The Crow God and the Jackal God fought for a long time. The Crow God's feathers became sparser and he looked a little miserable.
The Jackal God was not much better. The wolf hair on his body was burned a lot by the divine fire breathed out by the Crow God, leaving patches of baldness in the east and west.
The battle on the ground was also very intense. The Jackal Cavalry did not gain much advantage under the attack of the Crow, and both sides suffered casualties.
"dumb……"
Finally, the Crow God did not want to continue this lose-lose strategy, so he spat out a breath of divine fire to ward off the Jackal God, and then flew away with his sparsely feathered wings.
"withdraw!"
The leader of the Crow Tribe shouted and ran away with the Crow God.
The warriors of the Crow Tribe and the big crows retreated while fighting, and soon they were all gone, leaving only hundreds of corpses on the ground.
On the Jackal tribe's side, a warrior gasped and asked: "Leader, are you chasing...chasing?"
"Fuck you, go back!"
The leader of the Jackal tribe also had many wounds on his body, not to mention that the Jackal God didn't chase him. Wouldn't they be looking for death if they chased him?
This battle ended so unclearly, but the hatred between the two sides has been forged, and if they meet again in the future, they will definitely fight again.
…
Southern Wasteland, Vine Tribe, early morning.
Maidong hesitated for a few days and finally decided to go to Jiang Xuan.
Ophiopogon japonicus is one of the four two-color warriors from the Blue Sheep Tribe who joined the Vine Tribe. He is not tall or very strong, but he has a specialty, which is raising waxworms.
Waxworms are the most important thing in the blue sheep tribe besides the blue sheep, because they can produce a large amount of wax every year.
Because waxworms grow well, Ophiopogon japonicus is very popular among the blue sheep tribe.
But now, the Blue Sheep Tribe is gone. After joining the Vine Tribe, he won't have a chance to show off his abilities and can only hunt with everyone.
He remembered those waxworms every day, and he could dream about those waxworms in his dreams at night.
So, after struggling for a few days, Maidong decided to go find Jiang Xuan and see if he could take him back to the Blue Sheep tribe.
In the yard among the bamboo groves, Jiang Xuan is planting some mosquito-repellent plants in front of and behind the house, such as stink grass, fan grass, etc.
As the weather warms up, annoying mosquitoes are back again.
Whether you live in a forest or a bamboo forest, mosquitoes are plentiful and very large.
If you don't try to drive away or kill these mosquitoes, you will be bitten all over your body every day if you sleep in the house.
"Dong dong dong..."
At the door of the yard, Ophiopogon japonicus followed the habit of the Vine tribe and knocked on the door first.
Jiang Xuan said without looking back: "Tangyuan, go and open the door."
Tangyuan, who was pacing in the yard, lazily walked over and opened the door skillfully.
Although Mai Dong knew that this purple fierce bird was raised by Jiang Xuan, when he saw a purple bird head as soon as he opened the door, he was still frightened and took two steps back.
Tang Yuan felt bored, so he went back to his bamboo shed to sleep.
Only then did Maidong dare to walk into the yard, cautiously came to Jiang Xuan's side, and said: "Chief."
Jiang Xuan turned around and saw Ophiopogon japonicus, so he put down the bone hoe in his hand and asked: "It turns out to be Ophiopogon japonicus, what do you want from me?"
Seeing that Jiang Xuan could remember his name, Maidong felt a little closer to him.
"Chief, I want to go back to the Blue Sheep tribe."
"What are you going back for?" Jiang Xuan asked in confusion.
"Chief, the waxworms should have started laying eggs. I want to go back and make some insect bags for those eggs. In this way, they can grow up smoothly and spit out wax in the fall."
A bug bag is a nest made of hay or other materials, with insect eggs placed in it, and then hung on a tree. This can prevent the larvae from being exposed to wind, sun, and rain, and improve the survival rate of the larvae.
If there are no artificial worm bags, they can hatch smoothly and the number of grown-up wax worms will be greatly reduced.
Maidong continued: "Although the blue sheep tribe is gone, those wax trees are still there. As long as they are not destroyed by others, we can still harvest insect wax in autumn."
Jiang Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up after hearing Maidong's explanation.
He has already experienced the benefits of insect wax.
Whether you are making candles for night lighting, or grinding them into powder to heal wounds, they are all very good.
If the mountain forest of the Blue Sheep tribe can continue to produce insect wax, it would naturally be the best. The Vine tribe can continue to use insect wax in the future.
If you can't use it up, you can also treat insect wax as a precious commodity like the blue sheep tribe, and trade it with other tribes to obtain other things.
