Chapter 14 Picking a Fight
“I remember that the Rhinoceros Beast King’s father passed away a long time ago.” The Ape Beast King said. He had a good relationship with the Rhinoceros Beast King and knew some things about his family.
“I wonder who that person from the Big Bear Tribe is.” The Tiger Beast King added.
“That Big Bear Tribe is really quite interesting. They even drove a Beast King out of their tribe.”
“Are they looking down on Beast Kings? They’re a little too proud!”
“There must be something unique about this Big Bear Tribe for the Rhinoceros Beast King to think so highly of them.”
The Beast Kings chatted amongst themselves as they walked over to the market. Other than discussing the Big Bear Tribe, they naturally also spoke about Shi Li.
“That Shi Li became a Beast King at a young age. I thought he would be full of vigor and be brave enough to fight. Unexpectedly…” The Tiger Beast King was a little disdainful when he spoke about Shi Li.
They had all thought that a young Beast King like Shi Li would be full of youth and vigor and would love to fight, but unexpectedly, that hadn’t been the case.
Before, the Rhinoceros Beast King had challenged him once prior to going out and looking for his son. Yesterday, he had confronted him again, but Shi Li had ended up retreating twice before him.
It was a bit shameful that a young man like him would cherish his life more than this group of old men.
The others all nodded agreement with the Tiger Beast King’s words.
The number of Beast Kings was very limited, and everyone’s strength was similar. Although they competed with each other, they all had good relationships. Originally, when a new Beast King had emerged, they had also wanted to get to know the new person, but in the end, Shi Li was very arrogant and even put on airs in front of them while currying favor with the Beast God Temple.
They didn’t like such a person much at all, so they hadn’t bothered to pay attention to him. However, at the same time, they felt that although this person hadn’t seen much of the world, he was at least arrogant and unyielding. Yet what was the result?
He didn’t even dare to fight!
It also happened that they ran into Shi Li and Shen Yue while they were speaking about him.
“Where is everyone going?” Shen Yue immediately greeted the Beast Kings politely when she saw them.
“We’re going to the market to take a look.” The Tiger Beast King replied.
“What a coincidence, we’re going there too.” Shen Yue fell into step beside the Beast Kings very naturally and spoke respectfully.
Shi Li was a little dissatisfied with Shen Yue when he saw her like this–Shen Yue seemed to be lowering herself too much in his eyes.
Why did Shen Yue need to please others like this when they had the Beast God Temple backing them?
Shi Li felt dissatisfied inside and no longer looked at Shen Yue, moving his gaze to the market in the distance instead.
After yesterday’s incident, he had found some other people to make trouble for the people of the Big Bear Tribe.
But as a result, because the Rhinoceros Beast King stayed there with the people of the Big Bear Tribe the entire time, nobody was willing to help him at all!
Things weren’t going well. How could Shi Li’s mood improve?
“I’ve known for a long time that the Lion Beast King came from the wild forest, but unexpectedly, other people from the Lion Beast King’s tribe also arrived… For them to be able to make it over here from the wild forest means that that Big Bear Tribe can’t be simple.” The Ape Beast King was smiling widely as he looked at Shi Li.
He knew that Shi Li certainly wouldn’t want others to mention the Big Bear Tribe at this moment, but he chose to do so anyway.
As expected, Shi Li became a little unhappy. “I’ve already left the Big Bear Tribe. They have nothing to do with me… as for their ability to make it here, it should be due to luck, or because of other people’s help.”
“Oh?” The Ape Beast King replied.
“The life of the people in the Big Bear Tribe is very bad. Their strongest warriors are only low level Beast Warriors, and they don’t have the ability to make it over to the Beastman Continent based solely on their own strength!” Shi Li insisted, “However, they seem to have been able to tempt a powerhouse into joining them.”
“Is the Lion Beast King saying that the people of the Big Bear Tribe aren’t living well? They took out a lot of pottery yesterday…” Someone interjected.
“Those should be the Rhinoceros Beast King’s belongings.” Shi Li explained, “When I left… it was hard for everyone in the Big Bear Tribe to have enough to eat.”
