Cat Cloud nodded in satisfaction; this was truly a mighty and majestic orc warrior.
Not that silly tiger, Hu Xiao.
Cat Cloud sat down again, picked up the branch with the meat stuck in it, and took a bite of the meat.
Tu Feng swallowed the meat in his mouth and asked, "Where is Zeta going so late? What were you two talking about so mysteriously just now?"
Tiger Roar kicked Rabbit Wind's calf, giving him a knowing look.
"He went to pee, didn't he? I don't take a torch when I go out to pee at night." He chewed on meat, his words slurred. "Cat Cloud must have told him that without a torch, he wouldn't be able to see where he was going and would trip and fall."
Rabbit Wind thought it made sense, and he would do the same.
Tiger Roar chewed on his meat, his voice muffled but still audible. He asked Cat Cloud with a serious expression, "Cat Cloud, have you fallen before? Otherwise, how would you know to remind Ze?"
Cat Cloud, who was choking on the meat and was about to drink some meat broth to calm down, rolled its eyes helplessly when it heard Tiger's roar.
But what could she possibly argue with a silly tiger?
Sometimes even the priests were helpless against his stupidity.
However, Maoyun still had to answer Huxiao's question, otherwise he would keep asking, "I've never fallen before, and I won't fall in the future."
Tiger Roar's face clearly showed "why," and Cat Cloud's alarm bells went off. Before Tiger Roar could speak, Cat Cloud stopped him from asking, "Because a sharp orc warrior would never trip over a stone in the dark!"
And he said mercilessly, "Tiger Roar, you're not perceptive enough."
Knowing his lack of awareness, Tiger Roar was ashamed and even the meat in the pot didn't taste appetizing anymore. He was reflecting on how, as the priest's most valued orc warrior, he couldn't possibly be so insensitive!
After checking several places where the sounds were coming from, and finding no prey as instructed by the priest, they returned.
Seeing that Hu Xiao looked worried and was eating much slower, and noticing that there wasn't much meat left in his pot, he assumed that Hu Xiao had finished all the meat but wasn't full, hence his worry.
So he put some of his own meat into his earthenware pot.
Hu Xiao was startled when he heard a "plop" sound from the earthenware pot, and stared at Ze in disbelief.
Oh no! He's so oblivious! Ze had already put the meat in his pot before he even noticed!
Seeing that Hu Xiao's expression finally changed, although it was still a bit strange, it was no longer as worried as before.
Ze said to Hu Xiao, "Eat your fill, get a good night's sleep, and tomorrow we'll venture deeper into the mountains to find prey."
Hu Xiao's mind was racing, and he was already imagining Shen Nong discovering that he wasn't perceptive enough and wanting to remove him from the hunting team.
He was lost in his dejection. "I understand..."
——
As night deepened, Ze, draped in animal skins, sat by the fire to keep watch.
He would occasionally throw in some branches, or gently pry the bottom with a branch to let some air in and prevent the fire from going out.
The others lay down around the fire, covering themselves with animal skins.
Awakened orcs are naturally warm, although as they age, their bloodline may become dormant, making them less resistant to cold compared to unawakened orcs.
However, the hunting team members were fed well by Shen Nong and trained all day long, so their physical fitness was excellent.
Even in this early spring, when the nights still retain a hint of winter's chill, they can bear it.
Shen Nong, who lives in the tribe, is having trouble sleeping tonight.
He usually sleeps very well, but he has a bad habit of being picky about his bed.
Shen Nong's unfamiliarity with her bed is not just about the place she sleeps in, but also about everything that exists in that place.
Those who end up in his bed are all people he's extremely satisfied with. So he can quickly accept having many things on his bed.
But if there's too little, he'll be so anxious he can't sleep for days.
Nothing had changed in his bed today, except that a furry little leopard cub was missing from his pillow.
Shen Nong forced herself to close her eyes even when she couldn't sleep, hoping that she would fall asleep eventually.
But when he subconsciously reached out to touch the furry thing, he realized it wasn't there, and his mind cleared up again.
In the darkness, Shen Nong sighed softly, vowing never to let Ze spend the night outside again.
He never imagined that he could adapt to not choosing this option for a period of time.
However, for Tuanzi, the frightening orc was not around today, and it was sleeping soundly with snot bubbles coming out of its nose, feeling incredibly happy.
Chapter 36 Little Fat Sheep
Give it a tug, and it'll blow away.
As the sun rises, the rolling mountains are tinged with a golden hue.
The stream in the forest babbled and tinkled, its sound even more crisp when mixed with the clattering of broken ice.
As dawn broke, the hunting party began to cook the meat. After finishing a pot of hot broth, they quickly packed up and headed deep into the forest to search for their prey.
The snowfield deep inside was different from the outside, with many more animal footprints.
Carefully examine the tracks to find the hoofprints of the cows and sheep.
In order to bring back the prey as quickly as possible, the hunting party split into two teams, with Tiger Roar and Ze each leading their own team.
Ze led his men to the left to find the cattle herd, while Huxiao led his men to the front to find the sheep herd.
With the arrival of spring, the animals in the forest begin to come out and move around, leaving many messy footprints in the snow.
