Yan Mo let the warriors get along in their own way, and looked to the mermaid who was caught then released again.
“Kind beautiful lady, I am sorry for Ah Zhan’s rude behaviour, I assure you he wasn’t trying to hurt you. It’s just that, that guy, he’s barbaric. Well, I also get angry at him sometimes, to the point I really want to dig out a pit and bury him in it, but if it’s a pit, he can always climb out again.”
The merpeople had weird expression on. Yuan Zhan had come back, he’s standing right behind his priest, and was glaring at the priest who was talking ill of him behind his back.
The young mermaid bit onto her lips, she felt like laughing, but she had to hold back.
“I’m Yan Mo, the priest of Jiuyuan tribe. What about you?” Yan Mo didn’t notice Yuan Zhan at all. He just thought, it’s a little cold now that he gave away one of his pelt clothes.
The girl hesitated for a moment, but seeing her clansmen around her were all smiles, she replied, “I’m Norma”
“Hello, Norma,” Yan Mo took out something from his chest and presented it with both hands to the merpeople. “This is the holy feather that the mountain god, man-faced bird Jiu Feng gave me. With it, Jiu Feng will never attack you again. I hope you can forgive that rude guy Yuan Zhan.”
Norma and the merpeople were startled.
Lamen immediately refused: “No, this is too precious. Norma was fine, she was just startled. If you can make us a roast fish, I think Norma will be able to let it go. Am I right, Norma?”
Norma quickly nodded. She was angry, but she also knew that Yuan Zhan didn’t really want to hurt her. He just trapped her with the earth, whenever other humans want to touch her, he’d yell at them. She couldn’t let go before because she felt like her self-esteem was hurt and she’d lost face in front of her clansmen.
Now, the human tribe’s priest specially came to apologise to her. The humans’ priest is equal to their clan shaman. She can’t even imagine getting the shaman to apologise to herself. She got her dignity back, and got back self-esteem, she’s not that mad anymore. The human priest even took out the young man-faced Kunpeng’s Feather, how could she accept such a precious thing?
Yan Mo had never thought of Jiu Feng’s feathers as “very precious”, he had a pile of them.
As for what he said, that “those who have Jiu Feng’s feather would not be attacked by Jiu Feng”, that was something he and Jiu Feng agreed on.
Jiu Feng had promised Yan Mo that if someone had Jiu Feng’s feather on them, he will not attack them as long as they don’t attack Jiu Feng first.
When Yan Mo negotiated this with Jiu Feng, he had the mentality of “preventing is better than treating”, in fact, most of his discussions with Jiu Feng were just joking. If really wanted to apologise, he’d be sending medicine, or food. It’d definitely not be a single feather. But he didn’t expect this feather to be so highly valued by the merpeople.
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.
What Yan Mo didn’t know at this point in time, was that the merpeople was actually part of Jiu Feng’s menu. There’s just nothing this lord will not eat, in Jiu Feng’s eyes, the merpeople who had tails and lived in the water = can’t play with him = just a big fish that looks a bit like human. He’d usually attack even if he was just passing by the lake when he caught sight of the adult mer. He just wouldn’t attack the baby mers — this bird paid attention to not hunting all his preys to the last blood, you got to let your preys breathe and multiply again.
Pa’r pera atja atf wfgqfbqif mjc frmjqf ab atf vfqatr bo atf ijxf, Ale Mfcu tjv cba remmffvfv lc qgfslcu bc j rlcuif wfgqfbqif eq ab cbk. Lbkfnfg, tf ilxfr rmjglcu atf wfgqfbqif, atfs mjc qijs klat tlw klat atflg kjafg jggbk, tf mjc erf atja ab agjlc tlr gfoifz lc atf jlg.
These were all good fun for Jiu Feng, but for the merpeople, Jiu Feng was one of the terrifying nemesis who can attack them from the air, catch them with sharp claws, and can shoot wind blades at them.
Needless to say, a feather that can let them avoid Jiu Feng’s attack was very precious for the merpeople. Who wouldn’t want to be able to play on the surface and lake shore without worry? Without fear that there will be attack from the sky? And, Jiu Feng was just a young bird now. When he grows up, the flap of his wings could make the lake water rise and split, and he would be able to dive straight into the deep lake. How much more valuable would that feather be, when that time comes?
Norma really wanted the feather, but she couldn’t take it. The merpeople used their own standard to judge the feather’s value, and naturally felt that it was too valuable for to be an apology offering.
