Chapter Summaries

Jian Mo commissioned the Tianning Tribe to make pottery, negotiated payment, and learned about the tribe’s trades with the Jintuo Tribe. When he later visited the potters, he spotted them boiling poisonous stem tubers and warned them not to eat them.

• Jian Mo admired the Tianning Tribe’s pottery and asked Huan Yu’s people to make bottles, jars, plates, and vases from his designs.
• Jian Mo and Huan Yu agreed that Jian Mo would trade cloth for the finished pottery.
• Qing Kuo told Jian Mo that the Tianning Tribe had traded metal for the charcoal recipe and that the tribe had obtained their pottery-making techniques for 150 baskets.
• Jian Mo visited the Tianning Tribe and warned them that the stem tubers they were boiling were poisonous.

Jian Mo learned the Tianning Tribe’s recipe for treating boils with Spring Thunder Eggs and white earth, then worked to make the potent medicine gentler on the skin. He asked Qing Kuo to spread the word that people with boils could come to him for free treatment so he could test his improved recipe.

• Jian Mo examined a Tianning Tribe sub-beastman’s boil and learned that Spring Thunder Eggs could be used to draw out its poison.
• Min Dang warned Jian Mo that the tubers were poisonous, and Jian Mo visited the Tianning Tribe to observe their treatment and trade three rolls of cloth for the recipe.
• Jian Mo gathered Spring Thunder Eggs, white earth, and other medicinal plants, then experimented with different medicine combinations.
• Jian Mo found that an improved recipe did not damage the Pack-Pack Beast’s skin, but he could not confirm whether it treated boils effectively.
• Qing Kuo told Jian Mo that boils were common in spring, and Jian Mo asked him to spread the word that people could come for free treatment.

Jian Mo treated visitors from the Red Zheng and Xiongying Tribes and evaluated his new medicine for abscesses. A beastman named Ru Da then arrived with a badly infected, blackened big toe, leaving Jian Mo to examine the injury.

• Jian Mo examined abscesses for the Red Zheng Tribe, whose members praised his looks and skill after receiving treatment.
• News of Jian Mo's new medicine brought visitors to the Riverside Tribe, and he treated a Xiongying Tribe beastman's ordinary abscess with medicinal oil.
• The Xiongying beastman told Jian Mo that his injured friend might need treatment, and Jian Mo asked him to send the friend over for an examination.
• Ru Da of the Haizuo Tribe arrived on Jiu Heng's recommendation and showed Jian Mo his right big toe, which had turned black and was oozing pus and blood.

Jian Mo removed Ru Da’s badly infected toenail under anesthesia and monitored his recovery. After Ru Da healed well, he returned to the Riverside Tribe with eggs and meat to pay Jian Mo.

• Jian Mo examined Ru Da’s infected toe, explained the risks of removing the nail, and Ru Da agreed to the procedure.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong put Ru Da to sleep, then Jian Mo removed the toenail, cleaned the wound, and bandaged it.
• Ru Da woke that evening feeling relief, and Jian Mo checked him again the next morning and found no signs of inflammation.
• Jian Mo asked Ru Da to pay the equivalent of three rolls of cloth, and Ru Da promised to bring payment after recovering.
• After resting for five days, Ru Da returned to the Riverside Tribe with his companion and brought Jian Mo eggs and meat.

Jian Mo learned that Ru Da had no knowledge of scallions, then spent the rainy spring gathering mushrooms and trying new ways to cook them. The chapter ended with Wu Jiong tending the fire while Jian Mo prepared butter-fried mushrooms.

• Ru Da brought Jian Mo Arrow-Bone Beast meat, eggs, and seeds for a tender wild vegetable, and Jian Mo asked him about fragrant crops and seasonings.
• Ru Da and his companion could not identify Jian Mo’s drawing of a scallion, but they took the board to watch for news of one.
• Spring rains brought plentiful mushrooms, and Qing Kuo warned Jian Mo to have unfamiliar ones checked before eating them.
• Jian Mo prepared to cook mushrooms in butter with milk and pepper stamens, while Wu Jiong lit the stove and asked how strong the fire should be.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong enjoyed Jian Mo’s creamy pepper-stamen mushrooms, then followed Jiujiu to a hidden alpine meadow. There, Jiujiu revealed its secret patch of white parasol mushrooms and shared it with them.

