The Leopard Clan was destroyed, becoming a mixed-race clan in the forest...
The rock dreamed of its clan.
He lived in a rocky region and was a leopard-man. Two snow seasons ago, he became a member of his tribe's gathering team. He had decent explosive power but weak combat skills, and his sprinting was not as good as his tribesmen's, so he was not selected as a member of the hunting team by the team leader, Yan Duoyu.
Every leopard-man aspires to join the hunting party from childhood, and he was no exception. It was a symbol of strength; only the most outstanding orcs in the tribe were worthy of joining the hunting party.
Each hunting team captain is undoubtedly the strongest of the strong, and the next patriarch of the Leopard Beastman clan.
Rock remembered Yan Duoyu's hair, as golden as the sun, and her eyes, as bright as the sun. He remembered the scars and medals she wore while hunting wild beasts, and he remembered her smiling as she said, "I will bring back lots and lots of food for my people!"
She is the role model for all leopard beastmen, and the "big sister" to all young leopard beastmen.
Rock trains herself every day, hoping to become a powerful orc like her, bringing back plenty of food for her people and being praised with smiles by the chief and the tribe.
But he didn't get his chance.
The behemoth arrived in the rocky region and discovered his clan, the leopard-beastmen who lived there. The wind-wielding beast unleashed wind blades, turning the hard mountains into falling rocks that crashed to the ground. His people, with whom he had lived day and night, lay on the cold ground, their golden eyes never to open again.
"Yan Duoyu! Quickly lead your people away—"
The chieftain's words echoed in the rocks' ears, and did not dissipate even after two seasons.
"From now on, you will be the clan leader. You must protect your people!"
Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but turn back to look at the clan chief who had volunteered to stay. Yan Duoyu was about to become the clan chief, but he didn't want the clan chief to stay.
That was their clan chief, Yan Youyan, who watched them grow up and whom they called "Clan Chief Mother" repeatedly.
But the chieftain did not leave. She led the warriors who had retreated from the hunting party to meet the wind beast, in order to buy time for the still young people of the tribe to escape.
Rock obeyed the orders of the new clan leader, Rock Rain, and protected the cubs as they fled, but were attacked from behind by wind beasts that had caught up with them.
He withstood a wind blade, but collapsed to the ground with a back injury. When he awoke, only Yan Lin was beside him—the members of the hunting party who had once protected the rear of the group alongside him.
The behemoth's storm scattered them and their tribesmen. He and Yanlin were severely injured, but they survived only to lose track of their people. He and Yanlin tried to find their way back to the clan, but only discovered the corpses of the orcs. Some were his own people, as well as squirrel orcs and sheep orcs who lived nearby.
He could not find any living members of his tribe, nor any clan.
Rock realized something. He had no clan anymore, no more clans.
He became an orc who lost his clan, and his people were reduced to a single rock forest.
He didn't want to lose any more of his people, even though Yanlin had a sharp tongue and a bad temper. But Yanlin had protected him when he was injured, and was his last remaining member of the tribe. As long as Yanlin was alive, he would never abandon him.
No matter how many times Yanlin, who was ill, said he would give up on him, he would never abandon him.
Rock had prepared himself to die, never expecting to open his eyes again as he lay in the forest. He thought he was going to die too.
His mind replayed the past as he stared blankly at the squirrel-beastman cub before him. Had he survived? Had this clan saved him?
The tiny squirrel-like beastman cub looked at him, seemingly trying to say something, but he didn't understand. However, remembering the sick Yanlin, he quickly got up and looked around.
Yanlin lay to his left. He breathed a sigh of relief and saw the squirrel-beastman cub say something, then take some green herbs and apply medicine to Yanlin.
He was stunned. He thought the cub came from the same place as him, from the squirrel-orc clan he knew. But he couldn't understand a single word of the language she spoke.
She didn't seem to be an orc from the clan he knew.
"This leopard beastman is awake." Feng Hong stood behind Jiang Yunlan, looking at the dazed leopard beastman, and felt a little disgusted with him.
