Chapter 769: The Impotent Salt Mountain and the Divided Shu Pi Tribe About ten miles away from the Green Sparrow Tribe lay Salt Mountain. The breath of spring had not touched the ascetic Salt Mountain. While elsewhere under spring’s tender care, life was growing ever more vibrant, this impotent fellow remained as bored and listless as ever. Not only did it ignore the colorful spring, but it even dared to roll its eyes at the young lady who was fascinated by so many things. There was no helping it—this impotent fellow was just stubborn like that in front of beauty. Salt Mountain naturally could not sprout much life because hardly any plants could grow on it. And yes, Salt Mountain really did roll its eyes at spring. In fact, not only spring but also the other three seasons only ever received eye-rolls here. Because the Green Sparrow people had long mined this mountain, carving out just two eyes in it, without the kindness to give it eyelids. Trees were felled, a wide buffer strip was cleared, last year’s dry grass was set aflame, and in the ashes of the burnt grass, tiny green shoots just sprouting this year peeked through. Seeing this scene, Han Cheng couldn’t help but recite a poem on the spot: “Grass on the plain grows lush and green, once withers, once revives each year. Wildfires burn but can’t consume it all, the spring breeze blows and it lives again.” After reciting it, Han Cheng sighed deeply. Such a timeless, widely cherished little poem — if he were transported back to ancient times, under this very scene, reciting this poem would surely win him countless admirers, perhaps even fans who’d volunteer to serve him… Looking at Baixue beside him, blank and clueless, and also at Shi Tou, the most cultured person in the tribe besides himself, also just as clueless, Han Cheng instantly felt a deep resonance with the ancient poets who were talented but unappreciated, born in the wrong era. Shi Tou scratched his head, looking at the dug-up grass roots stacked in the sun, unable to understand Han Cheng’s poetic feelings at all. “How can the spring breeze still make grass grow in such a place?” he wondered aloud. Hearing Shi Tou’s question, Han Cheng felt a headache coming and really wanted to smack this guy on the head hard. But thinking carefully about what Shi Tou said, Han Cheng actually found it quite reasonable. Moreover, this area was about to be cleared for farmland for the tribe. If it really was “wildfires burn but can’t consume it all,” with so much grass, how could the tribe even grow crops here? Indeed, poetic imagery didn’t quite match this era. Thinking this, Han Cheng discarded any impulse to recite more poems and joined the others in digging the land and uprooting grass roots. This was the formal start of developing the Salt Mountain settlement area. For the Green Sparrow Tribe, food was currently the most important thing, and planting crops had a limited window of time—if missed, the yield would decline or be lost altogether. So when developing Salt Mountain, Han Cheng didn’t have people build houses first like before; instead, he had them clear the land first. After spring plowing, once the crops were planted, the houses would be built. This way, the tribe would gain a considerable increase in food harvest. Of course, this was only because Salt Mountain was close to the tribe. Elsewhere, Han Cheng would definitely have houses built first, then clear the land. Salt Mountain’s special status was due to its proximity. Though commuting daily between Salt Mountain and the tribe was troublesome, compared to the cultivated land ready before the farming season and the harvest coming in autumn, the trouble was obviously worth it. Han Cheng rested a moment after digging, leaning on his hoe, gently massaging his sore waist with one hand, a bitter yet somewhat sly smile appearing on his face. Indeed, as a non-professional, some difficult postures should not be attempted lightly. After lightly massaging his waist for a while, Han Cheng glanced at the energetic Baixue beside him and once again felt deeply moved. The saying “Only oxen tire out, but the land never wears out” was absolutely true. Farming on fertile land was one thing, but on virgin land that had never been tilled before, it was even more exhausting. Just as one can see now, examining the uprooted grass roots, tree roots, and stones of all sizes reveals how exhausting it is to cultivate virgin land. Moreover, since the tribe’s plows were made of bronze—far less sturdy than those in later times—and the donkeys pulling the plows were not as strong as oxen or four-wheeled carts or small carts, the work of clearing virgin land had to be done by people themselves. That made it even more tiring. Not long into the land clearing, the slightly aching Han the Divine Son was already sweating profusely from the hard work on this wasteland. Sure enough, the idyllic rural life was really sitting on a ridge under the shade of a tree, holding a palm fan, with a pot of cold tea by one’s feet, watching others toil in the fields — that was much more comfortable. While Han the Divine Son kept sighing about the hardships of farming, and large-scale land clearing was underway at three places in the Green Sparrow Tribe, preparing for spring plowing, the Black Stone Tribe—returning to the tribe with gathered people and loot—was also celebrating a feast. Though their feast was nowhere near as grand as Green Sparrow’s, it was still enough to make them happy. The leader of the Grass Tribe was highly pleased. Not only did the previously greedy and evil Black Stone Tribe this time generously offer some food for them to eat, but more importantly, just a little while ago, the evil Black Stone Tribe’s leader decided to distribute some of the captured people from this raid to the tribes that participated in the battle, including hers. Such a blessing, previously unthought-of, suddenly fell upon her head. How could the leader of the Grass Tribe not be happy? It should be noted that during the attack on the Shu Pi Tribe by the Black Stone Tribe, her clever use of a bark as a shield saved her people, resulting in only two minor injuries. The source of thɪs content is 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥 Those