Although Tu Feng was curious, he was more worried about the unknown dangers. He refused directly, saying, "No, I told the priest to take you all back."
Catgrass was a little dejected, but he still listened to Rabbit Wind and didn't mention going to see the tree again.
The group packed their baskets and set off for the outlying tribe. However, the outlying tribe had to postpone their trip to the salt exchange center because of the cliff tribe.
When Fox Tree led the Tree Tribe hunting team leader to meet with other tribes, the Flower Tribe hunting team leader, who had gone to the Cliff Tribe to check on the situation, also happened to return.
"Where is your chieftain?" Xiong Shi looked behind the leader of the Flower Tribe hunting team, but there was no one there. He asked in confusion, "Where are the chieftain of the Cliff Tribe and the leader of the hunting team?"
Feng Yu was pale. At first, everyone thought he was just tired from rushing back. No one expected that Feng Yu was frightened.
"The chieftain stayed in the Cliff Tribe to help their priests deal with the curse..."
curse?
curse!
Fox Tree reacted the fastest, her eyes sharp as knives as she stared at Bee Rain, "You're saying the Cliff Tribe is cursed?"
Bee Rain's face paled even more under Fox Tree's gaze. His mind was now filled with images of the cursed chieftain of the Cliff Tribe, the bruises on his body, and his painful howls.
He couldn't speak at all, he could only nod.
Fox Tree knew Bee Rain was terrified, but she was also panicked and couldn't control her expression. This curse was the curse of the border tribes; every tribe suffered under its torment.
The timing is uncertain, as is the identity of the person cursed.
Cansang asked, "Do you know who is under the curse?"
Cansang's gentle voice eased Fengyu's tense emotions considerably. "He is the chieftain of the Cliff Tribe."
After learning who was cursed, everyone finally understood why the Flower Tribe chief had to stay there. Not only the Flower Tribe chief, but all the other chiefs were also going.
This is the custom of the outlying tribes: if the chief of one tribe dies, the chiefs and priests of the other tribes must also go together to perform a fire sacrifice for him.
Only by burning the bodies of the dead with heavenly fire and offering them as sacrifices to the fire god could their tribes ensure an everlasting supply of fire. However, not all orcs were qualified to offer their bodies to the fire god; only the chieftain and priests of each tribe were eligible.
The need for tribal chiefs and priests to go is a sign of reverence for the fire god.
As the saying goes, "A mountain can be so fast it kills a horse," and the Wood Tribe beastmen plopped down on the ground, panting heavily. The weather was getting hotter, and the beastmen, who were naturally hot-tempered, were all sticking out their tongues from the blazing sun.
This is an instinctive habit when in beast form. Even in human form, beastmen can't help but do this when they feel hot or tired.
"Lu Shui, can you still take it?" Tu Feng looked at the thin level one orc in front of him with some concern. "How about I carry you?"
Lu Shui glanced at the cat grass, then shook his head and said firmly, "I can do it!" After saying that, he picked up his basket and prepared to continue walking.
Catgrass snatched Lu Shui's basket from his back and hugged it to his chest. "Well done! We are orc warriors awakened by priests, we can't let the priests down!"
Lu Shui's face flushed red as the image of his most revered priest appeared in his mind, and he nodded vigorously.
Rabbit Wind smiled and shook his head. "Well, he's an orc warrior personally promoted by the priest."
Lu Shui's orc level was very low, and in principle, he shouldn't have come with them. However, he was the best healer in the medical team besides Tu Dong. Because he spent all his time studying medicine, he had no extra time to train, and his orc level hadn't improved for a long time.
But if it weren't for the deer water along the way, they would probably have died.
Rabbit Wind recalled that a dozen days ago, one of their orc warriors slipped on the slippery mountain and fell all the way down the mountain. When they finally found him, he was in so much pain that he was delirious.
The opponent's right leg was twisted in a strange position, and everyone understood that this leg would remain like this forever, and he would never be able to walk normally again, whether in beast form or human form.
But Lu Shui asked them to prepare thinner pieces of wood and to tear the fish skin into strips and button them together.
After everything was prepared, Lu Shui's hand began to grope back and forth on the other person's twisted leg. A "crack" sound rang out, instantly waking the person from the pain. And the leg that had been twisted actually straightened up.
The wounded orc was sweating profusely from the pain. His cry of agony startled a flock of birds. Once the excruciating pain subsided slightly, he felt a cool sensation on his leg.
After a fracture, apply a cold compress first; it's not winter now, so there's no snow or ice. Luckily, there's a fairly large cave nearby, and the dripping sound of water inside is easily heard by orcs with their keen hearing. A small pond has formed inside, and the water feels icy cold to the touch.
