Chapter Summaries

After Jian Mo teased Wu Jiong while drunk, Wu Jiong left him sore and exhausted the next day, then cared for him as he recovered. Jian Mo basked in the courtyard on Wu Jiong’s wolf form, where Qing Kuo arrived to ask whether they would help collect alkali before the weather turned cold.

• Jian Mo showed Wu Jiong that they had supplies ready and coaxed him into spending the night together.
• Jian Mo woke the following afternoon aching all over, and Wu Jiong offered to massage him and carry him downstairs.
• Wu Jiong prepared noodles for Jian Mo, who ate before going outside to enjoy the sun.
• Jian Mo asked Wu Jiong to transform into a giant wolf, then lay on his warm belly and fell asleep.
• Qing Kuo found Jian Mo asleep on Wu Jiong and asked whether they wanted to collect alkali before the weather turned cold.

Jian Mo recovered and tried the traded ointment with Wu Jiong before inviting Qing Kuo and the others to make sausages during freezing rain. The group finished a richer, more fragrant batch, which Jian Mo boiled and shared.

• After several days of rest, Jian Mo recovered and used half a jar of ointment with Wu Jiong, enjoying the experience.
• During freezing rain, Jian Mo invited Qing Kuo and the others to make sausages so they could trade some for flour before spring.
• Jian Mo asked around the tribe for spare casings, and Zhou Fu and Qing Kuo provided some.
• Jian Mo changed the sausage recipe to include more fat, fruit wine, and broadleaf garlic powder.
• Jian Mo boiled the finished sausages and shared them with everyone, and Qing Kuo praised the fragrance of the broadleaf garlic powder.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong traded sausages for flour at the Qin Sea Tribe and asked Kuang Ning to help them find the plant ground into flour. After receiving permission from the chieftain, they followed Kuang Ning and Jin Ping to a snowless mountainside where the grass grew.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong traveled to the Qin Sea Tribe with sausages and traded them for two large baskets of flour.
• Kuang Ning helped organize the trading, and Jian Mo thanked him and Jin Ping over dinner.
• Jian Mo asked Kuang Ning about seeing the plant used to make flour, and Kuang Ning promised to consult the chieftain.
• Kuang Ning told Jian Mo the chieftain had approved their visit, then led Jian Mo, Wu Jiong, and Jin Ping to the grassland.
• Jian Mo and the others reached a mountainside near noon and saw withered grass covering the snowless slope.

Jian Mo harvested nine sacks of flour grass with Kuang Ning and the others, then decided to take some home to plant and improve. After giving Kuang Ning honey chunks, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong prepared to return to their tribe.

• Jian Mo and Kuang Ning harvested flour grass heads, filling nine sacks by the end of the day.
• Jian Mo decided not to harvest the remaining patch because the grass grew on Qin Sea Tribe territory.
• Jian Mo told Wu Jiong he wanted to plant two sacks of flour grass and work on improving it.
• Jian Mo gave Kuang Ning honey chunks as a gift and said he and Wu Jiong were heading home.
• Kuang Ning offered to help carry the grain heads, but Jian Mo said they likely would not need help.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong returned to the Riverside Tribe with flour grass seeds, where their friends welcomed them and offered to help grind the seeds. The group planned to use the tribe’s new stone mill after breakfast the next day.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong loaded the grain heads onto the Flying-Winged Beast and set off for the Riverside Tribe.
• Ban Ming spotted them on patrol, howled to alert the tribe, and everyone helped unload their supplies.
• Jian Mo found that Qing Kuo had cleaned their house and prepared warm water for their return.
• Qing Kuo tasted the flour grass seeds and agreed they were worth the trip; Ye Luo, Min Dang, Zhou Fu, and Xi Lu offered to help grind them.
• Jian Mo arranged to take the seeds to the tribe’s big stone mill with a few helpers the next morning.

Jian Mo and his friends laboriously ground flour from flour grass seeds, then he began baking a cake with Wu Jiong’s help. The cake was left to bake in a covered stone pot over charcoal.

