Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
It wasn’t long before the pair returned carrying bags full of meat, and behind them was a large gaggle of people.
“It really is salt that’s as white as snow? And it’s not expensive either. Are you sure you aren’t being tricked?” one of the followers doubtfully asked.
“See for yourselves.”
They glanced at Mud Mountain’s stall. Really, all these jars of snow-white substance were salt? How were they so white? They didn’t seem to have a single impurity!
The yellow hide man and brown hide man passed over their meat to the Mud Mountain Warriors. “Weigh it and see if the amount is right.”
Calm Bulrush just needed to eye it to judge the amount. “This is enough.”
Ye Xi swiftly offered a jar of white salt to the yellow hide man.
The yellow hide man stared at the white salt and swallowed. He wiped his hands on his hide, confirmed that there wasn’t any sweat on them, and then cautiously took the jar.
“So white! It’s really salt!” muttered one of the yellow hide man’s fellow tribesmen, staring at the jar.
The yellow hide man was overjoyed to have bought the salt. “How could it be fake after I tasted it? If you don’t believe it, you can taste some for yourself. That’s what I did before buying.”
“Really? I can even try it? Then I’ll have a taste.”
The eyes of each person that tasted the salt brightened, and they would tell bystanders, “It’s really salty! It’s incredible that there could be such excellent salt! I want a jar too! It’s just two hundred catties of meat, right?!”
The salt they had seen from the Yellow Bear Tribe had always been yellow mixed with white, a salt littered with impurities. When they set eyes on this pure and unblemished salt, they immediately knew that it was inconceivably rare.
As the word of mouth spread, more and more people gathered around Mud Mountain’s stall. They even began to reserve jars of salt, afraid that if they came late, it would all be sold out.
Ye Xi smiled as he stood at the back and watched the lively trading taking place.
Once the first jar of salt was sold, there would be nothing to worry about, as the word of mouth would ensure a continuous stream of customers.
Ye Xi stopped worrying about the stall and began to look around curiously at the stalls set up by the other tribes.
Calm Bulrush, who had just finished negotiating a price, looked up and saw the curiosity in Ye Xi’s eyes. With an understanding smile, he said, “We can handle this end. This is your first time, so you should stroll around the trade area.”
Since Calm Bulrush had given his permission, Ye Xi didn’t try to be polite. After leaving a few words, he walked over to the other stalls.
In the trade area, Ye Xi was like a countryside kid going to the big city for the first time, curiously looking around him.
The wares of the various tribes served as an eye-opening experience.
For example, a tribe with a turtle totem had set up their stall on the back of a massive white turtle. All of the members of this tribe sat on the white turtle, with the items up for trade being placed on the shell.
The white turtle did not move, its eyes half-closed. It almost seemed like a statue.
Ye Xi curiously glanced at the turtle. It was the first time he had seen one of such size.
This tribe primarily traded in ornaments. Ornaments made of all kinds of materials were displayed on the back of the turtle. There were necklaces made of shells that had been strung together, head ornaments made from beast fangs, and beautiful stones that had been worked into bracelets. All of these ornaments had been made with much higher craftsmanship than the Mud Mountain Tribe possessed, beautiful and exquisitely crafted.
Ye Xi came forward and inspected a bracelet made from translucent green crystals. He realized that these green crystals were actually high quality green quartz.
“Would you like to buy it?” a woman on the turtle shell asked as she looked Ye Xi over. Noticing that Ye Xi was still young, she said, “Only five pieces of jerky. Gift it to your mother. She’s certain to be delighted.”
Such a cheap and beautiful bracelet, but I have no one to give it to! Ye Xi regretfully shook his head, giving her an apologetic smile as he put down the bracelet and left.
After passing several stalls, Ye Xi was frozen to the spot by a stall that was brimming with green.
This was a very special tribe. Everything it made used green leaves.
A large leaf was the only thing drawn on their sign, and the beast hide usually spread out on the ground had been replaced by several large and thick leaves. Even the clothes they wore had been made from leaves, and with meticulous handiwork and elegant designs.
Ye Xi glanced at their totem and found that it was three leaves intertwined.
