ta-ta-ta-
Footsteps came from inside the cave.
The people in the cave are walking out step by step, not in a hurry or slow, with a little carelessness, and they are not panicked by so many strangers at the entrance of the cave.
There was no fire inside the cave, it was pitch dark, so at first, people at the entrance of the cave could not see the people inside, but they were alert because of this sudden appearance, so they all took up arms and faced the people who came out. .
In a place like this, even a humble little person can get you out of luck, and you have to be cautious.
Near the entrance of the cave, the light became brighter and brighter, and the person who came out of it gradually revealed his figure.
The man looked very young and was wearing linen clothes. Although it was a little wrinkled, it could be seen that the linen clothes were much better than the linen cloth that Shao Xuan had seen in the Pu tribe, and the weaving was finer. At the neckline, there are also some decorations composed of small bamboo pieces that are connected in series, making the linen dress look less monolithic.
The man raised his arms and stretched his waist. The light at the entrance of the cave was a bit dazzling. He grabbed the grass-like hair with one hand and looked at the person standing at the entrance of the cave, "Hey, another person?"
"Who are you?" The leaders in front of the team looked at each other and asked.
"This hole is ours, hurry up!" There was a younger man next to him. He was planning to grab a better position in the hole, but he was startled by the sound of the hole when he started. He was robbed by the people behind him, and now he is not in a good mood, and his tone is naturally a little rushed.
But he didn't notice that the arrogant tone of the leader of his team just now softened a lot, and he didn't notice the sudden discoloration of the faces of some experienced far-striders in the team. Seeing that the other party didn't answer, he was about to say something else, but a few older people next to him covered his mouth and dragged him into the team.
Shao Xuan looked at the people who came out. He knew that although linen has become popular in the central region, there are many people wearing linen in the market, but the linen on the body is much better. He also carried very rounded bamboo ornaments, and most importantly, the piece of jade hanging from the opponent's waist.
The experienced people in the team have said that in the Mang tribe, almost everyone wears jade, but some are a small arc, and some are semi-circular or even circular. It can be said that in the Mang tribe, In tribes, status is related to jade, and the young man in front of him has a jade hanging around his waist in an arc shape of almost 240 degrees. Although there is no carving on the jade, there are some clear green patterns like bamboo. .
It is conceivable that this person is not a small person. Although I don't know why this person came to sleep in the cave, I can't offend him. This is what several leaders thought at the same time.
The man glanced at the Farstrider team seemingly casually, and said, "I've already slept, you go in."
No one in the team went inside, but, following the man's steps, the team blocking the entrance of the cave quickly gave way, and some young people who didn't know what to do were dragged away by the older people around them. .
No one blocked the entrance of the hole, and more light from outside the hole came in, which also allowed everyone to see this strange young man more clearly. He looks quite white, doesn't look strong, and doesn't feel how strong. He doesn't have the momentum of the leaders of Fanning and the others. He dresses well, but I don't know why everyone is so jealous. And when everyone's eyes swept to the piece of jade hanging by the other party, the person who was still scolding in his heart just lowered his eyelids and did not look at the other party.
For a while, the cave was quiet, and the people who were discussing with enthusiasm just now also closed their mouths.
The atmosphere is a little frozen.
blah blah—
The sound of the other party walking slowly, but everyone heard it very clearly, and even the noise outside the cave could not cover up the footsteps in the ears of everyone.
Suddenly, the people who were walking outside the cave stopped and looked sideways at the team of far-striders.
The leaders in the front of the team suddenly tensed up and winked at each other, thinking about what to do if something went wrong.
But he didn't want to, the other party just looked at a place in the team and smiled meaningfully: "You're not too timid. When you go out, don't go alone."
The others in the team followed the man's gaze and looked to a place where Shao Xuan was standing frowning.
After saying that, the man left, went out and stood outside the cave, stretched out, moved his arms, looked down the mountain, and then jumped.
It is on the mountainside, the slope is a little steep, and it is still a little high from the ground below.
However, when the people outside the cave looked down, they did not find the figure of that person.
"Don't look at it, it's already gone." Fanning said, and walked to Shao Xuan with a cold face, probably because of the internal injury, his face was even more ugly: "Have you provoked people from the Mang tribe?"
"No, this is the first time I came here, and I have never seen anyone from the Mang tribe before." Shao Xuan was also puzzled, the man said half of it, how could he know what the other party was talking about? !
