One bite, and blood splattered all over my mouth.
But they ate very happily, as if it were delicious.
Watching the children devour their food, accompanied by the rumbling of their hungry stomachs, the elderly gradually began to painstakingly gnaw on the meat.
Upon tasting the fresh meat, one can't help but sigh, "It's so good to have a priest."
When they were gathering materials, Tu Dong told them that the priest had been summoned from the side of the Beast God.
The priest beside the Beast God might be able to lead the Wood Tribe back to the Beast City.
Shen Nong hadn't seen the Mu tribe people eat meat, and he was still a little unaccustomed to it. Estimating that his meat was almost cooked, he used a branch to pull the clump of mud out of the fire.
Holding a stone in one hand, he slowly chipped away at the hardened mud, much to the surprise of the Wood Tribe members who were wondering why the priest was suddenly playing with mud.
When the unique aroma of Konoha mingled with the smell of meat and wafted out, they suddenly found themselves unable to swallow the delicious meat in their hands.
Shen Nong's meat is already very tender, and after being braised and roasted, it becomes even more tender and juicy.
Salt was added to the mud, allowing the saltiness to permeate the meat, which also imparted a fresh, grassy aroma, thus neutralizing the greasiness of the meat.
I tore off a piece of meat and put it in my mouth. Although it only had a slightly salty taste, the meat was tender and edible.
What is merely "edible" meat in Shennong is a rare delicacy among the Mu tribe.
"Priest, it smells so good."
"Priest, please teach me how to play with mud."
The people of the Mu tribe were almost overwhelmed by the aroma of the meat in Shen Nong's hands; they had never seen it eaten this way before. They also had no idea that meat wrapped in mud could smell so delicious.
Fearing they would drool, Shen Nong had no choice but to use another piece of meat as a demonstration.
For a time, some were pulling leaves from the trees, others were digging in the soil, all so busy that their feet barely touched the ground, their minds filled with thoughts of delicious meat.
They completely forgot that they had two other members of their tribe in another tribe.
...
Ze tribe.
"Priest, the 'Divine Blood' has been returned by the Wood Tribe."
In the dimly lit cave, the old man sat cross-legged on an animal skin.
His exposed skin was dry and withered, like tree bark. A chilling glint flashed in his cloudy eyes upon hearing the report.
"It's good that you're back."
He had already prepared to give up on the "divine blood." Unexpectedly, the Beast God showed him favor, and the "divine blood" was sent back.
The old man asked with some unease, "Did the Wood Tribe find anything?"
"No, they just thought they were members of their tribe who had been kidnapped by cannibals."
The visitor paused for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "However, when 'Divine Blood' was taken away, she whispered something in their ears. The voice was too soft for us to hear."
Before the old priest could even utter a simple "I understand," a panicked cry erupted from outside: "Cannibals! The cannibals are here again!"
"Let them come, what are we afraid of!"
The old priest already held a grudge against the cannibals for taking advantage of the chaos to hunt away the "divine blood" last time.
He didn't go looking for trouble with the cannibals, but they came to him of their own accord.
"But the cannibal priests have also arrived!"
"What!"
"Quickly, tell the people to hide!" The old priest was so frightened that he jumped up from the animal skin, grabbing his staff in his haste.
He was still uneasy after thinking it over and over. He was afraid that the secret of the "divine blood" would be exposed, so he still wanted to eliminate the threat completely.
The old priest shouted as he ran, "Tie both 'Divine Blood' and the two from the Wood Tribe to the cave!"
"What if the Namu tribe doesn't go back and comes looking for them?"
The old priest cursed them as fools, "What's the point of searching? Just say they were captured and eaten by cannibals. Tell them to go find the cannibals."
The old priest was certain that the dead would be unable to provide any evidence, and the Wood Tribe would never go to the cannibals to find out about this matter.
Cannibals are terrifying not because they eat people.
What's terrifying is that their priests possess the power to suppress the bloodline of orcs.
The current priest of the cannibal tribe, Wuming, possesses terrifying abilities, capable of absolutely suppressing orc warriors below level six.
As long as he is there, orc warriors below level six cannot transform into human form.
This is why the Ze tribe's most important possessions were hunted away by cannibals, leaving them helpless and even prepared to give up.
The Ze tribe has no orc warriors above level six.
If they were to confront the cannibals head-on, the only outcome would be the destruction of the Ze tribe.
While hiding, the old priest was somewhat exasperated. "Why are these cannibals picking on our Ze tribe? Their priest even came! Have we ever offended them?"
Even when hunting, you can't always just go down the same rabbit hole.
Even the priests didn't know the reason, let alone the rest of the Ze tribe.
