The Eagle King's Goodwill

At the critical moment, Lin Sen's body rapidly shrank, and he grabbed hold of a protruding section of the cliff.

Feng Xu hurried forward and pulled Lin Sen up.

By the time the two returned to the battlefield, the fight was already over.

Feng Xi and the Giant Eagle had joined forces to kill the Snake Demon. Its head had been smashed out of shape by Feng Xi.

"Are you members of the Human Race from the nearby mountain?"

The Giant Eagle folded its bloodstained wings, and its gaze softened.

"Since you discovered us long ago, why didn't you attack our tribe?"

Lin Sen asked.

"I am not one of those mindless creatures. The Human Race was created by Sage Nüwa; feeding on the Human Race would taint me with karma."

The Giant Eagle cut open the snake's belly, took out its heart and gallbladder, and swallowed them in one gulp.

Those were where the Snake Demon's essence was concentrated. Now that the Eagle King had consumed them, it would probably not be long before he advanced to Earth Immortal.

"With your help this time, I was able to kill this demon. The rest is yours."

After saying that, the Giant Eagle spread his wings and flew back to his nest.

Feng Xu looked at the hundred-zhang Snake Demon and sighed helplessly.

How were they supposed to take away such a huge Snake Demon?

He had Feng Xi help him skin it and pull out its tendons.

Then he turned to look at Lin Sen.

Lin Sen thought the snake's fangs were quite good, so he knocked them out, intending to turn them into weapons.

There was too much stuff, and it was all too large to carry away easily.

Feng Xu opened the mall and found the artifact-refining section.

The Merit Mall had two artifact-refining functions. One used a small amount of Merit to simply process materials and turn them into Houtian Dharma Artifacts.

The other used a large amount of Merit to refine acquired Merit-based Dharma Treasures. The more Merit consumed and the rarer the materials, the better the finished product.

Feng Xu spent one thousand Merit to refine the snakeskin into a Storage Bag.

This was the most ordinary kind of Storage Bag. Its principle was not based on spatial laws, but was more like shrinking a Dharma Treasure after refining it. The Storage Bag came with its own refining function, allowing objects to be refined and shrunk before being placed inside, then restored to their original form when taken out.

Every deposit and retrieval required time for refinement.

It could be used with a small amount of mana. It could not store Dharma Treasures, only ordinary items.

The refined snakeskin bag could hold up to sixty tons of items, while its outside weight was one ten-thousandth of the weight of the contents.

The more it held, the heavier the bag became.

It was far less useful than the Storage Bags Feng Xu remembered, but it could still solve many immediate problems.

Feng Xu looked at the Giant Eagle guarding his nest in the distance, used the Storage Bag to put away the snake tendons and fangs, then collected a large amount of snake blood.

After discussing it, the three decided to give the remaining snake meat to the Giant Eagle.

"Aren't the Human Race the ones most short of food? Why are you giving the snake meat to me?"

The Giant Eagle looked at the three of them but did not accept it.

Lin Sen stepped forward and replied:

"Killing the Snake Demon has also removed a great threat to the Human Race. Senior has shown us kindness as well; how could we monopolize it?"

Besides, this snake possessed considerable cultivation. If Senior's soon-to-be-born child eats it, it will surely be greatly beneficial."

Feng Xu had taught him those words.

Among the Human Race here, only Feng Xu could speak normally. Everyone else relied on speech combined with gestures to express themselves.

The Giant Eagle glanced at the egg beneath him, nodded, and accepted.

Then he plucked a tail feather from himself and gave it to Lin Sen.

The feather was pitch-black throughout, yet it reflected seven-colored light beneath the sun.

Lin Sen glanced at Feng Xu, then stepped forward and accepted it.

"Eagle King, you are welcome to visit the Lin Tribe whenever you have time. The Human Race may be poor, but we still understand how to treat guests."

Lin Sen bent at the waist in salute. Feng Xu had taught him that as well.

If the Lin Tribe could become friends with the Eagle King, they would have someone to rely on in the future.

"After my child hatches, I will come and take a look."

The Eagle King had seen the expressions of all three and guessed their intentions, so he went along with it.

There were too many powerful creatures in the Great Wilderness Mountains. He needed allies as well.

Success. Lin Sen felt a surge of joy.

Lin Sen and Feng Xi prepared to leave, while Feng Xu was picking up feathers scattered across the ground nearby.

Though they could not compare to the one the Eagle King had plucked himself, they would still be useful for making ordinary items.

It could not be helped. The Human Race was too poor; they could not pass up anything that might be useful.

