Chapter Summaries

Jian Mo used marrow oil and sour fruits to prepare hot pot for the Mengshui and Riverside Tribes, introducing them to a new way of cooking meat and vegetables. After everyone enjoyed the meal, the beastmen went hunting while the sub-beastmen gathered dried meat and cleaned camp.

• Jian Mo packed the rendered marrow into jars and shared marrow cracklings with everyone, including Jiujiu.
• Jian Mo proposed making sour-fruit hot pot, and Yun Long encouraged him to prepare it for both groups.
• Jian Mo cooked sour broth in eight pots and taught the 160 people how to cook meat, mushrooms, eggs, and vegetables in it.
• Wu Jiong picked the best meat for Jian Mo as everyone enjoyed the hot pot and discussed other broth flavors.
• The beastmen left to hunt, while the sub-beastmen gathered drying meat and cleaned the camp.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong returned from the hunt with plenty of meat, then spent the following days resting and preparing food. Jian Mo made a new ointment and hot pot base, and ended the chapter asking whether their world had crayfish.

• Jian Mo and the returning hunters arrived at the tribe after dark, where the cubs greeted their fathers and Jiujiu asked Jian Mo for cuddles.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong processed their meat, bathed in the river, and discussed the Ten Thousand Beasts Festival, which was six or seven days away.
• Jian Mo rested for two days, then made ointment from Green Downy Insect juice, animal fat, and herbs.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong spent the night together, and Wu Jiong confirmed Jian Mo's reproductive cavity had not developed enough for him to conceive.
• Jian Mo made hot pot base and asked Wu Jiong whether creatures like crayfish lived in their world.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong took the tribe’s young ones to the Green Marsh Source to explore and catch plank bugs. Jian Mo recognized a plank bug as a slipper lobster and urged Wu Jiong to catch more for a meal.

• Wu Jiong explained that plank bugs lived in the Green Marsh Source, and Jian Mo suggested visiting them the next day.
• Ban Ming, A Hu, and the others insisted on joining the trip, so Wu Jiong told them to bring the little ones too.
• The group set out for the Green Marsh Source, where Wu Jiong organized safety patrols and assigned adults to watch the little ones.
• Jian Mo teased Wu Jiong about looking handsome as chief, then went with him to search a muddy stream for plank bugs.
• Wu Jiong caught a plank bug, and Jian Mo recognized it as a slipper lobster and asked him to put it in the basket so they could find more.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong joined Ban Ming and the others in catching water plank bugs, then Jian Mo cooked the haul into a savory meal. The group enjoyed the food together in the courtyard.

• Jian Mo reassured Ban Ming and the others that he and Wu Jiong had caught water plank bugs, prompting everyone to laugh at his blunt reply.
• Wu Jiong sent Ban Ming and the others to bathe the muddy cubs while Jian Mo and Wu Jiong scrubbed the catch.
• Jian Mo invited the group to try water plank bugs, and Ban Ming and the others helped clean them.
• Jian Mo picked broadleaf garlic, prepared the ingredients, and stir-fried the water plank bug tails with spices, marrow oil, wine, and mushroom sauce.
• The teenagers, cubs, and Jiujiu ate the cooked tails, while Wu Jiong shelled some meat for Jian Mo.

Jian Mo joined the Riverside Tribe’s preparations for the Ten Thousand Beasts Festival, giving the cubs seasoning and then going with Fu Zhou and the others to bathe and groom themselves. As the festival approached, Qing Kuo urged him to let them trim his hair.

• Jian Mo brought seasoning powder to Jiang Xing and the other cubs, who thanked him before hurrying off to try it.
• Fu Zhou showed Jian Mo a basket of fragrant bath flowers, and Xi Lu invited him to bathe with them.
• Jian Mo learned that the group planned to prepare for the Ten Thousand Beasts Festival, while he and Wu Jiong would later go to the Ambus River for a date.
• Jian Mo went with the others to their usual bathing place and watched them wash, groom themselves, and apply flower dyes.
• Qing Kuo and the others arrived and urged Jian Mo to tidy himself up, suggesting they trim his hair.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong prepared for the Ten Thousand Beasts Festival, joined the bonfire party, and then spent a moonlit night together by the Ambus River. After returning home, they were met by Qi Xia and other beastmen, who awkwardly asked Jian Mo to examine a companion after a mishap involving moss.

