I thrived in the primitive tribe

Lu Yao and the others avoided the wolves and approached the saltwater lake from another side. As expected, the wolves didn't attack them. They looked in the direction the wolves had come from, filled with curiosity, trying to get a clearer picture of the area tightly surrounded by wolves. However, their vision was greatly obstructed by the angle and the density of the wolves.

Through the dense pack of wolves, they could only vaguely make out a robust adult wolf in the center, pacing anxiously around a wolf lying on the ground. The wolf seemed motionless, making them wonder if it was already dead. Beside the adult wolf, some other objects were also faintly visible, but due to the distance and angle, they couldn't determine what they were.

"I can't see very clearly," Lu Yao said in a low voice, her brows furrowed as she tried to glean more information from the blurry image.

“Yes, the wolves are blocking our way too well,” Loya sighed, expressing his helplessness. They knew that if they forced their way closer, they might provoke the wolves and cause an unnecessary conflict.

Everyone else was in the same situation; their view was blocked, and they couldn't see the inside clearly.

“Forget it, since we can’t see clearly, let’s just leave it at that. I don’t think the wolves have any intention of attacking us. As long as we stay vigilant and don’t provoke them, we should be fine.” She looked up at the wolves in the distance and, after confirming that they weren’t coming this way, continued, “Our main purpose in coming here is to try to make salt from the water of the salt lake. Now that we’ve arrived at the salt lake, we can explore the rest after we’ve made the salt.”

The others nodded in agreement after hearing Lu Yao's words. "Since the wolf pack doesn't pose a threat to us right now, let's make salt first. However, we still need to be vigilant at all times, or we can send someone to keep an eye on the wolf pack. If there are any unusual movements, we should leave immediately," Luo Ya said.

"Yes, let's still assign someone to keep an eye on the wolves' movements."

“Then I’ll do it,” said one of the tribesmen who had come to scout ahead, volunteering to take on the important task of observing the wolf pack. His eyes gleamed with curiosity and determination, clearly showing his desire to explore the wolf pack’s behavior.

“Okay, but you must remember that you need to be fully focused when watching the wolf pack and you can’t let your guard down for even a moment,” Loya cautiously instructed. He knew the danger of the wolf pack and therefore dared not be careless. “If you feel tired, come and take over immediately. Don’t push yourself.”

"Ok, I see."

After making the arrangements, he carefully walked towards the tallest tree closest to the wolves. He chose a relatively safe spot where he could clearly observe the wolves' movements, and then nimbly climbed to the treetop.

He sat atop a tree, took a deep breath, and calmed himself. He kept his eyes glued to the wolf pack, afraid of missing a single detail.

The remaining people all turned their attention to Lu Yao. They didn't know how to make salt and were waiting for Lu Yao's next instructions.

Lu Yao felt the gazes of the crowd. She took a deep breath, recalled the salt-making method she had seen before, and walked to the side of the saltwater lake.

"Next, we'll start making salt, but I'm not sure if we can actually make it as we expect. We'll just have to try our best."

The group nodded emphatically, as if to say, "We all believe in you. If you say it's possible, then it definitely is. Even if we can't make it, it's okay."

Faced with everyone's unconditional trust, Lu Yao felt the pressure, so she tried even harder to recall the scenes she had seen.

"We want to extract salt from a saltwater lake. The process is actually quite simple: boil the cleanest possible saltwater repeatedly to precipitate salt crystals."

We each brought a clay pot; they weren't big, but they should be enough.

"Lu Yao, do you mean we fill the pottery jars with lake water and then put them on a fire to boil?"

"Yes, you have to keep boiling it until all the water inside evaporates, and then the salt we want will come out."

"Won't the earthenware pot be ruined if it's kept burning?"

"Normally there shouldn't be any problem. You just need to keep an eye on the concentration of the lake water in the pottery jar. Once you see that there's not much water left, you can take it off the jar. The heat from the pottery jar itself will evaporate the remaining water."

"Besides constantly monitoring the concentration of salt water in the earthenware jar, is there anything else we need to be careful about?" a team member asked.

"Another point to note is to keep the lake water as clean as possible when collecting it, and to ensure that there are no impurities in it."

"Okay, we got it."

After learning how to make salt, the group began their salt-making project. They first gathered a large amount of firewood and piled it up. Then, they used wooden sticks to build several frames, placed earthenware jars filled with lake water on them, and lit a fire to boil the lake water.

The commotion was quite loud, attracting the attention of the wolves who hadn't been paying attention to the area. However, they didn't make any aggressive moves, just glancing over from time to time, seemingly trying to figure out what the group of people were doing. Whenever the wind blew by, they would prick up their ears even more excitedly, listening and sniffing carefully.

Meanwhile, in a large tree not far away, the person in charge of keeping watch had already noticed everything. He keenly observed the wolf pack below, assessing their movements and intentions. After confirming that the wolf pack posed no threat, he did not remind the group below who were working enthusiastically.

Time passed slowly amidst everyone's tension and anticipation. As the moisture in the earthenware pot decreased, salt crystals began to appear. When a large amount of salt crystals precipitated in the casing, Lu Yao asked everyone to remove the earthenware pot and stop heating it. Just as Lu Yao had said, the moisture inside was slowly evaporated by the residual heat on the earthenware pot.

Once the moisture in the earthenware jar had completely evaporated and the jar was no longer as hot as before, someone dipped their hand into the jar, touched a little bit of salt, and then examined it closely. Finding nothing wrong, they put their salt-covered hand into their mouth and tasted it. Their eyes widened instantly.

Seeing this person's expression, the others were quite puzzled.

"So? Is it salt or not? What's with that expression?"

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for a long time, the others couldn't wait any longer and started trying it out themselves.

"This is real salt, and it's better than the salt we've eaten before."

"Yes, this one doesn't taste bitter at all."

The group shouted excitedly, and their loud voices instantly stirred the wolf pack watching them. The row of wolves closest to them stood up abruptly, becoming alert and keeping a close watch on them, ready to attack at the slightest sign of trouble.

"Alright, keep your voices down, the wolves over there have been disturbed," Loya warned the group after noticing the wolves' unusual behavior.

They lowered their voices, "We're just so happy! This way we won't have to go to faraway places to exchange salt anymore. This saltwater lake here is so big, it'll be enough for us!"

Looking at the salt in front of them, everyone's faces flushed with excitement.

After finding no further movement, the wolves slowly lay down again, but became even more vigilant.

"Lu Yao, you're amazing! Now we won't be short of salt anymore!" someone whispered happily to Lu Yao.

"These are all gifts from nature, and I'm just trying to show them off." Lu Yao was also very happy, as this would provide enough salt to store food, giving them more protection during the cold season.