The Survival of the Wild Tribe

164

Not long after, Lu Zhan followed the mark left by Shan Qi and climbed onto the cliff. Seeing that all three of them were unharmed, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Luo Zhen greeted him, noticing blood on Lu Zhan's mouth from his encounter with the wolf. Additionally, there were a few bruises on his arm, but they weren't serious; they didn't even break the skin. "Did you kill the dire wolf?" Luo Zhen asked, relieved to see Lu Zhan uninjured. He always felt a quiet fear whenever Lu Zhan went hunting or fought ferocious beasts, despite believing in his strength.
Lu Zhan shook his head, "It ran away, but it didn’t escape unscathed. I tore a piece of meat from it, though dire wolf meat isn't tasty. I didn’t bother bringing it back for you to taste."
If all the meat on this continent were ranked by taste, Lu Zhan was sure dire wolf meat would be in the bottom five. Even their blood smelled worse than other animals', making skunk meat seem delicious in comparison.
Although Lu Zhan could have hunted down the wolf easily, dire wolves were smarter than average wild wolves. When they realized they couldn’t win, they fled faster than any other creature, making them annoying and challenging to kill completely.
Lu Zhan didn’t pursue the fleeing wolf, wary of other predators attracted by the commotion. Vultures now circled overhead, drawn by the scent of blood.
Regretful about not retrieving the wolf’s heart, Lu Zhan sighed lightly. However, he didn’t consider it a mistake not to chase the wolf. With the Tiger and Lion tribe entangled by the crocodile dragon, sneaking away to search for Yanshan was their best opportunity.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the crocodile dragon grew angrier, tossing an orc warrior nearly three meters tall, transformed into a beast, a dozen meters away. The impact created a pit, and even though the orc was covered in thick hair, the red blood flowing from the wound was evident.

The orc warrior lay on the ground, unable to get up for a long time. Finally, some tribesmen stepped forward and dragged him out of the fighting area to prevent him from being bitten to death by the crocodile dragon, against which he had no power to resist.
Although everyone had heard of the powerful crocodile dragon, for most of them, it was their first time seeing one. As a powerful soldier fell to the ground, everyone's vigilance and tension increased, and no one dared to be careless.
This led to some restraint in the fight. Fortunately, the orc warriors had rich combat experience. Even facing an enemy much stronger than themselves, they could rely on their flexibility to dodge attacks. The two sides formed a standoff, unable to hunt each other.
Lu Zhan observed for a while and realized this battle would last a long time. Given the strength of the crocodile dragon, the Tiger Lion tribe wouldn't just discard its corpses in the wild. Most would be taken back to the tribe as trophies, making it nearly impossible to retrieve the crocodile dragon's heart under the tribe's watchful eyes.
The four didn't linger on the rock for too long. While others were occupied with the dire wolf and crocodile dragon, they rode antler horses and detoured into the mountains and forests within the Tiger Lion tribe's territory.
This was a primitive forest, with shorter trees than those in Changfeng Mountain. Sunlight easily spilled onto the ground, causing dense overgrown weeds, leaving no place to settle.
The people of the Tiger Lion tribe had traversed this forest for a long time, with a fixed return route. However, to avoid detection by the tribe, Luo Zhen and the others couldn't follow the usual path.
Lu Zhan led the way ahead, while A Qing remained alert to surrounding movements and erased their tracks.
The virgin forest contained various plant species, and Luo Zhen kept an eye out for familiar or edible ones, even in this situation.
Shan Qi, having been with Luo Zhen for so long, had a good memory. While Lu Zhan and A Qing guarded their safety, they also helped Luo Zhen collect new plants along the way.

Because the path was too difficult to traverse, they didn't know the exact location of the Tiger Lion tribe. Therefore, they weren't in a rush to find the salt mountain guarded by the tribe within a day. Before dusk, they stumbled upon a cave and decided to stop there for the night.
It was a black bear's den, not particularly spacious. The strong scent of beasts filled the air, and the walls were covered in gray-black fur, with dried black bear feces scattered in the surrounding grass. It was evident that the cave had a resident.
However, since the cave's owner was absent, Luo Zhen wasn't sure if the black bear living there had gone hunting temporarily or wouldn't return if hunted or killed. Nonetheless, none of the three orc warriors considered the cave their own. If the black bear returned, they might get a free meal.
Their luck wasn't always bad. Even when staying in the black bear cave, they didn't encounter its owner. Lu Zhan regretted this a bit. He had hunted black bears before, and Luo Zhen had once made a stewed bear paw for him, which he remembered for a long time. However, black bears were scarce, and their territorial instincts strong. They usually didn't gather except during mating season, making them hard to find.
But making delicious bear paws wasn't easy. There were many steps involved, and Luo Zhen experimented while recalling, taking a full day to complete the dish.
In his previous life, Luo Zhen wouldn't eat such animals, so it was impossible to compare the taste. With limited seasonings, it was merely acceptable for him. However, for Lu Zhan, who had never tried it and saw Luo Zhen busy all day, the taste was novel and delicious.
In the wild, there wasn't time to spend a whole day cooking a dish. Lu Zhan thought that simply roasting all the meat over a fire made little difference, regardless of the type of meat.
The settlement wasn't too far from the Tiger Lion tribe. At the speed of the tribe's orcs, they could run back and forth in most of a day. So, even without knowing the exact location of the tribe, Luo Zhen and the others knew it wouldn't be too difficult to find it eventually.
"Da Wu, can you tell where Salt Mountain is?"
The four were currently behind a bush halfway up the mountain. Through the foliage, they could see a tribe at the foot of the opposite mountain. Although tall trees surrounded the tribe, their homes were different from those of other tribes, which surprised the four members of the Riyao tribe seeing them for the first time.

The houses here are different from the settlement where they use animal skins to build tents. The Tiger and Lion tribe uses mud, stone, and wood directly to construct houses. Of course, their houses are not as luxurious and spacious as those of the Riyao tribe. They are very simple, short, and crooked. They might even be simpler than the cowshed Luo Zhen used to see in the countryside. There might not even be windows, just a door for entry and exit.

Nevertheless, the materials used alone surprised Luo Zhen. When A Qing asked a question, Luo Zhen shook his head gently.

It was the second day they had approached the Tiger and Lion tribe. They didn't dare to get too close for fear of being discovered. Unfortunately, the Tiger and Lion tribe didn't allow strangers near their tribe. Otherwise, Luo Zhen really wanted to visit them. He wondered how much the Tiger and Lion tribe had developed besides building houses.

"Let's go around and take a look from the top of the mountain," Luo Zhen suggested, pointing to a mountain two mountains away, which stood out amidst the forests.

A Qing and Shan Qi quickly nodded, leading the deerhorn horse. When they turned around, they noticed their leader, Lu Zhan, still staring at the Tiger and Lion tribe.

From this distance, apart from noticing that the houses were constructed differently, there was nothing else noteworthy.

"A Zhan?" Luo Zhen called out suspiciously. He didn't understand why Lu Zhan was so focused on the shabby houses of the Tiger and Lion tribe.

Lu Zhan, with a frown, snapped back to reality when he heard Luo Zhen calling his name. Instead of standing up and following them away, he pointed in the direction of the Tiger and Lion tribe and asked, "Didn’t you think that someone in their tribe looks a lot like that rookie Luka?"