But Yan Mo had taken out the feather, he can’t take back a gift he had offered. While the situation was in a stalemate with the merpeople, an impatient voice came from behind him, “If people give it to you, just take it. If you feel bad about it, take Yan Mo to your island in the middle of the lake, he had always wanted to go play there.”
Who said I wanted to go play? But saying it like that can make the merpeople drop their vigilance, so Yan Mo didn’t contradict him and acknowledge it as his own thought. Ah, right, when did this guy come back?
Lamen discussed with the other merpeople and agreed to Yuan Zhan’s suggestion.
Norma seriously, solemnly, received the black feather. She’s going to weave the feather into her hair, that way she’ll always have it on her merson. The other merpeople can’t help but feel jealous. Isn’t this what’s called “a blessing in disguise”?
Lamen and the other merpeople muttered among themselves, Yan Mo thought they might be wanting more of the feathers and was considering whether to hang the carrot in front of them and fish out more benefits from them, or to give them a taste of the sweetness so that he’ll have an easier time with future requests.
But what Lamen said was: “How long will it take until the river is finished?”
Yan Mo paused a moment before replying, “Right now, we’ve only dug half of it. Ah Zhan started digging from the middle to the south, north of the tribe still hadn’t been touched, and we still need to reinforce it, which will take time. We’ll have to spend at least three months, or more.”
Yuan Zhan wanted to say it wouldn’t take him that long, but when the words reached his tongue, he swallowed it back down.
Lamen, Davin and the rest of the merpeople looked at each other, “Maybe we can help you.”
“Yes. Anyway, our chief had agreed.”
“Water will flow in with us when we dig the earth. Once we’re done, if chief Yuan Zhan can help block one side with earth, we will be able to bring back the water to the lake. We will be digging from both sides, won’t it be much faster this way?”
Yan Mo didn’t rush to reply, and looked at Yuan Zhan instead.
Yuan Zhan was happy to get more hands to help, he didn’t act polite with them , directly telling them his requirements for the moat. Such as, the waterway must be ten meters deep, the sides needs to be as straight as possible, or that the waterway needs to be sixty metres wide.
The merpeople didn’t understand these professional terms and units of measurement, so Yuan Zhan explained the terms to them with a face like he’s doing them a favour. He told the merpeople to compare their units and convert it to the units they use.
“Is it better if the river is deeper and wider?”
“Yes.” Yuan Zhan said offhandedly, “If this river is made deeper and wider, your people will be more comfortable when you use it. In the future, if you want to go play at our tribe, you can also dig out waterways in our territory as long as Mo and I have agreed.”
“Really?” Lamen’s eyes lit up. If that’s true, it’ll be easier for them to get in touch, they will be able to have more exchanges with Jiuyuan. Jiuyuan having more waterways can only be a good thing for the merpeople, and can’t be bad.
“En. But you can’t dig wherever you want. Mo and I have to have agreed to it.”
“But of course.” Lamen and the merpeople talked in hushes again, then a wile after, Lamen said, “We will head back and report this to our clan head. If the head agrees, I think our Long-tailed clan will be happy to help your tribe and dig the waterway together.”
Everyone and every mer on the scene was very happy. Things didn’t deteriorate, instead, it was resolved perfectly. What’s more, after this fight, the two tribes became more familiar with each other, there’s no more estrangement and polite facade between them.
This event, where the almost-war turned into peaceful talk, would later bring many benefits for both Jiuyuan and mer clan. However we will not go into that, we will talk about this night. Once they’d come back home, Yan Mo raised an issue with Yuan Zhan.
“You can't draw circles without compass. If a tribe wants to be strong, it must have written regulations in all matters. Everyone needs to abide by these rules. What happened today… would most likely repeat again in the future.”
Yuan Zhan understood what event Yan Mo was referring to. But he felt like it was not a problem at all. “Isn’t it just a bit of touching?”
“Are you okay with people touching you?” Yan Mo immediately blocked his next words.
Yuan Zhan glanced at Yanmo. It turns out his priest didn’t want other people touching him? Yes, he’s the same. How could he let other people randomly put their hands on his Lord Priest? They can’t touch him even if it’s not at random!
Yuan Zhan immediately changed his expression and said in all seriousness, “I agree with you, this sort of thing can’t be allowed!”
