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Under the night sky, a row of people hurried across the salt flats. The ground crackled as if an animal was moving ahead.

The night was dark but the troop did not light a fire. Zheng Luo initially wanted to use Shao Xuan’s glowing rocks to light the way. Even advanced totemic warriors could not function well in almost complete darkness. However, glowing rocks would be very obvious in this dark night from afar.

Shao Xuan volunteered to lead. After walking for a while, he understood what sort of grounds should be avoided or were more dangerous. He was clear on which direction they were headed too.

There was no light but Shao Xuan had his extraordinary vision. He could clearly see the terrain, the puddles and the salt flowers.

With Shao Xuan leading, the rest were not worried that they might hit a salt flower or step into a shallow pool. If one tripped and accidentally ingested some salt on the ground, one would die. Then their plans would go south.

Shao Xuan maintained the speed they had during the day, leading the way in front. After some initial scepticism, Zheng Luo finally relaxed and followed closely behind him.

The troop travelled in a very narrow, long formation. This reminded him of the times in the tribe when the children played games. The first time he went out hunting, he had travelled like this with his spear too. But he was running for his life then, this was just travelling.

They stopped to rest for a while. Shao Xuan distributed one purple Thousand Grain per person. They could not start a fire, therefore could not boil porridge. All they could do was chew and swallow the grain dry. In the wild, the warriors had eaten raw grains too so they had done this before.

It was just one grain, plus it was raw. Chewing it gave a crisp sound. However, the purple grain made the warriors feel a lot better compared to consuming the golden grains. The fatigue and anxiety from travelling all day, plus the worries they had with the changing weather all smoothened and calmed. They felt like they were immersed in a warm bath.

The messy surges of totemic power in them became orderly once again.

No one spoke but the atmosphere lightened. Everyone was a lot more alert, minds no longer foggy from walking through the salt flats.

“Let’s go,” said Zheng Luo.

“Mm.” Shao Xuan gulped some cold water and led the team ahead.

…

The sky slowly brightened. The white salt was a sharp contrast from the ground.

Early morning at the salt mines.

The Fox and Shen Forest chiefs had sent their people to the Flaming Horn, Taihe and Mountain Wind salt caves to destroy them.

The terrain at the salt mines was a hill. It wasn’t very tall but took up a large surface area. After the five tribes took over, they drew borders for each tribe’s territories and started to mine. There were no tall cliffs where they started to mine.

When they mined, the five tribes were gentle and meticulous to ensure the quality. Even the Flaming Horn people, a tribe widely known to be rough and violent, became oddly careful when handling the salt.

Rocks in the mines became harder the deeper they dug, while the rocks at the surface were easily smashed. The first layer of salt was near the top so the mouth of the salt cave was on the surface. The second layer of salt was underground and distributed across different tunnels. Wacha and his team usually mined underground because the salt above ground had long been mined already.

At this moment, at the top of the cave, there was a group of people consisting of the Fox and Shen tribes, plus other reinforcements from other tribes.

They held large hammers and sharp tools like chisels, standing in the cave.

“Today, what you need to do is collapse this cave. Do you understand?” yelled a Fox tribesman.

“Then what happens to the salt inside?” one of them showed a face of pity. They had received a lot of salt since their arrival, it was just that the Fox and Shen tribes did not let them into the cave.

“Salt? Our chief will distribute your portions. We called you here, of course we will make sure you get your share. We have given you a lot of salt these past few days, no? Was there a problem with the salt’s quality?” asked a Shen tribesman, annoyed.

“Well, no.” The salt they received was actually better than the kind they usually consumed. However, after some time, they were no longer satisfied. It was in human nature to become greedy.

The leader, standing at a high place, observed everyone, privately mocking them for their naivete. He was also annoyed at their greed. However, the chief said that they might not even live after the battle so it was alright to keep them happy for now.

