novelraw Chapter 722 25: Ancestral Land
Chapter 722 25: Ancestral Land
"Not only that, I also discovered a very peculiar phenomenon." Lin Lun continued, "Compared to those herders who have stable lives, fixed income even if they don't work, and can enjoy the conveniences brought by modern technology, the negative emotions carried by this group of nomadic, low-quality-life herders are unusually few, even the shadows behind the few elderly in the tribe who are suffering from illness are very thin..."
"From a certain perspective... they can be considered 'the happiest people' I've seen in the world."
"But I know this is unreasonable." Lin Lun shook his head slowly as he said this, "Many might instinctively think that these inherently kind-hearted herders, whose lives lack the deceit and schemes of big cities, have material demands limited to being fed and clothed, coupled with the beautiful scenery of their living environment, thus it's normal for them to have fewer negative emotions..."
"I admit this saying has some truth, but as someone who can 'see' negative emotions with the naked eye, you should be very aware, human negative emotions are not that easy to control."
Lin Lun looked at Sun Hang, who did not nod or shake his head, but rather rudely picked his nose with his finger: "Go on."
"Especially those who have congenital defects, suffering from disability or illness, their hearts must accumulate a lot of negative emotions. Where there are people, there will form a society, no matter how small the scale of this society is, classes will exist, it is human nature that causes this, the chieftain and shaman in the tribe have more power and wealth than ordinary herders, ugly women envy beautiful women, and weak sickly men are looked down upon by those strong and brawny..."
"And if a person is isolated from society, it doesn't mean he can get rid of all negative emotions... Humans are social beings, and for one isolated from society, the thing called 'loneliness' will grow wildly in his heart until it entirely devours him..."
"I have seen the forest guards in the Xing'an Ridge Region, they guard the fire towers day after day, year after year, to conserve living water, they even shaved their hair. No one talks to them, there is no entertainment activity in those remote mountains and forests, only a few dedicated channels on the radio, no TV, no computer, no mobile phone signal... When I saw them, the strong sense of loneliness almost swallowed me."
"However, these things, I have not seen them in the people of that tribe..." Lin Lun let out a long breath, "Combining the voice I heard in my mind, I realized that what I've been pursuing may indeed exist within this tribe."
"In daily communications, I can clearly feel that they seem to be hiding something from me, I also know if I directly ask them, they not only won't tell me, they might even drive me away."
"Finally, after following this tribe for six days, the chieftain found me, told me that I shouldn't follow them anymore, they were heading to a colder prairie to herd, the chieftain thought I didn't need to suffer with them, advised me to return to the mining area."
"Of course, I refused the chieftain's proposal, my reason was I haven't taken enough footage, and, as a 'professional journalist', I am not afraid of suffering, as long as I can capture those unique scenes, I can endure as much hardship."
"After a long hesitation, the chieftain finally told me the truth—they were going to the 'ancestral land' for a ritual held once every four months, according to ancestral rules, during the ritual, outsiders can't see it and can't participate, otherwise the whole tribe would face extinction. Because of ancestral instruction, he couldn't take me to the 'ancestral land', thus asked me to immediately return to the mining area."
"I almost instantly determined that what I was pursuing must be closely related to the 'ancestral land' and 'ritual' mentioned by the chieftain, I asked the chieftain for half a day to pack my things, and promised to leave after half a day, the chieftain agreed."
"Taking this opportunity, I bribed a child in the tribe with two bars of chocolate and a delicate windproof lighter, the child told me that the 'ancestral land' was at the source of a river he didn't know the name of, and there was a cave there, during the ritual, people in the tribe will have their eyes covered with cloth by the shaman and be led into the cave... He told me the feeling was wonderful, when he walked into the cave, all unhappy thoughts vanished, the whole person seemed to be floating on clouds..."
"Half a day later, I left them as agreed, but didn't go far, instead stayed following them from a distance."
"After leaving the previous campsite, they didn't go far before finding a nearly dried-up creek, when I saw the tribe's shaman dancing strangely by the creek from afar, I realized that creek was the 'unknown named river' the child mentioned."
"The people of the tribe started tracing the source along the riverbank, I maintained a distance of five to six kilometers... A week later, they finally reached the source of the river."