Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 88

It took them a few hours of slow walk to reach the Haechi Tribe caravan. When the rookies saw everyone that stayed back return safely, they cheered and rushed towards them.

Everyone gave the hunched over Jack a guarded glance, but no one decided to near him because of the incident when he scared them off from the battle. Even so, they wanted to know everything that happened and asked the rest of the company.

The runners that the Haechi leader sent informed them about the ambush and duel, but they still wanted to hear it from the people that participated in the battle.

Jack pretended that he didn’t see the fear and admiration in their eyes when he walked to the Haechi Tribe caravan leader, Tong Huakun, and asked “Would you mind if I took a ride on one of your wagons for a couple days?”

Tong Huakun cocked a surprised eyebrow at him and, after studying him for a few seconds, questioned “Do you know how to drive a Kui wagon?”

Jack gave her a lopsided smile and answered “I do have some experience in it.”

Tong Huakun just nodded her head and declared “Then you can take the second wagon, behind me.”

Like that, they spent the next seven days on the road.

Back in the Tribal Assembly, Jack decided that they didn’t have time to waste so he tasked Kuang Bindun with teaching English lessons each night and that didn’t change with their joining up with the Haechi caravan.

What surprised him was how the Haechi tribesmen lined up with the rest of the rookies and listened to them.

When he found Tong Huakun sitting with the rest of the class in front of the Light Orb and listening to Kuang Bindun’s lecture, he sat down next to her and whispered “Why do you want to learn our language?”

Tong Huakun gave him an annoyed look as she tried to mouth the words Kuang Bindun explained and, only when she felt comfortable with saying them, turned to Jack to answer “All of the Tribes thirst for any kind of knowledge from the outside world. The White river family only cares about trading material things with us and keeps us in the dark on everything else.”

Jack’s brows rose in surprise, but when he opened his mouth to ask her more questions, he saw her gleaming eyes focus back on Kuang Bindun and ignore him. He sighed and decided to let the questions rest until he found out more about the state of the Haechi Tribe and the wilderness in general.

Even though Jack decided to leave the questions for later, he still instructed Bai Maolong to hold practice spars every morning before breakfast. He thought about stopping the combat training and just focusing on stamina during their long trek, but what he heard last night gave him some ideas.

The Lolin leader had superb skills with the spear when compared to Jack’s skill with the sword, but he had terrible stances and his men showed almost no hand to hand combat skills while Jack’s men hunted them in the ambush.

When the Haechi tribesmen saw how Bai Maolong and the rest fought, everyone, including Tong Huakun, went up to the side and watched with hungry eyes.

At first, Jack thought that only some of the warriors would be interested, but all of the members of the caravan ran to watch; even the ones who made the Haechi Tribe’s breakfast.

Jack walked over to Tong Huakun and asked “You don’t mind going hungry?” as he nodded towards the two tribesmen tasked with preparing their meager food.

Tong Huakun didn’t even look at him as she said “What is hunger of the body to someone used to it when their starved mind can get nourishment.”

Jack’s brows rose in surprise as he looked at the same concentrated faces of the rest of the Haechi tribesmen.

After a few seconds of consideration, he turned towards Bai Maolong and shouted “If any of the Haechi warriors want to challenge the men, let them try.” Bai Maolong just gave him a nod as he held a rookie pinned down on the ground and continued with his lesson.

Tong Huakun turned to look at him with surprise in her eyes and asked “Why?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders and responded with “Why not? Everyone should know how to defend themselves properly.” He turned to look back at the Immortals’ Lament camp and shouted “Weifa, make extra for our Haechi friends.”

Xu Weifa looked up from the large pot she was stirring and gave a nod to Jack before sending a sullen Zhu Lielei towards the napping old Long to get more ingredients.

When he turned back towards Tong Huakun, Jack saw suspicion in her eyes instead of gratitude. His brows rose in surprise as he asked “What?”

Tong Huakun studied his face for a few seconds before she said “People that come from the other side of the River never give something without expecting more in return.”

Jack’s face darkened and he responded with “I am nothing like them.”

Tong Huakun gave him a shrug as she turned to watch the sparring and said “We’ll see.”

A few of the Haechi tribesmen went up and challenged the grade four members of the Immortals’ Lament to melee combat and got defeated in a few minutes, but none of the higher grade people did.

Only after Jack healed up and the grade five people started challenging him, did he find out that they thought it beneath them to challenge someone weaker to a practice fight.

He, of course, didn’t refuse any challenge and defeated all six grade five members of the Haechi caravan a few times.

They simply fought on instinct and didn’t have much of any kind of technique so he didn’t find it challenging. When he once asked Tong Huakun if she wanted to try it out, she just snorted at him and ignored his question.

Jack healed up after the first couple of days, but he didn’t mind driving the wagon assigned to him since he saw something in the look Tong Huakun gave him when she first offered him the position of driving the wagon behind her.

That, coupled with the fact that she drove the first one, made him think that the position meant something more than just driving a wagon.

As they advanced, the distant northern hills turned into snowcapped mountains and the weather became colder. It even rained during the fourth and fifth day.

The Haechi tribesmen made extra effort to cover any gap that the three layers of tarp covering the wagons might have. Even with all of their friendliness, they still didn’t allow the Immortals’ Lament members to see what they had in them.