• Jian Mo cooked mushrooms with butter, pepper stamens, and Pack-Pack Beast milk, and Wu Jiong said they tasted good.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong brought food and grass to Jiujiu, who excitedly ate its meal.
• The next day, Jiujiu tugged Jian Mo toward a destination, and he fetched Wu Jiong before they flew southwest together.
• Jiujiu led them to an alpine meadow and showed them mushrooms hidden beneath the grass.
• Jian Mo recognized the plentiful mushrooms as tasty white parasol mushrooms and thanked Jiujiu for sharing its secret patch.
• Jian Mo began carefully picking mushrooms while Wu Jiong and Jiujiu stayed with him.

Jian Mo and the others gathered mushrooms, dried the surplus, and made mushroom sauce during a stretch of rainy weather. He traded the sauce to tribe members for ingredients, helping provide extra food for Jiujiu, while visitors from other tribes continued coming to the Riverside Tribe to trade for pottery.

• Jian Mo, Wu Jiong, and Jiujiu gathered mushrooms repeatedly until the alpine meadow’s crop went out of season, then Jian Mo dried their surplus.
• During the rainy spell, Jian Mo made mushroom sauce, and Zhou Fu, Xi Lu, and others came to learn how to prepare it.
• Jian Mo explained that he planned to seal and steam the sauce in pottery jars, then agreed to trade half as much sauce for the ingredients tribe members brought him.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong used the extra food to help feed Jiujiu, who grew sleek and sturdy on the meals they provided.
• People from other tribes visited the Riverside Tribe despite the rain to trade for its attractive, watertight pottery.

Jian Mo distilled fermented flour fruit into strong liquor, which he stored for future medical or cooking use. He and Wu Jiong planned to trade with other tribes for more flour fruit rather than gather it themselves.

• Jian Mo discovered that the flour fruit wine had fermented, but found it bitter and unpleasant to drink.
• Jian Mo explained to Wu Jiong that he would distill the wine into alcohol, then spent the day heating it and collecting the liquor.
• Jian Mo tasted the first distillation, became flushed and dizzy, and went to bed with Wu Jiong after drinking honey-block water.
• Jian Mo distilled the wine three times, yielding one small jar of strong liquor, and stored it safely away from fire.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong decided they could trade with other tribes for flour fruit instead of gathering it in the cold.

After animals ravaged Jian Mo’s vegetable plot, he secretly baited the field with anesthetic meatballs to catch them. By morning, the animals had been knocked out, and Jian Mo rushed to the plot with Wu Jiong to collect them.

• Jian Mo discovered that animals had destroyed nearly all the vegetables in his plot and grew furious.
• Jian Mo made anesthetic meatballs and scattered them around the field to capture the raiding animals.
• Jian Mo told Shui Jin not to interfere if animals appeared in the plot and kept his plan secret from Wu Jiong.
• Shui Jin woke Jian Mo and Wu Jiong to report that many animals were lying unconscious in the field.
• Jian Mo grabbed Wu Jiong and hurried to the river with bags and rope to gather the animals.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong dealt with the animals that had eaten their crops, then cooked a Purple Bird for breakfast. After deciding to gather moss at Thunder God Mountain, Jian Mo said he would go out with the tribe less often for a while.

• Shui Jin showed Jian Mo and Wu Jiong the animals that had been caught after eating their vegetables, and Jian Mo gave him a Long-Headed Beast to take home.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong found that animals had jumped over and dug under the fence, so Wu Jiong planned to bring seeds and replant the damaged crops.
• They tied up the sleeping animals and kept them in the backyard, telling Jiujiu to watch them.
• Jian Mo chose a Purple Bird for breakfast, and Wu Jiong prepared it for him to cook.
• Jian Mo proposed gathering moss at Thunder God Mountain, and Wu Jiong agreed to go after breakfast.
• Jian Mo said he would try to go out with the tribe less often, and Wu Jiong said he could skip outings without claiming a share of the supplies.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gathered anesthetic moss and other food on Thunder God Mountain, then returned to the tribe. While Jian Mo was away gathering, Jiujiu and the cubs secretly watched the far bank of the river, despite a patrolling beastman warning them not to cross.

