The day after the sacrifice, Jiang Xuan tested his strength in front of the bamboo hut.
He lifted a very large stone with both hands, slowly stood up, and raised it above his head!
This stone weighed at least three to four hundred pounds. The previous Jiang Xuan wouldn't have been able to even move it, let alone lift it, but now he could raise it above his head without his hands trembling.
"Boom!"
Jiang Xuan threw the large stone out, creating a big pit on the ground.
Jiang Xuan looked at his hands in immense joy, this was powerful strength!
Afterward, he walked into the bamboo forest to test his speed.
With a "whoosh," he effortlessly climbed a sturdy bamboo tree, then leapt from bamboo to bamboo, as agile as an ape.
Moments later, he landed back on the ground and approached Chi Shao who was standing to the side.
"Sister, with my current strength and speed, what rank of warrior am I?"
In the Southern Wilderness tribes, when a tribe member becomes a warrior, they usually paint lines on their faces with five colors to differentiate the strength of warriors, with One-Color Warriors being the weakest and Five-Color Warriors being the strongest.
For example, a One-Color Warrior uses green paint to draw a horizontal line on their face.
A Two-Color Warrior uses green and red to draw two lines on their face, a Three-Color Warrior draws three lines, and so on.
The stronger the warrior, the more lines there are on the face, and the more varied the colors.
These lines are also a form of honor for the tribal warriors; those with more lines receive more resources and admiration from the tribe.
Jiang Xuan was eager to know, with his current strength and speed, what rank of warrior he was.
Chi Shao seriously said, "You're a One-Color Warrior."
"Just One-Color?" Jiang Xuan was stunned, clearly not expecting it to be so low.
Chi Shao nodded and said, "Don't underestimate a One-Color Warrior. The strongest leader in the Deer Tribe is just a Three-Color Warrior."
Jiang Xuan then asked, "What about you, sister? What rank warrior are you now?"
"I'm also a One-Color Warrior."
Chi Shao pointed at Gou Teng, Shi Qiu, and Nan Xing, saying, "The five of us are all One-Color Warriors."
"That's not right!" Jiang Xuan asked in confusion, "Didn't you join the Hunting Team before? I thought you would be much stronger than us."
"I'm not much stronger than you."
"It's said that when the Deer Tribe was strong, only those who became One-Color Warriors were eligible to join the Hunting Team."
"But in recent years, the Deer Tribe declined, unable to gather enough warriors, and the requirements kept lowering. Eventually, as long as you were thirteen years old and had all limbs intact, you could join the Hunting Team."
"I only joined last year, and to my surprise, just six months later, the tribe was gone."
Speaking of this, Chi Shao's mood noticeably dampened, and Gou Teng and the others were also silent. The fall of the Deer Tribe was a pain in their hearts.
Jiang Xuan said, "Sister, don't worry, once our Vine Tribe becomes strong, we'll definitely take revenge on the Crow Tribe!"
"Mm!"
Chi Shao nodded heavily, and the three youths clenched their fists, the flames of revenge igniting in their hearts.
Jiang Xuan asked again, "Then how can one become a Two-Color or even a Three-Color Warrior?"
Chi Shao answered, "I've heard from people in the Hunting Team that a One-Color Warrior only needs strength and speed to be twice as much as ordinary tribesmen. To become a Two-Color Warrior, you need to hunt a full-grown wild boar on your own."
"A Three-Color Warrior needs to hunt a full-grown wild ox on their own, and a Four-Color Warrior needs to hunt a giant-toothed tiger independently."
"As for a Five-Color Warrior, they need to hunt a Barbarian Bear alone!"
A Two-Color Warrior actually needs to hunt a full-grown wild boar on their own!
Jiang Xuan was shocked by Chi Shao's words.
In other words, a Two-Color Warrior must at least have more strength and speed than a full-grown wild boar, along with reaction ability and combat skills, to hunt a full-grown wild boar alone.
In this world, wild boars are extremely dangerous beasts, with an adult's weight reaching more than a thousand pounds.
Wild boars have sharp tusks, can run extremely fast, have thick fur, and possess a ferocious temperament.
Especially when wounded, they are nearly fearless, and most beasts hesitate to approach.
Wild boars also like to scratch on pine trees, with their fur coated thickly with pine resin, like wearing soft armor. Ordinary weapons, like Stone Spears or Bone Spears, struggle to inflict fatal injury unless they hit the eyes, hindquarters, or other vital areas.
The difficulty of hunting a full-grown wild boar alone is imaginable.
As for wild oxen, giant-toothed tigers, and Barbarian Bears, each is more terrifying than the last; currently, the Vine Tribe doesn't have the ability to hunt them.
