Shen Nong and Ze were seated in her treehouse by the tree fruit. To be honest, Shen Nong was a little afraid to move, afraid of falling. The treehouse really looked like a dilapidated building.
Tree Fruit knew that the priests from the other five tribes would arrive soon. She looked at the Wood Tribe priest sitting opposite her and nervously swallowed.
Since she had to say something anyway, Shuguo gritted her teeth and told Shen Nong that she wanted him to see if there was anything from the other tribes that she liked.
Since Shuguo came up to the treehouse, his expression and behavior have been a bit off. Shen Nong thought something was wrong, so he nodded and said, "Okay."
The priest of the Creek Tribe arrived the fastest; he had originally intended to climb up the treehouse. Shen Nong was genuinely afraid that if there were too many people, the treehouse would collapse. He quickly climbed down and said he would watch from below.
As the large leaf in the hands of the priest of the Creek Tribe slowly unfolded, it revealed the grayish-white stone inside.
The priests and tree fruit of the Creek tribe watched as Shen Nong picked up a stone, examined it for a while, then put it down, then picked up another and put it down again. She kept picking up and putting down stones, examining each one without saying a word. This made the two priests standing to the side very anxious.
When Shen Nong first saw the stone, it seemed somewhat familiar. After spending some infrastructure points to have the system examine it carefully, she confirmed that it was porcelain stone. Both porcelain stone and porcelain clay are used to make porcelain, but porcelain stone has a lower sintering and vitrification temperature than porcelain clay.
Shen Nong put down the porcelain stone in her hand, not wanting the priest to be worried for too long. After getting a definite conclusion, she said that the stone was useful and could be exchanged.
The priest of the Stream Tribe was overjoyed. After agreeing on the specific transaction amount, he didn't stay in the Tree Tribe for a moment and rushed back to the Stream Tribe to gather the orcs to mine stones.
Of the remaining four tribes, only the Cliff Tribe's items were included in the trading tribes by the Wood Tribe.
After the Cliff Tribe saw that the Tree Tribe's giant panda had been taken by the Wood Tribe, they remembered that their tribe also had earth fruits that could feed the orcs. However, these fruits didn't keep well; they would spoil within a few days of being dug up from the ground.
Shen Nong glanced at it and realized that the fruit from the cliff tribe was just a sweet potato!
Sweet potatoes are not easy to store, but they can be made into noodles. Five pounds of sweet potatoes yield one pound of sweet potato starch, and one pound of sweet potato starch yields nine ounces of noodles. Shen Nong bought all the sweet potatoes from the Cliff Tribe, totaling more than six thousand pounds. After saving the seeds, Shen Nong planned to make all the remaining sweet potatoes into noodles. When winter came, the beastmen would add a handful of noodles to their stews, which would make for a delicious meal.
Shen Nong landed in the Tree Tribe because he noticed that the Nine Border Tribes were subtly led by the Tree Tribe, and the Tree Tribe was the closest to them. After examining the items brought by the five tribes, he asked Tree Fruit to find an orc to take him to the Stone Tribe.
His main purpose in coming here was to trade jade with the Stone Tribe and sell it to the system so he could accumulate infrastructure points to buy cotton seeds.
Before Shen Nong could even go looking for them, the guards' orcs came to report that the Stone Tribe's priest and chieftain were outside. Actually, the Stone Tribe's priest had arrived long ago, but had been waiting outside the Tree Tribe. Only after seeing that the priests of the other tribes had all left did he dare send the guards to report, fearing he might disrupt the trade between the other tribes and the Wood Tribe.
Chapter 95
trade
The Stone Tribe brought a considerable amount of jadeite, and the system assessed its quality as top-notch. However, they didn't have the Dragon Jadeite they brought the first time. They did have much more of the other types, such as Glass Jadeite, than last time. Selling them to the system for 30,000 infrastructure points per kilogram would bring in a substantial amount.
Moreover, he kept some for his own collection last time, but he doesn't plan to keep any this time. He'll sell them all to the system, which will definitely buy a lot of cotton seeds.
"Wood Tribe Priest, how about taking a look at this glowing stone? Is it worth trading?" After confirming the jade trade, the Stone Tribe Priest took out a palm-sized golden stone from his animal skin bag.
