Chapter 53   – Joining the Salt Team

xiin

Editors: apricot & juurensha

Zhou Ji was very calm as he pointed to the earth eggs, “You guys have so much to say. If you have so much time, why don’t you dig them out and check for yourselves?”

“I already said that I saw them this morning. The earth eggs are still very small.” The gathering team head used a long stone shovel to dig up a piece of dirt while she spoke.

She accidentally cut an earth egg the size of an adult’s fist in half as she dug.

The head of the gathering team, who had just had a cold expression on her face, immediately became excited, “What a big earth egg! It’s so big!”

The people of the tribe were very fond of eating earth eggs. This kind of plant tasted good and filled the stomach, so there were people who liked them even more than meat.

For children, these earth eggs were a necessity. Children less than a year old were unable to eat too much dinosaur meat, so their mothers would generally feed them earth eggs in addition to breastfeeding.

When they were over a year old and had more teeth, children would begin to eat dinosaur meat but would still prefer to eat earth eggs.

Usually, about one third of each year’s earth egg harvest would be set aside for the tribe’s children. Another third would be used to trade for salt, and only the remaining third would be given to the adults to eat.

Earth eggs matured twice a year, and each cycle usually required about 60 days. Only the first cycle of earth eggs could be harvested, and they were typically about the size of a child’s fist.

But the earth egg they had dug up now was bigger than any earth egg they had ever managed to harvest before.

The head of the gathering team was so delighted she was about to go crazy.

Others in the tribe were equally excited, and some of the people who were very devout towards the Beast God even knelt down on the spot, “Thanks to the great Beast God!”

Even the priest was shocked at this moment. He grabbed an earth egg plant and pulled hard...

That string of earth eggs broke, but several earth eggs of varying sizes could be seen in the dirt, the largest of which was even larger than the one the head of the gathering team had just split apart.

The priest’s hand trembled as he directly knelt down where he stood. “Thanks to the great Beast God!”

When the priest knelt down, other than Zhou Ji, everyone else in the tribe also knelt down. The priest looked towards Zhou Ji, “Kneel quickly.”

Zhou Ji: “......”

Zhou Ji said, “The Beast God also told me something else.”

Zhou Ji had always been helping to increase the harvest of the plants around the tribe.

He lived in this tribe, and although he wouldn’t take the initiative to make more work for himself, he would help out where he could. Only, he had been afraid that the people of the tribe would find out that something was wrong, so he didn’t dare to do too much.

However, recently he had even managed to perform a ‘miracle from the Beast God’ right in front of the priest, so it seemed that it would be alright to do some other things as well.

Of course, there was a reason why he had chosen to do this today.

The priest was now convinced that Zhou Ji’s words were the truth. He felt that Zhou Ji was indeed beloved by the Beast God. “What else did the Beast God say?”

“The Beast God told me to go out with the salt team and find some types of edible plants.” Zhou Ji said.

Thanks to his previous frenzy, the majority of the dinosaurs that had lived near the tribe had already run away.

Recently, the people of the tribe had brought a lot of meat back. Not only had they not noticed this matter, there was also no shortage of food for the time being. However, Zhou Ji knew that this would become a problem sooner or later.

However, he hadn’t minded too much.

On Earth, although human beings had originally survived by hunting, they had mostly relied on farming in order to thrive. They had also grazed herds and so on.

After all, the uncertainty involved in hunting was too high. Although farming and raising herds were also somewhat dependent on luck and weather, they were both already much more reliable than hunting.

And he didn’t mind improving the tribe’s agricultural abilities so that the people of the tribe would have enough to eat.

However, Xiong Ye suddenly wanted to go and trade for salt.

So many people in the salt team had died last time. What about this time? Would something happen to Xiong Ye?

Although he couldn’t fight, when it came down to it, he still had his spiritual powers. If he was there, the salt team would definitely be a bit safer.

Since Xiong Ye insisted on going, he needed to go too.

Zhou Ji continued, “The Beast God showed me a few types of plants. He said that as long as I went out with the salt team, I would be able to find those plants and make it so that the people of the tribe wouldn’t have to go hungry anymore.”

Zhou Ji’s face was expressionless when he spoke. It was precisely because of this that he gave off a sense of mystery to others.

