Chapter 41: Scheming and Intrigue

The first human Baifeng encountered after arriving in this world was a member of a Cannibal Tribe; had he not transmigrated into this body, the current Baifeng would already be a pile of dung in the wilderness.

Baifeng had an instinctive fear of cannibal tribes, but the cannibal tribe he had encountered previously was small and incredibly backward, at most capable of capturing a lone human. They were not worth the effort of large tribes cooperating to encircle and annihilate them.

"Our tribe is very far from the Dahe, so we don't know about the Danfu Tribe. Tell me what they are like, and I will see whether we should go together to encircle and annihilate them. After all, I am far from here, and they have little impact on my tribe."

The Baifeng Tribe was backward and isolated, so he had to use every means to understand this world; the unknown was the most terrifying.

Baoxi did not ask too many questions, simply providing a description for Baifeng; no matter which tribe it was, none would like a cannibal tribe.

"The Danfu Tribe was originally at Qi River. They knew how to farm and hunt, but they also ate people. It wasn't that serious at first, but later the Danfu Tribe kept expanding and became more and more capable of eating people. They captured people throughout the Wei River basin to eat, calling them 'human livestock' in their own words."

"Their sacrifices also required many people. The surrounding tribes were basically wiped out. We, the Suiren Clan, the Shennong Clan, and the Youchao Clan, encircled and killed them once together. As a result, most fled back to their Qi River, but a portion followed the Dahe here."

Baoxi paused slightly to compose himself before continuing: "On the way here, I already saw small tribes of a hundred people suffering disaster. In fact, I brought over a thousand people, with over seven hundred Soldiers, and they are scouting around the market. I feel they might take advantage of the night to attack this place."

Over a thousand people—Baifeng secretly clicked his tongue. What kind of help would they need? They could walk sideways across this entire basin. As expected of a large tribe; other small tribes hadn't even figured out how to play with mud, yet they already had the embryonic form of a state where the land belongs to the family, and the Tribal Chief's son could wander around with over a thousand people.

However, with so many people, there was no need to drag him along to besiege the stragglers of a cannibal tribe. Baifeng decided to wait and see; it wasn't that simple. Who could be sure the savages weren't playing a trick?

Baifeng feigned thought for a while before slowly saying: "I certainly need to contribute to eliminating the cannibal tribe, but I only brought a few dozen Soldiers here and am not prepared for a major battle. If I rush back to the tribe to bring more people, I fear it will be Winter by then, and it will be too late to join the fight."

Baoxi's expression changed slightly. Baifeng sensed something was wrong; he did not want to be kept here.

"How about this: if they dare to come and attack, I will lead my tribesmen to join the fight. If this gathering can end peacefully, we will return to our tribe. If the cannibal tribe is still here next year, you won't need to come and negotiate; I will take the initiative to attack."

Baoxi sighed: "It is not that I am forcing you, but the people of the Danfu Tribe are strong in martial power. Even if we win after engaging them, the losses will be great. But as long as we have your kind of Strong Bow, we can defeat them very easily."

Baifeng sneered inwardly. As expected, they were still after his bows. What he feared most was that the matter of the Danfu Tribe was fake, and perhaps the people they had in ambush at night would disguise themselves as a cannibal tribe to rob everyone at this gathering.

"But this bow is too troublesome to make. Our entire tribe only has one person who knows how. A single bow must be made from the time the grass sprouts until the leaves fall. Sigh, our entire tribe doesn't even have a few, otherwise, I would have traded this bow to you."

Hearing this from Baifeng, Baoxi felt at ease. No matter how he looked at it, Baifeng's brain didn't seem to work well; how did he become a Tribal Chief?

His primary goal was to obtain a bow to imitate and produce after returning, but if their entire tribe didn't have many, it meant they were no threat to his Suiren Clan tribe at all. Then Baifeng was his good business partner; in any case, he wouldn't live much longer.

There was no tea to entertain the guest, only water with honey added in a large Pottery Jar. Baifeng picked it up and took a sip. He wasn't afraid of them poisoning it; even the Shennong Clan might not be able to fully master poison right now, let alone Baoxi.

The taste was cloyingly sweet. Since coming to this world, sweetness had been a stranger to him, but a little bit was fine. Sweetness wasn't that precious to Baifeng. He handed the remaining majority of the honey water to Sui, who sniffed it and then hugged the jar and drank wildly.

Perhaps she had never known what sweetness was in all her years. Baifeng was now afraid that if she drank so much honey water, she would get diarrhea, but the digestive tracts of primitive people should be as tough as Iron; this shouldn't be a problem, although Baifeng could already hear the rumbling of Sui's stomach.

Since the host was treating him, Baifeng was also willing to tell them some stories. No matter how filthy his inner thoughts were, the surface work still had to be done well.

He told them about the Golden Crow sun and the Fusang tree. Baoxi listened, mesmerized, as if he had learned a great secret of Heaven and Earth. Sui also forgot to drink her honey water, hugging the jar and listening quietly.

When he reached the story of Jingwei filling the sea, Baoxi interrupted Baifeng's story.

"I know Jingwei is the daughter of the Shennong Clan. I have even met her. She is still alive and well and did not fall into the river and drown. How can you say she turned into a bird?"

Baifeng was waiting for this exact sentence. Extending from myths to reality was Baifeng's goal. If he didn't let Baoxi say it himself, he feared he wouldn't be able to ask anything out of him.

"This story was told to me by a Sage named Gusou when he came to my tribe. I have never seen Jingwei either."

"Then did Gusou tell any other stories? Are there any people I know?"

No matter what, Baoxi was still a child of eleven or twelve. Stories were most attractive to him, especially when people he knew became the protagonists of the stories.

"Do you know Xuanyuan of the Youxiong Clan?"

"I know the Youxiong Clan; they are in Qingqiu. But I have never heard of who Xuanyuan is."

"What about Chiyou of the Jiuli? He rides a black and white iron-eating beast; it's very funny."

"I have only heard of the Jiuli, not Chiyou. Is the iron-eating beast you mentioned that kind of bear that loves to eat bamboo?"

"That's right, that's the kind of bear. You should know Kuafu and Xingtian, right?"

Baoxi thought for a moment: "Xingtian is a Soldier of a tribe affiliated with the Shennong Clan; he is very powerful. Kuafu—you are talking about the Kuafu Tribe, right? Kuafu, like the Danfu, are both Cannibal Tribes, but Kuafu are even more terrifying. They are giants."

Baifeng could not help but want to laugh toward the sky. Although he hadn't heard of Xuanyuan or Chiyou—perhaps they were still children—the fact that Xingtian was here meant that Baifeng had transmigrated into the most brilliant and passionate period of this ancient era.

If he could build a tribe comparable to the Youxiong Clan and the Jiuli before they grew up, would he also be qualified to leave his own legend in later generations?