Yan Mo had not studied this strange terrain, he only felt that the hard sand near a straight line was quite strange, it was as if nature had built a wall between the two quicksand pools. That such a narrow wall could still stand, perhaps also related to the quicksand squeezing on both sides.
Leaving aside the unusual terrain, the thing that made Yan Mo’s head hurt the most was the distance between their group and Bing and Yang Wei.
They were lucky that the people of Yuanji were used to bringing bundles of straw ropes on long journeys. In addition to the leather cords on them, altogether they had two twenty metres or so ropes.
Yan Mo tied an overhand loop on the ends of the two straw ropes. Straw ropes weren’t that sturdy to begin with, let alone ropes they had to improvise on the spot. So he needed to use both ropes and there was no time to plait them into one straw rope.
“Who’s the strongest? Who can throw most accurately?”
Lie replied, “Shan’s the strongest. Bing throws the best, he’s not here so the best thrower is Diao.”
Yan Mo glanced at Yuan Zhan, turned out you’re nothing special.
Yuan Zhan actually understood the little slave’s mocking eyes. He thought inwardly, just wait, I’ll make you see what I’m good at.
“Then can Diao-daren throw these two ropes near Bing-daren?”
Diao bent down to pick up the ropes, weighing them in his hand then looked at the distance, slightly hesitating, “The rope’s a little light, but I can try.”
“Wait.” Yan Mo gestured at Diao to give him the rope, and asked Shan for two pieces of their cured meat. He tied the rope around the meat then pulled the knot tight. He returned the rope to Diao, “How’s the weight now?”
When Diao felt the weight, he grins, “You’re so smart! What a good idea!”
Yuan Zhan followed by rubbing the little slave’s head, Yan Mo’s face was filled with black lines.
When they started the rescue plan, even Yan Mo didn’t know whether it could succeed. But they can only deal with he desperate situation as salvageable.1
Yan Mo told the loudest Meng to shout to the two people: “Bing! Do it one by one. You’re in way deeper, we’ll pull you up first. Yang Wei you have to wait.” Bing, listen. Grab the ropes. If you’re afraid to release your grip, take off that meat on the rope and put the loop on your wrist. Then take both ropes and grab them with both hands.”
Bing and Yang Wei listened carefully.
“Our side will take the other end of the rope but we won’t pull you out with force. The quicksand will also pull you down! Not only will we fail to get you out, the quicksand will strangle you alive. You have to do it by yourself. You need to use the ropes as your support to climb out bit by bit. You absolutely can’t rush. After you get your body out, lean forward and inch to the sand. Continue to move towards the firm sand. You can also use your spear to gain leverage. After your whole body is out of the sand, try using the spear to climb up the narrow road, and walk towards us, can you do it?”
Bing rolled his eyes, “Don’t treat me like some disabled person. Throw me the rope. With that rope, I can even crawl out if I have to!”
Seeing Bing was still spirited, everyone felt lighter.
The straw ropes landed near him. Bing inserted his spear into the narrow ground, one of his hands grasped the wooden spear as support while the other hand released its grip little by little. This hand was the one digging into the sand before, the joints were still a bit stiff. He had to try hard for a while before he finally got the ropes twisted to his wrist. He didn’t waste the meat either. He ate it all to replenish his strength. He brought the ropes together and gripped it as a guiding line as he had been told to do.
“Now–!” Yan Mo reminded the warriors to not pull him over, they just needed to act like a wooden stake, hold the rope in place and let Bing climb out on his own.
“We’re ready Bing!”
Bing grasped the ropes and climbed out bit by bit. When most of his body had lied on the firm sand he stabbed his spear into the sand. With that as anchor, he first pulled one foot out slowly and placed that foot onto the narrow road. He used the spear as support to rise up little by little. He finally got most of himself out of the suction, his body can now move around a bit.
Everyone looked on nervously at Bing. Yang Wei was also watching, head stretched up, wishing he was the one free and walking.
Bing, with the help of the spear and ropes, safely got out of the quicksand. He had a secure foothold on the solid sand.
“Woooh–! Great! It worked!” Meng was overwhelmed with joy!
