The people of the Big Bear Tribe had already set up camp by the river. Xiong Qi had turned into his animal form and was fishing in the river.
He didn’t like to eat fish at all, but his fishing skills were better than Xiong Ye’s. After all, his animal form was very good at swimming.
Before long, the giant polar bear had caught a dozen fish. He gave all of them to Xiong Ye.
The fish that Zhou Ji ate had to be perfectly cleaned, and he wasn’t good at cleaning fish.
Xiong Ye was already very accustomed to cleaning fish up. He first scraped off the fish scales, then removed the fish head and dug out the intestines…
The people of the Big Bear Tribe had already become very accustomed to seeing this kind of scene.
The food that the Beast God’s messenger ate was very refined. Even barley needed to be hulled and ground up before he ate it, so it seemed perfectly normal to them that the scales would need to be removed prior to eating fish.
On the other hand, when One-Eyed Wolf and her group noticed this, they were given quite a shock––these people were really too finicky. These kinds of small fish should just be roasted whole and then eaten whole, right? Some people even found it too troublesome to roast them and would just gnaw on them directly.
They were nothing but a small tribe on this side of the wild forest, but they lived lives that were just as fine as those of the priests from the Beast God Temple!
With this thought in mind, they suddenly discovered that something wasn’t as they expected.
Before, they hadn’t taken this group of people seriously at all. After all, they were in the wild forest, and the vast majority of tribes here were very backward… But now, what kind of things had these people come up with?
They were actually able to take out pottery pots and bowls!
How could there be pottery pots and bowls in the wild forest? Wasn’t that something that was only available from the Beast God Temple?
While they were busy being depressed, they watched these people pour something into the bowl… Wasn’t that hulled barley?
They had heard about this before. It was said that the priests of the Beast God Temple also ate very fine meals, so they only ate barley after the shells had been removed. At the time when they heard that, they hadn’t felt that it was possible, but unexpectedly, they encountered something like this in the wild forest now.
Not only that, they watched as they poured out a lot of barley… were they planning to have everyone eat hulled barley rice?
That was so extravagant!
Zhou Ji didn’t know what they were thinking. He had ordered these people to eat all the barley because this batch of barley had already absorbed moisture and would go bad soon.
As for why it was hulled… This barley was from his own stores. Xiong Ye hadn’t had much to do during winter, so he had had Xiong Ye thresh all the barley as a way to practice control over his energy. Because of this, it was normal for them to have a lot of hulled barley in their home.
He had originally intended to slowly savor this barley during the two month journey back and forth to trade for salt, but due to the recent rains, the barley had absorbed the moisture, so he simply decided to take it out and share it with everyone.
Rice made from cooked barley was normally a bit hard, but this batch of barley was already damp, which was equivalent to having been soaked for a period of time. It was perfect for cooking barley rice.
Zhou Ji took out some oil, added some of it to the pot that already contained barley and water, then had people cut up some smoked meat and lay it down on top of the barley. Finally, he sprinkled some pickled vegetables before covering it with a lid and ordering people to let it cook.
They had taken a total of five pots from the tribe on this journey. Every pot was now filled with smoked meat, pickled vegetables, and barley rice. In addition to this, Zhou Ji had also brought a pottery pot that was just big enough for a two person meal. At this time, he took out some of the vegetables that he’d gathered while he and Xiong Ye traveled and prepared to stir-fry two dishes while cooking the fish.
Nobody paid much attention to the stir-fried vegetables as the people of the tribe weren’t very interested in vegetables, but when it came to the fish Zhou Ji cooked…
Of course, he didn’t know how it was made, and he didn’t have enough seasonings, but he didn’t mind making an imitation version of it.
Zhou Ji first brushed oil onto the fish before roasting it for a while, then placed the entire fish into the pan and simmered it along with the spices. He then added in some dried mushrooms.
Although he didn’t have any soy sauce, the soup was made with chili oil and was very fragrant, so the people of the Big Bear Tribe couldn’t help but drool when they caught a whiff of it.
The rice was also ready by the time the grilled fish was done.
When cooking, Zhou Ji had added a bit of oil, so the barley grains looked shiny and plump. After stirring and mixing the smoked meat and pickled vegetables into the rice… This meal was really too wonderful!
