Translator: Lordbluefire

  Beside the lake, the smell of blood assailed their nostrils.

  “Even if I want to save it, I have no tools to do so.”

  Even the cleverest housewife couldn’t cook without rice.

  The bear’s bone wasn’t broken, but it had many bite wounds and Sun Mo needed to staunch its bleeding and sew its wounds. However, Sun Mo didn’t have any thread or needle.

  “I know Teacher will definitely be able to do it!”

  Lu Zhiruo felt blind worship toward Sun Mo.

  “I’ll give it a try then!”

  Sun Mo placed his hands on the bear’s wound.

  With no spirit qi, the effect of the ancient massaging technique was greatly reduced. Let alone not being able to summon the genie, even for staunching bleeding, Sun Mo had to continuously press down on the blood vessel.

  In any case, it was better than nothing.

  “Check the surroundings and see if there are any dragonblood grass and green thorns. Oh right, if you run into grass mushrooms, pluck some as well.”

  Sun Mo instructed. “But do not run off too far!”

  “Mn!”

  Lu Zhiruo immediately did as instructed.

  …

  After stopping the bleeding, Sun Mo applied medicinal herbs and fed it water. He was kept busy all the way until the evening before he finally had time to take a break.

  There was no time to find a cave to stay now. They could only rest beside the lake tonight.

  Although the brown bear was close to death, it was still a ferocious beast and its threatening aura was still there. So, before that white tiger came to drink from the lake tomorrow, this place should be safe.

  “Eat some!”

  Sun Mo tossed a cooked pheasant to the bear.

  The brown bear sniffed. Because the cooked food was too near, it scalded its nose and this caused it to immediately roar in pain.

  “Let me help you!”

  Lu Zhiruo ran over and helped to tear the meat into slices before feeding them into the bear’s mouth.

  “Zhiruo, can you communicate with it?”

  Sun Mo was curious.

  He knew beast taming techniques but without spirit qi, there wouldn’t be a good effect.

  “Mn, I roughly know what it is saying.”

  The papaya girl nodded and this caused Sun Mo to be extremely shocked.

  Because they were in the desolate wilderness with dangers all around them, Sun Mo didn’t have the mood for idle chat. Therefore, he got Lu Zhiruo to rest quickly, as they needed to swap shifts for guard duty in the latter part of the night.

  When dawn arrived, Sun Mo was shocked away by a heavy booming sound.

  “What’s going on?”

  Sun Mo stared into the distance and saw some birds flying away due to shock, rising into the sky.

  That bear also lifted its head to look and revealed a heavy expression.

  Sun Mo placed the remaining roasted pheasants from yesterday on the bonfire to heat it up. He then took out a few bird eggs from the ashes and split them with Lu Zhiruo.

  After that, he helped the bear change the medication and left behind two wild pheasants for it.

  “Brown bear, we have done our utmost. Whether you can live on or not, that will have to depend on your constitution.”

  Sun Mo packed his stuff and prepared to set off. He naturally wouldn’t want to waste too much of his time on a bear.

  “It should be able to live.”

  Lu Zhiruo was very happy. The constitution of the bear was truly very good, and its wounds had formed a scab.

  Ao!

  The bear was no longer filled with hostility. Instead, it lifted a claw and pointed at the west.

  “What do you mean?” Sun Mo laughed. “Are you asking us to head there?”

  The bear couldn’t understand Sun Mo’s words, but Lu Zhiruo was here as a translator.

  “It says that there’s a human village over there.”

  Lu Zhiruo translated.

  “Thanks!”

  Sun Mo set off, however, there was a heavy feeling in his heart. In the stone era where resources were rare, humans who were living should be savages. To them, he was food.

  Moreover, even if he wasn’t eaten, it was unknown whether they could even communicate with each other.

  After walking for over an hour, the two of them saw a tattered village. The houses were all round-shaped and made from rocks and stones. Several stone houses had even collapsed.

  “There’s no one!”

  Lu Zhiruo was disappointed. It was clear with a single glance that it had been a long time since people inhabited the village. But even so, Sun Mo was still very cautious as he silently entered the village.

