Chapter 9 - Cultivation
Ch9 – Cultivation
Pentaceratops had big heads, but they weren’t very intelligent and had a bad temper. They were easy to provoke.
After observing the situation around the Pentaceratops for a while, the tribe abandoned the method they had used before of herding their prey with torches and finally chose to have someone provoke the Pentaceratops and lead it to the swamp instead.
Along the way, they switched out people several times. As soon as one set of people became tired, they would switch to the next group; the Pentaceratops was oblivious to the change and chased after them until it finally ran headlong into the swamp.
When the Pentaceratops wasn’t trapped in the swamp, its head with its many sharp horns was very lethal, and its thick hide and flesh made it difficult for the tribe to attack it, but when it was in the swamp, it could no longer move…
Xiong Ye brought people with him to chop up some wood and lay the pieces down on the swamp like a road. They attacked with weapons and claws and finally killed the Pentaceratops, cutting apart its body and dragging its meat out of the swamp piece by piece.
Xiong Ye was actively involved in the entire plan, and he participated in all kinds of work during the hunt.
It was also his first time hunting such large prey. He was very eager to learn and also carefully remembered every step of the entire process.
Xiong Ye was extremely immersed in his work and had no time to think about anything else, so when he took people to bring the Pentaceratops meat back to dry land, he subconsciously called out to Shi Li, “Shi…”
Xiong Ye called out the first half of his name, then his expression froze as he swallowed the rest back down into his stomach. Before, he would share the joy of every harvest with Shi Li, and Shi Li would also be by his side, but now… Shi Li had stayed away from him for the entire day.
Xiong He just so happened to have noticed Xiong Ye’s actions and said, “Young Ye, what’s wrong with you and Shi Li? Why did you two suddenly start fighting yesterday? Although he’s a little lazy, since you intend to spend your whole life together, you should be a little more lenient.”
“Uncle He, I know.” Xiong Ye responded. He was a little irritated as he clutched at his hair.
He didn’t want to tell everyone about the matter of Shi Li not wanting to become mates with him, so in everyone else’s eyes, it just looked like he had given Shi Li a beating yesterday…
This situation allowed Xiong Ye to let out a breath of relief. After all, he didn’t want everyone else to know that Shi Li didn’t want to be mates with him. Even so, the situation still left him worried about what to do next.
Shi Li… What exactly did he want?
While Xiong Ye was thinking about this, he subconsciously searched for Shi Li with his gaze.
Then, he saw that Shi Li was standing away from the crowd. There wasn’t even the slightest speck of swamp mud on his body as he spoke with Lang Yin.
Lang Yin was Xiong He’s daughter. She was a year older than him, and Lang Yin’s mother had been living with Xiong He ever since Lang Yin was born. Out of Xiong He’s five children, Lang Yin’s mother had given birth to three of them.
Of these three children, Lang Yin was the eldest, the most beautiful, and the one that Xiong He doted on the most.
At the end of the day, Xiong He was the tribal chief, and he was very powerful. Lang Yin’s mother’s strength wasn’t bad either, so Lang Yin had never gone hungry as she grew up. While Xiong Ye was in the river digging for crabs and snails to eat because he was starving, Lang Yin was by the riverside picking flowers and chasing butterflies.
Xiong Ye had been very envious of Lang Yin as a child but wasn’t anymore because Lang Yin, who had been pampered from birth, was not good at hunting at all.
However, Lang Yin’s life was still very good even if she wasn’t skilled at hunting. Her father was the tribal chief, and she was also very beautiful, so very few men in the tribe disliked her.
Xiong Ye had always known that Lang Yin liked Shi Li, and he had also seen Lang Yin send food to Shi Li before.
Nevertheless, ever since the news that he and Shi Li were to become mates had spread, Lang Yin had begun to approach other men from the tribe. Now, however, she had come looking for Shi Li again.
Or perhaps… had Shi Li been the one to seek her out?
Xiong Ye felt a little broken-hearted, but the rest of the tribe was busy salivating over the Pentaceratops meat and didn’t have any time to pay attention to others. Even Xiong He hadn’t taken note of what his daughter was doing. Instead, he was concentrating as he tapped on the Pentaceratops’ head shield, “It turns out that it really is hollow… But this shield still looks pretty good. We can hang it over the entrance to the tribe.”
