translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Zhu Zhan and the others doubted their eyes.

Although these people hadn't managed to create a single piece of whole pottery, they had still managed to create pottery shards.

Now that they had pottery shards, was genuine pottery really that far away?

They would definitely be able to create pottery after a few more attempts!

Zhu Zhan looked at the scattered bits and pieces of pottery in front of him and didn't know what kind of expression he should show.

The people of the Beast G.o.d Tribe had said that pottery was very mysterious, even to the point of being a blessing from the Beast G.o.d, so the tribes had traded all kinds of precious things for pottery…

They had also researched pottery before, wanting to know how the Beast G.o.d Temple had made it. Yet as a result… Pottery was simply made out of mud that was kneaded into shapes and roasted in fire!

When the priest heard Zhu Zhan's words, he picked up a piece of pottery shard and asked, "This is pottery?"

"Yes, it's pottery that was shattered during the firing process… If it hadn't broken apart, it would be pottery." Zhu Zhan said. His gaze was complicated as he looked at Zhou Ji, "You… are you from the Beast G.o.d Temple?"

"No." Zhou Ji said.

"Zhou Ji has always lived in our tribe." Xiong Ye said.

Zhu Zhan's expression was uncomfortable as he looked at Zhou Ji, "Are you really the Beast G.o.d's messenger?"

He had also believed in the Beast G.o.d when he was a child, but he had lost faith after seeing the Beast G.o.d Temple's actions and words. Now… He felt like he had to believe in the Beast G.o.d again.

Zhou Ji didn't answer Zhu Zhan's words. Instead, he looked at the priest and said, "Try making pottery with different types of mud. Try it a few times, and record the differences along with information on how big the flames were for each batch."

"Yes, that's the right thing to do. We have to find someone reliable to do this." The priest agreed.

"Later, when you make pottery again, find a way to make the pieces smoother. You can try and turn it as you make it." Zhou Ji thought of the pre-apocalypse pottery wheels from his world, which spun in order to make it easier to smooth out the surfaces of the clay. He didn't know how to do something like that during this era, but he could give suggestions for the tribe to try out.

For example, they could use wood as a base and coil rope around it. The base would turn when the rope was pulled, or something like that.

The tribe could slowly study and learn these things.

After they had learned it and knew how to do it, the technology they had learned would belong to them. If they couldn't learn it… Well, he had no other way. He couldn't help these people forever.

Zhou Ji offered up his suggestions, then looked at Xiong Ye and said, "Xiong Ye, let's go back and sleep!" It was already very late…

"Alright!" Xiong Ye agreed and happily followed Zhou Ji to leave. He even offered, "Do you want me to carry you on my back?"

"No need."

The two of them slowly made their way back, walking further and further away. Zhu Zhan s.h.i.+fted his gaze as they left, and for some inexplicable reason, suddenly wanted to laugh.

The people of the Beast G.o.d Temple had always described the wild forest as being very terrible. It would be funny if the development on this side of the river one day surpa.s.sed the Beast G.o.d Temple's side!

Zhu Zhan felt that Zhou Ji was very amazing, but when Xiong Ye looked at Zhou Ji, he felt that the expression on Zhou Ji's face seemed… a little lost?

Xiong Ye chased after Zhou Ji, "Zhou Ji, it's fine. Even if we failed this time, it'll be successful next time!"

"Yes." Zhou Ji said.

"I think that you'll definitely be able to make pottery." Xiong Ye repeated.

"Indeed." Zhou Ji glanced at Xiong Ye and suddenly said, "I'm a little unhappy today… Can you turn into your animal form and sleep with me?"

Xiong Ye generally slept in his human form, but that didn't mean he couldn't go to sleep in his animal form. He nodded and turned into a bear, but when he wanted to go and embrace Zhou Ji, he found it a little difficult

The claws on his bear paws couldn't be retracted.

His claws were so long. If he wasn't careful, he would hurt Zhou Ji.

