CHAPTER 522: CHAPTER 513: THE GREAT CHIEF 31

On the way back, Yan Shuangshuang began to focus her attention on the stones she encountered. However, after finding more than a dozen large stones in a row, she was not very satisfied; either the stones were too fragile or the shapes were not suitable.

Just when Yan Shuangshuang was feeling disappointed, she unexpectedly saw a naturally formed stone pot!

To be honest, calling it a naturally formed stone pot is not entirely accurate. It’s just a square stone with a large depression in the middle. With a little chiseling of the edges, it could be used as a stone pot!

Seeing this stone, Yan Shuangshuang was so overjoyed she almost cried. This was like receiving a pillow when feeling sleepy. How could her luck be so good!

She tied the large stone up with several loops of vine rope, then carried it on her back. Feeling its weight, Yan Shuangshuang was delighted. It must weigh nearly two hundred pounds, suggesting the stone’s density was quite high and it should be suitable for the role of a pot.

Seeing Yan Shuangshuang carrying a big stone on her back, some members of the Hunting Team were puzzled. However, there was a consensus among all members of the Power Tribe that whatever Yan Shuangshuang did was correct and had special meaning, so no one thought she was acting foolishly.

After returning to the cave, the members of the Hunting Team unloaded the sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines from their backs. The sweet potatoes were large and heavy, and carrying them was no easier than carrying game.

After a short rest, the Hunting Team set out again to dig sweet potatoes and pick sweet potato vines. Meanwhile, the people in the cave cheerfully carried the sweet potatoes into the cave for storage.

No matter how many times it happened, a large amount of food being brought into the cave always excited the members of the Power Tribe to no end.

Yan Shuangshuang sat to the side, first using a knife to carefully chip off pieces from the stone pot’s edges, then began to use a grinding stone to round out the pot.

In her determination to eat something delicious, Yan Shuangshuang worked tirelessly. She ground from morning till night, then after a night’s sleep, continued grinding again the next morning.

After three days of continuous grinding, Yan Shuangshuang finally polished the stone pot inside and out until it was smooth and round like a pot, even adding handles on the pot.

Aside from the pot, Yan Shuangshuang also crafted a bunch of ladles and spoons from bamboo. That night, Yan Shuangshuang stir-fried two pots of sweet potato vine with smoked meat, and stewed a big pot of preserved meat with sweet potatoes, accompanied by overcooked, golden-brown roasted White Stone Fruit meat. Yan Shuangshuang once again ate to her heart’s content.

Others, who tasted stir-fried and stewed dishes for the first time, were not satisfied at all with just that. After the dishes were all eaten, the tribe members soaked up the remaining soup in the pot with overcooked White Stone Fruit meat until it was all gone, yet they were still not satisfied.

Smacking their lips, everyone began pondering where to find good stones so they could also make a stone pot to stir-fry and stew food.

They had never realized meals could be eaten like this. Stir-fried and stewed dishes were incredibly delicious. Compared to the easily tiresome roasted meat, these stir-fried and stewed dishes, with their balanced mix of meat and vegetables, were not only less likely to cause fatigue, but also conserved meat, and tasted better.

In the following days, the people of the Power Tribe began a craze of finding stones to make stone pots. Indeed, they found quite a few stones suitable for making stone pots. Soon, the tribe had more than a dozen large stone pots.

With stone pots, meal times became much more varied, featuring roasted meat, stir-fried dishes, and stews, along with plentiful meat and vegetables. These days, the people of the Power Tribe ate their fill every day, and those who had been skinny as ribs except for the Hunting Team were starting to plump up.

Eating well allowed them to do higher-intensity training. Before winter set in, it was a joy to see that five more people in the tribe now had the physical strength to join the Hunting Team; three were men, and two were women, significantly strengthening the Hunting Team!

With new members in the Hunting Team, the veteran team members took advantage of the time before the cold season fully set in to conduct one-on-one training with the newcomers. Together, they entered the forest to learn hunting skills.

Nowadays, the Hunting Team wasn’t primarily focused on hunting. Every time Yan Shuangshuang ventured into the forest with the Hunting Team, she stopped sticking to them. If she encountered the Earth King Beast, she would stay beside it to develop a relationship.

The Hunting Team wasn’t worried about Yan Shuangshuang’s safety with the Earth King Beast. After such a long period of interaction, the team members had established a preliminary friendship with the Earth King Beast, which now had a very positive attitude towards the Hunting Team members.

Specifically, now when the Hunting Team members approached, the Earth King Beast no longer needed to be overly cautious. The Earth King Beast would proactively make way for the team. Although the Earth King Beast appeared large and cumbersome, it was actually very agile.

Its seemingly sluggish demeanor was because in its territory, there were no formidable beasts that were its match, so the Earth King Beast usually moved slowly, appearing sluggish. In reality, its movements were very nimble, and its hearing very keen.

Every time the Hunting Team got close to the Earth King Beast, it could detect them before they got near. Upon discovery, the Earth King Beast, which had never before yielded to any creature, would carefully move because of the presence of these fragile humans.

Previously, the Earth King Beast wouldn’t attack upon seeing the team, but wouldn’t yield, either. It regarded them more like bugs on the ground, which it wouldn’t crush intentionally, but wouldn’t mind if it happened accidentally.

Now, the Earth King Beast no longer treated the Hunting Team members like air. If a member was nearby, it would look down every time it walked to avoid accidentally stepping on them.

With the Earth King Beast being careful on its own accord, the tribe members were now basically safe around it. As the first to show affection and feed the Earth King Beast, Yan Shuangshuang was now even able to sit on the Earth King Beast and be carried by it.

Though the Earth King Beast was covered in long thorns, its massive body had ample space between each thorn. One could easily spread their legs and sit, riding a thorn, provided the Earth King Beast willingly cooperated.

Now Yan Shuangshuang had this honor. When the Earth King Beast was in a good mood, it would lower its head, allowing Yan Shuangshuang to hold onto the spikes on its head and climb up bit by bit to find a place to sit. Then, it would carry her and continue on its way.

Sometimes the Earth King Beast would even take Yan Shuangshuang to places where it had found gifts for her, allowing her to pick some for herself. The Earth King Beast would patiently wait for her to finish, then take Yan Shuangshuang back to reunite with the Hunting Team.