It's another beautiful and enchanting morning.
Unbeknownst to them, the warm and gentle sunlight had already streamed into the cave, shining on Xu Que's lazy and sleepy face, forming beautiful Tyndall rays around him.
He barely opened his eyes, glanced at Hou, who was still lying in his arms, listlessly playing with the silver bracelet and bell, then closed his eyes again peacefully. He smacked his lips a couple of times and mumbled in his sleep, "Hmm! It's not dawn yet, I'll sleep a little longer! Wake me up when it's light!"
Hou couldn't help but chuckle: "Brother! The sun's already high in the sky! And it's still not dawn?"
After saying that, she tried to get up from the straw mat and shake him awake.
Just as she was about to get up, Xu Que violently pulled her back, locking her even tighter with his legs and arms, as if afraid she would sneak away.
Hou gave up struggling, sighing helplessly, desperately, and with a hint of fondness: "Who told me to meet such a clingy pest! Now, he's so clingy I can't even get out of bed!"
Outside the cave, the chief and all the tribe members were practicing making fire by rubbing sticks together.
After several days of intensive training, more than half of the members have mastered the technique and are now very proficient in it.
The chief of the Julu tribe, along with the core members of his tribe, carried a cleaned raw ox over as a sacrifice.
The Blackstone tribe chief frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Your tribe has been sending us cattle these past few days. Are you trying to learn our fire-making technique by friction?"
“Yes! Yes! Let’s take a look at your basic operating procedures today! This cow is today’s tuition! We’ll pay tomorrow’s tuition tomorrow! Is that alright?” The chief of the Giant Deer tribe said respectfully, bowing slightly.
The Blackrock tribe chief had never seen the once arrogant and haughty leader of the Giant Deer tribe so humble and modest as he was today.
Before Xu Que taught them how to make fire by rubbing sticks together, the members of the Black Stone Tribe and their leader were considered less than a hair in the eyes of the leader of the Giant Deer Tribe, and being ignored was the norm!
Now, being fawned over like this by the leader of a top-tier tribe upstream, the leader of the lowly Blackrock tribe feels like crying. The contrast is just too great!
"In that case, please wait a moment! I'll go ask the gods!"
The chief of the Julu tribe nodded repeatedly and quickly stepped aside to wait.
The Black Stone Tribe chief arrived at the cave entrance and found Xu Que and Hou about to leave.
"The chief of the Julu tribe wants to learn how to make fire by friction, and I would like to ask for your opinion!"
Without hesitation, Xu Que blurted out, "If they want to learn, then teach them! But we'll have to charge their tribe tuition! The Giant Deer Tribe is a large tribe with many people, so hunting is easier for them than for our tribe. Charging them a few cows every day is perfectly reasonable!"
"I'm going out with Hou to familiarize ourselves with the environment, and we'll also cut some branches to make fire-making tools!" Xu Que said, then took Hou's hand and walked into the depths of the primeval forest.
"Hagang! Go protect them!"
"Alright!" Ha Gang watched Xu Que and Hou walk away hand in hand, then took a series of rapid steps to catch up with them.
The leader watched the three figures until they disappeared into the depths of the forest!
Ba Han Niang staggered, dragging his crotch with both hands, and cried out to the Black Goose tribe leader to complain.
"Chief! Look what they did to me! I'm all swollen up! I'm unrecognizable!"
"Tell me what happened slowly!" The female chieftain, Ji, was a well-traveled woman in the tribe. She had seduced countless men and had a wealth of experience. But she had never seen anyone whipped into such a state before!
"Here's what happened! Yesterday, I saw a very beautiful girl in the weeds in front of the Black Stone Tribe! I seized the opportunity to drag her into the weeds, intending to take her back to our tribe! But unexpectedly, a man from the Black Stone Tribe named Xu Que, along with Ha Gang and others, beat me up like this!"
“They’re even yelling that they want to kill me! He said that if he ever sees anyone trying to steal a woman or a man, he’ll kill them all!” Bahan said, looking at Chief Ji.
"Taking people is the consistent practice of our Black Goose Tribe! It's a fine tradition that we've followed and inherited for generations! Why can't we take them? Who is this Xu Que? I need to meet him when I have time! I want to see if this god-like figure can last three rounds against me!"
"Bahan, you rest here for a while. I'll go ask the high priest how to handle this matter!" Ji said and went to find the high priest of the Black Goose tribe.
The high priest brought out tortoise shells and yarrow stalks for divination.
After chanting an incantation that no one could understand three times, he began to perform divination and prediction.
"Ah! The divination shows that this Xu Que is a monster, a devil! We must unite with other downstream tribes to get rid of him as soon as possible! He is the biggest stumbling block to the development of our downstream tribes!" the Black Goose Tribe's high priest said to the chief.
“Most of the members of our ten downstream tribes are criminals expelled from other tribes! Once someone like Xu Que gains power or establishes prestige among the tribes, where will we, the marginalized people downstream, have a way to survive? In his eyes, we are nothing but vulgar and lowly beings! I am certain that if he takes power, he will eliminate us! So we should strike first!”
"Then I'll go and unite with the other nine tribes downstream to prepare for the assassination!" Ji said, then got up and turned to leave.
"Yes! Also, have Bahan come to see me! I have something to arrange for him!" the high priest called out to Ji.
Bahan, limping, approached the high priest.
"The Primitive Barter Conference is in three days! You'll have to expose Xu Que as a fraud in front of over a hundred tribal leaders! A fake god! You'll have to defeat him in public! Do you have the confidence?" The high priest patted Bahan on the shoulder and told him in a very strange voice.
"I have that confidence! And I'm extremely confident! As for Xu Que, that fraudster who pretends to be a god, I could easily take on five of him in a fight!" Ba Han said confidently.
"High Priest, your move is brilliant! It allows me to vent my anger and get revenge while also eliminating a scourge for the people. It's killing two birds with one stone! When we successfully expose the fraud, our tribe's ranking in various indicators should improve significantly! Why wouldn't I take such a wonderful job? The High Priest is wise!" After saying this, Bahan kowtowed three times to the High Priest.
"Alright! Then go and recover well! Don't mention this to anyone, lest word get out! According to the divination, Xu Que is cunning and will probably run away at the slightest sign of trouble. If he gets away, all our preparations will have been for nothing! So secrecy is the most important thing! Whether we succeed this time depends entirely on you!" After saying this, the High Priest closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.
The Black Goose Tribe's High Priest chose Ba Han to fight Xu Que for two reasons.
Firstly, Bahan was the smallest and weakest member of the Black Goose tribe! This was because he rarely participated in the tribe's collective hunting or other physical labor, focusing instead on raiding for women. Over time, this naturally resulted in his physical condition being far inferior to that of the primitive people who spent their lives hunting and toiling.
If a dignified god can't even beat Ba Han, who has the worst physique, then it proves that he is undoubtedly an imposter!
Secondly, the order is: send Ba Han to the meeting without mercy or leniency, going all out. This is because Xu Que once had Ha Gang whip Ba Han's penis until it was swollen! Ba Han has always wanted revenge for this!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com