It's perfect for cold compresses.
Lu Shui kept in mind what she had learned and first had the orc with the fractured bone apply cold compresses for two days, and then apply heat to promote blood circulation and reduce swelling.
Finally remembering what Captain Tu Dong had taught her, Lu Shui took off the not-so-cold animal skin cloth and rinsed herself in the water again, calculating the time.
"I need to find some herbs. Could you please apply a cold compress to him? Once the animal skin cloth stops feeling cold, wash it again. After about twenty applications, you won't need the cold compress anymore."
After abandoning the task of applying cold compresses, Lu Shui turned to find herbs. Tu Feng, worried about his safety alone, went with him.
There are countless plants and ferns growing in these mountains, and Lu Shui found most of them in no time.
When they returned, the cold compress had ended for a while. Lu Shui used the wooden board she had prepared to clamp the orc's fractured leg to fix it, and then wrapped the fixed wooden board with strips of fish skin.
After that, he started preparing the medicine, which took a long time and delayed him quite a bit along the way. Fortunately, they had a tinderbox, and even without a tinderbox, Tu Feng could make fire by rubbing sticks together, so they didn't have to worry about not having fire.
Orcs have an extremely strong healing ability; an injured orc can walk slowly on his own by the third day. With daily hot compresses and medicine, and careful care including splinting, the injured orc can now walk normally.
…
Although the basket filled with herbs was being held by Catgrass, lightening Deer Water's burden, his orc level was still too low, and it was early summer, so he was unbearably hot, and his speed quickly decreased again.
"I'll carry you on my back." The tall orc strode forward and pressed down on Lu Shui's thin shoulders.
When Lu Shui turned around, she saw a stern, fierce face.
Seeing Lu Shui shiver unconsciously, the other person turned around, squatted down, and said, "Get on."
Lu Shui's gaze fell on the splint on the other person's leg, and she hesitated, saying, "No, you still have an injury on your leg..."
"It's all healed now." After saying that, the other person removed the splint, afraid that Lu Shui wouldn't believe him, and got up to move his previously injured leg. "It's been healed for a while. I listened to you and didn't remove it before."
Lu Shui squatted down to examine it carefully, pressing on the joints from time to time, asking after each press, "How does it feel?"
After receiving answers to all questions, Lu Shui re-secured the splint, saying, "It needs to rest for a while longer. Don't overdo it, or it won't be able to run around in the future."
Tigerwood had no choice but to nod. For an orc warrior to be unable to run was no different than having a broken leg.
When he first fell off the mountain and lost consciousness, that's what his legs looked like. At that moment, he felt utterly hopeless, knowing he would never be able to walk normally again, let alone run…
Now, his leg can not only walk normally, but after it heals, it will be just like before the injury. Tigerwood is full of gratitude to Deerwater, and also to their priest.
If the priest hadn't taught Tu Dong medical skills and established a medical team, bringing Lu Shui along, he would have lost his leg.
Rabbit Wind tossed the basket on his back to Tiger Wood, who was standing ramrod straight. He patted his back and said to Deer Water, "Get on."
This time, Lu Shui didn't refuse. He felt that if he continued walking, he would faint.
Rabbit Wind carried Deer Water on his back and walked steadily forward. "Before each hunting trip or battle, the priest would say a sentence to us."
"What did you say?" Lu Shui asked curiously when Tu Feng didn't continue.
"Do your best, and come back alive. If you die, you can't do anything."
Lu Shui's heart skipped a beat. After understanding the meaning of those words, he felt a little embarrassed. He had previously refused Tu Feng's help despite his physical limitations...
He whispered, "I won't do it again."
Catgrass was standing close by, and Rabbit Wind hadn't bothered to lower his voice, so he blushed slightly and lowered his head, remaining silent. He had just encouraged Deer Water to disregard her own health and go with him…
Rabbit Wind nodded in satisfaction; at least they were all obedient now.
They finally reached the tribe they had seen earlier, only to be attacked by the tribe's orcs. The orc warriors of the Wood Tribe, after being attacked, reflexively retaliated.
Because the orcs of the Wood Tribe were all of higher level than the orcs of the small tribes on the edge of the tribe, they didn't use much force and even subconsciously held back, but they still easily knocked them all down.
It was precisely because they were of such high level that the orcs of this tribe mistook them for attackers and, in order to protect their tribe, launched an attack without hesitation.
Moth Leaf, a member of the Flower Tribe's gathering team, saw that their guards and hunting party's orc warriors had been injured by suddenly appearing high-level orcs. He transformed into his beast form, preparing to secretly fly to the Cliff Tribe to find their chieftain and priest.
