Walking in the forest, Jiang Xuan looked at his bamboo spear thoughtfully. To be precise, it was the sap on the bamboo spear.
"Sister, do the other tribes know about this Cage Vine?"
Chi Shao turned around. "I don't know. This kind of vine is relatively rare. I've only heard stories about it from people in the hunting team. This is the first time I've seen it."
Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up. "If we plant a large number of Cage Vines around the tribe to protect it, what do you think?"
In this primitive world, the most dangerous thing was not only ferocious beasts, but also other tribes. For example, the Deer Tribe was destroyed by the Crow Tribe.
Every year, countless tribes rose in the primitive jungle, and countless tribes were destroyed.
A tribe like the Vine Tribe, which only had five people, would be wiped out if they were careless.
Therefore, Jiang Xuan had to consider protecting themselves.
Jiang Xuan felt that a ferocious plant like the Cage Vine was very suitable for protecting the tribe.
Chi Shao thought for a moment and said, "When other tribes encounter these dangerous plants, they will try their best to eradicate them. I don't know if they can be used to protect the tribe. We can try it first."
At the side, Hook Vine asked curiously, "Chief, this kind of Cage Vine is so rare. Where can we find enough vines to protect the tribe?"
Jiang Xuan said, "There will be a way. Not only can the Cage Vine be planted, but other ferocious plants can also be planted. There's no hurry."
The five of them continued on. They hadn't gone far when Chi Shao saw something. She hurried to the base of a rock and pulled a dry vine from it. She followed the vine to where its roots were.
"South Star, bring me the bone plow."
The youngest, South Star, carried a bone plow that was specially used for digging plants.
"Here we go."
South Star ran over to Chi Shao and handed her the bone plow.
With the bone plow in hand, Chi Shao dug up the dead leaves and weeds on the ground.
Jiang Xuan walked over and asked curiously, "Sister, what are you digging?"
As she dug, Chi Shao replied, "Digging for stone eggs."
"Stone eggs!"
Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up. He had already learned what this was from his memories.
This was a grayish-white vine stem tuber. The largest could grow to the size of a washbasin, and the smallest was the size of a bird's egg.
Because it usually grew next to stones and was similar in color to them, the ancient tribesmen thought it was an egg born of stone and called it a stone egg.
After the stone eggs were roasted, they tasted like potatoes. They were rich in starch and could satisfy hunger. They were one of the traditional foods of the tribes.
This was good stuff!
Jiang Xuan keenly realized that if the stone eggs could be planted in large quantities, the Vine Tribe would have its first food crop!
Soon the soil on the ground was dug up, and the stone egg hidden underground was gradually revealed.
It was about the size of a soup bowl. The outside was like a rock, gray in color and round. Jiang Xuan roughly estimated that this stone egg should weigh seven to eight kilograms.
Chi Shao dug up all the soil around the stone egg. Then she held the stone egg with both hands and gave it a hard twist. With a crack, the roots at the bottom of the stone egg were broken.
"What a big stone egg!"
Chi Shao picked up the stone egg and exclaimed in admiration.
"Let me have a look."
Jiang Xuan took the stone egg. It was heavy and emitted a faint fragrance of tubers.
Jiang Xuan said in satisfaction, "This thing is very good. We can dig up the small ones, take them back, and plant them. If everything goes well, we will have endless stone eggs in the future."
After hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Chi Shao lowered her head and continued digging.
She was a woman of action. She did not like to talk. She was very efficient.
After a while, Chi Shao dug out seven or eight small stone eggs from the ground. The big ones were the size of an adult's fist, and the small ones were only the size of a thumb.
Jiang Xuan put these small stone eggs in an animal skin bag and said in satisfaction, "With these seeds, we can go back and try to plant them."
As stone eggs liked to grow close to rocks, Jiang Xuan planned to plant them in places with big rocks. He would try his best to replicate their natural environment in the wild and try other planting methods in the future.
After digging the stone eggs, the group continued walking.
"Moo…"
In the distance, a herd of bison walked past. They were covered in brown fur and had a pair of sharp horns on their heads. Their shoulders were taller than a man's. Adult bison weighed at least three thousand pounds.
Such a wild bison could be said to be a true behemoth!
Jiang Xuan felt his scalp tingle at the thought of having to hunt a wild bison alone to become a three-color warrior.
