"What is a relic?" Cang Shi asked immediately.
"It's formed after a person with merits is cremated," Su Bai replied.
He recalled the legends of the Buddha back on Earth and whispered,
"This is the first time I've actually seen one. Before, I had only heard about it."
"What are merits?" Cang Shi frowned.
"Simply, someone who does good deeds," Su Bai explained briefly.
"The elder must have been a truly great person, the best of humanity," Yan Jiao and Cang Shi nodded repeatedly in agreement.
"Keep it safe for now. When we reclaim our ancestral land, we can build a shrine and pay respects," Su Bai said, returning the relic—a spiritual keepsake for the tribe.
"Understood." Yan Jiao nodded firmly and carefully placed the relic into a leather pouch.
"Shaman, what should we do next?"
Cang Shi asked anxiously.
"The dried meat reserves in the tribe are too low. It'll be hard to supply enough for the reserve warriors."
Su Bai sat casually on the ground.
"How many reserve warriors do we currently have?" he asked.
"Only six," Yan Jiao answered.
"Only six?" Su Bai was surprised.
"There used to be twenty-six. During the migration, the Totem Warriors of the Black Snake Tribe captured them," Yan Jiao said, stopping mid-sentence.
"Are they dead or alive?" Su Bai narrowed his eyes.
"They might be dead, or they could have become slaves," Yan Jiao said through gritted teeth.
"Is the Black Snake Tribe far from us?" Su Bai asked, slightly relieved.
As long as they weren't dead, slaves could still be rescued.
"About five days' journey, or three days if the Totem Warriors push themselves," Yan Jiao said stiffly, unsure whether Su Bai would be afraid.
"Shaman, don't worry. The Black Snake Tribe won't come here," he added.
"Oh? Why not?" Su Bai asked in surprise.
"The hunting grounds here are too barren," Yan Jiao replied coldly.
Because of that, the Flame Dragon Tribe had escaped disaster.
"So we can develop steadily?" Su Bai asked, his black eyes fixed on Yan Jiao.
"Yes… I suppose so," Yan Jiao nodded hesitantly.
"Good." Su Bai smiled slightly.
"All we lack now is time to develop."
"Shaman, that's not good at all. We can hardly hunt anything," Cang Shi said bluntly.
"Tell me about the hunting situation first," Su Bai said, wanting to understand before making new decisions.
"The beasts in our hunting grounds are too few. There aren't many dangerous creatures either. Searching for prey and traveling takes almost a whole day. It takes about three days to hunt enough meat," Cang Shi said, shaking his head.
Yesterday, the shaman had explained about the dangerous beasts:
Hybrid beasts, purebred beasts, legacy beasts, and king-class beasts.
Beasts like wild chickens, rabbits, and boars were considered ordinary prey.
Totem Warriors needed to maintain strong vitality. Aside from physical training, they required large quantities of meat from dangerous beasts to nourish their bodies.
Su Bai pondered and asked,
"How long will our current meat supply last for the whole tribe?"
"For the whole tribe?" Yan Jiao asked.
"Of course. I want everyone to eat meat—eat their fill," Su Bai said firmly.
"..." Both Yan Jiao and Cang Shi fell silent, staring at their new shaman as if he were insane.
Back in the ancestral land, no one could afford to let the entire tribe eat meat to their fill.
"Shaman, that's impossible," Yan Jiao said, rubbing his curved horns.
"With the meat we have, the tribe wouldn't even last a day if everyone ate freely."
"Yes… and those children eat like wolf cubs," Cang Shi said bitterly.
He wanted everyone to have enough meat too, but with only six Totem Warriors in the hunting team? There was no way.
"Hunting alone won't be enough," Su Bai shook his head.
"With the current number of Totem Warriors, we'd need at least double to guarantee enough food."
But raising a Totem Warrior required too much time and vast quantities of meat from dangerous beasts. At this stage, producing more warriors was impossible.
"Uh…" Yan Jiao and Cang Shi were speechless.
"Shaman, if we don't hunt, then there's no meat at all," Yan Jiao said sternly.
He thought the new shaman was too young and didn't understand how hard things were.
Su Bai didn't explain, but asked instead,
"Do you know what hemp cloth is?"
"Of course. Hemp cloth is rare. Only top-tier tribes have it," Cang Shi said eagerly, his purple eyes glinting.
He hoped to wear hemp cloth clothing himself.
Su Bai smiled slightly.
He guessed hemp cloth was just becoming popular, perhaps a specialty of large tribes, or a unique product of their own tribe.
He continued,
"Do any of you know about the market in the Spotted Deer Tribe?"
"We've been there once or twice," Yan Jiao said.
"Is anyone trading hemp cloth?" Su Bai asked, eyes fixed on them.
"Yes, but the quantity is very small. Whenever it appears, it's immediately bought," Yan Jiao answered.
Cang Shi nodded and recounted a bitter story,
"When Chief Songzhen took us there, we wanted to buy a roll of hemp cloth for the shaman's clothing, but we had too little dried meat. We couldn't compete with other tribes."
"How much meat can you trade for a roll of hemp cloth?" Su Bai squinted.
"Three shi of dried meat for one roll," Yan Jiao replied.
"Three shi? How much is that?" Su Bai was confused.
He had no concept of the weights or measures in this primitive society.
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