  The village was very large, and the distance from the eastern end to the western end was over 1,000 meters. There were no corpses or any traces of a slaughter. Many of the stone houses had collapsed because no one took care of them for years.

  Sun Mo walked one round around the village and discovered an altar in the northern direction.

  The altar was very simple. It consisted of eight large columns with mysterious diagrams engraved on them, and they were buried in the soil in a certain formation. Among them, three were already broken.

  Sun Mo moved closer to the totem pillars and to see if he could understand something from them.

  Sadly, he was clueless.

  “Let’s go!”

  An hour later, Sun Mo was prepared to leave.

  “Teacher, let’s check this place carefully again. That mummy bear said that there’s good stuff here!”

  Lu Zhiruo’s eyes were very bright. “Maybe, there might be treasures buried here!”

  “How would a bear know if there really is a treasure?”

  Sun Mo rolled his eyes. He mentally mused that if there were good stuff, it would surely be the altar. However, he had wasted quite a lot of time when he headed over to check them earlier.

  Usually speaking, there must be wealthy people or people with high statuses in the village. The houses they resided in would also be larger. So, Sun Mo chose the largest stone house and entered it.

  This stone house was the size of half a basketball court. There was nothing here. However, Sun Mo wasn’t in a hurry and he slowly prodded the ground with his spear.

  “Oh right, maybe there’s a basement.”

  Lu Zhiruo realized this in hindsight and also started prodding the ground.

  Five minutes later, the two of them shifted their locations to the second-largest stone house. Sadly, they didn’t manage to find anything.

  “Let’s leave!”

  Sun Mo lost his patience.

  “I believe that the mummy bear won’t lie to me.”

  Lu Zhiruo was determined. She then entered the stone house at the side.

  Sun Mo stared at the sky, and he was contemplating so much, feeling so much worry that he wanted to pull all his hair out.

  What exactly was the condition to clear the game?

  Sun Mo didn’t smoke but at this moment, he really wanted to smoke a cigarette to relax.

  “Teacher, come quickly!”

  The papaya girl’s shout interrupted Sun Mo’s thoughts.

  Swish~

  Sun Mo dashed into the stone house and saw a hole on the ground.

  “Teacher, there’s really a basement!”

  The papaya girl was very excited.

  “.……”

  As expected of the lucky mascot. Her luck was incomparable.

  He lit a torch and shone it into the basement.

  Using the illumination provided, Lu Zhiruo felt somewhat disappointed when she saw that the basement wasn’t big. Even if there were treasures, there couldn’t be many.

  “Wait for me here!”

  Sun Mo instructed and jumped down.

  On the left side of the basement, there were over ten beast skin bags that were the height of half a human, and a few of them were already broken. Various types of grains that Sun Mo didn’t know the name of flowed out.

  Sun Mo immediately opened two other sacks for a look.

  Rice grains could be considered rations. These must have been kept for many years, and their taste must have deteriorated. But at this moment, they could fill their bellies.

  “There’s 50 jin of rice grains in a bag. There are a total of 16 bags here, and after removing the rotten ones, we should still have over 500 jins of rice. If there’s just the two of us eating, this would be enough for us to eat for a year.”

  Sun Mo heaved a sigh of relief.

  In this era, rice was life. At the very least, they didn’t need to worry about starving to death because they failed to hunt prey.

  Beside the bags with rice, there were beast-skin sacks that were tied up with ropes that had frayed from age. Even if one didn’t use much force, it was easy to break them.

  The sacks were all filled with weapons.

  “Teacher, what are in the sacks?”

  Lu Zhiruo was curious.

  “You should come down and see.”

  “Wow, a stone blade!”

  Lu Zhiruo jumped down and happily cried out after seeing a stone blade of about three feet long in Sun Mo’s hands.

  This stone blade was a creation of the highest-skilled stonemason of this village. Because it was coated in animal grease, it was very well maintained. Even now, it was very sharp.

