The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 30 There are Cranes in the Cold Mountains
After polishing the iron pot, Ling Chengen quickly lit the stone stove and tested the iron pot, which had not been forged at high temperatures, over the fire.

Well, you could use it.

This iron pot is made of pure iron, so it should be considered a wrought iron pot. However, it did not undergo the high-temperature smelting process, which directly removed a large number of impurities from the metal.

"Okay, thank you."

Ling Chengen confirmed that the pot was fine, and asked him to get a spatula as well.

Looking at the pot that hadn't broken after being heated over the fire for a long time, Lei Sang asked curiously, "Young clan leader, are all the delicious dishes in your family made with this thing?"

"Didn't you just make this pot? I didn't have it before. But having this makes it easier to make more delicious food. When you come back from hunting tonight, come over and I'll share some with you so you can take some home for your family to try."

Lei Sang immediately rubbed his hands together and said happily, "Thank you, Young Clan Chief."

"By the way, we'll probably need a lot of this metal in the future. Do you remember where we found the iron ore?"

Lei Sang's eyes widened, and he thought for a while: "This kind of ore is very common. Just go northeast, towards the Misty Swamp, it takes about half a day to fly there, and there are such ores on several mountains along the way."

There are similar mines in the northwest, but they are further away.

……

After confirming the presence of iron ore in the wasteland, Ling Chengen did not waste any more of Lei Sang's time.

As the hunting party headed north to hunt, she also carried a basket of potatoes and a freshly baked iron pot, preparing to head to the Hanshan tribe.

As soon as Ling Chengen left the tribe with his belongings on his back, he saw a giant golden-topped eagle perched on a tree branch.

Wu Zhuo stared at her with his bright eagle eyes and chuckled, "Am I smart? I guessed that you were going to the Hanshan tribe today, Sister En."

Ling Chengen rubbed his forehead and waved his hand: "Hurry up, the people of Hanshan Tribe usually set off later than our tribe. I have important business in their tribe, give me a ride."

Wu Zhu spread his wings and flew past her quickly. Ling Chengen, carrying the things, jumped forward and landed steadily on his back.

As Wu Zhuo carried her into the sky, he didn't forget to chat with her: "Sister En, are you rushing to deliver the barbecue you just learned to make to Bai Qingyu? Can I come along and have some today?"

Ling Chengen sat cross-legged behind him and tapped him on the back of the head: "In your eyes, am I only good enough to be Bai Qingyu's lapdog? Can't you think of me in a nice way?!"

What a clueless lackey.

Wu Zhuo chuckled and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong. So who are you going to look for in the Cold Mountain Tribe?"

"The clan chief of Hanshan."

Ling Chengen, supporting the basket and pot with one hand, lazily yawned: "But have you been so free lately? Always following me around, don't you need to train your hunting skills? Didn't you want to join the hunting team when you turned sixteen?"

Wu Zhuo sighed, "That's what I was thinking, but I talked to the chief yesterday, and he said the hunting team isn't short of people right now. Especially since all the animals are currently in their breeding season, the chief doesn't want to expand the hunting area any further, so he told me to wait until autumn."

"So you're planning to follow me around the whole time?"

Ling Chengen didn't mind having such a suitable follower as a car.

Wu Zhuo nodded: "Yes, I've almost finished training my hunting skills, and I can learn even more from you. The chieftain also said that you might be doing something important recently and asked me to help you."

Ling Chengen couldn't help but chuckle softly, then shook his head helplessly.

Doing something big?
Planting potatoes is a big deal, but this kid is completely useless at helping.

She needs to go to the Misty Swamp to hunt the Blackscale Lizard as soon as possible, but she definitely can't take him with her.

However… Ling Chengen thought of the few medicinal herbs at home and decided to teach him to identify them first.

To save Su Weihua from her severe injuries, the old witch doctor bought up most of the medicinal herbs in his house.

If a hunting party encounters a pack of savage beasts and something happens to them, they might not even have enough emergency herbs.

Soaring through the air, Wu Zhuo was unaware that he was about to embark on a grueling academic journey. With a flurry of cool flapping of his wings, he landed in front of the village of Hanshan tribe with Ling Chengen in less than ten minutes.

The moment Wu Zhuo landed, dust billowed in all directions. Two orcs, each wielding a long wooden stick with a metal spearhead at the end, swooped down from the wooden platform above, their weapons aimed directly at the two who had rashly intruded into the village.

Ling Chengen did a somersault, carrying the basket and iron pot, and landed directly on the shaft of the spear.

Wu Zhuo, like a free-range chicken, ran forward a few steps and dodged the "hidden weapon" that almost hit his butt!
"Don't you have any sense of martial ethics? Stabbing someone's butt, may you be struck by lightning!"

Wu Zhuo jumped up on the spot, turned around and cursed the black-faced orc.