Bison usually formed groups. Once they were injured and became crazy, they would become even more violent and take the initiative to attack.
Therefore, if one wanted to hunt an adult wild bison, one had to be smart, in addition to having strength, speed, and hunting skills. Otherwise, if one failed to hunt it down, one might die under its horns.
Jiang Xuan did not intend to provoke these big guys, at least not now.
When he became stronger in the future, he would try to capture a few calves and tame them. If he could successfully tame them, he could use them to plow the fields and greatly increase their productivity.
After skirting the bison herd, the Chi Shao found a large wild fruit tree. Around the tree were some small saplings.
Chi Shao picked up a fist-sized fruit covered in hard thorns from the ground. She cut it open with a stone knife, revealing the pale yellow flesh inside.
"This is called a thorny fruit. You should have eaten it before. It's covered in spikes on the outside, but it's filled with pulp. After you pick it up, you can roast it. By the time it's cooked, the thorns on the outside will be almost done."
Jiang Xuan also picked up a prickly fruit from the ground. The pulp inside was a ball. It was not split into two like a chestnut, nor was it wrapped in a hard shell.
The flesh of the prickly fruit tasted similar to other nuts, and it was larger. It was a good thing to fill one's stomach.
In addition, it had a long storage life. Even in the wild, it would take a long time to crack and rot if it fell to the ground.
"This thing is not bad. Dig up all the saplings and plant them. Pick up all the fruits that can be eaten."
Chi Shao nodded. Then, using the bone plow again, she dug up the small thorny fruit trees around her, roots and soil. She wrapped the roots in wide leaves and placed them in the rattan basket.
With the five of them working hard, they picked up a basket of intact prickly fruits and dug up five small saplings.
After that, Jiang Xuan noted down the location of the big thorny fruit tree.
Chi Shao looked at the sky and said, "It's getting late. We can't keep going. Let's go back."
It was extremely dangerous spending the night in the wilderness because no one knew if they would be attacked by ferocious beasts at night. If not for the fact that they had no choice, no one would be willing to spend the night in the wilderness.
"Okay, let's go back first. We'll come out earlier next time."
Jiang Xuan nodded in agreement and returned the way he came.
"Hook Vine, come down quickly." Jiang Xuan looked up and shouted.
Hook Vine had reached the treetops of the big thorny fruit tree. This guy loved climbing trees.
"Okay, I'll be down soon."
Hook Vine stood high on the treetops and agreed, looking longingly at the scenery.
Standing on the treetops, he could see the forest beyond. He liked the feeling.
As Hook Vine was about to climb down, he saw a puff of smoke in the distance.
Eh?
Hook Vine did not continue to climb down. He observed carefully for a moment, and his expression gradually became serious.
"Why aren't you down yet?" Below, Jiang Xuan was urging him to get down from the tree.
Hook Vine lowered his head and said, "Chief, there seems to be a fire over there."
When the four people below heard this, they immediately became nervous.
It was not a good thing to encounter outsiders in the forest. If they encountered a barbaric tribe, they would have to fight.
"Did you see it clearly?" Jiang Xuan asked.
"I saw it clearly. Someone must have built a fire."
"I'll come up to take a look."
Jiang Xuan immediately climbed up the tree. He was a one-color warrior, and his climbing speed was very fast. Before long, he stood side by side with Hook Vine.
"Over there, chief." Hook Vine pointed south.
Jiang Xuan looked in the direction that Hook Vine was pointing at and saw thick smoke rising into the sky. As expected, it was the shape of smoke that only appeared when a bonfire was lit.
Jiang Xuan's heart sank. Although that place was still far away, no one could guarantee when those people would appear around the Vine Tribe.
It seemed that the environment of the Vine Tribe was not that safe.
"Let's go back first."
Jiang Xuan and Hook Vine climbed down from the tree together. Jiang Xuan briefly told Chi Shao and the others about the smoke.
Because they were afraid of danger, the five of them did not stop to investigate the source of the smoke. They went straight back to the Vine Tribe.
Although they had yet to see the people, a sense of danger had already gripped their hearts.
The Vine Tribe had just been established and was too weak to withstand any attacks. Jiang Xuan hoped that these people were just passing by and would not pose a threat to them.