Chapter 481: This Thing Called Face

Seeing she not only wasn't angry but even showed a smile, Fuer finally relaxed; the shaman indeed wouldn't get angry.

Perhaps the shaman also wanted to know whether this dirt wall was sturdy!

Thinking that, Fuer gathered all his strength and slammed into the dirt wall.

With a similar thud, Fuer's body bounced back just like Daman's earlier, but the half-beast warrior's agility let him steady his stance in time, then he looked in surprise at the spot he'd just struck.

Aside from some loose dirt falling, there was no damage.

Even Wu Yue and the others beside them couldn't help being surprised; in their view, with the half-beast warrior's strength, the dirt wall should at least have cracked after his full-force blow.

Teng Qian gave Fuer, who was still lost in surprise off to the side, a strange look, then sidled up close to Wu Yue and the others and whispered, "Is this half-beast kid a bit weak?"

Wu Yue felt a twitch at the corner of her eye; where did this idiot come from? Get lost, quick.

Yuan Lang handed over a death gaze; Teng Qian gave a dry laugh and made a rolling-up-sleeves gesture: "Looks like this dirt wall is still solid; maybe I should give it a try."

Wu Yue and the others didn't stop him, just stepped back a bit.

Even Fuer, who had darkened his face when Teng Qian called him weak, stepped back a bit.

"Heh heh, watch me—I'll trample this dirt‑clod house in a single round."

"Hey ha!"

After a shout, the beastman's figure shot toward the dirt wall like a gust of wind.

"Nice fellow, if Teng Qian rebounds with that momentum, he'll probably fly back quite a distance."

Ying Yan stroked his chin and muttered.

Meanwhile, the little tribespeople behind him heard that, glanced at Teng Qian charging forward, then at their own positions, and silently began to shift their feet, clearing a small space.

A mighty beastman warrior falling to the ground should be no big deal, right~

But how did that saying go? A beastman warrior is a beastman warrior—that's a different kind of fireworks.

The dirt wall that had just endured the impact of a pure human male and a half‑beast warrior instantly showed a fist‑sized hole under Teng Qian's punch.

Meanwhile, the beastman warrior facing away from the crowd was gritting his teeth as he worked his sore fist.

"Gosh, it hurts so much he just wants to call for his mom..."

But one must keep up appearances; the ferocious pain on his face vanished instantly, and when he turned around he acted as if he'd just lightly bounced off a small clod of dirt.

"I told you—this little dirt wall can't possibly stop a mighty beastman warrior."

The folks below stared at the hole blasted in the dirt wall by the beastman's fist, then at Teng Qian's calm, breezy expression, their eyes blazing—beastman warriors are truly powerful.

Wu Yue and the others, meanwhile, looked on with contempt as Teng Qian stubbornly put on a front—really a hard‑mouth dead duck.

But after the beastman warrior's full‑force strike, the dirt wall only got a fist‑sized hole, with no other damage, letting the tribe see how solid the wall was.

"You've seen it—our encampment lacks a big enough cliff to dig caves, so I had you make these dirt bricks.

And the house those few tribespeople just kept pounding is built from the bricks you made; it's meant to be your future home."

The crowd stared wide‑eyed in shock.

"A house?"

"Aren't houses built from huge blocks of stone?"

"Yeah, I heard only the shamans and chiefs of great and super tribes get to live in houses."

Upon learning they could live in a house, the crowd erupted, everyone gazing eagerly at Wu Yue speaking and the beastman warriors beside her.

"The bricks you've made now can't yet build houses for everyone, so from now on, aside from the extra hunters and gatherers, your task is to keep making these bricks.

"This model house is right here; tribespeople who want to see it may go in, but don't crowd."

Wu Yue finished speaking, then left with Yuan Lang and the others, and the open space behind them instantly boiled over.

A few half‑beast‑led hunting teams got priority entry, then the gathering teams and other tribespeople, and even the slaves were allowed to go in and see that sturdy, bright house.

With an apple dangling in front, everyone's work enthusiasm surged to unprecedented heights.

"Master! Master! I snatched the little birds' food again—they eat it so fragrant!"

A childish voice rang out from outside the cave; Wu Yue's face softened with a gentle smile as she turned and saw her little disciple Emma hopping in from outside.

While speaking, she also produced a palm‑sized, dried‑up yellow thing and handed it to her master.

"When the little birds eat this, there's also a small beast with a big tail and two large buckteeth squeaking nearby, sometimes trying to steal the birds' food."

Little Emma is very sensitive about food and herbs; whenever Wu Yue mentions food or herbs, she firmly remembers it, and even if she doesn't understand, she'll earnestly come ask.

Wu Yue really likes this little disciple.

Little Emma asked her how she knows whether food is edible.

Wu Yue smiled and said, "Most things that little birds or wild beasts eat aren't poisonous, but still be careful—best to bring it back and check it yourself."

After that, little Emma became a figure in the forest that made little birds and beasts pale at the sound of her voice; they'd instantly hide their food, or if they couldn't hide it, they'd flee with it.

Wu Yue took the dried leaf, about the size of a palm, that Emma handed over, smiled, and rubbed her little head: "Go eat your food now—lots of the tots in the tribe are eyeing it."

