Chapter 303: Winter
The sound of running footsteps grew closer. Since cultivating Blood Qi, Zi’s five senses had become much sharper. She gently set down the porcelain jar, turned around, took out her stone spear, and called to her companions. A group of people crouched low, holding slings and stone spears, ready for battle.
Upon seeing who was coming clearly, Zi let out a long sigh of relief and waved her hand to signal everyone not to attack.
“I’m back, I’m back!”
It turned out to be Deer and the other two returning. They threw down the animal skin bundles on their backs, revealing the greenish salt and snow-white alkali inside.
“Why did you take so long to come back?”
Zi relaxed and asked with some concern.
Deer revealed a sunny smile, walked up, and said, “We ran all the way back and are dying of thirst. Let me drink some water first.”
Zi raised an eyebrow slightly, snorted lightly, and had Pottery bring out a few freshly made coarse porcelain bowls. She ladled a bowl of just-boiled hot water and handed it to Deer.
Deer didn’t notice the difference and took a huge gulp, scalding his mouth and coughing it all out.
“Why is it so hot? It scalded me to death!”
A mischievous smile appeared at the corner of Zi’s mouth as she said in a cool voice, “This is hot water, the will of the Invisible King. From now on, we must all drink hot water!”
Deer frowned, grimacing as he drank it down.
“Too hot, too hot.”
Zi turned her head away, holding back laughter, and said, “You can wait for the water to cool down before drinking. Cool boiled water is also drinkable.”
Deer looked at the people holding back their laughter, grabbed Duan and ruffled his hair vigorously, then said:
“I went to Wu’s tribe first, but they didn’t have much salt either, and no alkali. Later, I gave Wu a leg of lamb, and he told me that Buri Lake has salt and alkali, so we went to Buri Lake.
“That lake is huge, really huge. I heard from the local tribes that the seaside is even bigger, simply incredible…”
Listening to Deer, Zi slowly understood the situation, and Ace listened in as well.
There was a natural salt well north of Buri Lake, very large and with high-quality salt. Nearby tribes all took salt from there. The salt was controlled by the most powerful tribe, the Kam Tribe. Deer and his two companions were allowed to collect salt after paying three legs of lamb.
Later, somehow, Deer became acquainted with the people of the Kam Tribe and exchanged a bundle of salt for a bundle of alkali, successfully completing the task assigned by Zi.
“The Kam Tribe is really powerful. They say they have over a thousand people. You definitely don’t know what over a thousand people means—it’s a hundred Deer Tribes!
“They don’t live in caves; they live in places called houses, which are man-made caves! But not damp like caves. And they don’t wear animal skins; they wear something called cloth. Anyway, it’s very, very different.
“Oh right, they also have pottery, but theirs isn’t as good-looking as ours.”
At night, the people of the Deer Tribe sat around the fire, listening to Deer recount what they had seen and heard.
Listening to Deer’s account, Duan’s eyes flashed with unwillingness and longing: “Deer, is the Kam Tribe really that powerful?”
Deer nodded and said, “We are indeed much weaker than the Kam Tribe. And in their words, they are civilized.”
“Civilized?” Duan frowned, seeming unable to understand.
“Do they believe in the Invisible King?” Zi suddenly asked.
“No, they believe in the Harvest King,” Deer replied.
Everyone fell silent. After a long while, Zi said, “We believe in a true deity. Under the protection of the Invisible King, our future won’t be bad! Now, let’s make the smoked meat and dried fruit first.”
In a blink of an eye, three months passed. Midsummer was gone, and late autumn had arrived.
Chunks of smoked meat hung at the entrance of the cave to air-dry. Zi stewed a jar of smoked meat over the fire, the aroma overflowing.
“Alright, put this jar of smoked meat aside to cool. Let’s seal the smoked meat from the jar that was stewed just now and has cooled down.”
Under Zi’s direction, two tribe members smeared pine resin on the rim of the porcelain jar. After drying it with fire, they wrapped the jar with clean animal skin, then tied it with rope to seal it securely.
A primitive version of a super-sized canned smoked meat was born.
One after another, sealed jars of smoked meat and dried fruit were prepared. There were forty jars in total, thirty of smoked meat and ten of dried fruit.
“Ten jars of smoked meat are enough for us to survive the winter. Why hunt so desperately and prepare so much?”
A tribe member asked Deer in puzzlement.
Duan, whose eyes were already shining, rushed to say, “Because the Wild Union Gathering will be held in a month. If we have enough food, we can exchange it for people from other tribes that lack food!”
Deer stuffed smoked meat into small pottery jars, sealed them, and threw them into a super-sized pottery pot to steam. Pottery had fired over three hundred small jars, perfect for making small canned food.
“Duan is right. If our tribe wants to develop, we must have population. Every winter, nearby tribes are forced to expel the elderly and even young adults due to insufficient food. If we have enough food and powerful hunters, we can exchange for enough population at the Wild Union Gathering to develop next spring!”
Deer’s eyes sparkled. His whole body was filled with vitality, and as he spoke, his vitality actually boiled along with his high-pitched emotions.
“Deer, perform the Transport Method immediately!”
Zi noticed Deer’s anomaly and reminded him in time.
Deer operated the Blood Food Transport Method according to the fixed posture. He gradually felt the abundant vitality gathering continuously, finally turning into a chest full of Blood Qi.
The second Blood Qi cultivator, the second warrior of this Pocket World, was born!
Because of the extreme abundance of food, all thirty-five people in the tribe began to practice the Blood Food Transport Method. One month later, the first snow had fallen.
Zi frowned while chewing on smoked meat. The roasted, oily smoked meat was very delicious, but Zi’s brow remained tightly knitted.
“What’s wrong, Zi? Your expression doesn’t look right.”
Deer walked over and asked with concern.
“Did you feel it? Smoked meat provides far less vitality power than fresh meat and hot blood.”
Zi brushed back her long black hair and told Deer her worries.
Deer chuckled and said softly:
“So you were worried about this. I noticed it too, but think about it the other way around. In previous winters, we couldn’t even eat our fill. Now we have smoked meat to eat, dried berries to eat, and hot water and smoked meat soup to drink. Isn’t that already very, very good?”
Hearing Deer’s words, Zi nodded, then shook her head and said, “It is good, but relying only on this smoked meat with weak vitality, I’m afraid it will be difficult to birth new warriors.”
Hearing this, Deer squatted down and said seriously to Zi:
“Don’t be impatient. We have both extracted Blood Qi. Relying on the two of us this winter is enough to resist other fierce beasts and even nearby tribes. As long as it’s not giant beasts, we won’t be in danger.
“Once we exchange for enough population from other tribes and survive the winter, we can eat fresh prey full of vitality again. With the guidance of the Invisible King, we are destined to become stronger and stronger.”
(End of this chapter)
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