On the vast plain, a team was marching quickly.
The gray lone wolf pack formed a V-shape, guarding the five bone-wheel carts in the middle of the group.
“Awoo~ Awoo~”
The little one-horned wolves following the giant white wolf hadn’t run so freely for a long time. They howled loudly as they galloped forward.
On a cart, a wolf beastman who had transformed into beast form supported himself on the ground with his two front legs, raised his head high and made a sound in response.
The hungry hyenas crouched down to make room for them. The huge python, a hundred meters long, swam toward its nest in the forest with its tongue sticking out.
There was only a hill ahead. On this hill, seven or eight people lay on the ground and watched the group behind them.
If Qi Bai was present, he would be able to recognize at a glance that this group of people were the ones he thought had stabbed a wild boar’s lair on the trading day.
A young, round-faced beastman opened his mouth as he looked at the carts running on the plain. After a while, he asked, “Shuo, that… what type of beast is that?”
The beastman with a scar on his face squinted. After a long time, he pointed at Diao Lan on the cart and said, “Shuo, those are the people from the trading day. Could it be that their tribe is in this direction?”
Everyone looked expectantly at the horned beastman in the middle of the group. He was Niu Shuo, the first one to exchange wild boar for salt with Qi Bai.
Niu Shuo carefully recalled his communication with the Black Mountain Tribe. “No, they came from the east or south.”
The round-faced beastman, Niu Xin, asked, “Where are they going now?”
Niu Cheng said, “It looks like it is the same direction we are going.”
Niu Shuo watched the approaching team and had a vague premonition in his heart. “Follow them.”
After hearing Niu Shuo’s order, they quickly finished the barbecue in their hands. Then they turned into beasts and tied up the supplies around them.
The moment this huge group passed, they immediately followed.
Qi Bai handed a slightly smaller rattan basket to Huo Su.
Out of the five carts of the Black Mountain Tribe, three were now loaded with supplies. The remaining two were only half-loaded with rattan baskets with the empty side being used specifically for transporting people.
A group of beastmen were lying on a cart nearby. They needed to catch up with some sleep and get enough rest to cope with the rest of the journey.
The cart where Qi Bai was now was carrying sub-beastmen. In order to make more space for the stone basins for making fire, most of the sub-beastmen had turned into beasts. They were either curled up in a rattan basket to sleep or lying on the edge of the cart.
As the only beastman who didn’t have to stand guard at night, Hou Su sat on Qi Bai’s cart without any psychological burden.
Hou Sui took a look inside the rattan basket and asked, “What are you giving me this raw meat for?’
You know, not everyone in the tribe could cook food. Diao Lan and Hu Xue were cooking meat nearby. Hou Su didn’t quite understand why Qi Bai gave him raw meat.
Qi Bai raised an eyebrow and said, “Look again, this isn’t ordinary meat.”
Huo Su took out a strip of meat from the rattan basket suspiciously. This time, he really saw some differences. The strip of meat in his hand was very thin and wouldn’t be easily torn. “What is this?”
Qi Bai also picked up a piece and explained, “This is the tendon of a wild beast. It is also the material I found for you to make a bowstring.”
Ever since he met Hou Su, Qi Bai had been collecting the tendons from the backs of his prey and classified them according to different animals. For example, the piece in his hand was cow tendon.
Since ancient times, China had a tradition of using animal tendons such as cow tendons to make bowstrings. Of course, compared to making bowstrings, these tough animal tendons were actually more suitable for reinforcing the bow arm, increasing the toughness of the bow arms and thus increasing the lethality of crossbows.
However, in the absence of a better substitute, bowstrings made of animal tendons were definitely sufficient and enough for Hou Su to study for a while.
Huo Su carefully looked at the strips of meat in his hand. The meat looked a bit different from other meats, but he still doubted if it was stronger than straw rope.
“We will know if it works after we give it a try.” Qi Bai placed the cow tendon on the stone slab and scraped the minced meat off with a small piece of polished stone. “Clean the cow tendon, soak and rub off the sticky grease, and dry it in the sun. You should do this step first.”
Qi Bai kept moving his hands as he continued talking, “But I have to point out in advance that I have only seen other people use this method. How to make it stronger is still up to you.”
