I'm involved in poverty alleviation in a primitive tribe.

Hongfeng stood beside Chief Yingcao, keeping a close eye on her movements and preparing to attack.

Jiang Ning stood up and led Lian Wu around the long table to Chief Yingcao: "Perhaps I misunderstood. Chief Yingcao, could you show me your totem?"

Chief Yingcao is a woman, and the totem is located on her chest, completely covered by a bark garment.

Her hands unconsciously covered her bark coat, and she forced a smile, saying, "What's so interesting about this? Chief Red Maple already checked it when we entered Jiang's territory, didn't he?"

Jiang Ning shook his head: "Hongfeng only checked the male warriors' totems, he didn't look at the female warriors' totems. After all, no one would expect that a tribe would have two totems."

Chief Yingcao closed her eyes briefly, then finally gave up and began to pull open her clothes at her chest: "I didn't expect I still couldn't fool you."

The totem on her chest was shaped like a newly sprouted bud of some unknown plant, with only two leaves.

The totem of the so-called "Yingcao Tribe" is similar to this, but there are a few small dots outside the bud to represent fluorescence.

Jiang Ning casually pulled up a chair and sat down, looking up and saying, "What's the point of Chief Zhong lying to me? The Witch Seal can't fool anyone."

Chief Zhong closed his clothes, smiled wryly, and asked Jiang Ning, "How did you guess that?"

Jiang Ning casually flipped through a stack of bamboo papers on the table and said, "Is it hard to guess? Your battle pets are too strong, even stronger than your warriors. This is very unusual in any tribe. Unless, you are a tribe with a large amount of breeding fruits, which can directly give you powerful battle pets."

"Moreover, your tribe is quite powerful, yet not many people around here know about the Yingcao tribe. Why? Because you've hidden yourself. Why would an ordinary tribe with no enemies hide?"

"I'm very curious about the planting abilities of the Zhong tribe. I specifically inquired about them and heard that their battle pets are all exotic plants, and their totem is the shape of a sprouting plant. What a coincidence, the battle pets of the Yingcao tribe are also various exotic plants, and their totem is very similar to that of the Zhong tribe."

Chief Zhong composed himself, bowed, and said, "As expected, nothing can be hidden from Jiang Wu. So, do you still disagree?"

Jiang Ning turned to look at her: "It's not that I can't agree, after all, no one can easily refuse the power of your tribe. It's just that I want to hear the truth."

Chief Zhong bowed his head and looked at Jiang Ning, who was sitting, and said respectfully, "Please allow me, Jiang Wu, to go back and ask our Zhong tribe's shaman to come and give me a reply."

Jiang Ning chuckled: "I remember you just said that your witches aren't in good health?"

The chieftain remained calm: "This concerns the survival of the tribe. No matter what difficulties we face, our shaman will come in person."

Jiang Ning nodded: "Then let's go invite them."

Chief Zhong bowed, then landed easily, turned and left, with Hongfeng quickly following after him.

Only after they left the council hall did Lianwu speak: "Witch, will you take over this tribe?"

Jiang Ning sighed and said, "I don't know either."

Lotus Witch asked in bewilderment, "Then why did you meet with Seed Witch?"

Jiang Ning hesitated for a moment: "I don't want to give up the tribe's capabilities. Putting aside everything else, their tribe already has quite a few powerful alien plants. If we take them in and disguise those alien plants as ordinary plants to ambush around our settlements, they can launch a surprise attack on the enemy in case of danger, and our people will be much safer than they are now."

She sighed and continued, "But I don't know what the situation is between them and the Tao tribe and the Ma tribe. If they join the Jiang tribe, I will definitely protect them. I don't want to bring such a powerful enemy to the Jiang tribe for their sake. Even with the Black Scale tribe, we are just helping each other. That so-called agreement is just an empty promise that can be broken at any time."

Hua Rong did not explicitly state that the extinction of the Zhong tribe was related to the Ma tribe; she only speculated based on the Ma tribe's spring heart stone.

Lianwu also sighed, and her desire to cultivate fruit was temporarily put aside.

Chief Zhong hurriedly arrived at Lotus Lake, and Hongfeng led his men to see them off.

After returning to the inn, Chief Zhong quickly led her men away. Seeing that she looked unwell, the others dared not ask any further questions.

Only after they had gone far from the peaceful land did someone tentatively ask, "Chief, what did they say?"

The chief picked up his water bag and gulped down several mouthfuls of water. After carefully looking around, he said, "As expected, Jiang Wu already knows. Everyone, please hurry back to the tribe and tell the shaman."

The others straightened up and replied in unison, "Yes!"

Inside an underground cave.

The campfire burned quietly, and a gentle breeze blew from the valley into the cave, causing the flames to flicker and dance on the stone walls, reflecting off everyone's faces.

Chief Zhong recounted everything he had seen and heard about the Jiang tribe to Chief Zhong, who remained silent for a long time.

After a long while, she stood up and said, "Give the order to have the people of our tribe clear out the belongings. We're going to the Jiang tribe."

The chief hesitated for a moment: "Are you really sure?"

The witch glanced at her. Thanks to the fact that the outsiders didn't know exactly how many people were in the tribe, they were able to escape that disaster and survive here.

"What else can we do if we don't go? Jiang Wu already knows our identities. If we go, we might even get their help. If we don't go, we'll just be creating another threat for the tribe and our people. Haven't we been investigating for three years already? Don't worry, Yu Shu will protect our people."

The chief swallowed his bitterness, bowed, and went to make the arrangements.

A month later, the Zhong tribe, still disguised as the Yingcao tribe, hurriedly led all its members to the Jiang tribe.

It was almost late autumn, and the tribesmen from other tribes who had been wandering the trading area had long since returned home to prepare for winter.

The witch doctor had the others wait outside the Jiang tribe while he led the chieftain into Lotus Lake to see Jiang Ning.

Upon hearing Hongyue's report, Jiang Ning realized that everyone from the Zhong tribe had arrived.

It seems there's no way to shake them off now. She only wanted to figure out the relationship between the Zhong tribe and the Tao tribe, so that she wouldn't be completely clueless if someone came knocking on her door later.

Jiang Ning gave a wry smile and ordered someone to bring in a shaman, and then summoned all the shamans from various tribes to the council hall for a joint discussion.

As soon as the shaman led the chieftain inside, they saw a long table in the council hall, with shamans from various tribes sitting on both sides of the table. Jiang Ning was sitting at the head of the table, waiting for them.

“The chieftain of the Zhong tribe, Wu Shuangye, greets the shamans of the Jiang tribe.”

Zhong Wushuangye bowed slightly in greeting, and the other shamans of the Jiang tribe returned the greeting as they observed Jiang Ning's expression.

“Zhongwu, you’ve come all this way, you must be tired. Please have a seat.” Jiang Ning gestured for Zhongwu to sit down opposite her, while the chieftain of Zhongwu naturally stood behind Zhongwu.