"Then how can we increase our strength?" Jiang Xuan posed the question again.
"Training, hunting, eating lots of meat, can gradually enhance strength, but I heard that if you can eat the meat of some exotic beasts or consume the fruit of some unique plants, strength can increase relatively quickly."
"Also, like yesterday, receiving the gift from the gods during rituals can also rapidly enhance strength."
Jiang Xuan remembered all these things Chi Shao mentioned, especially those methods to enhance strength.
Jiang Xuan knew very well that the stronger he was, the longer his survival chances in this dangerous world, and the longer he lived, the more time he had to develop and strengthen the Vine Tribe.
After figuring all this out, Jiang Xuan started to busy himself with other matters.
It was springtime, the perfect time for spring plowing and planting!
Jiang Xuan planned to open up a piece of wasteland in front of the bamboo house to try planting grains and vegetables.
Farming and raising livestock are more stable ways to obtain food than hunting and gathering, and they provide more food.
Jiang Xuan planned to start with farming, and if things went smoothly, he would later engage in animal husbandry to increase the tribe's food sources.
Jiang Xuan went back to the house to carry a Bone Plow, called Chi Shao and others, and walked to a clearing in front of the bamboo grove.
Jiang Xuan said, "Clear out these weeds and we'll burn them later."
"Alright, leader, watch us,"
The three youths had just become One-Color Warriors and were eager to prove themselves, not afraid of hard work at all.
They swung the Bone Plow with great vigor, cutting all the dried weeds on the clearing at the waist, trampling and stepping on them, pressing them all to the ground.
Then, under Jiang Xuan's command, they cleared a firebreak all around to prevent the grass from catching fire and spreading to other places.
Finally, Jiang Xuan returned to the bamboo house, picked up a burning log, and set the weeds on fire.
"Crackle, crackle..."
The flames quickly engulfed it because the weeds were pressed to the ground, and with the firebreak already set, there was no strong wind, so as long as they watched carefully, it wouldn't spread elsewhere.
"Leader, why are we burning these weeds?" Gou Teng curiously asked.
Jiang Xuan replied, "Clearing the land for farming."
"Oh, I see."
The tribe members also farmed, but they were still in the primitive slash-and-burn stage.
They would choose a large area, burn the vegetations, then use the ash as fertilizer, digging random holes with Bone Plows or other tools to plant the seeds, and basically leave it until harvesting in the fall.
This kind of farming had incredibly low yields, but the advantage was that it required little time and effort, as the tribe's food sources still mainly relied on hunting and gathering.
Gou Teng thought Jiang Xuan would adopt this method too, but they soon realized they were wrong.
Half an hour later, the weeds and small shrubs on the clearing were completely burnt, leaving a thick layer of ash on the ground.
The clearing was about over a hundred square meters, neither too big nor too small, and Jiang Xuan planned to cultivate it and plant edible wild or tuberous plants.
"Sss..."
Jiang Xuan stepped on the crossbar, easily pressing the shovel of the Bone Plow into the soil, turning a clod over before continuing to dig another clod.
Gou Teng couldn't help but ask again, "Leader, shouldn't we just dig a small hole to bury the seeds after burning?"
Jiang Xuan said, "Turning the soil over loosens it, allowing what we plant to grow better and yield more."
Gou Teng still wanted to ask why loosening the soil helped the plants grow better, but Chi Shao gave him a glare, saying, "Stop asking so many questions, just do as the leader says."
"Oh..."
Gou Teng immediately shut up, as Chi Shao was quite assertive, and the three youths were a little afraid of her.
Shi Qiu and Nan Xing shrank their necks, obediently following along to clear the land.
The land was hard and contained many grass roots, tree roots, and stones, and their Bone Plow wasn't sharp enough, making this type of work very arduous.
Fortunately, the tribe members were inherently strong, and the five of them had just become One-Color Warriors, with strength much greater than ordinary people, so they were clearing the land at a relatively good pace.
After half a day of effort, they finally managed to clear the approximately one hundred square meters of wasteland.
The grass roots, tree roots, and stones in the wasteland were all cleaned up and piled in a corner of the clearing.
Jiang Xuan looked at the newly cultivated farmland, feeling as if some instinct buried deep in his mind had been awakened.
He excitedly said, "This is the first piece of farmland of our Vine Tribe, and there will be a second piece, a third piece, and countless more in the future!"
Chi Shao and the three youths weren't as excited because, in their impression, farming yielded too little, not as good as hunting and gathering.
Jiang Xuan didn't mind, and once crops were planted and a bountiful harvest was achieved on this land, they would understand the benefits of farming.