Tiger Roar was about to laugh when he suddenly sensed that some orcs were rapidly approaching.
He cautiously surveyed his surroundings but found nothing amiss. Yu Cao wanted to ask him what was wrong, but Hu Xiao didn't answer. He simply told Yu Cao to take the children and hide for now, and to release the cattle and sheep later.
Yucao obediently nodded and led her friends to hide.
Tiger Roar quickly ordered the hunting team to stand by. As soon as they gathered, they saw several giant birds circling overhead.
Hu Xiao's brows furrowed so deeply they could crush a flying insect. He stared at the giant bird above him for a while, then said in a deep voice, "Have the guards prepare the ballistae."
Rabbit Wind glanced at the sky above and quickly turned around.
"Why are these orcs suddenly here?" Cat Cloud was really puzzled; she had never seen flying orcs before.
Hu Xiao shook his head. "I don't know. But if cannibals can suddenly wipe out the Ze tribe, it's nothing unusual for a few beastmen that have never appeared before to fly in the sky."
Cat Cloud frowned as he thought of the riverbank stained with blood. "No matter what, we must protect the tribe before the priest returns."
While the Wood Tribe was busy setting up defenses, Shen Nong, sitting on the back of a Feather Tribe orc, was struggling with where to get off.
The orcs of the Feather Tribe looked down at their tribe and a feeling of disbelief welled up in their hearts.
The houses were scattered in a neat and orderly fashion, the land was square and orderly, and there were many herds of prey in the tribe. What amazed them even more was the high "stone wall" that surrounded the tribe.
"Fly a little further ahead, stop in the forest, and then we'll walk back." Shen Nong looked left and right, but couldn't find a suitable spot.
Moreover, if they land suddenly, they might be mistaken for aliens and attacked by Hu Xiao and his men.
Just as they were about to leave, the beast god of the Feather Tribe who was carrying Shen Nong and Ze exclaimed in surprise.
"What's wrong?"
As soon as Shen Nong finished asking the question, the orc from the Feather Tribe suddenly turned to the side and caught Shen Nong in time to prevent him from being thrown off.
"brush".
The sound of something cutting through the air passed by my ear.
They circled over the Wood Tribe for too long, attracting an attack from the tribe.
After dodging the powerful wooden arrow, Shen Nong chuckled. "They're quite cautious, that's good."
The Feather Tribe orcs, however, did not think that way, knowing that they were previously invincible in the air.
This was the first time they had encountered something that could fly up and attack them.
This stalemate can't go on forever. The Feather Tribe people can't land, and Shen Nong can't be heard below.
As Ze stood up, a faint golden light appeared on his back. As the light grew stronger, the wings on his back took shape more quickly.
“I’ll go down and tell Tiger Roar, priest, be careful up there.”
Shen Nong nodded; he almost forgot that Ze could also fly.
Then something flew down from the back of the bird-beastman in mid-air; the thing was quite dazzling when it was illuminated by the sunlight.
Tiger Roar squinted, raised his hand to make a gesture, preparing to unleash a volley of arrows to shoot down the unruly orcs above.
"Roar roar roar!"
The normally quiet Big Black suddenly started barking and waving its arms and legs at the air, as if it had seen a familiar person rather than an enemy.
"Big Black, stop causing trouble."
Big Black not only ignored him, but also pressed down on a ballista cart with his hand.
"Roar roar roar!"
Tiger Roar was a little annoyed. "If you don't move aside, and the arrow hits you, don't go complaining to the priest!"
Big Black stomped its foot, pointed its other paw at the sky, and roared!
The priest is there! Oh dear, I'm so anxious!
Tiger Roar clearly didn't understand Big Black's bear language. Apart from the priest, who could accurately understand the meaning of Big Black's "roaring" sounds, it was all up to fate for the other orcs to figure it out.
Because of Big Black's obstruction, the dazzling golden object got even closer.
Tiger Roar couldn't care less about Big Black, and quickly ordered the guards to turn the ballista around as much as possible to avoid Big Black.
"Tiger Roar, that's me."
The sun was shining brightly, and the wings on Ze's back shimmered with golden light. People below looked up, but they couldn't see his face at all.
Tiger Roar had always thought it was some kind of bird-beastman, but wasn't that a sound from Ze?
Tiger Roar shouted, "Is that you, Ze?"
Ze grunted in response, not caring whether Hu Xiao had heard him or not. The priest was getting a bit hot from the sun, and not wanting to waste time, he said directly, "The priest is up there. Move the ballista away."
"Good!" Tiger Roar turned around and waved his hand, saying happily, "The priest is back! Quickly turn the ballista around, and be careful not to hurt the priest!"
The orcs of the Feather Tribe landed on the city wall, their sharp claws gripping the hard stone bricks.
Shen Nong jumped off the orc's back, and Hu Xiao led the orcs in cheers, "Priest!"
"That's great, you have a strong sense of safety." Shen Nong patted Hu Xiao on the shoulder and laughed, "Keep it up in the future, but be careful not to accidentally hurt your own people."
Hu Xiao scratched his head and chuckled, "Got it."
Seeing Shen Nong surrounded by the crowd, Ze felt somewhat annoyed and wanted the priest to focus only on him.