"Okay, after I finish planting these plants, I will go to the old witch to borrow the giant eagle and accompany you for a walk."
"Chief, let me plant it for you."
Jiang Xuan and Ophiopogon japonicus quickly planted the remaining stink grass and fan grass.
Afterwards, the two went to the bamboo house where the old witch lived and asked him to borrow the giant eagle.
Although Tangyuan has grown up a lot, it will still take some time before he reaches adulthood. Short-distance flights are no problem, but long-distance flights are very difficult.
When the glutinous rice balls really grow up, you won’t have to borrow the giant eagle all the time.
When Jiang Xuan told the old witch about the waxworm, the old witch was very interested in it and wanted to see it for himself.
So, Jiang Xuan said hello to Chi Shao and others, and then rode the giant eagle to the Blue Sheep tribe again with the old witch and Mai Dong.
A few hours later, they landed at the former residence of the Blue Sheep tribe. Looking at the burned ruins of the residence and the bones scattered on the ground, Maidong couldn't help but feel sad and knelt on the ground and cried loudly.
Jiang Xuan patted him on the shoulder and said: "Ophiopogon japonicus, be strong. Although the blue sheep tribe is gone, there is still a vine tribe."
The old witch also comforted him for a long time, and then Maidong finally came out of that sad mood.
Maidong held a broken bone and said: "Chief, I want to dig a hole and bury them in the soil."
Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "I'll dig with you."
This time when they came out, they brought bone hoe and bone hoe, which Jiang Xuan originally planned to use to dig up wax tree seedlings. He wanted to see if wax trees could be planted on the mountains near the Teng tribe.
Now, they are just used to dig holes.
Jiang Xuan and Maidong chose a good location and began to dig a hole, while the old witch helped collect the remaining bones.
Although there are many rocks in the place where the Blue Sheep tribe lives, the soil is relatively loose, so digging is not particularly difficult.
With the vigorous digging of the two people, a large and deep pit was soon dug.
The old witch collected the human bones into a pile and the blue sheep bones into a pile, and then put them into the big pit by Ophiopogon japonicus himself.
Ophiopogon japonicus leaned over and cried loudly, then filled the soil bit by bit.
Soon after, a lonely large tomb appeared on the ruins of the Blue Sheep tribe, in which were buried the former members of Ophiopogon japonicus and the Blue Sheep.
After doing this, it was already afternoon, but there was still some time before the sun went down.
Maidong took Jiang Xuan and the old witch to a large wax forest next to the residence of the Blue Sheep tribe.
The wax trees in this world are trees that grow on high mountains. Most of them are seven or eight meters high, with very thick trunks and many branches.
The leaves of the wax tree are rich in oil, which can be converted into wax when eaten by wax insects.
"The waxworms have indeed laid eggs."
Ophiopogon japonicus was standing under a wax tree and found many dead female wax worms on the ground. There were also many living female wax worms among the leaves on the tree, but they were not moving much.
The male waxworm died after mating last fall.
Female waxworms live longer. They drill holes in the trunks or thick branches of wax trees and hide in the holes for the winter.
After spring arrives, these female waxworms will crawl out of their holes, eat the young leaves on the wax trees, lay eggs after eating for a period of time, and then die.
Ophiopogon japonicus quickly climbed over, searched for a while, and then picked two broad leaves from the wax tree.
"Chief, old witch, look, these are the eggs of the waxworm."
Ophiopogon japonicus turned over the broad wax tree leaves and saw a large number of insect eggs stuck to the leaves on the back.
Ophiopogon japonicus continued: "I will pick off all the leaves that have laid insect eggs, then make many insect bags, and put these leaves into the insect bags."
"In the past, when the tribe was still alive, these bug packs would be placed in the house, and after the larvae hatched, they would be hung on the trees to let them eat the wax tree leaves."
"But now, we don't have time to wait for them to hatch. We can only make insect bags and hang them directly on the trees."
When he said this, Maidong's eyes dimmed again, but he quickly adjusted his mood.
"After the larvae hatch, they will molt once, grow larger, and begin to spit out wax in autumn. By then, many branches will be covered with a thick layer of white wax, just like snow."
Thinking of that scene, Maidong's eyes lit up.
After listening to the introduction of Ophiopogon japonicus, Jiang Xuan and Lao Wu had a certain understanding of this strange-looking waxworm.
Jiang Xuan sighed in his heart: There are indeed many wonders in the world.
"Okay, it's getting late. I need to quickly pick off the leaves with insect eggs."
Ophiopogon japonicus had an animal skin bag tied to his waist, and he climbed up the tree again. Among the many leaves, he accurately picked out the leaves with insect eggs one by one, and then put them into the animal skin bag.
