Chapter 46: Sent by a girl of unknown origin...

The people who had been sent out gradually returned, and there was firewood and meat. Ge had the largest fire lit in front of Fuli and entrusted his two daughters to her.

As for Ge himself, he took the older tribesmen and dragged the prey to the waterside to skin and wash it.

In the past, she always went hunting with the young and strong men, but today a distinguished guest came to the tribe, and as the leader, she had to stay to receive him and did not participate in the hunt.

The chief personally skins and cleans the prey and grills the meat for the guests, which is the highest etiquette for entertaining guests in their tribe.

Before the prey was even finished, a commotion broke out. Several young men wrapped in leaves and animal skins approached, holding torches and surrounding a young girl.

Judging from the postures of those people, they seemed to be escorting the girl in the middle. Fu Li knew that the girl was not from their tribe.

When they approached, they saw that only Fu Li, Song Tong and He Qing were sitting there. The leading man stepped forward, saluted, called her "young lady", and asked if the leader was by the stream.

Fu Li said, "Yes, Sister Ge has been gone for a while. I think she will be back soon."

She looked at the girl and asked curiously, "Who is this? Is she also a guest of the tribe?"

The leader said, "She said she was from a nearby tribe. She was being chased by wild beasts and lost her way while trying to escape. Since it was getting late, she wanted to hide here from the beasts."

Fu Li looked at him in surprise, then looked at the little girl, who was only about thirteen or fourteen years old, slender, not tall, and with a pale face.

With such a stature and physique, how could he escape from being chased by a wild beast?

Did you really not notice it, or were you pretending not to notice it?

The young girl noticed her gaze and stepped forward, bowing and saying, "Sister, I'm just staying here for one night. I won't cause you any trouble."

The voice was crisp, sweet, and soft, and the expression was pitiful. Some people present were wary, while others felt pity.

Fu Li smiled and said, "I can't make the decision. I'm just a guest staying here."

As he was speaking, he saw a flame getting closer and closer, and a group of people came over carrying something. They were Ge and others who were going to deal with the prey.

Seeing another stranger, Ge asked, "Where is this young lady from?"

The young man in the lead repeated what he had said before. Ge didn't say much, just nodded, gave a subtle wink, and said with a smile: "It just so happens that we have hunted some meat. If you don't mind, let's eat some together."

The little girl hurriedly said, "I don't mind, I don't mind. Thank you, Chief, for taking me in."

Ge smiled and said, "It's just a one-night stay. You're so polite, young lady."

——You can only stay for one night, so leave early tomorrow morning.

As everyone was dividing the meat on a clean wooden board, the little girl took the opportunity to run over to Fuli and asked with a smile, "Sister, can I sit next to you?"

Fu Li stared at her carefully, but couldn't see anything. Although she felt it was strange, she was not the landlord, so she had to ask her to sit down as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you, sister." The little girl didn't mind the dirt on the ground and chose a place closest to her to sit down. She said with a smile, "Sister, my name is Tong. What's your name, sister?"

Fu Li said: "My humble name is Fu Li, and I am a Qi Refiner."

Tong asked again: "I wonder which treasure mountain your sister is practicing in?"

Fu Li said, "I am just a Taoist priest in the mountains, I dare not associate myself with a noble family. But you, my lady, look extraordinary, you don't seem to be raised by an ordinary family."

The reason she said this was to shut Tong up and tell her not to ask any further questions.

After all, everyone is hiding their identity. If you ask too many questions and reveal my true identity, how can I let you protect yours?

Unexpectedly, Tong nodded directly and said seriously: "Sister Fuli has good taste. This little sister is indeed not raised by an ordinary family."

The other party was so frank that Fu Li was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Should I continue to ask about her family background or abruptly change the subject?

The rhythm has been disrupted by the other party, and no matter what I say next, the topic is out of my control.

Tong, however, seemed oblivious and smiled again. Her voice was clear and crisp, her tone playful and lively: "Sister, do you know Mount Emei? There is a Master Zhao on that mountain, and I am his disciple."

Fu Li stared at her without saying a word, unable to conceal the vigilance in her heart.

She knew that the other party was not really trying to pretend to be Zhao Gongming's disciple, but was telling her blatantly: Don't hide, I already know who you are!

The other person looked at her with a smile, without revealing his true emotions at all, and it was obvious that he was quite cunning.

Fu Li said bluntly, "Sister, please don't joke. I've never seen you in Mount Emei. But since you know Master Zhao, you must be a disciple of a famous family, right?"

——Since you already know who I am, would you be willing to let me know who you are?

The smile that was always on Tong's face suddenly faded. After a moment of silence, she said, "I'm afraid my identity is not worthy of your approval."

Fu Li said with a smile, "Since you know I'm from Mount Emei, you should know that humans and demons live together at the foot of Mount Emei, and they don't care about your origins."

Tong still shook her head and avoided looking at others, revealing a bit of inferiority.

This made Fu Li feel some genuine doubts: she seemed to be from an extraordinary family, so why would she feel inferior?

