Chapter 161: Chapter 37 Batron Festival_2
Yan Shi was taken aback, asking, "Can we also participate?"
Tubari laughed, "Of course. Our Yashen tribe respects those with skills the most, and moreover, there are rewards for the competitions. For example, the reward for the equestrian competition is two fine horses. The best reward is for the wrestling competition, the winner can choose an unmarried girl who has reached eighteen from any of the three tribes to marry and bring home as his wife. That’s why the competition is always so fierce. Many young people want to impress others at this time, not only to win honour but also the love of their beloved. I think the reward for the archery competition is money. I’ve heard it’s as much as fifty Gold Coins."
Upon hearing the reward of fine horses, everyone’s eyes immediately lit up. Yan Li, in his impatience, said, "I want to participate in the equestrian competition, old pal, take me to sign up now."
Tubari laughed heartily, "Brother, I haven’t seen your horse yet!"
Yan Li paused, embarrassed, "My horse didn’t ride here, what a pity. Ah ——" He lowered his head in annoyance.
Tubari laughed heartily, "No worries, let’s do it this way, I’ll lend you a horse from my house. If you win the competition, it will also bring me glory."
Upon hearing these words, Yan Li rejoiced, "Good, thank you very much, big brother."
Tubari then took Yan Li to choose a horse and register. Yan Shi shook his head, saying, "That boy! He gets carried away just hearing about a horse race." Back in the Pu Yan tribe, Yan Li would always participate whenever there were horse races.
Xuan Yue laughed mischievously, "If big brother Yan Li wins, we don’t have to spend money to have a horse to ride, isn’t it great?"
At this time, the leaders of the three tribes were holding some kind of ceremony in the field. Ah Dai and others couldn’t understand it. Ah Dai’s attention was mostly focused on the fragrant roasted meat. For him, eating was always one of the most important things. Yan Shi had been cheerful these days, but he still spoke little. Having gone through the ordeal of his wife’s death, he had become much steadier, and was focusing on the three chieftains in the centre of the field. Xuan Yue was the most excited of the three. She was constantly looking around, enjoying the festival atmosphere of the Yashen tribe, and was unspeakably happy.
After a while, Tubari came back, "Brother Yan Li’s horsemanship is really good! I can tell he knows horses, he picked the best horse from my house. I hope he can win this competition."
Ah Dai asked, "Big brother Tubari, how is the equestrian competition conducted?"
Tubari explained, "Actually it’s quite simple. From here straight to the east, there is a red flag ten miles away. Whoever gets there first and brings it back, wins. Though the rules are simple, the real competition is tough. Even if you get the red flag easily, you may not escape the interception from other competitors, so the first person to get the red flag may not necessarily be the winner. I participated once five years ago, but I didn’t even see a trace of the red flag, haha."
Tubari’s humility made the three of them like him more. Ah Dai, who was familiar with Yan Li’s horsemanship, confidently said, "Big brother Yan Li will definitely do well. He’s the best rider I’ve seen."
Tubari laughed heartily, "I hope so. The equestrian competition will start in a while, I’ll take you guys to have some fun. There’s an archery competition and a wrestling competition over there, let’s go watch."
Sure enough, several areas had been cordoned off in the open field, with the largest hosting ten target stands, all at a distance of five hundred meters. The rest of the field was taken up by dozens of wrestling arenas. The Yashen tribe’s archery competition evaluated accuracy, whereas the wrestling competition was a bit more complicated. Anyone could participate, and all you had to do was to throw three opponents consecutively to enter the next round of competition, until a single winner was determined. Led by Tubari, the three of them entered the open field. As there were many spectators, Ah Dai, worried about Xuan Yue, took her hand and protected her within his embrace.
Indeed, the wrestling competition was the most crowded of the events, with three layers of people inside and outside. The distinctive smell of the Yashen tribe’s people, who stank of cattle and sheep, made it hard for the three to adapt. Yan Shi said to Tubari, "Let’s go to the archery competition instead. There are too many people here."
Tubari smiled embarrassingly, "Yes! Everyone wishes they could be a brave warrior and win the heart of a beauty. That’s how our young people are." As they spoke, they squeezed out of the crowd and headed for the archery competition field not far away. There were far fewer people here. The target stand 500 meters away was just a black dot. Not to mention the difficulty in aiming, pulling a bow to shoot an arrow was extremely difficult already. Even a person with advanced fighting aura would have a hard time pulling a bow that could reach a straight-line range of 500 meters. Therefore, most participants choose bows with lower draw weight to hit their targets in a parabolic trajectory. Although there were fewer competitors here, each one was an expert at archery, and their feather arrows rushed towards the distant targets like locusts.
Tubari explained, "It seems that there are fewer than fifty people participating in the archery competition this year. In the first round, everyone has ten arrows, and the remaining ten people who shoot with the most accuracy will participate in the second round to compete for the final winner. The competition has just begun, do you want to give it a try?" As he spoke, his gaze fell on Yan Shi. With his tall and sturdy figure, it was clear Yan Shi possessed amazing strength. Tubari was also curious to see what skills these strangers had. However, much to his surprise, Yan Shi shook his head, seemingly uninterested in the competition.