As soon as Shen Nong looked over, the system started screaming in his mind, "[Gold! 25,000 infrastructure points per kilogram, host, collect it quickly!]"
Seeing the system's strange attitude, Shen Nong couldn't help but sigh. Even dragon-grade jadeite wasn't this excited. The treatment of "hard currency" is indeed different.
"What, are you short of gold?" Shen Nong asked casually.
The system emitted a strange cry, as if it wanted to say something but then forcibly shut up: "No! Who said our system is short of gold!"
The system then somewhat awkwardly emphasized, "Even if there were, I would have offered the highest price. Host, you can't raise the price arbitrarily!"
Shen Nong was amused by the system's alarmed reaction. "Alright, I didn't say anything. Let's just accept this price."
In this transaction, the Stone Tribe took half of the goods brought by the Wood Tribe, while the remaining half was divided among the other tribes.
The Stone Tribe priest, returning to his tribe with his belongings, gazed at the piles of animal hides, pottery, and cured meat that filled the village, and pondered for a long time. Their green stones were difficult to find, but they had a cave full of golden stones.
He remembered the wooden houses of the Mu tribe. After staying there once, he felt uncomfortable staying in his own tribe's caves whenever he returned. So the next morning, he went to find Shen Nong again.
"You said you'd use a cave full of gold stones to exchange for our Wood Tribe to build houses, pave roads, and repair city walls for the Stone Tribe?" Shen Nong confirmed.
The Stone Tribe priest nodded. "I just don't know if the gold stones in the cave are enough. If not, we can build houses..."
The Stone Tribe priest's voice grew softer and softer; he wasn't really sure if the Wood Tribe would be willing to build wooden houses for their tribe in exchange for those golden stones.
After all, this golden stone is only somewhat pretty; otherwise, it's useless. In the end, it's just a stone that can neither keep you warm nor fill your stomach.
Although the wooden houses in the Wood Tribe aren't as cool as caves in the summer, they're clean, beautiful, and especially bright during the day. In winter, with a fire burning inside, it must be very warm. Imagine lying on a bed covered with layers of dry grass and animal hides—it sounds wonderful!
There's no reason to think you can have too much gold, so he took Ze and followed the priest of the Stone Tribe to the cave where the Stone Tribe stored the gold.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that this was not a cave at all, but a gold mine.
As soon as he arrived, the system started screaming incessantly in his mind, indicating that the gold mine was quite large.
The priest of the Stone Tribe asked somewhat nervously, "Priest of the Wood Tribe, how many things do you think these gold stones are enough to make?"
This gold mine is quite large, and Shen Nong wouldn't really try to rip people off. However, in the Beast World, no one but him would want this gold. So he said, "If we trade all of this outside the cave, we can do everything you mentioned. The wooden house can be replaced with a better brick house, and we'll furnish it all for you."
"W-what do you mean?" The Stone Tribe priest asked, puzzled. "There are gold stones in this cave?"
Shen Nong nodded, "Yes, it's quite big if you dig deeper. It's just very difficult to dig without tools. A level seven orc warrior can dig it open with all his might, but it's extremely dangerous and could lead to a collapse and death."
The Stone Tribe priest, his mind clouded by joy, instantly cleared. Knowing the danger of the cave collapsing, he quickly shook his head, abandoning the idea of mining. Moreover, their outlying nine tribes had hardly any level four orc warriors, let alone level seven ones.
Shen Nong discussed with the system that, in order to avoid causing panic, the gold could not be allowed to disappear into thin air. It needed to be transported to the Wood Tribe before it could be added to the system.
The cooked duck was right in front of its mouth, but it could only be looked at and not eaten, making the system code tremble with craving. However, what the host said made sense, so it was best to wait.
After speaking with the system, Shen Nong asked, "Have you thought it through? If you have, I'll send someone back to the Mu tribe to fetch people. There's still some time before winter, so I'll try my best to get it built for you before winter."
The priest of the Stone Tribe lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought. Afraid of offending someone by remaining silent, he said, "We'd rather not have brick houses, just wooden ones. But... could you also build wooden houses for the other tribes?"