"It's best if you haven't messed with it!" Fanning gave a heavy "hum", and because of this "hum", the injury in the body was affected. He coughed several times and almost coughed out a mouthful of blood, but in order to maintain his face, he kept calm. Staying in the heart of the army, he choked back the blood again.
"Clean up the cave," said a leader in front.
Worrying that there are other people in the cave, after everyone lit the fire, they walked in with torches, checked them carefully, took out some rubbish and threw them outside, and then each found a place to rest. After rushing for so long, after arriving in the middle, my nerves have been tense. Now that I can finally grab a cave, I really need to take a good rest. Some people with injuries also need to take good care of their injuries.
Shao Xuan, Zhan and a few others also found a place to rest, lit a small fire, and heated the meat they brought with them.
"Shao Xuan, you really don't know that person?" Zha asked.
"I don't know, and I don't know what he means." Shao Xuan kept thinking about the reason. He even wondered if the other party found out that he was a member of the Yanjiao tribe. What is the grudge between the tribe and the Flaming Horn tribe. Moreover, Shao Xuan didn't feel any malice from the other party, and of course, he didn't have good intentions, he was just a stranger.
On the other side, the person who left the cave was already near the market. He didn't walk into the market, but wandered about a hundred meters away from the market.
Whoosh!
A slender spear shot at an extremely fast speed, inserted into the ground in front of him, and nearly half of the spear body instantly sank into the ground.
"Qu Ce! Hand over Bai Ling!"
In the blink of an eye, a white figure came to Qu Ce from a distance of 100 meters.
This was a young woman in a silk white dress, but at this moment her beautiful face was filled with anger, looking at Qu Ce.
"Isn't it just a spider? How many days have you been chasing me?" Qu Ce yawned and said indifferently, "You care about your spider, so what about the bamboo rat I raised so hard? You Compensate for me? I plan to raise a large pot of soup for a few more days and have a good meal, huh, but I went back and took a look, yo! Only the bones are left!"
When talking about the latter, Qu Ce's expression turned cold.
"I can pay for your bamboo rat with silk clothes." The woman in white said with a slight tone.
"Hey, do you think that no one cares about the spider smell of your tribe?! When our reckless tribe has no good things?!"
"Anyway, you must hand over Bai Ling today!" The woman in white did not give in.
"I'm afraid you won't make it... Wait!" Qu Ce quickly stopped before the opponent made a move.
Looking at the sky, Qu Ce's eyes stopped somewhere, and he raised his palm with a smile on his angry face just now.
After a breath, a green figure flashed by and finally stopped on Qu Ce's palm.
It was a bird no bigger than the palm of a hand, with wings like knives and tail like a swallow. Because the size is too small, if you don't look closely, it is easy to mistake it for an insect.
"What did you find?" Qu Ce said, touching the bird's head with his fingers.
The bird let out a cry, and lightly pecked Quce's finger.
"Finally found those thieves." Qu Ce smiled happily, "I have nothing to do with you, I will pay you back!" Qu Ce took out a white ball from an animal skin bag hidden in his clothes, Throw it at the woman in white.
The woman in white quickly caught it and looked at the "white ball" in her hand. It was originally a spider covered with long white hair, but now it was wrapped into a ball the size of a fist, and there were several bamboo thorns stuck on it. It was these bamboo thorns that caused the white spider to suffer tremendously.
"Qu Ce!" The anger on the face of the woman in white became more intense.
"What are you shouting, it's not dead yet, it's much better than my poor bamboo rats. If it eats so many bamboo rats from me, it will be punished, and it will die if you poke a few times? It deserves to die!"
The white-clothed woman didn't care, she just held back her anger and pulled out a few thin bamboo thorns on "White Ball". After a while, "White Ball" gradually opened, and one long leg with white hair stretched out. , the fist-sized "white ball" more than doubled.
"Look, it's not dead yet. Next time I eat my bamboo rat, it won't kill it!" Not in the mood to stay here any longer, Qu Ce put away the bag: "I'm going to catch the thief, but I'll take a look. Who steals Laozi's bamboo rat, can't he really be good-tempered by Laozi?"
The green bird had already taken off, and Qu Ce followed closely. After hesitating for a moment, the woman in white also followed. She also found that some spider webs in the tribe had been pulled. I wonder if it was the same as those who stole jade and bamboo rats from the Mang tribe.