The calmer Lie also smiled widely. Although they had to spend a lot of time, this is the first time someone who had sunken more than half a body had come out alive of the sand.
“Now it’s Yang Wei’s turn.” Yan Mo found that everyone fell into a weird silence after he said this sentence.
Meng clicked his tongue disdainfully. “That guy!” Though Meng looked scornful, he didn’t voice opposition to the boy wanting to save Yang Wei.
Maybe because everyone had seen or heard what Yang Wei had done.
Yan Mo himself didn’t want to save Yang Wei. He felt that this guy would definitely hold them back. Save him this time, who knew how he’ll trouble the group again next time.
However!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Yang Wei’s situation is not like Bing-daren. He is now lying on the road, he’s not that affected by quicksand, but he’s too timid. Even if we throw the rope to him, he might not be able to climb up. What’s more his legs can’t exert force, we don’t have time to wait for him to slowly climb up. In this case, we can be the one to pull him over.” Yan Mo picks up the rope Bing had thrown over and makes the loop at the end bigger, big enough that it can encircle a person’s waist.
“Ktgbk atf gbqfr ab tlw, afii tlw ab qea atfw ybat bc tlr ybvs. Ktja kjs atfgf’r cb kbggs jybea tlw ibrlcu tlr uglq jcv kf klii tjnf fjrlfg alwf qeiilcu tlw eq. Ycf atlcu atbeut. Lf bcis tjv j ifjatfg rxlga bc, ftw, jcv la’r ubcf cbk. Cr la lr lo kf pera vgju tlw jii atf kjs bnfg tf’ii yf rfglberis lcpegfv vef ab oglmalbc.”
“So what do we do?” Meng stared at the wide loop of ropes with bright sparkling eyes. He now felt Zhan’s little slave was so smart. They’ve had ropes for so long but never thought it can be used to save people like this. The most important part was the rope’s knot!
If he made the knot even bigger, if he threw over the rope with such knot, used the loop to catch beasts, then wouldn’t he be able to loop then drag his prey home?
Waaa!!! That doesn’t seem difficult at all! He’ll definitely try that!
“Two ways. First, throw him some hide that can cover his whole body so he can put it on, then throw him the rope so we can drag him. The other way is, tie the ropes on the hide’s left and right sides, and then throw it over to Yang Wei. We let Yang Wei himself slowly climb onto the hide. He’ll clutch onto the hide’s both sides and climb up onto the hide. We pull the rope, dragging both the hide and Yang Wei over.”
Eventually everyone and Yang Wei himself chose the first method.
Yang Wei grabbed the rope and followed Yan Mo’s directions, one rope tied on his hips and the other under his armpits. Then he gathered the long part of the rope together and clutched onto them.
Yan Mo gave the directions, everyone pulled, and soon enough Yang Wei was pulled close to safety.
What’s unfortunate was that when dragging Yang Wei one of the straw ropes snapped under so much pressure. But fortunately the other rope lasted up until the last one meter of the road. Finally, everyone used human train method, holding onto each other’s waist. Aside from Lie who hadn’t recovered from a fractured hand, they held their companion in a line. At the front of the line, Shan leaned out his body, his hand stretched forward to pull Yang Wei over.
Yang Wei was safe. But that didn’t mean people are over what he did before.
Bing walked over to him, stripped off the animal hide he’s wearing and threw it to Yan Mo. He dragged Yang Wei up to one side and beat him up right then and there.
Yang Wei hugged his head and shrunk into himself, crying and yelping, but letting his master punch and kick him.
No one went over to talk Bing out of it, it seemed that everyone thought Yang Wei should be beaten.
The beating looked and sounded awful. …But served him right. Yan Mo’s ability to empathise had long died when his son died. He simply didn’t care whether Yang Wei got beaten to death or not, even if he was someone he just rescued twice. He even thought that Bing who was almost dragged to death by his slave would directly kill Yang Wei and eat him. In the end, Bing seemed to just want to inflict pain to the one who harmed him and that’s it.
Will the guide increase his scum points for looking at someone getting beaten? Yan Mo reckoned Bing had beaten him enough and was about to pretend to persuade him to stop when his boy-owner walked up to him with a scary face.
