Dusk.
The Mud Mountain tribe members lined up in front of the large stone as they waited for the chief to distribute the day's food.
But today, the chief did not immediately distribute the food. Instead, he stood tall on the rock and looked at the assembled tribe with a ruddy look on his face.
The tribe members realized to their surprise that the chief was seemingly overjoyed, and even his face was brimming with joy.
The last time the chief had been this happy was when water had been successfully obtained from the lake.
What had happened? The crowd began to chatter.
"Everyone." The chief chuckled and began to speak.
The tribe members immediately fell silent.
"Today, there is an additional food to distribute. Everyone, please go and get a container, one made from wood or stone."
Wood or stone containers? What food would require this sort of container? Could it be blood? But they had water to drink now, so they didn't need to drink blood anymore, right?
Seeing that everyone was still confused, the chief stopped acting mysterious and carefully held up a stone pot.
There was some sort of white substance in this pot.
The chief took a wooden ladle, thrust it into the pot, and extracted some of the snow-white salt. He then tilted the ladle and allowed the salt to sprinkle back into the pot. He repeated this several times so that everyone in the tribe could see what was in the pot.
"My fellow tribe members, did you see what it was?"
The tribe members were almost terrifyingly silent.
The chief yelled in excitement, red in the face, "It's salt! Salt! This isn't the salt we got from the Yellow Bear Tribe, but salt that we produced ourselves!"
All the Mud Mountain tribe members felt dizzy, as if a giant rock had crashed down from the heavens and struck them in the heads.
"Salt? Our Mud Mountain was able to produce salt?"
In the crowd, Pheasant Eye turned in disbelief to a certain corner.
Ye Xi was quietly standing there, unperturbed by the chief's words. He was simply smiling as he looked at everyone else, as if he knew the whole story.
Pheasant Eye recalled that strange conversation between Ye Xi and Horse. They had seemed to mention salt?
The thought made Pheasant Eye's hair stand on end. Had Ye Xi solved the water problem and then even produced salt?! Impossible!
"Chief, is this really salt? Did we really make salt?" The tribe members calmed down, but the calm surface concealed a volcano. The chief's confirmation was all that was needed for an eruption.
Although the chief had never deceived them before, this matter was far too important. They needed to confirm it again.
As those excited and burning eyes stared at him, the chief slowly and firmly nodded.
Boom! The volcano erupted!
"Hahahaha, our Mud Mountain truly has its own salt!"
"I can't believe it! I can't believe it!"
"Hurry and slap me! Wake me up! Wait, wait, wait, don't slap me! I don't want to wake up."
Pa! "I'll give you a slap and see if you're dreaming!"
"Hahaha!" The man with a red handprint on his face was actually ecstatic. "It's not a dream! I'm not dreaming!"
"Chief, how did we suddenly produce salt? Could it be…"
The chief knew what he wanted to say and confirmed his guess. "Correct! It was Ye Xi who taught us how to refine it!"
Everyone's eyes became as bright as searchlights as they turned to Ye Xi. Pheasant Eye also stared with wide eyes. Was it really…
Ye Xi was prepared for this and was not frightened by all those exaggerated gazes. He simply blinked and smiled.
The chief waved at Ye Xi and indicated he should come over.
Ye Xi helplessly smiled. He could only come forward and stand on the stone next to the chief.
The chief grabbed Ye Xi's hand and raised it high in the air, yelling at the crowd, "Let us thank Ye Xi!"
The crowd fell quiet for a second, and then it erupted in an unanimous roar: "Ye Xi! Ye Xi! Ye Xi!" They yelled with all their strength, their faces and necks going red.
The roars were so loud that all the small pterosaurs nearby took to the air, and those birds in the air also flew farther. The name of 'Ye Xi' resounded through the jungle.
Ye Xi had to wait around for a while for the shouts to finally begin to fade. Salt was truly a minor matter for him. The process wasn't complicated, so this treatment was so warm and enthusiastic that he felt embarrassed.
After thinking it over, Ye Xi decided to make his right hand into a fist, pound his left shoulder, then his heart, and then slightly bend at the waist, bowing to the crowd.
The winds caressed his hair and his cheeks as he stood back up. "…Everything was for the sake of Mud Mountain."
The Mud Mountain tribe members were struck dumb, their shouts dying away. And then, though it was impossible to say who started it, they began to place their fists on their hearts and bow to Ye Xi. These bows were not slight bows like Ye Xi, but deep bows that almost made right angles.
"For the sake of Mud Mountain!"
Ye Xi finally couldn't take this solemn sight of several hundred people bowing to him. He jumped down from the rock and pointed to the sky as he called out to the chief, "Alright, if we don't distribute the food now, it's going to get dark!"
Everyone affectionately laughed.
