Nuan stood up nervously. Before he could go out to check the situation, the animal skin in front of the tent was vigorously lifted up. A heroic female beastman in leather armor strode in.
The female beastman saw the three people sitting on the animal skin rug and swallowed back the words on her lips. She seemed to be trying to be amiable, but due to the anger in her heart, her expression was a bit distorted.
A shorter, young beastman followed closely behind her. “What’s more important now is how to exchange these animal skins with other tribes…”
The young beastman was talking halfway when he saw the three people in the tent. He stopped talking and said with a smile, “Hey, Ming, you came to play with Nuan? What is going on?”
Nuan stepped forward and made the introductions. “This is Bao Bai from the Black Mountain Tribe. The tribe just arrived at the trading day and are right next to us.”
“Bao Bai, this is my sister Han, the leader of our War Bear Tribe.” Nuan pointed at the female beastmen. Then he looked at the young beastman. “This is Xin.”
Qi Bai smiled and nodded at the two of them. Then he asked, “We were in the tent just now and accidentally overheard your conversation.”
Xin shook his head. “It isn’t a secret that the Rough Wood Tribe broke our promise with our War Bear Tribe. Presumably, everyone at the trading day will know about it tomorrow.”
Qi Bai looked at the shining leather armor on Han’s body and blinked. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. “The War Bear Tribe seems to have a batch of animal skins to exchange. I wonder what type of animal skins they are. Our Black Mountain Tribe also needs animal skins.”
The moment Qi Bai entered the tent, he found that the animal skins of this tribe were very good. Not to mention the animal skins hanging around him, just the large animal skin blanket spread out on the ground was something that ordinary tribes couldn’t obtain.”
Xin looked Qi Bai up and down. “The Rough Wood Tribe has agreed to give us a lot for the animal skins.” It was obvious she didn’t believe that a small, unknown tribe like the Black Mountain Tribe could help them through the crisis.
Qi Bai didn’t continue the topic, but instead said, “We entered the trading day relatively late today and didn’t see the items at other stalls clearly. I don’t know if there are any pottery items for exchange at the Xushan trading day?”
Ming was fiddling with the wood flowers in his hands. He shook his head and said, “There is no tribe in the Northern Wilderness that can make pottery. Due to the floor, there are fewer wandering beastmen coming from the south this year. I haven’t heard of any pottery exchange at this year’s trading day.”
Qi Bai told him, “Don’t forget, I am from a tribe from outside.”
Han, who was sitting on the animal skin blanket, looked up and asked, “Do you have pottery?”
Qi Bai smiled slightly, saying nothing.
Han nodded. “Go and bring the animal skins for him to see.”
Xin turned to go out and almost collided with a tall figure. Xin took a step back and saw the slave mark on Lang Ze’s neck. He frowned and asked, “Whose slave are you and why are you in the master’s tent?”
Qi Bai hurriedly got up. “This is my slave. You came just in time. Ze, go back and get my pottery jar.”
Lang Ze heard the noise from the War Bear Tribe. He saw that Qi Bai hadn’t come out for a long time after these people entered the tent, so he came over to check. Now he saw that Qi Bai was fine and wasn’t in danger, so he nodded and turned to go out.
The places where the two tribes stored supplies were very close to each other. Lang Ze and Xin quickly returned to the tent and handed the things to Han and Qi Bai respectively, who exchanged them with each other.
Qi Bai stroked the two pieces of animal skin in his hands. The skins were soft and didn’t have a strong odor. The smooth surface wasn’t as shiny as the leather armor on Han’s body, but it had moderate hardness and was a good material for making protective gear.
Qi Bai casually handed the examined animal skin to Leather. Lang Ze took the skin, checked it, and nodded calmly at Qi Bai.
No one noticed the actions between Qi Bai and Lang Ze. It was because the moment Han received the pottery jar handed over by Qi Bai, the attention of the other four present were completely attracted by it.
Ming exclaimed quietly, “Such a large pottery jar, how much salt is it worth?”