Shen Nong looked at them with some surprise; these nine outlying tribes were indeed of one mind. He didn't refuse and nodded in agreement. To ensure safety, considering the amount of gold that could be mined from the cave, having all nine tribes build wooden houses wouldn't actually be profitable for Shen Nong. Moreover, the Stone Tribe would also need to pave roads and build walls within their tribe.
However, if you add up all the infrastructure points from selling all the jade and gold in this transaction to the system, it would be enough to buy cotton seeds for forty acres of land.
If the system only considers the weight after refining, not the weight of gold, the cotton seeds could double in value.
The gold mining in the cave would take several more days. Shen Nong originally planned to wait in the outlying tribe, but he received a message on the system platform from Shen Er in the coastal tribe.
A small coastal tribe and a large tribe have started fighting.
[They've suffered heavy casualties and are pleading for help. Priest, should we offer our assistance?]
After reading the message, Shen Nong recalled what Bao Qiu had told him about encountering a large local tribe preventing smaller surrounding tribes from trading with them.
There must be something wrong here, and Shen Nong wanted to figure it out.
[Help. But we don't have many men left in the coastal tribes. Don't engage in direct combat; the military guards can't get there in time. Capture the leader first; find a way to subdue the priest and chieftain of the major tribes. Ze and I will head over now.]
Yes, priest.
Shen Nong left another message for Shen San, informing him that he had replaced all the baskets filled with gold and jade with cotton seeds. He instructed Shen San to take good care of the goods upon receipt and also told him about the Stone Tribe, as well as the arrangements for sending members of the Wood Tribe to build wooden houses and transport the remaining gold.
After leaving the message, Shen Nong began packing her things. "Ze, we need to go to the seaside tribe as soon as possible. Can you call the orc in charge of the Feather Tribe for me? I have something to say to him."
Before long, Ze brought the person over.
Shen Nong said directly, "Take your belongings back to the Mu tribe and hand them over to Shen San. Shen San will tell you what to do next."
The incident happened suddenly. Shen Nong wanted to say goodbye to the priest of the Tree Tribe, so she went to the treehouse under the tree fruit tree, only to find that the priest was not there. The Tree Tribe beastman guarding below said, "The priest went to the sacred tree. I will take the Wood Tribe priest with you there."
Shen Nong and Ze followed the orc deeper into the Tree Tribe. Along the way, Shen Nong felt that the supernatural power stored in her spiritual core was restless, as if it were being attracted by something.
Ze took Shen Nong's hand, and a wisp of golden light emanated from his palm. The golden light smoothed out the movement of Shen Nong's spiritual core. He looked at Ze and smiled slightly, saying softly, "I'm fine."
Ze responded, but did not let go. Golden light, like threads, surrounded their tightly clasped hands, lingering there for a long time.
Shen Nong didn't want Ze to worry, so she didn't say anything more.
After following the orcs of the Tree Tribe for a while, the two arrived at a huge ancient tree. The ancient tree was towering, at least a thousand years old, with branches extending dozens of meters, forming a lush forest.
Shen Nong looked at the tall, lush tree canopy, where faint fireflies twinkled like stars, yet they were not fireflies.
He was very familiar with this light. It was the light emanating from the materialized form of wood-type supernatural energy.
Upon seeing Shen Nong arrive, Shuguo quickly stood up to greet her, "What brings you here so late, Priest of the Wood Tribe?"
Shen Nong nodded and replied, "I have urgent business to attend to and need to leave first. The other beastmen will need to stay at the Tree Tribe for another night. I'll also trouble you to tell the Stone Tribe priest that I've made arrangements and the Wood Tribe will send someone over in ten days at most."
Without asking what the Wood Tribe and the Stone Tribe had agreed on, Tree Fruit beckoned to the Tree Tribe beastmen beside her and smiled at Shen Nong, "I'll send a beastman to tell them right now."
Shen Nong nodded, glancing again at the glowing tree as she turned. The tree fruit noticed her gaze and looked back as well, exclaiming, "The divine tree is responding!"
And this time, the light wasn't fleeting; it lasted. The tree fruit had no intention of saying anything more to Shen Nong; it simply gazed devoutly at the sacred tree.