“Give me a pot of rice. You guys can split up the rest.” Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Qi immediately handed him a pot of rice, and then went to divide up the rest––Zhou Ji had contributed both the barley and the pickled vegetables, so it wasn’t excessive for him to demand an entire pot.
Xiong Qi gave everyone in the group a small bowl of barley rice, then brought his own bowl with him to Zhou Ji’s side, pleading silently with his eyes as he looked at Zhou Ji.
Zhou Ji gave him a fish––after all, Xiong Qi had been the one to catch the fish.
Xiong Qi accepted the fish and left satisfied. After eating the smoked meat barley rice and grilled fish, he dejectedly went back to grilling meat to fill up his stomach.
Xiong Qi and the others needed to eat some roasted meat in order to be full, but Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye didn’t need to.
An entire pot of barley rice paired with ten or so fish and some vegetables was enough for both of them to eat their fill, so they didn’t need to eat anything else.
It was just that Xiong Ye didn’t like to eat vegetables, so Zhou Ji could only split the vegetables into two portions and have him finish his portion. After that, he watched as Xiong Ye first ate up all the vegetables before focusing on the barley rice and grilled fish, eating them with relish.
One-Eyed Wolf’s group were all drooling.
At the same time, they felt a little regretful.
This tribe was obviously not the same as the tribes from the wild forest that they knew. They shouldn’t have been so careless and tried to rob them as soon as they met them!
One-Eyed Wolf didn’t speak at all. She merely used her remaining eye to watch Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji, but her subordinates weren’t as calm. “That smell is really fragrant…”
“When we eat barley in our tribe, we boil it with the shell and eat it directly. We never knew that it could be eaten this way.”
“Even if you knew that it could be eaten like this, you wouldn’t be able to make it anyway. Do you have someone who can help you remove the shells?”
“That fish looks really delicious. I wonder what they put in it.”
“No wonder Zhu Zhan is with them…”
……
Out of the entire group, Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye ate the best, while the others were all treated the same way. Zhu Zhan and his subordinates were also just given a small bowl of barley rice each.
One-Eyed Wolf had originally thought that Zhu Zhan had taken over this tribe. Now, they discovered that it wasn’t the case, and Zhu Zhan and the others… seemed to have joined the tribe.
This tribe was too impressive.
When Zhu Zhan came up in conversation, these people finally recalled something that didn’t seem to match up, “Didn’t they say that Zhu Zhan’s leg was crooked?” According to the news that they had heard, Zhu Zhan had been exiled because his leg had healed crooked, but the Zhu Zhan that they could see in front of him had perfectly straight legs!
“That was the news that I heard… But that information might be false.” That person who had just arrived at the wild forest speculated.
All kinds of information had been passed around this year. That some of it would turn out to be false was only to be expected, so those people didn’t concern themselves over it at all. On the other hand, Zhou Ji looked at those people and suddenly asked, “I’m very curious about the Beastman Continent. Zhu Zhan spoke about it a bit before… Is there any other news from that side recently?”
“There is.” That person replied.
Zhou Ji said, “Tell me about it.” They should still develop their understanding of the Beastman Continent even if they didn’t plan to go.
That man didn’t know Zhou Ji’s identity, but based on the fact that Zhou Ji was the only person wearing clothing out of the entire group, he could guess that his identity wasn’t simple. He explained, “Recently, there’s been a very big piece of news, a very shocking shocking thing happened. Not long ago, a new Beast King came into power!”
“A new Beast King?” Zhou Ji asked, “From which tribe?”
“He doesn’t belong to any tribe. He’s a wandering beastman called Shi Li.” That person’s expression was full of admiration, “He didn’t come from any of the big tribes, but he actually managed to become a Beast King. He’s really too amazing!”
Zhou Ji: “……” He hadn’t misheard, right? Shi Li?
The people of the Big Bear Tribe were all chatting as they roasted meat and weren’t paying attention to the conversation over here, but Xiong Ye was seated next to him and also heard the same name, “That person is called Shi Li?”
“He’s called Shi Li. His animal form is that of a male lion, and he’s very powerful! He appeared out of nowhere, and nobody had ever heard of him before. It should be that his luck was good, and he ate a Beast God Fruit that allowed him to become a Beast King… It would be great if I could become a Beast King.” This person was full of envy when he spoke about Shi Li, but he didn’t really know Shi Li, nor had he ever seen him.
Zhou Ji asked a few more questions, but wasn’t able to obtain any more information. He wasn’t even able to confirm that that Beast King Shi Li was the same Shi Li from their tribe.