Zhou Ji laughed lightly and lay down beside him. "Go to sleep."

Xiong Ye had originally worried that he wouldn't be able to cuddle Zhou Ji in his animal form, but Zhou Ji had already said to sleep… He soon fell asleep and slept particularly soundly.

Zhou Ji s.h.i.+fted Xiong Ye's big bear body over a bit, causing the big bear to make little snuffling sounds, then turned over and soon went to sleep himself.

Zhou Ji had secretly given him some more energy.

Zhu Zhan was actually stronger than Xiong Ye… Zhou Ji was a little unhappy about that.

The next day was a day when the hunting team went out to hunt.

Xiong Ye went out with Zhu Zhan and the others, intending to catch and bring back some larger prey.

They hadn't finished the Barosaurus meat yet, but Xiong He was being very stingy and was no longer willing to share it with everyone after it had all been turned into smoked meat. If they wanted more meat to eat, they would have to go out and hunt to bring some back.

Xiong Ye had no choice but to work hard and go out hunting.

A few days ago, Zhu Zhan hadn't joined the hunting team on their hunts due to his leg injury. Today, however, he followed them out of the tribe with splints on his leg and a wooden stick for support.

Xiong Ye felt a little uneasy when he saw him like this, "Are you sure you'll be fine like this?"

"It's not a problem." Zhu Zhan said, "It's already been over ten days since I received this injury, and it's pretty much healed. And even if my leg is wounded, my combat power is still very high."

He wasn't speaking nonsense. As a medium level Beast Warrior, it wasn't a problem for him to deal with over a dozen regular Beast Warriors; his fighting power was at least ten times that of Xiong Ye's.

Xiong Ye definitely wouldn't be able to beat him even if his leg was still broken.

"But you can't s.h.i.+ft into your animal form and fight that way." Xiong Ye said.

Zhu Zhan: "……" Oh yeah!

"But I have a lot of experience." Zhu Zhan argued, "I've been going hunting since I was twelve or thirteen, and I've already spent twenty years exploring the wilderness!"

Hearing Zhu Zhan say that, Xiong Ye thought that it was likely that the dinosaurs they had encountered near their tribe were different from the ones he'd met before. With that in mind, he asked Zhu Zhan about it.

Zhu Zhan really had many experiences to share.

After talking for a while… Zhu Zhan suddenly asked, "Are you and Zhou Ji a mated pair? How did you get together?"

Xiong Ye didn't hide anything and explained that Zhou Ji hadn't been allowed to live in a cave on his own, which had led to him inviting Zhou Ji to live with him in his own cave.

"He actually wasn't allowed to live in his own cave?" Zhu Zhan was a little surprised.

"We didn't know that he was the Beast G.o.d's messenger at the time." Xiong Ye explained, "I only learned later on that he was so amazing and clever."

Someone as clever as Zhou Ji had actually started liking him and even agreed to his proposal that they be together… Xiong Ye was very happy whenever he thought about it.

"When did you guys learn that he was the Beast G.o.d's messenger?" Zhu Zhan pressed.

Zhou Ji had said before that some things shouldn't be shared with people from outside their tribe… Xiong Ye didn't speak any further. At the same time, he had also realized that something wasn't right--Why did Zhu Zhan keep asking so much about Zhou Ji?

Xiong Ye became rather guarded against Zhu Zhan.

As a man, he would become possessive of his own woman… Of course, it was the same vice versa, some women also felt a very strong sense of possessiveness towards their men.

Zhu Zhan didn't notice this point. Seeing that Xiong Ye wasn't replying anymore, he asked again, "Are you unable to tell me?"

"We're here to hunt, not chat." Xiong Ye said. "I can smell the scent of dinosaurs."

Xiong Ye stopped talking and went to search for dinosaurs.