Once Hou Su heard Qi Bai’s confident tone, his eyes became fiery as he looked at the tendons again. He eagerly tucked his cloak back and started to scrape off the minced meat and fat on both sides of the tendons, imitating Qi Bai’s behavior.
Looking at Hou Su’s cloak, Qi Bai stared up at the sun in the sky again.
The weather now wasn’t as hot as when they set out, but it must not be comfortable and stuffy under such a large animal skin cloak.
Qi Bai wondered, “You are going back to the tribe with us. Why are you still wearing this cloak?”
Hou Su paused. Then he lifted the animal skin covering his head, revealing a serious face. Apart from being a bit pale, there was nothing special about it.
A small yellow dog that looked a bit like a corgi was mixed in with the wolf pack. Seeing this, the dog walked over with short legs, wagged the short tail, circled around Hou Su a few times and then barked twice at Qi Bai.
Hou Su pinched the back of Quan Nan’s neck and threw her back into the pack of little wolves, which immediately started a chaotic barking sound.
Hou Su asked, “What is she yelling about?’
“Oh.” Qi Bai retracted his scrutinizing gaze and said with some regret, “Maybe she is asking why you aren’t a slave.”
On the Beastman Continent, beastmen who could live alone in the wild were worthy of respect. The cloak that covered their faces was the symbol of these wandering beastmen. No one would easily lift the cloak of a wandering beastman.
As for the fact that Hou Su never took off his cloak, they gossiped about it privately a few times. Some people thought that Hou Su wore a cloak because he was very ugly, while others thought it was because Hou Su was a runaway slave, so he had to wear the cloak of a wandering beastman to cover his slave mark. Only a few people thought he was just an ordinary beastman.
Qi Bai and Quan Nan were both supporters of the slave faction. Qi Bai was a bit disappointed now since he had bet a piece of meat.
Hou Su glared at them angrily. “Who said I was a slave? Don’t talk nonsense.”
Diao Lan and Hu Xue were the final winners. One of them silently turned the barbecue in her hand, while the other laughed loudly. She thought that the ‘bet’ that Qi Bai mentioned was really an interesting thing.
In the afternoon, the team reached a water source. Lang Ze sent a signal to stop and rest.
Qi Bai took out the pickled vegetables he made in the morning. The preparation method of these vegetables was very simple. Wash the fresh vegetable roots, kill the moisture with salt water, wring them dry, add diced sweet fruit and a pinch of brown sugar, and then cover them with animal skins and marinate them for a few hours.
Qi Bai picked up a small piece of pickled vegetable. Since it wasn’t pickled long enough, the vegetable roots hadn’t been fully flavored. However, it was sweet, sour and refreshing. It was enough to be a side dish to go with the barbecue.
Diao Lan and Hu Xue took the rattan baskets filled with barbecued meat off the cart and placed them next to Qi Bai.
Everyone turned into human form and gathered together to receive today’s dinner.
Qi Bai looked at Hu Qiao, who seemed excited, and asked as he handed over the side dish, “Did you sleep?”
Hu Qiao received the food, moved aside to make room in front of the food, and said with a smile, “It is really fun to lie on the cart. I couldn’t sleep.”
Qi Bai couldn’t help chuckling as he imagined Hu Qiao running all night. Hu Qiao would be like a fox exhausted into a dog, collapsing and falling asleep the moment he hit the ground.
Hu Qiao was completely unaware of this. The moment he saw that the water barrel on the cart was empty, he took the initiative to carry the large bamboo barrel and carried water back and forth several times.
Not far away, Lang Ze told Xiang Yu and Lang Kuang in a deep voice, “Someone is following us.”
Xiang Yu and Lang Kuang were both stunned.
Lang Kuang was seriously injured and had just recovered. However, he couldn’t rest like the others since he was the only one in the group who recognized the marks made by Lang Ji. He needed to replace Lang Ji’s position and guide the team at night.
Xiang Yu asked, “Could it be someone from the Rough Wood Tribe?”
Lang Ze shook his head. “I don’t know, but there aren’t many of them. We must always pay attention to their movements. Sound the alarm once they get closer to us.”
Xiang Yu nodded seriously. On the next stretch of the journey, he would take over Lang Ze’s position and become the leader of the group, so he would naturally be very alert.