  Naturally, even if this item was no longer sharp, Sun Mo could just use a grindstone to sharpen it. After all, the most precious aspect of stone blades lay in the stone material that the stonemason had chosen to use.

  If it wasn’t for this unexpected windfall, Sun Mo wouldn’t have a weapon for at least three years.

  “Nice!”

  Sun Mo took a stone blade and cut the air twice. It felt very comfortable.

  “There are 30 of them, and there are more than ten knives here.”

  Lu Zhiruo was taking count of their spoils and was smiling happily.

  Other than blades and knives, there were also bows. However, their bowstring made from ox tendons had almost rotted. Fortunately, there was a sack filled with over 300 arrows and this caused Sun Mo to feel joy bubbling in his heart.

  If he coated these with poison, their killing prowess would surely be very great.

  The remaining items were five handaxes, two stone hammers, some spearheads, and ten slingshots. However, the slings had rotted away.

  “We have profited greatly!”

  Sun Mo happily hung the stone blade on his belt. He would already be extremely happy even if they only found this stone blade, let alone this many.

  “Let’s have porridge tonight!”

  Sun Mo immediately decided to treat this place as their stronghold. Just when he wanted to repack the weapons, the sound of a dog barking drifted into his ears.

  “A wild dog?”

  Sun Mo’s face was filled with joy. Just when he wanted to ask Lu Zhiruo if she could capture the hunting dog, a whistle suddenly rang out and this caused Sun Mo’s expression to change.

  A savage?

  (Damn, that’s not a wild dog; it’s one that was tamed and trained.)

  “You wait here for me!”

  Sun Mo instructed in a low voice and climbed out from the basement. He hid behind the stone door and peeked out.

  A youth clad in beast skin was currently heading in the northern direction.

  “Is he going to the altar?”

  Sun Mo observed.

  The youth had a bow and two quivers with him. There was a stone blade strapped to his left and right waist, and both his left and right legs had a scabbard with a dagger tied around them.

  He was carrying a basket with various herbs and the corpse of a roe deer.

  Because the youth would come here frequently, he knew that it had been a very long time since anyone came to this abandoned village. This was why he wasn’t wary at all. In fact, he was even humming a tune.

  Ultimately, he sat beside the altar. He took a twig and copied the diagrams on the altar onto the ground.

  Sun Mo didn’t dare to get close. Half an hour passed before that hunting dog felt bored and decided to leave this area.

  “Chance!”

  Sun Mo held a bow in his hands and snuck over.

  The youth was too immersed in his contemplation and basically didn’t sense anyone getting close.

  Sun Mo originally wanted to first injure the savage’s leg. Now, he decided to skip all the trouble and directly placed his stone blade next to the youth’s neck. Only then did the youth finally react.

  “Don’t move or I’ll kill you!”

  Sun Mo roared in a low voice.

  Sadly, their languages didn’t match.

  The youth jumped up violently. His right hand grabbed the stone blade to prevent it from cutting his throat, while his other hand shot toward Sun Mo’s stomach.

  By doing so, his right hand might be crippled, but the youth didn’t seem to care.

  “Damn!”

  Sun Mo cursed and twisted his body, avoiding the savage youth’s attack. At the same time, he aimed a punch at the savage’s head.

  Bang!

  The savage suffered a blow and his head felt somewhat giddy. However, he forcibly endured it and ferociously punched out at Sun Mo.

  Bang! Bang!

  Sun Mo suffered two blows to his stomach. He felt that his guts were almost going to break from the impact.

  “I should have injured one of his legs earlier.”

  Sun Mo regretted it. However, now was not the time to show mercy. He turned his wrist and then continued on with the momentum, cutting down at the savage’s shoulder.

  Swish~

  The beast-hide shirt was cut, and a wound opened on his body.

  The savage didn’t even blink. However, because he was injured, there was a change in his movements. Sun Mo took the chance and struck out twice more with his stone blade, aiming for the savage’s body.

  Swish~

  Upon realizing he was not a match for Sun Mo, the savage wanted to flee. However, Sun Mo used the back of the stone blade to whack the savage’s neck, causing him to faint.

