The blood in his stomach was not completely digested, and it continued to send out streams of warmth that nourished his body and recovered his physical strength.
"This is the blood of a fiendbeast, the One-horned Scalehorse."
Fiendbeast blood?! Ye Xi glanced at Courage in shock, and his eyes turned fiery as he gazed at the water bag in his hand. He had to be joking. This was fiendbeast blood?!
It had to be understood that hunting fiendbeasts was even more difficult than hunting dinosaurs. Even the weakest of the fiendbeasts, the mixed-blood beasts, still required Totem Warriors working together to hunt.
Ye Xi was shocked that Courage had actually given him some of its blood to drink.
Courage had said… that he could take two drinks? His weak body dearly needed the nourishment of fiendbeast blood, so he decided to not be polite.
"I hear that provisional Warriors need a Beast Core to become Totem Warriors. Is that true?"
"Yes. What, are you interested? You want to become a Totem Warrior?" Courage chuckled at the question.
Ye Xi's mouth twitched. "What? Can the disciple of a shaman not become a Totem Warrior?"
"Of course you can. Right, what age are you this year?"
"Thirteen."
"Thirteen?" Courage was rather surprised. Ye Xi's appearance was of someone who was closer to ten. "The test for the shaman gift is held at the age of sixteen. Wait another three years and you can get tested. Who knows? You might have the shaman gift and become a shaman."
Ye Xi shook his head. "You also know how rare it is to possess the shaman gift.
"Although I can just barely consider myself a shaman's disciple, if I don't have the talent, then even though I have Divine Farmer's legacy, I will never be able to become a true shaman, only an ordinary person."
Courage didn't know what to say. He also had little hope in Ye Xi, because people with the shaman gift were simply too rare. It had to be understood that in the three-hundred-some people of the tribe, excluding the children who had yet to reach sixteen, there was not a single person with the gift to become a shaman.
Ten-some years ago, their Mud Mountain Tribe had not a single person with the shaman gift, and when they finally found a slave with the gift, the news was leaked and they were immediately seized by another tribe.
Courage couldn't help but grind his teeth in anger at this thought.
Ye Xi didn't know what Courage was thinking, so he didn't know why Courage had begun to savagely grind his teeth. But he did not disturb Courage.
After a while, once Courage had come back to his senses, Ye Xi continued, "…So, I want to try and become a Warrior."
Courage looked down at Ye Xi. This little boy could barely be considered a disciple of the Mud Mountain Tribe's shaman, but he was truly so thin that he was almost nothing but bones.
Looking him over, Courage sighed. "Become a provisional Warrior first. You can forget about the provisional Warrior test coming up in five years, and even the one after ten years might still be sending you to your death. Try the one that's coming in fifteen years."
Fifteen years… Ye Xi's eyes became downcast. He did not have that patience.
Courage wanted to say a little more, but after some hesitation, he decided to say nothing.
He wanted to advise Ye Xi that it was better to just quietly be an ordinary person. The training of a provisional Warrior was very dangerous. Ye Xi had the legacy of a wandering shaman and was a member of the Mud Mountain Tribe. He did not want something to happen to Ye Xi while he was training.
But he knew that advising him at a time like this was meaningless, and he was in no rush. Fifteen years was a very long time, and Ye Xi might give up on the idea on his own.
Ye Xi felt that the fiendbeast blood in his body had basically been digested, so he suddenly raised the water bag and took a big gulp.
Courage was in such pain that his eyes flew open. This kid! Taking such a big gulp, was he not afraid of knocking himself out? Could he stand taking two drinks of fiendbeast blood?
…Wait. It had been some time since the first drink. Was this kid just making conversation so that he could finish digesting the first mouthful? Courage's eyes grew even wider.
Once Ye Xi drank down this big gulp of fiendbeast blood, his face and ears turned red. The small ball of fire in his stomach became a large one, and his entire body turned hot, searing flows of energy traveling from his stomach to his limbs… He felt like his body was brimming with strength!
Courage seized the water bag, not at all worried about the fact that Ye Xi's body had gone red and was crazily sweating. This scoundrel would be perfectly fine.
"Let's go!" Ye Xi suddenly called out, and he began to move toward the summit at incredible speed.
His body was brimming with energy that demanded to be used.
Courage heartily laughed. This kid! He shook his head and followed him up the mountain.
The wind howled past his ears as Ye Xi spread out his legs and ran. He felt like his strength was limitless after drinking the beast blood.
Ye Xi thought that he was running very quickly, but in Courage's eyes, he was still just a child going for a run. He smoothly ran at Ye Xi's side, occasionally running past him and turning to wait for Ye Xi.
Seeing how relaxed Courage was, Ye Xi ran even faster.
