Chapter 2

The quality of the giant tree was guaranteed. When the floodwaters crashed against the trunk, Yun Xiao only felt it tremble slightly, with no sign of breaking or being uprooted. It seemed that girth did indeed determine weight.

The unfortunate grassland wolves were like grains of sand in the face of the massive flood, swallowed without a trace in the torrent.

The peach blossom flood came quickly and left just as fast. After a day, the water flow had calmed down. Yun Xiao packed his backpack and slid down to the base of the tree. He no longer had to worry about wolves; there was probably not a single wolf within a hundred miles.

Well, that was a misjudgment. The grassland's carnivores were not just wolves but also leopards. A mother leopard was out for a walk with her cubs and unexpectedly met Yun Xiao, who had just climbed down from the tree. The mother leopard was clearly very interested in Yun Xiao, her eyes even glowing green.

Yun Xiao abandoned the idea of climbing back up the tree. Leopards can climb trees, and they are not canines that rely on numbers.

The mother leopard pushed aside her cub, which was as small as a kitten, and ran towards Yun Xiao. Everything was just like in the animal world; it seemed they hadn't evolved much in thousands of years.

The twin-barreled shotgun once again spewed flames, accurately hitting the mother leopard's head just as she was about to pounce. However, Yun Xiao was still knocked several meters away by the inertia of the leopard's body. The leopard was heavy, and Yun Xiao struggled to push the mother leopard away. He panted heavily, leaning against the tree trunk to rest. The cub, about the size of a house cat, ran over happily, looking very strangely at its headless mother, making sounds and trying to suckle from her.

Yun Xiao turned away, unable to bear the sight. There is something soft in every human heart, which we call humanity. He had killed the cub's mother, even though it was in self-defense. But a leopard the size of a house cat had almost no chance of survival on the grassland, as often seen in the animal world. Yun Xiao picked up the mud-covered cub and carefully washed its body with river water.

Its fur was actually white. Yun Xiao didn't know if it was a genetic mutation or albinism. Anyway, the cub's fur was white, and he suddenly understood why it was covered in mud. Such a conspicuous fur color would not last long on the grassland. Was this an innate instinct or something else?

"From now on, I'll call you Xiao Bai."

"What, are you not satisfied? I owe you a life since I killed your mother. I'll raise you, and as long as I have food, you won't go hungry."

"Let's go, Xiao Bai. I'll take you to find a way to survive."

Xiao Bai, now clean, was very cute, almost indistinguishable from a house cat except for its meowing, of course, not the fat cat named Garfield.

Yun Xiao followed the river south with his backpack. Since he had determined this was the Yellow River, he must be in the fertile Hetao region. The Yellow River has nine bends, and only the Hetao region is rich. Yun Xiao had been there many times and still remembered the warm hospitality of the herders.

In the pastoral area, it was rare not to drink too much. After paying respects to heaven and earth, a large bowl of horse milk wine was the best way to treat guests.

Seeing two horses galloping from a distance, and the people on them wearing leather robes, Yun Xiao thought he could smell the aroma of hand-pulled mutton.

They were really热情, offering a rope as soon as they approached. Uh, it seemed they were not giving it but using it to lasso. This was a very common lasso on the grassland, and Yun Xiao recognized it. He had even seen people use it to lasso horses.

A young man and a middle-aged man with a beard were talking loudly. Yun Xiao could confirm they were not speaking Mongolian. The young man bent down and grabbed Yun Xiao by the collar, pressing him onto the horse and started singing as they ran.

Completely ignoring Yun Xiao's disorientation on the horse, he even vomited bile.

These guys don't seem like Mongolian herders. There are not many horse riders on the grassland now, except for tourists. Most herders have switched to motorcycles. Where did these two come from? Smugglers?

The jolting finally stopped, and Yun Xiao was left with half a life. This was a typical herder's family, with a felt tent, sheep pen, horse stable, and hunting dogs. But something was off; it felt like something was missing.

An old man in a leather robe was feeding the horses. Seeing Yun Xiao, who was still dazed from the fall, he hurried over to help.

"Kid, were you captured? Oh, poor you, to be brought here at such a young age." The old man spoke in a Qin accent, a pure Shaanxi dialect.

"Where is this?" Yun Xiao asked.

"Kid from Guanzhong? Why did you come to Hetao?"

"Uh..." Yun Xiao finally realized what was off. The old man was wearing an ancient robe, whether from the Tang or Han dynasty, it was ancient. No modern herders dressed like this.

"Where is this?"

"This is the jurisdiction of the Xiongnu Left Great Commandant. Every household here has captured Han people. Since you're here, be obedient. Don't think about escaping. Those who escape either feed the wolves or are caught and fed to the dogs, understand?" The old man kindly warned.

