Chapter 570: First Sight of Qingqiu City

Even though the Shaman no longer had much strength left, upon seeing the towering city walls, he could not help but quicken his pace. Seeing that the Shaman was not in a good state, Zisheng hurriedly stepped forward and crouched down, preparing to carry the Shaman forward.

The Shaman waved his hand and said, "It is fine, I can still walk. How could I let you carry me? What would that look like?"

Zisheng insisted that it was no trouble, urging the Shaman to quickly get on his back.

Dahong had long been curious about the white-haired Shaman, as he had never seen such a person before; even Zhishou did not have white hair. He was very curious why the Shaman's hair was white, so he took this opportunity to pose his question.

"Why is your hair not black? Is it some kind of illness? Our tribe has a Qibo who can treat your illness."

Having long been accustomed to the words "treating illness," the group did not find anything amiss. The Shaman also said quite cheerfully, "I have no illness; it is just that I am too old. When people get old, their hair turns white, and they lose their strength. Perhaps I am about to die."

Dahong was astonished: "People's hair turns white when they get old? Why is it that the people in our tribe who die of old age do not have white hair? How many years have you lived now?"

The Shaman did not hide it, for he felt that his current age was something to be proud of and something worth showing off. Besides Huaxia, what other tribe had people who could live as long as he had?

"I have lived for about fifty-some years. For the first few decades, I had no concept of time, so I do not know, but the later days, I remember clearly. Added together, it is definitely more than fifty years."

"Fifty-some..." Dahong fell silent. This number exceeded his imagination. Although he had seen Zhishou, who lived even longer, Zhishou had studied the Dao and possessed the Longevity Technique. The Shaman was just an ordinary person; why could he live so long?

Dahong did not continue this topic, but he did stop a Deer Cart midway, letting the Shaman sit on it to be pulled to Qingqiu City. The Shaman was the most important person in this Huaxia delegation; if he were to be exhausted to death on the road, they would never be able to explain it. If a great war were to break out with Huaxia then, would their construction progress not be slowed down? It might even lead to the Xuanyuan Tribe suffering a fatal blow, just like the Suiren Clan.

Finally arriving at Qingqiu City, the Shaman no longer sat on the Deer Cart; he climbed down tremblingly and asked Dahong, "May I take a look at your city walls?"

Dahong was very confident: "Of course, feel free to look. You have them in Huaxia too; it is just as well that you can say whose city walls are sturdier and taller."

The Shaman walked to the foot of the wall and stroked it with his hand. After studying their construction method, he knew it was stone mixed with mud piled up. In terms of sturdiness, it naturally could not compare to the city walls of Huaxia, which were rammed layer by layer with earth. What Huaxia used was the Board-ramming Technique. In Baifeng's words, even after three thousand years, the city walls might be overgrown with Grass, but they would not collapse.

As for why Baifeng had this confidence, the Qin Great Wall had already provided the answer.

The Shaman looked up again. The top of the wall did not have the defensive and offensive structures like those in Huaxia, but was instead a smooth, open platform. Their Soldiers were patrolling in twos and threes. If Huaxia were to attack, they could easily shoot down these Soldiers who had no cover.

Not to mention that they had no Arrow Towers, nor could they stand guard during Winter or heavy rain, because there was no place to shelter from the wind, Snow, and rain.

The Shaman used his fingers to scrape at it; the mud on their city walls was not very sturdy because they did not understand that mixing Grass stems into the mud could improve its strength, so he could scrape off some soil with force.

Dahong did not notice anything unusual, only thinking that the Shaman was looking very carefully. Regarding something everyone had, and which Huaxia's might even be slightly better, Dahong felt there was no need to hide it. If the other party revealed something else, it would be even better.

"How is it, comparing our city walls to yours?"

Hearing Dahong's question, the Shaman clapped the mud off his hands and slowly turned back: "Your city walls are very tall and grand, truly excellent."

Beyond that, the Shaman did not say another word. Dahong could not tell if the Shaman's words were true or false, but seeing the Shaman's serious expression, it meant that their city walls had definitely caused pressure for these people from Huaxia.

The gate of Qingqiu City was also made of huge wood, just like in Huaxia. Xuanyuan had already seen this, so he naturally used it for their own city. However, he had not seen the door bolts of Huaxia, nor did he know how they closed their doors. In any case, the gates were currently wide open, as there were always people from the Xuanyuan Tribe coming and going.

Inside the city, it had basically become a stone-paved road, with fine sand filling the gaps between the stone slabs, which was much more refined than the roads outside the city. As one of the more learned people in Huaxia, the Shaman knew that the stone on the ground was sedimentary rock or slate. The principle was very simple: mud and sand piled up layer by layer, then compressed for countless years to become so hard. But as long as one struck it vertically, it would immediately split into individual stone slabs. As a building material, it was also quite good; Huaxia also used this kind of stone slab to pave floors in many places.

Dahong knew their roads could not compare to Huaxia's, so he did not ask further. The people of Huaxia did not show much astonishment, only a moment of surprise, after which their expressions returned to normal. Perhaps they were wondering why the Xuanyuan Tribe would have such roads.

The number of houses in the city was already extremely dense, looking even denser than in Huaxia City, because the Xuanyuan Tribe had a larger population. Xuanyuan was also very wise; on the not-so-large Qingqiu Mountain, he completely abandoned planting, using it all for people to live in. They had more land suitable for farming, especially the great plains occupied in the distance.

The dense houses and the people coming and going finally moved the few people from Huaxia. However, if they looked closely, the houses they saw were all earth houses with wooden roofs, or even thatched roofs, which could not compare to the quality of Huaxia's houses. Moreover, they were packed one against another, looking quite crowded, just like the outskirts of their Huaxia City, or perhaps even worse.

This model could certainly accommodate more people in the city, but it would also bring more trouble. No one understood this better than the Shaman. The air here, which was not very fresh, explained everything. Originally, in a place surrounded by wilderness and forests, the air should have been fresh, as he was accustomed to that scent. But now, a foul, pungent odor drifted over from time to time, comparable to the chaotic tenant areas at the beginning.