On one side, the tribe members finally began to take their food. Meanwhile, Ye Xi realized that the shaman had emerged from the cave and was smiling at him.
"Shaman?" Ye Xi was surprised.
The shaman waved at him.
Not daring to be careless, Ye Xi hurriedly ran over.
Once Ye Xi came over, the shaman patted Ye Xi on the hand and then turned back into the cave, indicating that Ye Xi would follow.
The shaman's hair was white, and the hand holding the cane was dry and shriveled.
The shaman walked very slowly, but each one of his steps was firm and forceful.
They once more arrived at the deepest part of the cave.
"Ye Xi, good child." The shaman turned around and affectionately looked at him. "I can see that you have come to sincerely regard yourself as a member of Mud Mountain. You brought us water and salt. The shaman wishes to thank you. The shaman expresses his deepest apologies for the killing of several Wolftooth members by the Mud Mountain Tribe, and hopes that you will not take it to heart."
This reminder caused Ye Xi to raise an eyebrow as memories of cannibalism resurfaced in his mind.
He had been trying to forget these memories this entire time, because he could not accept the fact of people eating other people. He did not mind being transported to an impoverished and backward prehistoric tribe, but he did not want to be part of a tribe of cannibals.
Thinking this, Ye Xi hesitantly said, "Shaman, humans eating humans goes against nature. My teacher Divine Farmer's tribe did not eat humans…"
The shaman looked at him for a few moments and then nodded. "I understand. If not for the tribe's lack of food, I would not permit the members of the tribe to eat human flesh. I can promise you that in future, even if we lack food, we will not eat humans."
Ye Xi sighed in relief. After working with them for some time, Ye Xi had gradually accepted the members of the Mud Mountain Tribe. Although mentioning this to the shaman might make him overthink things, he truly did not want to see the members of the Mud Mountain Tribe eating other humans.
The shaman still looked at Ye Xi with sincere eyes that bore no ill will. "The tribe must reward you for refining salt."
Ye Xi was delighted. The mention of reward made Ye Xi think about fiendbeast blood or flesh. If he wanted to get stronger, he needed more of these things, but when he considered that the hunting team had not hunted any fiendbeasts as of late, his happiness cooled.
"The tribe has not been able to hunt any fiendbeasts lately, but I have something else to reward you with."
Something else?
The shaman walked to a rock wall and began to rub at it with his hand.
Bits of rock began to crumble off the wall, gradually revealing a crack. The shaman took a bone dagger from his waist.
Ye Xi saw that this bone dagger was a work of exquisite craftsmanship, made to be as thin as a cicada wing.
The shaman thrust the bone dagger into the crack, pressed on the handle, and then slowly drew back the dagger.
Slowly, the dagger was removed, together with a rock.
It was a secret compartment! Ye Xi was shocked.
The shaman took something out and offered it to Ye Xi.
An exquisite necklace hung from his elderly hand.
Ye Xi carefully took the item. Whatever was in that secret compartment had to be extremely valuable, and Ye Xi could not afford to treat it lightly.
Ye Xi inspected this object. The necklace was cool to touch, and hanging from the necklace was an awl-shaped crystal. This crystal had a foggy transparency, and there were faint streaks of purple within. The necklace was made of some sort of silver-colored thread.
Shaman: "This is a spirit pendulum."
Ye Xi looked up in confusion at the shaman.
Shaman: "The spirit pendulum can foresee good or bad luck and point the way to something you seek. It was made by a great shaman and is extremely precious."
Ye Xi: "The honored shaman made this yourself?"
The shaman chuckled. "Of course not. I am a mere shaman, still far away from the level of great shamans. Great shamans are legendary existences, and I have not even had the good fortune to see one." The shaman seemed rather disappointed by this.
Shaman and great shaman? This was the first time Ye Xi had learned that shamans could be divided this way.
The shaman solemnly advised, "Make sure to hide it well. If members of other tribes knew you had this, they would go to any lengths to seize it."
Ye Xi trembled. It was that valuable? He hurriedly replied, "Yes.
"Right, shaman, I wish to go with the team to the Blackpond Tribe's trade fair. May I?"
After some thought, the shaman said, "Very well. Get ready. I will send several more Warriors this time. Remember to stay safe."
Ye Xi was delighted, not having expected the shaman to agree so readily. "Yes!"
Gulu! Gululu!
Ye Xi's face went stiff, and he hastily moved his hands over his stomach. He had been so focused on the salt that he had not eaten anything all day.
The shaman smiled and waved his hand. "Alright, you can go."
His face red, Ye Xi bowed to the shaman and left. As he walked out, for some reason, he decided to turn his head and look back.
In the gloomy light, he saw the shaman looking up at the crimson totems of Mud Mountain on the walls, his entire being filled with an indescribable concern.