Guests from All Sides

"These were traded from a tribe to the west. They eat these things as food. I tried them, and they taste 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, and they tasted far better than meat alone.

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

Feng Xi had handled the matter quite reliably. Not only had he traded for plenty of cabbage and radishes, he had also collected many 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 in the woven plastic sack. After taking those things out, all that remained were some pale yellow ores.

"This was found in a small tribe to the northwest. They have very little food there and rely on this stuff to replenish their strength. I tried it out. As long as the amount is controlled properly, adding it to a pot can make food taste better."

Feng Xu licked a bit of it, his expression changing as he spat onto the ground.

"Feng Xi, take me there tomorrow. We must get our hands on this stuff."

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

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

Feng Xi looked at Feng Xu, unable to understand why he was reacting so strongly.

"I'll use a Dharma Treasure to travel. Just the two of us."

Feng Xu gave the seeds to Feng Sui to plant when spring came, then found Feng Ling and demonstrated how to refine the salt ore.

For every hundred jin of white salt refined, he could gain one point of Merit.

The next day, he brought Feng Xi along and used the Heaven-Hanging Ruler to fly.

Feng Xu had limited magical power, so he switched to traveling on foot halfway through. Even so, they still avoided many detours.

On the fifteenth day after setting out, they arrived at 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 was underground, with a somewhat narrow entrance 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 mine had two layers. The upper layer was a mix of salt rock and soil, while the lower layer contained clear crystal blocks of much higher purity.

Feng Xu filled woven plastic sacks with a large amount of salt ore, then returned to the surface and found a nearby tribe.

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

"We'll come once every year from now on. As long as you give us enough salt ore, we can provide you with plenty of grain."

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

With sufficient food, the tribe would no longer need to risk their lives hunting outside, reducing casualties.

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

In any case, there were not many people in the tribe. One trade every year would fully meet their need for salt.

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

They could finally get through this winter properly.

Many people gathered around the grain, cheering and jumping with joy. They were dark and skinny, clearly somewhat malnourished.

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

Some even burrowed into the rice, discovering that they did not feel cold while inside it, and cried out excitedly.

"Didn't you trade food with them? Why do they all look like they haven't eaten?"

Feng Xu asked Feng Xi quietly.

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

Feng Xu felt a faint ache in his heart.

These people had suffered far too much.

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

Feng Xu wrote two characters onto the stone wall, granting the tribe its name.

All the adults received names. Feng Xu then suggested that they go to the Wind-Fire Tribe for the winter.

"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 arrives."

The entire tribe going to visit another tribe was no minor matter. Shi Zheng needed to discuss it with the others.

In the end, they decided to visit the Wind-Fire Tribe. After packing everything up, dozens of people set off.

There were many of them, men and women, young and old alike, so the whole 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 twenty days of travel, they returned to the Wind-Fire Tribe before winter's last snowfall arrived.

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

These were not people obtained through trade. They were people Feng Xu had encountered along the way who seemed unlikely to survive the winter, so he had invited them to visit the tribe.

There was more food than they could eat anyway. Supporting a few more people would also provide temporary labor.

They were arranged at the old site.

After expansion, the place could hold at most three hundred people. Trying to house more than six hundred people at once was still far too cramped.

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

With so many people, disorder was easy to arise. Members of the Stone Tribe were chosen 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 Earth Immortal threshold, so Feng Xu took him into the Blood Pool to make a breakthrough.

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

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

After arranging for the Red Iron Tribe to head toward Wild Boar Ridge, Feng Xu remained at the old site.

Simple grass huts could not keep out the bitter wind at all. Feng Xu planned to teach them how to build snow walls when it snowed.

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

They brought a total of more than six hundred people to the old site.

These were all people they had traded for from nearby tribes.

The total was not much more 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 the brim. Jiang Ze found Feng Xu.

"Your place is full of people. There isn't any room left. What are we supposed to do with the people we brought? We can't exactly take them back, can we?"

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

Feng Xu reassured them, gave them additional supplies, and had them continue on their way.

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, he could arrange for more people to reclaim new land. He also needed to expand the old site and the plains settlement so they could host more guests in the future.

As grain came to make up a larger share of their food consumption, the area of cultivated land would grow larger and larger, and the tribe members would gradually move to live on the plains.

At that point, some great demon passing by might casually swallow everyone whole.

How could he prevent that?

Maybe he should dig a cellar?

As Feng Xu sat at the door thinking about plans for the future, heavy snow began to fall silently.

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

It was mainly to block the wind.

Feng Xi came over from Wild Boar Ridge and joined the snow wall construction.

Before, 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 counted as growth too.

The central basin of the Great Wilderness Mountains.

A young man held a bone knife as he slowly approached the Tiger Monster.

The Tiger Monster growled a warning, blood mingling with saliva as it dripped from his mouth.

The young man across from him paid no heed.

"I thought you man-eating monsters were something special. Turns out this is all the strength you have."

The young man's figure flashed, and he suddenly appeared before the Tiger Monster.

Caught off guard, the Tiger Monster was sent flying by a single punch. He fell to the ground, no longer breathing.

"A Late Earth Immortal tiger is nothing impressive either."

The young man hoisted the Tiger Monster onto his shoulder, preparing to return to his tribe.

"Huh, my luck value went up quite a bit again. That adviser called the system is pretty capable at picking people for me."