Guests from All Sides

"These were traded from a tribe to the west. They ate these things as food. I tried them, and they tasted much better cooked than raw."

Feng Xi was rather pleased with himself. Not only had he tried cooking them, he had even cooked them with meat. They tasted far better than meat alone.

Feng Xu praised him, then continued taking out the other goods.

Feng Xi was quite reliable when it came to getting things done. He had not only traded for plenty of cabbages and radishes, but had also collected quite a few seeds.

Besides those, there were quite a few fuzzy peaches in the bag.

Feng Xu took a bite. It was quite sweet. He finished it in a few bites, leaving behind the pit.

There was not much else in the snakeskin sack. After those things were taken out, only some pale yellow ore remained.

"This was discovered in a small tribe to the northwest. Food is scarce over there, and they rely on this stuff to replenish their strength. I tried it, and as long as you get the amount right, putting it in a pot makes food taste better."

Feng Xu licked it, and his expression changed. He turned and spat on the ground.

"Feng Xi, take me there tomorrow. We have to get our hands on this."

This was salt ore. It contained some impurities and needed to be refined.

"That tribe is very far away. A round trip will probably take over twenty days. If we leave now, it will snow before we get back."

Feng Xi looked at Feng Xu, not understanding why he had reacted so strongly.

"I'll use a magic treasure to travel. Just the two of us."

Feng Xu handed the seeds to Feng Sui to plant once spring arrived, then found Feng Ling and demonstrated how to refine the salt ore.

For every hundred jin of white salt refined, one point of Merit could be gained.

The next day, he set off with Feng Xi, using the Heaven-Hanging Ruler to fly.

Feng Xu had limited magical power. After flying halfway, they continued on foot, but they still avoided many detours.

On the fifteenth day after setting out, they reached the tribe Feng Xi had mentioned.

Just as Feng Xi had said, the place was rather barren, but that also greatly reduced the risk of beast attacks.

The salt mine lay underground, with a somewhat narrow opening leading inside.

After walking a hundred paces inward, they could see layer upon layer of salt rock.

Salt crystal stalactites hung from the ceiling, while salt stalagmites and pillars rose from the ground.

The entire vein held an immense salt reserve, enough for the Human Race throughout the Great Wilderness Mountains to use for a long time. The salt mine had two layers. The upper layer was a mixture of salt rock and earth, while the lower layer contained clear crystalline blocks of higher purity.

Feng Xu filled the snakeskin sack with a large quantity of salt ore, then returned to the surface and found the nearby tribe.

The tribe had only around eighty people. Feng Xu gave them over ten thousand jin of rice and told them how to eat it.

"We'll come once a year from now on. As long as you provide us with enough salt ore, we'll provide you with ample grain."

At first, Feng Xu had indeed considered simply using food to buy the entire tribe, since food was hard currency at a time like this.

With enough food, the tribe would not have to risk hunting outside, reducing casualties.

But after considering the Great Wilderness Lord's intentions, he decided to establish only a cooperative relationship.

In any case, the tribe did not have many people. Trading once a year would be more than enough to meet their need for salt.

When the other side's leader saw so much food, his legs nearly gave out beneath him.

This winter, they could finally live well.

Many people gathered around the grain, cheering and jumping for joy. They were dark and thin, and looked somewhat malnourished.

The leader also excitedly thanked Feng Xu and Feng Xi, promising that they would work hard to mine plenty of salt ore next year.

Some people even burrowed into the rice, discovering that they did not feel cold while surrounded by grain, and shouted in excitement.

"Didn't you trade food with them? Why does every one of them look like they haven't eaten?"

Feng Xu quietly asked Feng Xi.

"They've already put on quite a bit of weight. The last time I came, they were as thin as bamboo poles."

Feng Xu felt a faint ache in his heart.

These people had suffered far too much.

"From now on, this will be the Stone Tribe. Everyone will take Shi as their surname, and you will be Shi Zheng."

Feng Xu wrote two characters on the stone wall and bestowed a name upon the tribe.

All the adults were given names. Feng Xu then suggested that they spend the winter in the Wind-Fire Tribe.

"Hide all the food away and eat it after winter is over. We will provide everything you need for the winter, as long as you help us with some work when spring comes."