• Jian Mo explained how to thresh the flour grass seeds, and the group began processing them while he made grilled sausages for breakfast.
• Wu Jiong, Di Ya, Qing Kuo, Ye Luo, Min Dang, Xi Lu, and Zhou Fu divided the work of pounding, grinding, and sifting the seeds.
• After a day of work, the group had made one bag of flour from seven bags of seeds, and Jian Mo promised to treat them to cake the next day.
• Wu Jiong borrowed bird eggs and whipped the egg whites while Jian Mo mixed batter with Pack-Pack Beast milk, powdered honey blocks, and other ingredients.
• Jian Mo combined the egg whites and batter, poured half into an oiled stone pot, and set it to bake under charcoal while everyone waited.

Jian Mo baked a cake over a charcoal fire, and everyone gathered at his home eagerly waited to taste it. After enjoying the cake, they agreed to grow more flour grass and other crops, while Jian Mo baked another batch for them to take home.

• Jian Mo checked the cake as it baked, and Wu Jiong confirmed that it still smelled slightly of raw egg, so everyone kept waiting.
• Jian Mo decided the cake was ready, and Wu Jiong divided it into eight portions for the group.
• Everyone enjoyed the soft, fragrant cake, while Min Dang saved his portion for Ran Wu and Sui Ai until Jian Mo promised to bake another batch.
• Wu Jiong, Qing Kuo, Di Ya, and Zhou Fu agreed to clear land and grow flour grass and other crops for future baking.
• Jian Mo explained basic agriculture while baking a second cake, then gave everyone portions to take home and saved one for Jiujiu.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong fed Jiujiu cake, then planned improvements to their kitchen while the snow kept them indoors. Jian Mo discovered a piece of naturally fermented dough and decided to use it to make steamed buns.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gave Jiujiu the cake, and Jiujiu eagerly nibbled it after swallowing and spitting it back out.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong chose grilled meat for breakfast and agreed to wait for the snow to stop before gathering tendon grass.
• Jian Mo suggested building a separate kitchen and trading animal hides for stones, and Wu Jiong agreed to tell Qing Kuo and the others.
• Jian Mo proposed making a stove and metal pots, and Wu Jiong offered to forge them.
• Jian Mo found a soft, fermented piece of dough and explained fermentation to Wu Jiong.
• Jian Mo decided to use the dough as a starter and make steamed buns for dinner.

Jian Mo made meat-filled baozi with Wu Jiong, then the Riverside Tribe began clearing riverside land for its first serious planting effort. The work proved exhausting, and Jian Mo warned the tribe not to dig with their claws.

• Jian Mo used risen dough to make sauce-braised meat baozi while Wu Jiong prepared the pot for steaming.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong tasted the buns and enjoyed their soft wrappers and savory filling.
• After several days of rain and snow, Wu Jiong joined the tribe in clearing communal riverside land before anyone claimed private plots.
• The tribe struggled with thick roots and buried stones, and a tribesman asked Jian Mo whether he could use his beast-form claws to dig.
• Jian Mo advised against using claws because they could wear down, become inflamed, and hurt for days.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong prepared riverside fields for farming, while most of the tribe decided not to grow crops. The tribe helped clear the land, celebrated with a bonfire party, and then joined Jian Mo in spreading base fertilizer.

