“Mother!” Xue Tuan hurriedly grabbed Rong Shan’s animal skin with one hand and pointed to the little black lion with the other, urging him to check Chong Yan’s wound.
Rong Shan gently put Xue Tuan down, walked to the little black lion’s side, and bent down to examine him. He then discovered that the little black lion’s hind leg was scratched.
It was likely that during the fall, his leg had been grazed by a sharp rock protruding from the cave wall. The blood at the wound site had already congealed, causing the surrounding fur to clump together.
The little black lion’s all-black coat made the wound difficult to see, and the fall into the trap was so sudden that even he hadn’t noticed the scratch.
“Let me see,” the young beastman said. Carrying his bamboo basket, he quickly walked to the little black lion and gestured for it to lie down and not move.
“You’re so brave, not crying or making a fuss even when you’re hurt,” the young beastman praised. He seemed very used to dealing with cubs, and used the same soothing language he used to use with children.
However, the little black lion remained calm. He was so worried about Xue Tuan falling that he hadn’t even noticed he was injured.
Xue Tuan walked tenderly to the little black lion’s side, and stroked his fluffy head as if the touch would ease the pain. The little black lion rubbed against Xue Tuan’s hand in response as if to reassure him, “I’m fine.”
The little black lion’s voice startled Rong Shan and the other cubs nearby.
Sha Hu: “Chong Yan…? Chong Yan spoke?”
Xiao Shu: “Huh?” Everyone knew that the little black lion, Chong Yan, could speak when he was young, but became mute after an accident at home.
Qing Miao was also overjoyed: “You’re really healed!?”
Seeing the little black lion nod, Xiao Shu jumped up excitedly: “I’ll go tell Elder Grandpa the good news!” He then transformed into a nimble little chipmunk and ran off to deliver the news.
Sha Hu: “Wait for me! I’m coming too!”
The young beastman, unaware of the cubs’ sudden agitation, quickly retrieved a bamboo cup from his basket and used it to clean the little black lion’s wound with water. He felt the cub’s leg bone to check for pain.
After confirming no bone was broken, he took out a small bamboo jar and gently applied the ground herbs inside to the wound.
Then he rummaged through his basket, found a long strip of animal hide, and bandaged the wound, completing the treatment. He certainly looked like an experienced “physician.”
“Thankfully, it’s just a scratch, and not serious,” the young man breathed a sigh of relief. If any of the cubs had been injured, their guilt would have been immense.
“Can you stand?” the young man asked the little black lion after finishing.
The bandage was placed right at the joint, making the little black lion, who was initially fine, now move with difficulty, and was limping.
Xue Tuan was relieved to see that the little black lion’s leg was indeed alright. The little black lion’s gait was rather comical, making it both pitiful and amusing to watch.
“I’m really sorry, the cub needs its herbal medicine changed regularly these days,” the young beastman said to Rong Shan. “If it’s convenient, I might need to come to your camp often to help change it…?”
The young beastman’s name was Ye Cong, a four-horned deer beastman. He wasn’t entirely certain because they had only moved to the bamboo forest behind the camp a few days ago and hadn’t encountered any other beastmen, so they weren’t sure if this group lived nearby.
Maybe they were wandering beastmen? Ye Cong guessed to himself. If they were wandering beastmen, that would be great. He had already considered recruiting them because Rong Shan seemed like a strong individual. Their group of wandering beastmen must be quite formidable as well.
Ye Cong was already secretly making plans, and waiting for Rong Shan’s answer.
Rong Shan glanced at Chong Yan. He had no family and was being fostered by an elder. He was close to his Xue Tuan and was also the tribe’s youngest member. Of course, Rong Shan hoped he would recover quickly.
“Okay. I’ll take you to our tribe. After that, you’ll know how to get here,” Rong Shan said.
Hearing Rong Shan mention a tribe nearby, Ye Cong was startled. Although they hadn’t been here long, they hadn’t heard of any tribes here.
Ye Cong and his companions behind him were all somewhat surprised: “There’s a tribe here…?”
Speaking of their own tribe, Rong Shan’s expression softened considerably: “Yes, our tribe is called the Mountain and Water Tribe. It’s newly established.”
Newly established? Ye Cong knew better than anyone how difficult it was to form a tribe. For the past few years, he and his companions had been wandering, and always wanted to gather like-minded wandering beastmen to establish their own tribe, but all their efforts had failed.
Ye Cong was somewhat skeptical of Rong Shan’s words. In this day and age, were there really people who had just migrated and established a tribe in such a short time? No one would believe it if they told them.
However, when Ye Cong followed Rong Shan and the others to the Mountain and Water Tribe, he was truly astonished.
It really was a newly established tribe! Along several large caves, a large open space was enclosed by a brand-new wooden fence.
The beastmen were systematically felling trees, the sub-beastmen were mending animal clothing inside the caves, and the cubs were playing and frolicking in the open space.