  Woof! Woof!

  When the hunting dog heard the commotion, it ran over.

  Sun Mo aimed his bow.

  Woosh~

  An arrow shot out and pierced the chest of the dog, causing it to roll over on the ground.

  …

  After Hui Shi woke up, he felt his head being very heavy. He subconsciously tried to rub it, yet he discovered that he was tied up.

  “You are awake now?”

  Sun Mo’s lips twitched.

  Woof! Woof!

  The hunting dog barked and bared its teeth at Sun Mo.

  Sun Mo lifted a stone and tossed it over.

  Bang!

  “If you bark again, I’m going to roast you tonight!”

  Sun Mo berated.

  If it wasn’t for Lu Zhiruo pleading mercy, Sun Mo would have killed this dog.

  “Who are you? This is the hunting area of our Gray Rock Tribe. All intruders must die!”

  Hui Shi roared.

  “Teacher, what is he saying?”

  Lu Zhiruo couldn’t understand.

  Sun Mo kneaded his glabella and felt somewhat rueful. No wonder all those people couldn’t clear the game. Damn, the NPC was talking in the ancient Nine Provinces language. Only a few people would understand them.

  “You are now my captive. If you don’t want to be eaten, you have to honestly answer my questions!”

  Sun Mo used the ancient language and threatened him.

  The savage youth clearly didn’t understand his position. He was still shouting and roaring at Sun Mo. There was no solution to this. Sun Mo could only punish him.

  Sun Mo picked up a wooden rod and smashed it ferociously on the savage’s skull.

  “Now, can we converse properly?”

  Sun Mo squatted beside the savage and used his wooden rod to prod his face.

  “I won’t betray my tribe.”

  The savage had an unyielding character.

  “Good!”

  Sun Mo smiled. “In that case, do you like being roasted or stewed? Let me clarify first, I don’t like eating sashimi-style. Oh, You don’t know what sashimi is? It means slicing off your meat bit by bit and dipping it into sauces before I eat it.”

  The expression of the savage didn’t change at all.

  After being captured by those from the Red Rock Tribe, the captives would usually end up being eaten.

  “Fine, I’ll eat your dog first.” Sun Mo chortled.

  “Don’t eat my dog!” the savage shouted.

  “Haha!”

  Sun Mo was happy. The savage wasn’t scheming at all?

  Since the weakness had been spotted, it would be easier for him to do the interrogating later.

  This youth was from the Grey Rock Tribe. They were the owner of this lake and the area around, ranging several tens of miles.

  The tribe wasn’t large. They had a total of 500 to 600 people, and they usually made their living by hunting. Their smallest hunting group would consist of about ten members before they moved out.

  “What are you doing here alone then?” Sun Mo continued to ask. “Is there anything strange about that altar?”

  The youth didn’t want to answer.

  “I can only say sorry to your dog if you still refuse to answer.”

  Sun Mo coldly snorted.

  Under threat, the youth unwillingly divulged the secret to Sun Mo.

  So, this abandoned village was the Grey Rock Tribe’s previous location. A prophet had told them that a huge calamity was coming and they should relocate themselves, or their tribe might be annihilated.

  Some people trusted the prophet and left with him. Some others didn’t believe him and had chosen to remain here.

  “The prophet is very strong. His witchcraft is extremely powerful.”

  When he mentioned the prophet, the youth had a look of worship on his face. “It’s said that the secret of witchcraft lies in the tribe totem. I wish to learn it.”

  This savage wished to become his tribe’s prophet.

  “Witchcraft?”

  Sun Mo’s eyes brightened. Could he learn that then?

  Chapter 1124: Comprehending Witchcraft, the Style of a Prophet!

  Although Hui Shi was a savage, he wasn’t stupid. When he saw Sun Mo’s expression, he knew that this fellow whose origins were unknown was thinking about his tribe’s witchcraft.

  (Sadly, you won’t be able to learn it!)

  “Teacher, he’s smirking!”

  The papaya girl instantly reported this.

  “You are smirking because you think I won’t be able to learn the witchcraft, right?”