However, writing and issuing laws was not a simple matter. Yan Mo didn’t intend to make a set of law that exceeded their current progress, but some matters needed to be clearly stipulated.
The two men first followed the rules of rewards and punishments from the Yuanji tribe and combined it with Yan Mo’s thinking. They spent six days to write and sort out the words. At noon on the seventh day, they summoned everyone in the tribe and issued the first nine rules of the Jiuyuan tribe in front of everyone.
One. Establishing a judging body consisting of tribe’s chief as the head, the priest and the elders circle who jointly participate in the ruling process. The elders circle are chosen by the the chief and priest, or elected by the members of the tribe. At least two elders must be serving, but no more than ten at the same time.
In the future, any matters up for trial or violations of the law will be tried by the judging body. The Chief has the right to make the final ruling, the Priest has the right to give the punishment. That is to say, Yuan Zhan will be the one to determine the offender’s charge and whether they are guilty or innocent, while Yan Mo will be the one to decide what the offender’s punishment will be. It goes the same way for rewards.
Two. Declaration of the marriage system, which stipulates that close relatives can’t be tied in matrimony, only people above the age of sixteen can be married, and that marriage consists of one husband and one wife.
Three. Introducing the concept of family, fathers and mothers are required to rear up their children, children are required to take care of their parents when they are grown. The same is true for adoptive parents and adopted children.
Four. Introducing the personal property, and remuneration system in exchange for labour.
Five. Introducing the fair trading system, the bartering system will be its basis.
Six. Clearly stating that betrayal, murder, harm to others, theft, robbery, rape, harassment, fraud, false accusation, and slander are crimes and the penalty for the crimes. Prohibiting eating other humans.
Seven. Introducing the education system, clearly stipulating that children over the age of six must receive education and children over the age of 12 must receive warrior training.
Eight. Introducing the support system, clearly stipulating that the tribe will jointly support and take care of warriors that are no longer capable of supporting themselves, children without parents, and elderly people with no one to take care of them. Abandonment is prohibited.
Nine. Introducing the reward system as encouragement for the tribe member to invent, innovate and discover new things. Excellent worker and students, as well as people who contribute to the tribe, will be rewarded.
Nine rules, each of the rules have segments that contain more of the rules.
First Yan Mo wrote the rules himself, then Yuan Zhan engraved them into a stone stele. After it was carved out, the large stele was placed in the centre point of the tribe.
The general rules were written on the front, while the back had the detailed rules.
Later, the tribe would have improved and more mature rules as it develop, but the very first stele always stood on this land. As time passes, the stele would be go through several relocations because of the tribe’s expansion and flames of war, but it would never disappear, and would even be called the origin of Jiuyuan stone regulation.
Thank you for the chapter!
Implementation of laws are indeed indicators of a budding society. A great nation in the making!
Also, thank you for the chapter! ☺️💕
Thanks for the chapter.
I am happy to know where this is going.😊
Thank you for the chapter!!
When I read the rules i got tears… FINALLY I can see the bright future
This web novel is so addicting wtf?!? Also, Yan Mo forgot to make same-sex marriage legal 😅 Hope Yuan Zhan brings that up soon lmfao
ty for translating! ❤️
Didn’t he just said “husband and wife”? 😏 They didn’t talk about gender 😉
ik these are the basics of the basics but betryal and harm to others are very vague crimes..
for the elders circle is there going to be a max on how many yan mo and his husband can put in power? are they allowed to kick out anyone elected by the people that they dont like? very vague as well..
ik commenting on this stuff is useless but i jus wanna express my thoughts and questions while reading 〒▽〒
It’s ok!! It’s interesting to see how you digest it
I guess that is why they said each rule has segments that contains more of the rules – elaborated explanation, examples and boundaries of what is within that specific rule? Though of course, I think this is working as it should be, rule is a guideline. So until someone made trouble or challenged the rule, it is valid. Otherwise, revision of law will be unheard of.
I feel like the concept of marriage is a pretty big jump for a culture like this. It feels out of place, as does marriage between one man and one woman, unnecessarily restricting both number and gender. It doesn’t quite fit with their reality.
It feels like there’s no reason/incentive for the Awu people or anyone else from the tribes to get married right now. Their culture and personal concepts would have to go through some changes before they’d want such a thing.
Yan Mo just legalize straight marriage and then he in the future will break his own law is so funny hahaha
Everything feel bleak and frustrating at the beginning, now the already first stele
Wow, implementation of law. A pillar to nation building