Chapter 288: Seeking rain (5)
Shao Xuan dragged the hunting prey back as the dinner for the three of them.
When Shao Xuan was absent, Qu Ce and Hong Xi of the Feather tribe had come to find Shao Xuan. For Qu Ce, he looked for Shao Xuan out of boredom, so he gossiped with Lei and Tuo about the affairs of the Rain tribe since he didn’t find Shao Xuan, which was just a joke to kill time. For Hong Xi, however, he came to fight with Shao Xuan, so he left after he couldn’t get the person he wanted.
As for the affair of the Rain tribe, Lei and Tuo asked Shao Xuan again after they heard of it from Qu Ce. Shao Xuan answered them roughly, but he didn’t say too much. Nonetheless, after they knew the current situation, the two couldn’t believe it.
How could they treat the Shaman like that? In the Flaming Horn tribe, the Shaman was the authority.
However, the two seemed less than enthusiastic about the affairs of the foreign tribes, just sighing with emotion, “Poor thing!”
The same as others in the team, they didn’t believe the Shaman could succeed in praying for the rain, so they just chatted about the affair to kill time.
Towards nightfall, Yang Sui sent someone over to find Shao Xuan. As the Shaman of the Rain tribe, Yang Sui shouldn’t come here directly. Because if anyone saw that he was looking for Shao Xuan here and now, it would get Shao Xuan into trouble.
Yang sui was still in the poor wooden house, but this time, only by himself. He started a bonfire and sat on the ground waiting for Shao Xuan. Next to Yang Sui, there was a hide bag.
Original translation from wangmamaread.
Tomorrow would be the day to pray for rain, but Yang Sui was in no hurry, only being more silent than he was in the daytime.
“What’s up?” Asked Shao Xuan, who entered into the house.
“Shao Xuan, I need your help.” Yang Sui pleaded for help.
“Go on.” Finding a place to sit down, Shao Xuan waited for what Yang Sui would say.
Yang Sui gave the hide bag, that was next to him, to Shao Xuan, “If I can’t make it tomorrow, my father and my mother will be sent out, you… please help…”
Probably realizing that he was a little bit off, Yang Sui paused without finishing the whole sentence. Actually the friendship between Shao Xuan and Yang Sui was not too deep. If Shao Xuan helped Yang Sui, then it would be regarded as being against the Rain tribe.
Without waiting for Shao Xuan to speak, Yang Sui hurriedly said, “You only have to help them leave the Rain tribe. The person He Chao wants to defeat is me. If other people leave the Rain tribe, they will simply be expelled and wouldn’t be chased.”
Running a hand through his hair, Yang Sui said, “If they are expelled, I hope they can go to the Ferocious Beasts Mountain Forest which is within the region of the Flaming Horn tribe. I heard that there are wanderers who have been following you there.”
Yang Sui gave the hide bag filled with shell coins to Shao Xuan and continued to talk about his following arrangements. He mentioned a lot of people leaving out himself.
Shao Xuan didn’t look at the hide bag with the shell coins and asked, “No other solutions?”
Yang Sui was helpless, with hands down, and said, “No.”
“Maybe you will succeed in praying for rain.” Said Shao Xuan again.
“Hope so.” Yang Sui forced a smile. He doesn’t believe it himself, but just said that casually. If he could really succeed in praying for rain, would he care about the new Chief and He Chao? Not only would he not be dismissed, but he would stand taller and (his power would be) more stable! However…
It’s impossible!
“Don’t worry. If I can, I will definitely help. Chacha is also coming. However, because of blowing sand, it’s now staying far away.” Shao Xuan did not return the bag of shell coins, so that Yang Sui would feel reassured (of Shao Xuan’s promise to help). If the parents and relatives of Yang Sui got expelled, Shao Xuan would return these shell coins to them and draw a map for them to the Flaming Horn tribe.
Hearing Shao Xuan’s words, Yang Sui lightened up immediately, “Thank you!”
Shao Xuan waved his hands and then asked, “When praying for rain, if one method doesn’t work, how about trying the old methods? Such as whipping the stone to pray for rain?”
Yang Sui smiled and said in a tone of self-mockery, “It’s no use. Despite the stipulations formulated by our ancestors that could not be easily changed, the way to pray for rain isn’t the methods. In fact, as long as you have that ability, whatever you do is right. If something goes wrong, it won’t succeed no matter how hard you work.”
Shao Xuan stunned, “You mean… the key point is Shaman? Rather than these methods?”
“You could think so. However, now the critical point is the Inner Flame, not the Shaman.” Yang Sui hesitated for a moment, but he still told the reason, “There is something wrong with the Inner Flame of the Rain tribe.”
“Something wrong with the Inner Flame of the Rain tribe?” Shao Xuan was confused.
“The Shaman could offer sacrifices to pray for rain, but the Inner Flame is key to determine success or failure. Because the Inner Flame of the Rain tribe has an issue, it wouldn’t rain no matter which methods the Shaman adopts to pray for rain. By accident, I found it on the private records of a Shaman. The records say, as if the Inner Flame falls asleep, the Shaman cannot wake it up when praying for rain. It only wakes up at a large-scale annual sacrificial ceremony. At other times it will not wake up. If prayer for rain is attempted during a large-scale sacrificial ceremony, it may succeed. However, the time to hold that large-scale ceremony is not in the dry season, and at the actual ceremonial time, the weather is very cold, so the willingness of people to pray for rain is not strong. Except in the period of the large-scale sacrificial ceremony, the Inner Flame would remain asleep and no one can wake it up, let alone manage to pray for rain.”
