Chapter 55
Bao Duo and his group, the very ones Bai Tu had been worrying about, were busy hauling several baskets of corn while trying to persuade the beastmen of their tribe.
The sight of the “sacred grain” that Bao Duo and his group had brought shocked the Leopard Tribe. In their understanding, such a thing should only exist on the sacred mountain.
The sacred grain on the mountain had already been harvested long ago, and the ones from the mountain were even smaller than these.
“These were grown along the riverbank behind the mountain. The healer lied to us when he said sacred grain could only grow on the sacred mountain!” Bao Duo declared angrily.
The healer had always claimed that sacred grain was a gift from the Beast God. Because of this, the Leopard Tribe offered more tribute each year than most other tribes. No one dared to withhold offerings for fear of angering the Beast God and losing the sacred grain.
Having sacred grain meant the tribe could distribute slightly more food to its members than usual.
But in recent years, the healer had demanded more and more tribute, pushing the tribe to the brink.
As Bao Duo looked at his tribespeople, weakened from nearly two months of constant hunting, his anger only grew. “The healer has been lying to us to take our offerings! The Beast God doesn’t need food at all!”
Bai Tu’s words echoed in his mind: If the Beast God truly needed food, why wouldn’t he take it directly? Why would he need a healer to demand it for him? All those statements from the healer were nothing but lies to extort food from the tribe.
Hearing Bao Duo’s words, a relatively large and cautious young man from the tribe immediately ran to check the tribe’s perimeter, worried that beastmen from neighboring tribes might overhear.
Someone voiced their dissatisfaction with Bao Duo’s disrespect toward the healer. “Bao Duo, how can you speak so disrespectfully about the healer?”
“We’ve grown our own sacred grain. Doesn’t that prove the healer’s words were false?” Bao Duo retorted. “He can’t protect the tribe—he’s a fraud!”
A staunch supporter of the healer stood up and, enraged, attempted to attack Bao Duo. “Bao Duo has insulted the healer! He must be punished! Tie him up and send him to the healer to face the fire trial!”
Hearing the words fire trial, the cautious young man frowned and stepped in to stop them. “Bao Ni, Bao Duo is telling the truth. They did grow the sacred grain themselves.”
The fact that Bao Duo had successfully grown sacred grain proved that the healer’s claims were false.
As for Bao Duo’s harsher accusations, the beastmen—who had been conditioned to revere the healer—didn’t dare openly agree. However, they also didn’t refute him.
Under the healer’s leadership, the tribe had not grown stronger as he had promised. Instead, it was in decline.
Even the most respected former chief had starved to death in a cave during the winter, and the healer, who had failed to protect his loyal followers, no longer commanded the same level of reverence.
A few die-hard supporters of the healer still tried to find excuses. “What if Bao Duo was hiding this grain all along? Maybe it was stashed away before and he’s only bringing it out now to deceive us.”
The young man shook his head. “Every time we harvest the sacred grain, the entire tribe is present.”
They had always believed in the healer’s words.
To show their gratitude to the Beast God, everyone—from the hunting teams to the gathering teams—would attend the harvest.
Even injured beastmen would drag themselves up the mountain to witness the process. Every stalk of sacred grain was accounted for under the healer’s watchful eye.
Bao Duo had no opportunity to hide any grain. The only explanation was that they had grown this sacred grain themselves.
“The last time you went to the market, you must have brought it back from there!” Bao Ni seemed to have caught Bao Duo in a lie and launched into an aggressive tirade. “Hu Xiang said you met beastmen from other tribes at the market! You even gave them four baskets of salt! You’re definitely plotting with other tribes to harm us!”
“I already explained—they weren’t baskets of salt, they were lime! The Brown Monkey Tribe tried to trick us, and we gave that lime to the other tribes as thanks for exposing their lies. We brought all the salt back, and the extra half basket we have now proves it!” Bao Duo said, exasperated.
Back then, all the beastmen had seen for themselves that the contents weren’t salt, so how could anyone still be saying this?
However, because of Hu Xiang’s claim, the healer had demanded an additional basket of salt from the Leopard Tribe.
No matter how much they tried to explain, the healer insisted on getting that extra basket. Including the salt they had managed to salvage from the lime, the tribe had only one and a half baskets left. They had been forced to reduce their salt usage across the entire tribe. Now, with two months remaining until the next market, their salt stores were nearly depleted.
“You must have swapped the Brown Monkey Tribe’s salt with lime to trick us! That way, you could secretly steal four baskets of salt for yourself!” Bao Ni glared venomously at Bao Duo. “I’ll go find the healer and report your disrespect! You’ll face the fire trial as punishment!”
Bao Duo’s head throbbed with anger at Bao Ni’s accusations. Thinking of how Bai Tu would describe this kind of behavior, he spat furiously, “You’re hopelessly deluded!”
A more level-headed young man in the tribe, with slightly more experience than the others, acted quickly. “Grab Bao Ni! Don’t let him go to the healer, or our entire tribe will suffer!”
Hearing this, the other Leopard Tribe members snapped out of their daze.
Whether Bao Duo was telling the truth or not, they couldn’t let Bao Ni report to the healer.
The healer didn’t care who had made the accusations—he would punish the entire tribe.
Fear of the healer’s methods and his relentless demands for food quickly spurred the beastmen into action. They restrained Bao Ni and tied him up, along with the few beastmen who had stood with him and tried to seize Bao Duo.
These beastmen had often visited the healer in the past, sometimes even bringing his apprentices to demand food from the tribe.