Halfway through the search, they discovered footprints resembling bamboo leaves. These footprints stretched forward, heading in the opposite direction from the herd of cattle. He instructed Maoyun to continue following the cattle hoofprints while he followed the bamboo leaf-shaped footprints to investigate.
They were split into two teams. Tiger Roar's team went smoothly, following the tracks and discovering a wide meadow hidden in the forest.
The white clumps gathered in small groups on the grass. Tiger Roar breathed a sigh of relief; he had finally found them.
I wanted to reach it quickly while the goat wasn't looking, but there were many bushes around, and they were all thorny.
When they passed through, the animal hides would get caught, affecting their pursuit speed.
The animals that can survive in this forest are all extremely perceptive.
The lead sheep, which had been leisurely foraging for food with its head down, sensed something amiss and its gaze immediately locked onto Tiger Roar and his group, who were about to cross the bushes.
"Baa!"
A long, powerful bleat from a sheep quickly brought the scattered flock together. Animals are extremely perceptive of danger, and seemingly knowing they were no match for the beastmen, they turned and ran.
Tiger Roar, fearing that the herd of goats would escape and be difficult to find again, quickly tore off his animal skin and transformed into human form.
The lead goat, which was a size larger than the other goats, watched as a huge tiger pounced on the ground. With just a light touch of its sharp claws, the tiger could have instantly killed the goat.
The giant tiger let out a powerful roar, and the flock of sheep trembled at the sound, not daring to move an inch.
In the past, the Mu tribe had difficulty even hunting, and sometimes they were even hunted by their prey.
But things are different now. Orcs of level five and above have a natural bloodline advantage over ordinary beasts. Hunting now is a piece of cake for Tiger Roar and his companions.
Even though the others hadn't transformed, the sheep didn't dare to run away just because of the tiger's roar.
Animals are naturally inclined to seek advantage and avoid harm; once caught, they neither run nor struggle.
Even when Hu Xiao and his men put straw ropes around their necks, they were very obedient.
Tiger, who was inspecting the flock, was drawn to a few plump sheep. It's no wonder he noticed them; these sheep were just too fat.
Their fur was much thicker than that of the other sheep. Tiger Roar led these sheep out separately and decided to lead them himself. "The priest loves these fluffy things the most. We can't let them get lost."
...
Following the footprints in the snow, they searched for the trail. Until they were blocked by an incredibly thick tree, so large that it would take ten large black trees to encircle it.
For some reason, he sensed a familiar aura emanating from this giant tree.
The aura was faint and vanished in an instant before he could think further.
After racking his brains without success, he decided to prioritize catching chickens. He walked around the giant tree and finally discovered several nests made of branches on the other side.
There are four to six eggs in each nest, and a few eggs are scattered on the ground around some nests.
However, they only saw the eggs and nothing else. The chickens were very alert, and although they couldn't escape in such a short time, it was enough for them to hide.
Choose to hold your breath and concentrate, listening quietly to the sounds around you.
After awakening, he only needs to concentrate to gain extremely strong hearing. At this point, he can clearly hear the sound of snow melting even a hundred meters away.
Soon, Ze located the pheasants' hiding place. He walked step by step toward their hideout, the powerful orcish aura causing them to huddle together and tremble.
Stop in front of a small mound, push aside the tangled branches, and reveal a hole.
He crouched down, reached his hand in, and when he pulled it out, he had a magnificent male pheasant with long tail feathers in his hand.
The captured pheasant was trembling uncontrollably. The beautiful green feathers on its neck had lost much of their luster.
Ze put the pheasant down. The pheasant felt it had escaped death, and the thought of running away lasted only a moment. It then realized it couldn't run at all; its legs went weak. It could only squat on the ground, its neck tucked in.
Before long, Ze took out all the pheasants. There were more than a dozen female pheasants with dull plumage and short tail feathers, and more than twenty male pheasants.
He tied all the pheasant's feet with straw rope, carefully picked up the eggs from the nest, wrapped them in animal hide, tied them tightly with straw rope, and carried them in his hand.
In order to bring all the pheasants back, Ze carried and hung them on his body, totaling more than forty pheasants.
Fortunately, the chickens didn't dare to flap their wings, so the journey back wasn't inconvenient.
In addition to physical training, Shen Nong also taught the hunting team how to leave marks that only their companions could understand.
After parting ways with Maoyun and the others, Ze returned to the original spot and found the marks left by Maoyun and the others on a tree trunk not far away.
The footprints in the nearby snow included human footprints, cow footprints, and wild boar footprints. It was easy to see that Maoyun and his group had caught cows and encountered wild boars, and quite a few of them.
Follow the marks forward; that's the way back.
Cat Cloud and Tiger Roar met on the way and returned to the tribe together.
They all had a good haul. Maoyun had more than a dozen cows, because they encountered a herd of wild boars, and none of the wild boars escaped.
Cat Cloud and his group caught more than twenty at once.
When they returned to the tribe, the procession was so long that it took them ages to walk through it.
Tiger Roar, leading a plump sheep, finally saw Shen Nong and quickly waved and called out, "Priest!"