Because the Moth Leaf Beastmen were of low level and small in size after transforming, and because they were extremely familiar with the tribe's terrain, they managed to fly out of the tribe without attracting the attention of the higher-level beastmen who were attacking their Flower Tribe.
The Wood Tribe orcs used measured force, not truly killing him. Seeing the fallen and sprawled figures on the ground, Rabbit Wind said somewhat guiltily, "I came to discuss the salt stone trade with you..."
"Ha, you think we'd believe that!" The orc lying on the ground clutched his chest and glared angrily, "You knew we didn't have any salt stones, so you lied to us, didn't you!"
Feeling the fierce looks in the eyes of these orcs, Tu Feng shook his head helplessly. If it were him, he wouldn't believe that the person who injured all the orc warriors in his tribe was actually trying to trade salt with his tribe.
But it was clearly the orcs from this tribe who suddenly attacked them! Rabbit Wind rubbed his temples; this was a gesture he'd learned from the priest, who would do it whenever he was upset. The priest said it helped relieve his anxiety, and Rabbit Wind had tried it before without noticing any difference.
Today, his subconscious action actually made his head feel less painful. It turns out he wasn't useless before; he just wasn't really bothered back then.
This matter was originally very simple. He only needed to say one sentence: "The salt stone trade of the Salt Department will be taken over by the Wood Tribe from now on. The surrounding tribes can now go to the former Salt Department location to trade salt stones."
Now... after being glared at fiercely by those wounded orcs again, Rabbit Wind decided to first go see their tribe's priest or chieftain and explain things properly.
After all, whatever he says now will be misinterpreted by these orcs.
Not wanting to get too close and make the orcs even more wary, Rabbit Wind took a few steps back, stood still, and pointed at the orc with the least serious injury.
Because there was some distance between them, he was afraid the other person wouldn't hear him, so he spoke much louder, "Go and call your priest or clan chief out. I have something to say to them."
Then, the group from the Wood Tribe received an even fiercer glare.
Rabbit Wind was unaware that his actions were perceived by the Flower Tribe beastmen as a loud shouting demanding that they hand over the priest and chieftain.
The orc warriors of the Flower Tribe would rather die than hand over the priest and chieftain!
At the same time, they were also relieved that their priests and chieftains were not in the tribe, so even if these high-level orcs stormed into the tribe, they would not be able to find them.
However, they couldn't appear to be acting as if their priest and chieftain were absent from the tribe, so the orcs of the Flower Tribe began shouting, "You'll have to kill us to get our priest and chieftain!"
"right!"
"Unless you kill us!"
Listening to the orcs' high-spirited shouts, Tu Feng looked bewildered. This tribe was really strange. Why did they want to kill their priest and chieftain?
Tu Feng sighed and said to the Wood Tribe orc beside him, "How about we notify another tribe instead?"
The beastmen of the Wood Tribe deeply agreed and nodded in agreement. So the group prepared to leave, but they had not gone far when a giant butterfly blocked their path.
The butterfly's enormous wings blocked out the sun, and its infinitely magnified body was terrifying to behold. When those sun-obscuring wings flapped, they shook off a powdery substance resembling thick fog.
Rabbit Wind instinctively backed away, just in time to hear Deer Water shout, "Quickly cover your nose and mouth!"
The Wood Tribe beastmen, needing to fight, couldn't cover their mouths and noses, but they held their breath and quickly transformed.
The beast-like form, several times larger than the humanoid, could smell the air above that hadn't yet been contaminated by the powder. Rabbit Wind took a deep breath and moved swiftly, rushing towards the giant butterfly.
Knowing he couldn't defeat these orcs, Butterfly Flower could only quickly shake off the pollen from his wings. The orcs of the Wood Tribe quickly dispersed, surrounding Butterfly Flower. Whenever he shook off a large amount of pollen, they would run to the side, and then rush back as soon as the pollen dissipated.
Pollen is finite, and the Butterfly Flower's pollen was almost depleted, soon it could no longer be shaken off. The dense, fog-like pollen grew thinner and thinner, and the Wood Tribe beastmen noticed the Butterfly Flower's situation. They stopped fighting a war of attrition and launched a full-scale attack.
When Tu Feng knocked the butterfly beastman unconscious, he silently thought to himself, "The priest is really amazing. The 'tactics' he taught the hunting team are really effective!"
Worried about his people, when Butterfly Flower heard from Moth Leaf in the Cliff Tribe that a group of high-level orc warriors he had never seen before were attacking the Flower Tribe, he immediately transformed into human form and flew towards the tribe at full speed.
Dragonfly, the leader of the Flower Tribe hunting team, was of a lower level than him and couldn't fly as fast. By the time Dragonfly arrived, he saw their chieftain had been knocked unconscious.