They dared not say anything, and simply fled with the priest.
On the other side, among the cannibals, Wuming watched the Ze tribe members fleeing in all directions and asked the tribesmen beside him, "Are you sure the two lone members of the Mu tribe are here?"
The tribesman nodded. "Yes, we followed them the whole way. They brought back the game from the Ze tribe."
"Priest, they're over there!"
Yang Lei and Yang Dian knew that the cannibal priest had come to the Ze tribe to hunt. They were just sending someone back, but they never expected to encounter such an unexpected disaster.
Unable to defeat them in a fight, they could only follow the Ze tribe and hide in the so-called underground caves.
They never imagined that the cannibalistic priest had come specifically for the two of them.
Wuming had two black stripes on his face, starting from the sides of his forehead, passing his eyes, and extending downwards. They spread out to both sides of his chest, running along the inside of his arms and stopping at his palms.
The black stripes trembled slightly, and Yang Lei felt as if the blood in his body was congealing.
So this is what bloodline suppression is all about.
Yang Lei and Yang Dian knew they couldn't escape this calamity, but they didn't just lie down and wait to die. After exchanging a glance, the two launched an attack.
Even if they die, it can only be as if they die in battle.
The Ze tribe people, who were originally going to lock Yang Lei and Yang Dian in the underground cave, saw this scene and, no longer caring about the priest's orders, ran away as fast as they could.
I was so scared I almost lost my soul.
For Yang Lei and Yang Dian, this was a battle they fought with all their might; for the cannibals, it was a one-sided beating.
The stone grass pierced through the flesh and stirred, making a "sizzling" sound.
Yang Lei clutched his leg and screamed in agony, but the cannibals did not let him go. Shi Mao went deeper again, stopping just as he touched the bone.
A sharp stone was shot into Yang Dian's arm, and he was pinned to the ground, unable to move. The stone was forcibly pushed in.
The two were covered in wounds and barely hanging on.
Wuming then released his suppression and looked down at the two of them. "Your priest injured one of my people's arms, so I have no choice but to make you pay tenfold. I'll spare your lives, but go back and tell your priest that cannibals are not people he can mess with."
Yang Lei and Yang Dian completely lost consciousness and could not recall the other cannibals to prepare to return to their tribe.
"Priest, why don't we just attack the Wood Tribe directly? Why are we bothering these two isolated individuals?"
Wuming did not answer, but instead opened his palm and looked at the thing he had taken from the injured tribesman's shoulder.
His bloodline suppression gave him an extremely strong premonition; the moment he saw this thing, he knew it was dangerous.
The priest who suddenly appeared in the Wood Tribe was an unfathomable person.
He cannot risk going to the Wood Tribe.
But these cannibals are the only ones here that no one dares to mess with except the Salt Tribe.
His people were actually injured by a tribe so weak that he wouldn't even bother to eat them.
If Wuming doesn't return it, then he is not Wuming.
The footsteps above faded into the distance, and the boy in the cave broke free of the vines binding his hands and feet, slowly crawling out of the cave.
A strong smell of blood wafted from the cave entrance. He poked his head out and stared expressionlessly at Yang Lei and Yang Dian lying on the ground.
At this time, everyone in the Ze tribe was still hiding, so he could simply escape and never come back.
But where could he escape to? The boy fell into deep thought.
"priest.."
Yang Lei's indistinct murmurs seemed to awaken the boy. He touched his forehead, where he felt a warm sensation.
The Wood Tribe, the priests of the Wood Tribe.
The boy, with his thin shoulders, hoisted Yang Lei and Yang Dian onto his back and strode towards the Wood Tribe.
——
After a hearty meal, Shen Nong set three skills for the second task for the Mu tribe: one was to teach pottery making, and the other was to teach how to make fire by friction.
He was going to use pottery anyway, and he only tried making fire by rubbing sticks together himself; the people of the Wood Tribe didn't know how at all.
Shen Nong exploited a loophole, intending to make the system suffer a silent loss as well.
Before going hunting, Shen Nong had someone dig up the soil they needed, although some of it was used when eating the meat.
However, compared to the total amount, those are just a drop in the ocean.
The soil dug from the riverbank was wetter than ordinary soil, and Shen Nong selected the ones with a lower sand content for reuse.
Then they had someone dig a pit and line it with leaves that were half a person tall.
Shen Nong wove a large basket from soft branches, filled it with soil, and began to wash the soil.
The hearth is not far from the water, making it easy to fetch water.
Muddy water flowed continuously into the pit and settled.
After some of the water in the mud evaporates, the mud becomes more viscous.