They knew full well that many of these demands were made under false pretenses, with Bao Ni frequently invoking the healer’s name. Even so, they hadn’t dared to refuse, fearing that if the healer or his apprentices complained, he would rally neighboring tribes to attack the Leopard Tribe.
Bao Ni’s threat to report to the healer had enraged the tribe. Old grudges and new frustrations boiled over, and no one cared about the truth of Bao Duo’s words anymore. Their first priority was dealing with Bao Ni.
As for Bao Ni’s accusations that Bao Duo had stolen salt, no one believed them. Leaving aside Bao Duo’s character, the beastmen who had gone with him to trade salt had seen the lime firsthand.
If not for Bai Tu’s warning before they received their salt, they might have actually carried back four baskets of lime, which ultimately yielded only half a basket of usable salt. That amount wouldn’t have been enough for the whole tribe.
With Bao Ni and his supporters out of the way, Bao Duo recounted the events at the market, explaining how they had met Bai Tu.
He didn’t reveal Bai Tu’s name or tribe but explained that the “sacred grain” was also called corn and had a very high yield. What they had grown was produced from just a handful of seeds.
He also addressed the issue of dwindling prey, stating that it wasn’t a punishment from the Beast God. Instead, the growing number of beastmen had outpaced the rate at which prey could reproduce.
No matter how much food they gave the healer, it wouldn’t increase the number of animals available to hunt.
The beastmen listened intently.
Some were thoughtful, while others remained skeptical.
Whether they believed Bao Duo or not, they couldn’t refute his points. It was a fact that Bao Duo and a few others had successfully grown the sacred grain. It was also true that despite years of offerings to the healer, the tribe’s situation hadn’t improved. On the contrary, things had only gotten worse.
Even so, many of them hesitated. What if they stopped offering tributes, and the Beast God punished them?
Seeing that some people still didn’t believe him, Bao Duo suddenly declared, “We’ve given so much food to the healer, but the prey in the tribe hasn’t increased. Either the healer isn’t offering our tributes to the Beast God and is hoarding the food for himself, or the Beast God has abandoned the healer and doesn’t want him receiving offerings anymore!”
The moment these words were spoken, the worried beastmen suddenly saw the light. That must be it! It wasn’t that the Beast God didn’t care for them or that they weren’t devout enough—it was the healer who had kept the prey for himself, preventing the Beast God from receiving their offerings.
Seeing the tribe’s reaction, Bao Duo breathed a sigh of relief. Bai Tu’s advice had worked. The tribe believed him.
“This area has already been overrun by the Yellow Wolf Tribe and the Black Ape Tribe. Let’s leave here and find a new place to live,” Bao Duo suggested.
“Move?!” The beastmen, including the young man, were stunned and stared at Bao Duo in shock.
…
Meanwhile, the wolf tribe had started planting corn a little later than the rabbit tribe, so their harvest was also slightly delayed.
Lang Qi stood at the foot of the rabbit tribe’s mountain, looking at the corn laid out to dry. Now, he understood why Bai Tu had treasured these seeds so much.
The half-basket of seeds that Bai Tu had brought back had been split between the rabbit and wolf tribes, with the rabbit tribe planting slightly less. Yet, their harvest was already so abundant, and nearly half of the corn was still unharvested. Lang Qi could roughly calculate the yield from this.
With the corn, the growing livestock, and the dried fruits and meats prepared for storage, even if the Leopard Tribe came with nothing, there would be enough food to last until the end of winter.
Lang Qi lowered his gaze. From the very beginning, Bai Tu hadn’t just been preparing food for one tribe.
Bai Tu’s preparations indeed extended beyond the needs of a single tribe. However, there was another reason for his stockpiling: he was planning for the years ahead.
The increasing number of beastmen and the decreasing amount of prey were already becoming evident.
In the coming years, prey would only become scarcer, and many animals would freeze to death during the snowy season. Without advance preparations, the period after winter would be especially difficult.
Most beastmen followed the principle of preparing food for the rainy season in spring and for winter in autumn. But now, seeing the abundance of food in the tribe, the rabbit tribe members were practically walking on air. They had never experienced such prosperity.
In addition to prey, the tribe’s fruits and other supplies had greatly increased. Now, they could eat several kinds of fruit daily, no longer limited to receiving just two small pieces each.
The tribe was also weaving wool fabric, which was softer than the finest animal hides.
Bai Tu had said that after distributing blankets to the cubs, the remaining fabric could be exchanged for contribution points. Those who worked hard or had earned enough points could sleep on soft, fluffy blankets this winter.
Beastmen who found their points lacking began vigorously grooming their fur, hoping to shed more wool that could be exchanged for points.
Bai Tu noticed an increase in the number of broken combs recently.
Every day, dozens of combs were being exchanged from the woodworking cave. Since combs weren’t considered essential tools, they weren’t distributed to team leaders. Instead, beastmen had to exchange points for them directly. When Bai Tu reviewed the exchange records, one name stood out: Lang Ze.
Lang Ze was always ahead of everyone else in exchange records. While most beastmen needed just one bamboo slip to track their contributions, Lang Ze needed two.
Even with the combs being less durable, replacing two in one day seemed excessive.
Concerned, Bai Tu wondered if Lang Ze might have a condition causing excessive itchiness—an early symptom of certain illnesses—or if something was making him compulsively groom his fur.
Worried about Lang Ze, Bai Tu left the woodworking cave and went straight to his residence. As he approached the cave entrance, he overheard Lang Ze muttering, “One point, two points, three points…”
Curious, Bai Tu walked inside and saw Lang Ze surrounded by large piles of wool, apparently freshly combed.
