329: 320 329: 320 Fortunate was the Green Hill to cast loyal souls, and white bones lay hidden to express loyalty.
A parcel of land beca the burial ground for generations of the Gu Yuan Tribe’s people to rest after passing away.
The modest Soul Mount of Loyalty was the witness of eight hundred years of the Gu Yuan Tribe’s existence.
So won were humming softly, and so tribespeople were sighing.
In the vast wilderness, they had witnessed countless births and deaths, but these events still filled their hearts with heaviness.
Was it the cruelty of ti, or the brutality of the great wilderness?
Life would eventually wither.
Sotis, however, it was the indelible mark of existence that remained.
On the Soul Mount of Loyalty, the passage of ti had left its mark on the mottled stone steps on both sides, where countless graves lay haphazardly.
So tombstones were newly erected, marking the resting place of tribal soldiers who had given their lives in the recent expedition into the Great Wasteland.
Others had already aged and were covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
At the corner of the Green Hill, Xiao Chen buried the pottery jar containing his ancestor’s remains in the yellow soil.
The modest mound of yellow soil was inconspicuous.
Xiao Chen sat blankly before it, staring at the mound, undistracted, even though he knew that the ti for the tribal migration was drawing close.
No one stepped forward to disturb him.
This was the resting place of the tribe, and in order to survive and ensure the tribe’s continuity, the whole tribe had to move sowhere else.
However, this place that had witnessed the burial of nurous loyal souls could not be taken with them.
They had to leave their hos.
This was a silent great pain and being forced to leave the land they had lived on for hundreds of years was an undeniable wound in the heart of every tribal mber.
Having sat quietly in front of the grave for a while, Xiao Chen stood up.
The fierce sun blazed down from the sky.
Xiao Chen looked out over the vast wilderness.
He still had things to do.
It was shaful and distressing for him to abandon the land where the tribe had lived for hundreds of years and flee.
In the Great Wasteland, power was respected.
Everything today boiled down to this simple fact.
“Xiao Chen swears that one day, I will lead the tribe back to avenge our humiliation!”
Beneath the Soul Mount of Loyalty, nearly a thousand people stopped Xiao Chen.
These were all old soldiers.
Their hair was silver and their bodies bore irreparable injuries.
So had lost arms while others had lost legs.
Despite limping along and full of wrinkles, the old n supported each other and approached Xiao Chen.
Though their bodies were haggard and aged, their eyes were firm and as bright as the stars.
The remnants of their vitality fused together and made it hard for anyone to overlook them.
“Greetings, Chief!”
The old soldiers saluted Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen stepped forward and helped up the oldest man in the front, saying “You are all heroes of the tribe; I don’t deserve your respect!”
“Chief, the Ancient Lin Tribe is gone now, and the whole tribe is about to migrate tens of thousands of miles away.
We, the old brothers, have already beco handicapped and been reduced to burdens.
We won’t drag the younger generation of the tribe down anymore.
We’ve made up our minds not to go with you.
This is our ho.
After a lifeti of fighting, we want to stay here and watch over our ho!”
As he saw the resolute expression in the eyes of the old soldiers, Xiao Chen took a deep breath, his gaze heavy, and said in a asured tone “I’ve arranged for war chariots for all of you to ride!”
If they stayed behind, everyone knew what fate awaited them.
If the War Soldier Tie Mo saw that the Gu Yuan Tribe’s warriors had disappeared, he might harm these old soldiers.
“Chief, we’re already physically disabled, well past our pri, and we’d only be a burden if we continued with the tribe.
We’ve been through so much and are no longer in our pri.
Now that we can die in our hotown and in our house, we have no other wishes.”
Xiao Chen beca silent.
It’s hard to leave one’s holand, especially for these soldiers who had spent their entire lives there.
He also understood that many warriors had been to the Great Wasteland, fought against other tribes and tribesn.
Still, most couldn’t even leave behind a grave mound of yellow soil.
So even only left behind their broken battle gear, incomplete bodies or bones, and so left behind nothing at all, not even their corpses.
Still, these old soldiers had managed to survive battle after battle and could return ho.
They were the lucky ones.
Once again, an old soldier, decrepit and shaky – missing a leg, standing on just one leg, approached.
Even so, the old man’s spine was still straight, and his waist was as straight as an iron rod stuck into the ground.
He grinned at Xiao Chen, and his stiff face seed to be flooded with a radiant yet heartbreaking smile.
“Chief, we are in the twilight of our lives and no longer have the strength to go to battle in the wilderness for the tribe or protect our ho and facilitate our children’s growth – we are just burdens.
We should have died a long ti ago.
After an entire life of warfare, should we have to rely on the tribe’s youngsters to protect us during our old age?
Our Tribe, the Gu Yuan Clan, has weathered eight hundred years of storms and frosts.
Even though our tribesn are forced to leave today, soone should stay to take care of our ho.
If we leave, wouldn’t our fallen brothers at Soul Mount of Loyalty be lonely?
We’ve all fought battles side by side.
Now that we’re old, how could we abandon these old brothers?”
“Indeed, Chief, we, the old brothers, don’t want to die away from ho in our old age, be buried elsewhere.
How could we find the brothers who are buried on the Soul Mount of Loyalty?
We, the old brothers, aren’t leaving.
We’re staying to guard our ho and wait for the day you return!”
These were old soldiers who had fought for the tribe their entire lives.
Yet they did not want to leave the ho they had lived in for a lifeti.
Now, their eyes were filled with determination and they were prepared to die.
Even though Xiao Chen possessed powerful abilities and was the tribe’s Chief, he could not instil fear in these old n.
They just stood there, their gazes fixed on the one in front.
Even though the old n’s feet were shaky and unstable, their stance was steadfast and resolute.
After a long while, Xiao Chen finally cleared his throat and roared.
The Earth trembled.
However, there was not a trace of blood Qi leaking from his body because he didn’t want to hurt these old n.
His voice was heavy and asured as he said “One day Xiao Chen will surely lead the tribe back to avenge the humiliation of abandoning our tribe and our people today!”
Every word was resounding and his tone was ironclad.
“Well said, well said!”
The old n’s voices were sowhat breathless, their eyes narrowed into thin lines, and a satisfied smile appeared on their faces.
They were already old and no longer had the strength to fight in the wilderness.
Even if they had to leave their hos and go far away, they wouldn’t live much longer.
Even worse, they might die halfway in a foreign land.
But they couldn’t let go of the place they had protected with their blood and the place they had lived for a lifeti.
Woo, woo, woo!
From nowhere, a desolate horn sounded in the tribe.
The sound was suppressed, filled with endless helplessness.
“Who can claim that we wear no clothes, and yet march together?
The ancient horn rings out once more.
Who can claim that we bear no grievances, and yet share the sa enemies?
Between heaven and earth, our journey is blood-dyed…..”
“Who can claim that we wear no clothes, and yet march together?
The ancient horn rings out once more.
Who can claim that we bear no grievances, and yet share the sa enemies?
Between heaven and earth, our journey is blood-dyed…..”
….
A low humming started in the tribe, growing louder.
Everyone in the tribe followed and echoed the chant.
After paying his deep respect to the old soldiers, Xiao Chen appeared in mid-air, straddled on the heavenly horse, with his war spear pointing diagonally at the empty space, he exerted all his strength and yelled.
“Depart!”
All the while, he never looked back.
At this mont, he was truly afraid to look back.
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