That didn’t mean that Jack didn’t have suspicions from what he could smell. The reason old Long managed to convince Tong Huakun to come to their aid so fast was because he promised them that he would give them his Star Bag if he lied.

Jack knew that old Long would rather fight through all of them than give the Bag to them, but it gave Jack a notion of how important they viewed a chance of getting it. Even old Long admitted that he only offered it as a starting bid.

On the morning of the seventh day, a group of twenty warriors appeared on the northern horizon.

The Immortals’ Lament just started their training, but one loud whistle from a grade three sentry on lookout made everyone stop and run towards the non-combatants near the wagons.

“What’s going on?” Tong Huakun shouted at Jack as she followed him to the gathering men.

Jack pointed towards the oncoming warriors and said “We’ve got company.”

Tong Huakun looked in the direction Jack pointed and frowned. A few seconds later, she declared “Those are my people. The Chief must have sent them looking for us since we’re a day late.”

Jack looked once more and this time spotted the now familiar jerkins of Haechi leather that only warriors that hunted one themselves were allowed to wear.

He showed a face of realization to Tong Huakun and shouted “At ease!” towards his men. Only when Tong Huakun gave out the Haechi cry and ran towards the oncoming warriors, did Jack walk up to Shi Furui and whispered in English “Be ready for anything.”

With a nod of understanding, Shi Furui started giving out silent hand signals for staying alert to the men.

Fifteen minutes later, Tong Huakun returned with the warriors from the Haechi Tribe and announced “The Chief has sent these warriors to escort us back home.”

She turned towards Jack and his gathered men and declared “This is the brave mercenary company Immortals’ Lament. We have forged bonds of friendship with them and have promised them safe passage in Haechi lands.”

Jack saw the leader of the new warriors frown for a moment at that statement, but he could only greet Jack and his men politely when they did the same.

When Jack climbed into the driver’s seat of the second wagon he spotted the newcomers whispering among themselves as they glanced at him, but Jack ignored them and just drove his wagon.

In the afternoon, Jack finally spotted a small town made out of rock buildings in the distance. It lay at the barren foot of a large mountain and contained at least five hundred houses.

The Haechi tribesmen cheered when they saw the sight, and most of the Immortals’ Lament gave sighs of relief. Only Jack, Shi Furui, Kuang Bindun, Yin Ping, Bai Maolong, and old Long grew more cautious with each step they took towards the Haechi Tribe.

At dusk, as they approached the town, hundreds of people gathered on its outskirts and gave out the bleating roar of the Haechi to welcome them.

Jack had his Haechi leather coat on ever since he could walk, but Tong Huakun just asked him if he killed it himself and admired its craftsmanship.

The coat had some traces of blood on it from the Lolin leader, even though Jack tried to wash them out, and a slice in his left side from the spear that wounded him, but it still looked dashing. Only now, when the normal people from the tribe saw it, did it have the desired effect.

Children pointed, young women gave him curious looks, and young men looked like they wanted to fight him. Older people, on the other hand, seemed more interested in why a stranger drove the second cart in the caravan from the whispers that Jack overheard.

Tong Huakun just drove straight towards the crowd and it parted like water in front of her wagon. The warriors of the Haechi Tribe formed a line on each of the sides of the wagons and escorted them through the cheering people.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the back of the caravan, where the Immortals’ Lament walked, and signaled Shi Furui to retreat for now.

With a nod, Shi Furui started yelling and pulling people back towards the plains that surrounded the town.

Tong Huakun turned around with a frown to look at their movements for a few seconds, and when her eyes met Jack’s she gave him a curt nod. She shouted something towards two grade five warriors on her side, and they split from the procession to run back towards the Immortals’ Lament.

When Jack gave her a questing look, Tong Huakun just shouted “For their protection.” and turned back to driving her wagon.

One side of Jack’s mouth rose in a smirk as he thought ‘I’m sure it is.’, but he decided to ignore it and followed after Tong Huakun.

It took them over ten minutes to reach the square that stood in front of the largest building in the village, a two-story rock house. Most of the others just had stacked rocks as walls and one story, but this one had neatly cut slabs of rock as the construction material for its walls.

Jack could only wonder what they used to keep the second story up when no wood could be seen anywhere in this landscape.

When all the wagons entered the square, they just barely managed to fit them all side by side. Jack followed Tong Huakun’s instructions and parked his to the right of hers while the third one went to the left of her, and the fourth to the right of Jack.

The crowd followed them to the square, but they stood at the back and stared at them with excited looks in their eyes.

Just as Jack started rethinking his decision to enter the Haechi Tribe on his own, the slab of rock that served as a door for the large house slid to the side and strange people started exiting from the house’s doorway.

Over forty old people filled out of the house and arranged themselves in a line in front of the wagons. They all had a Haechi jerkin and strange black tattoos on their skin wherever Jack exposed flesh.

Jack couldn’t sense any cultivation base from them, but he somehow knew by the way they moved that they had a higher grade than he did.

The man in the middle of the old people stepped out and looked at Tong Huakun with a smile. He gave Jack only a glance, but Jack could feel the attention of some of the other old people gathering on him.

The old man in front, the Chief Jack presumed, opened his tattooed mouth and shouted “Let the distribution begin!”

With that, the warriors near the wagons pulled off their tarps and revealed the heaps of food stuffed in them while the crowd roared.