What are you up to? Yan Mo intuitively felt strange, and suddenly on guard.
Yuan Zhan’s eyes told him the answer: we also have things to sort out! He grabbed the boy by the neck and lifted him up.
“U– Urg! Ah-… Zhan? …Master?” Yan Mo feet dangled above the ground, his face filled with blood from being strangled. His hands clawed at that hand, to make him relax his grip.
“Zhan!” Lie stopped the young man, “He did it out of good intentions, and he’s still a little kid. Let’s forget it.”
Yuan Zhan flung Yan Mo to the ground in smooth motion, then stepped on his stomach, cursing, “Damn good intentions! He almost got everyone killed!”
Fuck! I just saved your people. Not only were you not grateful, you’re doing this to me? What do you mean forget it? So I did all that saving for nothing? Yan Mo wished he had reform guides for every one of them!
Treating someone who saved them like this? Punish! Punish them all! Increase their scum points, 10000 points altogether! Asshole Yuan Zhan gets a 10000 points for himself!
Cao Ting anxiously looked at her master. Diao got her message and also said: “Zhan, the result is that all of us are fine. In fact, I have to thank your little slave, if it wasn’t for him, my Cao Ting would be dead.”
Cao Ting went to the front of Zhan and kneeled. She didn’t dare ask for his leniency, she doesn’t have that right as a slave.
“But now I don’t have a backpack. I also lost the food and salt in there.” Meng muttered on the other side. It’s not that he wanted Zhan to punish the little slave, he’s simply feeling unwilling towards the bag he’d only had for a very short time. He could hunt to replenish the meats he lost, but there’s no way to make another backpack right now.
Yuan Zhan used his spear to hook up the backpack Yan Mo put on the side and flung it to Meng. “For you.”
Meng was so excited to get another backpack.
Lie slapped the back of his brother’s head, then took back the bag and flings it back to Yuan Zhan. “It’s okay. We still have one one on our side, keep this one for yourself.”
“Brother!” Meng shouted.
Lie kicked his idiot brother to the side. Meng stomped his foot in annoyance and turned towards Zhan’s little slave, wanting to poke him to vent.
But is Yan Mo someone easily poked randomly? When no one paid attention, he flitted by Meng’s wrist and pricked there with his golden needle. Just now he didn’t dare to prick Yuan Zhan, firstly because everyone was looking at them and he couldn’t very well attack him in front of everyone’s eyes. Secondly, because he had pricked Yuan Zhan once, if he did it again, Yuan Zhan would probably notice it.
Meng’s finger had just touched the little slave’s cheek when it suddenly stopped. Meng shouted in fright, “Ah! My hand! I can’t feel my hand… It can’t move! Big brother you broke my hand!”
Everyone ignored him.
Meng desperately shook his hand, he even put it in his mouth and bit down on it. But no matter how much he fussed there’s still no feeling on his hand. No one believed him, too. Meng started to wail. He crouched down while holding his right wrist, howling dramatically.
Yuan Zhan’s eyes flitted over from the little slave to Meng. His eyes showed a strong suspicion.
He clearly remembered, the only reason that the little slave could slip down from his body was because there was suddenly no strength in his arms, but not long after they felt okay again. Before it happened he clearly felt something stabbed at his neck and shoulder areas, like it was pricked by the round desert tree’s needles.
There’s something’s wrong with this little slave, he needs to keep an eye on him!
On the other side, after beating up Yang Wei, Bing’s unpleasant mood was dispelled for now.
Everyone gathered together again, getting ready for the long journey ahead and checking their luggage.
Yan Mo climbed up from the ground. He was about to put on Yang Wei’s tattered beast coat when Cao Ting stops him. She took off what she’s wearing in front of him, gave him her clothes and put on the worn-out one.
“Xiao Mo, thank you for saving me. You’re a good person.” Cao Ting said softly. She limped back to her owner without waiting for Yan Mo’s reply.
Yan Mo felt a bit upset inside. He didn’t really intend on saving Cao Ting, it’s just that he’s forced to. But… this is fine too. Getting people’s gratitude is always better than getting hated. Pursing his lips, Yan Mo didn’t hesitate to put on Cao Ting’s clothes.
