Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Nan Feng’s Ambition

That night, after the last collective activity of harvesting red maple sap, the Heluo tribe was once again busy with another group effort. Bathed in the warm, golden morning light, everyone’s faces showed two completely different emotions: exhaustion and happiness.

"Changxia, are you sleepy?"Nuan Chun asked, holding her still-sleeping twins as she walked over to Changxia.

Warm Spring arrived last night.

She carried her sleeping twin babies in a wicker basket. As soon as she got here, she handed them over to the other young ones in the tribe to look after, then picked up an ironwood knife and started slicing the giant anaconda meat.

That night, everyone in the tribe—male or female, young or old—gathered in the tribal square. Only a few stayed behind to patrol the area and didn’t come to help. The fifty or sixty-meter-long anaconda was completely processed by the tribe after a night of hard work.

Gen discussed with the elders and decided to keep a hundred thousand jin (about 50,000 kg).

All of it was fresh meat.

With the appetite of the beast tribe, they would have no trouble finishing it all.

At dawn, Gen sent Yadong and Shankun to the Wizard Hall on Mount Kana. Of course, they brought along about a hundred jin of anaconda meat. The anaconda skin, bones, and gallbladder were also packed up by Gen for them to take. However, not much skin and bone was sent—mostly just as a symbolic gesture.

“Still holding up? They haven’t woken up yet?” Changxia poked her head over to look at the sleeping twins in the basket, who were breathing softly and looked adorable.

Warm Spring rolled her eyes and said, “They woke up last night and played with the others all night. They only just fell asleep at dawn. I doubt they’ll wake up before noon.”

Luckily, the other kids helped out, so Warm Spring could free up her hands to get things done.

This time, Gen and the elders decided not to store the anaconda meat in the caves. Instead, they distributed it directly to the tribe. After all, the weather was hot, and it wouldn’t keep for long anyway. Better to give it out so everyone could figure out their own way to preserve it or just eat it fresh.

It was a pity, though—this anaconda was a male. If it had been female, the elders like Pukang might have hesitated before killing it.

“Is it really okay for them to sleep like this, all out of sync?” Changxia asked in surprise.

Warm Spring waved her hand dismissively. “Of course it’s fine. As long as they can eat and sleep, what’s there to worry about?”

“I’m starving. Is there anything to eat?” Nan Feng complained, swinging her arms.

Changxia yawned and glanced at the stove. The chicken soup Muqin made last night was long gone, but later, some tribe members threw in anaconda bones and meat to make soup.

“There’s still some anaconda bone soup in the pot. Want some?” Changxia asked.

The head, spine, and ribs of the anaconda could be made into bone tools, so those weren’t used for soup. Instead, some of the smaller bones were boiled into soup. Unlike chicken soup, anaconda bone soup was incredibly savory.

With the tender anaconda meat added in, the flavor was so good it made your mouth water.

“No thanks. I had too much last night and I’m still full,” Nan Feng shook her head, then looked at Changxia hopefully. “How about some roast meat, fried nut cakes, or noodle soup?”

*Smack!*

Maple Leaf walked over and gave Nan Feng a whack on the back of her head.

“You wish! Everyone’s been working all night, and you still want Changxia to make you breakfast?” Maple Leaf looked completely innocent.

In the distance, Chen Rong was helping process the anaconda skin.

The skin would be used to make leather bags, pouches, and medicine pouches. In terms of stretchiness, anaconda skin was even better than forest python skin.

With this giant anaconda, the whole tribe was celebrating. For the next few years, they wouldn’t have to worry about running out of leather bags or pouches—definitely something to cheer about.

“This time, every household got tens of thousands of jin of anaconda meat. Amazing!” Warm Spring said happily.

This rainy season was definitely the happiest the tribe had ever had.

From today on, even if no one went out hunting or gathering, they wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry.

This was something they’d never experienced before.

Even though everyone was exhausted, they were happily tired.

“Usually, even during the warm season, hunting isn’t this bountiful,” Nan Feng said, rubbing her head and grinning. “If the hunting party could bring back a stone elephant or an octopus next time, we probably wouldn’t have to hunt for the whole year.”

As soon as she said that, everyone nearby burst out laughing.

Stone elephants were one of the largest beasts in the Twilight Forest. Similarly, octopuses were huge river beasts that lived in the water.

Both were on par with the anaconda in size. Compared to these three, forest pythons and crocodiles were just small fry.

“Nan Feng, you have such wonderful ideas.”

“Nan Feng, I support you going to hunt a stone elephant and an octopus.”

For a moment, everyone was egging Nan Feng on to go hunt them.

The tribe had occasionally hunted a stone elephant in recent years, but as for octopuses, the last time was many years ago, when Elder Senda managed to kill one. They lived in the water and were rarely seen, let alone hunted.

Stone elephants were herd animals, and with their massive size, even though they were herbivores, they were incredibly dangerous—especially since they rarely lived alone and were usually found in groups.

Hunting either of these creatures was a matter of luck.

“I was wrong, really wrong,” Nan Feng admitted immediately, bowing her head.

The fresh anaconda meat was delivered to every household by the tribe members who’d been cutting it up. The rest—like the fried anaconda meat, jerky, and dried meat—was packed in clay jars and sent to everyone’s cave dwellings.

There was also a small amount of smoked anaconda meat, sausages, and ham. These were made in smaller quantities because Changxia was worried that making too much would lead to spoilage.

Jerky and dried meat, on the other hand, could be kept for a long time, so there was no need to worry.

Some of each was set aside for the shamans.

After all, only Su Ye and Bai Qing lived at the Wizard Hall on Mount Kana, so they couldn’t possibly eat too much.

Only the anaconda skin and bones weren’t distributed to the tribe. Instead, they were kept by the tribe to be tanned and made into leather bags, pouches, medicine pouches, and bone tools, which would be distributed later according to how many were made.

The tribal square, which had been piled high with food the night before, was now cleared after a night of hard work. All the anaconda meat and the thousands of snake carcasses had been processed.

Oh, and

“The long summer—if you’re tired, you should head back to the cave and get some rest first.”

Muqin walked over, looking at Changxia’s sleepy face with a touch of concern.

Likewise, Nanfeng, Maple Leaf, and the others didn’t look much better.

After all, just yesterday they’d fought a fierce battle in the dense forest and the southern wilderness. Then they’d stayed up all night working—no one, not even someone made of iron, could keep that up.

Changxia didn’t stand on ceremony. She nodded and said, “Aunt Muqin, I really can’t hold on any longer. I’ll go back to the cave and sleep for a bit. If anything comes up, we’ll talk later.”

A moment ago, she still had the energy to chat a bit.

But after Muqin’s question, Changxia was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.

Seeing this, Maple Leaf and Nanfeng started yawning too.

Muqin said, “Chenrong, you and Changxia go back to the cave and rest. Leave things here to us.”