Chapter 64: Tiger Tribe

Because the Beastmen of the Heaven Lion Tribe are all winged Beastmen, arriving at the Tiger Tribe was relatively early. Besides the Heaven Lion Tribe, the Bird Tribe had arrived early, while the other tribes had not yet arrived.

Heaven Lion Tribe's people, after entering the Tiger Tribe, kept following the Tiger Tribe guard captain who came to welcome them to Chief Bai's home. Chief Bai of the Tiger Tribe, true to his name, received this name from the previous Priest because he is the only white tiger in the tribe. Upon seeing Bai, Mo De, the Heaven Lion Tribe's leader for this gathering, performed a Beastman warrior salute. Bai returned the salute, then after stating a few gathering precautions, Chief Bai had the guard captain lead the Heaven Lion Tribe's people to the pre-arranged area permitted for them to camp.

After arriving at the Tiger Tribe, Zhang Fan looked around at the buildings and realized the Tiger Tribe was truly backward compared to the Heaven Lion Tribe. Now at the campsite, this feeling intensified. The tribe lacked the stone houses with tile roofs of the Heaven Lion Tribe, had no herds of livestock, and did not plant any grain crops. People lived in hide tents, their daily food was hunted game brought back from outside, and their vegetables were wild greens gathered outside.

It is already the second month of the harvest season, yet the people in the tribe remain sallow and thin as in the rainy season. Seeing this, Zhang Fan felt uneasy. Even so, he never thought of teaching the Heaven Lion Tribe's knowledge to other tribes—not out of selfishness, but because he is no selfless saint; after all, the Heaven Lion Tribe was the first to accept him, not the Tiger Tribe. Moreover, with so many tribes on the Beastmen Planet, teaching them all would be exhausting!

The male Beastmen of the Heaven Lion Tribe, upon reaching the campsite, began building stone stoves from rocks they found nearby; once the stoves were ready, the females took over and started cooking. For lunch they had rice with beef soup and grilled meat, plus the indispensable spicy pickled cabbage. Since they had been on the road when they arrived, they hadn't brought fresh vegetables, and while traveling the only vegetables they could get were those the males happened to pick while hunting; fortunately they had the spicy pickled cabbage.

After the meal, the females were in charge of cleaning utensils and cookware, while the males set up tents. Since everyone had prepared beforehand, allocating one small tent per person was more than enough. However, because everyone came with family, they followed custom and gave one tent per household. Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er thus received a spot to pitch a tent. Since Zhang Fan and Fei Er are females, they did not need to help with the tents, so Mo De and Ba Ke Er had to cooperate—first helping Mo De set up his tent, then helping Ba Ke Er set up his. Many others in the Heaven Lion Tribe's campsite also cooperated in this way.

The tents were pitched, the cookware and utensils washed and stored, and next came the time to stroll around.

Because it was a tribal gathering, even before it officially began many Tiger Tribe members had set up stalls, selling all kinds of oddities, and of course there were also plenty of attractive and fun items. All in all, after walking around, Zhang Fan, Fei Er, and the other females of the Heaven Lion Tribe were carrying assorted bundles. At the Tiger Tribe's stalls, Zhang Fan also found a stall selling various face paints; seeing the female's face smeared with them made him feel queasy.