The thought was quickly dismissed by Ze. He didn't understand what was wrong with him lately; his feelings towards the priest seemed a bit off.
He always wanted the priestess to follow him and watch him, and he couldn't help but want to get closer to the priestess, wishing that the priestess could lean on his arms all day long.
He really did have a health problem. The priest had said that if you feel unwell, you should say so as soon as possible.
Ze decided that he would go to the priest when he was less busy and tell him about his health problems.
The orcs of the Feather Tribe had wrapped leaves around their waists. Shen Nong had Tu Dong arrange accommodations for them and then took them to eat.
We've flown this far, and it's noon now; it's time to eat.
The meat dishes prepared by the Mu tribe are far superior to the meat soup they drink on the road, and they also have fish, wild vegetables, and some wild fruits.
The wild berries were a bit sour and astringent, but the Mu tribe didn't eat them directly. Instead, they poured the juice over the meat. This gave the roasted meat a subtle fruity aroma, which smelled incredibly delicious.
The orcs of the Feather Tribe were already hungry just from the aroma, and when they could eat, they devoured the food.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Shen Nong asked Tu Dong to take them to rest, while he himself went to the council room to listen to Hu Xiao talk about what had happened in the tribe in the past few days.
The wooden village was peaceful and harmonious, with everyone doing their work in an orderly manner.
The chaos is outside.
"The cannibals, for some reason, wiped out the Jiangze tribe overnight."
When Hu Xiao talked about this, he still felt a chill down his spine.
Ze's eyes twitched, his heart surged, and he clenched his fists to suppress the turmoil in his heart.
He had wanted to take revenge himself... but it seems he won't have the chance now.
The Ze tribe was not far from the Mu tribe, and the Mu tribe often went to the river to fish and cut grass. The Mu tribe was the first to discover that the Ze tribe had been wiped out.
The bright red blood stained the river, and the air was filled with the stench of blood.
Hu Xiao recalled that day, the children who went with him to cut pig feed were so frightened that they ate fewer bites of meat. In the following days, they were never allowed to go to the river to cut pig feed again.
No one knows if the cannibals will go mad and attack them.
Shen Nong was somewhat surprised to hear this news. He looked at Ze and found that Ze did not show any emotional fluctuation.
He then turned to confirm and asked, "Are all the people of the Ze tribe dead?"
“They were all dead. I happened to be fishing with them that day and noticed something was wrong, so I took the hunting team to check.” Tiger Roar’s expression turned grim as he recalled the scene he saw. “The entire tribe’s ground was covered in blood, and the stench was overwhelming.”
Shen Nong asked, "How do you know they are cannibals?"
Hu Xiao sighed, somewhat helplessly, and said, "That's what the Salt Department said."
Shen Nong was completely confused. How did this have to do with the Salt Department?
Hu Xiao didn't keep Shen Nong waiting long. After briefly reviewing the events in his mind, he told her everything. "The news of the Ze tribe being wiped out spread very quickly, and the Salt Department quickly found out who did it."
The Salt Tribe seemed very angry and rallied some tribes to fight the cannibals. After several clashes, the cannibals also began to rally surrounding tribes to fight the Salt Tribe.
The more Hu Xiao spoke, the more he sighed, and somehow it turned out like this.
“Right now, apart from our tribe, all the other tribes are being pulled into fighting each other by the cannibals and the Salt Tribe. The Salt Tribe is forcing us to help them, but I didn’t agree. Then the Salt Tribe priest announced that no tribe is allowed to exchange salt stones with us.”
Aside from us, the Salt Department also refuses to exchange salt with cannibals or tribes aligned with them. Yesterday, the cannibals even led those tribes to attack the Salt Department, and it seems they stole a considerable amount of salt.
Shen Nong coughed lightly. This Salt Tribe really knew how to blackmail people. Their Wood Tribe lacked everything but salt.
"Did the cannibals say anything?"
Hu Xiao shook his head. "They don't have any. They even sent someone to ask us if we need any salt."
Shen Nong understood; Wu Ming wanted to win them over.
However, he wouldn't rely on either the cannibals or the salt tribe; both tribes were equally bad.
When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits.
This time, the Tamu tribe became the beneficiary.
However, since the water is already murky, let it become even murky.
Shen Nong doesn't believe that those tribes currently helping the cannibals and the salt tribe are doing so willingly.
He knew clearly that the Wood Tribe could not truly remain unscathed in this chaotic war, but besides the cannibals and the Salt Tribe, the Wood Tribe had a third option.
"Tiger Roar, call Rabbit Wind Cat Cloud and come out with me."
Hu Xiao agreed, but upon reaching the door, his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, "What are we going to do?"
Shen Nong laughed and said, "Go and tie up the priests from the other tribes and bring them here for a drink of water."
Tiger Roar's body trembled. Although he didn't understand why the priest had kidnapped people, he felt his blood boiling. "Good!"
...
Kidnapping people is a skill; you can't just kidnap them all at once. There's also a trick to deciding which tribe's priests to kidnap first. You definitely can't kidnap tribes close to cannibals or salt tribes; you have to start with the outer tribes and slowly infiltrate.
As darkness fell, several figures darted out from a small hill not far from the mountain.
Moreover, several eagles and golden eagles were flying in the sky.