novelraw Chapter 312 Some Life, Some Difference
Chapter 312 Some Life, Some Difference
Chapter 312 Some Life, Some Difference
The plan to gather information from the Goan tribe was completely unworkable.
Since they couldn't communicate, Ling Chengen didn't waste any time on the orcs of this tribe. The crow tribe's orcs got off to a bad start and, seeing that they really couldn't communicate, flapped their wings and left.
Du Qi carried Ling Chengen into the sky, and after confirming that they were far away from the giant tree below, he asked, "We can't understand the dialect of the Ge'an tribe. We're afraid we can't understand the languages of the Zhaonan and Youqi tribes either."
"When I came out just now, I forgot to ask Hai Xian where they found out about these tribes."
Ling Chengen was also a bit troubled. Her psychic ability could only sense the other person's emotions and could not be used for verbal communication.
Before leaving the central region and heading north, although the tribes there also had their own dialects, most of them were still understandable if you listened carefully; but in the eastern region and the southeastern area, the languages were really too strange, like listening to gibberish.
Du Qi asked, "Should we find an orc who understands their dialect to help us?"
Ling Chengen lowered his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "Let's not go to Zhaonan first. Let's go downstream along the Huiye River. I remember there's a tribe of water dragon beastmen that we can visit after leaving Zhaoshi Mountain."
Du Qi had some recollection of it and said, "It seems to be called Huinanbuluo."
Ling Chengen nodded slightly and said, "Two years ago in Ji BH City, we were digging for lotus roots in the Thousand Lakes District. We found a beastman from the Water Dragon Beast Clan to cooperate with, so we got to know each other. We could try our luck in Huinan Village."
Du Qi received the order and led her to the southern part of the Hui region.
The eagles flew very fast, and in less than half an hour, they landed in the territory of the southern tribe.
However, they did not get too close to their tribe's settlement. Instead, they observed from the perimeter for a while until Ling Chengen saw a somewhat familiar orc. Only then did he cautiously lead Du Qi closer.
The other party was probably on patrol, so they were quite vigilant. After Ling Chengen deliberately made his footsteps louder, the man quickly raised his weapon and aimed it in their direction.
Ling Chengen parted the waist-high weeds and asked, "Your name is Shui Sheng, right?"
Upon hearing this, the man holding the ironwood spear tilted his head slightly, shifting the spear tip to one side a few points. He stared at her for a long time, then suddenly widened his eyes and said, "You are the young chieftain of the Stone Forest tribe!"
"I am Shui Sheng."
Shui Sheng's face lit up with excitement, but she quickly calmed down and asked warily, "How come you're here?"
Ling Chengen breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "I didn't expect to be so lucky. It really is a Water Dragon Beast Clan member I know."
After Ling Chengen explained his purpose, Shui Sheng lowered her guard and said, "Let me take you to see our clan leader. Last year, our clan leader also led a hunting team to Haishi, but he didn't see you. He kept saying he was very sorry when he came back."
Every year, they travel to the far north to participate in the battles with the tribes of the sea city; most of them are quite powerful. Although the southern tribes may be slightly mediocre in combat strength, their defense is very strong, so they are quite famous in this area.
Once he confirmed that the water dragon beastman was someone he knew, Ling Chengen went with Shui Sheng to meet the clan chief of Huinan.
The clan chief of Huinan is called Shuiliudi.
Ling Chengen had some impression of this person. He was a middle-aged man in his forties, a bit older than Ling Xiao. He was very tall and looked sturdy and silent. Compared to the other Water Dragon Beastman clan chiefs who tacitly accepted the abduction of their young, Shui Liudi was a breath of fresh air.
Ling Chengen was slightly surprised when he saw Shui Liudi.
Shui Liudi looks much older than he did two years ago, especially the area around his temples that has turned completely silver-gray, giving him an aged appearance that doesn't match his age, and he also looks very tired.
However, Shui Liudi was still pleasantly surprised when he saw Ling Chengen.
Although Shilin and the southern tribes are far apart and rarely interact, Shilin's help to them in the market is something they will always remember.
After all, digging lotus roots is something that even orcs with good swimming skills can do.
However, she chose to cooperate with the Water Dragon Beastmen who lived to the south, trading prey to help them get through the resource-rich cold season, which was also the cold season with the lowest mortality rate for their tribe.
Last year in BH City, Ling Chengen no longer led a team. She heard that their Stone Forest had built a city with a population of over 50,000, making them a well-known tribe in the central region. As the young city lord, she naturally wouldn't lead teams out hunting anymore, but instead stayed in the Beast City to guard against enemies with ill intentions.