  Sun Mo’s tone was very prideful, and he intentionally allowed a hint of contempt to seep into his voice.

  “Hehe, that’s only something prophets can learn!”

  Hui Shi mocked. “Whoever can learn it will become the prophet.”

  In the hearts of savages, prophets were wise men, and they were the most intelligent people in the tribe. Without prophets, any tribe would surely decline and fall.

  “In that case, your prophet is a selfish man!”

  Sun Mo’s expertise in the ancient Nine Provinces Language became increasingly proficient the more he used them. “Why didn’t he teach it to the young people of the tribe?”

  “Don’t speak nonsense, our prophet is very generous!”

  When Hui Shi heard this, he grew anxious. “It is us who failed to learn it!”

  “Ah, so it’s you guys who’re stupid!”

  Sun Mo was enlightened.

  “We are also not stupid. Before the prophet could impart the complete knowledge to us, he was killed by people from the Red Rock Tribe.”

  Hui Shi explained. When he spoke until here, his expression grew heavy and desolated.

  Without a prophet, the tribe would surely be finished.

  This was also why Hui Shi would always come here to comprehend the ancestral totems every time during his free time.

  He wanted to become the new prophet of the tribe.

  “What is the Red Rock Tribe? Your opponent?”

  Sun Mo frowned. It was so troublesome.

  “A tribe that prays to the Fire God.”

  Just when the sound of Hui Shi’s voice faded, two heavy booming sounds echoed from a location far away.

  Boom! Boom!

  “Do you know what the sound is?”

  Sun Mo asked.

  “The Fire God is venting his anger!”

  Hui Shi stared into the distance and his expression grew even more unsightly. “Damn, the Red Rock Tribe is starting their hunt again. Only by contributing sacrificial offerings would they be able to calm the anger of the Fire God!”

  “Fire God?”

  Sun Mo felt a headache. (Can you speak of a new term?)

  If the gods in the primitive era truly had indescribable and mysterious powers, he might as well just choose to lie down and die.

  Luckily, given Sun Mo’s masterful questioning, the savage revealed everything he knew.

  After all, in this era, there were no such things as technique interrogation. The savage basically didn’t know how to defend against this.

  The so-called Fire God was actually just a volcano.

  The Red Rock Tribe lived beneath the volcano, so they treated the Fire God as their totem. When they saw the volcano erupting, they thought that it was because the Fire God was angry. Hence, they would contribute various sacrificial offerings, including living humans from the Gray Rock Tribe in hopes that the Fire God could calm its anger.

  “That prophet was correct. You guys should have relocated long ago!”

  Sun Mo roughly understood now.

  The doomsday prophecy that was spoken by the prophet of the Gray Rock Tribe probably had a connection with this volcano.

  As the Earth crust moved, a dead volcano might become a live one and would erupt forth with magma. Hence, no matter how many sacrificial offerings were given, it would be useless.

  Hui Shi grew silent. This wasn’t something he could understand.

  Back then, their ancestors were those who remained of the chieftain’s line of descent.

  “Can you tell me more about your tribe’s witchcraft?”

  Sun Mo asked with a smile.

  Lu Zhiruo crushed some herbs and applied them to the hunting dog’s wound. This scene also caused the wariness in the savage’s heart to be reduced by quite a bit.

  “The witchcraft of our tribe can allow a human to transform into various types of birds and beasts, galloping through the world and flying through the sky. During combat, we can transform into a giant elephant, a tiger, or a wolf. When playing, we can transform into various birds of prey to plunder the sky.”

  Hui Shi was proud.

  “Actually, I know those things too!”

  Sun Mo chortled. When the Great Desolation Dragon Subduing Scripture was trained to the absolute limits, the practitioner could become a giant dragon.

  “I don’t believe it. Why don’t you transform and show me?”

  The savage snorted in disdain.

  “Can one transform after comprehending the totems?”

  Sun Mo asked.

  “Yup!”

  Hui Shi nodded.

  “If you want to lie, can you make things sound more real? By replying so quickly, even if I were an idiot, I wouldn’t believe you.”