…
Shao Xuan went out of the cave with Zha and others after eating and resting for a while. The people in the expedition team acted in two groups, one group went out to trade, the other group guarded the cave, and went out alternately in the morning and afternoon.
Now, Fanning takes the people of the Pu tribe out. They will first trade a batch of items in this market. The popular things in the middle may not be popular when they are brought back. They must choose according to the habits and preferences of the tribes along the river. Take it back to get more things. Just like the rough linen cloth that Shao Xuan saw at the beginning, it is nothing here at all, you can exchange for a piece with just a few things, but when you bring it back, you can exchange for the best water moon stone, water moon stone You can get more good stuff.
Since there is no unified currency, the transactions Shao Xuan sees are all kinds of bizarre items. Sometimes the buyers don't like the sellers, and the transactions can't be successful.
The several things that Zha brought from frogs were quite popular, and the transaction went smoothly, while the water moon stones of the Mo tribe would be even smoother. If there were enough quantities, Shao Xuan felt that the members of the Mo tribe would be more successful. The water moon stone can be used as a unified currency. No matter which tribe the seller is from, if Shao Xuan wants to trade with the other party, he can successfully take out the water moon stone. It's no wonder that the people of the Pu tribe are so excited every time they see the people of the Zang tribe. Water Moon Stone is so versatile.
A level higher than the water moon stone is the jade of the Mang tribe, which is equally versatile in trading, but it is much more "expensive" than the water moon stone.
Shao Xuan is not interested in linen and pottery, and those jade from the Mang tribe can feel a calm and peaceful atmosphere when touched, and may have other uses for totem warriors, but Shao Xuan feels that he does not need these, If you don't have enough financial resources, don't think of jade.
Shao Xuanzheng, Zha and others were walking in the market together, when a square-faced person came up to them.
"Do you need jade?" The man quickly glanced around, as if he was guarding something, and then pulled the loose sleeve of the animal leather jacket, and Shao Xuan saw a few pieces of jade in the other's sleeve.
"Jade?" Zha was a little confused. He was actually very curious about jade, but other people in the tribe said that the jade transaction was not cost-effective, so basically no one from the Pu tribe would trade jade.
"Forget it, I don't have anything that can trade jade, so I can't exchange jade for other things." Zha refused.
The rest of the Pu tribe also had the same thoughts, only Shao Xuan bowed his head and seemed to hesitate.
"How to exchange this jade?" Shao Xuan asked.
"I think the kind of white stone you just took out is good, just use that one. But... it's too eye-catching here, let's go there." The man pointed to a place.
"Shao Xuan, let's go with you." Zha said. I heard that such transactions in the market are very dangerous, and many times they act together in groups.
After thinking for a while, Shao Xuan said to Zha Jiren, "No, you guys continue to move forward first. I'll catch up after the transaction in the past. I'm very interested in jade, and I want to watch it for a while."
"Yes, there are many kinds of jade on our side, and some are carefully carved." The man said quickly.
"I really don't need us to go there together?" An older person next to Zha asked Xiang Shao Xuan.
"No need, thank you."
"Okay then." Some transactions in the market may indeed involve some personal secrets. The elder of the Pu tribe didn't say anything else, and continued to walk forward with Zhan and the others.
After they had gone a little further, Shao Xuan said to the jade trader, "Let's go, but I think it's good over there."
Shao Xuan pointed to another place, "There are few people there."
"Over there... that's fine too." The man walked beside Shao Xuan, half a step behind, under the loose fur coat, his fingers gestured in one direction.
After a distance from the market, Shao Xuan stopped.
In front of him, on the left and on the right, there was one person, and behind him was the jade trader at the market.
Shao Xuan turned to look at the jade trader. The other side was smiling, but he was also smiling now, but he was less friendly and more ruthless. There was no jade in his loose fur coat.
Four people surrounded Shao Xuan in the middle, and the surrounding circle gradually narrowed.
"Boy, hand over your things," said the man in front.
Shao Xuan did not make a sound, nor did he show panic.
"Don't hide it, we know exactly what you are carrying. But you are brave enough to come with me alone with such a precious thing." Greed flashed in the jade trader's eyes. of light.
precious thing
Shao Xuan thought about it, he had a lot of precious things on his body, such as the tunic made of wormskin, those special silk threads, the water moon stone of the Mo tribe, and... fire crystal!
Shao Xuan's eyes flashed, and he remembered what the man in the cave said: "You're not small. When you go out, don't go alone."