There are hundreds of wax trees in this wax forest. It is not an easy task to pick all the leaves with insect eggs.
"I'll go help too."
Jiang Xuan also hung up an animal skin bag, and then climbed to a wax tree. With his extraordinary eyesight, he carefully searched for leaves with insect eggs and picked them.
With this workload, I definitely won’t be able to go back today.
The old witch asked the giant eagle to hunt two prey, while he lit a fire next to the wax forest, built a temporary shelter, and prepared to spend the night.
After the old witch built a temporary shelter and lit a fire, the giant eagle came back with a very large prey.
At this time, the sun was setting in the west and night was gradually falling.
Jiang Xuan and Ophiopogon japonicus have only collected insect eggs from half of the forest. It seems that they will continue to work tomorrow.
When night fell, Jiang Xuan and Maidong came down from the tree and walked into the temporary shelter. The old witch had already roasted a lot of meat.
The two ate some meat, pulled a lot of hay from Ophiopogon japonicus, and started weaving insect bags while they had nothing to do at night.
In Jiang Xuan's opinion, the insect bag woven from Ophiopogon japonicus is actually more like a bird's nest, or a hornet's nest woven from hay.
The worm bag is oval in shape. The upper part is finely woven and airtight. The middle is empty, but there are several holes underneath for hatching larvae to enter and exit.
After weaving, Ophiopogon japonicus put two leaves with insect eggs into the insect bag, and then hung them on the densest branches of a wax tree nearby with a straw rope by the light of the fire.
"That's it. In a few days, the wax worms in the worm bag will hatch out and then climb up the tree to eat the leaves."
Ophiopogon japonicus looked at the hanging insect packs and felt satisfied inside.
Then, with the help of the firelight, he began to weave more insect bags.
Jiang Xuan asked Ophiopogon japonicus how to weave insect bags, and then helped to weave insect bags together.
The old witch learned it faster than Jiang Xuan. He only read it a few times and was able to knit it himself.
They ate barbecue and knitted a lot of insect bags until sleepiness hit them, and they lay down to sleep in the temporary shelter.
This night, guarded by the giant eagle, it was very peaceful.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xuan and Maidong continued to climb trees to collect insect eggs, while the old witch was responsible for weaving insect bags on the ground.
It was not until noon that all the eggs were collected.
With the efforts of the three people, they wove a large number of insect bags, put insect eggs in them, and hung them on the trees.
After working hard all day, the work was finally completed.
After everything was done, Ophiopogon japonicus stood by the wax forest, looking at the large and small insect bags hanging on the trees, and prayed: "I hope the goat god will protect you and grow up smoothly, and produce a lot of insect wax in the autumn."
Jiang Xuan then dug up a few wax tree seedlings and put the soil into animal skin bags. He wanted to take them back to the Vine Tribe and then find a mountain to try to plant them.
If it can be planted successfully, the waxworms can be gradually transferred there in the future, and there will be no need to travel so far to manage these waxworms.
After all, without the giant eagle, traveling such a long distance would be a huge risk.
"Okay, we should go back."
After digging the wax saplings, it was time for the sun to set. They did not plan to spend the night here tonight.
"Let's go."
The old witch covered the fire with earth to ensure that the fire was completely extinguished, and then climbed onto the back of the giant eagle.
Jiang Xuan also went up with the wax saplings.
Maidong looked around reluctantly, imprinting every plant and tree in his mind, and then climbed onto the eagle's back.
"Bah!"
The giant eagle took off and took them towards the Vine Tribe.
Maidong turned around and looked at the Blue Sheep tribe and the lonely grave that were getting further and further away. Although he felt too much reluctance to let go, he knew that if he wanted to integrate into the Vine tribe, he should give up.
There are a lot of predators in the forest at night, and even unknown large birds often fly by in the sky.
But no big bird dares to provoke the giant eagle, and they will stay away from it because the giant eagle is too powerful.
A few hours later, the giant eagle flew back to the Teng tribe and landed in the open space next to the bamboo house.
At this time, most of the people in the Teng tribe were already asleep, and only the warriors responsible for keeping watch ran over to greet them holding torches.
The old witch went back to his bamboo house to sleep. Jiang Xuan and Maidong also went back to their houses to sleep under the escort of the night watchmen.
…
On the other side, the Crow Tribe, which suffered successive setbacks, had to move forward to find a suitable place to live.
After staying away from the territory of the Jackal Tribe, they finally came to the Great Swamp and set their sights on the place where the Mountain Turtle Tribe lived!