Xiong Bai’s flower crown had been lost at some point early on, but Xiong Bai hadn’t forgotten about Xiong Ye. She squeezed herself in beside Xiong Ye and swallowed her saliva, “Xiong Ye, how do you think Pentaceratops meat tastes?”
Xiong Ye said,”It should be a little tough.”
“Oh! That should be great for hunger!” Xiong Bai was delighted.
While Xiong Ye and the others were hunting, Zhou Ji had followed the elderly and weak members of the tribe and gone out to gather plants.
Some of the plants in this place were also available on Earth, but there were also many plants here that had either gone extinct on Earth or had never existed there at all that grew together in the lush vegetation.
Zhou Ji was full of fondness for these beautiful little fellows. He had even used his own abilities to learn within a short time which of these plants were edible, which ones were inedible, and personally determined which ones were delicious, and which ones weren’t so tasty.
He followed behind the team and pleasurably basked in the scenery around him, casually using his powers to help those who were busy gathering to harvest even more wild vegetables–there was very little that was ready for harvest in the spring, and only wild vegetables were relatively more abundant.
The levels of both of his powers had declined after he had transmigrated over, but he was still capable of instantly maturing the potato-like roots that the people of the tribe liked to eat and were easy to store. Only, he was afraid the others would discover that something wasn’t right and therefore hadn’t done so.
In any case, there was no shortage of food in the tribe right now.
It would be better if he waited until this plant was supposed to be harvested before he made a move…
Zhou Ji yawned and sat down on a patch of grass to bask in the sun.
Sunshine, fresh flowers, green grass, trees, as well as the moist air that carried the scent of spring… All of this was truly too wonderful.
Zhou Ji slowly laid down on the grass, his eyes dropping to half mast. He felt a little sleepy.
However, before he could fall asleep, he heard the children of the tribe shout out in excitement, “There are so many earthworms today!”
Those children hadn’t gone to harvest vegetables and had run off to dig for earthworms instead. Of course, there were those who didn’t like earthworms and would choose other things to fill up their belly; crabs, small fish, shrimp, and so on.
The elderly people in the tribe kept the children from running around wildly, but they wouldn’t stop them from foraging.
Recently, wild vegetables had been amazingly abundant. They had already harvested enough to eat, and there was naturally no need to make the children help out as well.
Zhou Ji yawned again, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
However, his psychic powers were still active around him.
During the end of the world, an ability user like him had to rely on zombie nuclei to cultivate and obtain energy, but in this world… There were no zombies here, but everyone here had something similar to a zombie’s nucleus inside their bodies. This body that he had transmigrated into had a very large, white crystal core.
This crystal core should be able to provide people with strength, and was also the source of their power… Plants and animals in this world carried energy, and even the air in this world was filled with clean and pure energy.
This truly was a good place.
Zhou Ji slept soundly. His body spontaneously began to absorb and store the energy from his surroundings into his crystal core…
People around him saw this scene and couldn’t help but sigh, “Zhou can’t go on like this…”
“It’s already great that he’s like this. He never even used to leave his cave.”
“Should we wake him up?”
“Let him be. He won’t be able to gather much even if he’s awake.”
“There are lots of wild vegetables today, let’s dig out more.”
……
They all looked down on Zhou. After all, Zhou was too useless.
Still, they wouldn’t reject Zhou and were even quite sympathetic towards him.
Zhou had been unable to live on his own after his mother died and had almost starved to death. He had finally left his cave after that, but he didn’t seem to really know how to talk… Zhou didn’t understand anything, so how could they blame him?
What’s more, his good days were probably about to come to an end.
Zhou couldn’t participate in the hunts, so his cave would soon be taken back by the tribal chief and assigned to someone else. In the future, he would only be able to live in the collective cave and eat the least food…
Zhou Ji had no idea that he was being pitied.
