Chapter 756: The Everlasting Hero of the Green Sparrow!
The wind swept down, carrying snowflakes with it. The white linen wrapping the stone stele fluttered violently in the wind.
Han Cheng, who had been beating the drum all the way, now stood in front of the stele. He struck the drum hard once more, then shouted.
Tie Tou stopped walking, and the sled came to a halt. Han Cheng and the tribe’s shaman stepped off the sled and walked up to the stone stele.
The Eldest Senior Brother took the drumstick from Han Cheng but remained standing on the sled, not stepping down.
The two groups of pallbearers—one carrying the late chief of the Sheep Tribe, the other carrying the body of the Sheep Tribesman who died during the assault on the Semi-Farming Tribe—also arrived at the stele and gently, solemnly lowered the stretchers from their shoulders.
The rest of the people followed and came to a halt before the stone stele.
“These two men—one, when coerced and tempted by an enemy tribe, chose death rather than revealing information or betraying his people. The other died while attacking the enemy tribe.
Their deaths brought us victory! Their sacrifice made our tribe stronger and safer!
They are the heroes of our tribe!”
Han Cheng looked at the assembled Green Sparrow Tribe, standing quietly in the snow, and shouted.
His voice was solemn and full of reverence—it moved everyone deeply.
Now that the Sheep Tribe had merged with the Green Sparrow Tribe, their former chief was naturally also one of their own.
When Han Cheng first learned the story of the Sheep Tribe’s chief—told by other Sheep Tribe members who had been captured with him—he was deeply shaken. He edited and polished the story into a written version.
Not only did he use it as a teaching example in the green-brick schoolhouse, but he also often told it to others in the tribe.
The Green Sparrow Tribe wasn’t large, and the population was small. The tale of the Sheep Tribe’s chief was already impactful on its own. With Han Cheng’s embellishment, it became even more moving.
It hadn’t even been two days before everyone in the tribe knew this powerful and admirable story.
Many tribe members, after hearing it, felt their blood stir. A chill ran down their spines—not from the cold, but from the depth of their respect and admiration.
Now, with Han Cheng once again invoking the tale of how the Sheep Tribe’s chief chose death to protect his people, it vividly resurfaced in everyone’s mind.
Before this, most of them had never heard the word “hero.” But now, they understood exactly what the Divine Child meant.
Yes, someone who could do such a thing for the sake of the tribe was truly a hero!
Emotions surged in the hearts of all the Green Sparrow people, quietly building up among them.
Those difficult-to-describe feelings they’d experienced earlier when they heard the chief’s story—emotions they couldn’t quite put into words—suddenly became clear.
Yes. He was a hero. A true hero of the tribe. And that man who died in the assault on the enemy? He, too, was a hero.
The Divine Child was right—they died to make the tribe better. They are our heroes!
Han Cheng and the shaman stepped forward to untie the ropes that bound the linen to the stele.
The wind was fierce. As soon as the lower and middle ropes were undone, the white linen was instantly ripped away by the cold wind, as if even the wind itself couldn’t wait to reveal what was carved upon the stone.
The linen flew off, and eight large characters etched into the stele were revealed to all:
“Heroes of the Green Sparrow! Eternal as the ages!”
With the wind howling and snow flying, Han Cheng pointed to the newly erected stone stele and shouted to the crowd.
Seeing the towering stele, hearing the Divine Child’s proclamation, gazing upon the two bodies covered with the Green Sparrow banner, and remembering the story that had shaken them all, the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe standing in the cold couldn’t hold back. Their blood boiled, and tears mixed with overwhelming emotion spilled down their cheeks.
“Heroes of the Green Sparrow! Eternal as the ages!”
The crowd roared in unison, hoarse and full-throated. It was like a release, a determined effort to carve this moment into their hearts, their very bones.
Their voices shot skyward, so loud that even the howling wind and swirling snow seemed to bow before their might.
“Boom boom boom boom! Boom boom boom boom!”
Eldest Senior Brother, his eyes red and body covered in goosebumps from the overwhelming emotion, gripped the drumsticks tightly and pounded with all his strength.
It was as if he could see the Sheep Tribe’s chief calmly facing death to protect the tribe’s secrets. It was as if he wanted to pound the drum to pieces.
“Heroes of the Green Sparrow! Eternal as the ages!”
“Boom boom boom boom! Boom boom boom boom!”
The shouting, the drumming—they echoed again and again when the stele was revealed, when Han Cheng pointed to it and cried out that phrase, the atmosphere before the newly built Heroes’ Memorial erupted.
Han Cheng clenched his fists and shouted along with the people, equally stirred.
A tribe needs belief. A tribe needs heroes. Chapters first released on novel✶fire.net
Heroes must be honored. They deserve admiration, respect, and glory.
And the Sheep Tribe’s chief—he was the first hero to rise from the Green Sparrow Tribe!
His story would be passed down throughout the tribe, inspiring every single person in it.
With a hero, the Green Sparrow Tribe’s unity would grow stronger than ever.
And those who died for the tribe would finally receive the dignity and honor they deserved…
Among the crowd stood the female shaman Yuan, formerly of the Semi-Farming Tribe, a strip of white linen tied around her arm. Her face was pale.
Before this, she had believed that her tribe lost to the Green Sparrow Tribe because they had fewer people, inferior weapons, and were caught off guard in a surprise attack…
But now, she realized something new—something she couldn’t quite put into words.
She sensed it: the distance between her tribe and the Green Sparrow Tribe was far greater than she had imagined.
Even without the disadvantages she had assumed, her tribe still would not have been a match for the Green Sparrow Tribe.
The things she once prided herself on—before the Green Sparrow Tribe—meant absolutely nothing…
No one knew how long had passed before the thunderous chanting finally died down.
Those standing before the stele carried the two fallen to the graveyard in the back.
Shovelfuls of dirt were laid down, covering the urns, covering the faces of the heroes.
Yet the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe felt that their heroes were now even closer to them—like the mounds of earth slowly rising from the ground.
Snow fell in heavy silence, gradually covering the two graves, dusting the two small steles bearing their names and stories, and also the great stele in front.
And in the snow, they appeared even more towering than before…