Some of the Stone Flesh Mushrooms were light blue in color while some were a dark brown. The Haima Tribe members tended to small ones and harvested the large ones that were fully grown.
"Whoa… just how big is this?" Lin Mu was once again left stunned by the sheer scale of the harvest grounds.
These were easily bigger than most of the farms of the Xiaofan world. And all this was underground in a desolate area. The large scale farms of the Xiaofan world on the other hand, were all based in and around the fertile deltas of the main rivers.
"There are three more such sections. They are separated into different caverns." Elder Niji replied.
"Why not join all of them?" Lin Mu asked curiously, seeing that it might make things easier.
"We would, but that would cause the roof to become unstable. The separating walls also act as load bearing supports that prevent it from falling. Then there is also a water spring here, which might burst if we disturb any of the walls.
All this you see here was slowly carved and expanded over thousands of years. When our tribe was first exiled, there was nothing. They struggled a lot and back then, they were merely a thousand.
Over the years, several died and after around two hundred years, only half were left. It was then that they encountered the cave that we live in today. The protection offered by it allowed them to survive longer.
It was also here that they found a few Stone Flesh Mushrooms growing. Finding it edible, they started to cultivate it, eventually learning more about them and expanding it to the scale you see today.
With the population of the Haima tribe we have today, we need to keep the cultivation of these Stone Flesh Mushrooms as high as possible." Elder Niji explained in detail.
Hearing the history and founding of the Haima tribe's settlement here was a little inspiring for Lin Mu.
He reckoned if a tribe of less than 500 people could reach such a level over the years, then perhaps losing hope should be more distant than he thought. After all, giving time, any intelligent being will start to find ways to get strong.
And if they utilize the resources around them optimally, they will certainly grow stronger and stronger.
Elder Niji continue to show him things before they finally reached a new tunnel. This tunnel went up instead of down, making Lin Mu wonder if it was an exit as well.
'It really is another exit.' Lin Mu soon saw the light after reaching its end.
Several wheel like doors were blocking the way, but each of them had a small square window carved into it, allowing one to peer outside.
"This is our outpost for watching over Chasm Beasts." Elder Niji spoke before rolling the doors one by one.
~Rumble~
Once the doors were open, Lin Mu saw the vast open barren lands in front of him. In the distance, he could also see the Broken Chasm. As for their current location, they were actually on the top of a small mountain.
It was further away from where Lin Mu had originally entered from and melded into the background with the many other such mountains. No one would even be able to find this entrance unless they explicitly knew its location.
~Crumble~
Lin Mu walked a further and a little soil and stones fell off from the edge of the cliff.
"Climbing this way is not possible either. Even for beasts…" Lin Mu said.
"Indeed. It took our tribe thirty five thousand years to get here and establish this outpost. Before that we would simply hide in the cave until we felt it was safe to go out when the Chasm Beasts rampaged.
But it was tough, since the only source of water they had back then was located outside. And since they didn't know just how often the Chasm Beasts attacked, there was often a shortage of water.
Of course, eventually they learned more and even made several water reservoirs in case of emergencies." Elder Niji replied.
"I see… was the reservoir I crashed into also made by the clan?" Lin Mu questioned.
"No, that one was a natural reservoir, one of the many. They are just holes really, and get filled up with water whenever it's monsoon season." Elder Niji answered.
"It rains here?" Lin Mu was surprised. "This isn't a desert?" he asked in confusion.
"Haha, I know it looks like one. While it is called the barren lands, it isn't because of a lack of water or resource. It is actually due to the Chasm beasts. They come out in tides and ravage everything, leaving nothing to thrive and no plants to grow.
Otherwise, there is actually plenty of water here. And even some plants grow, they are just hard to find and reach.
As for underground, there is a lot more hidden there, which is why our tribe digs tunnels so much, despite the fact we can traverse much better on the surface." Elder Niji explained.
"Oh yeah, your tribe can jump really far." Lin Mu replied.
"We can run quite fast, too. It is one of our innate abilities." Elder Niji said before his expression grew a little disappointed. "That is all we have since we cannot cultivate."
"Huh?" Lin Mu was confused hearing this. "But all of you have a cultivation base? Even the children seem to be in the Qi refining realm at the very least."
"That is something we have naturally and due to the Stone Flesh Mushrooms. We actually do not have a cultivation technique. When our clan was banished here, all our inheritance techniques were destroyed, and so were our elders that had the knowledge.
Only a few juniors were actually the survivors that were exiled and didn't really have the true knowledge of the tribe. Over the years we've tried to grow it, but it hasn't been that good." Elder Niji explained.
