Chapter 159 - Civilization
The Midland was way too boundless; with Mr Crow’s full speed added with Si Wen Ming’s accelerating magic, it had still taken Mr Crow over a month to fly to the incomparable Great Land in the center of the Midland world.
Ji Hao jumped down from Mr Crow’s back and landed steadily on the black rich soil, which was even oozing oil out. Ji Hao was wearing grass shoes that had been made from dry, thin grass. The oily black soil soaked Ji Hao’s feet, giving him a magical feeling.
Ji Hao silently sensed this feeling.
Standing on this land, Ji Hao felt as if he was like a seed that had fallen into the soil, been wrapped up by the rich and soft soil, and encircled by an ancient and great power. To Ji Hao, this was a strange and completely new piece of land, but he sensed a feeling that he would only sense from a home, a feeling that was about being the origin.
Man Man carelessly threw away the gigantic hammers, rushing all over while laughing loud. Many plants that were growing in the Midland were different in kind from the plants of the Southern Wasteland. Man Man could grab a random thin grass that she had never seen before and happily stare at it for quite a while.
Si Wen Ming stood beside Ji Hao, and looked smilingly at him, without making any sound to interrupt him sensing that feeling.
After a very, very, long while, Ji Hao slowly opened his eyes. He felt that he had somehow connected with this land in a certain mysterious way; his entire body and soul seemed to have become heavier and more solid. The connection between him and the natural power seemed to have become firmer as well.
“Uncle, I think some magical changes have happened to me.” Ji Hao looked at Si Wen Ming and said honestly, “The Midland is so magical.”
“The Midland is the center of this entire world, is the first piece of land that had been awakened among the whole world, our humankind has originated from here,” said Si Wen Ming gently, “Many people who are born in the Midland would be unable to sense the same feeling as clearly as you just did. Since you have sensed such a strong feeling, you are more talented than my most positive estimation; this is good, really, really good.”
Si Wen Ming smilingly squatted, held a handful of black soil in his hand and then grabbed it into a small ball of soil.
“Hao it’s really good that you have sensed the most original will of this piece of land, you have remembered that this piece of land belongs to us, our humankind.” Si Wen Ming seriously looked at Ji Hao and continued, “We are the owner of this piece of land, we are, instead of any other kind, because our bloodlines are greatly and permanently connected with this piece of land, no one can split us up from this land.”
Ji Hao looked at Si Wen Ming and slowly nodded.
Man Man, who had pressed a poor little animal down on the ground, and was trying very hard to open its mouth and check if it was a carnivore or a herbivore, turned her head around and took a glance at Ji Hao and Si Wen Ming.
The atmosphere that had just been created by Ji Hao and Si Wen Ming was especially solemn and holy. Man Man blinked her pair of shining eyes, and carelessly put all of her attention back on the small animal.
“Wow, you have flat teeth, big brother said that flat-teeth animals are all herbivores...I have never seen small guys like you back in the Southern Wasteland, what kind of plants you prefer?” The following moment, a large sphere of grass, which was big enough to choke this small animal to dead, had been thrust into its mouth.
Si Wen Ming helplessly called Man Man and told her to come over, and saved the poor small animal at the same time. He didn’t use any magic power, only led Ji Hao and Man Man walking towards the center of the great land. After they had walked for hundreds of miles, artificially made farmlands appeared around them.
Pieces of farmlands laid orderly beside the road. Within these farmlands, scattered green tender crops had sprouted, elderly men and women, who were neither far or near, were squatting in the farmlands, and carefully removing all those wild grasses around the tender crops.
Seeing Ji Hao, Si Wen Ming and Man Man, these people stood up one after another, grinned to them, and waved their hands towards them.
Si Wen Ming smilingly saluted them, then started a topic as if he was very familiar with these people’ lives.
“Are these wheat that you have planted? Seems quite well! You have opened up such a broad farmland, good uncle, your clan seems to be quite flourishing!”
A beam of golden fiery light flashed across each of Ji Hao’s pupils and he looked at the surrounding area. Just as Si Wen Ming had said, the acreage of the farmland surrounding them could probably reach a hundred thousand. The land here was so fertile and the air here was filled with natural powers and energies, every single acre of land could certainly produce quite an amount of grains.
In the Southern Wasteland, clans mostly relied on hunting for food supplies, but in the Midland, large-scale clans that replied on agriculture's had already emerged? They possessed over a hundred thousands of acres of land, this clan must have over ten thousands of people, and was indeed a thriving big scale clan.
Si Wen Ming seemed not to be in such a rush as he had been in before. He squatted in the farmland and was excitedly chatting with a few elderly people about their wheat planting experiences. From the seed spreading, fertilizer applying to weeding and watering, then to the problems of birds and bugs, Si Wen Ming could talk about all kinds of agricultural topics. Obviously, he could be counted as an expert on agriculture.
Ji Hao smilingly stood behind Si Wen Ming and carefully listened to him talking with those elderly men.
Although he didn’t know why Si Wen Ming stopped here, Ji Hao knew that Si Wen Ming would never do anything which was meaningless, therefore, he just quietly listened, and closely observed.
Man Man dropped her pair of gigantic hammers and ran away while laughing. Not a long while later, she had found an old cattle in the farmland and was crazily riding on its back, while trying quite hard to turn her body around and grab the old cattle’s tail for fun.
A few elderly men saw the naive and happy face of Man Man, and couldn’t help but let out loud laughter, their eyes filled with kindness.
Probably because Si Wen Ming was very familiar with all kinds of agricultural knowledge, or Man Man’s artlessness had earned these clansmen’ favour; not long after, the few elderly men friendly invited Ji Hao, Si Wen Ming and Man Man to their clan and take a break.
Si Wen Ming gladly accepted the invitation. The three of them then followed those elderly men, walked for tens of miles through the flat trail in the farmland, across a small wood and arrived at a clan that was built aside a river bend.
Lines of cabins were orderly built beside the river. This clan with the population of tens of thousands of people had been administrated well. The entire clan was encircled by a short wooden fence, with the starting point being paved with flagstones, which were very clean and tidy. This clan’s village looked cleaner than Southern Wasteland clans by far.
Large groups of children had gathered in the village, either were practicing on fighting or clearing up all kinds of agricultural tools, or feeding domestic fowls. The scene that stimulated Ji Hao the most was that some older children had been writing some simple and ancient characters on the sand ground, with branches and under the guidance of a white-haired elderly man.
Characters!
Not spell symbols that could allow Maguspriests to communicate with ghosts and gods, instead, characters that any ordinary man could learn.
In the Southern Wasteland, the most primitive characters were only passed amongst Maguspriests, generation after generation, and could be only used to construct simple words and sentences. However, in the Midland world, and in a remote clan, the consciousness of mass teaching characters to the next generation had already emerged.
This was civilization!
Ji Hao’s body began to shake slightly, his finest hairs all over his body stood up, one after another. He had just formally realized that he had left the Southern Wasteland, and stepped in a thoroughly different world.