"No, you just got injured, you can’t go." Jiang Shan shook his head.
"Have you thought about it? If you leave, the tribal elders staying in the village will come to trouble me?" Xiang Beifei asked.
In truth, Xiang Beifei wasn’t afraid of trouble. This group of people who didn’t know their limits wouldn’t really cause him any problems. If they dared to come, he’d just slap them away.
He simply wanted to follow these people out, see how they lived, and learn a bit more about things.
Jiang Shan was taken aback, put down his chopsticks, his expression somewhat gloomy.
Those stubborn tribal elders currently considered Xiang Beifei a potential underworld spirit, and it was very likely they would take the opportunity when Jiang Shan was away to find Xiao Houzi and drive him out.
Jiang Shan was also weighing this matter, and after a while, he said: "But hunting is very dangerous, and you just had an incident the day before yesterday..."
"Last time you weren’t there, this time I’ll be following you." Xiang Beifei said.
Jiang Shan hesitated for a long time, leaving Xiao Houzi in the village didn’t seem safer than taking him along. Because if those tribal elders wanted to take the chance to drive Xiao Houzi out when he wasn’t around, then Xiao Houzi would have to face the desolate beasts outside the village alone. If something happened, he couldn’t rescue him at all.
It would be better to take him along for hunting, so he could keep an eye on him.
Considering this, Jiang Shan finally agreed, but reminded him: "Alright, but this time you have to stick close to me."
Learning to hunt was a skill every man in the tribe needed to master. Jiang Shan also knew that Xiao Houzi needed to learn these skills, and perhaps it could help Xiao Houzi remember something.
"Okay." Xiang Beifei said.
"Then eat some more, you’ll need the energy for the journey."
Jiang Shan poured Xiang Beifei another bowl of murky, foul-smelling wild vegetable soup, full of care.
After Xiang Beifei ate three big bowls with tears in his eyes, Jiang Shan went to prepare the hunting tools.
The hunting tools here were quite unique; because of limited resources, they used local materials. For example, spears were made from the leg bones of the Black Feather Red Cloud Tiger, this desolate beast’s legs were very long, and the leg bones were very hard. Sharpening them could deal with common desolate beasts.
"Be careful, don’t touch the arrow tips, they’re poisonous. If you accidentally cut yourself, you’ll sleep for days." Jiang Shan handed a tiger-skin quiver to Xiang Beifei. Inside the quiver was a pile of arrows covered in thick grass.
The arrows were made from the sharp spines of porcupine apes. When porcupine apes attacked people, they would shoot various spines. These spines were very thick and had strong anesthetic properties, which the tribe collected for reuse.
Xiang Beifei slung the quiver over his back and picked up a bow, which was also interesting. The bow was made of an elastic bone, like the rib of some large desolate beast. The bowstring was likely made from the nerves of a desolate beast, very tough.
Jiang Shan also tied a water flask and some food around his waist. After fully arming himself, he handed a sharp bone blade and a small axe to Xiang Beifei.
Xiang Beifei deftly donned these items, though they were of no use to him.
"This is a map of the area around the village. If you get separated again, be sure to wait for rescue at the hunting cave." Jiang Shan, not completely reassured, handed a piece of wild ox hide to Xiang Beifei.
On the back of this wild ox hide were some simple illustrations — the general outline of the tribe, the main areas where desolate beasts were near the tribe, and the location of the hunting cave were all recorded.
The lines were made with very rough paint from desolate beast blood, though the writing resembled that of the Jiuzhou script.
This primitive map made Xiang Beifei’s eyes light up; he knew it would definitely be useful in the future.
"Alright, water flask, bow and arrows, food, bait, we’ve got it all. Let’s go."
Jiang Shan checked Xiang Beifei one more time, and after confirming everything was in order, they set off.
Once Xiang Beifei went outside, he suddenly realized that he was currently in an unwelcome situation.
He originally thought that revealing his lack of the moonprint might slightly shake the tribe’s opinion, but he had still underestimated the mindset of the Human Race here.
Their worship of the Moon God was ingrained in their bones, especially those tribal elders who firmly believed they lived to this age under the Moon God’s protection. As for Xiao Houzi, who grew stronger without the moonprint, they directly regarded him as a scourge.
Because of Jiang Shan’s deterrence, the tribal elders didn’t dare to fall out with him, but they warned their juniors not to associate with Xiao Houzi.
It seemed like overnight, most people knew about Xiao Houzi’s lack of the moonprint. Many looked at Xiang Beifei with strange gazes, as if he were a prospective underworld spirit not yet driven mad, something that must be swiftly eliminated.
"It’s Xiao Houzi, Xiao Houzi’s coming, quick! Retreat! Grandma said we can’t play with Xiao Houzi." A boy around Xiao Houzi’s age saw Xiang Beifei and backed away in terror, tripping over a stone and falling, but still scrambling to crawl away.
"I heard he doesn’t have the Divine Lord’s blessing anymore, if we’re with him, we might get dragged down."
"Yeah, my dad says the underworld spirits don’t have the Divine Lord’s blessing, that’s why they fell. Xiao Houzi lost his memory and his moonprint, it’s a precursor to becoming an underworld spirit!"
Not just him, several other boys quickly hid behind houses. Every time Xiang Beifei passed a household, the occupants looked at him with hostility, keeping a watchful eye on their children.
Yesterday, the little girl with the topknot was playing at the door. When she saw Xiang Beifei, she excitedly waved, "Monkey brother, morning..."