injuries were lighter than some hunting injuries they had sustained before. With no casualties in her own tribe and the Black Stone Tribe now distributing some captured people to her tribe, their population would instantly increase. Even if they were not adults, raising those people would be more cost-effective than having babies and slowly raising them. With spring now, temperatures were gradually rising, making food easier to obtain, and the tribe could support more people. With such pleasant thoughts, the leader of the Grass Tribe grew happier and, looking at the Black Stone Tribe leader, suddenly felt this guy wasn’t as terrifying or detestable as before. After a modest and even somewhat simple feast in the Shu Pi Tribe, those who had previously looked down on the Black Stone Tribe and these damned people suddenly became flustered. Because these people were violently dividing up members of their tribe. Splitting them into small groups and handing them over to tribes that are obviously unrelated. The anxious and then furious shouts of the Shu Pi people were met with blows, forcing them to silence, only able to look on with reddened eyes at their trembling kin who kept glancing back at them with desperate expressions. Only the normally all-powerful leader could silently watch them being taken away. Shu Pi tightly clenched his fists, his eyes reddened. As these tribe members were taken away, his heart felt an indescribable emptiness. Earlier, he had planned to seize the opportunity to lead his people in killing some of the evil tribe members and then escape. With his skills in making bows and arrows, shooting, fish traps, and building simple fences, as long as he led the tribe far enough, they could survive. But now, most of his tribe had been taken away by the attacking evil tribe. Those who stayed behind were less than half, and many were minors—how could he lead them to resist the evil tribe? The Black Stone Tribe leader laughed happily, pleased with his own cleverness. Distributing the captured people to the tribes that assisted in the attack was another act of his wisdom. Seeing the happy tribes who received people, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud, feeling even prouder. Did these guys really think he was giving them these people out of kindness? He was only giving them people so they could get more food, enabling those tribes to supply more food to his own tribe in the future. Moreover, if he didn’t distribute some people away, they would all have to eat in his own tribe, which would be a heavy burden. How could it be that most people are now divided up and given away to them, making things so much easier? The leader of the Black Stone Tribe looked at the Black Stone weapons beside him, feeling very pleased. Since the tribe got these Black Stone weapons, not only had life in the tribe improved, but he himself had also become wiser. He was always able to think of suitable ways to solve problems his tribe faced. The Black Stone Tribe leader didn’t yet know that this move of his had unknowingly defused Shu Pi’s intention to seize an opportunity to attack their tribe. If he did know, he’d probably be even more intoxicated with his own cleverness. The Black Stone Tribe leader had someone untie the ropes from Shu Pi, then took Shu Pi’s bow and handed him a few arrows. He then pointed to a tree not far from the cave and babbled on. Although their languages barely matched, Shu Pi basically understood what the man meant. Freed and holding his bow and arrows again, Shu Pi really wanted to shoot this damned leader dead. But looking around at the people holding sharp Black Stone weapons, all watching him warily, and at the few remaining members of his own tribe nearby, Shu Pi gave up on the idea. He took an arrow, nocked it on the bowstring, drew the bow, aimed at that tree, and released. The arrow flew out and thudded into the tree trunk. Though it wasn’t the first time he’d seen a bow and arrow, Shu Pi was still able to hit the distant tree on the first try, which surprised the Black Stone Tribe leader and others. Seeing their surprise, Shu Pi felt a bit proud — after all, this bow and arrow were his most treasured possession. Apart from that extremely accurate archer from the Green Sparrow Tribe, Shu Pi felt no one else was his match. The Black Stone Tribe leader’s surprise lasted only a moment, as he then realized things were different from before. Now this good stuff, along with this person, was already theirs. He reached out and forcibly took the bow from Shu Pi’s hands. Seeing Shu Pi glare at him in anger, he kicked him directly. When Shu Pi lowered his head, the leader was satisfied and withdrew his foot. Then he took an arrow, clumsily tried to place it on the bow like Shu Pi had done, awkwardly drew the bow, and aimed at the tree trunk. But when he released the arrow, it flew off somewhere unknown. Noticing this, Shu Pi let out a snicker and then got kicked again. After kicking him, the Black Stone Tribe leader handed the bow back to Shu Pi and pointed at the distant tree, ordering him to continue shooting. Shu Pi wanted to resist, but when he saw the leader raise his hand, he immediately stopped opposing. After Shu Pi shot an arrow, the leader again snatched the bow and arrow from him and tried to shoot once more… In the distance, the leader of the Grass Tribe, along with his people and the two adults and two minors assigned to them, headed towards a place far from the tribe they had left long ago. On the way back, the Grass Tribe leader’s joy at these extra people was impossible to hide. Following the evil Black Stone Tribe to attack other tribes now didn’t seem such a bad idea… Those with similar thoughts were not only the Grass Tribe leader. Many of the tribes that had joined the Black Stone Tribe in attacking Shu Pi’s tribe, after gaining benefits they hadn’t expected, mostly had similar thoughts… The two adults and two minors from Shu Pi’s tribe followed the Grass Tribe people to a strange new place. Far from their original home, away from their brave leader and the rest of their tribe, they were constantly gripped by fear, no longer holding the courage they once had to defend themselves with bows and arrows against fierce enemies…