Chapter 783

Wu Yue wore an expression of admiration, picked up the item handed to her by Yuan Lang beside her, and carefully placed the remaining few fruits into the side pocket of her backpack.

Actually, she directly put them into her system backpack.

"Rest assured, for such precious fruit, I am willing to exchange it for an equal amount of salt."

The old shaman felt delighted.

He quickly gestured for the Sand Lizard chieftain to take the skin bag from the Beastfolk behind him.

He tore open a bag, reached in and grabbed several stones of various colors: "Look at these; these are stones found only in our endless desert."

"Not only are they beautiful, each type of stone has a different effect."

"Inlaid in a shaman's staff, they enhance shamanic power; inlaid in a Beastfolk's weapon or body, they also strengthen the power of the beast god."

"Of course, the quality of the stones our tribe gathers is average, but it's sufficient for several uses."

"The higher the quality of the stone, the greater the power it enhances and the longer its duration."

As the old shaman took out the stones one by one, Wu Yue's eyes widened involuntarily.

Yuan Lang beside her also looked somewhat surprised at the old shaman still enthusiastically promoting his wares.

Turquoise, diamond, peridot, garnet, agate, and so on.

The various gemstones practically blinded Wu Yue's eyes.

She mechanically turned her head toward the old shaman beside her, who grinned widely while enthusiastically promoting his goods.

"It turns out the hidden big shot is right in front of her."

The old hidden big shot shaman chuckled, rubbing his hands: "How about it, Shaman Yue? Can we exchange a bit more salt?"

Wu Yue roared inwardly: "Can! Must be able! Whoever says she can't, I'll argue with them!"

Striving to suppress her surging excitement, her voice still trembled slightly: "I don't know how much salt the old shaman wishes to exchange."

"The salt I have here is the same snow salt I gave you last time."

Wu Yue merely emphasized the quality of the salt in her hand, but the old shaman and the surrounding Sand Lizard tribespeople felt a shudder inside.

"Could this shaman sir from outside be looking down on their tribe's prickly fruit and stone quality?"

Immediately, they all lowered their heads somewhat guiltily.

"Although, their tribe truly had no better-quality stones."

"There's nothing to be done; being weak, they cannot occupy better territory."

The old shaman lifted his slightly trembling claw and shakily extended a hand: "This..."

Wu Yue quickly nodded: "Sure, sure, one pack of this quality of stone for five small packs of salt."

Yuan Lang beside her rose, walked over to the cloud-stepping beast, and picked up a huge hide bag about his height.

He opened the bag's mouth and took out a small hide pouch as thick as a Beastfolk's thigh and as tall as a forearm: "These small hide pouches, but you need to find your own items to fill them with salt; we will retrieve these hide pouches."

As Yuan Lang and Wu Yue's words fell, the surrounding air grew eerily still.

Their gazes stiffened as they looked at the scattered stones on the ground, then at the snow-white salt glittering with fine light in the sunlight.

There was a dizzy sensation, as if struck by a poisonous shaman's curse.

Beast god, did we step on a humpback beast's dung today?

Or perhaps the old shaman beside them possesses strong mental power, creaking his stiff neck as he struggles to suppress his inner joy, nodding repeatedly: "No problem, no problem, we'll exchange according to the amount of five bags of salt."

Saying this, the spry little old man leapt up from the hide mat, snatched the hide bag filled with stones from the still-dazed tribesperson's hands, and piled it at Wu Yue's feet.

"'Give, give, give, these are all yours, hehehe.'"

Both sides felt they had gained the advantage, happily one collecting salt, the other counting gemstones.

Because of this salt transaction, the Sand Lizard tribe fell into a brief revelry.

The tribespeople looked at the snow-white salt they had received in their hands, extended their fingers, pinched a few grains carefully, and placed them into their mouths.

A pure, unadulterated salty taste without a hint of bitterness spread in their mouths.

"'Really, there's not a bit of bitterness.'"

"'I need to pull out a stone jar again to store this snow salt.'"

After a simple lunch, the desert's temperature dispelled some of the chill.

The Sand Lizard tribe's group and Wu Yue finally set out toward the nearby Humpback Beast tribe.

"'Shaman Yue, the distance between the Humpback Beast tribe and our Sand Lizard tribe is not far.'"

"The relationship between our two tribes is also fairly good."

"Whenever a beast tide occurs, the peoples of our two tribes unite to resist."

"Their tribe's people are very skilled at raising humpback beasts."

"You may not have seen them; humpback beasts are wild animals that live only in our endless desert."

"They are very tall; even without drinking water, they can survive in the desert for a very long time."

Upon hearing the old shaman speak of humpback beasts, Wu Yue roughly guessed what animal he meant.

Camel...

That is the existence known as the ship of the desert.

I just don't know what differences exist between the camels of this beast world and the camels from my previous world.

Night gradually blanketed the entire desert; Wu Yue's mouth twitched as she wrapped herself in thick fur.

Only her own naivety is to blame; she actually thought the shaman's 'near' was like the distance between two modern residential complexes.

As a result, it was already nightfall, with nothing but the endless desert in sight and no trace of tribal life.

What surprised Wu Yue was that although the sun had set, the desert's temperature had not dropped; it was much warmer than when she woke up in the morning.

Perhaps because of this, the Sand Lizard tribe's group also had no intention of stopping.

Swaying on until deep night, Wu Yue felt the surrounding temperature turn icy again, and only then did the group halt.

Beastman Warriors set up the sand dens quickly and skillfully.

In their eyes, the pitch‑black night was no different from day.

The old shaman came over with a weary face, greeted Wu Yue, then rested in his own sand den under the care of the nearby beastman warriors.

Wu Yue and Yuan Lang's sand den was right beside the old shaman, within the protective circle of the Sand Lizard Tribe's beastman warriors.

Wu Yue laid out a soft mat, washed up simply, then curled up in the blanket and fell asleep.

Yuan Lang tidied the hair pressed against her cheek, put on a thick cotton coat, then quietly left the sand den.

Outside, Cloudstep was boredly chewing the jerky Wu Yue gave it.

Hmm, fragrant~

Seeing Yuan Lang come out, it snorted angrily, its claws furtively pulling the jerky toward itself.

This is what the owner saved for itself; that thick‑skinned beastfolk should stay away.

Yuan Lang's mouth corner twitched fiercely as he watched Cloudstep's antics.

What kind of image does he have in that fierce beast's eyes, huh!

It's just jerky; as a dignified Gold‑rank beastman warrior, he wouldn't miss a bite.

Just kidding!

A moment later...

Facing Cloudstep's angry little glare, Yuan Lang calmly grabbed another piece of jerky and tossed it into his mouth.

"Yue is asleep, and I didn't prepare any jerky either."

"These jerky of yours are still taken from my rations, so what's wrong with me eating one or two pieces?"

"Don't be so stingy, beast; when Yue wakes up, I'll give you some more."

?? Second more.