It’s clothes made by a woman after all, it felt more comfortable than the one he patched together.
Everyone took note of the items they had left.
Other than what they’re wearing and spears on their hands not damaged as much, the rest of their stuff suffered loss or damage, and most of the losses were Yuan Zhan’s and Bing’s items.
At present the whole team had a total of four backpacks, but only three bags of cured meat.
Fortunately, the loss of salt was not big, aside from everything in Meng’s bag that Yuan Zhan threw away and Bing’s luggage that he lost in the quicksand, everyone still had their salt.
The only one who had lost his wooden ladle was Bing.
Lie still had his backpack, he affirmed that he didn’t lose his flint stone during the run.
Considering everything, the overall loss didn’t seem too big. Everyone felt that the losses cannot be called losses because everyone managed to stay alive. They just feel a bit unfortunate that they had to throw away one bag.
Because these backpacks sturdiness and practicality had withstood that crazed running, greatly proving the value of having it.
The warriors now looked at their four backpacks just like they’re looking at some treasure.
Shan and Diao wanted to share their meat with Yuan Zhan but were rejected by Yuan Zhan.
“We’re now a certain distance from the tribe, almost entering level three warrior’s hunting range. It’s not safe here, we have to quickly decide the direction to go, and then find a safe place to spend the night.” Lie spoke with a serious face.
“Which direction should we head to? If we walk any further, we’ll enter the desert.” Meng found that he could feel with his hand again. He stopped shouting and jumping, but would still glance at his right hand from time to time.
Lie didn’t immediately make a decision, he looked to Que Ya instead.
Que Ya slapped his own head then began telling everyone what he heard before about the continent’s end.
According to Que Ya description, he saw that self-proclaimed Gaoshan warrior for the first time at the rocky shore during an exchange. That man seemed to have gone through a long and hard journey, only coming across this exchange at the rocky shore by accident.
“I think the man is at least a four level warrior, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to walk through all of the prairie and black woods until the rocky shore.” Que Ya said.
“He walked through the Black Woods?” Lie was surprised.
Que Ya nodded, “That’s what he said.”
Yan Mo discovered that after Que Ya confirmed it, all the warriors present showed deeply awed expressions. It was involuntary respect and fear arising in people towards those stronger than themselves. Just like when they are facing their own tribe’s chief.
Just how strong are level four warriors?
This, Yan Mo had no way of understanding at the moment. Only when he entered the depths of the prairie and through the black woods himself, will he only to deeply understand just how powerful that level four warrior, who had walked through the prairie and the black woods, was.
“Then why would he mention about continent’s end to you?” Asked Bing.
Que Ya recalled, “That time, he was resting not far away from me. I sensed he was very strong, so I went closer and asked him where he came from and from which tribe.”
“He told me that he’s a Gaoshan clansman, they live far away from here and left the tribe because he was looking for something very important to them.” Que Ya talked to this point, then suddenly sighed, “He also said that there were a total of five people at the start, but along the journey, one by one is gone, leaving only him who reached so far.”
“What is he looking for?” Bing asked again.
Bing’s curiosity seemed to be much bigger than others. Can’t hold back his questions and always wants to increase his own sense of existence. This type of personality… made Yan Mo feel rather familiar.
A certain someone touched his nose. When he was in middle school, it seemed like he was like that too?
Wanted to stand out at all times, wanted to show off his ability in everything, he felt that that middle school was too small for him. Whatever the school activities were, he wanted to stick his foot in it. Whatever competition it was, he had to take the prize. Wouldn’t give in to other people, never made his words easy on the ears.
Even when he’s wrong, he wouldn’t admit it. He also liked to be held up by other people, to be praised. He made enemies at every step but he never perceived it, not until he was hit by attacks one after another. Only after he had an actual big loss did he learn how important ‘keeping a low profile’ is.
But rivers and mountains may change, one’s nature may never.
Even if it could be suppressed for a period of time, his real nature would still emerge from time to time. The result was, later no matter when studying or at work, there’s many people who hated him.
There may be no real issue with this kind of personality. At most they encounter more difficulties in life than others, then in the future they will naturally mellow down as they matured and found their own way of interacting.