• Many tribe members gave up on farming because clearing land seemed too tiring, leaving Jian Mo with plenty of riverside plots to use.
• Ban Ming, A Hu, Xi Lu, He Feng, and the cubs joined Jian Mo and Wu Jiong in clearing fields, and the rest of the tribe came to help as well.
• The tribe cleared all Jian Mo's chosen plots in less than three days, so he treated everyone to a meal and Qing Kuo suggested a bonfire party.
• Jian Mo brought Snow Pearl Fruit wine to the gathering and told Qing Kuo that his Flour Fruit wine was fermenting slowly.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong began mixing plant ash and fermented beast dung into the soil, and Jian Mo advised Qing Kuo's household to use Jiujiu's fermented droppings as fertilizer.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gathered grass to protect their new crops, then returned to find two unconscious cubs from the True Scarlet Tribe at the clinic. Jian Mo examined them and suspected an external cause, but had not yet identified what was wrong.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong decided to cover the crops with grass and build a fence to keep wild beasts out.
• Wu Jiong carried Jian Mo downriver, where they cut grass, gathered vines, and picked a basket of red fruits.
• A patrolling beastman told Jian Mo and Wu Jiong that two cubs from the True Scarlet Tribe had been brought to the clinic unconscious.
• Jian Mo examined Su Yue and Wang Yue, found that both had rapid breathing, dilated pupils, feverish bodies, and an unusual odor, and asked their father when their symptoms began.

Jian Mo treated two unconscious cubs from the True Scarlet Tribe for suspected poisoning, identified mi grass as the likely cause, and stabilized them. The cubs stayed in the Riverside Tribe for observation while their families waited nearby.

• Jian Mo suspected the cubs had been poisoned and sent Wu Jiong, Qing Kuo, and Ye Luo to gather supplies for treatment.
• Jian Mo made the cubs drink Flour Fruit water until they vomited, then found dark green plant matter and identified mi grass as the likely poison.
• Jian Mo gave the cubs an herbal decoction and ordered their fathers to keep them warm while the room was cleaned and disinfected.
• Jian Mo said the cubs were stable but needed two days of observation, and the group left two people to watch over them.
• Wu Jiong offered the True Scarlet Tribe visitors vacant houses, and Jian Mo learned their chief had come with them.

Jian Mo treated two cubs who had eaten rot grass and checked on them through the night. The cubs recovered by morning, and their father learned they had eaten the poisonous grass during a contest after blaming each other.

• Jian Mo reassured Qing Kuo that the cubs were improving, then went home and prepared food to take to their caregivers.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong visited the clinic that evening, where Jian Mo found the cubs' fevers had gone down and gave them another dose of medicine.
• Jian Mo woke early and returned to the clinic with Wu Jiong, where the two cubs ran out to greet him, awake and lively.
• Jian Mo examined the cubs and told their father to give them two more bowls of detoxifying herbal soup.
• Jian Mo asked how the cubs had eaten rot grass, and they admitted they had done it during a grass-eating contest before accusing each other of starting it.

Jian Mo treated Su Yue and Wang Yue after they ate poisonous plants, then accepted stonewood from the True Scarlet Tribe as payment. The visitors brought more than he wanted, so he offered to trade a small metal axe for the extra logs.

• Jian Mo sent Su Yue and Wang Yue home to rest after they recovered, and their father thanked him and asked how to pay for the treatment.
• Jian Mo requested fifty logs of stonewood and lent the cubs' father a metal axe to cut them.
• The cubs' father returned home with his family, and Jian Mo praised Wu Jiong's beast form before riding home on his back.
• Five days later, the True Scarlet Tribe brought fifty large stonewood logs, but Jian Mo insisted that thirty would be enough.
• Qing Kuo suggested trading supplies for the extra logs, and Jian Mo offered the old chief a small metal axe for the remaining twenty.

Jian Mo traded a small metal axe for stonewood and prepared for spring by sprouting flour grass seeds. He joined the tribe’s trading trip to the Mengshui Tribe, where he treated a growing number of patients.