Both her previous life's schooling and her current family upbringing had taught her not to force others to do anything. Seeing that the other person seemed to be hiding something, Fu Li said, "Since it's inconvenient to talk about it, then forget it."

Anyway, she said she only wanted to stay for one night and we would just go our separate ways tomorrow morning.

But Fu Li stopped asking, and the other party became anxious: "Sister, I didn't mean to hide it."

She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to her. Even Ge's two daughters had gone to watch the adults divide the meat. Then she whispered, "To be honest, I am a descendant of the Dragon and Phoenix clans."

The dragon and phoenix clans?

Fu Li was stunned: Is it the dragon clan or the phoenix clan?

But she quickly realized that Tong must have the blood of both clans.

Dragons are inherently lustful, and it's not surprising that there are countless hybrid bloodlines left in the world.

But this is the ancient world, and the dragon and phoenix tribes are mortal enemies. If you have the blood of both tribes, you will be unacceptable to both tribes.

Although both ethnic groups have declined, at this time, both the human and the demon races have a natural sense of belonging to their ethnic groups.

Not being tolerated by any clan, it is no wonder that even someone with such extraordinary bearing like Tong Fenming would still feel inferior.

Thinking that she had exposed her scars, Fu Li couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and comforted her dryly: "This is not your fault."

Tong smiled bitterly: "I know that you have good intentions, but you don't have to do this. I am a family member and I know my own business."

Fu Li had already reacted and said seriously, "This isn't your fault in the first place. You can't choose your birth. If you could choose your birth, who wouldn't want to be born into a prominent family and join a prestigious family?"

Tong's eyes lit up, and just as she was about to say something, Ge, accompanied by her mother and daughter, approached, holding several wooden sticks pierced with flesh. The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren chatted and laughed as they walked, making a lot of noise. Tong fell silent when she heard them approaching.

"Sister, what kind of meat do you like to eat? You must try my cooking today." Ge smiled brightly, called Fuli, asked her mother to sit down first, and told her two daughters not to make noise. He glanced at her and sat on the other side of Fuli.

"Look, sister. Today we hunted a wild boar, two roe deer, two large deer, and a wild wolf. Whichever one you want to eat, I'll grill it for you."

Fu Li said, "Let's have musk deer meat."

Ge took out the musk deer meat and put it on the fire, then asked Tong, "My lady, what do you like to eat?"

Tong hurriedly said, "Don't be polite, Chief. Just call me Tong. I'll just eat venison."

Ge took another piece of venison and placed it on the fire. He kept turning the two pieces of meat with his hands. Soon, the aroma of burnt fat wafted over.

She was an expert at barbecue, her control of the heat being extremely precise: musk deer, being tender, needed to be roasted quickly, while venison, being older, naturally needed to be roasted longer.

When she took the meat off the rack and handed it to me, it was at its best taste.

Seeing that Ge's mother took out several bone knives from the leather bag, Fu Li was startled. Before she could speak, he quickly took out a dagger and lowered his head to cut the meat as if nothing had happened.

——Although she didn’t know whose bone the bone knife came from, the fact that she had used a human skull to make a bowl was an indelible shadow in Fu Li’s heart.

Whether the knife was made of human bones or animal bones, she was not going to use it.

Tong Zhe glanced at her seemingly unintentionally, then took the bone knife handed to him by Ge Mu with a smile and cut the meat and ate it slowly.

That night, everyone spent the night around the fire.

The next morning, Ge ordered his tribesmen to pick black plums, and personally led people to sharpen the arrowheads of the bone arrows.

Tong heard this and volunteered, "I know where there are black plums. I can take everyone there."

Ge glanced at her, a little hesitant. But thinking of the flood-ravaged tribal territory, he sent four strong men, two men and two women, to accompany Tong.

For the peace of the tribe, she cannot miss any opportunity.

But she would not place all her hopes on someone she had just met, so she sent out several other groups to search in eight directions.

After everyone was sent out, Ge Cai frowned and asked Fu Li: "Sister, do you think she is trustworthy?"

Fu Li shook her head directly: "It's not credible."

"That……"

"But Sister Ge, don't worry for now, at least not this time." Fu Li said, "I think she wants to stay, so she must earn your trust. We don't know what will happen in the future, but she will definitely do her best to find Wu Mei, so you can't send her away."

Ge nodded, his frown relaxing a little: "Sister is right. As long as she can find Wu Mei as soon as possible, no matter what her purpose is, I am willing to take the risk and take her in."

Then he couldn't help but worry: "Sister, that Henggong fish is so powerful, can Wu Mei really deal with it?"

Fu Li didn't try to comfort her, but instead said confidently, "Everything in the world is interdependent and mutually exclusive. No matter how powerful a demon is, as long as you find something to restrain it, it will be easier to deal with than a raccoon."

This was more effective than soothing her. Ge finally smiled and joked with her, "The raccoon is very powerful and difficult to control. Besides, the raccoon can catch mice. The elders in the tribe cherish it very much. If anyone dares to control it, the elders will not agree."

Fu Li was speechless: I didn’t expect that there would be a cat slave so early.