Those present believed his words almost immediately. It was the same even for the priest.

If Zhou Ji had said these words to the priest right off the bat, the priest would have thought that he had made things up in order to join the salt team. Now, however... so many earth eggs in the ground had matured!

This was definitely the will of the Beast God!

As for why the Beast God would choose Zhou Ji to convey his will... How unique was Zhou Ji? In their tribe, Zhou Ji was the only one without an animal form.

“Thank the Beast God!” The priest said again, bowing his head and kowtowing in worship.

The people of the gathering team followed suit one after another.

Zhou Ji: “......” Did this mean he could join the salt team?

Of course Zhou Ji could join the salt team.

After the priest finished kneeling, he immediately told the gathering team to dig out the earth eggs. He then said to Zhou Ji, “It will be tough on you. You actually need to go out with the salt team...”

How could life outside be better than it was inside the tribe? Not only would Zhou Ji encounter danger when he went out with the salt trade team, life definitely wouldn’t be easy.

“This is the will of the Beast God.” Zhou Ji said.

“Yes, this is the will of the Beast God!” The priest agreed, his face full of excitement. “With the Beast God watching over you, you will be alright!” He had originally been worried that something might happen to the salt team, but now that the Beast God was even appearing in Zhou Ji’s dreams, the salt team would definitely be safe, right?

The priest felt full of confidence about the next salt exchange trip, and the gathering team head had also come over to talk to Zhou Ji, “Zhou Ji, I blamed you wrongly before. I’m sorry.”

Zhou Ji was beloved by the Beast God, which left the head of the gathering team in a bit of a panic as she started to think back and recall whether or not she had ever offended Zhou Ji.

She really had...

“It’s alright.” Zhou Ji replied. He could understand this person’s approach and didn’t care about it at all.

He didn’t care about the vast majority of things pertaining to this world.

“Zhou Ji, you’re a good person.” The head of the gathering team said.

“Zhou Ji is really a good person. He received a gift from the Beast God and selflessly shared it with everyone.” The priest spoke up, singing a chant for Zhou Ji that praised him as a selfless person.

Zhou Ji: “......” This chant had previously been used by the priest during the Beast God Sacrifice to praise the ancestors of the Big Bear Tribe.

The gazes of the people in the gathering team grew even more adoring as they stared at Zhou Ji.

Before, they had all thought that it was pointless work to add fertilizer and pull out grass and things, but now... Since this was the will of the Beast God, it had to be done.

As for why the plants hadn’t grown well after adding fertilizer, it must be because they hadn’t done a good job!

The people of the gathering team began to reflect on themselves and started to discuss the matter amongst themselves one after another.

“Previously, Zhou Ji suddenly fell ill just before the mating ceremony. Perhaps it was a trial from the Beast God.”

“He was so tired he fainted a few days ago and wouldn’t wake up no matter how he was called. Perhaps he had gone to see the Beast God.”

“Have you guys noticed? Ever since Zhou Ji stopped being foolish and started traveling outside the tribe, our harvest has increased a lot!”

“He’s definitely beloved by the Beast God.”

......

Things went much more smoothly than Zhou Ji had imagined.

The priest led the gathering team to harvest a lot of earth eggs. When they brought the earth eggs back to the tribe, not only did he say that Zhou Ji had received a gift from the Beast God, he also spoke about the matter of Zhou Ji joining the salt trade team.

“No, Grandpa Priest, how can Zhou Ji go?” Xiong Ye didn’t think twice before opposing this notion.

“He must go. This is the Beast God’s will! I’m telling you, you must protect Zhou Ji well when you guys go out.” The priest was very agitated.

The warriors from the hunting team were somewhat at a loss.

The priest added, “The Beast God made all of the earth eggs in the tribe mature and said that Zhou Ji can find more types of edible plants!”

The priest spared no effort in helping Zhou Ji state his case. He even chanted a few songs as he did so, the lyrics both direct and brain-numbing.

However, the people of the tribe bought this kind of act.

Zhou Ji didn’t say a single word. The matter of him going out with the salt team had already been locked in.

Not only that, he had gained more attention due to the priest’s chanting and flattery.