Shen Nong wasn't particularly surprised by the energy emanating from the ancient tree. A thousand-year-old tree absorbing the essence of heaven and earth would naturally accumulate energy. However, he hadn't expected that the tree tribe priest could also see the light of wood-type abilities. Could it be that the dormant spiritual core in the tree tribe priest's mind was also a wood-type spiritual core?
At this moment, Shen Nong had no interest in finding the answer to the question. Seeing that the orc who led him and Ze were also looking at the ancient tree with a devout expression, Shen Nong did not disturb them. He took Ze's hand and they returned the way they came.
The two walked to an open space, and Ze spread his wings and picked Shen Nong up in his arms. Shen Nong wrapped his arms around Ze's neck, and in the golden light, he could see Ze's face clearly. He raised his hand to smooth Ze's furrowed brows and asked, "Is something on your mind?"
Ze flapped his wings and flew into the sky, his deep voice carrying the sound of the wind, "When I went to catch chickens in the spring, I also saw a tree in the mountains that looked just like this one. It felt very familiar at the time, and now that I think about it, it seems to have the same aura as the priest. This one is the same."
Shen Nong chuckled softly, as if something had happened. "Do you know that all things have a spirit?"
That night, Shen Nong gave directions while explaining the matter of spirit cores to Ze. However, he didn't mention that he had transmigrated, only saying that his ability to manipulate trees and vines and heal injuries was due to his ability to absorb wood-type energy from heaven and earth.
“Those ancient trees have lived for a long time, and they have accumulated a lot of spiritual energy. They are from the same source as my wood-type ability, so you feel familiar with them.” Shen Nong suddenly remembered that Ze had seen the spirit core. “This energy is stored in the spirit core, which is a crystal. In the Wushan tribe, the fire that Mu Qi suddenly released was a fire-type ability. The red crystal core he was holding was a fire-type ability crystal core.”
After hearing the explanation, Ze still felt a strange, inexplicable worry. Shen Nong looked at Ze's profile in the light and knew that his emotions were not stable. Shen Nong pressed her cheek against Ze's chest, thinking that Ze's sudden and inexplicable emotions were exactly the same as when she asked him before whether he would participate in the clan leader's competition.
Chapter 96
Sea Tribe
Among the various tribes along the coast, the Fish Tribe is the weakest. Therefore, the Fish Tribe is located very close to the sea. Those tribes slightly further from the coast are all stronger than the Fish Tribe; the strongest tribe here, the "Sea Tribe," is located in the mountains.
Because they live so close to the sea, the entire Yu tribe lives in constant fear whenever it rains or the wind blows. They dread that one day the rain will be too heavy, the waves too strong, and the tide will wash their village away.
However, precisely because they were close to the sea, the Fish Tribe could see the beastmen from other tribes catching a lot of fish every time they went out to sea. They watched from afar and calculated that the amount of fish the other tribes caught in a day was enough to feed all the beastmen in their Fish Tribe for many days.
Although the visiting tribes had no shortage of meat, according to the observations of the fish tribe beastmen, they had never seen the visiting tribe beastmen fetch water from the mountain streams, yet the visiting tribes seemed to have no shortage of water at all.
The fish tribe priest suspected that the water this outsider tribe drank was seawater, and that drinking seawater for a long time would harm their health.
Other smaller tribes also noticed that while the newcomer tribe had plenty of food, they lacked water.
The Sea Tribe controls the only drinkable stream, and all the tribes along the coast have to get their water from the Sea Tribe.
As the weather grew hotter, the Sea Tribe began to control the number of times each tribe could fetch water from the mountain stream. Based on the tribes' capabilities, the Fish Tribe could only fetch water once a day, and the amount could not exceed three stone pots' worth.
The orcs of the Fish Tribe, suffering from extreme water scarcity, were unable to fish in the sea or hunt in the mountains, leaving them parched and starving. This situation wasn't unique to the Fish Tribe; other smaller tribes faced the same predicament, possessing at least one stone pot's worth of water, and at most three. Consequently, orcs from these smaller tribes died of thirst and hunger every season.
When visiting tribes offered to provide them with food and lodging, the hungry tribes were tempted.
With meat from foreign tribes to eat and water from sea tribes to drink, wouldn't they be able to survive even more orcs?