Having resolved the minor issue caused by the light cluster, Artemisia continued to address the issue of the clan leader.

—The world's questions related to "God".

Jiang Ai asked the clan chief, "Will the Mother Goddess hinder me?"

The clan chief smiled and shook her head. Her rough hands gently stroked the top of Jiang Ai's head.

The chieftain said, "The Mother Goddess will bless us. But when you see the Mother Goddess with your own eyes, you must not utter any blasphemous words to her."

Jiang Ai nodded. She had tentatively determined that the mother goddess they worshipped was not the stone, but Nuwa.

She deduced that the surrounding tribes also worshipped the same mother goddess. After all, she had traveled all over the continent and had not seen anything other than that woman with a human body and a snake tail that resembled a "god."

But if she said those words outright, the clan chief would probably get angry, pick up a knife, and kick her out.

"Should we wait until after the sacrificial feast to try to merge with the surrounding tribes?" Jiang Ai continued to ask.

The clan chief shook her head again. She stood up, her eyes quickly and sharply sweeping across the sunlight outside the window. She heard the women talking, so she picked up her complicated outer garments and put them on one by one.

The clan chief handed the short sword inlaid with sparkling gems to Jiang Ai.

The clan chief said, "You are now a woman of the Jiang clan. If you want something, you should fight for it and take it yourself."

She spoke in a gentle tone, as if a grandmother were talking to the children in the family.

She handed the dagger to her daughter's daughter.

Jiang Ai took the dagger. It was as sharp as she had seen it a few days ago, with no trace of use on its cold blade.

The chieftain then selected the most magnificent feather from his own waist and hung it on the waist of the mugwort.

She looked the mugwort up and down, then smiled and said, "Have that child fix it for you; he's quite skilled at sewing." After the clan chief finished speaking, he waved for her to leave.

Jiang Ai smiled and left the clan house.

She wore the dagger openly at her waist.

The women passing by saw the short knife that originally belonged to the clan chief. They laughed loudly, put down their bamboo winnowing baskets, and gathered around Jiang Ai to examine the knife.

The women asked, "Hey, the chieftain gave you this dagger!"

Jiang Ai laughed, a hint of smugness and a touch of womanly pride in her voice.

The women looked at their daughter with joy. They praised Jiang Ai loudly and happily, then took the bamboo baskets filled with meat and fruit and led Jiang Ai to the main house.

Their harvest last night was enough to feed an entire tribe of women.

The little boy surnamed Ji, whose hand was scraped, searched for Jiang Ai throughout the tribe. He passed by the chieftain's house several times, but as a man, he was not allowed to enter the chieftain's house from birth.

He walked on, feeling increasingly aggrieved, his eyes filled with tears, sobbing as he continued to circle the tribe.

When he saw Jiang Ai surrounded by women, he was too upset to say a word. He stumbled into the group of women and pleaded with Jiang Ai to look at his scraped hand.

Jiang Ai only glanced at it before continuing to smile and talk to the woman next to her.

But she cupped his hand in hers.

The little boy's heart softened. He looked timidly at his hand being held by Jiang Ai, trying to remember this moment of holding hands with every inch of his skin.

His vision was filled with the mist of his own tears, but he didn't want to pull his hand away to wipe them. As a result, he tripped over small stones on the road several times, but he still stayed close to Jiang Ai.

He tried to feel the warmth emanating from Jiang Ai's body.

Once inside the main house, he reluctantly watched as Jiang Ai let go of his hand.

He's a man, he can't eat with women.

Jiang Ai smiled at him. Her lowered eyelashes held no genuine emotion, not even a hint of feigned affection.

She didn't even know what had happened to the little boy.

Jiang Ai and the women gathered together to eat meat and fruit, while the little boy and the men ate grass and fruit together. They sat around different foods, chatting about different topics.

The men talked about the morning dew and how the path to pick fruit was too muddy and difficult to walk on. They proudly spoke of the clothes they made for women, their words brimming with praise for their skill.

The women also talked about the morning dew. But they said that a road needed to be repaired so that it would be easier to travel to the nearby tribes in the future.

They didn't care about their clothes—after all, men cherish their clothes and make a fuss over even a small tear, so they didn't need to worry about it.

After they finished eating, they left the scraps for the men to clean up. The men naturally took over the cleaning tools and stayed in the main house to tidy up and wash the utensils.

Jiang Ai took off her coat and gave it to the little boy. The little boy took the coat, which was full of Jiang Ai's scent, and blushed as he agreed to sew feathers for her.

Jiang Ai then went out with the women.

Jiang Ai's biological father laughed at the little boy: "You're so small, and you just cut your hand. Can you mend her clothes?"

The little boy, whose surname was Ji, hugged the clothes even tighter.

He dared not let go. He was afraid that if he loosened his grip even slightly, he would lose the chance to mend Jiang Ai's clothes.

Jiang Ai paid him no heed. She was busy with her clansmen repairing the roads destroyed by the torrential rain. They spread straw mats on the muddy paths, searching for small animals that had left footprints in the mud.

They found a new rabbit hole. The women used what they had on hand, making a simple trap out of branches and vines, and set it up next to the rabbit hole.

Jiang Ai's lively mother said, "Since the clan chief gave you the dagger, she must be planning to let you take over."

Her other mother said, "Not necessarily." She affectionately wove a grass wreath and put it on Jiang Ai's head. "For now, we've only given her the dagger, but we still need to hear what the Mother Goddess has to say."

When was the last time a sacrifice was offered to the gods?

“I don’t remember, I think I was just born then,” the woman said. “No one in our generation participated in the sacrificial rites, right? Only the clan chief knew how to perform them.”

“Maybe Ai will participate in the next sacrificial ceremony with the chieftain,” the woman said with a smile. “After all, she is our daughter, so it’s normal for her to be so capable.”

The women wrestled in the grass, fighting over the title of "who helped Ai the most."

Jiang Ai, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, was caught off guard and kicked by her birth mother, falling into the melee of the women. She took a solid hit to the cheek, spat out the blood in her mouth, and dodged a malicious hook punch from one of the women.

The women laughed and said, "Let's teach Ai a lesson!"

They were pressed intimately together, sharing the same mother's body. Jiang Ai, squeezed between them, was still trying her best to create a small shelter for herself.

The women laughed heartily amidst the playful antics of honing their hunting skills.

Until the sound of several birds flapping their wings rose from the forest.

The women's laughter seemed to have been collectively paused.

They tensed up alertly, using their eyes to signal their companions to lower themselves.

They gripped their weapons tightly.