Upon hearing the voice of the deer-beastman Feng Hong, Rock was pleasantly surprised to find that he could understand it, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The deer-beastman's language was slightly different from his own, but he could understand it after a little listening.
The orcs in the cave came from different races, and he could tell at a glance that they, like him, had lost their clans. But instead of seeking out clans of their own race, they formed new ones. This was strange.
He couldn't understand this clan. He silently looked at Maple Red, the most powerful orc there, and a dry, hoarse voice flowed from his throat.
"...Are you the clan chief?" he asked.
Feng Hong stared wide-eyed in astonishment, her face full of question marks as she pushed him to look at Lan, who was calm, composed, and exuded an aura of wisdom. She then exclaimed angrily, "How could I possibly be the clan leader? Lan is the clan leader! Isn't that obvious?!"
She found it strange. The clan chief should be the most intelligent beastman in the clan, so why did these carnivorous beastmen immediately call her the chief? Lan was so intelligent, completely different from the other cubs; she was clearly a wise woman.
Rock looked in the direction she was pointing at the tiny cub, a question mark popping into his head. That was a cub, probably not even up to his waist, how could it be the chieftain…?
He was stunned, exclaimed "Ah!", and his face showed obvious disbelief.
His reaction was easy to read, and Feng Hong understood it immediately. Feng Hong scoffed, and said with great pride in a tone that suggested he himself lacked knowledge, "Lan is a wise man. So what if he's a cub? He's still our clan leader."
Rock had heard of "wise men," but he still couldn't believe that Lan, as a cub, would be the clan leader, and an extremely rare wise man.
The beastmen in the cave were displeased to see the suspicion on his face.
"If Lan hadn't been willing to save you, we wouldn't have brought you back," Mo Rong said discontentedly, deliberately not lowering her voice to remind him that it was Lan who had saved them.
The orcs in the tribe already disliked carnivorous orcs, and after hearing about the loss of their fire, their dislike for them only intensified. If Lan hadn't intervened to save them, Feng Hong and the other orcs would never have rescued them, let alone taken them back to the clan.
Yan Shi was stunned, and subconsciously looked at Jiang Yunlan. His doubts vanished, and he remained silent for a long time.
The chieftain of the Leopard Clan was always an elderly and powerful orc, a mother to all his people. He never imagined that any clan chieftain would be a cub.
Jiang Yunlan applied the medicine to Yan Lin and then used the back of her hand to check Yan Lin's body temperature. The injured leopard beastman was delirious from illness, and after cooling his body with cold water, his temperature was finally not as high as before.
She didn't know how long the injured leopard beastman would be sick, or whether he would survive, but she keenly sensed something was wrong from his wounds.
His injuries were strange. The most recent wound appeared to be from a thorn. However, there were several similar healed wounds on his arms and back. It was as if someone had stabbed him several times with a sword, only the angle and depth were slightly different.
Jiang Yunlan couldn't help but sit up straight and look at the other leopard beastman who was standing there in a daze.
He had also taken off the animal skin he was wearing and tied it around his waist, revealing similar wounds on his back. Those were definitely not wounds caused by animal claws.
Could it be a melee weapon? Possibly. But it's also possible that some orcs evolved sword-like limbs, possessing immense destructive power.
Realizing this, Jiang Yunlan pursed her lips and looked at 022. 022 often went out at night; she wondered if she had noticed that existence.
Could it be "it" that caused the original owner to wander alone in the forest and eventually starve to death?
"Lan".
Hearing Maple Syrup's call, Jiang Yunlan turned around and looked at her.
She gestured and said, "Dinner." She was saying that dinner was ready.
Jiang Yunlan understood what Maple Syrup was trying to say. Suppressing the heaviness in her heart, she washed her hands with a bamboo tube of water before distributing the food. She estimated the amount and gave each beastman enough food to be about 80% full, and then forced some green fruit into the little gray beast's mouth.
