Chapter 259 Tribe Crisis
Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan had the same view again. Leng Changxi slightly frowned and then said to Elder Princess with a smile, “Qinghe, it’s always me taking you to the lake. Why not you lead me this time?”
Elder Princess joyfully agreed and led them to a pathway to go up the hill. While climbing the hill, she told them about things that happened before. Cha and other people were astonished, but they still didn’t know who this woman was.
“Look, that’s the luminous lake.”
Climbing over a hill, Qin Yunuan parted branches that blocked her view and took a look. Gosh, another Yingguang Lake?
Same as the lake at the foot of the hill, this vast lake emitted blue light. But it looked way more beautiful.
“Look, there’s a stele.” Cha turned over the wrecked stele covered with layers of dust and checked it. On it were ancient and complicated characters. Qin Yunuan could roughly recognize that they were ancient Qidan Nationality characters, but she didn’t know them. If only Lu Wuyi was here. At last, he chose Wanyan Su. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to follow Qin Yunuan to take risks. In fact, it was Qin Yunuan asking him to do so. She left Lu Wuyi to spy on Wanyan Su. If the latter intended to kill Leng Changxi and deliberately left them behind, Lu Wuyi could leave a message for them in secret.
“But it’s a pity,” Qin Yunuan shook her head and said, “We don’t know these characters.” In this mysterious wood, anything that showed the trace of human beings was precious for them.
“I know them.” Elder Princess said in an innocent and lively tone, “Hua, didn’t you teach me this language before? These characters mean ‘Yingguang Lake’.”
“Yingguang Lake?” Leng Changxi was a bit surprised.
“Right. It was given this name a long time ago.” Elder Princess looked so innocent with her eyes wide open.
“So… so… so, the lake at the hill foot is not real?” Cha opened his mouth. If that was not the real Yingguang Lake, Wanyan Su and his followers were all heading to a wrong direction. True, people should watch out all the time when exploring the Yeren Valley, even if they had a map. If taking a wrong way, they were doomed to die.
“Yes.” Qin Yunuan answered calmly. She had already checked the surrounding terrain and mountains. Although she gave the map to Wanyan Su, she in fact had kept in mind every detail on it because she could remember everything she saw. This lake was the real Yingguang Lake. There were truly full of traps in the Yeren Valley. When seeing the lake at the hill foot, people would get ecstatic and stop exploring. But beyond their expectation, that lake was just a derived lake of the real one.
“Ho, that’s a blessing in disguise.” Cha said in delight and then frowned. “But we have no map. Even though we find the lake, we don’t know where to go next.”
“Don’t worry.” Qin Yunuan gave a light smile and pointed at her head with her long finger. “I have a map here.”
“Right.” Leng Changxi smiled and said, “Nuan is a walking map. Cha, do you really think we really gave way to Wanyan Su that easily? How would we directly give him the map and throw ourselves into an impasse?”
Cha was embarrassed. He already recalled how smart they were.
“Where should we go next?” A soldier asked.
Yes, this was a tough question. Qin Yunuan frowned and recalled every detail on the map. If the lake down was not the real one, the opposite direction of the wind that dead tribesman brought would lead them to a wrong place. But now, there was no wind.
“When the sun rises high.” Qin Yunuan suddenly said.
” When the sun rises high?” Cha shouted it out. “But there is no sun.”
“I don’t mean that.” Qin Yunuan explained, “On the map, this sentence is labeled near the Yingguang Lake. I thought it was a special terrain name at first. But what if it isn’t? What if it’s a riddle that signifies directions?”
Cha is little educated, and he didn’t get the point. Scratching his head, he asked, “Isn’t this just a phrase? What can it signify?”
“The full sentence is when the sun rises high, follow the shadow.” Qin Yunuan suddenly smiled and said, “I figure it out. We need to wait until tomorrow midday and go where the tree shadow points at.”
Leng Changxi nodded, “Right. This makes sense.”
Elder Princess seemed excited and asked, “Wow, Hua, where are you going? Are you going to take me back to West Xia?”
“It’s early to go back now.” Leng Changxi patted her head in a coddling way and said, “We’ll travel to an interesting place before we go back.”
