Chapter 15: Want to Become Smart?

When Baifeng brought everyone to his camp, everyone was particularly disappointed, because there was no vast plain they had expected, no grass seeds ready for harvest, and certainly no mountains of meat.

To stabilize everyone's emotions, Baifeng stood on the platform and said loudly, "I am the son of the gods. If I say I can make you full, I certainly won't let you go hungry. As long as you listen to me and the Tribal Chief, I will definitely be able to make you full and warm."

The savages below were confused: should they listen to you or the Tribal Chief?

Baifeng said nothing more, scanning the items the savages in the tribe had brought. At a glance, there were only some Pottery Jars, animal skins, and the like; some bulging animal skin bags might contain food. In any case, Baifeng could see that this was a group of destitute savage tribesmen, even more pitiful than beggars.

Baifeng turned sideways, cleared the clutter on the camp, and revealed the piled-up fish meat. When the savages below saw the food, they wanted to rush up and grab it.

Baifeng snatched the whip from Xiong's hand and lashed out at the rushing savages. The savages were terrified of the Tribal Chief's whip, so they sobered up in an instant and ran back down, though their eyes were still fixed greedily on the meat.

Baifeng stood very seriously, high up, revealing the mark of a man, and shouted loudly, "I have food for you to eat, but you must be obedient. Whoever dares to act recklessly will be whipped hard!"

After Baifeng finished speaking, he returned the whip to the still-dazed Xiong and said to him, "You arrange for the tribesmen to find a place to start a fire and prepare to eat. I will point out where the water source is. Four people will receive one fish; you do the distributing."

When Xiong heard that the power to distribute food was still in his hands, he felt that he was still the Tribal Chief and did not feel there was anything wrong with Baifeng ordering him around.

A savage's Tribal Chief must be able to keep the tribesmen full and possess great martial strength; intelligence was completely unimportant.

Soon, the area around the camp was filled with rising cooking smoke. The Salted Fish and Smoked Fish that Baifeng had saved were taken away one by one. Those savages did not understand what it meant to be in groups of four; they had a hard time counting exactly how many they were.

If someone in front received a fish and they didn't, they would be very angry, but after being lashed with a whip, they would obediently follow the person in front again. If the person in front had no fish but they received one, they would be very happy.

Xiong did not know how many tribesmen he had either; it was already quite good that he could count to ten. A total of one hundred and three fish were given out. In the end, two people were left over, and they were given half a fish each. They felt it was very unfair—why did others get one and they get half? Only after being lashed with a whip were they willing to leave.

That is to say, there were four hundred and fourteen tribesmen in total, not counting Xiong, with whom Baifeng planned to eat a pot separately.

There were not that many pots in the tribe, so those who received fish gathered in groups of dozens around a large pot, threw all the fish in, and scrambled to eat once it was cooked. This resulted in the strong eating more, while the weak ate less or could not even get any soup.

Baifeng called Xiong to the platform, set up a pot, and unhurriedly put the fish in, also adding some wild vegetables to go with it.

Xiong must have been hungry for a long time, staring at the pot and swallowing his saliva continuously. Baifeng opened the lid, stirred it, and felt it was cooked and ready to eat.

Xiong reached directly into the pot to scoop some out, but Baifeng slapped his hand away. Then, looking at him with great disdain, Baifeng took out three bowls from the side. After filling the first bowl, he did not give it to the wide-eyed Xiong, but instead placed it before a stone inscribed with "Heaven and Earth".

Xiong was very confused; he ran to the side of the stone, looked left and right, and wanted to flip the stone over to see what it was. As a result, before Baifeng could even act, he was scolded by the Shaman.

"That is a deity! You cannot be disrespectful to the deity, or you will suffer the punishment of Heaven!" The Shaman, still sucking on a bit of fish tail, was badly frightened by Xiong's behavior.

"Why do you sacrifice to the deity like this? Shouldn't the offerings be thrown into the fire? If you do this, how can the god receive your tribute?"

The Shaman did not understand Baifeng's behavior at all and even wanted to come over and help Baifeng pour that bowl of food into the fire to offer it to the deity.

Baifeng stopped the Shaman and said, "Things for the deity do not need to be thrown into the fire. As long as there is an avatar of the deity, just place the offering in front of the avatar, and he will enjoy it himself." Baifeng pointed to the steam rising from the bowl and said, "Look, this is the deity enjoying my offering."

The Shaman felt that what Baifeng said was wrong, but could not find a point to refute it. Looking around, he pointed to the pots where the savages were scrambling and said, "That food there was not sacrificed to any deity, but why is a deity enjoying it too?"

Baifeng shook his head. "You did not sacrifice, but the god is still enjoying it. The one in the water is enjoyed by the Rain God, and the one in the fire is enjoyed by the Earth. Look at the steam rising from the Dahe now; that is the Water God drinking water. Once he has drunk enough, it will fall back to the Earth as rain."

The Shaman was deeply shocked by Baifeng's explanation, feeling as if his worldview was about to shatter. Xiong was also left stunned by Baifeng's words.

"Alright, the god is enjoying his food, and we should enjoy our own food too." Baifeng ignored the bewildered Shaman, returned to the fire, filled his Pottery Bowl, and filled one for Xiong as well.

Baifeng picked up his chopsticks and began to eat elegantly. Xiong, who was scooping with his hands, saw Baifeng's manner and felt he should learn, but there were no chopsticks left for him. So, he improvised, snapping two branches from nearby and stripping the leaves to use as chopsticks.

But Xiong could not use chopsticks; the two wooden sticks stuck together and were completely uncontrollable. Watching Xiong clumsily gripping the two sticks with his hand, Baifeng demonstrated how to pinch them. But Xiong could not separate his fingers no matter what. Baifeng grew anxious watching and simply gave up, letting him do as he pleased.

Xiong could not use chopsticks, but he used the two sticks to rake the meat out and eat it very quickly. Baifeng was curious that they were not afraid of being choked by fish bones, but seeing them not spitting out any bones, they must have chewed them up and swallowed them directly.

Baifeng could only say that this group of savages had tough lives and were easy to raise.

Baifeng saw that Xiong's bowl was empty and the pot was also empty, but Xiong looked like he hadn't had enough. He walked over and intended to take the "Heaven and Earth" meal to give to Xiong, but when he turned around, he saw that Xiong had already used his hand to shovel his own food into his mouth.

Seeing Baifeng looking at him, Xiong even pretended that it wasn't him and that he didn't know anything about it.

Baifeng had no choice but to eat that bowl himself. He sat down, picked up the bowl, and took a bite. Xiong opened his mouth in shock, and the food he hadn't had time to chew spilled out. He hurriedly wiped it back in with his hand, watching Baifeng in astonishment while he chewed.

Seeing Baifeng eat the god's offering, the Shaman could not understand it at all; this was completely different from his concept of sacrifice, so he ran over to question Baifeng again.

Baifeng said, "The deity's leftovers are the best reward for people. If people eat them, they will become smart."

The Shaman asked, "How do you know?"

Baifeng looked at Xiong and the Shaman with the expression one would use for a fool and said, "I am the son of the gods, so naturally I know. Besides, I was originally as stupid as Chi. Do you still think I am stupid now?"

The thin Shaman rushed over to grab Baifeng's bowl, wanting to eat a bite of the god's leftovers to become smart, but was kicked far away by Baifeng.