• Qing Kuo trimmed Jian Mo's hair while Ye Luo tended his nails, and the group admired one another after getting dressed up.
• Jian Mo saw Wu Jiong's handsome appearance and joked that he no longer wanted to attend the bonfire party, but they went anyway.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong joined the bonfire gathering, then left after telling Hong Qiu and others they were going.
• Wu Jiong carried Jian Mo to the Ambus River, where they spent a long time together beneath the full moon before returning after midnight.
• Qi Xia and his companions waited outside Jian Mo's home and asked him to examine a beastman who had used moss in an embarrassing mishap.

After reopening his clinic, Jian Mo decided to visit the Mengshui Tribe to check on Xing Yuan and follow up on a patient whose numbness may have been caused by anesthetic ointment. He traveled there with Wu Jiong and was welcomed by Yun Long.

• Jian Mo told the Mengshui tribespeople to wait for the anesthetic to wear off and seek an examination if the problem continued, then laughed with Wu Jiong about their use of the moss.
• Jian Mo reopened his clinic after the Ten Thousand Beasts Festival and told Wu Jiong he wanted to visit the Mengshui Tribe to check on Xing Yuan.
• Zhou Fu and other sub-beastmen asked Jian Mo to trade for ointment, and he said he had learned to make some himself but needed time.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong traveled to the Mengshui Tribe, where Yun Long greeted them.
• Jian Mo told Yun Long he had come to see Xing Yuan and give him a follow-up examination.

Jian Mo checked Xing Yuan’s recovery and asked Qi Xia to pass on medical advice about a beastman’s condition. Before Jian Mo and Wu Jiong could leave, Shao Yuan asked him to examine his newly pregnant mate, Ning Wo, and Jian Mo heard the baby’s heartbeat.

• Jian Mo examined Xing Yuan and confirmed that he had recovered well.
• Jian Mo asked Qi Xia to tell the beastman whose lower body had been soaked in moss to watch for problems and seek treatment promptly.
• Shao Yuan introduced himself and asked Jian Mo to check on his pregnant mate, Ning Wo.
• Jian Mo examined Ning Wo at Yun Long’s home and heard the baby’s heartbeat with his stethoscope.

Jian Mo learned more about difficult births among sub-beastmen and proposed making obstetric forceps to help deliver babies safely. Qing Kuo agreed the tool might work, and Jian Mo planned to ask the tribe to make a pair for emergencies.

• Jian Mo examined Ning Wo and found him and the fetus appeared healthy, then advised him to rest and eat well.
• Jian Mo asked Wu Jiong about sub-beastman pregnancies and explained that obstetric forceps could help with difficult births.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong returned to the Riverside Tribe with Jiujiu, where Jian Mo found Qing Kuo cutting meat.
• Jian Mo asked Qing Kuo and the others about difficult births, learning that babies often died when they could not be delivered and that sub-beastmen could use their claws to save themselves.
• Jian Mo described obstetric forceps to Qing Kuo, who thought they might work and offered to have the tribe make a pair.

Jian Mo obtained forceps and other metal tools from the tribe, then secured permission to make paper using the tribe’s tanning pits. He and Wu Jiong prepared bark pulp, leaving the next step undecided.

• Jian Mo drew forceps based on Qing Kuo and Ye Luo’s descriptions of newborns, and De Jiang, Wu Jiong, and other skilled workers made several sizes of forceps and reforged his other tools.
• Jian Mo asked Qing Kuo to spread the word that pregnant sub-beastmen could seek his help without paying supplies.
• Qing Kuo told Jian Mo the tribe had decided he could choose whether to join group activities, and Jian Mo refused to accept supplies if he did not participate.
• Jian Mo asked to borrow the tribe’s tanning pits to make paper, and Qing Kuo gave him permission.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gathered bark, chopped it, and pounded it into pulp; Wu Jiong asked whether they should soak it next.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong successfully made paper from soaked bark fibers, and the first sheets dried well enough to write on. The Riverside Tribe eagerly anticipated making more.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong soaked pounded bark fibers in the tribe's hide-soaking pit and made fine-mesh papermaking screens.
• Jian Mo showed the gathered Riverside Tribe members how to scoop the fibers onto screens and lay the sheets out to dry.
• Wu Jiong and Qing Kuo made sheets successfully, and the others took turns until they had used all the fibers.
• Ban Ming and others found the dried paper the next morning and hurried to tell Jian Mo.
• Jian Mo examined a sheet and found it soft, pliable, and good enough to write on.