Although she didn't go to the sea city, the hunting team from the Beast City who participated in the Extreme BH City still asked them to dig lotus roots and paid them.
However, in addition to the Southern Tribes, the City of Ten Thousand Beasts also selected other aquatic beast tribes, so the prey they could obtain was far less than the previous year.
Even so, he kept in mind the help that the City of Ten Thousand Beasts had given to their tribe.
After Ling Chengen explained his purpose, Shui Liudi agreed to the matter and pointed to Shui Sheng beside him, saying, "Since you know Shui Sheng, let him come with you."
“Our territory borders the southern tribes of Zhaonan, so we are familiar with their language.”
“Although Arisu is a bit far from us, we all live in this area. Although there are some differences in language, there are actually similarities. If it’s just simple communication or gathering information, Shui Sheng can accompany you alone.”
After Ling Chengen left with Shui Sheng, he asked curiously, "Why don't you Southern tribes have such a strong dialect?"
Sitting behind Du Ying, Shui Sheng couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, "Young City Lord should know about our Water Dragon Beast Clan, right?"
Ling Chengen nodded and said, "Is the water dragon beast cub being implicitly abducted?"
"Yes, that's why many water dragon beastmen choose to hand over their supplies and leave the tribe after having cubs."
"In addition, water dragon beast cubs often appear on the black market and are sold to many tribes as slaves, so the water dragon beast people are basically scattered throughout the Southern Plains and the Northern Wilderness. Our Southern Tribe is a tribe inhabited by many different races of beastmen, but the current chieftain is from the water dragon beast race. Going back several times, they were all from other races."
"Initially, in order to strengthen the tribe's defenses, the Huinan tribe accepted many wandering Water Dragon Beastmen. In addition, they purchased Water Dragon Beast cubs from the black market, which eventually led to the current racial population ratio. Currently, Water Dragon Beastmen make up nearly 60% of the Huinan tribe, while the original Huinan tribe natives number less than a thousand."
Ling Chengen seemed thoughtful, and finally asked, "Has your clan leader encountered some trouble recently? He looks much older than he did two years ago."
Shui Sheng suddenly fell silent. Ling Chengen vaguely sensed the sadness beneath his silence and was about to let it go, but before he could speak, Shui Sheng suddenly said, "The clan leader's child has gone missing."
Ling Chengen suddenly looked up, surprised, and said, "Missing? Your young clan leader should be about my age, right? How could he suddenly disappear?"
Shui Sheng lowered her eyes and explained, "Our chieftain has three children. His eldest son is named Shui Yubai. When he was twenty years old, he was seriously injured by a vicious beast. Although our tribe's shaman did his best to save him, he struggled for more than a month, but he still died."
"The chieftain's second child is named Shui Hanguang. She is female. After reaching adulthood, she became mates with a male beastman from the Zhaonan tribe. The following year, she found a male beastman from the Kuangli tribe."
"From the very beginning, the chieftain was strongly opposed to her mating with a male from Zhaonan." "But the chieftain's second daughter wouldn't listen to reason, and eventually her relationship with the chieftain soured, so she moved to the Zhaonan tribe."
"After getting her second beast husband, she originally wanted to move to the Mad Fox Village with the male from the Zhaonan tribe, but... her first beast husband disagreed, so she stayed in Zhaonan with her second beast husband."
"In the third year, we were struck by a natural disaster, and many people died. That year, during the cold season, there was a severe shortage of food and clothing. The orcs of the Zhaonan tribe were omnivorous, and when the chieftain's second daughter and her partner fell ill from the cold, instead of providing them with any medical treatment, they killed them and ate their corpses..."
"The clan chief only learned about this after the spring, and even his daughter's remains could not be found."
Shui Sheng sighed deeply: "Actually, this kind of thing is quite common here. Zhao Nan tribe is notorious, so females from nearby tribes are unwilling to mate with males from their tribe, even if their orcs are powerful and fierce."
"However, natural disasters don't happen every year. Over time, when life is peaceful for too long, some young females who don't know the past get blinded by their emotions and become determined to mate with males from Zhaonan. If they're lucky... they survive. If they're unlucky, they basically end up like the clan chief's second daughter."
"So the chieftain's third son is the only child who survived. He is also the young chieftain of our tribe, about the same age as the young city lord. He is only seventeen years old this year, and his name is Shui Yingshen."
