After numerous failures and drawing on his experience in pottery firing, Shi Lin deduced that the problem stemmed from temperature. He devised many methods to raise the kiln temperature, and after several more failures, he finally succeeded!
Shen Nong placed the celadon on the table. He knew how difficult it was to successfully fire a piece of porcelain from clay under the current conditions. Shen Nong asked about some details and confirmed that the porcelain could not be mass-produced for the time being. The reason was simple: Shi Lin did not yet have the ability to control the fire. When to add firewood, when to raise the temperature, and when to maintain the temperature were all things that could not be accurately judged due to a lack of experience.
The success rate of wood-fired kilns is inherently low, less than half. However, at least the tribe has mastered the technique; now all that's needed is time to accumulate experience.
As Shi Lin was leaving, Shen Nong mentioned that they could try using pine wood to fire porcelain later. Pine resin has a moisturizing effect on porcelain, and porcelain fired with pine wood is more warm and subtle than other types of porcelain.
...
This trip to the outlying tribes was for trade, and Shen Nong planned to travel by air instead of land to save time. He told Shen Yi on the system platform that he should ask Yu Ji to hire some beastmen from the Feather Tribe to help him transport the goods.
The Feather Tribe orcs arrived early, and the task of choosing the general's guard was temporarily handed over to Rabbit Wind. Although Rabbit Wind's orc level was level six, he had been part of the Wood Tribe's hunting team from the beginning, and had received more training than the Water Tribe and Black Mountain Tribe, which had later merged into the tribe.
Ze realized that Tu Feng was also at a critical point, just one breakthrough away from advancing. Before leaving, Ze told Hu Xiao and Mao Yun to have them spar with Tu Feng more often, as it would help them quickly break through the critical point and advance.
To reach the edge tribe as quickly as possible, only the Feather tribe, besides the Ze tribe, followed along carrying the trade goods. While Shen Nong selected the shortest flight route based on the map, the priests of the nine tribes on the edge tribe side also gathered together.
Do you think the orcs from the Wood Tribe will come?
"Probably, there's no benefit for a large tribe like theirs to deceive us."
“They will definitely come. I had the orcs of our Stone Tribe collect a lot of beautiful green stones. We even cleared out a cave to store them, and it's already half full. If they don't come, what will we do with all the green stones in our cave?”
“Even if the Wood Tribe didn’t come, your Stone Tribe still got a lot of good things. If only we had brought those white stones with us last time, our Stream Tribe could have traded some things back with us if the Wood Tribe’s priest had liked them too.”
Upon hearing this, the Stone Tribe priest instantly felt threatened by his tribe's green stones. "What's so great about your Stream Tribe's white stones? Even if our Stone Tribe's green stones can't compare, we still have golden stones. Those are far more beautiful than anything else. If the Wood Tribe's orcs came, they would definitely love them."
The priest of the stream tribe fell silent. What they said was true; the golden stone was indeed very beautiful. It glittered in the sunlight, as if it were glowing.
"What are we going to do? Of the nine tribes, only the Stone Tribe, Mulberry Tribe, Flower Tribe, Tree Tribe, and Wood Tribe have trade relations. How are the remaining five tribes going to survive?" the priest of the Stream Tribe sighed.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Stone Tribe priest was stared at by priests from several other tribes, who reprimanded him for what he had just said.
Tree Fruit coughed lightly, "Stone Tribe Priest, don't forget that we've gathered here today to find a solution for the five tribes that haven't traded with the Wood Tribe."
The other eight tribes all held the Tree Tribe, the guardians of the sacred tree, in high esteem. Although Tree Fruit was young, her words carried considerable weight.
The Stone Tribe priest lowered his head, regretting the words he had just spoken.
"After the five tribes return, find out anything you find unusual or unique to your tribe. You can also ask the orcs in the gathering teams if they have found anything they haven't seen before near the tribes. If so, collect it all and show it to the orcs from the Wood Tribe when they arrive."
Some things we might not think much of, the priests of the Wood Tribe would value highly, like the stones of the Stone Tribe. So, don't assume something is useless just because it's readily available. Perhaps in the eyes of the Wood Tribe priests, these things can be exchanged for more animal hides and cured meat.”
Seeing that the five tribal priests who hadn't made any trades seemed much better, Tree Fruit continued, "We, the nine border tribes, have always helped each other. The divine tree is watching us. It won't allow any tribe to stand idly by and watch another tribe perish, so even if you haven't found anything to trade with the Wood Tribe, don't worry."
This last sentence brought the other three priests who had traded with the Wood Tribe to a greater sense of clarity, and also reassured the five priests who had not traded with the Wood Tribe.
That's right, the divine tree is watching them. From the moment they appeared, the nine border tribes have always shared a common destiny, rising and falling together.
