We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 85 Contact with the Divine Tree Tribe
Seeing that Xia Minghao didn't touch the biting grass but stood up again, Damon finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But when he heard Xia Minghao's next words, his face immediately showed surprise.

“The Da tribe can use this grass to exchange for things from the Xia tribe.”

"Use this to exchange?"

Xia Minghao nodded, then took out his survival knife and first demonstrated how to cut nettles.

“Cut the nettles like this, using your stone tools. They will grow back.”

In fact, it's not just about growth; with this cutting method, it will grow four or five more times.

If the climate is warm and there is sufficient water and fertilizer, then there will be even more harvests.

The tribe was taught the correct harvesting methods so that a stable supply of nettles could be formed, thus enabling the sustainable production of fabric.

Afterwards, Xia Minghao cleaned up the leaves of the nettles he had picked, leaving only the stems.

"This is what I want. Put this in the basket, stomp on it hard, stomp it firmly until you can't stomp on it anymore. It can be used as a taro in a clay pot."

"Can biting grass be used to barter for other things, just like taro?"

Damon looked at the stem in Xia Minghao's hand and a look of joy appeared on his face.

Taro is, after all, food, and is related to survival.

Even though Damon now knows how useful pottery really is, he still feels heartbroken about the high "price".

But these nettles are inedible and can bite, so they are something the Da tribe doesn't need.

Surprisingly, just like taro, it could be exchanged for pottery, blackfish, and red salt.

"Chief Xia, are you really going to trade this for the biting grass, but..."

Damon was about to remind Xia Minghao that this biting grass was inedible.

But the words were on the tip of his tongue, and he swallowed them back down.

What if the chief of the Xia tribe is told this and he refuses to change?
After finishing discussing the nettle issue, Xia Minghao didn't waste any time and immediately started asking about the people he had just seen.

"Those people you just saw, were they from another tribe? What did they want?"

"those people?"

Damon looked puzzled. How could the chief of the Xia tribe see from so far away?

However, thinking back to what he had seen in the Xia tribe, Damon felt relieved.

Perhaps it was also seen through wisdom...

“They are the Divine Tree Tribe, and they want to trade with us for salt. But the salt spring now belongs to your Xia Tribe, and we have no salt.”

After he finished speaking, Damon's expression turned somewhat strange.

This time, Xia Minghao finally heard the name of the tribe clearly and also noticed a special pronunciation.

"god……"

I first learned about this term from Ye Zi, which refers to the so-called totem god.

The Divine Tree Tribe?

Could they be a totem tribe that uses trees as their totem?
That's not right...

Xia Minghao's face showed not only curiosity but also some worry.

If this tribe is truly a totem tribe, I wonder if it will be a kind tribe like Ye Zi's, or a cruel tribe like the one Hima described.

"Have they left? We have salt; we can give it to them or trade it for them."

"You're willing to exchange your salt for theirs?"

The group from the Divine Tree tribe didn't leave; instead, they've been harassing the Da tribe for the past few days.

Moreover, because of the god they claimed to be, his special physique, and the presence of ferocious beasts among his prey, the Da tribe dared not provoke him and kept their distance.

If the Xia tribe chief is willing to exchange salt for them, then Damon will naturally be very happy, as this would mean helping the Damon tribe solve this problem.

Previously, the Divine Tree Tribe brought wild animals that emitted a strange smell. The people of the Divine Tree Tribe said that this was meat bestowed upon them by the Divine Tree.

It tastes fine, and you'll feel very comfortable sleeping after eating it.

Now, in addition to meat, the Divine Tree Tribe has brought all sorts of strange stones, which they also claim were gifts from the Divine Tree.

Besides that green stone, the tribe has seen many other stones, and without exception, none of them are suitable for making stone tools.

Even if they had salt now, the Da tribe would not be willing to exchange it for these useless things.

Damon knew that the Xia tribe didn't need stones or meat, because they had more meat than they could eat.

Even if the Xia tribe makes contact with the Divine Tree tribe, will they really exchange those things with the Divine Tree tribe?

But Damon still didn't offer any warnings and chose to continue keeping it a secret.

Damon hasn't learned to deceive yet; he's only learned to conceal.

Deception is detrimental to survival, because survival in primitive times required cooperation, and incorrect information exchange could result in death.

Within a tribe, deception can only thrive in a mature system of private ownership, where clever individuals can discover that lying can bring them greater personal gain.

For tribes to operate, there must be a lot of exchange of benefits, so that the tribal rulers will discover that telling lies can bring more benefits to the tribe.

Perhaps after several decades or even a century of more unbridled development, someone in the Da tribe will discover the clever use of "deception," but clearly not now.

Following Damon, Xia Minghao headed to another corner of the Damon tribe.

There were burnt tree stumps everywhere and weeds growing all over the ground, indicating that we had reached the edge of the tribe's territory.

Xia Minghao can now see those ridiculously fat figures without binoculars.

Even while standing, he was panting heavily.

Its defenses look very strong; it's quite bloated. If you were to casually stab it with a wooden spear, it would probably only break the skin.