• Jian Mo worried that the tribe might object to his plans, and Wu Jiong assured him that, as chief, he approved.
• Wu Jiong carried Jian Mo to Thunder God Mountain, where they gathered anesthetic moss and found edible Slow Slow Grass.
• They collected wild vegetables and fish, soaked in a pool, and returned to the tribe to cook a meal of fish, Flour Fruit cakes, and pickled vegetables.
• Jian Mo continued going gathering without Jiujiu, while tribe members sometimes took Jiujiu out with them.
• With most of the tribe away, Jiujiu and the cubs sat by the river watching the opposite bank until a patrolling beastman warned them not to cross.

The tribe’s cubs secretly crossed the river to hunt in Jian Mo’s vegetable patch, treating it as a game while evading the patrolling beastmen. Banjiu caught a bird and the cubs gave it and a small long-eared beast to Jiujiu, who proudly waited with both prizes when Jian Mo and the others returned.

• After the patrolling beastman left, Banjiu led the cubs across the river to hunt in Jian Mo’s vegetable patch.
• The cubs caught only bugs at first, then escaped back across the river when Zhou Dao warned that Jiang Tou was patrolling nearby.
• Ban Ming picked up Banjiu when the cubs returned to the tribe, but Banjiu only said they had been playing.
• Jian Mo noticed faint paw prints near his growing vegetables but did not connect them to the cubs.
• Banjiu pounced on a bird that flew down toward the seedlings, and the cubs gave the half-dead bird to Jiujiu rather than eat it or take it home.
• The cubs caught a small long-eared beast and gave it to Jiujiu too, who sat proudly in the courtyard with both pieces of prey when Jian Mo and the others returned.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong discovered that Jiujiu had been sneaking food to the tribe’s cubs in a grove. Jian Mo stopped the cubs from eating and told them to come to his house for food instead.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong rewarded Jiujiu for catching prey by making him a pot of braised meat and bird.
• Jian Mo noticed Jiujiu had disappeared with his food basin, so he and Wu Jiong followed the smell of his food to a grove.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong found Zhou Dao and Banjiu meeting Jiujiu, and Jian Mo stopped Zhou Dao from tasting the food.
• More cubs arrived, and Wu Jiong caught them when they tried to run away.
• Jian Mo learned that the cubs had taught Jiujiu to bring his food to the grove, but none had eaten it yet.
• Jian Mo told the cubs not to eat Jiujiu’s food and to come to his house if they wanted something to eat.

Jian Mo lectured Jiujiu and the cubs about behaving safely, then let the cubs help guard the vegetable fields in exchange for shredded jerky. After continuing his spring gathering, he returned to the tribe and encountered several enormous three-tailed beasts from the Red Zheng Tribe.

• Jian Mo warned the cubs not to share food with Jiujiu or ride on Jiujiu, then scolded Jiujiu and cut Jiujiu's rations for two days.
• Jian Mo reminded the cubs' parents to watch what they ate, and Banjiu later asked whether the cubs could hunt in Jian Mo's vegetable field.
• Jian Mo agreed to let the cubs catch prey and birds, built a stone crossing with Wu Jiong, and arranged for the cubs and Jiujiu to help watch the fields.
• The cubs chased away animals and birds from the fields, and Jian Mo rewarded them with garlic-and-pepper shredded jerky.
• Jian Mo continued gathering food and drying vegetables, then returned one evening to find enormous three-tailed beasts from the Red Zheng Tribe running toward him.

Jian Mo traded two knives with members of the Red Zheng Tribe for scallion bulbs they had brought from the distant Sharp Teeth Tribe. He prepared to test them in dinner and asked the traders to search for beans and chili peppers, leaving the story with scallion dishes cooking at home.

• Members of the Red Zheng Tribe showed Jian Mo scallion bulbs, and he confirmed they were what he wanted after tasting a raw piece.
• Jian Mo gave the Red Zheng Tribe members two knives for the bulbs and asked them to look for beans and chili peppers using his drawings and descriptions.
• Jian Mo cooked scallion pancakes and braised beast meat with the bulbs after Wu Jiong returned and asked about them.
• The scallion bulbs released a sweet, fragrant aroma as Jian Mo cooked them in oil.

Jian Mo struggled to protect his newly planted scallions from insects and searched for a way to save the crop. After spotting the Spring Thunder Egg among his medicinal ingredients, he suddenly thought of pesticides.

