Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 068
Chapter 68
Due to the incident with the locust dragon swarm that occurred before, Azhang now vigilantly stood watch on the wall from time to time. Meanwhile, Ali was making clothes for the little female. Chen Qi had given him the designs for the clothes early that morning. Before, no one had considered making clothes for the newborns. However, Chen Qi had seen the baby rolled up in animal skins yesterday, where even his hands and feet were wrapped, and was afraid that he would feel stuffy and uncomfortable. Thus, he suggested for Ali to make two suitable sets of clothes for the baby.
Ake was often very sleepy after eating. After giving birth, the most effective method for the females to recover their physical strength as soon as possible was to just eat and sleep. The care of the baby naturally fell to Ka Luo, the nurse-dad. The baby couldn’t defy hunger, though he did not eat much. Every once in a while, as soon as he would smack his lips a little bit, Ka Luo would feed the warm milk fruit to the baby. He was ultimately the busiest one. Fortunately, the little female was very quiet and was not noisy. As long as he had eaten his fill, the little baby would obediently sleep and there was no need to worry about him.
Everyday, after taking care of the little wolf cub’s food, Ajing would review the lessons Chen Qi had taught before. Chen Qi had been busy with the wedding the last few days and hadn’t had time to teach him new things. So Ajing copied the mermaid story over and over again. In the end, although he was the youngest, after such tedious practice, his handwriting was now even better than Chen Qi’s. Chen Qi had to admit that he really had no talent in calligraphy.
Sometimes, Ajing would take the gum tree leaf with the mermaid story and read it, word by word, to the little wolf cub in his arms. The little wolf cub, who usually scurried about all the time, would become unusually quiet at this time. Its little eyes would move down, following along with the characters Ajing’s finger pointed, and it was unknown whether it could understand it or not.
Chen Qi packed a piece of hydrochoerus dragon meat and a rope made from weaving root threads into a backpack. Bone spurs were already tied to the rope, ready to be used as fish hooks. Ali was a little worried, “Will it be unsafe to go out now?”
“It’s fine. We’re not going to the forest.” Chen Qi carried the backpack over his shoulders and explained.
“With Aze there, it will be fine.” Azhang also reassured him. Originally, he was also very interested to see what Chen Qi was going on about ‘fishing’. However, he was currently the only female in the family with fighting capacity. So, he could only give up the idea of going with them with a little regret, and planned to have Chen Qi demonstrate it again after Ake recovered.
Ali thought of how Chen Qi was only going to the Chishui River, which was not a dangerous place, so he didn’t stop them. However, he still did not agree with regards to Chen Qi’s idea of going fishing. The fish could not be eaten, and it was freezing cold. Why bother?
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Chen Qi put on a long cloak and pulled the hood attached to it over his head. The hood was very big and almost covered his eyes. He was afraid that the wind would blow his face off, so Chen Qi had also made a fur mask, which could cover his whole face firmly. Adding on a fluffy, white fur scarf around his neck and fur gloves on his hands, the only thing still exposed was his eyes.
Aze let out the fur in his beast form. His own fur was much warmer than those furs. Naturally, he did need to be armed from head to toe like Chen Qi. But since he insisted on not transforming into the beast form above his neck, Chen Qi made him a fur head cover, and had him put on a fur mask like him.
After informing the others, Chen Qi climbed onto Aze’s back. There were several wooden ladders leaning against the inner side of the wall that lead to the top. Every time it snowed, Aze would remove the snow from the wooden ladders to prevent accidentally slipping on them when they were icy.
Aze climbed up nimbly. The wind blew at the wall evenly. Aze trampled on some snowflakes that had not yet frozen until they turned into different shades of footprints. To climb down, it was necessary to directly go between the sharpened stakes. Since the stakes were uneven, Aze worried that they might hurt, so it was a lot more laborious to climb down.
Aze’s speed getting to the Chishui River was not much slower than that before winter. The river had already formed a thick layer of ice and looking all around, only a white snowy expanse could be seen. So if they hadn’t known that there was a big river here, they wouldn’t have been able to find it in the current environment.
“Here we are.” Aze lowered Chen Qi. The snow under his feet was very deep and Chen Qi sunk knee-deep into it when he got down.
Chen Qi made a lap along the Chishui River, then bent down and stopped at the center of the river, shifting aside the snow at his feet to reveal the thick ice below. “Aze, are you able to break this ice?”
Aze nodded. He transformed his fingernails into sharp nails, and used them to draw a deep scratch at the area that Chen Qi circled out. Then, he clenched his right hand into a fist. When he punched down the circled spot, the ice cracked and sunk in a little. Aze punched it again, and the ice started to sink into the water, revealing the icy water below.
“The water is very cold. Don’t touch it.” Aze cautioned.
“I know.” Chen Qi nodded, took off his backpack, pulled out its contents while asking Aze, “Aze, can you help me get some smaller rocks and some branches? The branches don’t need to be too thick, and you can collect more of them.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
There were many tall acacia trees near the Chishui River. Although all the leaves had fallen off, it was plenty enough to just break off some branches. As the Chishui River’s riverside was quite a long way from the center, Aze surveyed the surrounding situation and confirmed that there were no other threats before heading off nearby to look for what Chen Qi needed. Aze raised the five senses to the highest level, and even if he was a distance away, he was still able to keep an eye on Chen Qi’s situation.
Chen Qi took out the rope that the fish hooks were tied onto. These bone spur fish hooks were made from the bones of the antelope dragon. Chen Qi had seen fish in the Chishui River before and the smallest fish probably still weighed about 40 to 50 catties. Therefore, in order to ensure that the rope and fish hooks would be able to bear the weight, they were all made to be larger than ordinary fishing tackle.