  Sun Mo was speechless.

  Hui Shi didn’t want to say anything, but Sun Mo was holding his beloved dog hostage. Hence, he could only choose to compromise.

  “In any case, you won’t be able to comprehend anything!”

  Hui Shi was very calm.

  If one wanted to learn this transformation witchcraft, one had to grasp the secrets of the totems. Moreover, they had to be accompanied by prayers to their ancestors. The people of the tribe knew the ancestral prayers, but they only understood a tiny bit of these diagrams.

  Before the prophet could finish teaching them, he was already killed by the people from the Red Rock Tribe.

  Sun Mo originally had no interest in these totems. However, now that he knew they had a connection with witchcraft, he wanted to try comprehending them.

  Luckily, they found plenty of grain. In addition to hunting every day, they needn’t worry about food and drink for some time. Sun Mo could roughly enter close-door seclusion for a week.

  Once he learned witchcraft, his combat strength would surely increase.

  “Let’s do it together?”

  Sun Mo sat cross-legged beside the totem pillars.

  “You are wasting your effort. You might as well use your time to go hunting.”

  Hui Shi mocked.

  “My teacher is a reserve saint!”

  Lu Zhiruo didn’t understand what Hui Shi was talking about, but from his expression, it was clear that Hui Shi was looking down on her teacher.

  “What is she talking about?”

  Hui Shi was curious.

  He was fond of this girl. Compared to the girls in his tribe, she was fair and tender. And the most important thing was that she was truly huge!

  (So huge, the babies she gives birth to will surely be nourished very well and be extremely healthy!)

  Hui Shi was longing for the future.

  There was a certain rule to decipher the diagrams on the totems. It was like solving mathematical questions. One might not succeed even if they racked their brains for a long time if they didn’t apply the right formula.

  Because Hui Shi’s knowledge was superficial, he could only do things blindly. But Sun Mo was different.

  He was a great ancestor-level spirit runist!

  After knowing the effects of these totems, Sun Mo started to analyze them, distinguishing their core components, their frame structures. At the same time, there was the Ancient Nine Provinces Language in his mind as a reference.

  In this process of disassembling, analyzing, inspecting, verifying, and unceasing experimentations…many days passed.

  Sun Mo would hunt once every two days, and he spent the rest of his time sitting beside the altar, studying the totems.

  The savage Hui Shi originally found Sun Mo displeasing to the eye. But he gradually grew impressed.

  At the very least, he didn’t have such determination.

  Every time Hui Shi came to comprehend the totem, he would leave after three to five hours, and he wouldn’t spend every moment contemplating over it.

  However, Sun Mo’s contemplation could last for an entire day.

  “He couldn’t have comprehended the secret of the totems, right?”

  Hui Shi sank into conflict.

  He didn’t want Sun Mo to succeed in his comprehension. After all, this was witchcraft belonging to his tribe. But on the other hand, he also hoped that Sun Mo would succeed. Because it meant that the lost witchcraft could appear once more.

  On the seventh day, during dinner time.

  Sun Mo waited in a stone house. He was currently writing on the ground with a piece of stone.

  Hui Shi came over after he ate.

  “What do you want to do?”

  Sun Mo asked with a smile.

  “C…can you teach me?”

  Hui Shi braced himself and smiled as he asked this question.

  He could already tell that this Sun Mo was a kind person. If not, he would have long since eaten him up. Why would he have to waste rations and feed him?

  Naturally, the most important thing was that Sun Mo was a wise man.

  Although Hui Shi couldn’t understand the diagrams Sun Mo was drawing, he could sense that they were very logical. He could also tell that Sun Mo was a very able person from his look of contemplation.

  “Sure!”

  Sun Mo didn’t mind it. He started to share his thoughts and insights.

  …

  On the eighth morning, Sun Mo woke up and stretched his body comfortably.

  After dinner, he placed the stone blade, his bow, and arrows on him.

  “Teacher, leave the hunting to me. You should just focus on comprehending the totem.”

  Hui Shi wanted to take charge of the hunting.

