Riding the wind of rebirth

The horse caravan followed the ridge toward the primeval forest and soon entered the colorful forest area.

Not only has the scenery become more beautiful, but the resources have also become more abundant, and even the number of wild animals has increased, reaching the highest density seen by everyone during this period.

You can see one almost every few steps.

Besides the most abundant squirrels and hares, there are also many medium-sized birds such as great tits, magpies, and crows, and several kinds of eagles and falcons circling and perched in the sky and trees.

These things really broadened the horizons of my friends.

“This place is like a large granary within a hundred miles,” Zhou Zhi said. “Now is the time when all the animals are frantically feeding and storing up fat to prepare for winter, so naturally there are a lot of animals coming here to eat.”

“I understand, it’s like gaining weight for winter, just like everyone else,” Yan Xiao said with a smile.

"Humans are probably the same as them," Liang Hong said with a smile. "After all, we humans also came from that background."

"It's not the time when there are the most animals yet, because they are used to feeding in the morning and evening. At this time, they are basically hiding to avoid becoming food for carnivores." Zhou Zhi pointed to the sky as he spoke, where several eagles were circling overhead.

Just as he was speaking, a dark shadow suddenly flew out from the side of Yang Honghui's horse, startling the horse so much that it swerved and almost reared up.

"Damn it!" Yang Honghui instinctively clenched his flanks and pulled away the reins he had been playing with.

The reins are ropes used to connect the horses. Yang Honghui and Yan Xiao's riding skills are now good enough that they can ride independently, so the reins are no longer needed and have become whips for them to play with.

With a "smack," the reins struck the dark figure squarely on the head, and the creature fell silently to the ground in front of Yang Honghui's horse.

The black dragon had disappeared somewhere, but now it emerged from the bushes and began howling around its prey.

"I...I didn't break the law, did I?" Yang Honghui was dumbfounded. Zhou Zhi had emphasized the rules to them before they went into the mountains. The stranger the animal in the mountains looked, the faster it would be sentenced. Now he had actually killed one of them. He was completely distraught.

This is a very beautiful bird with bright and gorgeous plumage. Its head is brownish-brown, its eyebrows are white, and the skin around its eyes is reddish-brown.

Its neck was bluish-black, reflecting a green metallic sheen, and connected to its orange belly and purplish-brown back by a white ring.

With its long, dark brown tail, the bird looks quite beautiful.

Zhou Zhi dismounted, picked up the bird, and pointed to the wide white ring around its neck, saying, "This is a pheasant, named for the white ring around its neck."

“It’s a protected wild animal, but it’s not yet listed as a protected species.” He then laughed and said, “Old Yang, you’re so quick! You managed to shoot it down.”

"I...I acted purely in self-defense." Yang Honghui tried to justify himself: "It was an instinctive reaction..."

After saying that, he shifted the blame to the black dragon: "It's all its fault! It was the one that chased the pheasants out!"

“There’s no need to be so afraid. We often see villagers selling pheasants at this market,” Yan Xiao took the pheasant and passed it around among the girls. “We can add a small fried chicken tonight.”

The girls looked at the beautiful pheasant with curiosity, while Zhou Zhi wondered if what Yang Honghui said was true. Maybe this pheasant really was a treat that Heilong had prepared for him. But the question was, why didn't it do it itself? And why did it know that Yang Honghui had special skills and could help it shoot the pheasant down?

"The pheasant is so beautiful, will it be carrying chicks?" He Shiqing felt a little guilty.

“That’s not necessarily true, because it’s a male bird,” Zhou Zhi laughed. “Chicks are all raised by female birds, but it’s true that Old Yang’s slap has created five or six more widows in the mountains.” “What do you mean?” Liang Hong asked.

"Because a male pheasant usually occupies the mating rights of several female pheasants," Zhou Zhi laughed. "This pheasant weighs at least three pounds, which is quite large for a pheasant. It might even have more than ten wives!"

"what is it now?"

"What else can we do? There are plenty of roosters in the mountains, we can just find another one," Yang He laughed. "There are so many roosters waiting to take their place."

“Yes, that’s why there’s a saying in the mountains, ‘Hunt the male, not the female,’ meaning that hunting male prey doesn’t have a big impact on the reproduction of the species,” Zhou Zhi said, then sighed, “Men, that’s just their fate!”

One sentence made everyone laugh, and the unease about killing the pheasant vanished.

From the moment the pheasant was killed, the horse team descended from the ridge to the side of the mountain, officially entering the colorful forest area.

It was as if everyone had entered a natural palette, surrounded by shades of green, brown, yellow, orange, and red... a dazzling and bizarre spectacle.

Many of the tree species mentioned in the previous list can be seen here.

Many trees still bear fruit, such as persimmons, chestnuts, and ginkgo, which are in the fruiting stage. In addition, there are some tree fruits that city dwellers rarely come into contact with, such as acorns, oaks, jujubes, and wild jujubes.

Wild jujube trees are not found in Sichuan. This is a northern plant, but it has spread here along the Qinling and Daxiangling Mountains. There are not many of them, but the few that exist have produced quite a few fruits.

This crop is short and the fruit tastes mediocre, but the jujube kernels can be used to make bracelets. However, the process is very troublesome, and it takes thousands of kernels to find a single high-quality bracelet. Zhouzhi didn't plan to tell his friends about it.

However, there are several types of trees here that deserve special mention.

The first amazing tree is the birch. By drilling a hole in the birch tree, you can draw out the sap through a small tube. The sap has a slightly sweet taste and can be used as a nice natural beverage.

Birch bark has even greater uses. After being soaked to soften it and scraped flat and thin, it can be used to make various containers, such as kettles and wine glasses. Larger ones can even be used to make canoes.

However, such tree species are rare in the south, and there is no such custom. The reason they can be seen here is due to very special climatic conditions.

There are two very impressive native tree species here. One is sumac, which, as the name suggests, secretes salt water on its surface. After drying, it forms a white shell on the branches, which is composed of salt.

"It really tastes like salt!" After hearing Zhou Zhi's introduction, Yan Xiao curiously picked a branch from the tree, licked the white substance on it with his tongue, and then cut it into sections and handed them to everyone: "Old Yang, Yang He, you guys try it too, it tastes just like salt!"

"It's quite sweet, not bitter at all, just pure salty." Yang Honghui tasted it and even thought it tasted pretty good.

“In the past, when salt was scarce, mountain people would often collect the salt from this kind of wood as a substitute for salt,” Zhou Zhi said. “However, this salt is potassium salt and cannot replace real table salt in the long term, otherwise it will cause health problems. So it can only be used temporarily as an emergency measure and cannot form economic value.”

"However, because sumac has the ability to absorb salt from the soil and release it through its bark, it has a very strong ability to resist salt and alkali, and it is also of research value as a tree species for managing the salt and alkali land of deserts and Gobi."

"That's amazing, there are trees in this world that can grow salt." Yan Xiao smiled as he looked at the small fruits covered with white salt crusts on the branches. "It's a pity these fruits aren't Sichuan peppercorns, otherwise they would have a natural salt and pepper flavor!"

This is quite an imaginative idea; it amused everyone. (End of Chapter)