The hydrochoerus dragon meat that was used as bait was a little stiff with being frozen. Chen Qi used the dragon-horn knife to cut off a piece and set it onto the hook. The rope was attached with three bone spurs at different lengths. This was in order to increase the success rate of catching fish at different depths.
Aze left and returned quickly. He piled several fist-sized stones and a large bundle of branches of different thicknesses at Chen Qi’s feet. The stone had been buried under snow for too long and was still wet when it was dug out. Chen Qi tied the stone to one end of the rope, then found a thick wooden stick that was wide enough to span the width of the hole in the ice and tied it to the other end.
Chen Qi threw the tied stone into hole in the ice. The stone quickly sank to the bottom, pulling along with it the hooks hung with bait. Chen Qi stuck the wooden stick attached to the end of the rope above the gap of the hole in the ice and was about to grab some branches to plug into the hole to prevent the water from freezing over again. Before he could make any moves, the wooden stick over the hold in the ice moved suddenly. Chen Qi was overjoyed, thinking that it had been more than two months since winter started, wasn’t it obvious that these fish were hungry? They took the bait so quickly.
Chen Qi was just about to bend over to pick up the stick and check out what he caught when Aze suddenly stepped forward, took Chen Qi into his arms, and rolled away from the hole in the ice. At that same time, the wooden stick over the hole made a loud, crisp “snap” sound, and broke apart. The mantle of snow around the hole in the ice had been cleared by Aze earlier. Now, cracks could clearly be seen forming across the ice, from the hole, and they got bigger and bigger. Soon, a large area of ice shattered, beginning to sink into the icy water, and a huge brown figure suddenly leaped out of the water and landed firmly in the nearby snow.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. When Chen Qi finally returned to his senses, Aze was already battling the giant creature that leapt out of the water.
The giant beast was covered with hard scales and it had a very long tail. In order to avoid involving Chen Qi in the fight, Aze could only lead the giant creature away. But he also dared not go too far, for fear that there would be another creature lying in ambush under the ice. “Chen Qi, stay away from the water.” Aze told Chen Qi while dealing with the giant beast.
Chen Qi nodded. With the dragon-horn knife in hand, he headed towards the riverbank. While Aze was distracted from calling out to Chen Qi, the behemoth took the opportunity to wrap its long tail around Aze’s right hand. Aze struggled for a moment and was almost pulled to the ground by the giant beast. He staggered a few steps before managing to stabilize his body, then grabbed the entangled tail with both hands and, with a strong pull, Aze threw the behemoth over his shoulder. As it crashed to the ground, it exposed its white belly within Aze’s attack range and Aze did not hesitate. He swooped in with elongated, sharp claws and slashed into the giant beast’s flesh. A long cut was drawn across its belly and bright red blood quickly dyed the snow.
“Aze, are you alright?” Seeing the giant creature lying on the ground, no longer moving, Chen Qi finally dared to come forward to check on Aze’s condition. Aside from the fingernails stained with blood and some snow on his fur clothes, there did not appear to be any injuries. Chen Qi heaved a sigh of relief and then moved his attention to the main culprit of the attack.
“This is an underaged champsosaurus*.” Seeing Chen Qi’s puzzled expression, Aze explained.
*鳄龙 È lóng, literally, crocodile dragon. Google says a champsosaurus is an extinct genus of crocodile-like choristodere reptile
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
This champsosaurus was not big, but its tail was more than a meter long. It slightly resembled a crocodile. Its stomach was very flat and it looked like it had probably been hungry for a long time. The champsosaurus generally lived near the Sanchen River. Even though the Chishui River was a tributary of the Sanchen River, the champsosaurus had never been seen in the Chishui River. If they were, the Rock-Mountain Tribe would not have chosen to settle near the Chishui River. After all, the champsosaurus was a killer in the water, and the bite force of an adult champsosaurus was almost comparable to that of the stegosaurus.
“It was probably the scent of the hydrochoerus dragon meat that attracted it.” Aze was a little annoyed at himself. Hydrochoerus dragons were a common food source for all carnivorous dragons. He should have reminded Chen Qi not to use hydrochoerus dragon meat as bait when he was choosing baits.
“Sorry.” Chen Qi apologized, and he wondered out loud. “Are all dragon meat attractive to other carnivorous dragons? Will meat from the warthog and hare also attract the champsosaurus?”
Aze shook his head. “Dragons are only interested in other dragons as food. They don’t eat the creatures on the Dora Plains.” Aze pointed to the champsosaurus on the ground. “This champsosaurus should have gotten lost and made it here. They usually feed on the ichthyosaurs* in the Sanchen River. There are many kinds of fish in the Chishui River, but it was still starving, which is enough to prove that the fish could not solve its hunger.”
*鱼龙 yú lóng literally, fish dragon. Also is the term for the dinosaur.
Chen Qi understood now. It seemed that it would be impossible to fish with the hydrochoerus dragon meat today. But he just didn’t know if he used the cured meat at home, would any fish be interested to take a bite? Chen Qi was a little frustrated at the thought of leaving empty-handed today. He looked at the carcass of the champsosaurus and asked, “Aze, can champsosaurus meat be eaten?”
“……”
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: +1 to the menu? 🙂
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomNight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
Use the skin as bag material n Aze will turn into the richest female
I don’t know about them getting rich, but i hope you continue to enjoy the story! Thanks for reading!