Chapter 14: Cage Vine
February 5th, the first year since the establishment of the Teng Tribe.
“Boom!”
“Crack!”
In the sky, the first thunder of the year exploded, and thick lightning occasionally streaked across the sky, illuminating the ground.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
A strong wind started to blow. If you look from the sky, the newly grown leaves in the primeval jungle look like a green ocean, with waves rising and falling.
“Tick…tick…”
Raindrops began to fall, first just a few scattered drops, then gradually they became heavier and heavier, turning into a rain curtain, washing the earth in all directions.
Jiang Xuan stood under the eaves of the bamboo house, looking at the heavy rain outside, and felt very happy.
Thunder and rain mean that spring has truly arrived.
He went back to the house and found the bamboo tube that was used as a calendar. He carved two simplified Chinese characters next to February 5: Jingzhe.
Jingzhe is a very important solar term, which represents the sudden sound of spring thunder, increased rainfall, and the gradual warming of the climate.
As the saying goes, "Spring thunder scares away all insects." After the Waking of Insects, the thunder will wake up all hibernating animals, including various insects underground.
The warm and humid weather also provides favorable conditions for spring ploughing and sowing. If you are planting trees, you can start planting after the Waking of Insects.
Chishao came over curiously and asked Jiang Xuan, "Xuan, what are you carving?"
Jiang Xuan thought about it and realized that he had no way to explain that he was a time traveler. In order to avoid future trouble, he decided to tell Chi Shao a story.
"Sister, I'm going to tell you something, but I don't know if you believe it or not."
"What's up?"
"Didn't I faint during our escape?"
Jiang Xuan said seriously, "Actually, I had a dream at that time. I dreamed of an old man wearing linen clothes and holding a cane. Oh, and there were complicated lines on his face."
After listening to Jiang Xuan's description, Chishao said with a serious face: "You must have dreamt of a witch from a certain tribe."
As soon as they heard that it was about "witch", Uncaria, Stone Eel and Nanxing all gathered around and listened carefully to Jiang Xuan's story.
"This old man taught me a lot of things in my dream, such as fishing, farming, taming wild animals, building houses, etc."
Jiang Xuan handed the bamboo tube to Chi Shao and said, "He also taught me a special kind of writing that can be used to record things, such as this, the calendar."
Chishao looked at the words on the bamboo tube curiously and asked, "What is a calendar?"
Jiang Xuan said: "The calendar is used to record days. You can also record what happened on the day next to the date. For example, there was thunder today and all the insects came out, so I recorded it as 'Qingzhe'."
Chishao could not understand the words on the bamboo tube, nor did she know what "Qingzhe" meant. She only had a sense of awe.
Uncaria, Shiqiu and Nanxing also came over to take a look and also felt the same sense of awe.
"What happened next?" Gou Teng couldn't help but ask.
"Then the old man told me that he was actually dead and his soul would soon dissipate. The reason he taught me so many things was that he hoped I could pass them on so that he would have no regrets."
"Since then, I have never dreamed of the old man again, but I still remember everything he taught me in my dreams."
Chishao looked as if he had suddenly realized something, and said, "So that's how it is. No wonder you know so many things."
For the tribesmen, the witch was very mysterious and possessed many incredible abilities. Therefore, Chishao and others did not doubt what Jiang Xuan said.
Jiang Xuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Whenever he came up with something new in the future, he could attribute it to the old man in his dream, thus saving a lot of trouble in explaining.
Jiang Xuan put the bamboo tube back in place, and then said to Chi Shao, "The method of farming was also told to me by the old man in the dream. He said that as long as we farm according to his method, we can get more food than gathering in the wild."
Chishao nodded and said, "Then let's give it a try."
Jiang Xuan said: "We have already reclaimed a lot of wasteland. We can plant Polygonatum, yam, and yam there. If we find other seeds, we can plant them there too."
Since the ice and snow melted, in addition to hunting and gathering, Jiang Xuan has focused his main attention on reclaiming wasteland. Now he has reclaimed seven or eight acres of land, and the area in front of the bamboo forest is more open than before.
"Also, if you find wild fruit saplings outside, use a bone hoe to dig them up with the roots and soil, dig them intact, and plant them near our tribe. This way, we won't have to travel too far to pick wild fruits."
Chishao said: "You are the leader, we all listen to you."
The three young men also nodded. After all, the leader was the most powerful person in the tribe, so they would do whatever the leader said.
"Okay, when the rain stops, we'll go up the mountain!"
After Jiang Xuan finished speaking, he waited with everyone for the rain to stop. He couldn't wait to plant crops and vegetables on all the reclaimed arable land.
In order to go into the mountains, he sharpened several bamboo spears as weapons.
The bamboo is old bamboo that has grown for many years and is very thick.
After breaking the bamboo, choose a thick bamboo strip about three centimeters wide, first polish it smooth with a stone, grind the end into a pointed point, and then roast it with fire to dry out the moisture.
After being baked, the hardness of the spear tip will be greatly improved, making it very sharp and able to easily pierce into the body of the prey. It has only one drawback, which is that it is relatively soft overall, but the merits outweigh the disadvantages.
