Tribal Bonfire Festival

The sun slanted westward, staining the clouds at the horizon in intertwined orange-red and dark purple. At last, the hunting party, bearing Savage Bulls on their shoulders, appeared on the dirt road outside the tribe.

The tribesmen standing guard at the entrance spotted them first. A ringing shout carried out from beneath the totem pole.

"They're back! The hunting party is back!"

That cry was like a stone thrown into a lake, and the entire tribe sprang to life in an instant.

One wooden door after another swung open from the stone houses. The women emerged, wiping water from their hands, while the children darted out from every corner like a pack of jubilant wild rabbits, rushing toward the tribe entrance.

Xiao Hu was always the one at the very front.

The boy's short legs churned so fast they nearly left afterimages. Three or four playmates about his age trailed behind him as he shot like a wisp of smoke straight to the Savage Bull King's corpse.

Several little heads tilted up in unison. Looking at the colossal beast, taller than all of them stacked together, their mouths formed identical circles.

"Wow! It's huge!"

"It's three times bigger than the one Uncle Biao carried back last time!"

"That horn is thicker than my arm!"

"Your arm wasn't that thick to begin with..."

"Shut up!"

A chorus of chirping amazement rose and fell. Xiao Hu stood on tiptoe, reaching for those spiraling horns, only for his mother, who had rushed over behind him, to seize him by the back of his collar.

"Don't touch it carelessly. If you get covered in bull blood, don't even think about getting into bed tonight."

"Ow, Mom, I just wanted to touch it once!"

Lin Yi stood behind the crowd with a medium-sized Savage Bull on his shoulder. Watching the bustling scene before him, though a weight of over a thousand jin pressed down on his shoulder, the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously.

In all the days since he had crossed over, this was the first time he had truly felt the weight of the words "returning to the tribe."

It was a grounded sense of belonging, the feeling that someone was waiting for him. Though he had only lived here for a few days at most, surrounded by those smiling faces coming to welcome him, something warm unexpectedly surged up from his chest.

The old village chief slowly emerged from behind the crowd.

His pace was still unhurried, but when those ancient-well eyes swept over the Savage Bull King's corpse on the ground, a sharp gleam flashed through them.

He crouched down, his withered fingers lightly stroking the armor-like bone over the Savage Bull King's shoulder blade. Then he carefully examined the lingering marks on its hide, now completely faded and leaving only faint patterns behind. His brows slowly drew together.

"A normal Savage Bull could never grow to this size." The village chief raised his head to look at Biao. "This one was likely no ordinary beast."

Biao removed the greatsword from his shoulder and planted it on the ground, wiping the mixture of sweat and blood from his face.

"That's right. It's a mutant. Its bloodline reverted to its ancestors, and it actually developed an Innate Divine Ability. Hunting this thing took a hell of an effort."

As he spoke, he jerked his chin toward Lin Yi. "If this kid hadn't had a flash of inspiration, we'd probably have lost someone today."

Upon hearing the words "bloodline reversion" and "Innate Divine Ability," the surrounding tribesmen broke into another round of hushed gasps and discussion.

The experienced old hunters crowded closer to inspect the traces of patterns left on the Savage Bull King's corpse. Their faces bore complicated expressions of both awe and regret.

The women were more concerned about their own men.

The wives and families of the hunting party had already found their husbands and began checking them from head to toe for wounds.

Biao's wife, a broad-shouldered, thick-waisted, dark-skinned woman herself, plucked Xiao Hu—who was still trying to climb onto the Savage Bull King—off with one hand and set him aside. Then she turned to her own man.

Without ceremony, both hands tugged open Biao's hide collar and began kneading and pressing his shoulders and chest.

"I'm fine! Don't worry, I'm built this strong—what could possibly happen to me?" Biao grimaced as his wife kneaded him, yet stiffened his neck and puffed out his chest. He even thumped his chest twice with a resounding bang to prove it.

Afterward, his throat tickled, and he suddenly coughed twice.

Biao's wife froze.

She stared at the faint bloodstain at the corner of Biao's mouth that he had not yet wiped clean, then looked at the flash of pain that had crossed his brows when he struck his chest. She rolled her eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky.

"...Hmph. You might as well die, then."

Though she said that, her hand had already reached out to gently press the bruise on Biao's lower back where the Savage Bull King had struck him.

Biao grinned and stopped pretending to be tough, allowing his wife to drag him two steps toward the stone house by the ear.

Watching this, a relaxed smile bloomed across the village chief's wrinkled face.

He straightened up, swept his gaze around the busy crowd, and raised his voice.

"All right, all right, let the hunting brothers catch their breath first! Everyone else, lend a hand. Clean up the prey—cut what needs cutting, salt what needs salting!"

He paused, then raised his voice several notches higher. "Tonight, a bonfire!"

"Yes!"

The tribesmen answered as one, their voices brimming with rough, honest joy.

The men rolled up their sleeves and began dragging the Savage Bull corpses to the river for processing. The women carried over wooden basins and stone knives to prepare to carve up the meat, while the children weaved through the adults' legs, excited as a pack of little beasts.

The village chief turned back and slowly walked over to Lin Yi.

He first looked Lin Yi up and down, his gaze lingering for a moment on Lin Yi's hands, still stained with bull blood, before he finally spoke in a gentle voice.

"Friend Lin, how do you feel after today?"

Lin Yi set down the Savage Bull on his shoulder and rolled his sore shoulder muscles.

His expression was much more composed than before they had set out. The eager restlessness of a newborn calf had been worn away by a day's hunt, stripping off a layer of surface hide and revealing something more solid beneath.

"The Great Wilderness truly is dangerous." Lin Yi's voice was somewhat hoarse, but his tone was earnest. "If Brother Biao hadn't held the line at the front against that Savage Bull King today, I'm afraid none of us would have made it back."

The village chief nodded, a trace of gratification showing in those ancient-well eyes.

"The Great Wilderness never pities the weak, nor does it begrudge its gifts to those who survive.

"To return alive today is your good fortune. Only by weathering the perils of life and death can one become truly strong."

He extended a hand and gently patted Lin Yi's shoulder.

"From now on, you must remain vigilant at all times. The Dao Path is long. May you walk ever farther along it."

Lin Yi clasped his fists and bowed. "Thank you, Village Chief."

The sun fully sank behind the mountain ridge. In the open space at the center of the tribe, a pile of thick dry firewood had been stacked into a towering cone. Someone used flint to ignite grass down soaked in animal fat. The flames climbed the woodpile and rapidly spread amid a crackling burst, orange-red firelight surging toward the sky and painting every face around it with a warm, flickering glow.