He had constantly been exploring this place and had also used his psychic powers to learn the language here in a very short period of a little more than a month, but he still wasn’t very clear on the various rules of the tribe and didn’t know that he could lose his ‘home’…
Zhou Ji woke up automatically when the people of the tribe finished gathering.
He held a piece of root that could be chewed for its sweet juice like the sugarcane from Earth in his hand and walked back to the tribe while gnawing on it.
People around him felt even more sympathetic towards him when they saw him like this–This child was so hungry he was directly eating grass, and it was even the type that couldn’t be chewed apart and was nothing but dregs!
When the gathering team returned to the tribe, they bumped into the hunting team that was also on their way back.
Seeing the large chunks of meat covered in black mud that people from the hunting team were carrying back, Zhou Ji lost his appetite. Very soon, he also noticed Xiong Ye who was walking within the crowd. He was clearly smiling, but didn’t appear to be very happy.
Others might not be clear about yesterday’s events, but he knew exactly what had happened–That lion had wanted to pull out of their upcoming marriage.
At the time, he had felt a little sympathetic towards that bear. After that, he watched as that bear and the lion fought. Watching it was… quite delightful.
However, although that bear had done such a refreshing thing, it was obvious that he was very unhappy.
Zhou Ji yawned and went back to his cave.
He wasn’t going to butt in; he didn’t know how to cheer people up.
He believed that that bear would be able to settle the problem. Wasn’t it just a scum man? If he didn’t want him, then forget it. How could a man be as important as food?
After returning to his own cave, Zhou Ji grew several fruits that were similar to strawberries to eat.
This kind of fruit was very common here. It was a little sour, but the ones he ‘grew’ with his plant powers were very sweet.
The people in the tribe were all jubilant as they celebrated hunting down of such a big prey, but Xiong Ye once again searched through the crowd for Shi Li.
Only, it turned out… Shi Li was actually talking to Lang Yin again!
Xiong Ye only felt anger surging up from his heart. He had wanted to talk to Shi Li, but he was also a bit unwilling when he thought of yesterday’s events.
He turned around and headed out of the valley.
Someone asked, “Xiong Ye, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to wash up.” Xiong Ye replied.
“I’m coming, too.” The people in the tribe who had participated in the hunt all responded one after another. They were all covered in mud and couldn’t just go home like this!
Shi Li saw that Xiong Ye had taken a large group of people to leave with him and frowned.
He had rejected Xiong Ye. Would Xiong Ye speak ill of him and cause trouble for him?
“Shi Li, tell me more about the Raptors.” Lang Yin said.
Shi Li heard her and turned his head back to continue chatting with Lang Yin.
His experiences as a Beast King made it extremely easy for him to surprise and influence Lang Yin, and the worshipful gazes that Lang Yin gave him caused satisfaction to well up in his heart.
As he grew older, he really liked this kind of young, fresh, and tender young girl.
Lang Yin also really liked Shi Li.
She had interacted more with Xiong Ye, but because her father was very good to him, she didn’t like Xiong Ye very much. Other than Xiong Ye, the most powerful young man in the tribe was Shi Li.
She naturally fell for Shi Li when she reached adulthood and began to select men.
However, her feelings had faded because Shi Li had always been together with Xiong Ye before and had always been indifferent towards her. Unexpectedly, Shi Li was actually very enthusiastic towards her today.
“Shi Li, what’s wrong with you and Xiong Ye?” Lang Yin asked.
“I don’t want to become mates with him anymore.” Shi Li replied.
Lang Yin didn’t find this strange. In fact, she didn’t really understand why Shi Li and Xiong Ye would want to become mates in the first place. There were only a total of four or five couples that had become mates in their tribe, and in her opinion, that kind of life seemed to be quite boring.
Take her for example. Even if she liked Shi Li, she didn’t plan to spend her entire life together with him! She still wanted to try getting together with different people!
Besides, if two men were together, they couldn’t have children!
“If you’re not going to mate with Xiong Ye, do you want to get together with me?” Lang Yin was very direct with her invitation.
Juurensha: Is it just me or is it a little creepy when Shi Li is like oh as I got older I like young, pure girls…..
xiin: super creepy!! his ego is speaking up… ew. also, daily updates from now on! see you guys tomorrow <3