Niu Xin rubbed the stick in his hand and looked at the Black Mountain Tribe in the distance who had stopped to eat food. He said enviously, “Their rolling wooden plank is really amazing. I saw two beastmen cooking meat on it.”
Niu Cheng took out a small piece of fresh meat from the animal skin bag and pinched Niu Xin’s round face. “We aren’t starving you. Don’t covet the things of other tribes.”
The others looked at Niu Xin’s pouting mouth and laughed.
However, Niu Shuo frowned. “No.”
Niu Cheng asked, “What’s wrong?”
Niu Shuo stood up and tried to distinguish the movement of the Black Mountain Tribe in the dim sky. Then his eyes slightly widened. “They are about to set off again. Don’t light a fire. Take out some dried meat.”
The Black Mountain Tribe had no idea that the small group following behind them was already in a panic. In other words, their current goal was to leave these people as far behind as possible.
After everyone finished their dinner and filled the bamboo tubes on the cart with water, the two teams quickly completed the exchange.
The beastmen originally guarding the cart turned into human form and sat on the cart beside it, while the horned beastmen originally resting on the cart picked up the saddles on the ground and followed the cart.
The cart that Qi Bai was on swayed slightly forward. The horned beastman pulling their cart was the largest beast among this group of slaves. However, it was the first time for him to take on such a heavy responsibility. He was obviously a bit nervous.
However, he didn’t have much time to be nervous. It was because Xiang Yu let out a loud road and quickly led the team forward.
Hou Su threw down the stone in his hand. It was too dark and the cart was too bumpy. He had accidentally pierced the tendons in two places. Qi Bai said it didn’t matter even if there was a small hole, but Hou Su had high standards for himself. Since he couldn’t do it well, he couldn’t waste materials.
Huo Su tidied up the beef tendons hanging on the outside and was about to ask Qi Bai what to do next. He glanced around the group and finally saw Qi Bai’s figure on the opposite cart.
At this time, Qi Bai was holding a bamboo slip and working with Lang Ze to draw a map of their route for today.
Accompanied by the snoring sound beside him, Qi Bai inadvertently touched the Black Mountain Tribe mark that was getting farther and farther away with his hand. “I don’t know if everything is going well with the tribe leader and priest in the tribe.”
“We are traveling day and night now, and our speed is much faster than before. We will be able to return to the tribe soon,” Lang Ze whispered. “Don’t worry. Everyone will definitely wait for us to return.”
As the sky gradually brightened, the Black Mountain Tribe’s troops slowly stopped.
The bull-shaped beastmen following behind them knelt down on his front legs, resting his heads on the ground and refusing to move forward another step.
“Moo…” They finally stopped.
The beastmen tied to him almost fell to the ground due to the sudden fall. He got up in a panic and looked at everything around him before finally realizing what had happened.
On the other side, Niu Cheng was already quickly taking out some raw meat that wasn’t very fresh. “Eat quickly, eat quickly. They will leave again soon.”
Niu Xin climbed down from Niu Cheng, grabbed the meat and stuffed it into his mouth with a frown.
No wonder they were so skilled. It had been five days, five full days!
The beastmen from the Black Mountain Tribe never gave them time to make a fire. The cooked jerky they prepared had already been eaten up. At this time, they could only quickly eat a few bites of raw meat to fill their stomachs. Fortunately, they had prepared enough meat in advance.
Not only that, after discovering that two or even three teams of the Black Mountain Tribe were constantly rotating and advancing day and night, they decided to go all out and even stopped caring about the backs that had only been used by their partners.
There was no other way. They didn’t have magical carts like the Black Mountain Tribe and they could move for a few days without rest. They could only learn from the Black Mountain Tribe’s method and take turns sleeping on their backs.
If this matter got out, it would be difficult for them to find a partner in the future.
As several of them scrambled to stuff food into their mouths, one person said nervously, “Did they discover us?”
Niu Shuo looked up and saw two figures, one tall and one short, walking slowly toward the direction where they were hiding.
Avid fan of danmei novels! If you want access to advance chapters, you can subscribe on Patreon. Thanks!
https://www.patreon.com/WhiteLily476