Shi Li shared some things about the Big Bear Tribe, and it was obvious from his words that he looked down on them.
Everyone other than him exchanged glances amongst themselves and looked down on him a bit too.
According to him, life hadn’t been easy for the Big Bear Tribe, but at the end of the day, it was still his tribe. His expression of disdain… perhaps the Big Bear Tribe had driven him out of the tribe because they felt that he wasn’t reliable, even though he was a Beast King.
The Beast Kings had arrived near the market while they talked.
At the market.
The tribe that had taken out the soybeans was a small tribe. They were a little confused by Zhou Ji’s proposal to trade for the soybeans.
“Your Lordship, you really want to trade for these beans?” They couldn’t quite believe it.
“Yes. What would you like in exchange?” Zhou Ji asked.
This tribe was very small and didn’t dare to make trouble. They hadn’t gone to watch the bustle at the Big Bear Tribe yesterday, so while they’d heard of the matters about the Big Bear Tribe, they didn’t know that the person in front of them now was from the Big Bear Tribe.
“We eat these beans ourselves. If you want to trade for it… we’ll trade for meat, then.” Someone from this small tribe offered.
“Alright. We’ll trade meat for it.” Zhou Ji agreed.
The person who had brought out the soybeans looked a little uncomfortable, then finally gritted his teeth and said, “By the way, I have something to tell you… you can’t eat too many of this kind of bean. If you eat too much, you’ll die… One of the children in our tribe ate too many soybeans and later died.”
Zhou Ji was stunned when he heard this.
Soybeans could kill if eaten too much? How come he’d never heard of it before?
Zhou Ji asked, “How do you eat it?”
That person said, “We place it in the fire and bake it before eating it.”
Zhou Ji now knew why they had died after eating soybeans.
The people of this place had good teeth and could chew and eat soybeans that had been roasted in the fire, but they’d ignored one thing–soybeans could expand a lot.
They would fill their stomachs with soybeans when hungry, and after they drank water… wouldn’t it be a tragedy? Let alone when it happened to a child.
“Zhou Ji, will eating this thing really kill people?” Xiong Qi asked curiously.When Zhou Ji had seen the soybean, Xiong Qi had already begun to think about how delicious it could be. How could it kill people?
“No.” Zhou Ji said. “This kind of bean won’t kill anyone if you soak it in the water for a day before boiling and eating it.”
The people from that small tribe said, “Boil it? We don’t have pots…”
Zhou Ji could only say, “Then eat less of it.”
“We already don’t eat much of it now.” That person said, “We want to trade for an equal amount of meat… This bean is very good for staving off hunger and is worth many days of food. We won’t have enough food to eat if we trade for less.”
“No problem.” Zhou Ji said. The thing they lacked the least now was meat.
When Zhou Ji came out to browse, he had found some people to follow him with things that could be used for trade, including salt and a lot of salted meat.
Eating too much salted meat left the mouth dry and uncomfortable, and now that the Big Bear Tribe had Beast Kings to help with hunting, nobody liked to eat salted meat anymore. However, they couldn’t bear to throw it away, so wasn’t it perfect if they brought it out to trade for other things?
While Zhou Ji put away the soybeans, someone from the Big Bear Tribe immediately opened up a leather bag and began to dig out the salted meat.
That person from the small tribe’s eyes lit up when they saw the salted meat, and they leaned in to take a bite.
“What are you doing?” The people of the Big Bear Tribe were a little confused–the meat was raw!
On the other hand, the man was very surprised, “It’s salty. This is salted meat. You want to use salted meat to trade?”
“Is it not acceptable?” The person from the Big Bear Tribe asked.
“It is, it is, it is! How could it not be!” This person didn’t hesitate at all before replying. His eyes were even brighter than before.
This was salted meat! Made with salt!
In fact, when they came to participate in the Beast God Sacrifice, the thing they wanted to trade for most was salt since their tribe was lacking in salt. Yet in the end, the materials they’d carefully prepared hadn’t been enough to trade for it. On the other hand, a basket of soybeans that they only ate when there was nothing else to eat managed to net them salted meat!