  After he saw Sun Mo’s probing gaze on him, he immediately guaranteed. “I won’t flee!”

  Hui Shi didn’t know how he should address Sun Mo. After seeking Sun Mo’s opinion, he received the answer of ‘teacher’.

  Teachers…

  Impart the dao, provide education, and dispel doubts!

  “It’s fine!”

  Sun Mo smiled.

  “Oh!”

  Hui Shi revealed a disappointed expression. (Teacher must have given up, right? No, I should encourage him more.)

  “Teacher, please persist for a little longer. I feel that with your intelligence, you will definitely be able to decipher these totems!”

  Hui Shi bitterly persuaded.

  “Haha!”

  Sun Mo laughed uproariously!

  Lu Zhiruo was familiar with Sun Mo’s personality, and she also felt blind worship for him. Upon seeing this, she immediately called out happily. “Teacher, could it be that you have already deciphered them?”

  “Yup!”

  Sun Mo patted Lu Zhiruo’s head. “Today, I’m planning to go and prepare the materials necessary to draw the totems!”

  Hui Shi couldn’t understand their words, but he thought of a possibility.

  (Could it be that Teacher has deciphered the totems?)

  (If not, why would he be so happy?)

  …

  With Hui Shi’s addition to their group, Sun Mo’s hunting speed became much quicker and safer.

  In order to make Hui Shi help them wholeheartedly, Sun Mo showed him another trump card.

  Under the trunk of a large tree, he plucked a mushroom and tossed it to Hui Shi.

  “Don’t eat it, it might be poisonous!”

  Hui Shi jumped in fright. In the mountainous region, the most dangerous things were these various types of mushrooms. So, he would rather suffer from hunger than eat them.

  “There’s nothing wrong with this.”

  Sun Mo explained. “This is called flat mushrooms. It’s sweet and has the effect of lowering blood pressure.”

  The people of this era probably wouldn’t live long enough for high blood pressure to set in.

  “My teacher is a grandmaster-level botanist!”

  Hui Shi hesitated but Lu Zhiruo trusted Sun Mo and also ate them.

  “You guys are courting death!”

  Hui Shi felt helpless. He could only pray that the mushroom Sun Mo ate was not poisonous. He even found a few roots that would induce vomiting and was preparing to feed them to Sun Mo if the latter showed signs of being poisoned.

  But he was worried too much.

  Even when the afternoon came, Sun Mo was still fine.

  Also, Sun Mo started to explain the properties of some herbs that they ran into on their journey.

  Hui Shi couldn’t remember them, and he didn’t bring along any bamboo to take down notes, which caused him to feel extremely anxious.

  In the evening, Sun Mo returned to the abandoned village.

  He originally wanted to capture a ferocious beast like a tiger or lion, but the combat strength of the three of them was too weak and they couldn’t do so. Hence, he could only seek the second-best option and use the blood of a wild boar.

  “Come, remove your clothes and sit here!”

  Sun Mo instructed.

  Hui Shi had no idea that he was being treated like a little lab rat by Sun Mo. After he heard this, he immediately grew emotional.

  “T…teacher…”

  (If the witchcraft succeeds, I’m willing to be an ox or a horse for you.)

  Sun Mo was too lazy to speak more. After Hui Shi finished his preparation, Sun Mo used his fingers and dipped them into the blood of a wild boar. He then started to draw the totem diagram on Hui Shi’s back,

  The entire process lasted for an hour.

  When the totem was completed, it shone with a blood-red light. After that, it began to seep into Hui Shi’s flesh.

  Hui Shi immediately felt his body growing hotter as a layer of sweat appeared on his body.

  “It’s done. Now, you can imagine yourself as a wild boar while praying to your ancestors at the same time.”

  Sun Mo instructed.

  Hui Shi immediately followed the instructions.

  When those strange-sounding syllables were uttered from his mouth, his body started to transform. His body hair grew longer and his teeth also became larger and sharper, protruding from his lips.

  “Teacher, I succeeded!”

  Hui Shi was very agitated. He could instinctively sense a mighty power in his body. He couldn’t control it, and he swung his fist toward a wall.

