Chapter 1185, Another Plan

Translator: Silavin

 

The Giant Shell Land Tortoise arrived at the Coiled Goat Tribe before long. Though just arriving was not that simple.

 

The Coiled Goat Tribe sat with one side against a river and three sides surrounded by mountains. To reach it, one had to cross over those mountains. There was no other way. Qing Yan and the others spent a full day making that climb.

 

The Coiled Goat Tribe had prepared for them. The Chieftain, the Shaman, and a gathering of Warriors were all waiting at the entrance when they arrived.

 

“Which of you is the Shaman of the Coiled Goat Tribe?” Qing Yan asked.

 

He needed to hand off the goods and deliver Su Bai’s words directly to the Shaman.

 

“I am.” Shaman Zha stepped out from among the Warriors.

 

Snow was still falling from a heavy sky. The people standing outside wore thin clothes. But this was already the best-dressed group the Tribe could put together. Many others had nothing warm at all and had simply stayed inside the wooden houses to wait out the season.

 

Most of what warmth existed in the Coiled Goat Tribe was concentrated on the Totem Warriors and the Tribe’s upper tier. Everyone else waited for the snow season to pass.

 

“There are many goods on the beast’s back,” Qing Yan said. “Please arrange some Warriors to help with the unloading. These supplies come from our Shaman, as support for your Tribe. Make sure everything is distributed evenly, so that everyone receives a share.”

 

His tone was neither meek nor presumptuous. The Flame Dragon Tribe was larger, but the person in front of him was a Shaman, and that deserved its own kind of respect. A Shaman that was poorly treated would mean disrespecting a key figure that held a Tribe together. Nobody wanted to see what came of that.

 

“These goods are really meant for us?” Shaman Zha’s expression shifted to something uncertain.

 

He had believed someone from the Flame Dragon Tribe would come. He had assumed they were coming to extract something even when the men he sent over had said they were coming to provide them with goods. When they actually arrived, he still felt he had little choice but to go out and meet them. The Coiled Goat Tribe belonged to someone else now. What else was there to do?

 

But what he was hearing now was that the goods were for them. He stood there, slightly dazed.

 

“Did the Warriors who returned not explain this to you?” Qing Yan asked. “We came specifically to bring you supplies. If your Tribe doesn’t survive the snow season, that’s no good for us either.”

 

He had seen Luo Lan and Bu Lu standing nearby, and the look on the Coiled Goat Shaman’s face made the situation clear enough. The Shaman simply had not believed it.

 

“They did mention it,” Shaman Zha admitted. “But I thought it was only words. I didn’t expect actual supplies to arrive.”

 

The Coiled Goat Tribe’s situation had its own particular problem. Their location was strong in one way: the mountains made it very hard for outside Tribes to harm them. But the same mountains made it nearly impossible to hunt at any real distance. Close to the Tribe, there was rarely enough game. Without enough meat and Animal Hide, the snow season became very difficult to tide through.

 

That was why not everyone in the Tribe had garments to protect themselves from the cold. Only the Warriors and the upper tier had them. Everyone else simply had to endure.

 

So what the Flame Dragon Tribe had brought was a genuine windfall. Not just the warm clothing, but the dried meat as well. That said everything about how hard the Coiled Goat Tribe’s snow seasons truly were.

 

“Our Shaman has made it clear,” Qing Yan said. “As long as your Tribe sincerely aligns itself with the Flame Dragon Tribe, we will protect you going forward. You only need to focus on your own development. There is nothing you are required to offer us in tribute.”

 

He recalled the exact words and continued, “But there is one condition. Your Tribe must sign a Contract with ours. A binding promise that the Coiled Goat Tribe will be loyal to the Flame Dragon Tribe and no other.”

 

He had brought a number of Shaman Bone Tablets with him. All of them were produced from Su Bai’s Skill.

 

Su Bai had not sent the supplies immediately, precisely because he had not yet accumulated enough of the Contract Shaman Bone Tablets. He needed a certain number before he could send the delivery party, so that they could oversee the signing at the same time.

 

“A Contract? Just putting a mark on this Animal Hide, and the Flame Dragon Tribe will trusts us?” Shaman Zha asked.

 

He found the whole thing rather careless.

 

That was the reason Shaman Zha looked so unmoved.

 

“This Contract contains our Shaman’s Shaman Technique within it. Once signed, it cannot be broken.”

 

Qing Yan’s expression was steady and unhurried. “That said, if you choose not to sign, that is fine. We will not force the issue. The decision is entirely yours. Now, we will be staying the night. Please arrange accommodation for us, Shaman.”

 

It was already late. They needed two days in the Coiled Goat Tribe before moving on. Travelling on a beast’s back day after day was genuinely exhausting. To have solid ground underfoot again was a return to normalcy.

 

Qing Yan had deliberately framed the choice as theirs to make. There was a next step to this plan, and that was why he said it the way he did.

 

“We understand,” Shaman Zha said. He turned to look at someone beside him, quietly gesturing for the unloading to begin.

 

He was not going to agree to this quickly. A Contract on Animal Hide was one thing. A Contract reinforced by a Shaman Technique was something else entirely. That required genuine consideration.

 

The Coiled Goat Tribe was not a match for the Flame Dragon Tribe. Everyone knew that but it did not mean they had no room to choose. Only that the consequences of their choice would vary.

 

“There is food and warm clothing.” Qing Yan said, “and we’ve brought some paper as well, to supplement the Animal Hide for writing. Our Shaman also wanted to make sure you had some wine. Tonight, please enjoy it.”

 

Tonight was when the next part of the plan would begin. The groundwork came first.

 

“I must thank your Shaman for his thoughtfulness,” Shaman Zha said, pausing slightly.

 

His eyes had not left the goods being unloaded from the beast’s back. He thought quietly that his Tribe might, for once, have a decent snow season.