But she hadn’t finished shouting when the woman next to her who was washing clothes hurriedly ran over, covered the little girl’s mouth, glanced at Xiang Beifei in panic, and then hugged the little girl back inside, fearing contamination with bad luck.
Xiao Houzi had become a catastrophe that everyone avoided.
Erha couldn’t stand it anymore and asked if we should catch this bunch and give them a good beating. What was the point of saving such Human Race?
Xiang Beifei shook his head slightly, not caring.
This wasn’t the tribe’s fault. These people grew up with the idea that the Moon God was Supreme, and they didn’t even know they were livestock being raised by Meat-Winged Monsters for slaughter. They were unaware of how the outside world was. The Meat-Winged Monsters deceived them with methods meanwhile suppressing their development with desolate beasts, leaving their thoughts in an age of ignorance.
The more ignorant, the easier to control.
Simply put, the people here are uncivilized, no different from primitives.
No matter how the tribe thinks, he won’t bother with them.
But he will bother with the Meat-Winged Monsters!
Jiang Shan’s face was also ugly, but he still led Xiang Beifei to the training ground, where a bunch of strong men were already gathered preparing to go hunting, the youngest of whom was sixteen or seventeen.
The Meng Dong hunt was the largest hunting event, each household in the tribe had to send at least one strong man to participate in the hunt, with no less than four or five hundred people present, some still unarrived.
When Xiang Beifei came over, hundreds of strong men’s eyes fell on him.
"Why did this catastrophe come too?"
Many strong men frowned.
"Jiang Laoliu, why did you bring Xiao Houzi?" an old man with a tiger’s back and bear waist and graying hair asked.
This strong man named Jiang Dahe was an experienced Hunter in the tribe, who usually served as a team captain when hunting. He was also one of those summoned by Jiang Feng for a meeting yesterday.
"Xiao Houzi is hunting with me." Jiang Shan said solemnly.
"Absurd! I heard he lost the moonprint, without the Moon God’s protection, joining any team would bring disaster to that team! Which team do you think would want him?" Jiang Dahe asked.
Tribal hunting required cooperation because the strength of desolate beasts far surpassed theirs; an individual couldn’t handle them, so the teams consisted of dozens.
Currently, Xiang Beifei was a catastrophe, and the people here were superstitious, surely they would reject him.
Jiang Shan shouted: "Xiao Houzi is normal! He won’t bring disaster to the team!"
"He doesn’t have the moonprint! He’s lost his memory! He’s abandoned by the Moon God, he desecrates the Divine Lord!" another young strong man shouted.
"Nonsense! That’s just what you think! Xiao Houzi is my son, he hasn’t desecrated the Divine Lord!" Jiang Shan retorted.
At this moment, the Clan Leader Jiang Feng also arrived. He glanced at Xiang Beifei, sweeping over the others, and asked Jiang Shan: "Lao Liu, do you want to take Xiao Houzi?"
Jiang Shan looked at a group of hostile, glaring tribe elders in the distance, firmly: "Yes, I’m planning to take him hunting, hoping he can recall some things."
Jiang Feng actually understood what Jiang Shan was worrying about, but he didn’t point it out. Instead, he asked Xiang Beifei: "Xiao Houzi, you were injured just the day before yesterday, are you sure you want to go?"
"I’m fine now, without the moonprint, my healing ability seems to have improved." Xiang Beifei showed the wounds on his body that he "opened" the day before.
Jiang Feng looked carefully and found it was indeed the case, the cut on Xiang Beifei’s arm had already scabbed over, some parts even fallen off, surprising him.
"You recover so quickly and yet say you’re not a Yellow Springs Specter?" Jiang Dahe said.
Jiang Feng stopped him: "Dahe, say less! There’s no evidence directly linking Xiao Houzi to the Yellow Springs Specters."
Jiang Dahe snorted, saying: "Clan Leader, you may speak for Xiao Houzi now, but ask yourself, if he wants to go, who agrees to team up with him?"
The other Hunters exchanged looks, their gazes peculiar, obviously very worried about Xiao Houzi losing the moonprint.