The priests of the surrounding tribes finally decided to secretly approach the priests of the Wood Tribe and discuss becoming affiliated with the Wood Tribe.
Unfortunately, their arrival was ill-timed; they couldn't even get through the gates of the Wood Tribe, only receiving a message from the Wood Tribe orcs: "The priest is not here."
Hu Xiao and the other two also knew about this, but they couldn't make the decision themselves. So Lu Shuang went to tell Shen San, and Shen Nong found out shortly after.
But it's no use knowing now; he can't possibly fly back halfway. He can only make the priests wait.
A note from the author:
Notes 1 and 2 refer to "Wood-fired King's Chai Kiln Porcelain: Why So Rare and So Expensive?"
Chapter 94
sweet potato
Beast City.
Several small, thin orcs were fanning the boy on the deck chair under the shade of a tree with palm-leaf fans. Not far away, a tall orc held an iron chain and led a disheveled orc behind him.
"Ninth Young Master, the Snake Forest has been brought."
The person on the recliner opened their eyes, their gaze, tinged with amusement, landing directly on the orc's legs, which were chained together. They asked dismissively, "So you're awake now?"
Snake Forest trembled at the eerie voice, nodding in fear and daring not to utter a sound.
Snake Forest recalled that when he first arrived in Beast City, he had asked to see the Second Young Master at the city gate, and was almost beaten to death and dragged out. To save his life, he had no choice but to say a few words about the Second Young Master that Wu Ming had told him, to prove that he really knew the Second Young Master.
Instead of meeting the Second Young Master, he was captured and imprisoned by the Ninth Young Master, who interrogated him about the Second Young Master. How could he possibly know? The one who truly knew was already dead!
But he didn't dare tell the truth; if he had, he wouldn't have survived.
It was the priest of the Wood Tribe who caused him to end up like this, so he simply pinned everything on the priest. He lied, claiming that the priest of the Wood Tribe had been in contact with the second young master, and that the second young master had instructed the priest to do everything.
But to his surprise, the Ninth Young Master actually asked him to lead the way to summon the priest of the Wood Tribe to the Beast City.
Going back would be a dead end for him!
Snake Forest didn't want to go back to his death, so he deliberately feigned being unconscious for a few more days. Now he couldn't keep up the act any longer; if he didn't wake up soon, the Ninth Young Master would have the orcs kill him and feed him to the wild beasts!
"You keep swallowing, are you thirsty?" Mu Jiu smiled and handed She Lin a porcelain cup from the low table beside him. "Drink up."
Snake Forest dared not move, shrinking back and standing still. The tall orc kicked Snake Forest forward, snarling, "You dare refuse the things the Ninth Young Master gave you?"
"I'll take it, I'll take it!" She Lin trembled and quickly stepped forward, taking the smooth porcelain cup with both hands.
Shelin drank the water in the porcelain cup in one gulp, but choked because he was too eager, and coughed for a while while rubbing his neck.
Mu Jiu had sensed something strange about the other person's reaction when he came from the Snake Forest. After the Snake Forest fearfully accepted the porcelain cup from him, he finally understood where this strange feeling came from.
Imagine the Beast City: its streets are paved with bluestone, its inhabitants live in stone houses instead of caves, and they even make tables and chairs out of wood. They use smooth, delicate porcelain for drinking water and eating.
Other tribes, however, traveled on muddy roads and lived in caves, and they had no tables or chairs, let alone porcelain.
Anything from their Beast City would excite or drive any tribe crazy.
The porcelain he handed out was not for sale to outsiders; only the high priest, the clan chief, and the young masters like them were qualified to use it.
The orcs of the Beast City are only allowed to use pottery, and only the chieftains and priests of their affiliated tribes are qualified to use pottery.
Every time the priests and clan leaders came to Beast City, they would gaze intently at their neat stone houses and their uniquely shaped yet highly functional wooden tables and chairs.
If he were to take out a porcelain cup and pour water, these people would stare even more intently. They wouldn't even take a sip, just holding the cup and looking at it for a long time.
Even the orcs and priests who had visited Beast City many times always showed excitement and a desire to obtain the things that only Beast City possessed whenever they came to Beast City.
But from the very beginning, he felt no excitement about the snake forest. Even when he received the porcelain cup, his emotions remained unchanged. He clearly saw the stone house, the reclining chair, the low table, and the porcelain cup.
But all he felt was fear.
Mu Jiu found this conclusion hard to accept, because it meant that the things from their Beast City were simply not good enough for the Snake Forest.
"How does this porcelain cup feel to use?" Mu Jiu asked, seemingly casually.
This time, Shelin dared not ignore him and honestly replied, "It feels comfortable to the touch, better than the ceramic cups used in our tribe."
