Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Collecting Sap

Night deepened.

Aside from the drip-drip of red maple sap falling into wooden buckets, the only other sound on Redleaf Ridge was Elder Ximu’s unchanging, droning lecture. Elder Pukang, probably fed up with being nagged, would occasionally talk back, but Elder Ximu would quickly shut him down.

To avoid Elder Ximu’s nagging, Elder Pukang could only bury himself in work.

Even his trademark goofy laugh now sounded aggrieved and powerless. Hidden among the red maple trees, the other tribe members stifled their laughter, enduring Elder Ximu’s relentless “magic voice” while secretly delighting in Elder Pukang getting a taste of his own medicine.

After all, who in the tribe hadn’t been on the receiving end of Elder Pukang’s “loving iron fist”? Anyone who’d experienced it knew exactly how it felt.

“Changxia, you should go back to the tribe and rest,” Shen Rong said gently.

Late at night, the tribe had collected a batch of red maple sap, ready to be taken back. Shen Rong wanted Changxia to go with the group escorting the sap back to the beast den to rest. Staying up late was bad for her health, and she’d only just recovered—he didn’t want her to overdo it.

Changxia had already explained everything the tribe needed to know about Redleaf Ridge.

Whether she stayed or not made little difference.

Changxia yawned, clearly struggling to stay awake.

“If I go back, will you all be okay?” Changxia hesitated. “You still have poison in your body—can you manage?”

She wasn’t worried about the other tribe members. Beastfolk were physically strong; staying up late didn’t affect them much. Besides, there was no need to go hunting lately, so the risk was much lower.

“I’m fine,” Shen Rong replied. Compared to what he’d faced in the Western Lands, this was nothing. With Changxia tending to him every night, his old injuries had almost healed—now he just needed the shaman to drive out the poison.

“Don’t worry, even at my weakest... I’m still a totem warrior.”

Seeing Changxia still looked worried, Shen Rong reassured her again.

He then went to Elder Ximu, interrupting his lecture. “Elder Ximu, could you escort this batch of red maple sap back to the tribe?”

“How much is there?” Elder Ximu’s face was stern as he withdrew his gaze from Elder Pukang and turned to Gen, his expression serious. It was nearly midnight.

A third of the red maple sap on Redleaf Ridge had been collected.

The remaining two-thirds would take another day or two. The sap dripped into the buckets over time—it wasn’t like you could just drill a hole and have it all pour out at once.

“Twenty-eight buckets,” Gen replied.

Elder Ximu nodded, still stern. “Twenty-eight buckets—not bad. Pukang, I’ll escort this batch of sap back to the tribe, but when I return to Redleaf Ridge, I expect to see another twenty-eight buckets ready.”

Elder Pukang’s eyes widened in outrage as he glared at Elder Ximu.

Is this guy crazy?!

They’d worked half the night just to get these twenty-eight buckets.

Now Elder Ximu wanted him to get another twenty-eight in just two hours—was he out of his mind?

“What, you think I’m talking nonsense?” Elder Ximu sneered. “Pukang, calling you an idiot is actually a compliment. Most of the time collecting those twenty-eight buckets was spent drilling holes and hanging buckets. Now, all you have to do is swap out the full buckets—only a few trees still need new holes and buckets.”

“All that food you eat every day—are you feeding it to the dogs?”

“Beastfolk have brains for a reason. If you’re not going to use yours, you might as well chop it off and throw it away!”

And so, a new round of nagging began.

Gen wanted to say something, but facing Elder Ximu’s solemn expression, he really didn’t know how to interrupt that endless, chant-like tirade.

“Elder Ximu, it’s time for us to head back to the tribe,” Changxia said with a bright smile, stepping out from behind a red maple tree to remind him.

After a long day of running around, Changxia was exhausted.

She really was still a bit frail.

For this trip escorting the sap back to the tribe, Gen had arranged for fifty people to return and rest. They’d come back at dawn to switch out with the next group, so there would always be people at Redleaf Ridge until the sap collection was finished.

The night air was growing damper and heavier.

Clearly, the rainy season was approaching.

“All right,” Elder Ximu stopped nagging, his stern expression softening instantly. “Changxia, you must be tired! Come on, what are you all standing around for? Grab the sap and let’s head back to the tribe.”

