Chronicles of Primitive Civilization’s Growth

Chapter 24: The Youth Who Lassos Horses

After bidding farewell to the Tree Tribe, Luo Chong embarked on another journey of exploration towards the northeast.

Advancing through the dense Black Forest, it wasn’t easy to maintain a straight path. With identical surroundings everywhere, Luo Chong had no choice but to pull out his bark rope and tie it around his waist.

While moving forward, he dragged a long rope behind him, occasionally looking back. As long as the rope remained straight, his direction was correct. If the rope bent, it meant he had deviated from the course.

With this simple yet practical method, Luo Chong walked for two days on foot, cutting some branches along the way to mark the ground. Finally, he emerged from the dark forest.

The Black Forest disappeared, replaced by sparse woods, shrubs, and wild grass. Footprints of even-toed herbivorous animals also appeared on the ground.

“The Tree Elder didn’t lie to me,” Luo Chong muttered silently, pulling out his bow and arrow cautiously as he moved forward.

After walking for about 20 minutes, Luo Chong finally saw the animals the Tree Elder had mentioned. They were a group of Blue Horse Antelopes, about the size of domestic donkeys. Standing at around 1.2 meters tall and nearly three meters in length, they had a pair of half-meter-long curved horns growing on their heads.

They had sheep-like faces, donkey ears, horse-like bodies, and bull tails. Their entire body was blue-gray, with slender limbs and an inch-long mane at the back of their necks.

“Hmm, if we could capture them and use them like donkeys, wouldn’t that be fine?” Luo Chong immediately thought of capturing them alive, but it seemed difficult.

Donkeys are very docile animals, but Blue Horse Antelopes are different. Just by looking at their sharp horns, one can tell they’re not to be trifled with. Blue Horse Antelopes are naturally combative; even the females fight over territory, sometimes challenging each other individually, locking horns and all. If Luo Chong were to approach, and they turned against him en masse, he would be in serious trouble.

This was a small herd, consisting of only 17 individuals. Herbivores usually gather in large groups during the summer, but now it was autumn, their mating season. Therefore, there was only one adult male antelope in the herd, which was easy to distinguish — the largest one.

There were eight adult females and eight young ones. This made things simpler: as long as most of the adult Blue Horse Antelopes were controlled, the younger ones would follow automatically since the calves never leave the herd alone. After pondering briefly, Luo Chong quietly retreated.

He set aside his backpack first and intended to create a simple slingshot. Unfortunately, there weren’t any stones in this wretched place. He had no choice but to take two small snake skin bags, fill them with soil, and attach them to both ends of the ropes as weights.

Using a bundle of bark rope, he prepared a stretchable lasso for standby. Since it was mating season, controlling the adult male antelope first should ensure the others followed suit. Otherwise, who would mate with them? With a sinister chuckle, Luo Chong crept up again.

Hiding behind a chest-high bush, Luo Chong peeked out and immediately smirked.

“Wow, what a sight! Look at that male antelope happily riding the female.” This was a golden opportunity.

Taking two steps back, Luo Chong quickly swung the slingshot, the whistling wind alerting the Blue Horse Antelope herd. They gathered together warily, protecting the young ones behind them with their heads facing outward and horns pointed forward. Only the mating pair remained oblivious, lost in their bliss.

Suddenly, the slingshot, spinning like a propeller, flew toward the mating pair with a whoosh.

“Whew, snap, thud!”

“Ahhhh!”

The slingshot instantly entangled the hind legs of the two antelopes. Both gave a shudder and fell to the ground with a loud thud, then began howling loudly, unsure whether it was pleasure or pain from the fall.

Luo Chong swung a rope loop in his hand and rushed out swiftly, just like a cowboy in the movies. The Blue Horse Antelope herd became restless. Seeing only one enemy, and not a wolf pack, they immediately assumed a fighting stance, lowering their heads with their sharp horns extended forward.

“What the hell, you’re asking to be caught!” Luo Chong, seizing the opportunity, swung the rope loop fiercely and slapped it onto the horns of two female antelopes. “Shit, missed the head!”

The two antelopes obviously did not expect the bipedal creature in front of them to not come close and bite but instead throw a rope loop from afar. One of them charged forward instantly, intending to skewer Luo Chong like a kebab, but she was pulled back by the other after taking just a step.

Luo Chong quickly tightened the bark rope, binding the long horns of the two antelopes tightly together. The other female antelopes became agitated and rushed over quickly. Their sharp horns gleamed menacingly under the sunlight as they charged toward Luo Chong at high speed.

Luo Chong moved sideways rapidly, jumping and dodging nimbly between several female antelopes. In a few moments, he had tangled three antelopes together. Then, with great force, he pulled the rope hard and threw his entire weight down.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!” Several consecutive sounds of falling echoed. Luo Chong lay on the ground pressing the rope desperately. Five female antelopes, some with their necks tangled and others with their legs, all fell to the ground, howling and struggling.

Seeing this situation, the remaining two female antelopes took off with the eight young ones. Charging in at this moment would be foolish.

“Hey, don’t run away, come back!” Watching the herd escape, Luo Chong was extremely anxious. This was not what he had planned. There were only a few left, and they shouldn’t have left the herd.

Damn, Luo Chong helplessly watched the ten antelopes escape, completely powerless. Reluctantly, he got up, ready to vent his frustration on the seven remaining ones.

He carefully approached and tied their legs first, then checked the condition of the mating pair. Due to their hind legs being entangled, the pair hadn’t separated yet and were still lying on their side convulsing.

Truly a stud horse, no, a stud antelope. Even dying, it wanted to be a flirtatious ghost.

Taming wild animals thoroughly is very difficult, especially adults. It’s not as though displaying your dominant aura will make them obedient and work tirelessly for you; that’s wishful thinking.

For species like the Blue Horse Antelope, which are proud and combative, one must first crush their pride.

In ancient times, there was a practice called “taming eagles.” To tame fierce wild eagles, people would prevent them from sleeping for several days and nights until they were utterly exhausted, thus breaking their wild nature. Simply put, do you submit? If not, I won’t let you sleep.

However, Luo Chong clearly didn’t want to spend so much time. He directly used brute force with his stone axe, smashing all the antelope horns and using hot charcoal to cauterize the broken horn stumps, preventing further growth.

Beautiful, sturdy horns were their prominent features, tools for courting mates and defending territories. Now, with their horns broken, it was like taking half their lives. The seven antelopes went from violently struggling initially to becoming listless quails, a sign of losing their sense of security.

If Luo Chong hadn’t wanted to keep the male antelope for breeding purposes, he wouldn’t have minded castrating it. He didn’t need wild Blue Horse Antelopes; he only wanted them to serve as oxen and horses for him. Even ancient warhorses were mostly castrated to make them more docile and obedient.

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