Chapter 156: Meeting

Xuanyuan had already received the news and was prepared to welcome the guests from afar; in reality, although Xuanyuan was the Tribal Chief, he was actually just a youth, the same age as Leizu.

He possessed outstanding ability, and his ambition was to unify all the people under Heaven; thus, he was very eager to know what the distant lands were truly like, whether there were four seasons in a year, and whether they grew the same plants and had the same birds and beasts as they did here.

He was also desperate to meet the Xiling from south of the great mountains; he wanted to see the legendary Silk and Heavenly Worm, and he had also learned that the Tribal Chief of the Xiling was a woman of similar age to him, as well as the disaster the Xiling had suffered.

A tribe with a foundation but on the verge of collapse was more important to Xuanyuan than a rising, populous, and powerful tribe, because he had discovered that to keep a tribe developing, numbers were important, but talent was even more important; he was in urgent need of all kinds of talent, as brutes could do nothing but fight, and old tribes had more talent.

If possible, he wanted to keep the remaining people of the Xiling in the Xuanyuan Tribe, which would be a great help to him, so he put on magnificent clothes, prepared sumptuous food, and waited for Leizu's arrival.

Yet at this moment, the Xiling were still pounding the ground and wailing at the foot of Qingqiu Mountain; Changxian did not know whether to console them or not, so he could only stand awkwardly to the side.

It was Leizu who first steadied her emotions and told her tribespeople that the glory of the Xiling would eventually reappear, that the Heavenly Worm was still there, and that the Heavenly Gods were still protecting the Xiling.

Only then did the Xiling slowly steady their emotions and continue to follow the relieved Changxian toward the mountaintop.

As Leizu walked, she observed the Xuanyuan Tribe; they lived in semi-subterranean thatched huts almost identical to those of the northern people, which were very different from the bamboo houses the Xiling built on stone stilts, which likely had to do with the fact that the land here was relatively dry, and they did not fear snakes and insects crawling inside.

If their houses were on the ground without being elevated, not to mention the stagnant water that would never dry during the rainy season, all kinds of venomous insects would get in, and dragons might even crawl in at night to bite people to death; by building high bamboo houses, these could still be prevented, though sometimes there would still be many snakes crawling in.

She also saw many identical Grass growing on the hillside, with ears larger than ordinary wild grass; they ate these Grass Seed, which looked not much different from the Xiling, except that they mainly ate Wild Rice.

Judging by the scale and location, it should be Grass Seed they had specifically sown, just like how the Xiling would sow Wild Rice seeds by the water or in marshes; it was just that she did not know if Wild Rice could be grown in this land, as they had brought many Wild Rice seeds when they fled, and there were many different varieties, which not only differed in appearance but also in taste.

As they were about to reach the mountaintop, two people were already waiting to welcome them; one looked older, and judging by his attire, he should be the Great Shaman of the Xuanyuan Clan, Leizu thought, while the other looked very peculiar, with a very fierce face, disheveled long hair, and a very long beard, and it felt as if he had grown another pair of eyes above his eyebrows, making one feel somewhat afraid to look.

When Changxian saw these two, he hurriedly cleared the path; he recognized these two, one was Fenghou, a descendant of Fuxi, who had been in charge of the tribe's divination affairs since the Youxiong Clan and was extremely accurate, and now he was also highly valued by the Tribal Chief, and could be said to be a person of great power in the Xuanyuan Clan.

The other was named Cangjie, who was in charge of the tribe's property calculations and the recording of major events; the cave was full of murals he had painted, and all major events that happened to the tribe had to be drawn and recorded by him, and it was said that he seemed to be planning to create a new method of record-keeping, though it was very difficult and had only just begun.

Now that these two had come out, Changxian felt there was nothing for him to do, and he intended to hurry back to the tribe to continue with the construction, but just as he was about to turn and leave, Fenghou gave him a signal to stay for now.

Fenghou stretched out his hands to welcome the arrival of the Xiling; he did not know how the Xiling expressed goodwill, but his empty hands indicated that he had no Weapon.

"Guests from south of the great mountains, the Xuanyuan Tribe welcomes you; our Tribal Chief has already prepared sumptuous food, please follow me."

Leizu's status was not low, and she came from a large tribe, so naturally, she would not be flustered, so she followed Fenghou and Cangjie forward to the cave where Xuanyuan was, though only Boyu followed, while the other tribespeople could only sit outside and wait, and Changxian was also called over.

Xuanyuan was still a bit anxious; after all, this meeting was of great significance to the Xuanyuan Tribe.

The cave was very spacious and not at all cramped; the afternoon sunlight could shine in, and there was no problem even if they walked in side by side at the entrance.

The visibility in the cave was quite good, and there was also a large bonfire to drive away the cold and dampness in the cave, with a large piece of fresh venison prepared on the side, waiting to be roasted after the guests arrived.

When Leizu entered, Xuanyuan was attracted by her beauty, and coupled with that exceptionally magnificent clothing, Xuanyuan was a bit dazed, but fortunately, he was no ordinary person, and he quickly suppressed his emotions, stepped forward to welcome her, and then led her to sit on a stone stool.

A giant rock with a flat surface was their table, on which were placed fresh wild fruits from here, as well as roasted fish, and in a pottery basin was boiled rabbit meat, while the main dish was a very large piece of venison, which someone had set on the fire to roast the moment Leizu entered.

Changxian and Boyu were not qualified to sit; they stood to the side like guards, and although they were curious as to why a one-armed person could have such a high status in the Xiling, none of them asked about it.

Xuanyuan already knew why they had come here; after expressing some polite words of welcome, he asked about what they had seen and heard along the way, as well as the situation in the Xiling's original territory, which was what Xuanyuan most wanted to know.

Communication between the two sides still had certain difficulties; they could only slow down their speech, listening to most, guessing a little, and asking a part to communicate, and although it was very troublesome, Xuanyuan listened with extreme seriousness.

Upon hearing about the disaster the Xiling had experienced, Xuanyuan also felt a bit afraid, and he looked up at the cave ceiling, wondering if the earth would shake and the mountains would collapse here as well.

Upon learning that it was hot all year round where Leizu and her people were, and that it rained all year round, making it hard to see the sun, he was even more curious; Xuanyuan asked if they had never seen Snow since it was hot all year round, but Leizu asked what Snow was.

Xuanyuan described the appearance of Snow to her, and only then did Leizu recall that they had seen a high mountain on their way here, which was white, very much like the appearance of the mountain after Snow that Xuanyuan described, but Xuanyuan also felt it was unlikely, as it was not Winter now, and Snow would melt; in the end, they both felt that it might just be a very high salt mountain.