More than fifty people, and 28 barrels of red maple sap.

Changxia didn’t get involved; she walked alongside Nan Feng, said goodbye to Chen Rong, and left Hongye Ridge, heading back to the tribe.

In the deep of night, the occasional cries of wild beasts could be heard.

The cold season had just ended, and the earth was warming up again.

After hibernating through the long winter, the wild animals were waking up and becoming active.

Leaving Hongye Ridge, Changxia noticed that every now and then, a dark shadow would dart out from the woods on either side of the path. But before any of them could get close, the tribespeople traveling with her would quickly take them down.

By the time they reached the White Lake wall, even Changxia and Nan Feng were each carrying two wild rabbits.

It had been a fruitful journey.

All the red maple sap they collected was sent straight to the tribe’s central square.

Over there, stone pots had already been set up, ready for boiling the sap into maple syrup at any time. The elders of the tribe, who had years of experience firing pottery, were far better at controlling the heat than Changxia. So, when she talked to Gen about making maple syrup, she simply handed the matter over to him.

Gen had already arranged for people to set up the stone pots in the square and informed the pottery-making elders to assign someone to handle the syrup.

“Little Changxia, welcome home!” Dalai greeted everyone with a smile as they entered White Lake.

Ximu nodded to Elder Dalai and led his group straight back to their part of the tribe.

Changxia said goodbye to Nan Feng and went back to her den to rest.

She was so exhausted that she didn’t even bathe. Back in her den, she kicked off her vine sandals, collapsed onto her vine bed, and fell fast asleep.

Before long, soft snores could be heard.

Her body was weak and couldn’t handle staying up all night.

This sudden all-nighter had really taken a toll on Changxia.

She slept straight through until daylight the next day.

Even before opening her eyes, Changxia heard low voices talking outside her den. Yawning and stretching, she lifted the animal-hide curtain and stepped out.

“Grandma Suye—”

She saw Suye sitting at the long table.

Baiqing and Nan Feng were crouched by the stove, cooking something.

“You’re awake,” Suye said with a smile, beckoning Changxia over. When she got close, Suye reached out to check her over. “Nothing serious. You’re just a bit overheated from staying up late. Drink more water and get some rest. You’ve been working hard lately—take it easy.”

Suye had brought Baiqing from Mount Kana early that morning.

When they arrived at the Heluo tribe, they learned that the tribe had spent the night collecting red maple sap at Hongye Ridge. Elder Yami had told Suye all about it as soon as she arrived.

Suye was overjoyed.

First rice noodles, now maple syrup.

Suye’s gaze toward Changxia grew even softer.

This child really was a blessing for the Heluo tribe and the beastfolk.

Who could ever say the Twilight Forest held no treasures?!

The forest was full of treasures; what was lacking were eyes to find them. Now that the beastfolk had Changxia, how could they ever worry about finding treasures again?

“The rainy season is coming soon. I’ll definitely be staying home then,” Changxia said.

Suye smiled and replied, “In just two more days, the rainy season will arrive. The tribe is busy building kilns and collecting maple sap—will you have enough time?”

“With the chief and elders organizing things, I think… we’ll manage,” Changxia replied as she started to wash up.

Nan Feng was mixing flour paste, probably to make fruit-flour pancakes.

“Grandma Suye, I made some maple syrup lollipops—would you like to try one?” Changxia brought over a bundle of grass sticks, each with a maple syrup lollipop on top. She called out to Nan Feng and Baiqing, “Nan Feng, Baiqing, do you two want one?”

There were dozens of maple syrup lollipops—enough for every beast cub in the tribe to have one.

Besides, they’d collected dozens of barrels of maple sap last night. If it wasn’t enough, they could always make more.

“Haha! Yes, I’ve been wanting to try one for ages,” Nan Feng replied cheerfully.

Baiqing nodded shyly, but clearly felt the same.

They’d seen the lollipops stuck in the ground outside the den when they arrived, but hadn’t dared take one since Changxia was still asleep. Now that she offered, who would say no?

“Here, one for each of you,” Changxia said. “Nan Feng, could you boil some hot water for me?”