Chapter 19: Thunder Tree and Earth Beast

On March 18th, the rain finally stopped and the warm sunshine once again filled this primeval jungle.

"March 18th..."

Early in the morning, Jiang Xuan got up, carved today's date on the bamboo tube that recorded the days, and carved a small word "Sunny" next to it.

After carving, he stretched, put away the bamboo tube, and walked out of the bamboo house.

At this time, the orange-red sun had just risen from the hilltop on the other side of the river. It did not look dazzling at all and was very beautiful.

"Chief, can we go into the mountains to hunt today?"

Uncaria couldn't wait to ask Jiang Xuan.

Jiang Xuan replied affirmatively: "The weather is good today, we can go into the mountains!"

"Great, I'll get ready now!"

Uncaria went into the house excitedly to prepare hunting tools. The others were also very happy because the days of raining every day were really unbearable.

After the five people prepared the hunting tools, they carefully painted the totem pattern of the Vine Tribe on their faces, as well as a horizontal line painted with red paint.

This red horizontal stripe is the symbol of a warrior. For a warrior, it is a very important symbol of honor.

Everything was ready. The five people added thick and durable wood into the fire pit, closed the door of the bamboo house, and then stepped into the jungle in the south.

The air in the forest after the rain is particularly fresh, even the smell of rotten leaves is diluted.

In order to ensure a good harvest, they will make some adjustments to the hunting route every time. Of course, the general direction remains unchanged.

After walking for two hours, they came to an unfamiliar forest.

“Rustle…”

On the big tree in front, a fat green insect was eating tender leaves. It was more than 50 centimeters long and had a pair of eye-shaped patterns on its head. It was as big as a bowl and looked very scary at first glance.

This kind of insect can be eaten and can be considered as prey, but Jiang Xuan and his team came from far away and did not want to waste their energy on an insect.

They still prefer prey like bighorn sheep.

"Cry!"

A large bird with a wingspan of five or six meters swooped down from the sky, grabbed a large snake coiled on a tree with lightning speed, then flew up again and disappeared in an instant.

The branches and leaves were still shaking, but the snake had been caught.

Jiang Xuan had seen too many things like this, and his heart was not disturbed at all. He kept a vigilant eye on his surroundings while searching for prey.

He stepped over a thick old vine and not far away, he saw a group of strange big trees.

There are many round fruits scattered under these big trees, each about the size of a football, but strangely, each one is broken, as if it had been bombed.

Not only that, Jiang Xuan also discovered that there were a lot of animal bones scattered under the tree, some of which had already rotted, while some were still relatively hard.

"What is this?"

Jiang Xuan picked up half a fruit at random and found that the flesh and seeds inside were gone, only an empty shell.

Chishao walked up to Jiang Xuan and said, "This is the Thunder Fruit."

"Thunder Fruit?" Jiang Xuan looked at Chishao in confusion, not understanding why it had such a name.

Chishao pointed to a big tree and said, "The people in the hunting team call this tree the Thunder Tree, and the fruit it bears is called the Thunder Fruit."

"Every year, the Thunder Fruit Tree is filled with fruits of all sizes. When the fruits are ripe, if a wild animal passes by the tree, the ripe fruits will fall from the tree and explode, killing the wild animal."

"Because the sound it makes when it explodes is like thunder, the people in the hunting team call it the Thunder Fruit."

Chishao pointed at the scattered animal bones on the ground and said, "These are all beasts that were killed by it."

Jiang Xuan looked at the Thunder Fruit Shell in his hand and listened to Chishao's introduction, marveling in amazement.

There are so many strange and wonderful plants in this world.

Chishao added: "I also heard from the hunting team that there is a wild beast living under the thunder tree, called the ground armor beast."

"This ground-armored beast is covered in hard scales and has sharp claws. It is very good at digging holes and is very thief. It likes to dig holes underground and steal the beasts killed by the thunder tree to eat."

Chishao searched the ground around him, and soon he dug out a hole from under the fallen leaves. However, the hole was covered with moss, and it was obvious that no ground beast had entered or exited here for a long time.

"This should be the hole dug by the ground armor beast. The thunder tree has not borne fruit yet, so they are not looking for food here."

Jiang Xuan used a bone hoe to dig a little deeper into the hole, and sure enough, he found a few remaining animal bones inside, with clear tooth marks on them.

This discovery made Jiang Xuan very interested. He planned to come here again in autumn to see with his own eyes the exploding Thunder Fruit and the Ground Armored Beast that liked to steal the corpses of wild animals.

"Dig some saplings and bring them back."

When the Thunder Fruit explodes, the seeds inside the fruit will splash out. If they find a suitable place, they will take root and sprout, growing into a second Thunder Tree.

Therefore, where thunder trees grow, there are often many saplings.

Since Jiang Xuan plans to build a dangerous plant defense line around the tribe, this thunder fruit is also a good choice. Although it can only be effective when the fruit matures in autumn, it is also very powerful.

"I'll dig it."

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Uncaria volunteered to dig up the saplings, and Jiang Xuan was happy to have someone do the job for him.

They dug up a total of eight saplings of thunder trees, all with their roots and soil. This way the survival rate would be higher and they would recover faster after planting.

After digging up the saplings, Jiang Xuan walked around the woods again and found some complete sheep horns, deer horns, and some animal bones that had not yet decayed and could be used to make bone tools.

These animal horns and bones are good things to the tribesmen, and they will not let go of them if they come across them.

After picking up the animal horns and bones, the group continued on their way, searching for prey and edible plants.

At noon, Jiang Xuan shot a large flightless bird with a bow and arrow, and the five people had a hearty meal.

After eating and drinking, the five people continued on their way.

They also found some edible tuberous plants and wild vegetables, which Jiang Xuan dug up and planted.

The types of grains and vegetables grown in the Teng tribe are too few now, and Jiang Xuan will not miss any opportunity to increase the variety.

When they came to a hill, Chishao suddenly grabbed Jiang Xuan and hid him in the bushes nearby, and waved to the three young men behind him to hide as well.

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Xuan asked in a low voice.

“There’s someone ahead!”

Chishao's expression was serious, yet a little nervous.

They had always been worried that they would encounter people from other tribes sooner or later, and now this worry has come true.

Jiang Xuan followed Chishao's gaze and after careful observation, he indeed found something wrong.

There is a relatively hidden cave at the foot of the mountain. There are a lot of thick dead branches piled outside the cave, which are obviously man-made.

In addition, there is a slight smoke coming out of the cave, which cannot be seen unless you look carefully.

Uncaria asked quietly from behind: "Chief, what should we do now?"

Shiqiu and Nanxing also looked at Jiang Xuan eagerly, and even Chishao looked at Jiang Xuan without saying anything.

At this time, Jiang Xuan, as the leader of the Teng tribe, must step forward and make the decision.

Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Let's find a tree to hide first, observe how many people there are on the other side, and then make a decision."

The others nodded, and they found a tall and dense tree, climbed up quietly, hid among the branches and leaves, and observed the cave from afar.

Writing these strange things requires a lot of time thinking and looking up information. I am a little slow, and I apologize for that, fellow book lovers.

(End of this chapter)