Jiang Xuan polished a long bamboo spear and three short bamboo spears. The spear heads were roasted with fire, and the surface was slightly carbonized, making them very hard and sharp.
The rain stopped at noon.
After breakfast, Jiang Xuan and others brought weapons, rattan baskets, animal skin bags and other things, and carefully painted totem patterns on their faces.
The tribesmen believed that if they painted totem patterns before entering the mountains, they would receive the protection of the totem gods.
After everything was ready, Jiang Xuan and others headed towards the forest in the south.
In the morning, the sun rises from the other side of the creek, so the other side of the creek is east, the area behind the stone mountain and ancient vines is west, the direction where the original deer tribe was located is north, and the direction on the right side of the bamboo forest is south.
The north is a sad place, so they prefer to go to the forest in the south.
It had rained in the morning and the jungle floor was very wet, but luckily there was a thick layer of dead branches and leaves on the ground so it wasn't muddy.
The air carries the fresh scent of grass and trees, mixed with the smell of rotting branches and leaves after the rain, forming the unique flavor of the primeval forest.
After entering the forest, the five people focused their attention, keeping their eyes on the ground and the trees for any abnormalities, and listening to the movements around them.
Jiang Xuan held a bamboo spear in his hand and carried a rattan basket on his back with three short bamboo spears in the basket. He felt a little nervous and excited because he didn't know what he would encounter in the jungle.
“Crunch, crunch…”
The sound of sawing wood came from a huge rotten dead tree that had fallen to the ground. Jiang Xuan walked over and used a bamboo spear to pry open the bark of the dead tree. He saw a fat white insect that had bitten through the dead tree, revealing its head.
The body of this worm is as big as a teacup, with a brown head and a pair of large black teeth that can easily bite through wood.
“Bugs of the same grade have four times the protein content of beef!”
Jiang Xuan muttered something under his breath, then pierced the insect's head with a bamboo spear and threw it into the rattan basket.
There are all kinds of insects in the jungle, as long as they are edible, they are basically food for the tribesmen.
Because they are numerous and large, they are relatively easy to catch, and they taste good after being roasted.
Not only Jiang Xuan, but also Chishao, Uncaria and others, when they encounter edible insects, they will kill them first and then take them away.
They continued walking forward and saw many birds and animals along the way.
As the weather gradually warms up, all kinds of animals come out and the jungle becomes dangerous and lively.
Jiang Xuan was walking when he suddenly stepped on some brown vines lying flat on the ground.
These vines are in a grid shape and look quite strange. After Jiang Xuan stepped on them, he found it quite fresh. These vines look really strange.
"Xuan, be careful!"
Chishao next to him suddenly cried out, but it was too late.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
The grid-like vines under Jiang Xuan's feet suddenly rose up like a big net, quickly surrounded him, and turned into a round cage, trapping Jiang Xuan inside.
"What the hell!"
Jiang Xuan was horrified and wanted to pull the vine apart, but he found that the vine was very flexible and he couldn't pull it apart with his current strength!
At the same time, some smaller vines with barbs extended towards Jiang Xuan from all directions.
The barbs of the vine carry a paralyzing toxin, and once pierced, the trapped prey loses the ability to resist and is eventually strangled to death, rotting and becoming nutrients for the vine.
The space inside the cage was too small and Jiang Xuan couldn't pull the vines apart, so the situation was very critical.
At this critical moment, Chishao rushed over with a stone knife in his hand, squatted on the ground, quickly pulled away the dead branches and leaves, and then chopped the main trunk of this strange vine that was close to the ground.
This vine is called cage vine. Its upper part is in the shape of a circular net, just like a spider web. The lower part is the main trunk, which is relatively short and close to the ground.
It is very scary. Once trapped, it is difficult to escape alone unless you are strong enough.
Only those who understand it and are outside the cage can accurately find its trunk and cut it off in time to rescue the trapped people.
Chishao's stone knife was sharpened to a very sharp point, and with her full strength, she quickly cut off the trunk of the cage vine.
After the main trunk of the cage vine was cut several times, the vines that were attacking Jiang Xuan slowed down obviously. When its main trunk was cut off, those vines immediately lost the ability to attack and stopped moving.
Uncaria, Gouteng and Nanxing ran over and hurriedly tore apart the entangled vines and rescued Jiang Xuan inside.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sister, what kind of vine is this? It's so scary." Jiang Xuan asked with lingering fear as he looked at the vines.
"This is called a cage vine. Its barbs have a paralyzing venom that can trap prey and slowly strangle them to death. Next time you see this vine on the ground, be sure to avoid it."
Jiang Xuan, Gou Teng and others nodded. They had already seen how terrifying this vine was.
"However, its juice is a good thing. Apply a little on the arrowhead or spear head. After piercing the prey, the prey will be slowly paralyzed and its movements will slow down."
Chishao took down his spear, short spear and stone knife, and smeared the spear heads and blades with the juice of the cage vine.
Jiang Xuan, Gou Teng and others also coated their weapons with this juice containing paralyzing toxin.
Afterwards, the five people continued to move forward. After what happened just now, they became more cautious.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