“A month ago, after the snow melted in early spring, the young clan leader took two people hunting on the border of the territory, and then disappeared without a trace.”
"His two companions were also killed and injured."
"The orc who died was also seventeen years old. We found his mutilated body a little downstream from the Huiye River."
"The one who was seriously injured just turned eighteen this year and has not yet woken up."
"The witch doctor said that the chances of him waking up are very slim, and if he doesn't wake up this month, he may really die."
"Haven't you found out who did it?" Ling Chengen asked.
Shui Sheng shook her head: "No."
“The place where the young chieftain had his accident is right at the border between the two tribes.” Shui Sheng took a deep breath and said with a gloomy expression, “We suspect that the young chieftain, with two tribesmen, may have accidentally trespassed into the territory of the neighboring tribe, but we have no evidence. The chieftain has questioned them and even confronted them, but they refuse to admit that they have seen the young chieftain.”
Ling Chengen lowered his eyes and asked, "The neighboring tribe, do you mean Zhaonan?"
"It's not them, it's a tribe from the south of us."
Shui Sheng didn't want to say more. The two tribes were now very unhappy because of this matter. The chieftain's hair had turned completely silver-gray in just over a month. He looked tired and old, which made the tribesmen feel very sad.
Seeing that he didn't want to bring it up again, Ling Chengen didn't press the matter any further.
They quickly arrived at the Zhaonan tribe. Ling Chengen was very skilled at concealing his tracks and gathering information.
With Shui Sheng by her side, she was worried that getting too close to the Zhaonan beastmen would alert them, so she observed them from a distance using her mental abilities.
Although she didn't understand the dialect, she could imitate it and ask Shui Sheng to help translate.
After listening to Shui Sheng's translation, Ling Chengen felt a little ashamed.
These Zhaonan orcs are plotting to seize the territory of the Huinan tribe. They have learned that Shuiliudi's only child has been missing for more than a month and that the tribe has now fallen out with the southern tribes. Therefore, they want to unite with the southern tribes of Huinan to launch an attack, punish the Huinan tribe, and divide their territory.
It's clear they've been planning this for a long time.
Moreover, they had already contacted another neighbor in Huinan several times in the past month, but the other party's attitude was still unclear, so the beastmen who were the directors of Zhaonan were getting a little impatient.
Several hot-tempered warriors felt that there was no need to cooperate with them at all. They could go it alone and take over the territory, which would all belong to their tribe. There was no need to share the profits.
It's clear they're very busy.
Busy making things happen.
Moreover, after the start of spring, in order to ensure that the prey can reproduce normally, the various tribes on the Beast Plain will first use their stored food for a period of time, and hunting will be strictly controlled, in order to avoid depleting the resources and ensure sustainable development.
Therefore, the infamous tribe was not the one who started the robbery on the salt road.
If it were them, the most important thing to do at this time would be to find a way to dispose of the stolen goods.
Because the salt powder was borrowed, the next batch of salt will not be produced until a month later.
If they don't sell their salt powder within this month, they won't be able to raise prices by hoarding when the Hailing Salt Field produces salt next month, and their profits will be greatly reduced.
Just to be on the safe side, Ling Chengen still had the Crow Clan follow Zhao Nan's clan chief and elders, keeping an eye on them all night.
They did not show any abnormalities.
So Ling Chengen didn't hesitate and immediately turned around and went to Youqi Tribe.
They arrived at Youxi's territory in the evening. Because the cave bear orcs and half-dog orcs had a keen sense of smell, she did not allow her subordinates to get too close.
After Ling Chengen unleashed his supernatural abilities, he felt that the forest was strangely lively.
She sensed many active life forms, but they all seemed to be small, not even as big as the crow-like beastmen under her command.
But according to the information she had, both the half-dog tribe and the cave bear tribe were very large.
So when did their tribe absorb a lot of small orcs?
Ling Chengen asked Shui Sheng beside him, and Shui Sheng shook her head and said, "I haven't heard of that, but based on my understanding of the Youqi tribe, they probably look down on small-sized beastmen."
"Like the mongooses and shaggy-tailed koalas next door, they don't bother them at all, nor do they steal their prey, but these guys who have no sense of martial ethics or morality still curse or beat them up from time to time..."
"They are also very possessive of their territory and will not tolerate orcs from other tribes or wandering orcs entering their territory."
Although it was unclear what the origins of these small orcs scattered throughout the Youqi tribe were, Shui Sheng found it very strange and even suspected that the Youqi tribe had no idea that there were already many outsiders in their territory.