Jian Mo and the Riverside Tribe made their first paper notebook, and the tribe agreed to produce paper and clothes for him. He and Wu Jiong then made charcoal writing pens, and Jian Mo showed Wu Jiong two styles of writing.

• Jian Mo showed the tribe how to bind paper sheets into a notebook, and Qing Kuo, Ye Luo and the others helped make the Riverside Tribe's first one.
• Jian Mo suggested that the tribe make paper together, and Wu Jiong agreed while Qing Kuo proposed keeping the method secret and rewarding Jian Mo with supplies.
• Jian Mo asked for extra paper and agreed to draw clothing designs for a batch of clothes the tribe would make for him.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong experimented with charcoal, animal fat and clay to make writing pens, then dried and wrapped them in bark.
• Jian Mo wrote in the notebook with a new pen, and showed Wu Jiong how his writing looked in running script.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong shared a quiet exchange of calligraphy and love poems before Ban Ming arrived with news that Shu Guang, chief of the Qin Sea Tribe, was near death. Jian Mo set off with Wu Jiong to reach the injured chief and assess his condition.

• Jian Mo showed Wu Jiong different scripts and wrote down poems they shared from their respective cultures.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong went gathering in the woods southeast of the tribe after deciding to spend time working on their own.
• Ban Ming arrived on Jiujiu and told Jian Mo that Shu Guang had been seriously injured and was dying.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong raced back to the Riverside Tribe, where exhausted members of the Qin Sea Tribe explained that a Horizontal-Horned Beast had gored Shu Guang and his intestines had fallen out.
• Jian Mo said he would hurry to the Qin Sea Tribe to examine Shu Guang.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong rushed to the Qin Sea Tribe after learning that Shu Guang had been gravely injured. Jian Mo found Shu Guang alive but with severed intestines and severe abdominal contamination, and warned the tribe that emergency surgery was his only chance, though survival was uncertain.

• Jian Mo agreed to go to the Qin Sea Tribe to help Shu Guang, and Wu Jiong joined him while Qing Kuo and De Jiang promised to care for their tribe.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong rode Jiujiu to the Qin Sea Tribe, where its people confirmed that Shu Guang was still alive.
• The Qin Sea Tribe's people told Jian Mo that Shu Guang's intestines had been severed and that their medicines had not helped.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong entered Shu Guang's cave and found him conscious, with a large abdominal wound and two severed sections of small intestine.
• Jian Mo told the Qin Sea Tribe's people that Shu Guang needed immediate surgery but might still not survive.

Jian Mo operated on Chief Shu Guang using catgut made from a Pack-Pack Beast’s intestines after discovering that Shu Guang’s intestines had ruptured. Shu Guang survived the operation and slowly improved, while the Qin Sea Tribe prepared stronger tendon sutures in case the deep stitches failed.

• Jian Mo asked the Qin Sea Tribe to provide Pack-Pack Beast intestines, which he sterilized and used to stitch Shu Guang’s ruptured intestines and close his wounds.
• Jian Mo completed the operation, then warned the tribe that the catgut might not be strong enough for Shu Guang’s large body and asked them to find Long-Tailed Beasts for tendon sutures.
• Jian Mo stayed to watch over Shu Guang, rested briefly after confirming Jiujiu was safe, and Wu Jiong remained by his side.
• The Qin Sea Tribe brought back Long-Tailed Beasts, and Jian Mo had their tendons prepared and steamed as backup sutures.
• Shu Guang’s condition held through the night, and Jian Mo observed that he was slowly improving.

Jian Mo cared for Shu Guang after surgery and found him recovering well, though he restricted his movement and water intake to protect the weak stitches. Jian Mo stayed in Qin Sea to monitor him while Wu Jiong returned to the Riverside Tribe.