When the people around them saw this scene, they all looked at the Big Bear Tribe in surprise.
This kind of bean could be casually traded for with a bit of barley, but the people of the Big Bear Tribe were trading salted meat for it. This clearly meant that… they were foolishly rich.
Just after the exchange, someone came to try and sell their own things to Zhou Ji, “Your Lordship, our tribe has a lot of good things. Do you want to trade?”
“We also have a lot of good things in our tribe!”
“We do too!”
……
These people all surrounded the Big Bear Tribe. Seeing the situation, Zhou Ji said, “I want to trade for rare plants.”
“We have some!” These tribes all spoke up one after another. They didn’t wait for Zhou Ji to go over to look and instead brought the things they thought might interest Zhou Ji to him instead.
“Lord, we also have a type of bean. This type of green bean… hm… looks very good.” Someone brought out some mung beans. They didn’t like to eat this kind of food and ate it just to survive.
“Trade.” Zhou Ji had people bring out a piece of salted meat.
“Lord, these are some vegetable seeds!” Someone brought out a series of seeds.
Zhou Ji didn’t know what kind of seeds they were, but for people to carry them around meant that they must be pretty good… “Trade!”
“We brought a type of seasoning!”
“Trade!”
Things he recognized and things he didn’t recognize, Zhou Ji traded for quite a lot of things.
None of these things pleased him as much as the soybeans did, but they were still pretty good… Zhou Ji was just thinking that he was about done when someone came over with a big package, “Lord, we’ve brought a type of white flower that is very good for making nests!”
As the person spoke, he opened up the sack he had with him and revealed what actually turned out to be cotton!
Zhou Ji looked at the cotton in pleased surprise.
Beastmen were very resistant to the cold, but cotton was very useful. In winter, they could use cotton to make mats, quilts…
Zhou Ji touched it with his hand and discovered that the seeds hadn’t been removed from the cotton. He immediately agreed, “Trade.”
“Zhou Ji, there’s no more salted meat.” Xiong Qi said.
The man who’d brought the cotton was suddenly disappointed when he heard those words.
Xiong Qi continued, “We only have salt left.”
The man who’d brought the cotton became pleasantly surprised.
The tribes of the Beastman Continent basically all grew some crops and made it through winter mainly by eating those crops and not through storing meat.
As for salt… Some tribes weren’t short on salt, but many tribes lacked salt, and the prices for salt was very high.
Zhou Ji gave the other party a bowl of salt in exchange for a sack of cotton.
He felt that it was quite worth it, but the people around them didn’t think so. They felt that Zhou Ji was overly generous and easily deceived! He was losing too much!
He even traded salted meat and salt for something he couldn’t eat, couldn’t use to show his identity, nor use as a weapon.
“This Big Bear Tribe must be very wealthy.”
“He’s trading for such random things, but their tribal chief doesn’t even care…”
“The people of the Big Bear Tribe are very respectful towards this Zhou Ji. Could it be that he’s the priest of the Big Bear Tribe?”
……
Everyone around them were discussing them, but the people of the Big Bear Tribe didn’t pay any heed at all.
However, at this moment, Zhou Ji was feeling very speechless–he watched as Xiong Qi secretly picked up a piece of cotton and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Zhou Ji, this thing isn’t tasty.” Xiong Qi said.
“Didn’t you hear what these people said?” Zhou Ji said, “It’s used for making nests.”
Xiong Qi said, “You and Xiong Ye can’t have children. Why would you trade things for materials to make a nest?”
Zhou Ji replied, “It’s for you.”
Xiong Qi: “…… Thank you.”
While Zhou Ji and Xiong Qi were talking, Shi Li once again appeared in front of the people of the Big Bear Tribe. “Xiong Ye, the Big Bear Tribe should be short on salt, right? How can you just watch on as he wastes things like this?”
In his previous life, they had been very short on salt when he and Xiong Ye had first led the Big Bear Tribe to the Beastman Continent.