Zhou Ji didn’t like any of these things, but it wasn’t to the point where he found it unacceptable. At the same time, he knew that interventions like this couldn’t be overdone.

It was still that same statement; he would be putting something into the hands of the innocent that would only land them in trouble. The Big Bear Tribe couldn’t become too outstanding.

Those earth eggs were considered very precious, and they were very popular amongst the tribespeople. The tribe fell into a tumult of joyful revelry almost immediately.

However, Xiong Ye was unhappy.

He had long known the fact that Zhou Ji had received a gift from the Beast God. He had also felt it––Zhou Ji had always been able to obtain many edible plants and fruits.

However, even if he had received the blessing of the Beast God, he was still very weak. If he followed the salt team out to trade for salt, it would be very easy for him to encounter danger!

“Zhou Ji, do you have to go?” Xiong Ye couldn’t help but ask.

“This is the will of the Beast God.” Zhou Ji said.

Xiong Ye’s expression was very anxious.

Zhou Ji felt very satisfied when he saw this. He had been very anxious yesterday, and today it was Xiong Ye’s turn.

Zhou Ji went to bed very early that night.

Xiong Ye lay beside him, tossing and turning. Although he finally stopped moving around later on, he still hadn’t fallen asleep.

Xiong Ye had always slept so well before. What was going on? Zhou Ji was quite curious about it, and then he felt Xiong Ye quietly climbing out of bed and leaving the cave. He started off by pacing back and forth, then changed into his animal form and began to claw at a piece of wood.

There was no doubt that Xiong Ye was now making a hasty last-ditch effort to train up his combat ability.

However, doing such a thing wasn’t useful at all. In fact, it might even aggravate his wounds.

Zhou Ji recreated the costume he had worn when dealing with Xiang Tian before and jumped out of the cave while Xiong Ye wasn’t paying attention, directly picking up the brown bear and taking him out of the tribe.

At the same time, Xiang Tian had already returned to the Elephant Tribe tribe with Shi Li.

He had tortured Shi Li harshly the entire way in order to extract the information he wanted, and although he hadn’t been able to learn much, he had at least confirmed one thing, which was that Shi Li really knew a way to absorb energy.

Xiang Tian wanted this method, which was why he had kept Shi Li alive. However, he hadn’t treated Shi Li well at all. For example, right now, Shi Li had been tossed into a dirty cell within the Elephant Tribe.

Shi Li sat in a cell that was smeared with excrement and couldn’t help but gag.

Although he had suffered a lot in his previous life when they were wandering everywhere, homeless, he had never before suffered such insult or lived in such a disgusting environment.

Xiang Tian had gone too far!

Shi Li loathed Xiang Tian, and this hate even spread out to Zhou Ji––If it hadn’t been for Zhou Ji, how would he have ended up being caught by Xiang Tian?

Along with his hate, Shi Li sneered once again.

Zhou Ji definitely wouldn’t live for long!

The Giant Tiger Tribe who had captured the Green Hill Tribe was a war-loving tribe. Their favorite thing to do was to invade other tribes and enslave the people of the tribes they had conquered.

The catastrophe that the Big Bear Tribe had encountered in his previous life had been caused by the Giant Tiger Tribe.

After taking over the Green Hill Tribe, they had learned of the existence of the Big Bear Tribe and killed some of the people of the Big Bear Tribe’s salt team.

And then, the salt team had traded for less salt, and it hadn’t been enough for them to use. Xiong Qi and Niu Er had died...

After a period of time, probably around this time, the priest and Xiong He would realize that there wasn’t enough salt in the tribe, so Xiong Ye would take people out to trade for salt. They would also try to find a new source to obtain salt.

At that time, Xiong Ye had been unable to trade for any salt––the Little Brook Tribe had also been taken over by the Giant Tiger Tribe, and the salt team had been unable to find any other tribes to trade with. They had no choice but to return in vain.

They hadn’t managed to trade for salt, but the Giant Tiger Tribe had already begun to make their move. They first drove some powerful dinosaurs towards the Big Bear Tribe, and after many people died, they then launched an attack on them that winter.

The Big Bear Tribe would soon encounter a lot of trouble. Zhou Ji was so weak; he would definitely die sooner or later!