Chapter 25: Learning

After bidding farewell to the old Giant Shan Teng, Gao Jing climbed back onto Shan Guoer’s shoulder and continued touring the Shan Yue Village.

He expressed his thanks to Shan Teng for his generosity in a way the Giant could understand.

But he didn’t take even a tiny piece of the Small-Leaf Sandalwood scraps.

Someone more greedy and short-sighted would have tried stuffing all the finest materials into their pockets.

After all, to the Shan Yue Giants, this wood was worthless.

However, Gao Jing’s heart wasn’t that small.

Even if he rummaged through this pile of Rosewood, how much could he actually carry away?

At most, a hundred or so pounds.

After several material transfers, Gao Jing already knew there was a strict limit to what he could carry beyond his anchor. Overloading would prevent a return trip.

The Storage Space unlocked after the Bronze Anchor’s upgrade largely solved this problem.

But Gao Jing would never easily reveal his Storage Space in front of others.

Especially in the Great World.

Here, he was simply too weak. So weak that even a mischievous kid from the Shan Yue Tribe could easily crush him.

Gao Jing couldn’t even imagine what consequences leaking the Bronze Anchor’s secret would bring him!

Even if the villagers of the Shan Yue tribe looked very simple and honest, even if Shan Guoer was fun, and even if Old Shaman Shan Yan meant well.

Testing people’s hearts wasn’t wise.

Gao Jing had deeply understood this truth long ago.

The most crucial thing was, he could get what he needed in completely safe and reliable ways.

There was simply no need to rush.

Of course, Gao Jing hadn’t forgotten the kindness of the Mountain Giants who saved him.

But one thing was one thing.

He just needed to find a way to repay them properly.

Even the longest mountain path has an end. The exit of the valley came into Gao Jing’s sight.

The land ahead was very flat and open.

The valley entrance suddenly narrowed, making the word “bottleneck” perfectly fitting.

A fort wall over a hundred meters high stretched across the valley mouth, forming the village’s shield.

This huge fort wall was built from enormous rock blocks and thousands of logs, firmly guarding the valley’s key position.

Higher watchtowers stood behind the fort wall, manned by Giant guards.

Honestly, to Gao Jing’s eyes, both the fort wall and the watchtowers looked quite roughly built.

Much like the style of the houses above.

Yet, the feeling of safety this solid wall gave people was irreplaceable.

“Haya!”

“Sha!”

Twenty or thirty Giants, dressed in animal hides, were diligently practicing martial arts in the open ground below the watchtower.

They were clearly warriors of the Shan Yue Tribe. Their muscles were knotted and incredibly fierce; their bronze skin shone under the sun, and beads of sweat glistened.

The warriors swung Stone Axes, Bone Clubs, and other weapons, either practicing alone or sparring with each other.

The scene was quite intense.

“That’s Brother Shan Tai…”

Shan Guoer pointed at one of the tribal warriors and said proudly: “The strongest Totem Warrior in our tribe!”

Gao Jing looked in the direction she pointed.

It was the biggest and strongest Giant among all the tribal warriors.

He held up a heavy, perfectly spherical stone ball with both hands. Like playing with a basketball, he tossed it high into the air and caught it, then slid and spun the surprisingly heavy stone ball across different parts of his body.

His movements were incredibly agile and skilled.

Gao Jing guessed he was refining some special technique.

He couldn’t understand it, but it had to be very powerful.

Gao Jing also noticed intricate tattoos covering the skin on this Totem Warrior’s upper body.

As he moved, the tattoo patterns seemed to constantly shift, even giving the illusion they might come alive and break free!

Thump!

Apparently bored, the Totem Warrior named Shan Tai casually tossed the stone ball onto the ground.

The earth shook beneath it!

His strength could only be described as terrifying.

At that moment, Shan Tai seemed to sense something. He suddenly turned his head towards where Gao Jing and Shan Guoer were.

Even from afar, Gao Jing could see the sharp glint in his eyes.

The Totem Warrior flashed a toothy grin and waved his thick arm.

Shan Guoer waved back.

“Let’s go back.”

After the greeting, the little girl said to Gao Jing: “We shouldn’t disturb their practice.”

Gao Jing naturally had no objection.

With this, the tour of the Shan Yue Tribe’s village was complete.

Shan Guoer brought Gao Jing back to the original wooden house.

Entering the house, Gao Jing was stunned.

All the mischievous kids he encountered earlier were packed inside, not a single one missing.

Adding to them were a few older-looking children.

Everyone was sitting on the floor. In front of them stood a small wooden table.

On the table were twigs and a wooden-grated sand tray.

The big table Gao Jing rested on the previous night was pushed aside. Old Shaman Shan Yan sat beside it.

To the Shaman’s right stood a grey-white stone slab about ten meters wide and nearly twenty meters tall.

Gao Jing remembered this slab leaning against the wall last night.

The spot closest to the stone slab had a small table still empty.

“Grandfather!”

Shan Guoer ran over and smartly sat down at the small table.

She placed Gao Jing onto the tabletop.

Suddenly, Gao Jing felt like he was back in his school days, attending an early class!

Shan Yan nodded towards him and then addressed everyone: “Children, today I will teach you new characters of the Great Wilderness Script.”

It really was class!

Gao Jing quickly sat up straight and adjusted the GoPro hanging on his shoulder.

Luckily he was prepared, carrying the GoPro for recording.

He had even specially bought dedicated audio accessories, a new memory card, and extra batteries for it.

Now was the perfect time to use it.

The old Shaman picked up a dark charcoal stick and wrote the first character on the stone slab.

“Yue. This is the ‘Yue’ character of our Shan Yue Tribe!”

Gao Jing’s attention was instantly caught.

He realized the Great Wilderness Script taught by the Elder Shaman shared remarkable similarities with the Chinese he knew best.

Both were pictographic scripts.

The Great Wilderness Script looked ancient and stern, very much like oracle bone script.

Thanks to the Yan Xiao Talisman’s effect, Gao Jing could fully understand the Dahuang Language.

His memory was excellent, his learning ability strong. He had been a top student in his class back then. So mastering this script, similar to Chinese in type, posed no difficulty.

The Elder Shaman paid special attention to Gao Jing’s learning pace. The moment Gao Jing grasped one character of the Great Wilderness Script, he instantly taught the next.

He completely ignored the other students, including his own granddaughter.

With the GoPro faithfully recording everything, Gao Jing wasn’t worried about falling behind. He learned with great interest and enjoyment.

But this completely overwhelmed the other kids.

They gripped their twigs over the wooden-grated sand tray, scratching their heads and ears, each looking miserable.

Their learning abilities were clearly… limited.

And this was only just the beginning.

In the days that followed, Gao Jing diligently learned the Great Wilderness Script in this wooden house every day under the Elder Shaman’s guidance.

He spent most of his time studying, hardly ever leaving the wooden house.

Often, he forgot to eat and sleep.

This continued until half a month later, when the effect of the Yan Xiao Talisman completely faded away.