Chapter 149: Chapter 149: The Journey Home

Hiss, hiss—

A chorus of exhalations sounded.

But no one was willing to put down the anaconda meat at their lips.

After finishing what they had, everyone eagerly started slicing more anaconda meat, rubbing it with salt to marinate—even without anyone telling them to. Unfortunately, it would take about fifteen minutes to be ready.

Maple Leaf and Nan Feng even snuck glances at Elder Pukang.

Others might not know, but the two of them remembered that Elder Pukang had once eaten raw anaconda meat. As they savored the roasted flavor in their mouths, they couldn’t help but eye the freshly butchered chunks.

Elder Yami seemed to have eyes in the back of her head.

“Don’t even think about it—” her warning suddenly sounded in their ears. Maple Leaf and Nan Feng froze, quickly turning away and pretending nothing had happened. They exchanged glances, seeing the fear in each other’s eyes.

Damn—

They hadn’t even done anything.

So why did it feel like Elder Yami had just caught them red-handed?

Chang Xia finished a piece of anaconda meat, licking her fingers with satisfaction. “Elder Yami, what should we do with all the snakes we killed in the wild and in the forest?”

There were thousands of them.

Just harvesting the gallbladders would be a massive task.

And with the weather warming up, they couldn’t delay. The snake corpses, big and small, would be enough to feed the tribe for three to five days.

“Gather them up, pack them in vine baskets, and bring them back to the tribe. Have everyone work through the night to extract the gallbladders. We don’t know how to process them, so tomorrow we’ll just send them straight to the shaman at Kana Sacred Mountain,” Yami said.

They needed to report the anaconda and the wanderers to the shaman anyway. Delivering the gallbladders was just convenient.

Chang Xia was very satisfied with this arrangement.

If they had to do all the work themselves, they wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.

But when she heard Elder Yami say the gallbladders would be sent to Kana Sacred Mountain tomorrow, Chang Xia was tempted to go along—mainly because she was thinking about the chili peppers from the Sky Lion Tribe, and possibly seaweed from the Earth Tribe.

If the “seaweed” really turned out to be sugar beets, they’d be set!

Of course, Chang Xia wasn’t desperate for sugar. The tribe had plenty now; what they lacked was chili. The Earth Tribe was just a bonus—the Sky Lion Tribe was the real prize.

She still couldn’t get to Qingshan Rock for now.

If she wanted chili, she’d have to hope the Sky Lion Tribe agreed to trade for the white fruit recipe. It was a win-win, but until the deal was done, Chang Xia couldn’t relax.

There was no other reason—

She just really craved chili.

After all the busy work, everyone got to enjoy another round of delicious anaconda meat.

This time, they slowed down and savored every bite.

According to Nan Feng, this was the most delicious meal she’d had in years—no contest. Chang Xia agreed. Anaconda meat was a natural delicacy, unmatched by anything else.

As night fell, Elder Yami had everyone spread out to clean up the forest and the wilds.

At the same time, she had Chen Rong lead a team to escort Chang Xia and the anaconda meat back to the tribe. The long night was just beginning—there was still much to do.

The tribe had gotten better lately.

But somehow, everyone seemed busier than ever.

Even without hunting or foraging trips, it felt like there was always something to do.

Elder Yami rubbed her aching forehead.

Even she was starting to feel her age.

Except for Chang Xia and her two companions, who were on guard duty, everyone—including the three elders—started cleaning up the battlefield. The wilds reeked of blood; they had to clean it thoroughly.

Otherwise, once the anaconda’s scent faded, countless wild beasts would be drawn here. It would be too dangerous.

The three elders were in charge of removing the bloody smell, since the tribe might come here soon to dig up grass roots. They couldn’t let wild animals take over the area.

Chang Xia and her two friends covered the stone stove and cauldron, but didn’t dismantle them. They simply washed the used bowls and chopsticks, packed them in vine baskets, and covered them with leaves to keep off the dust.

With this patch of grassland, Chang Xia was sure the stoves wouldn’t go to waste.

Even though it wasn’t far from the White Tiger Cave.

Soon, everyone worked together to clean up the battlefield and got ready to head back to the tribe.

By now, it was about seven or eight o’clock.

Chang Xia wasn’t used to the tribe’s way of telling time, so she converted it to what she knew.

When they got back, they’d still have to extract the gallbladders and process the anaconda meat. There was too much to carry in one trip, so Chang Xia was in the first group heading back.

She looked at the vine baskets in front of her, feeling a little helpless.

She couldn’t lift them—they were almost up to her shoulders, and with her skinny arms and legs, there was no way she could manage.

In the end, Chang Xia just symbolically carried a stack of anaconda skins.

Chen Rong wanted her to go empty-handed, since the forest was hard to walk through at night.

No one had traveled these woods in years, so the paths were much worse than those at Red Leaf Ridge. One wrong step, and you could fall into a pit or trip.

On the way back.

Everyone was unusually excited.

They kept discussing how to preserve the anaconda meat so that not a single piece would go to waste. If it were any other prey, they wouldn’t be so secretive about it. They never wasted food, but they’d never been this meticulous or thorough before.

Changxia, however, wasn’t very interested.

All she could think about was chili peppers.

If only she had some chilies, how would she stir-fry the anaconda meat with them?

Just thinking about it perked her up. She hadn’t had a chance to check the direction of the river’s flow today, but she did get a haul of anaconda meat.

All in all, it was a fair trade.

The only downside was that her plan to raise fish in the home pond would have to be postponed.

“Enough talking, let’s hurry back to the tribe,” Maple Leaf said. “I can smell the night air getting heavier with moisture. It might rain tonight or tomorrow.”

As soon as Maple Leaf spoke, the others all flared their nostrils, sniffing the air.

Beastfolk had keen senses of smell and could quickly pick up on changes in the wind.

This was something Changxia hadn’t learned yet.

After all, she was still a rookie who hadn’t even finished basic training.

South Wind muttered with a gloomy face, “How can the weather change so suddenly—” She remembered there should have been another day or two of clear skies. What was with this sudden change?

“This year’s rainy season is a bit late. Unpredictable weather isn’t unusual,” Yadong said.

There’s a saying in the Twilight Forest: “A mountain, a sky,” meaning every mountain range has its own weather. Different mountains, different climates.

The climate in the Heluo tribe’s territory was generally consistent.

The unluckiest seemed to be the Sky Lion tribe.

Their territory was huge, and the weather was notoriously unpredictable. Lionfolk could go out hunting under clear skies in the morning, only to be caught in a violent storm by afternoon. Sometimes it was even more extreme—snow falling on a sunny day. It was enough to scare anyone.

“Let’s pick up the pace and get back to the tribe,” Changxia urged.

A few thousand snake carcasses were manageable, but the anaconda meat was another story. Not a single bit could be wasted. Changxia even wondered if, worst case, they could soak the anaconda meat in White Lake…

But then she thought of the fat fish in White Lake.

That idea didn’t seem so great after all.

If those big fish got to the precious anaconda meat, not only would she be heartbroken, the whole tribe would be devastated.