked like there were people behind the branches, and even if one walked closer, if they didn't know the truth, they still wouldn't be able to tell—this was the best preparation he could make.

The main thing was that he couldn't be sure of the other side's purpose; if they were friendly and not there to attack them, and he went to notify other villages to come and help fight the enemy, he would be guilty of reporting false military intelligence afterward.

But if he waited until the other side attacked to make preparations, it would be too late; by doing this, he could stall for as long as he could.

By digging into the soil and observing the terrain, Boyu finally determined the approximate direction of water, which happened to be the location where Changxian was; they did not know that there were already people there, and just marched majestically toward it.

As a Soldier of a large tribe like the Xuanyuan Tribe, Changxian naturally could not wait for them to come to his door, so he took his men to wait halfway; unfortunately, there was nowhere to set an ambush, as it was too flat.

Both sides had already seen each other at the two ends of the plain; Boyu and his group saw that the other side had many people and seemed to know they were coming and were already waiting, so their burning hearts cooled by half—this place already had an owner.

However, they still walked forward; after all, such a large plain could not be occupied entirely by them alone, and their own large tribe also had the qualifications and strength to occupy land and build a clan far away from them.

Seeing the other side stop for a moment and then continue walking without showing a posture of attack, Changxian and his men also relaxed a little; he hadn't brought all the Soldiers out, only a hundred or so, while the others were preparing in the village—otherwise, if he had brought them all, his preparation work at the village entrance would have been in vain.

When he estimated that his voice could be heard, Changxian roared with his incredibly loud voice: "This is the territory of the Xuanyuan Clan; who are you, and what is your purpose in coming here?"

Changxian and his men heard it, but in reality, the languages were not very compatible; fortunately, they had traveled from south to north along the way and encountered countless tribes, with accents ranging from very similar to their own to increasingly different, so they would stop for a few days at each place to learn, and thus they could generally understand some of the language.

After all, even a modern person traveling from south to north would find that dialects have a certain degree of similarity; they differ greatly over long distances, but those in adjacent areas differ very little, and it is impossible for them to change like a cliff, so by learning along the way, one can generally understand some of it.

However, Changxian and his men only understood the information about the "Xuanyuan Clan territory," and the rest was not very clear; they did not know there was a tribe called the Xuanyuan Clan, but since they had a clan name, it shouldn't be a very large tribe, and might be about the same as them now.

Boyu tried his best to imitate the other side's accent and replied: "We are the Xiling Tribe, and we have no malice; may we come closer to talk?"

The reputation of the Xiling Tribe was not small, and it was about the same as the Xuanyuan Tribe; Changxian had naturally heard of it, and he could also see that the person in the lead was wearing white clothing that even had a sheen to it—at a glance, it was not an ordinary material; it was likely the Silk that the Sages spoke of.

Moreover, the Xiling Tribe was extremely far from them, and such a small group of people could not be here to attack them; perhaps they were here to trade, so Changxian had everyone put away their offensive posture and allowed them to advance to communicate.

Leizu was also afraid that the other side would misunderstand their purpose, and they had no intention of war—with only this many people left, they dared not risk losses in a war—so she also had everyone put away their Weapons and quickened their pace toward Changxian and his men.

Both sides reached a distance where they could see each other's faces; Changxian's gaze rested on the clothes Leizu was wearing—shimmering with a white light, looking soft and elegant; he himself was only wearing stiff animal skins, and even their Tribal Chief did not have clothes as fine as the other party's.