Chapter 142: Bullfight

The early spring sun was not scorching, so after everyone finished eating in the open fields, they simply lay down, covered their faces with their clothes, and took a nap to rest, which also served to help digest their food.

In the past, you couldn't have paid them to sleep in the wilderness; that was a death wish. But now they weren't afraid. With the high city walls standing there and Soldiers patrolling atop them, there was no place safer than this, so they slept very comfortably.

The cattle finally had time to lie down and ruminate on the concentrated feed they had eaten, chewing it over thoroughly. It was just that as the weather warmed up, flies had also emerged, buzzing around their ears and being extremely noisy.

Once the day's labor was over, Baifeng first fed all the cattle their Grass and water before eating with his tribesmen. With experience, the cattle were more proficient at plowing the fields, and their speed had increased significantly. Now, they felt even more strongly that the cattle were far more important than people. Although in Baifeng's eyes, the importance of the cattle had only risen somewhat and still remained behind the people, they now had to be given better treatment than the tribesmen; after all, they did the hard labor and their contribution was great.

After eating, Baifeng was already sprawled on the ground, unwilling to move, but the cattle were already accustomed to returning to the cattle pen to sleep, so Baifeng had to personally send Xiaoniu and the other few cattle back. Baifeng had to go; Xiaoniu had opinions.

Baifeng dragged his heavy legs to the gate of the pen and gave Xiaoniu a slap on the rump, and it led the other cattle inside. The cattle that hadn't gone to plow had long since found dry, good spots in the pen to lie down.

As soon as they went in, Baifeng and the tribesmen who had come with him closed the thick, heavy gate. If it had just been him alone, he absolutely wouldn't have had the strength to close it.

The few people who looked after the cattle were also reclaiming land together. The Snow had melted, and in places not washed away by the flood, there was still dry Grass for them to eat. Now, the green grass hadn't even poked its head out yet, but there was no need for anyone to feed the herd; one only needed to go at noon to open the water and put enough water in the trough for all the cattle to drink.

With no one looking after them, no one discovered what had happened in the morning, and they didn't know that several calves had been injured.

Baifeng and the others hadn't walked far, dragging their weary bodies, when they heard the loud mooing of cattle, followed by the sound of a frantic stampede. The few of them didn't know what had happened, and in their fright, they hurriedly ran back to open the gate.

Just as they opened the gate to enter, they saw the white-bodied Xiaoniu and a yellow-brown bull confronting each other in the open space. Dust was everywhere, and all the other cattle were standing under the shed watching.

The two cattle walked into the open space and then each began to back up. Baifeng secretly thought, "Not good." This was definitely the yellow bull coming to challenge Xiaoniu's position as Tribal Chief. It didn't fight early or late, but had to fight in these two days—it was clearly seeing that Xiaoniu was exhausted from a day of work and physically weak. Would it have had the guts on any other day?

However, Xiaoniu had no choice but to accept the challenge. Even if it were exhausted, if it lost, it would no longer be able to stay in this herd. Not to mention that the new Tribal Chief would ostracize it, it would also almost certainly lose its right to mate.

Xiaoniu took a stance, ready to attack. Its opponent was not to be outdone, blowing a breath from its nostrils toward the ground and lowering its head, also preparing to clash with Xiaoniu.

Baifeng was very anxious but had no way to intervene. This was the rule of the wild—it was just this cruel and unreasonable. However, if Xiaoniu's life were in danger, Baifeng wouldn't mind stepping in to help. At worst, the herd would have no Tribal Chief and would never listen again.

A bull as docile as Xiaoniu was rare. If its offspring were raised by it, they would definitely be very docile as well and could be used by the tribe. Like this yellow bull, its wild nature was too strong and it was unscrupulous; even if it had offspring, they wouldn't be as good as Xiaoniu's.

Even if the herd started to reject humans, it wouldn't matter. The first generation could be kept if they would stay, and those unwilling to interact with humans could be slaughtered for food. In any case, there were already many second-generation calves, and they were almost at the age to be weaned. As soon as they were weaned, they would be handed over to people to manage, even if it meant building a new cattle pen. In any case, they could not stay with these cattle that had too strong a wild nature.

The confrontation between the two cattle began. They both started to charge at the same time and then collided with their Ox Horns. The yellow bull swayed immediately; it didn't stand steady and almost fell over. Xiaoniu, however, showed no signs of being affected.

After the collision, the two cattle began to fight at close quarters. Xiaoniu pressed its advantage, using its horns to butt the yellow bull's neck. The yellow bull turned sideways, caught it with its own horns, and then countered.

The two cattle's horns were locked together, and they were exerting force with their whole bodies. The sound of the horns clashing was very loud. Xiaoniu's stamina was failing, while the yellow bull had been resting and building up energy all day. Xiaoniu gradually began to fall into a disadvantage.

The yellow bull kept pushing forward, and Xiaoniu, lacking stamina, began to retreat. Both sides were almost head-to-ground, locked in a test of strength. It wasn't as bloody as Baifeng had imagined; it seemed to be purely a contest of strength now.

But the yellow bull didn't seem to understand the technique of applying force and exerted itself too violently. At this moment, it and Xiaoniu reached a stalemate. The two cattle just pushed like that, appearing to be in a static state.

Baifeng waited anxiously to see whose strength would run out first, but Baifeng felt that Xiaoniu's chances of winning were slim. If Xiaoniu hadn't gone to plow the fields today, this yellow bull probably wouldn't even have had the courage to challenge it.

After a moment of calm, the yellow bull suddenly erupted again, beginning to push hard against Xiaoniu's neck. Xiaoniu also began to fight back. Their horns were still locked, but both were struggling to push their own horns against the other's neck.

Slowly, blood could be seen coming out on both of their necks; the skin had been torn by the horns. Xiaoniu's white fur was even more obvious, but Baifeng felt that Xiaoniu should have the advantage because its physique was larger, its head was bigger, and its horns were longer, so it caused more damage to the yellow bull's neck.

After butting heads like this for a while, the yellow bull probably felt that it didn't have much chance of winning if things continued this way, so it shook its head, broke free, and retreated a few steps, preparing to build up momentum for a charge.

This time, Xiaoniu didn't retreat but lowered its head, ready to meet the challenge. Its neck was all red; it was unclear if it was stained by blood or if it was all wounds.

The yellow bull finished building up its momentum, kicked its hind legs, tucked its tail, and charged over. It collided with Xiaoniu, and Xiaoniu was pushed back several steps, but the yellow bull fell directly to the ground and couldn't get up.

It turned out that at the moment of impact, one of the yellow bull's Ox Horns had been snapped off, and its head had also been knocked dizzy. Under the double trauma, it was difficult for it to even stand up.

Xiaoniu had kept its position as Tribal Chief. It also knew Baifeng was watching it, so it raised its head and mooed at Baifeng, then walked with difficulty toward the cattle shed.

There were no more challengers now. Just as he was about to return with peace of mind, Baifeng saw several calves walking unsteadily, some limping. If it were only one, Baifeng might not have paid much attention, but just in the glance he had taken, there were three calves that were limping.

Baifeng disregarded his fatigue, lifted his legs, and stepped into the cattle pen, with the few tribesmen behind him hurriedly following.

The mother cows were very vigilant about Baifeng and the others' arrival, but the calves were not afraid of people, so they stretched out their necks to sniff Baifeng's outstretched hand, even having the intention to lick it.

Taking this opportunity, Baifeng hurriedly leaned in to observe the calves' legs. There was no deformation, which meant at least there were no fractures. It was possible that it was just very painful during this period. He didn't know how it had happened, that several calves had injured their legs at the same time.