Leng Changxi would definitely go to West Xia. Sima Ray had colluded with the Grand Prince of North Di, so North Di was his helper. Other countries were too small, and all relied on Qi and North Di to survive. Only West Xia, a southwestern country, was strong enough to contend against Qi.
“But I don’t want.” Elder Princess behaved like a spoiled girl. “You promised you would take me to West Xia once you came back. You break your promise.”
Then, she turned around and sat in the shade with her mouth pouting. At that time, Cha and two of his men who picked up many soft pine needles and branches as firewood came back. Leng Changxi took a look at Elder Princess but was stopped by Qin Yunuan before he took any action. She patted on his shoulder and said, “Women know women best. She has been ignored by her beloved man for a long time, so naturally, she tends to throw a tantrum. Let me comfort her first, and she will come round.”
Leng Changxi agreed and helped Cha to make a fire. Cha took up courage to ask in a low voice, “Mr. Tuoba, who is she? Why are Madam and you so nice to her?”
Leng Changxi didn’t reply. When Cha thought he shouldn’t ask this question, Leng Changxi answered slowly, “She’s a woman whom I have let down for years.” Although Princess Ning was nice to Leng Changxi, he felt so sorry to leave his birth mother alone in a mountain for long.
“Who’s there?” Suddenly, the soldier standing at the edge shouted loudly.
Everyone paid attention to the dark bush, and they saw a movement. It looked as if something had scooted in it from east to west.
Cha and several other people couldn’t help pulling out their machetes and looked at the bush vigilantly. Leng Changxi reached behind his back, almost to his spear.
Suddenly, a brown shade rushed out of the bush and stooped. Under the dim moonlight, they couldn’t see that thing clearly. He just arched his back like a reptile and vigilantly looked at them.
Qin Yunuan helped Elder Princess stand up and walked behind men. Cha and four other people naturally sheltered them. But one soldier was scared and asked in a trembling voice, “Cha, it doesn’t look like a human.”
“Craps. Even if it’s not a human, so what? Even tigers can’t scare you. Why are you afraid of this monster?” Cha said so, but his voice was also trembling. There were so many strange things in the Yeren Valley. Every day in this valley was tough for them.
But unexpectedly, before they spoke more, that human who lay on the ground like a dog suddenly stood up. He even spoke to them in fluent North Di language, “So, you all can speak.”
Cha was in a trance. Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan only knew a little about North Di language. Then that man spoke in Qi language, “I mean that you are human beings.”
Leng Changxi slightly frowned but said nothing. That man tended to speak again but was directly stopped by Leng Changxi. “Enough. How many languages can you speak?”
That man kept his chin up proudly and said, “Ancient Qidan language, West Xia language, North Di language and Qi language, I know them all.”
Ho, what a talent.
“What are you doing here?” The more calmly this man behaved, the more vigilant Leng Changxi was. Because it meant this man was confident.
“Shouldn’t I ask you this question?” That man straightened up and looked totally different from what he was before. “What are you doing this? This, is our place.”
“Really?” Leng Changxi held his spear.
That man smiled and looked cunning. “Yes.”
Suddenly, the bush behind that man rustled contiguously as if the whole wood was speaking. Soon, many people emerged out of the bush. They all dressed like that man with brown gowns roughly covering their bodies and green paint on their faces. In this way, they could better hide themselves in the wood.
Although they were not skilled martial artists, they were in large numbers, and they were familiar with the valley. So, Leng Changxi couldn’t directly fight with them.
He stepped forward and cupped his hand. “What are you coming for?”
The leading young man wore a cold smile and said, “For bringing you back to our place. You’ve killed Ya, so I will get back at you.”
Qin Yunuan realized Ya that man referred to must be Yaqi, her previous servant girl. It seemed that Yaqi had a high position in this tribe. Otherwise, this man couldn’t lead so many people to take revenge for her.
“Yaqi killed our soldier first. So it’s just an eye for an eye.” Cha said calmly. Leng Changxi found out that Cha was quite judicious and sensible in face of serious situations.
That man snorted and replied, “It’s because you broke in the Yeren Valley first, so you asked for it.” Then he ordered his men behind in a language they hadn’t heard of. At once, a flood of tribesmen surrounded them.