Stranger Danger

Chapter 601: Celestial Spring

A long silence later, the brawny man finally said in a heavy, helpless voice, “People of our trade never know if we might live to see another day. One might even say that we’re trading our lives away for money. Old Zhou, Old Wang and Young Li knew that death was a possibility. Everyone here knows this as well, don’t we?”

The brawny man’s name was Wang Shengkui. He was a horse caravan leader. A horse caravan originally referred to a group of horse wranglers herding a train of mules. Over time, it referred to merchants who mainly used horses to carry and transport goods. He and his companions were in the latter category.

Theirs were no ordinary horse caravan either. They were merchants responsible for transporting goods across countries, and they mainly went between Chu and Yan.

They were Chu people who lived in Northern Xinjiang for generations. To the north Northern Xinjiang and bordering the Gobi Desert and the Bitter Snow Plain was Yan.

At the beginning after the fall of the You Dynasty, Yan and Chu shared good relations with each other because of the camaraderie they built during the time the four nations—Yan, Chu, Qi and Wei—came together to bring down You. Moreover, the war was long, and the people had suffered greatly because of it. Everyone needed to rest and recuperate. Therefore, they opened their borders and actively traded with each other.

Yan was famous for their horses and wide assortment of metals and ores, whereas Chu was famous for their silk and tea. Both countries had something that the other desperately needed. The network of trade routes between the two countries eventually became known as the famous “Tea and Horse Road”.

Here was a quote from the history books: “At the beginning of Yan and Chu, there were ancient roads that connected the north and the south. The bells of camels rang throughout night and day, the caravans streamed both ways like rivers, and the work was unending. It was the picture of prosperity.”

One could tell just how prosperous they were back then.

Groups such as the horse caravans, camel caravans and more were born during that time as well.

Unfortunately, “raised up by neighbor, cast down by neighbor[1]”. As time continued to march endlessly toward the future, both countries eventually recovered from the ravages of war. Several successions later, whatever bond the late emperors forged were long forgotten.

One bed only had enough room for one person, and this was doubly true for the ruler of men. Conflicts and friction began to arise at the borders, and their relationship slowly but surely grew tense. Eventually, both countries began restricting trade with each other until the “Tea and Horse Road” became a pale shadow of its former glory.

Their relations grew even more strained than before after the Heavenly Martial Emperor ascended to Yan’s throne. The Heavenly Martial Emperor possessed great skill, strategy, and more importantly, ambition. Internally, he groomed the people for war and eradicated both the nobility and the border magnates to achieve centralization of power. Externally, he launched multiple campaigns that all ended in success. He had chased the Quanrong[2] to the Bitter Snow Plains, exiled the Baifang to Donglu, and destroyed the Qiushan at the Gobi Desert.

Having eliminated all the threats within Yan, the Heavenly Martial Emperor could now set his sights beyond his borders: Yan.

Chu was located in the Central Plain. Its environment was excellent, its land was fertile, and it was overflowing with natural resources. Wealth wasn’t their middle name, but if it was, no one would be surprised by it. That was why Chu was currently experiencing a cultural boom. Things like literature and music became highly valued, customs and traditions were slowly overtaking practicality, and signs of decadence were everywhere starting from the imperial court all the way down to the jianghu.

Worse still, the country itself was shifting its focus away from martial might. Ever since Emperor Jin Run rose to power, he was absorbed in the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, painting and more. Caring more about indulging in the pleasures than ruling the country, he built a ton of gardens and pavilions but neglected both the court and the military.

Today, Chu’s military was weak. In the eyes of their neighbors, they were a juicy lamb just waiting to be slaughtered. The Heavenly Martial Emperor of Yan, more than anyone else, wanted a piece of that meat. That was why he had been instigating conflicts at the borders non-stop.

The Heavenly Martial Emperor’s intention was so blatant that not even Emperor Jin Run could fail to notice it. That was why he had been increasing the amount of troops in Northern Xinjiang and constructing military fortifications in preparation for war in recent years.

When a country prospered, the people suffered. When a country waned, the people suffered still. The one who suffered the most from the conflicts between the two countries wasn’t the higher-ups who were behind it all, but the humble people like Wang Shengkui. As the border passes were guarded with great zeal due to the rising number of conflicts, merchants like them naturally couldn’t pass through the borders as easily as before. Goods such as salt, metal, food and more were labeled as contrabands and couldn’t be traded freely. Even the Horse and Tea Road was eventually overtaken by brigands and Strangers due to the severe drop in traffic. Naturally, their lives became harsher than ever before.