"Xiongnu! I've time-traveled." Yun Xiao couldn't help but look up at the clear blue sky. Such a sky was not a product of the industrial age. Just touching a stone had sent him back two thousand years. This time, it was really a mess.

"Old man, who is the emperor now?"

"Hey, did this kid get knocked silly? When I was captured, Emperor Wen of Han had just passed away. I don't know how many years have passed or who the current emperor is. In this hellhole, don't even dream of going back alive."

Emperor Wen of Han, so the next one would be Emperor Jing of Han. That means he was in the time of Emperor Jing of Han, and the next would be the famous Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che. Oh, how did he end up in such a time?

At least he knew the era he was in, and it was still on Earth. If it were the home of Professor Du, he, a novice without any special abilities, would be in big trouble.

Stunned, he looked at this world from thousands of years ago. A whip whistled and struck Yun Xiao's body. The young man wielding the whip was very skilled, the tip of the whip lashing Yun Xiao's back. Clearly, he was an expert with the whip. Yun Xiao was jolted out of his daze, angrily staring at the young man, who was wearing a camouflage jacket. Yun Xiao almost thought the old man was lying, but upon closer inspection, it was his own jacket. It seemed the young man had already rummaged through his backpack, as his father was shaking out Yun Xiao's sleeping bag.

The old man tried to say something, but before he could, the whip, like a venomous snake, lashed his face, and blood flowed from between his fingers.

The Xiongnu youth was very strong, with a haircut popular in the future, and a camouflage jacket over his leather robe. This mix-and-match style was very similar to the hip-hop style of the future, or perhaps hip-hop enthusiasts had borrowed from the Xiongnu style, who knows.

Yun Xiao was furious. He had never been whipped before, and his father had only used a stick.

Perhaps it was the instinct of the nomadic people, but the Xiongnu man who captured Yun Xiao was very curious about the twin-barreled shotgun. He fiddled with it, and Yun Xiao saw his hand trying to pull the trigger.

Uh... Yun Xiao was considering whether to tell him not to point the gun at himself, especially his head, because the barrel was already loaded. As for the safety, the old twin-barreled shotgun didn't have one.

"Boom" The Xiongnu youth immediately fell to the ground, and the previously fierce hunting dog slunk under a pile of grass with its tail between its legs.

The Xiongnu man died a very ugly death. Yun Xiao clearly saw that at the moment he pulled the trigger, his eyes were looking into the barrel, as if trying to figure out what was inside. Most of his head was gone, and his neck bizarrely only had a chin with a few yellowish teeth. It seemed he didn't brush his teeth often.

If you don't seek death, you won't die an ugly death—Guo Degang.

Yun Xiao agreed with Mr. Guo Degang's famous saying, as a living example was right in front of him.

There was no time to admire Old Guo. Yun Xiao ran a few steps and picked up the twin-barreled shotgun from the ground. Without hesitation, he shot the old Xiongnu man who was rushing out of the tent. Yun Xiao didn't believe he was coming to offer him hand-pulled mutton; he was probably coming to kill him, as he was holding a knife.

The old Xiongnu man's broad chest was pierced by dozens of steel balls. His leather robe clearly had no bulletproof function. The old man didn't even have time to groan before falling backward, his blood quickly staining the grass.

The Xiongnu youth, who had been so arrogant, was now lying on the ground, the grass beneath him also wet. It seemed he had only inherited his ancestors' bullying nature and not their bravery. Otherwise, with Yun Xiao's current weak physique, he could have easily strangled him.

Yun Xiao quickly completed the actions of ejecting the spent shell and reloading. He pointed the gun at the Xiongnu youth, ready to shoot if he made any move.

In fact, Yun Xiao didn't have the chance to shoot, as a large cleaver had already chopped off the Xiongnu youth's neck, a jet of blood shooting several meters, staining a large patch of grass.

"Kid, you must be thorough. You can't be soft-hearted at a time like this. If he escapes, we're all dead." The old man, his face covered in blood, held the cleaver and said, his bleeding face looking fierce.

There was no time to tidy up; five black dots were rapidly approaching from a distance.

The old soldier held the cleaver in front of his chest, his stern demeanor surprising Yun Xiao. The riders on the horses clearly noticed something was wrong; the owner of the house should have come out to greet them by now.

Welcoming passing guests was a rule on the grassland, especially in their own fief.

The riders drew their swords, as they had already seen the bodies and the blood on the old man's cleaver. These damned Han slaves must have killed their master, a common occurrence on the grassland in the past. But after the Han slaves saw how they were executed, such incidents had not happened for many years.

They were very close now, but they didn't use their bows. They wanted to execute these Han slaves who dared to kill their master in the traditional grassland way to ensure it wouldn't happen again.