so we collected some already rotten and dried branches and wood.Our temporary resting place was next to that small earthen mound because there were relatively fewer plants in that area.Staying by the...That night, in the latter half of the night, when we were all asleep, Azar untied the camel and took water and food with him before leaving on his own.

The first two days of the journey went smoothly, but something happened on the third night.

He was asleep in the middle of the night when he suddenly heard a camel's call.

Camels generally do not make noise, unless a camel sees a wild animal that poses a danger to itself.

The Alxa Desert doesn't have lions, but there are some other wild animals that often come out at night, such as wild dogs (not hyenas), sand lizards, and rattlesnakes.

Aza woke up from a nightmare and ran outside in panic, checking for wild dogs or something dangerous nearby. From afar, he saw a pile of bonfires.

The bonfire burned brightly, and following the wind, there seemed to be a cacophony of voices.

Azza initially thought they were chasing after him, but then he realized it might not be the case.

As he got closer, he saw that a group of people were gathered around a bonfire, cooking meat.

The people he met were the same as the ones we met.

Azaz said that these people were another tribe of indigenous people living in the Alashan Desert, called the Kya people. Those people were all Kya people.

It is said that the Ke'ya people deep in Alashan migrated from the Taklamakan Desert hundreds of years ago.

As for the Kyer people, to Azar, a native of Yinchuan who grew up at the foot of Helan Mountain, they knew that the Kyer people arrived much later than the Hutu people. Around 20-30 years ago, in the 1970s and 1980s, a very famous foreign explorer came to Alashan for an expedition. This person got lost due to a sandstorm and ran out of water and food. The foreign explorer was saved by the Kyer people when he was dying. From then on, the locals in Yinchuan only realized that there was another tribe, a tribe they didn't know about, in Alashan.

Decades ago, the Kiya people were scattered widely. The distance between some households could be over twenty kilometers. Visiting each other sometimes took a week on camelback.

After time entered the 1990s, this group of Qia people realized that living like this was very inconvenient. So they started gathering their tribes in the desert to build villages. Thus, the Qia people gradually gathered from all directions and developed into a true Qia tribe.

The Kya tribe has their own language, culture, and spiritual worship. Aza told me that the Kya people worship the sacred tree most of all, and he said the sacred tree is the bottle tree I broke.

It is said that the ancestors of the Ke'er people brought saplings from the Taklamakan Desert and planted them, and after hundreds of years, bottle trees grew to such a size.

In the Ky'a tribe, there are no doctors. In their belief system, the sap from the sacred tree can cure all diseases and pain. If someone gets sick, the Ky'a people will bring offerings to hold a ceremony. After performing a solemn worship ceremony, the Ky'a people will gently scratch the bottle tree with a small knife, collect some sap in a small dish, and then use poplar gum to seal the wound, praying for the bottle tree to recover soon.

That pale white sap, the kind considered divine water in Kye'an culture, Xiaoxuan and I smashed open with rocks, drank our fill, and even took five large bottles of it in homemade gourds made from dried cacti. That's why people got mad at me.

Later, that bad boy Aza was brought back after a verbal conflict with the Kaya people.

Until just now when we met.

He then continued, "You two have destroyed the Krya people's sacred tree. Do you know what this means It's like a devout Buddhist who has been venerating a Buddha statue for their whole life, and someone comes and smashes it. Put yourself in their shoes, imagine if that were to happen to you, what would you do"

I said angrily, "What else can they do I broke the bottles on their tree, but I'm willing to apologize and compensate them. In broad daylight, could they possibly dare to kill me"

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"You're pretty impressive," Azza taunted me, "Just wait till tonight. I just heard them discussing how they're going to torch you two at the sacred tree. Probably offering you up as a sacrifice to the gods."

I immediately asked, "Do you understand the K'ya language" As for what he said about the K'yas burning me and Zhao Xuannuan at night, I didn't believe it at all. I took it as him trying to see me get scared and embarrassed.

I don't believe it, I didn't chop down their sacred tree, I just broke a little bit of it, it's not that bad.

Azza replied, "Kya's language sounds a bit like Qiang. I can understand some of it, but I can't speak it."

I know you don't believe what I just said, but you'll see tonight that I'm telling the truth.

"

"

After that, Azha leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, saying nothing.

As dusk settled, they stayed until well past eleven at night. Outside, torches were lit and a clamor arose.

The door was pushed open and the young girl with earrings walked in with four or five burly men. They were carrying two thick poplar wood clubs, one end of each tied with hemp rope."We can definitely get out, Hong Jie. You have to believe in yourself!"> Maybe it was exhaustion, but Hong Jie seemed downcast. She let out a sigh and said, "Over all these years, I've been moving bet...