Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 1155: The Pit

The voice pierced through the fog, carrying a vague warmth. Ah Yan stood up and patted the dirt on his animal-skin skirt. The stone axe was hung on the leather rope at his waist, swaying gently with his steps. He walked towards the camp. The fog gradually thinned out, and he could see a dozen animal-skin tents not far ahead, like bulging earthen mounds, surrounding a flickering fire in the center - that was the tribe's fire pit. As far as Ah Yan could remember, the fire had never gone out. The Fire Stone Tribe's camp was located on the sunny slope on the east side of the Black Forest. It was the location chosen by the old patriarch Shi when he was young. The terrain here is high and will not be flooded by the floods in the rainy season. Moreover, every morning when the sun comes out, it will make the camp warm. The tents were all sewn together from whole animal hides, mostly deerskin and sheepskin, though a few were made from bear hide, reserved for the tribe's most daring hunters. For example, Ayan's father, Lie, had his family's tent made from the hide of a black bear they had caught three years earlier. It was so thick and sturdy that even the coldest winter winds couldn't penetrate it. When Ayan approached the fire pit, the old tribe leader, Shi, was squatting by it, his back to him. Shi was very old, his hair and beard as white as snow, and the hide draped over his shoulders was washed gray, yet he stood straight. He clutched a dry branch in his hand, gently stirring the firewood in the fire pit. The fire pit was a circular stone structure, half a man's height, filled with dry branches and pine needles. The flames shot up over a foot high, illuminating Shi's wrinkled face with a crimson glow, revealing the deep furrows in his features. A few other people, all elders from the tribe, gathered around the fire pit, whispering quietly. Ah Yan recognized them: Old Tan, who tanned hides; Old Cao, who knew about herbs; and Old Cang, who managed the tribe's food storage. Their voices were low, mingling with the crackling of the flames. Ah Yan couldn't hear what they were saying. He only saw Old Cang frowning, clutching a leather bag filled with dried wild fruits, and sighing repeatedly. "Ah Yan's here?" Shi heard footsteps and turned, his eyes still bright, like sparks in the fire pit. He pointed to a bundle of dry branches piled beside the fire pit: "Add these firewood in. Be careful not to let sparks fly and catch the tent." Ah Yan nodded, walked over, picked up a few branches of a suitable thickness, and gently placed them in the fire pit. As soon as the branches touched the flames, they sizzled, and wisps of green smoke rose. The flames suddenly shot higher, warming everyone around them. He added a few more sticks until the fire pit was full, then stopped his work. "Yesterday, while exploring the depths of the Black Forest, we saw people from the Blackwood Tribe setting traps in our hunting grounds." Shi suddenly spoke. His voice was not loud, but it was like a stone thrown into calm water, and everyone around the fire pit instantly fell silent. Ah Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he almost dropped the dead branch in his hand. The Blackwood Tribe—that name was like a thorn in the heart of every member of the Firestone Tribe. They lived at the foot of the cliffs on the west side of the Black Forest. The tribesmen wore black animal skins and liked to paint black patterns on their faces, giving them a fierce look. The two tribes had always been at odds, primarily due to competition for resources within the Black Forest. Last summer, the Black Forest suffered a severe drought, and even the river to the east had lost half its volume. Even the small stream to the west of the Black Forest had dried up. To get water, the Blackwood Tribe wanted to seize the water source next to the Firestone Tribe—a spring that seeped out from the rocks. The water was clear and sweet, and it was the tribe's only source of drinking water besides the river. At that time, the two tribes faced off at the spring. The Blackwood tribe, armed with stone axes and clubs, looked ferocious. The Firestone tribe, undeterred, held their ground for a long time, wielding stone spears and crossbows. Finally, Lie shot an arrow through the hide shoulder guard of Blackwood leader Blackfang, forcing Blackfang and his men to retreat. But from then on, the feud between the two tribes deepened. The Blackwood tribe would regularly wander into the Firestone hunting grounds, poaching a few prey and sometimes deliberately destroying their traps. "How dare they seize our hunting grounds?" Ah Yan gripped the stone axe at his waist, his knuckles turning white. He recalled the hunger he'd felt the previous few days, the pain in his mother's eyes when she'd secretly given him the dried wild fruits from her bowl, and his anger welled up. The Blackwood tribe had gone too far. They couldn't seize the water source, and now they were coming to seize the hunting grounds. Did they really think the Firestone tribe was easy to bully? Shi said nothing, simply pulling a piece of black flint from his pocket. The flint, palm-sized and smooth, was found in a crevice deep in the Black Forest when he was young. It was also the origin of the Flint Tribe's name—the tribe's fire was first struck with this flint. Shi placed the flint on the bluestone beside the fire pit and tapped it gently. There was a crisp "click," and a few tiny sparks flew out, landing on dry pine needles before quickly extinguishing. "Now is not the time to be angry." Shi's voice was calm, but with unquestionable strength. "Yesterday I went there with Lao Tan and Lao Cao, and saw that they had dug a pit half a person deep on the deer trail where we often hunt. There were also sharpened wooden sticks stuck in it. If our people accidentally stepped in, their legs would be broken." "Then we have to settle accounts with them!" Ah Yan was anxious and took a step forward. "Why should we let them do whatever they want in our hunting area?" "We can't force it." Lao Tan spoke, his hands covered with thick calluses, which were caused by years of tanning animal hides. "There are more people in the Black Wood Tribe than us. Last time they grabbed water, they came with more than 30 people, and we only had more than 20. If a fight really breaks out, we will not be able to get anything good." Lao Cao also nodded, holding a freshly picked herb in his hand, and was hitting it with a stone: "Yes, several people in the tribe have caught a cold recently. If someone gets injured again, we won't even have enough people to take care of the wounded." Ah Yan bit his lip and said nothing, but he was still holding a rage in his heart. He knew that Lao Tan and Lao Cao were right, but when he thought about the people of the Black Wood Tribe setting traps unscrupulously in their hunting grounds, there were a few simple patterns carved on them, which were carved by Lie himself and were said to bring good luck. He had a stone axe hanging around his waist, which was a circle larger than Ah Yan's. The axe blade was sharpened to an extremely sharp point and could split thick wood in one go. His animal skin bag was filled with sharpened wooden arrows, more than twenty in total, and a small bundle of dry mugwort, neatly tied with leather ropes. "Check your weapons and things," Lie's voice was loud, like thunder, "Once you enter the Black Forest, follow closely and don't fall behind. If you hear any movement, don't make a sound and wait for my signal." Everyone responded in unison: "Got it!" Ah Yan stood in the middle of the team,