There were many monsters living in the sea, such as the Tanystropheus, Elasmosaurus, and Pliosaurus… They couldn’t farm the land over there, and so no tribe had settled near the sea.
Regardless of which tribe it was, if they wanted salt, they would have to either trade for it or use seawater to make it themselves. The second option… producing salt required pots and other tools. Not only that, it might also be dangerous!
In the Beastman Continent, salt was very precious. At the start, he and Xiong Ye hadn’t been able to have salt for a very long time.
And now… Xiong Ye merely looked on as Zhou Ji used salt to trade for useless things!
This… simply wasn’t the Xiong Ye he knew!
He’d been stopped by Xiong Ye before for using even a little extra salt. Why was Xiong Ye so good to Zhou Ji?
Shi Li looked at Zhou Ji with envy in his eyes.
On the other hand, Xiong Ye was puzzled–how were they short on salt?
And even if they were really lacking… They could go back to the Beach Tribe in the future to obtain more or dry out some salt for themselves.
“Zhou Ji isn’t wasting anything.” Xiong Ye said.
“Xiong Ye, I never thought that you were such a person. I was really wrong about you.” Shi Li said. Zhou Ji could use all of this salt because he’d obtained it from the Rhinoceros Beast King through the Rhinoceros Beast King’s father, right?
“What exactly is the matter with you?” Xiong Ye frowned, “Don’t just stand there and say things that people can’t understand!”
“Can’t understand?” Shi Li sneered. “Xiong Ye, don’t you value your mate very much? Now that your mate has gotten together with someone else, why aren’t you dealing with it?”
“Gotten together?” Xiong Ye didn’t get it.
Shi Li said, “Do you dare to say that Zhou Ji has no relationship with the Rhinoceros Beast King’s father? They’re together, right? Just watching as your mate sleeps together with someone else every day, how does it feel?”
Shi Li looked at Zhou Ji and Hai Feng with disdain as he spoke.
After arriving at the Beast God Temple, Hai Feng had been afraid of being exposed and so had followed behind Zhou Ji all the time. He was very attentive, and Xi Baobei was also imitating everything he did.
As for the Rhinoceros Beast King… seeing that both Hai Feng and Zhou Ji were Beast Kings, he didn’t stop his son from doing as he liked.
He had always hoped that Xi Baobei would be able to live well after his death. It no longer seemed that it was possible for him to do so in the Giant Rhinoceros Tribe, but if they joined the Big Bear Tribe, and he had Xiong Ye’s and Zhou Ji’s protection…
If he hadn’t had such an intention, he wouldn’t have allowed himself to be forced to acknowledge another father without doing anything to the other party. He was even starting to become very close with the people of the Big Bear Tribe.
“He’s not my father.” The Rhinoceros Beast King refuted without a second thought.
“Don’t talk nonsense! I have no relationship with Zhou Ji!” Hai Feng was given a huge scare. Was this person trying to say that he’d slept with Zhou Ji?!
He hadn’t! He’d definitely done nothing of the sort! This man was making unfounded malicious attacks on him! No, no, he was clearly trying to drive a wedge between him and Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye!
Hai Feng glared angrily at Shi Li.
Of course, the angriest one at the moment was definitely Xiong Ye. It was too disgusting for Shi Li to say something like that about Zhou Ji!
Xiong Ye looked to Zhou Ji, “Zhou Ji, can I hit him?” He wanted to beat Shi Li, but that would expose his strength…
Zhou Ji replied, “Yes.” They’d initially chosen to hide their strength in order to avoid trouble, but he didn’t want his little bear to be wronged.
In any case, it wasn’t a big deal for Xiong Ye to expose his strength as a Beast King…
“Shi Li, you’ve dared to insult my mate. I want to fight you!” Xiong Ye said. He gave off an intense fighting spirit.
He shrouded himself with his energy, and while ordinary people couldn’t feel it, Shi Li and the other Beast Kings who had just arrived all felt their hearts clench in surprise: this was also a Beast King!
Juurensha: Ohhh, you guys made XY maaaad
xiin: Shi Li’s assumptions are so in line with his character, lol
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