Hunters formed groups for hunting, usually led by the experienced, then scattered to search for target prey. Sometimes they needed to split up to surround the prey, cooperating on activities.
Jiang Shan’s strength wasn’t weak, originally he was also a team captain in the tribe, leading more than thirty people. But now his team seemed to have issues, a few Hunters hesitant about following him again.
Jiang Shan’s face was somewhat bleak.
"I trust Xiao Houzi."
At this moment, a middle-aged man covered in leopard skin walked over, laughing heartily: "Xiao Houzi is no Yellow Springs Specter, I’m not afraid of any bad luck. Brother Liu, don’t worry, I’m with you."
Jiang Shan nodded slightly, feeling grateful.
"Don’t worry, Xiao Houzi, I’ve got you covered!" The middle-aged man patted Xiang Beifei’s shoulder.
"Thank you." Xiang Beifei smiled.
"What thanks? I watched you grow up, I know your weight. Do you still recognize me? I’m your Uncle Seven!" the middle-aged man said with a chuckle.
"Hello, Uncle Seven." Xiang Beifei said.
"Good, certainly good! Don’t worry, this time follow Uncle Seven, Uncle Seven guarantees your safety!"
This middle-aged man was Jiang Shan’s younger brother named Jiang Chuan, usually a generous person, very loyal.
When Jiang Chuan stepped forward, some Hunters also came over. They usually followed Jiang Shan, comparatively still trusting Jiang Shan to lead.
Jiang Dahe said nothing more, merely sneered watching Jiang Shan’s team.
Soon all Hunters gathered, this being a large-scale hunt, necessary to hunt enough desolate beasts for food storage for the next two to three months, around a thousand people, of course, orphans without able-bodied youth weren’t sent.
There were quite a few in the tribe without male members, some deceased during hunting, some disabled unavailable for future hunts, only able to serve as logistical support.
Others who cultivated the moonprint to the Crescent Moon were headed to Moon God Palace, according to the tribe’s saying, they undertook a nobler mission.
Jiang Feng first let these tribal Hunters form teams, each team with an uncertain number of people, deciding on their target desolate beast to hunt, and choose Hunters. More people aren’t necessarily better, usually, forty to fifty is adequate for powerful desolate beast sieges; too many expose them, too few can’t win.
Jiang Shan’s team always lacked people, because of Xiao Houzi, only gathering twenty-one Hunters. They were mostly close to Jiang Shan and had watched Xiao Houzi grew up.
They seemed very enthusiastic, conversing with Xiao Houzi, attempting to help Xiao Houzi recall some things.
Before departing, Clan Leader Jiang Feng solemnly led all the Hunters to piously kneel towards the twelve-winged Meat-Winged Monster statue on the mountain, praying for the Meng Dong hunt’s safety. Jiang Shan tried pulling Xiang Beifei to kneel, but Xiang Beifei didn’t kneel. He stood behind everyone, coldly watching the statue.
After a sending-off ceremony, each Hunter team leader led their Hunters departing from different places; they had hunting experience, having identified their targets and knew what kind of desolate beasts they were hunting.
Jiang Shan and his group also headed south, bypassing hills, stopping near a nearby hunting cavern.
"Our team is smaller, so we need to hunt those relatively weak; temporary targets set as bone-winged horse; further threat should be assessed. Stay alert, the Meng Dong season is when Yellow Springs Specters emerge; cooperate and retreat immediately upon encountering Yellow Springs Specters!" Jiang Shan said sternly.
"Yellow Springs Specter emerges now?" Xiang Beifei asked in surprise.
"Yes, these desolate beasts migrate because Yellow Springs Specters awaken in this season; they don’t wish to wait for death, so they flee. We’re essentially competing with Yellow Springs Specters for food. There’s nothing to do about it; if we don’t hunt, we’ll face hunger for months ahead, best pray not encountering Yellow Springs Specters." Jiang Shan explained.
Xiang Beifei furrowed his brows deeply.
He knew the so-called Yellow Springs Specters—Meat-Winged Monsters—didn’t need food, yet they chose this season to emerge annually.
So was this Meng Dong hunt truly humans hunting desolate beasts, or was it Meat-Winged Monsters hunting humans?