Unfortunately, he was too weak to be like the Two Sages of the West, who could forcibly take anything they wanted with a single sentence: "This has affinity with me."

Seeing that the Eagle King did not mind, he called Feng Xi over to help.

After gathering all the feathers on the ground, the three bade farewell once again and left.

The return trip was somewhat faster than the journey there.

By the time the three returned to the Lin Tribe, it was already the evening of the next day.

Feng Xu sat cross-legged in the treehouse and began cultivating.

To live peacefully, the Human Race as a whole needed to grow stronger, and he needed to improve his own strength as well.

As soon as dawn fully broke, Feng Xi led the group out once more.

The others carried rations for the journey on their backs, while the remaining goods were stored in the snakeskin bag.

After changing direction, the group crossed two mountain peaks. Five days later, they arrived at a plain.

This was a vast marshland, ringed by bamboo groves, with thick mud making travel through the swamp difficult.

Feng Xu had them cut some bamboo, tie it into rafts with grass rope, and propel themselves forward with bamboo poles.

Feng Xu and Feng Xi rode together. Since their raft carried the most cargo, it was especially large.

After advancing a hundred paces, they came upon a large number of orange-yellow plants, along with traces of Human Race habitation.

Feng Xu grabbed a handful of seeds and inspected them carefully.

"The tribe here eats this stuff. It doesn't taste very good."

Feng Xi curled his lip.

"This is rice. It looks like its yield is very high—we have to get some."

Feng Xu pulled down some rice grains and wrapped them in animal hide.

This truly was the Primordial World; the rice yield far surpassed that of his previous life. If he brought it back and planted it somewhere suitable, they would be able to eat cooked rice in the future.

Feng Xi ordered the others to stop and began gathering rice as well.

Before long, they had collected quite a lot.

A rustling sound came from ahead, and several people poled their bamboo rafts over while shouting loudly.

"Stop right there! Those are our things!"

"Did you plant these?"

"This is our territory. Everything here belongs to us."

Feng Xu nodded and signaled the others to stop.

It seemed they did not know how to cultivate crops.

But with the environment here, combined with the spiritual energy of the Primordial World, they would probably get a good harvest by scattering seeds anywhere.

They might not even need to scatter them. The rice grains that fell off naturally could take root and sprout on their own.

"We are from the Wind-Fire Tribe. We came to exchange goods with you, not to steal your things."

Seeing that the other side was still holding weapons, Feng Xu signaled for the rice they had taken earlier to be returned.

They were not lacking food this year. It was better to first establish a basic relationship of trust; they could obtain more through trade later.

When the other side saw that Feng Xu's group had handed over the rice and bore no ill intent, they led Feng Xu and the others back to their tribe.

This was a tribe that lived in the marshes.

A great river lay before them, while the shoreline swamp stretched behind them.

They lived on rice and fish, though their fishing methods were somewhat crude. They used sharpened bamboo to spear fish that swam up to the surface.

Everyone lived on bamboo rafts. Bent bamboo formed a roof around the rafts, tied and secured with grass rope to create simple bamboo huts.

The houses here were much better than the bird nests the Lin Tribe had once lived in. At least they could keep out the wind and rain.

"Outsiders, what do you want?"

"We want to exchange food for goods."

"What do you want to trade for?"

"People and rice."

Feng Xi pointed to the rice on the guide's raft.

"How do you want to trade?"

"By weight. The same weight of meat for the same weight of people. Other than the elderly, we want everyone."

This tribe clearly did not lack food as badly as the Lin Tribe did. Trading meat would require a higher price as well.

"No. We can catch fish ourselves, so we don't lack meat. You'll have to double it."

"You may be able to catch fish, but you cannot catch that many, can you?"

Feng Xu walked over to Feng Xi's side and spoke.

They could only catch fish that swam to the surface. The entire process depended on patience and luck. And with so many enormous creatures underwater, who knew whether one might swallow both people and raft together?

Feng Xu looked around. The population here was clearly larger than that of the Lin Tribe, and there were quite a few capable fighters.

There were even powerful individuals whose strength did not fall below Feng Sui's.

"Can this child represent your tribe?"

The other side was clearly displeased at having the conversation interrupted by a child.

"Of course. I lead the group on the road, but he makes the decisions regarding trade."

Seeing Feng Xi treat a boy with such respect, the tribal leader narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Let us set the trade aside for now. We have traveled for several days, so why not rest first and discuss it another day?"

Feng Xu looked at the other party and smiled brightly.