The people of the Giant Pig Tribe had pretty decent fighting power. Although Zhu Zhan couldn't attack due to his injury, the strength of his subordinates were similar to Xiong Ye's.

Coupled with the flouris.h.i.+ng vegetation in their territory, many dinosaurs had come to the area… It didn't take long for them to catch enough meat to eat for two days.

Xiong Ye pretended to be doing it for the sake of everyone, but it was largely for his own self-interest that he led everyone to the river to wash up so he could see if there was anything there that Zhou Ji would eat.

Although the food that the hunting team brought back belonged to the entire tribe, Zhou Ji now got the same level of treatment as the priest, and Xiong He would give him the best portion of the prey first!

In that case, if he managed to catch something Zhou Ji liked, Xiong He would definitely give it to them.

Xiong Ye was just thinking of that when he noticed a devil frog that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Devil frog!" Xiong Ye was a little surprised.

"That thing can't be eaten…" Zhu Zhan wanted to stop him, but he ended up staring as Xiong Ye turned into a giant bear and pounced over, catching the devil frog that had tried to leap up and escape.

Xiong Ye then knocked the devil frog unconscious with a paw before turning back into his human form and putting his animal hide skirt back on. He turned to Zhu Zhan and asked, "What did you just say?"

"This devil is imprisoned in this devil frog. It can't be eaten." Zhu Zhan said.

"What do you mean, it can't be eaten? I've eaten a lot of it before, and Zhou Ji is very fond of it." Xiong Ye took the devil frog with him and left right away.

Zhu Zhan: Another one of his childhood perceptions had been subverted…

Xiong He eventually split the devil frog in half, with half going to the priest, and the other half going to Zhou Ji.

The materials that Zhou Ji had had on hand the last time they had obtained a devil frog had been very limited, and there was a lot of dishes he hadn't been able to make. This time, however, it was different…

He first stir fried some pickled vegetables with oil and made a pot of pickled vegetable soup before adding the devil frog meat to it. Sauerkraut devil frog was very tasty served with earth eggs.

Of course, it would be even better if he had rice or steamed buns to go with it…

Zhou Ji rather wanted to use his abilities to help the barley in the tribe grow a little faster.

Zhou Ji enjoyed the devil frog soup while Xiong Ye ate seared meat.

He had discovered that Zhou Ji's appet.i.te was actually quite good. If it was something that Zhou Ji liked to eat, Xiong Ye wouldn't eat much of it. He only tried some of the devil frog to see what it tasted like before leaving the rest to Zhou Ji. He used a flat stone to sear and eat his own meat instead.

He would add some oil to the stone and then use it to sear the dinosaur meat before adding some spices. It was really indescribably tasty!

Xiong Ye was eating happily when Zhu Zhan came over.

Zhu Zhan had come here looking for Zhou Ji.

He had met many people like Xiong Ye and wasn't curious about him, but Zhou Ji… was really unique.

He had previously felt that Zhou Ji wasn't anything good, feeling that he lazed around all day long and wasn't very likable. Now, however, he had discovered that Zhou Ji was the real thing and felt that Zhou Ji's behaviour was actually very normal.

And at the moment, he also wanted to better understand Zhou Ji. He even went so far as to consider… If Zhou Ji was willing to return with him, he would definitely be able to become the tribal chief of the Giant Pig Tribe!

"Zhou Ji, I didn't expect that you would like to eat devil frog… I'll catch one for you next time." Zhu Zhan offered. He didn't like this type of frog, but if Zhou Ji liked it, it wasn't impossible for him to go and catch them.

"No need." Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye spoke at the same time. Xiong Ye's gaze was even full of anger as he looked at Zhu Zhan--What exactly was this person trying to do?!

Juurensha: Ohhhh, Zhu Zhan, don't try to get in the way of the happy couple. Also, XY is so cute, learning to cute and cuddling with ZJ. 

xiin: XY getting jealous! maybe ZJ can cook with that vinegar~

a series of fanart by ari ()