Tribal Split

The Merit Mall offered a vast array of goods—cultivation methods and secret arts of every kind, from ordinary plants to supreme innate spiritual roots and Primordial Treasures, as well as special services like artifact refinement and pill refining.

But it had no medicine from his previous life.

Li Yuanchu closed the mall and continued with the task at hand.

The water had been brought over, clean and crystal clear.

He took a sip. There was no strange taste; it was sweet and refreshing.

He poured the water into the stone trough while the others continued fetching more.

Li Yuanchu pointed at a Pig Demon over a hundred feet long and called over a warrior to cut through its hide and flesh with a stone knife, removing its tendons.

After washing them clean, they were placed along the edge of the stone trough to roast and dry, then transferred into another stone trough to boil.

He had them smash the Pig Demon's teeth, select suitable ones by size and shape, and grind them into needle tips.

He himself soaked animal hides in hot water and carefully wiped the wound clean.

By then, the chief had already fallen unconscious. Aside from breathing, he showed no movement, and his breath was growing weaker by the moment.

Once the intestines were damaged, digestive fluids and filth leaked into the body. Under such conditions, survival was indeed impossible.

Li Yuanchu devoted himself completely to the task, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

Everything went smoothly at first. Li Yuanchu picked up a bone needle from the hot water and threaded it with cord twisted from Pig Demon tendons.

He then called two people over to hold the chief down.

There was no anesthesia. The moment the bone needle pierced the intestine, the chief's body convulsed violently.

"You're hurting the chief! Stop at once!"

The crowd stirred restlessly. The burly man leading them was the tribe's second-in-command, its strongest warrior beneath the chief.

"No, I'm saving him. If the wound isn't stitched shut, he'll keep bleeding."

Li Yuanchu explained as he stitched swiftly and carefully. Fine sweat beaded across his forehead, and he did not dare slacken for even a moment.

"I think you're just trying to torture the chief."

"I believe him."

The chief's birth mother stepped forward once more to stop everyone.

In her eyes, the mischievous boy from before had suddenly become like a completely different person. The way he acted was nothing like a child's.

At the same time, she noticed that the stitched area was no longer bleeding heavily.

Perhaps he really could save the chief. This was their only hope, and she did not want to give up.

Seeing how firm the old woman's stance was, the others could only retreat.

"The longer the injury drags on, the harder it will be to save him. I can't let anyone interrupt me again."

Li Yuanchu spoke as he continued stitching.

The old woman drove the others away and stood ten paces off with the chief's younger brother, watching Li Yuanchu save him.

The surgery was a success, and the bleeding had stopped.

Li Yuanchu gave the wound one final cleaning, applied herbs, and wrapped it in animal hide.

Whether the chief would survive depended entirely on his recovery from here on. Conditions here were too poor, and infection could not be ruled out.

Li Yuanchu warned the two of them that the chief could neither eat nor drink for three days, aside from moistening his lips with water. He needed to remain dry and isolated at all times, and could only eat after three days.

The old woman did not understand, but she obediently followed his instructions.

Li Yuanchu opened the Merit Mall again and began browsing.

He now had one hundred and fifty thousand Merit Points, enough to exchange for quite a few things.

Though there were many kinds of Dharma Treasures, they required a certain level of cultivation and were of no use to him for the time being.

Li Yuanchu opened the mall's detailed description.

This had been formed from a Fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation combined with Human Dao Destiny. If Feng Xu could become the Human Ancestor, he could also receive a beginner's gift pack.

He could choose any ownerless Primordial Treasure.

"Looks like I'll have to work harder and fight for the position of Human Ancestor."

Previously, he would have had no confidence at all.

The chief had once said that after the Human Race was born, they scattered across the Great Wilderness and took root in various places. Some tribes had people with aptitude far beyond his own.

Based on memories from his previous life, those should have been the Primordial Dao Embryos personally molded by Nüwa.

But now that he had obtained the Merit Mall ahead of time, if he still could not compete, then he could only accept defeat.

As a transmigrator, he might not be able to win in a fight, but could he really fail at farming Merit?

Through Li Yuanchu's experiments, he discovered that only the first time fire was created brought a large Merit reward. After that, every person who learned to make fire granted one Merit Point.

After the mall was activated, there were no notifications for gaining Merit, but he could check the source of his Merit in his personal information.

One hundred thousand Merit had come from making fire, while fifty thousand had come from the surgery. By the same logic, every person saved through surgery should also grant one Merit Point.

Looking at the primitive people beside him who were babbling and shouting, Li Yuanchu felt that teaching them how to speak might also earn quite a bit of Merit.

They started arguing again.

The second-in-command believed that the heavenly disaster was an ill omen. Since Li Yuanchu could create such a disaster, he was also an ill-omened person. He had to be driven from the tribe, or he would bring calamity upon them.

The chief's mother believed that Li Yuanchu had saved the chief and was the tribe's benefactor. What he had created was not a heavenly disaster, but a miracle, and he should be rewarded.