• Jian Mo traded a small metal axe to the True Scarlet Tribe, then asked Wu Jiong to deliver the tribe’s share of the stonewood and arrange help making furniture and household goods.
• Jian Mo showed Qing Kuo the flour grass seeds he had sprouted, and they discussed preparations for spring.
• Qing Kuo invited Jian Mo to trade with the Mengshui Tribe, and Jian Mo agreed to join the next day’s trip.
• Jian Mo traveled with the group to the Mengshui Tribe and noticed signs that the snow and ice were melting.
• Jian Mo treated people at the Mengshui Tribe, then saw patients from other tribes arrive, including someone with a broken leg.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong tried to make maltose from face-grass sprouts, but their first batch failed because Jian Mo had left out a key ingredient. After remembering the missing step in a dream, Jian Mo began a second attempt with steamed tubers, which he expected to finish fermenting that night.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong returned to the Riverside Tribe and found the face-grass sprouts had grown, then decided to use them to make maltose.
• Jian Mo directed Wu Jiong to chop and pound the sprouts, then simmered their strained juice, but the liquid remained unsweetened.
• While bathing, Jian Mo wondered why the sprouts had not produced sugar, and he dreamed of successfully making maltose.
• Jian Mo woke with the realization that the sprouts needed to be mixed with cooked rice or another starchy food, and Wu Jiong agreed to try again.
• Jian Mo germinated more face grass, then he and Wu Jiong mixed the chopped sprouts with steamed tubers and left the mixture to ferment.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong made grain-sprout sugar from stem tubers and grass sprouts, then mixed it with roasted nuts to make candy. The candy set overnight, and after tasting it together, Jian Mo planned to store the remaining pieces in a jar.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong boiled the sweet liquid strained from stem tubers and grass sprouts into syrup.
• Jian Mo suggested making nut candy, and he and Wu Jiong roasted, shelled, and crushed their nuts.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong tasted the syrup on grass stems, then Jian Mo stirred crushed nuts into the syrup and poured it onto an oiled stone slab.
• The candy set overnight, and Jian Mo cut off a piece and invited Wu Jiong to taste it.
• Wu Jiong called the candy unusual and delicious, and Jian Mo decided to cut the rest into pieces and store them in a jar.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong made nut candy, which delighted Jiujiu and helped keep him well behaved. When Jiujiu arrived at their field with bloody wounds, he tried to take them to see whoever had hurt him.

• Jian Mo toasted flour and Wu Jiong cut the nut candy, then they coated the pieces in flour and stored them.
• Jian Mo shared one piece of candy each day with Jiujiu, who enjoyed it and kept his nest clean.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong checked their crops when Jiujiu flew toward the field and circled away at Jian Mo’s warning.
• Wu Jiong noticed Jiujiu was crying, and they found several bleeding wounds beneath his fur.
• Jiujiu grabbed Wu Jiong’s clothes and urged him onto his back, then flew off with Jian Mo and Wu Jiong to show them who had hurt him.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong followed Jiujiu to Shangnan Canyon, where they found an Ice River Tribe white bear eating Jiujiu’s stolen nut candy. Wu Jiong defeated the bear and made him promise to repay Jiujiu and apologize.

• Jiujiu led Jian Mo and Wu Jiong to Shangnan Canyon, where they spotted a white bear eating nut candy from their family.
• Wu Jiong recognized the bear as someone from the Ice River Tribe and accused him of stealing Jiujiu’s candy.
• The white bear claimed Jiujiu had taken his pink trumpet flowers, but Jian Mo defended Jiujiu.
• Wu Jiong transformed into a giant wolf and fought the bear until he fled and surrendered.
• The bear agreed to repay Jiujiu with a pouch of candy and apologized for entering Riverside Tribe territory and stealing its things.

After Mu Chu stole candy from Jiujiu and injured it, he apologized and made amends with Jian Mo and Wu Jiong’s help. Chieftain Kang Ying later visited with gifts, and Jian Mo explained how to make nut candy before accepting only the nuts.

• Mu Chu admitted he had stolen the Flying-Winged Beast’s candy, and Wu Jiong told him to bring compensation to the Riverside Tribe.
• Jian Mo treated Jiujiu’s scratches and cheered it up with a cake.
• Mu Chu arrived with Kang Ying the next day, apologized, and was assigned to clean Jiujiu’s nest.
• Kang Ying offered sugar and nuts in exchange for Jian Mo making candy, but Jian Mo gave him the recipe and kept only the nuts.
• Jian Mo reassured Kang Ying that the incident had given them a chance to talk.