CHAPTER 507: CHAPTER 498: THE BIG BOSS 16

Today we gathered enough food, which made everyone quite happy. Each one was eager to return and boast to their loved ones about today’s experience. They fed the Earth King Beast, hunted a giant ape, and, under Shuangshuang’s leadership, reached a White Stone Fruit Forest that could sustain the tribe for two cold seasons!

Everyone felt in their hearts that the Divine Favored were indeed cherished by the God. With Shuangshuang along, they not only found a White Stone Fruit Forest that could keep them from ever going hungry again, but also luckily encountered a giant ape that wouldn’t run away even when attacked.

At the cave of the Power Tribe, Witch Doctor Yu and Cao stood on the open ground in front of the cave entrance, eagerly watching the trail not far away, waiting for the Hunting Team to return. This was because Shuangshuang had said before leaving that today everyone was just going out to look for edible plants, not hunting, and would certainly return by nightfall.

However, dusk was nearing, and the Hunting Team was still nowhere in sight, causing Yu and Cao to feel somewhat anxious.

Just when the two were feeling restless, they suddenly heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from ahead, and they vaguely saw a giant creature with many legs rapidly heading toward the cave.

Before Yu and Cao could panic and call for people to hide, they realized that it was not a creature attacking, but rather the Hunting Team returning, carrying a huge prey.

Yu and Cao’s faces immediately broke into joyful smiles. They called out to the people inside the cave who were busy grinding severely damaged salt fruits into powder to store in dry fruit shells for preservation, then rushed out to greet them.

The giant ape and White Stone Fruits were placed in the most spacious area inside the cave. Women, elders, and the two children inside the cave gathered around the members of the Hunting Team, listening to their storytelling as if hearing about an adventure.

When the members of the Hunting Team spoke of battling the giant ape, everyone felt a chill, knowing that some Hunting Team Members had once died at the hands of the giant ape. Hearing this, they all couldn’t help but worry.

When they heard about feeding the naive Earth King Beast, the two children were filled with curiosity, eagerly asking questions, longing to personally feed the enormous and terrifying yet gentle Earth King Beast.

Upon hearing that the group, led by Shuangshuang, found a White Stone Fruit Forest that could keep the tribe from hunger, Witch Doctor Yu led everyone in a sincere kneeling worship to the Heavenly God, thanking the divine for favoring the Power Tribe!

That night, everyone ate an exceptionally lavish roasted meat meal. Yu even luxuriously announced everyone could eat their fill, except Shuangshuang, who ate preserved jerky since she couldn’t stomach such upright-walking creatures like the giant ape.

After dinner, dreaming sweet dreams, everyone slept through the night. At the crack of dawn the next day, they began processing the prey. Over thirty people tackled it together, combining salted cured meat with traditionally dried jerky. It took them two full days to finish dealing with the giant ape.

Once the meat was handled, the bones and skin were taken away by Hunting Team Members and thrown deep into the jungle to feed bone-eating prey, a move made to avoid Shuangshuang’s dislike of seeing the giant ape’s skeleton.

After handling the prey, the Hunting Team set off again with the same hunting purpose, but this time was actually to accommodate Shuangshuang.

For the people of the Power Tribe knew Shuangshuang would rather die than eat meat from apes or similar creatures. Although primitive inhabitants couldn’t understand why Shuangshuang held such firm beliefs.

Yet, everyone thoughtfully chose not to force Shuangshuang since she was small and couldn’t eat much anyway. So taking down a random prey for Shuangshuang to eat through the hot season wasn’t much trouble.

As this wasn’t traditional hunting, each Hunting Team Member carried a basket this time, planning to dig some wild vegetables along the way and return after nightfall without staying out.

Shuangshuang, intent on feeding the Earth King Beast, followed the previous day’s path and happened to collect some Big Leaf Grass en route. Not having to carry prey, the Hunting Team Members assisted Shuangshuang in gathering Big Leaf Grass.

The Hunting Team Members knew the places where the Earth King Beast liked to appear, so they just followed these leads. While gathering Big Leaf Grass, Shuangshuang unexpectedly caught four or five large wild chickens.

These weren’t ordinary wild chickens, but ones three times the size of those on Earth, hidden amidst the tall grass. If not for their colorful feathers, Shuangshuang might not have spotted them. Upon seeing these wild chickens, Shuangshuang immediately thought of the famous Beggar’s Chicken from the Great Heavenly Dynasty.

These wild chickens weren’t particularly agile; even Shuangshuang, untrained in Cultivation, could catch one, making it even easier for the Hunting Team Members.

The Hunting Team Members had caught these wild chickens before, though only when no other prey was available. Usually, they disliked wild chickens for having little meat and more bones, sparing them unless they couldn’t find other prey.

Apart from wild chickens, the group also picked a handful of spices. Shuangshuang didn’t know what these spices were, as they were unique to this world.

The spice had a flavor resembling a mix of cumin and chili, with a distinctive yet not unpleasant smell. When crushed and rubbed on meat for roasting, it made them exceptionally tasty.

People of the Power Tribe called this plant Flaming Grass, due to its spicy taste that leaves a tingling heat sensation. Here, the combination of heat and spicy is termed as "flame," hence the name Flaming Grass.

Despite its ability to create delicious food, Flaming Grass grew densely in the grass, making it hard to gather. The Hunting Team rarely collected them specifically, as in this world where survival involves staking one’s life, taste actually wasn’t vital because the pursuit of delicacies is based on having enough to eat.

Typically, unless prey was abundant enough to keep everyone from starving for days, the Hunting Team wouldn’t bother finding Flaming Grass for a couple of delicious roasted meals.

This time, the Hunting Team was leisure enough to rummage through grass for Flaming Grass because they already had enough food and found a grain base, the White Stone Fruit Forest, so their worries about hunger are gone, allowing them time for leisure.

Now, with the heat season’s intensity further escalating, plants have yet to wither on a large scale due to lack of water, but they were wilting. The Hunting Team was gathering grass while digging wild vegetables, and Flaming Grass, less liked by small animals due to its strong smell, was found in plenty.

However, wild vegetables favored by small animals were scarce, with everyone finding only a handful in total, barely enough for one meal for the tribe, not even sufficient.