The little tyke had never been full since birth, so he guards his food fiercely; if he senses anyone eyeing his meal, his short legs scramble and he shrieks, then after bidding farewell to his master he dashes out of the cave.

Watching the lively little figure, Wu Yue smiled, then turned her gaze back to the leaf‑like thing in her hand: "Huh?"

This leaf‑like thing was probably stored by some small animal; it's a fully mature fruit, its edges cracked in places, revealing the yellow granular fruit inside.

Yuan Lang reached out, plucked a fruit, and sniffed it: "We've seen this plant before when we traded for salt."

"Traded for salt?"

That's what the original owner of Yuan Lang's body experienced.

"Is this edible?"

Yuan Lang nodded: "Yes, but the tribes there usually gather it when it's just slightly yellow; eating it gives a faint sweetness and plenty of moisture, like a fruit. We've tried it too, but..."

(continuation of previous line)

The beastman's eyes flicked to the pale little fruit in the female's palm: "This fruit's too small; beastman warriors find it a hassle to eat, so they've stopped."

Wu Yue nodded in understanding: "For the Beastfolk, the time spent gathering this fruit could have been used to hunt who knows how many wild beasts."

Since it wasn't poisonous, Wu Yue also took out a hard yellow fruit and put it in her mouth, but after trying, she still helplessly gave up.

Helplessly, she said: "It's really hard; if I keep trying, my teeth will break."

Yuan Lang's eyes practically overflowed with a smile he couldn't hide: "This fruit is already fully ripe; its taste definitely isn't as good as before."

He turned, picked up a stone bowl, then placed a fruit inside and ground it hard with a wooden stick.

In just a moment, the fruit that had almost broken Wu Yue's teeth turned into a pile of powder the size of a fingernail cap.

Wu Yue scooped some with a wooden spoon into her mouth; though dry, it still carried a faint sweetness, the texture reminiscent of the cornmeal she had eaten in her past life.

When this thought surfaced in her mind, Wu Yue's eyes shone like stars, and she ecstatically gazed at the beastman warrior smiling at the corners of his mouth.

Setting down the stone bowl, Yuan Lang raised his dark brows slightly, a hint of pride in his voice: "Found it?"

If this hard thing is ground into powder, couldn't it be used as a food?

For the two of them, finding a staple food was far more precious than discovering ten kinds of wild vegetables.

"Does this fruit grow on trees?"

Yuan Lang nodded: "Well, this fruit tree isn't tall, but its branches are full of thorns; when the beastfolk gather it, they always get pricked and yelp."

We also have this fruit in the Polar Forest, but not many; most are in the Mad Lion Tribe's territory, and only when just ripe do they eat it as fruit; once fully ripe they don't, because it's too hard to bite.

Wu Yue smiled: "Looks like our gathering team will have a new target."

"Tomorrow during the hunt, I'll order the hunting and gathering teams to have their people look for this tree around."

At dinner, little Aima, who was nibbling raw meat in the tribe grandmother's embrace, took out a packet of food emitting a tempting aroma from her bosom.

That aroma instantly spread across the small clearing, drawing the drool of the surrounding tribespeople.

Laman swallowed, looked down at the raw meat in his hand that had just seemed incredibly tender, and instantly it lost its appeal.

"Aima, what food is this, and why does it smell so good?"

Beside him, the little male sitting next to his A Mu couldn't help but lean forward, his round eyes full of longing; he had smelled this aroma before, but only in the cave of the shaman and several beastman sirs.

Little Aima hehe-laughed as she opened the small package of food; inside was a piece of roasted meat as big as a male's head, with wisps of heat slowly rising upward.

The little male cub's saliva spilled from the corner of his mouth with a "splash": "It's roasted meat!"

Little Aima is a generous cub; she placed the roasted meat in the hands of the grandmother holding her: "Grandma, please share some with us."

The female grandmother affectionately rubbed the little cub's head in her embrace; Aima is truly well-behaved.

Since Aima became Wu Yue's disciple, the original tribe's people have treated her with even more care.

The shaman's disciple could possibly become a shaman, the most exalted existence in a beastfolk tribe.

So this grandmother was assigned to specifically look after little Aima until she could gather food on her own.

Having cared for little Aima for so long, the grandmother naturally knew her appetite; after setting aside enough for her to eat, she then distributed the remainder to the youngsters who had come running at the sound.

With her oily little hands holding the fragrant roasted meat, little Aima's heart brimmed with gratitude and reverence for her master; although she was still just a young cub, her past life had taught her that without her master, she definitely could not have this life of being full every day.

The next morning, everyone learned from the beastman warrior of a new task for the day, and Laman, upon seeing that familiar fruit, finally understood where the big chunk of roasted meat in little Aima's bosom at yesterday's dinner had come from.

Although that fruit wasn't something he contributed, for some reason his originally slightly hunched chest inexplicably straightened considerably, and the pride in his heart just wouldn't be suppressed.

Little Aima is, after all, a member of their tribe...

Ah... no, wait, now everyone is one tribe, but... hehe...

This couldn't diminish his pride at all; he was just being smug.

"This tree is very important to our tribe; you all need to pay attention—today, the squads that find more of these fruit trees will get more meat at night."