After the gray beast's fangs and horns were broken off, it remained depressed, seemingly on the verge of death, which greatly affected the accuracy of the poison test. Jiang Yunlan decided to keep it as a pet. She had decided that if it remained in this half-dead state after a few days and became emaciated, she would kill it.
Animals that are too difficult to care for are not suitable for breeding, and this clan does not have the energy to raise troublesome animals.
Jiang Yunlan leisurely ate her dinner after distributing the food, while Feng Hong and the other orcs had already finished their meal and were kneading mud balls.
Lan said that the clan needs more bowls.
The five orcs were having a great time molding clay, like kindergarten children. Jiang Yunlan sat beside them, eating grilled fish, watching to see if they had missed any steps.
Maple Syrup stayed inside the cave, teaching Rock to use cold water to cool Rock Forest down. This was a method Lan had taught them.
Over dinner, the orcs and the leopard orc Rock had a conversation, and their relationship improved considerably. Rock was quiet but answered every question, unlike the carnivorous orc they had found before, who was disliked by the other orcs. Naturally, the orcs like Maple Sugar didn't dislike him.
On the semi-circular platform, Cotton used the coil-building technique he had learned to create another pottery pot. Jiang Yunlan was very pleased and immediately put him in charge of teaching the other four beastmen, entrusting him with the pottery project.
He slowly agreed, opened the red pottery that had been fired during the day, and, imitating Lan's movements, used two tree branches to steadily pick out the pottery from the kiln.
Seeing this, Jiang Yunlan felt more at ease and stopped paying attention to the pottery making. After finishing her food, she washed her hands. The beastmen went to the river to collect fish every day, and the containers would be refilled after use, so she didn't need to worry about running out of water.
Since the orcs didn't have the habit of washing their hands and faces every day, she would have them wash their hands and faces and brush their teeth with charcoal every time they ate, slept, and woke up. She believed that once they got used to it, they would do so without her prompting, including when using the toilet.
After the cave was smoked out, Jiang Yunlan no longer allowed the beastmen to relieve themselves near the cave entrance. Instead, she made them walk down the gentle slope to a more distant place to use the toilet.
Qiuguo's legs are immobile, so when Fenghong is around, she takes her out to relieve herself. When Fenghong isn't there, she uses dry grass, just like the three old orcs. The next day, the orcs from the gathering team take the soiled grass away to dispose of it.
Thinking about the hygiene issues, Jiang Yunlan felt a headache coming on. There were still several orcs in the tribe who hadn't bathed.
The temperature dropped significantly after yesterday's rain, and the dusty rocks made it impossible to bathe in the river. He could only rinse his body briefly with water, just like the maple syrup and autumn fruit of his tribe, and that was considered a wash.
Having made up her mind, Jiang Yunlan poured the water from the earthenware pot into five clean bowls, then refilled the pot with fresh water and placed it on the triangular stone platform. She planned to mix hot and cold water so that the beastmen could use the warm water to wash the mud off their bodies.
A fire was lit at the base of the triangular stone. Jiang Yunlan called Qiu Guo to watch the water in the kettle, and then went barefoot to process the birds and mushrooms harvested that day.
She had too many things to do and never had time to weave a straw sandal for herself.
The birds tied to the vines chirped and chattered, full of energy, looking perfect for testing for poison. Jiang Yunlan glanced at them, took out the mushrooms she had picked, and used maple syrup to sort them.
Jiang Yunlan categorized the collected mushrooms into four types based on color: gray, white, warm, and cool. She picked out the gray and white mushrooms and put each of the four different types of mushrooms into the bird's beak.
The birds, controlled by maple syrup, fluttered their feathers and ate the unassuming gray-white mushrooms. The largest bird refused to eat either the gray or white mushrooms, crying pitifully, completely unable to break free from maple syrup's grasp.
In its panic, it laid an egg with a snap.
Jiang Yunlan's pupils dilated in shock, and she urgently retracted a gray mushroom. This was a precious bird that could lay eggs; it would be such a pity if it were poisoned to death.
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