Many people changed careers and found a living elsewhere, but those who didn’t know any other skill or trade didn’t have that choice. Caravanning was the only trade they knew, and they had to stick to it no matter how risky things became.

After all, life must go on no matter what.

Half a year ago, their caravan had numbered over a hundred people. They had gathered entire caravans of silk, tea and more, marched out of Northern Xinjiang, and took off toward northern Yan along the abandoned Tea and Horse Road.

It had been a long and harsh journey. The good news was that they had made a killing thanks to the worsened relations between the two countries, and goods like silk and tea were in high demand in Yan. But the cost... the cost was high. The number of times they were attacked by brigands and Strangers were too numerous to count. There were high-risk locations where, despite their best precautions, simply could not be prepared against. As if that wasn’t enough, they had to go through all that a second time since they needed to make it back to Chu.

By the time their feet stepped on familiar soil, their caravan of one hundred or so people had dwindled to less than sixty. Almost half of their members were dead. It was a terrible cost to say the least.

Everyone who died was a comrade who they braved thick and thin together. They weren’t family, but they were closer than family. They had set out on this journey together, but some of them would never come home—not even their corpses. The risks were simply too great.

Not even the most stone-hearted men in their group could claim that they weren’t saddened by this. If they were, then they were lying.

But what could they do? Those who were alive must live.

Life, must go on.

This was their life and eternal sorrow.

“Uncle Qi, please make sure that the remunerations are ready. Oh, and please add a portion of my share to the remunerations. I will not have the families of my brothers and sisters unjustly compensated.”

Wang Shengkui said patiently while looking at a middle-aged man in his fifties, “Our brothers and sister may be gone, but we are still here. From now on, their parents are our parents, their siblings are our siblings, and their spouses and children are our in-laws and children. We must take good care of them so that our late brothers and sisters can rest in peace, understand?”

“You’re right, boss. You know what, add a portion of my share to the pile as well, Old Qi.”

“Same here.”

“Don’t forget me, Old Qi.”

......

Determined voices rang here and there throughout the caravan. There was hope, belief, warmth, and humanity in this caravan.

“There’s people up ahead, boss!”

Suddenly, Sun Bo pointed at the Celestial Spring still a ways away from them. Wang Shengkui looked. He saw a group of people sitting around the spring and chatting happily with one another. There was even a kid running here and there and giggling loudly. It added some joy and life to the desolate Gobi Desert.

“It might be a group of traveling merchants taking a break at Celestial Spring. Be on your guard though.”

Wang Shengkui instructed, but he didn’t really believe that the strangers were a threat. Judging from their attire and the fact that they had a kid with them, he highly doubted that they were brigands. After all, who in their right mind would bring a kid out on a raid?

Celestial Spring was the only oasis and water source in this part of the Gobi Desert; all fifty kilometers of it. Not only that, it had a cool and mythical origin.

Legend said that this part of the Gobi Desert was originally a completely barren wasteland. Devoid of even a single drop of water, not even the toughest plants such as desert poplars or thistles could grow in this place. Over time, this part of the Gobi Desert became known as the Barren Sand.

Countless lives had been claimed in the Barren Sand. Even back when the Tea and Horse Road was prospering, the Barren Sand was labeled as a forbidden zone by merchants from both Yan and Chu. Countless traveling merchants had died because they tried to cross the Barren Sand, so much so that the saying, “A fresh body every three kilometers, and a skeleton every five” became the byline of the Barren Sand. The number of people who had died here was innumerable.

One day, a celestial rode a bull across the Barren Sand. He saw a body every three kilometers, and a skeleton every five. Realizing just how dangerous the desert was to the ordinary men and unable to ignore the tragedy, he mustered his power and created the Celestial Spring.

And so the Celestial Spring came to be.

Of course, this was just a legend. No one knew if it was true or not. It was one of the many stories that had passed down by word since the days when the Tea and Horse Road was still prospering.

There was no denying that something was special about the Celestial Spring though. Its waters were sweet and tasty. It never froze even during the coldest winter, nor dried during the hottest summer. Not only that, those who drank from the spring would experience good luck for a short time.

As a result, Celestial Spring became a popular resting place for all horse caravans and traveling merchants within fifty kilometers.

1. Original quote is “raised up by Xiao He, cast down by Xiao He”. ☜

2. Zhou Dynasty ethnic group of present-day western China, but don’t ask me about the context in this novel. ☜

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