It wasn’t just Ming, but the other three people’s breathing was also a bit rapid.
This couldn’t be blamed on their lack of experience. In fact, the four people present were already the best among the eight tribes of the Northern Wilderness. Even if the Giant Deer Tribe was on the decline, Ming had seen a lot of good things since he was a child.
Take pottery for example. There was no pottery at the trading days last year and this year, but these rare items weren’t completely absent in previous years. The homes of the tribe leaders all had some pottery.
However, even they hadn’t seen such a large vessel with such uniform glaze color.
That’s right. After the Black Mountain Tribe made the pottery, Qi Bai and Lu Guo did many experiments with many shells and minerals. This time, the pottery that the Black Mountain Tribe took out for exchange wasn’t plain pottery, but pottery with glaze that was more durable and beautiful.
In addition, the pottery brought by wandering beastmen in previous years were all pottery plates and bowls. This was the first time they saw a pottery jar as long as their forearms.
Han, the chief, was the first to calm down. “I need to try it with water.”
Qi Bai nodded. “Of course.”
Xin took a stone basin filled with water from the tent and poured the water into the pottery jar. Then he shook the pottery jar gently and placed it on the animal skin rug. Several people lay on the ground, staring quietly at the bottom of the pottery jar.
Qi Bai asked, “Now, can we know how many animal skins that the War Bear Tribe wants to exchange?”
Han stood up and asked, “How many pottery jars like this do you have?”
“There are only two jars, but if you have enough animal skins, we can exchange the rest for salt.”
Han’s expression became serious. “Our animal skins are all in the tent in the back. I’ll take you to see them.”
Nuan and Ming still had their eyes on the pottery jar and didn’t care about the people who left.
Qi Bai and Lang Ze followed Han to a smaller tent behind the main tent. Once they uncovered the animal skins, they realized that what Han said about preparing a lot of animal skins was true.
There were four full piles of animal skins, each more than two meters high. It added up to at least four or five hundred.
The most important thing was that these animal skins weren’t the skins of varying quality obtained from daily hunting. They looked more like skins from certain specific prey that had been specially selected.
In addition, the sizes of these animal skins were very consistent. Each one was almost three meters long, which was completely different from the small samples that Xin had just taken into the tent.
Xin touched the skins lovingly. “These are the Ming beasts and Ding beasts that live near the War Bear Tribe. In order to keep these animal skins intact, warriors are injured or even killed every year during the hunts.”
His sad eyes revealed a hint of hatred. “Everyone knows that the skins of our War Bear Tribe are the best in the entire Xushan trading day. However, due to the agreement with the Rough Wood Tribe, we refused to exchange with other tribes. Unexpectedly, the Rough Wood Tribe didn’t arrive at the trading day for a long time. Then the moment they showed up, they broke their promise and completed the transaction with the Sanghuo Tribe instead.”
Ming and Nuan had just introduced the eight major tribes of the Northern Wilderness to Qi Bai. The Sanghuo Tribe didn’t seem to be among them.
Xin nodded. “The Sanghuo Tribe is a tribe that migrated here after the heavy rain. It is said that they defeated many weak tribes on the way of migration. Now they have become one of the largest tribes in the Northern Wilderness, comparable to the Xushan Tribe.”
Xin looked at the tent in front of him. “Their tribe is located on the edge of the Giant Deer Tribe’s territory. The two tribes have been in constant conflict over the past year. The people of the Giant Deer Tribe aren’t good at fighting, which is why things are like this now.”
Qi Bai suddenly thought of the Linen Tribe’s attitude toward the Giant Deer Tribe. “Then the Linen Tribe…”
Han patted the animal skin beside her and said bitterly, “The people of the Linen Tribe are all rats in stinky water. After seeing that the Sanghuo Tribe is strong, they bowed down and attached themselves to the Sanghuo Tribe. In order to show their attitude, they even made things difficult for their former allies.”
Qi Bai hadn’t expected the situation in the Northern Wilderness to change so drastically just due to a natural disaster.
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