Having the entire tribe visit another tribe was no small matter, so Shi Zheng needed to discuss it with the others.

They ultimately decided to make the trip to the Wind-Fire Tribe. After packing everything up, dozens of people set out.

There were many people, including men, women, the old, and the young, so the entire group moved rather slowly.

Whenever they encountered a somewhat dangerous place or a difficult stretch of road, Feng Xu used the Heaven-Hanging Ruler to fly them across.

After traveling for twenty days, they returned to the Wind-Fire Tribe before the last snowfall of winter arrived.

By then, the group traveling with them had grown to more than six hundred people.

These were not people traded for. Along the way, Feng Xu had seen people who seemed unlikely to survive the winter and invited them to visit the tribe.

They had food to spare anyway. Feeding more people would also provide temporary labor.

They were settled at the old site.

After expansion, the place could accommodate at most three hundred people. Having more than six hundred people live there at once was still far too cramped.

Feng Xu led them in building temporary grass shelters, each furnished with a large wolfskin bed and a stove.

With so many people, disorder could easily arise. Members of the Stone Tribe were selected as temporary administrators. Everyone had to obey the Stone Tribe's management and follow the Wind-Fire Tribe's basic rules.

Shi Zheng was not weak. He was already close to the threshold of Earth Immortal, so Feng Xu took him into the Blood Pool to break through.

While Shi Zheng cultivated in the Blood Pool, people from the Red Iron Tribe arrived. This year's farming tools were four times as many as last year's, and the craftsmanship was much better as well.

The Wind-Fire Tribe did not have many warriors for the time being, so Feng Xu had not asked them to forge weapons.

After arranging for the Red Iron Tribe's people to go to Wild Boar Ridge, Feng Xu remained at the old site.

Simple grass shelters could not block the biting wind at all. Feng Xu planned to teach them to build snow walls once it snowed.

Not long after the Red Iron Tribe left, the Lukun Tribe, Lin Tribe, and Marsh Tribe arrived one after another.

Together, they brought more than six hundred people to the old site.

These were all people they had traded for from tribes close to their own.

The total was not much greater than the number Feng Xi had brought back, so they had probably kept some people for themselves as well.

The old site was now packed to capacity, and Jiang Ze came to find Feng Xu.

"Your place is full of people already. There isn't enough room for anyone else. What are we supposed to do with the people we brought? We can't exactly take them back with us, can we?"

"Wild Boar Ridge has been initially completed and can hold more than three thousand people. Take them there. We'll take them all."

Feng Xu gestured for them to rest easy, gave them additional supplies, and sent them onward.

Looking at the more than six hundred people at the old site, he began calculating how to maximize the benefits.

This year's harvest had been good. After spring arrived, they could arrange for more people to reclaim new land. They also needed to expand the old site and the plains settlement so they could host more guests in the future.

As grain made up a greater proportion of their food consumption, the amount of cultivated land would continue to grow, and the tribe would gradually move to live on the plains.

By then, some great demon passing by might simply swallow everyone in one bite.

How could they prevent that?

Should they dig a cellar?

As Feng Xu sat by the doorway thinking about future plans, heavy snow began to fall silently.

This winter was colder than the last. Feng Xu led a group of people in building a ring of snow walls around the temporary grass shelters.

Their main purpose was to block the wind.

Feng Xi came over from Wild Boar Ridge and joined in building the snow walls.

In the past, Feng Xu had only thought about how to develop the tribe and improve his own strength.

Now, he felt that he could do more.

Perhaps this was growth as well.

The central basin of the Great Wilderness Mountains.

A youth carrying a bone knife slowly walked up to a tiger demon.

The tiger demon growled a warning, blood mixed with saliva dripping from its mouth.

The youth before it paid no heed.

"I thought you man-eating demons were something special, but this is all the strength you've got."

The youth's figure flashed, and he suddenly appeared before the tiger demon.

Caught off guard, the tiger demon was sent flying by a punch. It fell to the ground, lifeless.

"A late-stage Earth Immortal tiger, and nothing more than this."

The youth slung the tiger demon over his shoulder and prepared to return to his tribe.

"Huh? My fortune value has increased quite a bit again. The person that adviser called the system picked for me is pretty capable."