The mountain slope grew steeper and steeper.
The two of them were getting closer and closer to the summit. Once they had run past some ferns and shrubs, Ye Xi's eyes brightened. There were no more trees blocking the way, only a clear blue sky.
They were at the summit.
Ye Xi stopped running and slowly walked to the edge. Courage slowly followed behind.
Once he got a clear view, Ye Xi instantly stopped breathing.
The winds were tossing his hair about, but he didn't care. He could only look to the distance in a daze.
A gorgeous prehistoric painting impacted hard against his eyes.
In front of him was an endless primordial jungle. Packs of enormous dinosaurs were making their way through the trees, their necks extended above the trees as they raised their heads and let out resounding cries.
In the sky, flocks of large pterosaurs wheeled, sharply shrieking. There were also enormous birds, just as large as the pterosaurs, that battled with them.
At the edge of his vision was an unending range of snowy mountains. These snowy mountains reached toward the heavens, with the clouds only circling around their waists.
Not far from the snowy mountains was an extremely long and winding blue river, embedded in the jungle like a ribbon of blue diamonds embedded in jade.
What a long river!
It was a very long river, but alas, it was too far from the tribe. It was impossible to say just how long it would take to walk there, and it wasn't just a matter of distance, but all the dangers that lay within.
Ye Xi found it hard to calm himself down. This was the prehistoric world. Just when would he have the strength to walk this dangerous jungle alone?
"Stunned?" Courage patted Ye Xi on the head.
It was said that a man's head and a woman's waist couldn't be touched, and normally, Ye Xi would have resisted.
But at this time, Ye Xi only asked, "Uncle Courage, where is the lake you spoke of?"
Courage pointed toward his left at the jungle. "Look over there."
The primordial jungle was far too lush, and all he could see down the mountain were green canopies. But after staring for some time, he saw a faint hint of blue near a mountain.
"I see it."
"Mm. Part of the lake is blocked by the mountain. With your eyesight, you can only see a little of it."
"That lake really isn't that far from the tribe."
"Yes, the ordinary people of the tribe can get there and come back in a day." Courage sighed. "What a pity. We can't deal with the things in the lake. Otherwise, the tribe wouldn't be lacking water."
As Ye Xi looked at the lake, he suddenly had an idea… would that be able to do it?
"What are you thinking?" He received another abrupt pat to the head.
Ye Xi's face tensed as he glared at Courage. Patting my head again? Don't you understand what 'once is forgivable, not twice' means?
But Courage didn't care much about the glares from a little fellow like Ye Xi.
Ye Xi was dissatisfied, but he suddenly thought of something. His lips slowly curled into a smile. "Just now, hm, I was thinking of Teacher Divine Farmer's legacy. There seemed to be a method in there for resolving the water shortage, but your abrupt pat made me forget."
Courage was struck dumb and hastily asked, "Is there a way of solving it? But the water beast in the lake is very strong. Even Level 2 Warriors could be killed or injured fighting it!"
"I really did have a way, but your hand made me forget."
Courage glared at his own hand. A slap from his hand had destroyed the solution to the tribe's water shortage?!
"Thisthisthis… then maybe you can think it up again? Ancestors above, I swear that I won't interrupt you!"
Seeing as Courage was so anxious that he was even swearing on his ancestors, Ye Xi stopped teasing him. "Alright, I'll think it up again. Did you finish making your promise?"
"Yes, yes, yes," Courage hastily replied. If his mistake led the tribe to miss this chance at solving the water shortage, he wouldn't have the pride to go back.
Ye Xi was satisfied with his attitude and gave him a comforting smile.
After a period of silence, Ye Xi asked, "I recall that the Thorned Terror Beast had an intestine twenty-some meters long?"
Courage anxiously asked, "Why are you asking about a Thorned Terror Beast's intestines? Didn't you say you were thinking of a solution?"
"Don't be impatient. This question is closely related to resolving the water shortage."
Courage suppressed his anxiety and said, "Yes, the Thorned Terror Beast's intestines really are that long, maybe even longer."
Ye Xi struck his palm. "Then it's fine. I have a method for getting water, but you have to get me a complete Thorned Terror Beast intestine."
Courage silently frowned. "…Are you serious? How can getting water be related to the intestine of a Thorned Terror Beast?"
Ye Xi gave him a serious look. "Rest at ease. If you don't trust in me, you should trust in my teacher, Divine Farmer. He was a mighty shaman."
Courage took in a deep breath. "Okay. Tomorrow, I'll hunt down a Thorned Terror Beast and bring it back. If you can really resolve the tribe's water shortage, everyone on Mud Mountain will be thankful to you."
Ye Xi shook his head and smiled. He did not need Mud Mountain's gratitude. He just wanted to happily drink some water.