But Yan Mo just happened to be someone who couldn’t accept even a bit of loss. He has the tendency to treat people who are bad to him even worse and take revenge. Following his nature, he had done some very bad things to those who hated and didn’t bring him any profit. Things that would really add scum points for himself.
He didn’t know if Bing was one of his own kind, but this was enough for him to dislike and stay away from this person. Bad people don’t like people who are like them, and will never believe the other, because they know exactly what kind of scum they themselves are. Even if he had saved Bing, stories like the farmer and the snake were not uncommon in this world.
Yan Mo thought darkly with a blank expression.
“I don’t know.” Que Ya shook his head, “He didn’t talk in detail, but he’d sometimes say he might have to go to the end of the continent to find what he was looking for.”
“Where is the end of the continent?” Meng snatched the first chance to ask before Bing does.
Que Ya grasped his head, “I don’t know that well too, maybe the Gaoshan know?”
I thought you really knew some valuable information, in the end isn’t it the same as not saying anything?
What Yan Mo felt is trash information was in fact very valuable for Lie. He followed up with another question, “Where did that Gaoshan man go to later? Did you see him leave the rocky shore?”
“I think he looked for the Bai Ri people later, it seemed like he had something to ask from them. Then that man left with the Bai Ri…… Wait a minute!” Que Ya hit the ground with his spear and suddenly shouted, “I remember now, he can ride a horse! He can ride horses like the Bairi tribe! Those Bairi people gave one of their horses to him, then he leaped up and rode it. And that horse didn’t throw him off!”
“Does that mean Bai Ri and Gao Shan are related?” Da Shan’s deep bass voice sounded.
“That’s highly possible.” Lie pondered, “Just like what our previous Lord Priest said, our tribe’s men can’t only be together with our tribe’s women. We have to switch with the other tribes, otherwise our tribe will slowly decline. Lord Priest didn’t say why, but after the three of our clans merge together we really did become much stronger. Maybe the Bairi and Gaoshan are like us, planning to merge into a new tribe?”
Yan Mo thought to himself, it seems that the priests here have noticed the negative effects of inbreeding. Maybe they can’t understand why it’s like this, but it’s enough as long as they know its harm.
Is this how primitive society developed, bit by bit? There are various threats to their survival, so under the impetus of their wiser priest some tribes gradually came in contact with people outside their tribes. This then develops into annexing or living together, and forming new tribes. The cycle continues, first with tribes, then forming a bigger town, then forming a country.
“The Bairi people live on the prairie to the East.” Yuan Zhan suddenly said.
Lie had obviously thought of this issue too. He turned to Yan Mo and asked, “Xiao Mo, do you know where the end of the continent is?” How far is it from the tribe? How long would we need to walk? Is it really possible to find salt-producing sea?”
Who knows? Just keep walking. As long as we don’t die, maybe one day we’ll reach the ocean. Of course Yan Mo wouldn’t say it like that. He was in the middle of thinking about how to word it. He had suffered a blow before, he had to think about what to say in order to really establish trust in him in these primitive people’s hearts.
Lie didn’t give him the time to think, his face suddenly turned, “I order you, now, immediately. Clearly tell me the direction and how many days before we arrive. If not……!”
Yuan Zhan’s hand quickly clutched his neck.
This again?! Yan Mo’s heart fell.
He was a fool to think that he and his stupid boy-master had started to get along. When the teen had choked him before, although Yan Mo was very angry, he could also feel that Yuan Zhan was harsh on him just to block the words others may say. The guy didn’t even use any strength when he choked and stomped on him.
Now, with just a sign from Lie, this guy was ready to kill him. Just look at his quick movements, there wasn’t even a little hesitation!
But why do these people suddenly turn violent, wasn’t it fine just moments ago? Did he say something wrong? No way, he hadn’t had time to say anything yet!
Thanks for the chapter 😘
Thanks for the chapter<3
Poor Yan Moʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ
The exasperation felt with that “This again” 😅. Indeed, choke hold again. This is getting too old now lol. Prick them with your needles Momo.
Yan Mo’s life is so hard 😣