*Crack, crack…* Mai Mang and Wa Ming took turns leading the way, using their stone knives to cut through branches and vines blocking their path.
Da Gua walked at the back, guarding against any Ferocious Beasts or enemies that might ambush them.
Yan Jiao stayed close to Su Bai and Yan Hua, ready to protect the Shaman and his Daughter at a moment’s notice if danger arose.
The group had been travelling for two days since leaving the Flame Dragon Tribe, only stopping to sleep in shifts at night.
“Isn’t there any proper path around here?” Su Bai asked, wiping sweat from his brow.
They had been walking mountain trails, heading in one direction and crossing mountains and ridges, only detouring when the path became too difficult.
By Su Bai’s estimate, if there was a proper road, they could have saved more than half the travel time.
“No, we only communicate every dozen days. Sometimes, even once in several dozen days. Even if we build up paths, they’d be quickly overgrown,” Yan Jiao shook his head, his red eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings as he calmly explained, “Shaman, only the large Tribes have paths between them. That’s because they trade frequently. For small Tribes like us, we might not even communicate once a year.”
“Don’t Tribes interact with each other?” Su Bai frowned. [Such closed groups will be lacking in cultural and economic development.]
The cow horned girl was no longer as lively as when they first left the Tribe. She followed silently beside Su Bai, quietly listening in on their conversation.
“Then how did the Spotted Deer Tribe Market develop?” Su Bai was genuinely curious about this.
“The Spotted Deer Tribe has salt. Everyone goes to their Tribe every fifteen days to exchange for salt,” Yan Jiao said with envy in his voice.
“Oh? Is the salt produced by the Spotted Deer Tribe?” Su Bai was quite surprised.
“It’s not clear, but my Father said the salt might not be produced by the Spotted Deer Tribe. They also exchange it from other large Tribes,” Yan Jiao said with uncertainty.
He guessed that the Spotted Deer Tribe had developed by profiting as the middlemen, since they were the only ones with salt in the area.
Or perhaps salt was something the Spotted Deer Tribe had promoted. It was very suspicious that the Spotted Deer Tribe was not a large Tribe despite having such a valuable resource.
“How many people are in the Spotted Deer Tribe?” Su Bai wanted to learn more about this middleman, to see if there was the possibility for cooperation.
“They have three thousand people, with over two hundred Totem Warriors,” Yan Jiao said, his tone full of envy and discontent.
The Flame Dragon Tribe used to have 300 people with only 32 Totem Warriors. Now they were down to 72 people and 11 Totem Warriors. No wonder Yan Jiao felt envious and discontented.
“We’ll have that many people someday too,” Su Bai said firmly.
“I believe in you, Shaman,” Yan Jiao forced a smile.
“…” Su Bai did not have a habit of making empty promises. He analysed the information to deduce the desired Tribal strength.
Small Tribes had a few hundred people and dozens of Totem Warriors.
Medium Tribes had several thousand to under ten thousand people, with over a hundred Totem Warriors.
Large Tribes had around ten thousand people, with an unknown number of Totem Warriors.
Medium and large Tribes each had their specialties, which they traded to smaller Tribes, obtaining meat to strengthen their development.
“The small Tribes suffer the most,” Su Bai sighed. Small Tribes used all their dried meat to exchange for salt or other urgently needed supplies. This was one of the reasons why he placed such importance on linen cloth.
Yan Hua’s beautiful eyes gazed at the Shaman’s profile, finding that a man deep in thought was quite handsome. It was no less attractive than the strong Totem Warriors.
*Crack, crack…* Mai Mang cleared a path to an open area and scanned the surroundings.
His eyes narrowed as he pulled back Wa Ming, who was about to walk forward, and pointed at the ground.
“Footprints…” Wa Ming turned to look, his expression changing instantly. These were Human footprints!
Mai Mang gripped his stone knife tightly and softly warned, “Go check the surroundings first.”
“Alright.” Wa Ming nodded. He put down his animal skin bag and gripped his spear tightly as he disappeared into the forest.
Yan Jiao, Su Bai, and the others saw Mai Mang stop and quickly but quietly approached.
“What’s the situation?” Yan Jiao asked in a low voice.
“We found Human footprints. Wa Ming went to check,” Mai Mang said softly.
“Shaman, Ah’Hua, you two must stay by my side,” Yan Jiao instructed.
“Understood.” Yan Hua quickly nodded, her small hand already gripping the stone knife at her waist.
“Here, two each,” Su Bai handed over the animal skin bag he was holding.
“What are these?” Yan Jiao curiously took the bag and opened it to look inside. His gaze froze.
What did he see? A bag full of Shaman Bone Tablets! At least ten of them!
This was the first time in Yan Jiao’s life that he had seen so many Shaman Bone Tablets! He was in complete shock!
“Chieftain? What are they?” Mai Mang, seeing Yan Jiao’s expression, became even more curious.
Yan Jiao reached into the animal skin bag, took out two Shaman Bone Tablets, and handed them over, hoarsely stating, “Th-these are all Shaman Bone Tablets.”
*Ahhiiiii….* Mai Mang drew in a sharp breath, his eyes wide as he stared at the Shaman Bone Tablets.
“One is the Curing Shaman Technique, the other is the Strength Enhancement Technique,” Su Bai explained calmly.
“Shaman, did you make all these in the few days we were in the Tribe?” Yan Jiao asked softly.
“Yes, mainly because there weren’t enough materials. Otherwise, there would be more Shaman Bone Tablets,” Su Bai said with some regret.
“Shaman, please rest assured. We’ll take care of all the materials you need,” Yan Jiao said excitedly.
With Shaman Bone Tablets, their Hunting Team could now attempt to face Ferocious Beasts they would not have dared to before.
“Alright,” Su Bai nodded.
[noscript][/noscript]