In the snow, a long line had formed.
This line was made up of many deer and people.
Unlike the wild, free-roaming deer of this era, most of these deer were pulled by wooden sleds, with some people riding the sleds and resting as they traveled.
Mao sat on one of the sleds, barely moving, and the sled moved forward by itself. Mao had never seen this way of traveling, and he watched it with the curiosity of a child.
Before the journey began, Mao had already prepared to endure hardship and the cold.
He often went on trade trips carrying goods through the snow before joining the Green Sparrow Tribe.
The rewards were always substantial, but the suffering was real.
Some people in the tribe had ended up with frozen toes after such journeys.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. The most painful part was that after walking for long periods, his eyes would become red, swollen, and uncomfortable, often tearing up, and sometimes it was hard to see anything.
However, after setting off with the group, Mao soon realized that things were far different than he had imagined.
Frozen toes were no longer a concern because they wore thick fur socks with warm shoes over them.
Their hats, gloves, and frost-protecting "snow flower balm" shielded their sensitive, frost-prone areas.
They no longer had to carry heavy loads; they could sit on the sleds and let the deer pull them when tired.
As for the prolonged walking that would make their eyes burn and dry out, that no longer happened.
Before the journey, the Divine Child had handed out grayish-brown linen cloths to cover their eyes with.
At first, Mao didn’t understand the purpose behind this or why the cloth was dyed with foul-smelling mud. After all, his vision became blurry and uncomfortable when this cloth was tied over his eyes.
But after a few days of travel, that doubt disappeared completely, as his eyes were no longer red and swollen like before.
However, the biggest surprise for Mao was the snow houses.
If he hadn’t experienced them, he wouldn’t have believed that these snow and tent structures could be so warm.
Thinking back to when he took people out in the snow, with nothing more than animal skins and dry grass underneath and over them, Mao now felt cold just thinking about it.
His previous methods were incredibly rudimentary compared to traveling in the snow now.
As dusk fell, the group stopped.
Tents were quickly set up, and Mao and a few others skillfully piled snow on the tents.
Tie Tou and others who followed quickly started a fire, using firewood from the sleds.
Some of this firewood had been brought from the tribe, while the rest had been gathered from the snow-covered ground during the journey.
This small gesture saved the tribe from the tiring task of searching for firewood after setting up camp.
A large barrel was set up, filled with snow, which was readily available in this season.
As the fire burned, it gradually produced warm water.
The tribe's people didn’t drink the water right away. Instead, they added salt to it and gave it to the tribe's deer.
Dozens of sleds formed a circle around the camp, enclosing the deer and the people’s tents.
After drinking the warm soup, which drove away the cold from their bodies, the sky gradually darkened.
It never became completely dark on snowy nights because the white snow illuminated everything around them, casting a pale glow.
A few people stayed behind to keep watch while the rest quickly and efficiently crawled into the snow houses that had been built and fell asleep.
Mao was assigned to guard during the night's second half, so he wasn’t slower than the others when entering the snow house.
Once inside the warm snow house, Mao lay down comfortably, adjusted his position a few times, and admired the snow house's practicality before quickly falling into a deep sleep.
The surroundings fell into silence. The deer rested quietly, occasionally snorting.
Fu Jang and the others who had come lay by the fire or cuddled up with the deer started to sleep.
After spending so much time with humans, Fu Jiang’s behavior had become somewhat chaotic.
By the fire, the night watchmen sat quietly, roasting by the flames, with no one feeling like speaking.
Time passed second by second, and this peaceful silence continued. Just as everyone thought this tranquility would last until dawn, it was suddenly broken.
The silence was shattered by the sound of a tiger’s roar.
The roar came suddenly, without any warning.
The few night watchmen sitting up jumped in surprise, grabbing their weapons that were within reach, holding them in front of themselves, and nervously scanning their surroundings, trying to locate the source of the roar.
The quiet deer herd also became alarmed, quickly standing up and making uneasy noises.
If the deer had not been accustomed to human presence and tied up, they likely would have scattered in all directions by now.
Fu Jiang and its kin sensed the threat. These creatures, often kicked by the Divine Child Han for no reason, now showed their fierce side.
One by one, they lowered their bodies, pressing their forepaws to the ground, crouching slightly, their fur standing on end. They growled low in warning toward the left rear of the camp.
Someone among the night watchmen finally reacted and shouted, waking the sleeping people.
The people inside the snow houses were gradually roused. After a moment of confusion, those who regained their senses quickly grabbed their weapons and crawled out of the houses.
The tiger's roar continued, but it was no longer majestic; instead, it carried a tone of distress.
The raw strength of the primitive people was evident at this moment. After a brief period of panic, the night watchmen identified the tiger’s location and, instead of fleeing, headed toward it, weapons in hand.
Once away from the firelight, their vision cleared, allowing them to see further.
A large creature was moving and roaring not far from the deer herd. It seemed to be heading toward the edge of the camp.
The four-night watchmen, one carrying a large shield and the other three armed with long bronze spears, rushed over.
They remembered that before darkness had fallen, the leader had instructed them to tie strong ropes around the camp's perimeter and place sharp bamboo spikes, carefully carved with copper knives, in the snow holes near the ropes.
The bamboo spikes had been slightly blackened by oil and were razor-sharp.
The tiger had fallen into a trap; otherwise, it wouldn’t have exposed itself without attacking its prey.
The tiger, which had failed its ambush and was now injured, tried to escape quickly, but upon realizing that others had already arrived, it turned around and roared. It bared its claws and tried to swipe at the approaching group, hoping to scare off these "damned big monkeys" with this show of aggression.
This method had always been effective in the past—few animals dared to ignore its threatening stance.
But tonight was different. Its threat failed to scare off the approaching "big monkeys," but those same big monkeys charged at it, thrusting three sharp, long spears toward it...
The fire around the camp grew larger, and by the fire, there lay a large creature, its color blending with the snow, its fur stained with blood.
The disciples, including the eldest brother, looked at the fierce creature that had died, feeling both relieved and a strong sense of confidence rising within them.
They would have avoided such large creatures in the past, but now, armed with the traps taught by the godchild and sharp bronze weapons, they could quickly kill the beings they once feared to confront!
After a while, the eldest brother ordered that the bloodstains be covered with snow to avoid attracting other wild beasts.
While they were stronger now, the eldest brother did not want to engage in unnecessary battles with wild animals, especially when food was abundant. After all, their primary purpose on this trip was to mine copper and tin.
However, this night would not remain peaceful for long. Just as the disturbance caused by the tiger's ambush subsided, a new, far more terrifying danger emerged.