• Jian Mo planted the scallions he had obtained, but tiny insects soon infested their leaves.
• Jian Mo complained to Wu Jiong, who offered to help remove the bugs by hand if necessary.
• Jian Mo told Qing Kuo and Min Dang about the crop problem, while Qing Kuo suggested pinching off infested leaves.
• Jian Mo rejected the idea of losing leaves one by one and promised to keep searching for another solution.
• After thinking for two days, Jian Mo spotted the Spring Thunder Egg while sorting medicinal ingredients and thought of pesticides.

Jian Mo discovered that Spring Thunder Egg could be used as a pesticide and helped the tribe protect its crops. He then met Lian Ke, an experienced shaman doctor from the Mengshui Tribe, who arrived eager to exchange medical knowledge and showed him an assortment of materials rich in Shamanic Power.

• Jian Mo tested a pesticide made from crushed Spring Thunder Eggs and found that it cleared pests from the crops within three days.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gathered Qing Kuo and others to collect Spring Thunder Eggs and treat the tribe’s fields, while warning the little ones and their parents to stay away from the poisonous plants.
• Qing Kuo told Jian Mo that a skilled shaman doctor in the Mengshui Tribe wanted to exchange knowledge, and Jian Mo agreed to meet him.
• Lian Ke arrived at the Riverside Tribe the next day, greeted Jian Mo and Wu Jiong, and asked about Jian Mo’s use of ordinary medicinal ingredients instead of Shamanic Power.
• Lian Ke laid out the bones, insects, bark, beast teeth, and other objects rich in Shamanic Power that he had brought for Jian Mo to examine.

Jian Mo and Lian Ke compared their medicinal practices and failed to agree on trading Lian Ke’s adhesive ointment for Jian Mo’s formulas. Lian Ke stayed at the Riverside Tribe, where he began seeing patients, starting with a sub-beastman whose back hurt.

• Lian Ke showed Jian Mo medicinal ingredients and explained how he used them to treat illnesses.
• Jian Mo showed Lian Ke his medicines, and Lian Ke demonstrated an ointment that hardened and stuck to skin like a plaster.
• Jian Mo asked to trade for the ointment, but Lian Ke refused and suggested trading for Jian Mo’s abscess-treatment formula instead.
• Jian Mo and Lian Ke each praised the other’s knowledge, then agreed to continue their discussion after Lian Ke stayed in the tribe for a few days.
• People from nearby tribes came to the clinic to ask Lian Ke for treatment, and he gave a carved bone to a sub-beastman with back pain.

Lian Ke treated patients in the Riverside Tribe with remedies that residents soon doubted, while he continued trying to trade for Jian Mo’s prescriptions. When Lian Ke insisted Jian Mo had a beastman condition, Jian Mo denied needing treatment, but Lian Ke urged him to try medicinal powder.

• Lian Ke gave patients bone pieces, black herbs, and other remedies, while Jian Mo privately doubted their effectiveness.
• Zhou Fu and Xi Lu criticized Lian Ke’s treatments, and Jian Mo took them outside so Lian Ke would not hear.
• Lian Ke asked Jian Mo to trade prescriptions, but Jian Mo wanted the ointment recipe without its animal ingredients, which Lian Ke refused to share.
• After staying in the Riverside Tribe, Lian Ke faced patients’ complaints that his costly remedies had not helped them.
• Lian Ke claimed his medicine could relieve Jian Mo’s supposed sub-beastman underdevelopment, but Jian Mo denied having the condition.
• Lian Ke insisted Jian Mo try his medicinal powder.

Lian Ke gave Jian Mo medicinal powder said to help a sub-beastman’s claws emerge, and Jian Mo used it despite the pain it caused overnight. By morning, a claw appeared when Wu Jiong pressed Jian Mo’s swollen fingertip, leaving Jian Mo wondering whether he really was a sub-beastman.

• Lian Ke warned that Jian Mo’s supposed sub-beastman underdevelopment could shorten his lifespan and offered him medicinal powder to test on a fingertip.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong consulted the tribe’s elders, who said the powder was known to be safe, and decided to try it that night.
• Wu Jiong applied the medicinal paste to Jian Mo’s left index finger and wrapped it, while Jian Mo endured burning pain through the night.
• In the morning, Wu Jiong unwrapped Jian Mo’s swollen fingertip and pressed it, causing a curved, sharp claw to emerge.
• Jian Mo repeatedly pressed his fingertip to extend the claw and wondered whether he might truly be a sub-beastman.