Regaining his composure, the person at the top instructed his people to carry a wooden crate over. Inside, there were salt chunks of red and white. They were all of complicated molecular structures, all these were salt mined close to the ground. Compared to the salt from the ceiling, these were a few grades lower. However, to the outsiders who didn’t know any better, this was enough to make them drool.

It was a lot of salt!

“If you can collapse this cave by today, this salt will be yours,” said the commander.

When they heard this, most of the tribesmen rolled up their sleeves in preparation to work hard. At the same time, they wondered how they could get more salt from the Fox and Shen tribes after the cave collapse. Should they risk stealing some?

To lessen their worries, the commander sent his subordinates to distribute half of the salt. If they could complete the task smoothly, the rest of the salt in the crate was theirs.

Boom!

A muscular man’s face reddened as he swung his hammer on a boulder.

The rest of the people started to focus their totemic power too, stepping hard into the ground or hitting their tools downwards.

Rumbles echoed across the lands.

The salt mines were within the salt flat region but its surroundings were not as flat. There were tall and short peculiar boulders around, all of them had a thin layer of salt crystals. While they weren’t poisonous, they were rough in texture and too little to be harvested. The five tribes did not bother to harvest these. Even the recruited tribes did not want it.

Boom! Boom!

The caves rumbled continuously. Not just this part, it was the same in the other two caves. Rough grains of salt tumbled down the walls as the walls shook.

At the mouth of the Fox salt cave, the Fox chief held the lady carrying her fox in his arms with delight in his eyes, “Everything is going smoothly. As long as their caves collapse, even if they arrive, they will freeze.”

The lady was happy too. However, the fox in her arms suddenly shivered, all its fur standing at once. It looked like an expanded furball.

Wooo! Wooo! Wooo!

The fox struggled and leapt from her arms, wanting to rush into the cave. Then, it looked hesitant at the skies, unsure if it should move.

“What’s the matter,” asked the Fox chief.

The lady was curious too. Then she recalled something and quickly looked up at the sky, gasping, “Perhaps, the change is coming sooner than expected.” That was the only reason why her fox would have such a response.

The Fox chief was unsettled by the news. He looked up at the skies. The sun was blocked by a layer of clouds. Around him, the breeze was gentle and it was not snowing. The air was warmer than yesterday, all seemed tranquil. Maybe eerily calm. Even the birds brought by the Shen Forest tribe were shivering in their nests built high up in a cave. It was reacting the same as the fox, refusing to go outside.

“It might not be a bad thing if the weather changes sooner than we thought,” said the chief.

The lady thought so too. They had started the destruction of the three caves. These people worked hard at the prospect of more salt. Perhaps the caves would collapse in half a day. However, they had to thoroughly destroy the place because a mildly collapsed cave would still not be a problem to the tribes, especially to the strong Flaming Horn people who could clear obstacles quickly. They must not allow this to happen.

“Tell the people in Flaming Horn’s cave to work faster, send fifty more people there,” said the chief to someone nearby.

“Yes, sir!” The people who receive orders went to the Shen’s cave next door to instruct the sleeping recruited tribesmen, sending them to the Flaming Horn cave.

At the cave, the parts near the mouth of the cave had already collapsed. Everyone was working to destroy more parts.

“The rocks here are difficult to break,” said one man swinging his hammer, stopping to wipe his sweat.

“Yeah, it’s getting more difficult as we go deeper,” said another.

“Shut up and get to work!” roared a Shen tribesman watching the workers.

The Fox and Shen tribesmen were here to watch these recruits. If they did not guard the place, they could easily be cheated. That was why the guard monitoring the lands scattered with boulders turned around to help watch these workers too.

It was just at this point, in the lands, outside the mines, there was a furious roar.

Zheng Luo’s face contorted with rage. He had just arrived with his men, and he saw these people destroying his tribe’s salt cave!

To enter undetected, he had tried to suppress his anger. Now that they were close enough, he could no longer keep down the fire. Not just Zheng Luo, everyone else was pissed too.