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Jian Mo perked up. "I want to see."

Qi Ming: "Wait a minute."

Qi Ming asked them to sit down at home for a while, and then went to fetch a cage of birds.

The bird in the cage had brightly colored feathers and a large, orange-red beak; it was clearly not a local bird.

Qi Ming: "We call this kind of bird the Red-Billed Migratory Bird. They usually come to our area in autumn and winter, and then they migrate south when the weather warms up."

"Wait a minute—" Jian Mo couldn't help but interrupt him, "Are you saying it backwards? Don't these birds migrate south when it gets cold and only come back when it gets warmer?"

Qi Ming shook his head. "I didn't say it backwards, they really are different from ordinary birds."

Jian Mo: "So it's pretty much certain that the chili peppers the birds ate came from the south."

Qi Ming: "Yes, that's what I think too. As long as you follow the path where the Red-Billed Migratory Bird are, heading south, it shouldn't be too far. After all, they can't possibly eat chili peppers and then hold their food in their stomachs for over ten days, only to end up coming all the way to our tribe to poop."

Jian Mo: "That's what I thought too, which is why I dared to go out with Wu Jiong to find Chili."

Qi Ming's eyes crinkled into a smile, "Then I wish you a safe journey."

Jian Mo: "Thank you for the blessings. By the way, you specially invited people from the Cypress Branch Tribe to our tribe to tell us this news, and you even helped raise the Red-Billed Migratory Bird. What kind of reward should we give you?"

Qi Ming's eyes crinkled into a smile again, "We asked the Cypress Branch Tribe to tell you this information because we wanted to have more dealings with the Cypress Branch Tribe —it's our own selfish reason. How about this: if you really can find the chili seeds, just give us an extra portion."

Jian Mo: "Okay, it's settled then!"

With time to spare, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong set off again.

They headed directly south, without taking a detour back to the Riverside Tribe.

The first few tribes they visited were all tribes they had visited before, from the Under the Clouds Tribe Haizuo Tribe, and then to the Xiongying Tribe.

After leaving the Xiongying Tribe and arriving at the Flower-Filled Tribe, the rest of the way down were tribes that Jian Mo had never heard of before.

They followed the trail of the Red-Billed Migratory Bird the whole way, and hunted quite a few Red-Billed Migratory Bird for dinner.

But they didn't have the luck of the Rain Rising Tribe. Despite frying and cooking so many Red-Billed Migratory Bird, they never found any more chili seeds.

Jian Mo: "Where did that Red-Billed Migratory Bird that the Rain Rising Tribe caught find the chili seed? It's so strange that we can't find the other chili seed at all!"

Wu Jiong rubbed his head. "Be patient."

Jian Mo rolled around in the thick grass. "For now, we can only consider this a vacation. Do you think the tribe will have already cut all the Flour Grass for us when we get back?"

Wu Jiong: "They might have even been ground into flour."

Jian Mo couldn't help but laugh, "That's exactly the kind of thing Qing Kuo would do."

The two of them camped in the wild for several days. On this day, they arrived at an unfamiliar tribe and Jian Mo wanted to find lodging there.

While living in the wild is certainly comfortable, staying at a village, enjoying local delicacies, and getting a good night's sleep in a private space is also a great option.

They carried metal blocks, cloth, and soap with them, so they weren't worried about not having enough supplies to pay for their lodging.

Even if they really can't afford it, Wu Jiong can still supply the tribe by hunting near the village.

Wu Jiong looked at the map passed down from the Riverside Tribe. This unfamiliar tribe was called the Upper Meng Tribe, and they were the kind of tribe that were relatively wary but also easy to talk to.

Wu Jiong and Jian Mo, accompanied by two Flying-Winged Beasts, stopped some distance from their tribe and walked over to pay their respects.

The patrolling orcs, after learning their purpose across the river, agreed to go and ask someone in their tribe who could speak on their behalf.

A short while later, a sub-orc led a few people out to greet them.

Seeing that there were only two people and two Flying-Winged Beasts, the people of the Upper Meng Tribe readily accepted them and settled them in an empty house by the river.

It was a rare treat for strangers to visit the Upper Meng Tribe, so everyone was quite curious.

Before long, people came over to watch the commotion and struck up a conversation with them.

After asking around for a while, the people from the Upper Meng Tribe suddenly remembered. "You are from the Riverside Tribe? The one with the particularly powerful shaman?"

"I remember now, that witch doctor's title was quite strange, wasn't it something like Doctor Jian Mo?"

Do you know that witch doctor? Is he really that powerful?

Jian Mo was surprised that people from so far away had heard of him. He exchanged a glance with Wu Jiong, then touched his nose somewhat embarrassedly. "You might be talking about me."

The people of the Upper Meng Tribe: "You?"

Jian Mo: "My name is Jian Mo. 'Doctor' is a term used in our area, but it's not anything particularly impressive."

Jian Mo was too young, with fair skin and a youthful appearance. The people from the Upper Meng Tribe, seemingly not quite believing him. "Really? Does your tribe have another person named Doctor Jian Mo? Or are there any people with this name in nearby tribes?"

Jian Mo, seeing this as a first-time suspect, widened her eyes. "How many people would have such a strange name?"

The people of the Upper Meng Tribe laughed, "You're too good-looking, it doesn't seem like it. All the skilled shamans we know are incredibly old."

Someone in the crowd chimed in, "The Witch Doctor Lian Ke is very old, but he's not very skilled."

The people of the Upper Meng Tribe laughed again, and someone even called out to the person who had interrupted, "How can you say such things about the Witch Doctor Lian Ke?"

The person who spoke first retorted, "That's true! Witch Doctor Lian Ke couldn't cure them properly, yet she collected a lot of supplies."

Upon hearing the key phrase, Jian Mo quickly interrupted, "Wait, is the Witch Doctor Lian Ke one of the orcs around here?"

The people of the Upper Meng Tribe: "You also know about Witch Doctor Lian Ke?"

Jian Mo nodded. "He visited our tribe, and I even learned from him how to make a kind of ointment from a certain type of leaf."

Although the process was rather complicated.