But the chief had yet to awaken, so no one could be certain whether Li Yuanchu had truly saved him.

The two sides reached a stalemate.

Li Yuanchu did not get involved. He was teaching the women, children, and elderly how to make and use fire, telling them that this thing was called fire, not a heavenly disaster.

"Fire—"

"Yes, that's right. Fire."

Li Yuanchu gestured as he taught the others how to pronounce the word.

This was the spark that would ignite human civilization, the beginning of the Human Race's escape from ignorance.

"He's spreading calamity! Stop him and drive him out!"

The second-in-command strode toward Li Yuanchu aggressively.

Li Yuanchu was afraid, but he refused to back down.

"This isn't calamity. It's a power we must master, just like spears!"

"What can it do besides destroy things?"

"It can drive away wild beasts and cook food. It makes food taste even better."

Li Yuanchu cut off a large chunk of wild boar meat, blanched it in water, then stewed it.

"It'll be ready to eat soon. It'll taste better than raw meat."

All living things in the Primordial World possessed spirituality, and their flavor was also far better.

The chief's younger brother blocked the second-in-command, refusing to let him interfere.

A rich scent of meat drifted through the air, making everyone swallow uncontrollably.

"Don't rush. Wait a little longer."

Li Yuanchu continued processing the wild boar while the other women came over to help.

The first batch of meat had already finished cooking. Li Yuanchu took a bite and could not help sighing inwardly.

Compared to this bite, the pork from his previous life had tasted like fake meat. The gamey smell was a little strong, but still acceptable.

Was this the spirituality of creatures from the Primordial World?

Seeing that Li Yuanchu was fine after eating it, the others began stepping forward to fish meat from the pot.

Li Yuanchu found some slender bone spikes, handed them over, and taught them to skewer the meat before eating. Then he stepped aside.

The tribe had always let the strong eat first.

They did not wait for the pork to cool before pulling it out and stuffing it into their mouths.

They sucked in breaths of air as they chewed. It was their first time eating cooked meat, and they were so moved that tears streamed down their faces, yet not one of them spat the meat out.

The second-in-command's expression turned extremely ugly as he took a bite.

The cooked meat scalded his mouth so badly that he could not close it, but he still could not bear to spit it out.

The pork was quickly eaten up, and the rest of the prepared meat was placed into the stone trough.

Everyone ate their fill, except for the chief.

After eating, Li Yuanchu stayed up through the night with the chief's mother, watching over the sleeping chief.

He had originally wanted to take turns keeping watch with the old woman, but she did not trust him and insisted on staying awake all night.

She gripped a bone needle in her hand, though no one knew what she was thinking.

In the middle of the night, the chief began to run a fever. Li Yuanchu soaked animal hides in cold water and laid them over the chief's forehead and underarms.

By dawn the next day, the chief had not awakened, and the fever had not subsided.

The second-in-command stirred up trouble again, claiming that the chief would never wake up and that yesterday's treatment had merely delayed his death.

He said it was only increasing the chief's suffering and demanded that Li Yuanchu be driven away.

Though the chief's mother and younger brother disagreed, they had no proof and could not stop the second-in-command from stirring up the tribe. They could only protect Li Yuanchu.

In the end, the second-in-command left with the tribe's able-bodied men, taking the largest Pig Demon with him.

He had long wanted to split off from the tribe.

After the tribe split, only three able-bodied men remained. Including the elderly and women, there were forty people, along with more than thirty children.

The chief had not awakened, but there was still work to be done.

The wild boars piled outside the cave would attract other beasts if they were not dealt with.

Under Li Yuanchu's guidance, the tribe began to work. The remaining wild boars, each over a hundred feet long, were dragged far away and butchered before being brought back after their blood had been drained.

This was to prevent the scent of blood from attracting nearby beasts.

There were more than twenty pigs. Once all were air-dried, they were expected to yield a million jin of dried meat.

The people here ate at least five jin of meat per meal, while those with bigger appetites could eat over ten jin at once. Even so, they could not possibly finish so much meat.

Everything in the Primordial World possessed spirituality, so food lasted longer and would not spoil even by next winter. But if it was stored too long, its spirituality would dissipate. Eating it would no longer improve Bloodline Power or increase strength.

He needed to find a way to deal with it.

At noon, hunger woke the chief.

When she saw the chief open his eyes, the old woman finally breathed a sigh of relief. She held down the chief, who wanted to get up and eat meat, and sent someone to call Li Yuanchu.

Li Yuanchu returned to the bedside and examined him.

The chief's recovery speed exceeded all expectations. His wound had already healed, and he could get out of bed and move around lightly.

Li Yuanchu could not help marveling at how absurdly strong the Human Race's physical constitution was at this time.

He should be able to try drinking soup.

Li Yuanchu held the soup in a leaf and had the chief sip small amounts with a bone spoon, constantly watching for any abnormal reaction.

This was far too troublesome. He needed to make a more convenient container.