A man with a delicate face saw Ye Xi standing there and warmly called out, “Try a cup of green dew? Only one piece of flint or something of equivalent value.”
“Green dew?” Ye Xi looked with interest at the wooden cups spread out on the stall.
Inside the cups was a faint green, translucent juice.
“You can smell it,” the man encouraged, seeing that Ye Xi was interested.
Ye Xi glanced at him, brought a wooden cup to his nose and lightly sniffed. A refreshing fragrance wafted into his nose.
“Can I use salt to trade?”
The man hurriedly nodded upon hearing the word ‘salt’. “Of course, of course.”
Ye Xi nodded, but to the man’s disappointment, he put down the tea and began to look at the other items around the stall.
When he spotted a large and gorgeous flower with a mouthful of sharp teeth, his eyes brightened. Pointing at it, he asked, “That’s… a man-eating flower?”
“Yes; are you interested?”
The man was a very earnest fellow, revealing the whole story to Ye Xi. “We found this man-eating flower half a month ago in the mountains. We found it so beautiful that we wanted to raise it, but it just eats too much!”
The man bitterly smiled as he grumbled, “Not even feeding it ten catties of meat every day is enough. It moans every day, demanding something to eat, and it even drools while eating!”
Ye Xi smiled as he looked at the flower.
It was a gorgeous flower that made one happy just by looking at it.
But perhaps because the weather was too hot or it was too hungry, the flower was drooping to the side. At the center of the flower was a half-open, human-like mouth with two rows of sharp teeth. From time to time, it would occasionally make a ‘groan’.
“How much for the flower?”
The man immediately grew excited at Ye Xi’s question. This was the first time someone had asked about the price after hearing about the flower’s voracious appetite.
“Not expensive—fifty pieces of jerky… no, forty would be enough.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Ye Xi went back to the Mud Mountain stall and came back with half a jar of salt. “Please take a look. Is this half a jar of salt enough for a cup of green dew and this flower?”
The man’s eyes brightened as he took the jar. He thrust a finger in and tasted a little of the salt. “Eh? This is salt?”
The other tribe members at the stall grew restless. “What? Such white salt!”
“You want to use this half-jar of salt to trade for green dew and the man-eating flower?” The delicate man was an earnest person. While he was very satisfied with the salt and wanted nothing more than to put it away, when he saw how young Ye Xi was, he hesitated. “…This is such good salt. You might be losing out too much.”
Ye Xi gently smiled. “It’s fine. This salt was made by our tribe.”
“You’re from the Yellow Bear Tribe?”
Ye Xi shook his head. “The Mud Mountain Tribe.”
The people at the stall immediately exploded at these words, shouting, “What?! The Mud Mountain Tribe can also produce salt?”
“Is it expensive? This salt is so good I also want to trade for a little.”
“Just go ask and find out.”
Seeing that the conversation had gotten sidetracked, Ye Xi said, “You’re welcome to go to our stall to trade for salt. It’s the innermost stall. Can I take them now?” He pointed at the man-eating flower and the green dew.
“Please wait a moment.” The man wrapped the man-eating flower in a beast hide and then handed it to him together with the green dew, advising, “Don’t get close to it yet. It will attack you. Once you’ve fed it for a few days, it will stop biting you.”
Ye Xi smiled and nodded as he took the items.
The man found this handsome youth to be very easy to deal with, so he kindly said, “Right, I’m called One Leaf. What’s your name?”
Ye Xi faintly smiled. “I’m called Ye Xi. Nice to meet you.”
One Leaf’s eyes brightened. This youth also had a ‘leaf’ in his name! This improved his opinion of Ye Xi even further. “Ye Xi, if you happen to pass by our Leaf Tribe in the future, you’re welcome to be our guest.”
“Sure.”
One Leaf reluctantly watched Ye Xi leave the Leaf Tribe’s stall. Holding the man-eating flower in his left hand while slowly sipping on the cup of green dew in his right, Ye Xi continued to slowly stroll around the trade area.
The light green juice carried a unique fragrance as it slid down his throat, like both a grass and a fruit. It also had a refreshing sweetness to it.
He proceeded to buy a nest of green eggs and several pieces of flint, after which he felt satisfied and returned to his tribe’s stall.