With such a size, it must have been quite inconvenient to move around. In primitive times, it wasn't enough to just have strong defenses. How did they hunt with such a size?
If you don't hunt, how did you manage to get so fat?
When the members of the Divine Tree tribe saw Damon, their faces showed what appeared to be anger. "Chief of the Da tribe, the Da tribe is no longer providing salt to the Divine Tree tribe as before, so the Divine Tree will bring disaster upon you."

Upon hearing the threat to the survival of the Da tribe, a hint of displeasure appeared on Damon's face.

But fearing the so-called sacred tree they spoke of, they dared not unleash their power.

“The Divine Tree Tribe has no salt; only the Xia Tribe has salt now.”

Damon reiterated to the people of the Sacred Tree tribe that the tribe no longer had salt, and then introduced the tribe to these people.

"The Divine Tree Tribe, this is the chief of the Xia Tribe."

"Chief?"

At this moment, the others looked over at Xia Minghao.

Xia Minghao kept observing these fat men who, in a primitive era, would not have been seen in the first place.

I realized this group of people didn't seem very bright; they hadn't even noticed me walking over.

He couldn't even notice that his windbreaker was a rare, out-of-print fashion item from the Primitive Era, completely different from everyone else's?

Moreover, Xia Minghao discovered that the group of people had rather abnormal physical conditions. In addition to being overweight, they also had very obvious dark spots on their elbows, knees, and faces.

It doesn't look like dirt; it looks more like some kind of skin condition.

"Shrimp tribe, poor and weak? You have salt, give it to our Divine Tree tribe, and we'll give you this."

The leader of the Divine Tree tribe spoke while panting heavily and making grunting sounds like a pig, and he couldn't even pronounce the name of the Xia tribe correctly.

Upon hearing the words of the Divine Tree Tribe, Xia Minghao looked at the first animal skin bag that had been laid out on the ground.

It was half a leopard?
Leopards are not easy to catch; for the terrifying upright ape, killing them is entirely possible.

The question is, how do we catch up?

Especially seeing how pot-bellied these people looked.

How can someone who struggles to walk possibly catch up with a leopard?

Could it be that this sacred tree tribe also invented a method of trap hunting?

Or is what they said true, and there really is such a divine tree that gave them some kind of magical power?

Xia Minghao crouched down, ordered the others to be wary of the Divine Tree Tribe members, and then began to observe the leopard more carefully.

Soon, something strange was noticed about the leopard: there was a very obvious sticky residue on its body.

It looked as if it had been pulled out of the belly of something.

The mucus was amber-colored and translucent. Xia Minghao took out his survival knife, ready to take a little and smell it.

But then he worried that the slime might be corrosive and ruin his first artifact from the primitive era.

He casually plucked a blade of grass, dipped it in some of its sap, and held it to his nose, carefully sniffing it using the fan-smelling technique.

A strange smell, both foul and fragrant, wafted into my mouth and nose.

What the hell is this?

Throwing away the grass, Xia Minghao stood up and looked back at the Divine Tree Tribe.

Upon seeing this, the people of the Divine Tree Tribe quickly spoke again.

"The Shrimp Tribe gives salt to the Divine Tree Tribe, and the Divine Tree Tribe gives meat to the Shrimp Tribe."

Xia Minghao shook his head upon hearing this.

Xia Minghao had absolutely no interest in the leopard's meat.

I'm not particularly interested in leopards, since they're not like wolves, which are domesticable species.

Xia Minghao was particularly interested in this group of people and wanted to know if they were a totem tribe and, like Ye Zi, had some kind of superpower.

"How did you guys do it? And that's how we got this?"

Upon hearing Xia Minghao's question, the group exchanged glances before speaking arrogantly.

“We have the sacred tree, and the sacred tree gave us this. If you join the sacred tree tribe, the sacred tree will give you more strength and health.”

Clearly, the other party hadn't understood him, so Xia Minghao changed his approach and asked again.

"Can the divine tree enable you to do things that the Xia and Da tribes cannot?"

It's unclear whether the people from the sacred tree tribe understood or not, but they continued talking about their tribe's so-called sacred tree, and how the sacred tree bestowed this and that upon them.

As he watched the others talk, Xia Minghao stroked his chin thoughtfully, feeling that this tribe did not fit the situation of the totem tribes he knew, and did not have the totem power bestowed by the totem.

However, the sacred tree of the Sacred Tree Tribe always bestows something upon them.

How strange...

After talking until their throats were dry, the people of the Divine Tree Tribe realized that it seemed the chief of the Xia Tribe did not want to exchange the meat they had brought.

The leader thought for a moment, a hint of heartache showing on his face, before placing the other animal skin bag on the ground.

I had thought I could keep these pretty stones, but it seems I'll have to exchange them, just like before.

“The shrimp tribe is poor and long-lived, so we’ll trade this for salt with you.”

Seeing that Xia Minghao was still deep in thought, the people from the Divine Tree Tribe immediately added another sentence as usual.

"These stones were given to us by the divine tree; they can be powerful and strong."

Having grown accustomed to this kind of rhetoric, Xia Minghao no longer cared and merely glanced at it casually.

But in that one glance, the most striking stone immediately caught his eye.

Wow! Isn't this malachite?

I've been looking for you for ages, what are you doing here?

(End of this chapter)