CHAPTER 186: AGITATION

The appearance of the Black Wolves caused the atmosphere to suddenly sink. The Snow Wolf warriors, who were just happy a moment ago, immediately tensed up, their eyes filled with wariness.

"Ignore them." Thomas glanced at the dark figures in the distance, his voice mixed with impatience: "Who knows what kind of conspiracy those Black Wolves are hatching."

Their tribe had used the excuse of waiting for the Dwarves to forge new farming tools to stay here for so long. The Black Wolves were equally persistent, still not leaving even now; it was indeed a bit strange. But thinking back to their previous crazy actions, this didn’t seem too surprising.

"Thomas is right, it’s best we don’t get involved with them," Joseph stroked his long beard and said cautiously.

Eric also nodded in agreement. This Black Wolf bunch was always sneaking around shadily; it was best to stay far away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

The Ox-Head tribe naturally understood the grudge between the two tribes. Balu himself was partial to the little patriarch with god-tier cooking skills like Eric. He carried his massive ox head but tried to act secretive, leaning close to Eric and whispering in a voice he thought was small:

"I heard they want to discuss something with Chief Tu, but our chief still hasn’t agreed."

Eric played along, acting equally secretive:

"What kind of dirty trick are they trying to pull now? Truly a bunch with black hearts."

Standing to the side, Max could only feel helpless. He used his soft wolf head to gently nudge Eric’s back:

"Come on, let’s go. We’ll talk more when we get inside."

The giant python that Thomas’s group had hunted was still lying there, dying with its eyes wide open right in front of the wooden house. Its body was twisted and frighteningly large, making someone who was naturally afraid of snakes like Eric jump.

Fortunately, his courage had been calloused a bit by A Mat; otherwise, he definitely would have jumped onto someone else this time.

Eric hurriedly hid behind Max’s massive, furry paw, only daring to poke his head out, exclaiming in shock:

"Good heavens, this snake is huge!"

The python was coiled into a messy pile. The road built by the Ox-Head tribe, originally very spacious, was almost completely occupied by it. Luckily, this area was only for the Snow Wolves to stay, and other beastmen had already left; otherwise, this creature would have blocked the entire path.

Thomas and the other warriors looked beaming and extremely proud. He patted his chest, laughing heartily:

"We chased this big guy for the whole day, nearly let it escape! Its mouth is terrifyingly huge; it almost swallowed me whole, hahaha!"

Eric was startled and horrified, looking at Thomas speechlessly. Was there anything funny about this? It was terrifying!

"Don’t snakes hibernate in winter?" Scared as he was, Eric’s curiosity didn’t diminish. He poked his head out from his "shield" Max and asked curiously.

A warrior standing behind Thomas laughed foolishly and explained:

"We ran out of firewood, so we planned to go hunting and gather some firewood to burn while we were at it. Who would have thought I’d pull up the exact tree it was using as a hiding spot, so I woke it up. We had to chase until our legs were falling off to catch it."

"Later we have to go carry that tree back," Thomas added. "Otherwise, there won’t be any firewood to burn tonight."

The corner of Eric’s mouth twitched; he didn’t know what to say.

That was called gathering a little firewood? A tree big enough for such a giant python to use as a shelter was certainly no small matter. They just uprooted someone’s house like that, and even planned to turn the homeowner into dinner.

Although this python looked ugly, thinking about it, it was quite pitiful. Truly an undeserved disaster falling from the sky.

Eric grumbled silently for a while, then looked at the road occupied by the python and asked:

"Um... then where should we put our goods? We brought a lot of farming tools this time; they take up even more space."

"Then you guys follow me first," Balu suggested heartily. "Bring the farming tools to our warehouse and let Bi take inventory. You guys just discuss how much food to exchange for, and take the food with you when you leave."

Joseph and Thomas looked at each other, both feeling this was a good idea.

"Eric, then I’ll take the farming tools over first." Joseph turned to look at Eric: "You guys just settle into the accommodation; doing this saves a lot of space."

That was indeed very convenient. Eric nodded, letting Kevin and the others carry the farming tools and follow Joseph and Balu ahead.

"There are a lot of you this time; if one wooden house isn’t enough, just use the ones next to it. They are all empty. Make yourselves at home! I’ll bring food over for you guys when I come back later."

Balu waved goodbye to Eric with some reluctance, then led everyone to the warehouse.

On this trip, the goods were mainly farming tools. After moving them away, there wasn’t much left to store. Thomas pulled Eric and Max into the house, while the others stayed in the yard to process the dark gray python together.

Eric had to carefully squeeze through a gap, glancing at the warriors busy disemboweling and skinning the animal. The air was filled with the characteristic fishy smell of cold-blooded creatures, extremely unpleasant. He hurriedly slammed the door shut.

Inside the wooden house, Thomas lowered his voice, his expression becoming serious:

"How was it? Did you reach the bordering sea smoothly? Can seawater really be refined into salt?"

Max had transformed back into his human form. He took a bamboo tube from his bag, opened the lid, and held it in front of Thomas:

"This is the refined salt we refined at the seaside."

Thomas’s hand trembled slightly as he took the bamboo tube. He couldn’t believe his eyes, looking at it again and again. Inside were undoubtedly grains of pure white salt; there was no mistaking it.

"This... was really cooked from seawater?" He asked again, his voice tinged with skepticism.

Eric smiled and replied:

"We used seawater to cook into coarse salt first, then I refined the coarse salt once more to get this refined salt."

Thomas was over three hundred years old this year; living all these years, this was the first time he had held such a large tube of refined salt in his hands. Refined salt from human merchant groups was sold at cutthroat prices. Just exchanging for coarse salt was already a huge expense for the tribe, so even as the patriarch, he couldn’t bear to exchange for too much refined salt.

But this tube of salt was completely different! It wasn’t a bestowed gift, but a result created by themselves from the ocean. This meant that in the future, the Snow Wolf tribe would no longer have to depend on humans, no longer be controlled by their salt supply!

During the great war last time, merchant groups didn’t dare to go deep into the Illusion Continent, and his tribe almost ran out of salt, having to save every single grain to survive.

This continent had never been peaceful. Although the major powers were currently maintaining a false peace, undercurrents were surging beneath.

Thomas always feared that once war broke out again, their lives would be severely affected, and salt was one of those fatal weaknesses.

Now, the worry that had been weighing on his heart for so long was finally more than half relieved.

Thomas hugged the tube of refined salt tightly and suddenly burst into a foolish laugh, an innocent smile completely different from his usual dignified and steady image.

Eric and Max looked at each other, and without planning to, both curled their lips into a smile as well.