If that person wasn’t the Shi Li from their tribe, then that new Beast King would be completely unrelated to them. However, if that new Beast King was the Shi Li from their tribe…
That would mean that his Xiong Ye’s strength was no longer comparable to Shi Li’s. This made Zhou Ji a little unhappy.
Unfortunately, he had never seen another Beast God Fruit. Otherwise, he would really go and find one for Xiong Ye to eat.
It was already dark out, but Zhu Zhan hadn’t returned yet. Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji didn’t wait up for him and instead went back to sleep first.
When they arrived at their tent, Xiong Ye asked, “Zhou Ji, do you think that the new Beast King is Shi Li?”
“I don’t know, either. It’s unrelated to us anyway.” Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Ye thought about it and felt that this was indeed the case.
Even if that new Beast King was Shi Li, it didn’t have anything to do with him. No, that wasn’t quite right, “I feel like this Shi Li is a bit of a problem. Say… do you think he’ll do anything against our tribe?”
Zhou Ji knew how much Xiong Ye had liked Shi Li back then. He hadn’t expected that Shi Li would now be someone to guard against in Xiong Ye’s mind…
However, that Shi Li really wasn’t a good person. He was sinister and cunning, and had many schemes.
Back when Shi Li was in the tribe, Zhou Ji hadn’t bothered to concern himself with this person because he’d been very weak. A person with that kind of character wouldn’t get far, but if he had really become a Beast King…
Zhou Ji was indeed a little worried, but he wasn’t that concerned.
Since he was able to scare away Xiang Tian, he should also be able to scare Shi Li away too.
“Even if he really is Shi Li, he’s now on the Beastman Continent. He won’t be back for a while.” Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Ye nodded and was about to go to sleep with Zhou Ji when he suddenly noticed something, “I can smell the scent of blood.”
He immediately went back out, and Zhou Ji let out a dark sigh––Zhu Zhan was back, and they probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anytime soon.
Zhu Zhan had indeed come back.
He was dragging a dinosaur that weighed about five or six tons with him when he returned. This dinosaur’s head had been bitten off, and its body was also torn into a mess, to the point where everyone was hard pressed to recognize what kind of dinosaur it was.
Zhu Zhan let go of the dinosaur, and everyone then noticed that he also had wounds on his body.
The injuries weren’t big, but there were many of them. They were most likely injuries left by the dinosaur he fought… Based on his strength, it was completely possible for him to come out unscathed when hunting. It had to be somewhat deliberate for him to have come back like this.
“Ha…” One-Eyed Wolf sneered, “You finally know how bad it feels, but it’s too late! Your woman’s probably dead by now!”
She had just finished speaking when Zhu Zhan punched her hard, sending her flying.
Zhu Zhan’s subordinates dragged the dinosaur away and silently began to deal with it while Zhu Zhan came over to where Zhou Ji was. “Zhou Ji, I want to go back. Do you have any way to do it?”
Zhou Ji said, “You can tie up some large pieces of wood and make a boat.”
In fact, making a boat wasn’t that hard. The biggest obstacle Zhu Zhan faced now was that he wasn’t powerful enough.
According to Zhu Zhan, there were many powerful creatures in the river. Crossing the river was easy, but it was very difficult to avoid being attacked and eaten by the denizens of the river.
Zhu Zhan clutched his head, “If it was just me, I would be willing to go and risk my life to give it a shot but…” If he planned to go back, his subordinates would definitely go with him, and when that happened, they would definitely suffer casualties.
Besides, if he died in the river, he would lose everything. He also didn’t know what would end up happening to Zhu Zhu and his children…
Zhu Zhan had originally planned to increase his strength first before going back, but now he couldn’t wait any longer.
After asking Zhou Ji this question, Zhu Zhan went over to the side and sat down in silence, neither talking nor eating.
Early in the morning of the next day, everyone began to eat the dinosaur that Zhu Zhan had brought back last night.
Zhou Ji also roasted a large piece of meat for Xiong Ye.
Zhu Zhan came over again while Zhou Ji was roasting meat, “Zhou Ji, thank you for saving me back then… This time, I’ll escort you guys to the Beach Tribe before leaving.”
Zhou Ji replied, “Alright.” He could also spend some time to help Zhu Zhan think about how to make a boat over the next few days.