In reality, what Ye Cong saw was only a small, unfinished wooden house, far from the small tribe he had imagined.
But the sturdy structure and neat appearance of the wooden house clearly showed that this tribe’s technology was far superior to their original tribe.
The future here was definitely bright, and Ye Cong could hardly contain his excitement.
When Rong Shan and his group returned to the tribe, they happened to encounter the beastmen who were also returning from hunting.
Feng Yan and Bing Qiu approached on their own. Feng Yan took Xue Tuan from Rong Shan’s arms. His face was covered in dust, so he didn’t rub his little one’s cheek as usual. He simply looked at Rong Shan and asked, “What happened?”
Rong Shan smiled slightly as he watched Feng Yan interact with Xue Tuan, but knowing Feng Yan had immediately noticed Chong Yan’s injured leg, he recounted what had happened.
After explaining, Rong Shan saw Xue Tuan sticking its tongue out at him. Rong Shan pinched Xue Tuan’s cheek as a warning: “Be careful, or your father won’t let you go out to play.”
Feng Yan frowned slightly, his imposing aura somewhat frightening. The cubs all obediently froze, and Ye Cong and his companions didn’t dare breathe.
Feng Yan: “It seems you haven’t quite mastered the art of trap detection. None of you are allowed to leave the tribe to play for the time being.”
Finally, all the cubs received their punishment together.
Who dared disobey their chief? The cubs all hung their heads, picking at their fingers, not daring to argue.
Only the audacious Xue Tuan, upon being grounded, tugged unhappily at Feng Yan’s hair:
“Father, you’re bad.”
Feng Yan hissed, but didn’t dare lay a hand on Xue Tuan. He merely bounced him around a couple of times, saying, “If you want to go out and play, Father will take you.”
Chief Feng Yan perfectly exemplified double standards, and the cubs dared not speak out against him. But they decided to follow suit, hoping their fathers would take them out to play when they got home, hmph.
Seeing that no one paid them any attention, Ye Cong’s restless heart could no longer be contained. He had always hoped to find a reliable tribe for his people, but he didn’t know if any tribe would be willing to accept them.
“May I ask who your tribe’s chief is? We have a favor to ask,” the young beastman said awkwardly, bowing slightly, but still managing to get to the point.
Feng Yan and Rong Shan exchanged glances. Rong Shan had already agreed to let the young beastman come over occasionally to treat the little black lion’s wounds, and wondered what else he wanted. “Please speak,” she said.
“Um, could we join your tribe?” Ye Cong asked, his face flushing slightly, feeling embarrassed.
He quickly explained, “Some of us are skilled at manual labor, and I’m a priest who can treat minor injuries. We’re definitely not here to freeload!”
Seeing the young beastman’s nervousness, Rong Shan reassured him, “It’s not that we’re afraid you’ll freeload and not work. As you can see, our tribe is newly established, and things won’t be as good as you think in the short term.”
He and Feng Yan guessed that the young beastman was probably a wandering beastman stationed nearby. These people didn’t have a fixed abode, so it was normal for them to want to join a tribe.
However, they still needed to explain the current situation of the tribe clearly, and the choice was up to the individual.
From Rong Shan’s observation, these young beastmen seemed responsible enough, and their actions in treating the little black lion’s wounds were quite skilled, so they probably weren’t lying.
Furthermore, judging from the young beastman’s introduction, there were rare and capable beastmen among their group. He believed that if they wanted to join, the other tribe members would certainly welcome them warmly.
So Rong Shan continued, “If you don’t mind, you can bring the rest to the tribe first. If it’s suitable, you can choose where you want to live, and we’ll all help build the houses first.”
“Great! I’ll go back and tell everyone this good news right away!” Ye Cong clearly skipped over the first half of Rong Shan’s sentence, only taking in the second half, and couldn’t wait to tell his companions.
Even though he had just met these beastmen, judging from their speech, clothing, and the healthy and active nature of the cubs, this Mountain and Water Tribe was certainly no worse off than they had been while wandering outside.
Besides, Ye Cong felt they were just being modest. The corner of the tribe he saw before him was already far better than their previous one, they were too happy to complain.
“In that case, I’ll take you to meet our deputy chief and elders first.”
Ye Cong was naturally very happy to agree.
The formation of the new tribe wasn’t worried about having too many people, the more people, the more work they could do together. They were currently in a period of growth and development, and having more people wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“I happen to have something important to tell the elders,” Rong Shan said, keeping Feng Yan in suspense, “It was Xue Tuan and the others who discovered it.”
The others didn’t know, but Xue Tuan did. But could this be a way for them to “redeem themselves”? Xue Tuan wondered. If they hadn’t fallen into the trap, they wouldn’t have found anything good.
“What! You found salt!” Sure enough, Shi Hu’s voice was very excited after hearing Rong Shan’s report, his eyes almost shining.
“These are some broken salt pieces that Xue Tuan and the others dug up, it should be a salt mine.” Rong Shan smiled and handed them over.