• Shu Guang woke, recognized Jian Mo, Wu Jiong, and Shu Ming, and soon fell back into a semicoma.
• That evening, Shu Guang woke again, told Jian Mo he was thirsty, and drank a little water one spoonful at a time.
• Jian Mo warned Shu Guang to remain in bed and avoid moving or changing form, and Shu Ming promised the tribe would watch over him.
• After resting, Jian Mo found Shu Guang recovering further and allowed the Qin Sea Tribe to prepare him a small serving of meat broth.
• Wu Jiong returned to the Riverside Tribe, while Jian Mo stayed in Qin Sea for several days to monitor Shu Guang.

Jian Mo bathed Jiujiu by the river, where Qin Sea Tribe children invited the hungry creature to watch them fish. After the children failed to catch anything, Jian Mo asked to borrow a fishing rod.

• Wu Jiong left Jian Mo with Shu Ming, Kuang Ning, and the others after asking them to look after him.
• Jian Mo took Jiujiu to the river, bathed it, and let it dry in the sun.
• Qin Sea Tribe children invited Jiujiu to watch them fish, and it eagerly followed them upstream.
• The children fished for a long time without catching anything, while Jiujiu waited hungrily.
• Jian Mo arrived and asked the children if he could borrow a fishing rod, and they readily agreed.

Jian Mo caught several fish in the Qin Sea Tribe and taught the cubs and adults to roast them in leaves sealed with mud. After staying until Shu Guang was recovering steadily, Jian Mo announced that he was returning to the Riverside Tribe to gather food.

• Jian Mo cut the bait into smaller pieces, caught a large fish, and warned the cubs not to eat raw fish because of parasites.
• Jian Mo caught several more fish with help from adults of the Qin Sea Tribe and offered to teach the cubs a new way to roast them.
• Jian Mo seasoned the cleaned fish, wrapped them in leaves and mud, and roasted them over a bonfire.
• Jian Mo opened the packets and shared the tender roasted fish with the cubs, Jiujiu, and the adults.
• After staying a few more days while Shu Guang recovered, Jian Mo told the Qin Sea Tribe he planned to return to the Riverside Tribe to gather food.

Jian Mo attended a lavish farewell party hosted by the Qin Sea Tribe after saving Shu Guang, then prepared to return to the Riverside Tribe with Wu Jiong. The Qin Sea Tribe sent him off with valuable supplies, and Jian Mo reaffirmed that he intended to grow old with Wu Jiong.

• Shu Ming persuaded Jian Mo to wait two days for supplies and a farewell party before returning home.
• The Qin Sea Tribe held a bonfire celebration where Jian Mo ate, drank, and watched the beastmen dance in their bear forms.
• Shu Guang tried to persuade Jian Mo to join the Qin Sea Tribe while he watched the celebration from beside the bonfire.
• Wu Jiong arrived the day after the party and defeated the Qin Sea Tribe's giant bears in his wolf form, while Shu Ming accepted a challenge for Shu Guang to fight him at a future Hunting Gathering.
• Shu Guang sent Jian Mo garlic powder, hides, meat, and Long-Tailed Beast sinew, and Jian Mo said he and Wu Jiong would grow old together.

Jian Mo returned to the Riverside Tribe and was welcomed by the cubs and other villagers, while rumors about his healing of Shu Guang spread among nearby tribes. Later, he was called to treat a beastman from the Red Zheng Tribe who had been stung by an insect, and he sent Wu Jiong to gather herbs.

• Jian Mo returned to the Riverside Tribe with Wu Jiong, Jiujiu, and supplies escorted by ten giant bears from the Qin Sea Tribe.
• The cubs crowded around Jian Mo and Jiujiu, and Jian Mo invited the villagers to his home to talk and clear up rumors about Shu Guang's recovery.
• Jian Mo avoided visitors from nearby tribes who came to praise him by spending his days gathering supplies in the forest with Wu Jiong.
• A patrolling beastman told Jian Mo that a visitor from the Red Zheng Tribe was waiting at the clinic after being stung by a bug.
• Jian Mo collected his medical kit and asked Wu Jiong to gather herbs for treating the sting.