Chapter 708: The Tiger on the Bank

Seeing that the fishermen were somewhat panicked, Changle no longer hid the truth from them: "Don't be nervous. My father already knows the news now; I left him a letter when I left. Furthermore, this matter of me going to the Xuanyuan Tribe was already discussed with the Xuanyuan Tribe last year, so you have absolutely no need to worry."

The fishermen felt slightly more at ease, but after all, having them—mere fishermen—escort a Prince to the Xuanyuan Tribe made it impossible for them not to be nervous. If there were danger, they would have to protect Changle with their lives; otherwise, they could forget about ever returning to Huaxia for the rest of their lives.

Afterwards, they continued to move forward slowly in this rather heavy atmosphere until they saw traces of the Xuanyuan Tribe's activities on the bank. Only then were they completely certain that they had reached the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe. As for exactly where the Xuanyuan Tribe's Qingqiu Mountain was, none of them knew, though Changle knew that as long as they saw the Xuanyuan Tribe's Matou, they would have found the place.

The changes in the scenery on both banks also made Changle somewhat excited. He even had the fishermen bring the Boat closer to the bank so he could observe whether the trees were ones he recognized; he also wanted to know exactly how many things he would be able to obtain at the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Changle, who had originally never had any interest in animals, suddenly felt that animals were also very interesting and very magical after encountering the finless porpoise. In fact, if one thought about Huaxia carefully, there were many animals that could become friends with humans; the finless porpoise was not an exception.

Since being domesticated from wolves by Baifeng, the dog had become an animal that was on intimate terms with humans, and it was also sufficiently intelligent. If it could be trained well, it could not only understand human speech but also help people do work; protecting humans was also one of its capabilities.

Although falcons and pigeons were a bit dumber and seemed completely unable to understand human speech, they could likewise be domesticated. Huaxia had already domesticated many animals, but currently, the only one that could truly get along with humans as a friend was the dog; the others were more like tools, and if their abilities were insufficient, they were food. In Huaxia, there had not yet been a situation of killing dogs to eat them.

Although the finless porpoise was very intelligent, it had always lived in the water. Fish would die if they left the water, and even in the Dahe, it was extremely rare to see traces of finless porpoises. Therefore, Changle had no intention of domesticating them. Such overly intelligent animals were difficult to domesticate; Changle only wanted to make such a friend to make the Dahe seem less dangerous.

The people from the Ministry of War were very familiar with the location. Right now, they had not even finished one-third of the journey, and they had not discovered any traces of Changle and his group along the way. This could be considered a good thing; at least it meant they had not encountered any danger.

Changle did not dare to go ashore at will. Although he very much wanted to start his work immediately, the people accompanying him were all fishermen. Although they also had Weaponry, they were far inferior compared to a Soldier. On the road, he had already seen tigers wandering on the bank several times—perhaps they were drinking water, perhaps they were hunting—but this meant even more that the shore was extremely dangerous.

However, it was impossible for them to never go ashore. After a long time, the firewood on the Boat still needed to be replenished by going ashore. The fishermen had not thought they would be out for so long, and to keep things light, they did not prepare too many supplies on the Boat at once. Although there was no need for heating in this kind of weather, cooking and boiling water still consumed firewood.

Therefore, on the afternoon when the firewood was about to run out, they decided to go ashore to find some wood. Changle also went ashore with them, and the fishermen had to carry their Weaponry and protect Changle with all their hearts.

In order not to cause them trouble, Changle sensibly did not walk into the forest, but only wandered along the bank, observing the vegetation on the ground. There were many types of aquatic or semi-aquatic plants along the riverbank here that Changle had never seen before, so Changle immediately went to get his small shovel and began to squat on the ground to collect specimens.

The fishermen likewise did not go deep into the forest. There was a lot of scattered wood on the bank; many trees looked as if they had been pushed over by some kind of force, snapped directly, or had their roots half-uprooted, yet they were still stubbornly alive.

They looked for those relatively small branches that were already quite dry, chopped them into pieces with axes to a size suitable for use on the Boat, and then moved them onto the Boat. Changle was still on the side, under the focused protection of several fishermen, searching for plants he had not seen before.

Changle walked forward without realizing it and saw a plant with small yellow flowers that was not entirely aquatic. Just as he was about to lean in to observe it carefully and then use his shovel, a claw print beside him gave him a huge fright.

A circular, clawed print, larger than a large hand, immediately made Changle alert. This was clearly a tiger's claw, and the size was not small either. He quickly half-squatted and raised his head to look around, but he did not see the tiger. However, this claw print was still relatively fresh; the tiger was probably not far from here.

Changle's forehead was sweating a little. The tiger's strength and speed were too terrifying; these people and their kind of Weaponry really could not deal with it. If they were swiped by a tiger, their bones would likely break. Therefore, Changle no longer cared about that plant and hurriedly stood up: "Leave here quickly, there is a tiger here."

Upon hearing this, the fishermen instantly huddled toward Changle. Several people surrounded Changle, their Changdao and fish spears already raised, their eyes staring fixedly into the forest.

Based on the tiger's footprints, Changle saw the position where the tiger had entered the forest. He felt it was dark and terrifying there, so he quickened his pace to retreat, his eyes not leaving that position for even a moment, fearing that the tiger would suddenly rush out.

They quickly walked to the location of the Boat. Fortunately, enough firewood had already been prepared. After being reminded by their companions, the people chopping wood did not care about the firewood they had not yet gathered; they just took an axe and ran quickly. Only after they got on the Boat, untied the rope holding the Boat, and quickly pushed the Boat away from the bank did they finally feel at ease.

Baifeng took the plant specimens out of the bag and placed them on the deck one by one, saying: "The wilderness is indeed dangerous. Just this one time, we encountered a tiger. Although we only saw the claw prints, it must not be far from the bank. The number of tigers here is far greater than in our Huaxia."

Just as he was speaking, a fisherman shouted: "Look, a tiger!"

Changle looked up abruptly and sure enough, he saw a tiger walking out of the forest, staring in their direction and raising its head to sniff the air.

It was fortunate that they left quickly; otherwise, if they were any closer, there was no guarantee the tiger wouldn't jump into the water to chase them.

Changle had heard Baifeng say that a tiger that had eaten human flesh once would develop a taste for it and specifically look for people to eat, because human flesh contained enough salt. Other animals could not find as much salt as humans, so as long as they found something with salt, they would keep licking it, and humans—a food source rich in salt in their flesh and blood—were the favorite of those fierce beasts.