It was really an accident that Yang Sui found that animal skin scroll with the mystery. It was buried underground, recording the mystery with symbolic words that only the Shaman could read.
“Even you can’t wake it up?” Asked Shao Xuan.
“If I could wake it up, I would have succeeded long ago and will not wait until now. Moreover, this situation has lasted for a long time. In fact, the main aim of the stipulation – the candidates of the Shaman have to travel around – is not to find a way to solve the problem, but to choose a more powerful man as the Shaman. Only the Shaman can become powerful enough to wake up the Inner Flame.”
While speaking, Yang Sui patted Shao Xuan and said, “Keep it between the both of us. Otherwise, the Rain tribe will be in panic.”
If the Rain tribe turned chaotic, even if the turmoil could be controlled by the present Chief, the panic can’t be suppressed. In the long run, the development of the Rain tribe would be more affected, or worse still, it may gradually move towards destruction. Therefore, those people who knew the secret would carry it to their graves.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell others.” Shao Xuan promised. The Flaming Horn tribe was far away, and the Rain tribe couldn’t cause a great impact on them no matter what direction it developed toward. Besides, Shao Xuan was not a man who would betray others’ secrets casually.
After talking for a moment, Yang Sui stood up and left to prepare for the death ritual tomorrow. For him, the ceremony of praying for rain was his death ritual.
Shao Xuan took the bag of shell coins back to the resting place.
The next day, the dust and sand in the air were more serious. And the visibility was lower as if there would be a sand storm.
The people of the traveling team stayed in the cabin except for going out to exchange for food. The weather outside was so bad that they didn’t want to go out to eat sand.
Original translation from wangmama.
They knew that today was the time for the Rain tribe to hold the ceremony of praying for rain, so they didn’t intend to go closer to the Rain tribe. At the moment, the Rain tribe’s would be heavily guarded.
“Cannot see the play, and the weather is too bad. Alas!” Qu Ce leaned against the window and looked at the blowing sand outside.
“Close the window, the sand is blowing in!” The people in the room blamed.
Sighing, Qu Ce closed the window and asked the people in the room, “Do you believe people of the Rain tribe can really pray for rain?”
“You believe it? These little tribes always like to exaggerate and brag!”
Not only the people of the Mang tribe, but also others had similar ideas. They were not waiting to see if it would rain, but just rested in these two days. Once the weather got better, they had to start again. The journey further ahead would be even harder, and it would be difficult to find a place to rest.
In the Rain tribe.
On the high platform built above the fire pit, some of the things needed for praying for rain were placed.
They didn’t need to worry about the fire suddenly blazing up, because they hadn’t seen it except the time of the grand sacrifice at the beginning of each year.
There were a lot of people gathering around the fire pit, and everyone was whispering. Some people really wanted rain. No matter who the Shaman was, the crops in their fields needed rain. There were still some people who just wanted to laugh at Yang Sui.
People headed by He Chao, who were the parties of the new Chief, looked at Yang Sui with glee and expectation. They were expecting to see Yang Sui’s failure to pray for rain, and being pushed to the fire by people of the tribe.
“Look over there!”
“Nonsense! How dare you Yang Sui!”
“Would they really pray for rain? The Rain God will be angry!”
He Chao followed the eyesight of the public, and saw Yang Sui wearing a yellow-green woven suit for the praying ceremony, followed by eight shamanesses. And these shamanesses surprised He Chao extremely.
They had intimidated and tempted some shamanesses to leave Yang Sui so that Yang Sui would not be able to gather eight shamanesses for the ceremony, but he did not expect that Yang Sui would take this step!
Where are the curvaceous bodies? Where were the young beauties?
Why were there old women?!!!
What’s that? Is that a ball?
Mi Xu’s mother had mistakenly eaten a plant, which caused her bones to lose shape so that her body became as puffy as a ball. Even if she starved, her body wouldn’t be out of shape of a ball. The ceremonial clothing that was rushed out overnight was slightly wider and seemed more fat when she wore it. Although Yang Sui’s mother was not so fat, her body was also clearly different from those of the young girls. There was no such feeling of beauty. As for Yang Sui’s grandmother, not to mention, her body was more conspicuous than others.
The team of nine came out of a room near the fire pit and went straight to the altar. Wherever they passed, the people around them hurried away, and some of the people who reacted slowly because of the surprise, also stepped back a few steps after they came back to earth, for fear of being mistaken of having any relationship with these people.
Some of the elders in the tribe who thought themselves as people of “noble character and high prestige”, after seeing this scene, their eyes almost rolled back and fell down.
Nonsense! Tomfoolery! Damn!
Were they making a fool of the tribesman or insulting the ancestors? It’s affirmative that they were offending the gods.
Gosh!
If the gods became angry with Yang Sui’s disregard of the rule, it would likely not rain anymore in the future?
Some of the elders were too old to accept such a situation and fainted, another riot was triggered.
Due to the sand all over the sky, the people being far away from the altar couldn’t see the situation clear, but when they heard the news from others, they were also shocked and speechless for a long time. After coming back to earth, they followed the people around them to scold Yang Sui and his families.
“They must be burnt to death!”
“They must be burnt for the deliverance of God!”
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