  RUMBLE!

  A large hole appeared on the wall.

  “S…so strong!”

  Hui Shi was dumbfounded. After that, tears flowed down his face. The witchcraft that had been lost had finally appeared again.

  “You have failed, why are you so agitated?”

  Sun Mo frowned.

  “Failed?”

  Hui Shi didn’t understand. This attempt was a failure but even so, he was so powerful? What if it wasn’t a failure then?

  Wouldn’t he be invincible?

  “This shouldn’t be a problem with the totem. After all, it’s impossible for me to make any mistakes with my skill. If that’s the case, it must be your ancestral prayers. You didn’t pronounce the syllables clearly enough.”

  Sun Mo analyzed.

  The completed witchcraft should allow one to become a boar-man with thick flesh and boundless might.

  “Oh, with regards to this beast transformation witchcraft, you can only use it three times and five minutes at most each time.”

  Because totems drawn with fresh blood would lose all their energy after transforming three times.

  It was unknown whether Hui Shi understood or not. He directly rushed out and screamed excitedly as he destroyed the other stone houses nearby.

  Rumble! Rumble!

  Hui Shi attacked ferociously, causing destruction everywhere.

  After playing for over ten minutes, Hui Shi finally returned. He then immediately knelt before Sun Mo and kowtowed to him.

  “Teacher, please follow me back to my tribe and be our prophet!”

  Hui Shi’s eyes shone brightly as he looked at Sun Mo. “Under your leadership, the Gray Rock Tribe would definitely become the strongest tribe in this mountainous region.”

  “I’m not interested!”

  Sun Mo rejected and continued to use thin bamboo strips to weave an enclosing frame. Even if he created an empire, his men would all be savages. What was the point of it?

  The next morning, Sun Mo started his hunting lifestyle again.

  The three of them went to the lake. After putting some pieces of meat inside the enclosing frame, Sun Mo tossed the frame into the lake.

  “Teacher, what is this?”

  Hui Shi didn’t understand.

  “A tool to catch fish!”

  Sun Mo’s words were concise and comprehensive.

  Hui Shi scratched his head. Would fish and shrimp be so stupid to enter the basket themselves?

  Sun Mo didn’t want to explain. “Oh right, where does the salt you guys consume come from?”

  Although Sun Mo wouldn’t go to the Gray Stone Tribe to be a prophet, he wanted to make use of their knowledge. If that was the case, he would need a trump card.

  Salt was a very good choice.

  After all, this was a rare resource.

  He saw that the salt consumed by Hui Shi was something like a salt lump with various impurities mixed within.

  “I dug this out from the great mountains!”

  Hui Shi was bewildered. (Why did Teacher not even know about this? Salt can’t possibly grow from the soil, right?)

  “I’ll perform a magic trick for you today!”

  During this period, Sun Mo was busy comprehending the Witchcraft: Beast Transformation, and he had no time to care about purifying salt. Moreover, he felt that since he was in a game, it was fine even if he ate some heavy metallic substances. In any case, his original body was not here.

  “What’s a magic trick?”

  Hui Shi didn’t understand.

  “So troublesome!”

  Sun Mo was depressed. It was so much effort to converse with savages.

  There was also some salt hidden in the stone house’s cellar. So, Sun Mo already had the materials he needed. What was left was to burn some charcoal and get some mulberries for filtering.

  “Mulberries? I know where they are!”

  Hui Shi led the way.

  “Speaking of which, would it be fine for you seeing that you haven’t returned to your tribe for such a long time?”

  Lu Zhiruo was curious. There also didn’t seem to be anyone looking for him.

  During these few days, the papaya girl had learned the Ancient Nine Provinces Language from Sun Mo, and there was no problem for her to use it in daily communication.

  “It’s fine, it’s very frequent for people to go missing in the tribe!”

  Hui Shi’s calm tone revealed a cruel reality.

  Sun Mo wanted to console him, but Hui Shi suddenly squatted down as a look of wariness appeared on his face.

  “Someone’s here!”