Chapter 170

Chapter 170

Inside the classroom, Qi Bai, Yang Luo, Ma Ling, and the seven team leaders of the gathering squads sat around a wooden table made of tree stumps.

Lu Guo was the first to raise his hand:

“Bao Bai, there’s suddenly a lot more water flowing down from the mountain.”

At his words, everyone looked toward Qi Bai with a trace of anxiety.

No one knew when it started, but everyone had gotten used to it—if there’s trouble, go to the priest. But if it’s something even the priest can’t solve, go to Qi Bai. Qi Bai would definitely find a way.

Would Yang Luo be upset that people relied on Qi Bai this much? Definitely not.

Why would he be upset? If anything, Yang Luo would say: good question.

He had been pondering it too. He had even climbed the mountain himself to find the source of the water. But he found nothing. It was as if the water had appeared out of thin air.

Qi Bai gave everyone a reassuring look:

“Don’t worry. The water coming down from the mountain is just melted snow. It’s a bit of a problem right now, but once all the snow is gone, the water will stop.”

In just three or four days, the temperature had risen again. Qi Bai guessed it was now about ten degrees Celsius outside.

This wasn’t a normal increase—from zero to ten degrees. It was a jump from a “feels like” minus twenty straight up to ten degrees. The impact of that kind of shift was obvious.

The most obvious impact was the snow on the mountains.

The winters in Heishan weren’t dry. Heavy snow had accumulated again and again. With the sudden arrival of spring, the snow melted faster than the temperature could stabilize, forming streams of runoff.

Because of this sudden change, some people in the tribe were understandably nervous.

They’d grown up on the orc continent, and no spring had ever started like this.

It wouldn’t be a big deal for people like Dai and the younger ones raised in the North Wilderness who hadn’t experienced the great flood. They’d just find it novel and interesting.

But everyone here at the table had survived the great flood. What they feared most was mountain runoff turning into a flash flood again.

Qi Bai had called them here today precisely to explain this shift.

Ma Ling was now the temporary leader of the remaining horned beastfolk in the tribe. The other seven were leaders of the gathering squads. Explaining things to the whole tribe would be hard, but if the squad leaders understood and passed the message down, it would go a lot smoother.

Lu Xi exhaled in relief:

“Bao Bai, if you say so, I won’t be scared.” Then he looked out the window. “So can we go back to work now?”

Seeing the others also getting eager to move, Yang Luo knocked on the table:

“Sit down. We haven’t finished talking. What’s the rush?”

How could they not be in a rush? With winter over, there was so much work to do and more space to move around. The only reason the schoolroom was free for a meeting was because everyone wanted to be outside after being cooped up all winter.

Lu Xi scratched his head. He couldn’t imagine what else could be so important.

Yang Luo cleared his throat and said,

“We’re running low on salt.”

Before winter, Lang Ze and the salt-finding team had brought back plenty of salt from the sea. But now that the temperature had risen so quickly, preserving food with ice was no longer an option. They’d need more salt to preserve fish and prepare for the hunting team’s future spoils.

Shu Lin and Lu Xi exchanged glances, clearly not seeing what the big deal was. If there’s no salt, just go get some from the sea—what did that have to do with them?

Yang Luo rolled his eyes at the two of them:

“The chief and Lang Ze aren’t in the tribe, and there aren’t many horned beastfolk left. They can’t bring back enough salt.”

By “horned beastfolk,” he didn’t mean the newly joined Ox or Horse clans. He meant the original core members of Heishan.

Only now did the others understand why they were called to a private meeting like this—discussing something as important as salt couldn’t be done in front of everyone.

They all instinctively straightened up. After charcoal-making, pottery, and iron-smelting had been shared with the public, salt-making remained the tribe’s last and biggest secret.

Diao Lan and Lu Xi were the most anxious. Their two teams handled the fish traps and used the most salt.

“What are we supposed to do?” they asked.

Qi Bai replied:

“Even though the horned beastfolk aren’t here, we can still boil salt ourselves.”

Lu Xi’s eyes sparkled:

“Really? We can go to the sea too? I’ve never seen the ocean before!”

Qi Bai nodded:

“That’s why I called you all here. If everyone agrees, this time the team going to the sea will be led by us sub-beastfolk.”

Shu Lin clapped happily:

“I agree! Of course I agree!”

Before, to bring back more salt, the team was always made up of stronger horned beastfolk. But now, with carts, as long as a few beastfolk could pull them, sub-beastfolk could help too once they reached the sea.