Upon hearing this, Mu Jiu asked incredulously, "What did you say? Your tribe uses pottery?"
Startled by the sudden loud voice, Shelin nodded repeatedly, "The pottery used in our tribe was obtained by the priests of the Wood Tribe in exchange for salt stones."
Snake Forest kept his head down the entire time, not daring to look up. At this moment, his heart was churning with turmoil. He was increasingly afraid to bring the people of Beast City back to the tribe.
When he first arrived in Beast City and saw its walls and stone houses, he was reminded of the walls and earthen houses of the Wood Tribe.
The stone houses in the Beast City are much better than the earthen houses in the Wood Tribe, and the walls of the Wood Tribe look even better than the walls of the Beast City.
Regardless of which is stronger, it cannot be denied that the two tribes used the same methods to build their city walls and houses.
The Beast City porcelain he's holding now is very similar to the pottery of the Wood Tribe.
The old priest had previously planned to fire pottery and then trade it with other tribes, but all the pottery they fired was broken.
They originally wanted to capture the orcs of the Wood Tribe and take them to the Salt Tribe, but the cannibals suddenly went mad and wiped out the Ze Tribe, breaking the balance.
With the addition of Leopard Autumn and his group, the Wood Tribe was no longer a small tribe that the Salt Tribe could easily crush. Because of the need to focus on preventing cannibalism, the matter was delayed.
But in Beast City, there was porcelain, which was even better than pottery. He knew how pottery was fired, so he figured the method for firing porcelain was similar.
Snake Forest glanced furtively at the reclining chair and wooden table not far away. The Wood Tribe also made some strange things out of wood. When they attacked their Salt Tribe, the Wood Tribe had also brought many strange wooden objects.
At first, he didn't quite believe the Wood Tribe priest when he said he was sent by the High Priest of the Beast City, but now he does.
If he wasn't sent by the High Priest of Beast City, how would he know those things? It couldn't possibly have been the Second Young Master of Beast City who told him.
Upon hearing She Lin's words, Mu Jiu burst out laughing. "Second brother, oh second brother, I never expected you to reveal the pottery-making method to someone else! If the High Priest finds out about this, let's see what you have left to compete with me!"
"Stop wasting time here. Hurry up and lead the way to summon the priest of the Wood Tribe to Beast City." Mu Jiu excitedly got off the recliner and paced back and forth. "If I haven't seen him by the time I'm done, you can forget about living."
Shelin dared not refute and could only nod.
He just felt something was off, but he didn't dare ask, so he had to suppress all his doubts.
…
After finishing their meat, the beastmen of the tree tribe sat in their treehouses, hiding from the sun, while flocks of birds in the sky caught their attention.
What kind of bird is this that migrates at this time of year? I've never seen one like it before.
Chief Foxtree and the hunting party of beastmen watched the approaching birds with solemn expressions, sensing the surge of beast blood within them. They were not birds, but beastmen in their beast forms.
"alert!"
At Fox Tree's command, all the beastmen of the Tree Tribe hid themselves, staring intently at the beastmen flying in the sky.
Shen Nong wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the two red and green dots on the system map that were almost touching. She breathed a sigh of relief; they had finally arrived.
He said to the Feather Tribe beastmen, "Let's stop here. We'll go to the Tree Tribe's gate and have their guards go in and notify them. They must have already sensed us. If we advance rashly, a fight will break out."
Shen Nong and Ze went down first to explain their origins to the orcs of the Tree Tribe guard. The orcs of the Tree Tribe, who were originally in a state of tension and vigilance, became visibly happy when they heard that it was the priests of the Wood Tribe who had come.
The captain of the guard nudged a nearby orc and grinned, "Go tell the priest! Run!"
"Alright, Captain!" In the short distance, the orc guards transformed into their beast forms and rushed towards the tribe.
While waiting outside, Shen Nong had the beastmen of the Feather Tribe unload the large baskets they were carrying.
As large baskets filled with trade goods were neatly arranged on the ground, the beastmen of the Tree Tribe guard stared wide-eyed; it was the first time they had ever seen so many animal hides!
Because of the hot weather, Shen Nong brought more animal hides this time, followed by pottery, and the least amount of cured meat. Since the top layer was all animal hides, the beastmen of the Tree Tribe assumed that the entire large basket was filled with animal hides.
Tree Fruit and Fox Tree quickly came out to greet them, and their smiles never faded after seeing Shen Nong.
Not only did people from the Wood Tribe come, but even their priests came!
While the orcs were carrying baskets, Tree Fruit urged them to quickly inform the other tribes, especially the five tribes that hadn't traded with the Wood Tribe, to deliver their prepared goods to the Tree Tribe so that the Wood Tribe's priests could inspect them in person.