Everyone looked eager. But the tribe’s daily work couldn’t stop. The squad leaders couldn’t all leave. After Qi Bai promised that everyone would get a chance to go eventually, they reluctantly ended the meeting.

Yang Luo stood behind Qi Bai and hesitated:

“You’re really going? How about I lead the team this time?”

Qi Bai stared at him until Yang Luo looked a bit guilty. Finally, Qi Bai chuckled:

“Priest Grandpa, are you planning to run away?”

Why else would Yang Luo, who never left the tribe, suddenly want to go to the sea?

Yang Luo’s eyes widened in outrage:

“What nonsense! I’d never do such a thing!”

But his guilty conscience made his voice louder. Shu Lin, already near the door, even turned to look at them.

Qi Bai was pretty sure he was right. Yang Luo likely had no intention of leaving, but in case his past wrongs were held against him and he got kicked out one day, knowing where the salt came from was his insurance policy…

Qi Bai smiled and said,

“Priest Grandpa, I really have something important to handle out there. You have to stay here and hold down the fort.”

With that, he walked to the schoolroom door and pushed it open.

He wanted to say:

“Priest Grandpa, look at our tribe—what is there left to worry about?”

Next to two large trees by the school, Quan Lie and Lang Ye were unloading baskets of fish from a cart—five in total, freshly pulled from the fish traps.

Before dawn, they had set off with the cart. The traps had been placed the night before, so they had to go retrieve them one by one, sort the edible fish, replace the bait, and throw the traps back into the Cannibal River.

This job had to be done early. The earlier they started, the more they could squeeze in—sometimes even collecting traps three times in a single day.

Nearby, Pig Zhu and Ma Qian, the elder beastfolk, sat gutting fish.

A few large wooden barrels stood in the center of their circle. One held fish guts, which were used as bait. During the first trap run, they used shredded meat because it was too cold to dig worms. But now that they had fish, the guts became the bait.

Another barrel held fish bladders. No one knew what they were for, but since Qi Bai wanted them, they collected and cleaned them, then laid them out to dry.

The most important barrel was the one in the center—filled with snowy white salt.

The elders had gotten skilled at gutting. With practiced hands, they cut off the heads, split them to remove the gills, and tossed them into a large basket. The heads, having little meat, weren’t salted—just boiled fresh into milky-white soup, stewed for hours until the bones softened, and consumed entirely.

The fish bodies were placed on cutting boards. They scraped the small scales, made a few slits, cut the fish into even pieces, washed off the blood in a water barrel, then carefully scooped some salt onto both sides of the meat.

Tied up with hay ropes, the salted fish pieces were handed to playful children, who scampered up trees to hang them from bamboo rods between the branches.

After being cooped up all winter, the kids were thrilled to be outside again.

Not far off, Hu Huo and Ma Shu led some strong young beastfolk boys in carving wood.

They were making new racks for drying milk tofu.

As long as the female goats in the pen kept producing milk, the tribe had to keep making tofu and butter.

With warmer weather approaching—and no vacuum sealing or preservatives on the beastfolk continent—drying was the only way to make the milk tofu last.

Fresh tofu was shaped in rectangular molds, cooled to firm, then cut into thick slices and air-dried. These could be stored longer.

But all the old racks Hu Huo had made were now in the warehouse, holding valuable goods. So new racks were needed for tofu drying.

Even if not for tofu, racks had to be built. Even five-year-old Lu Xia knew that spring bamboo shoots would soon be harvested—and they’d need lots of racks.

Farther away, Qi Bai could still hear people inside and outside the walls shoveling snow.

Snow inside the village wasn’t fully cleared yet, but the outer walls had to be tackled fast. If the melting snow turned to runoff, it could flood the foundations.

The village wall had only been built last winter. It wasn’t that stable to begin with—better not let water weaken it.

Thankfully, Qi Bai had long gotten used to being “betrayed by Heaven” and told everyone to start clearing snow early. Otherwise, with the walls trapping the water, their homes could be flooded.

Even after years in the modern world, Qi Bai had never seen so much snow melt all at once.

He smiled at Yang Luo. Just look—even clearing snow could become a bustling, passionate effort. Not one person had starved over the winter. The tribe could only get better from here.

Priest Grandpa, you didn’t fail your test. All your worries are unnecessary.

Streams flowed down the mountains. Snow clumps sparkled along their banks. Tiny green buds peered shyly from the soil.

It would’ve been an idyllic pastoral scene…

If not for the bumpy cart and the people bouncing on it.

Ma Ling reared up her front hooves and neighed loudly.

Qi Bai and the others leaned forward, peering ahead.

“The sea! Bao Bai, is that the sea?!”