Ling Chengen slightly turned her body, grabbed the spear that was thrusting at her with her left hand, kicked the opponent's wrist with her leg, and with a sudden flick of her left hand, the opponent's weapon fell into her hand, and the tip of the weapon was pointed directly at the opponent's throat.

“I advise you to stop now.” Ling Chengen held a pot in one hand, the end of his spear against his waist, tilted his head slightly and curled the corners of his lips. “You are no match for me. If you continue fighting, it will damage the friendship between our two tribes.”

"Pah! You shameless bastard! You brazenly invade our tribe, and we're not even allowed to fight back?"

"Are you here to harass our young clan leader again? Our young clan leader isn't here, so get out of here!"

Ling Chengen threw the spear back into the other man's arms and picked up the basket at his feet: "I'm looking for your clan leader, where is he?"

"You two wait here quietly, I'll go and inform the clan chief."

One of the orcs guarding the stronghold left, while the remaining one continued to watch them warily.

Ling Chengen sat down directly on the stone at the entrance of their village and told Wu Zhuo, who was squatting to the side throwing daggers, to quickly put on the animal skin skirt.

A few minutes later, a purple-haired youth wearing an animal skin skirt emerged from behind the rocks in the distance.

Ling Chengen stared at him blankly for a few seconds before realizing that this person must be Bai Qingyu.

"Not here?" She chuckled sarcastically, turning to look at the orc beside her who had just said Bai Qingyu wasn't there.

The other person immediately turned their head away, looking at the sky and the ground but not daring to look at her.

Bai Qingyu stopped in front of her, looking down at the huge black metal at her feet, and for a moment he was a little confused about her purpose in coming to the Hanshan tribe.

"You're looking for my father? What's the matter?"

Ling Chengen stuffed the basket on the ground into Wu Zhuo's arms, and said while carrying the large pot in one hand, "Let's talk about a mutually beneficial cooperation with your Hanshan tribe."

"Can we go inside and talk?"

Bai Qingyu hesitated for a moment, but still stepped aside and led them into the village.

Upon entering the Hanshan Tribe, Ling Chengen discovered that it was even more desolate than the Stone Forest. Large trees were almost nowhere to be seen, only low shrubs and wild grasses and small trees growing in the crevices of the rocks.

In the shady areas of the mountain rocks, a thin layer of snow has not yet completely melted.

It's much colder here than down the mountain.

Over 70% of the beastmen in the Cold Mountain tribe are crane-like creatures, with Moonfeathered Blue Cranes making up more than half of them. The rest are White Crane, Gray Crane, and Phoenix-crowned Crane beastmen, and the remaining 30% are other avian beastmen of slightly smaller size. There are no land-dwelling beastmen.

The orcs of the Cold Mountain tribe are not good at building caves and tree nests. They mostly use natural stone caves on the Cold Mountain rocks as their nests. They are accustomed to lining the caves with dry grass, soft feathers, and animal fur to withstand the cold climate of the mountains that lasts for half a year.

“My father is still in the cave. I’ll take you up there,” Bai Qingyu said, pointing to the highest rocky cave above.

Ling Chengen shook his head: "Let him come down, I won't go up."

Bai Qingyu looked at her profile with a puzzled expression, but after a few seconds, she still went up and called Bai Yun down.

Bai Yun, the chieftain of the Hanshan tribe, was over forty years old, and Bai Qingyu was his third son. When Ling Chengen saw Bai Yun, he always felt that he was a bit like his own father, both unable to stand up for themselves in front of their children.

Especially after a red-crowned crane flew down from the mountain, its wings almost knocked Bai Yun to the ground. Fortunately, Bai Qingyu pulled her up, and the gentle clan leader was finally able to maintain her balance.

Bai Qingyu turned to look at the man who had transformed into human form, frowning as she said, "Second brother, can you tone it down a bit? If eldest brother sees this, he'll start fighting with you again."

The young man, with reddish streaks at the ends of his hair, smiled, his thin, bright red lips curving upwards. "Oh dear, he was out hunting with his team today, how could he possibly see us? Besides, let's fight then, do you think I'm afraid of him?"

Bai Yun coughed lightly, pressing her fist to her lips, and looked at Ling Chengen, saying, "You flatter me, those brothers are just like that."

"If you want to discuss cooperation with me, then just say so."

Ling Chengen withdrew his gaze from the spectacle and said, "You must have heard about the war that our Stone Forest fought with four other tribes some time ago, right?"

"After the four tribes were defeated, they were to hand over the prey designated by our tribe according to the conditions agreed upon when they surrendered. Wu Yang and Yao Luo are another story; they handed it over in batches, so it was alright for them."

“But we have recently fallen out with the Snow Wolf tribe, and they will probably hand over their prey all at once, which will result in a short-term surplus of prey for our tribe.”

Bai Yun and the others behind her listened intently: "So, what does this have to do with you coming to our tribe? Are you here to sell us your surplus prey?"

“No.” Ling Chengen shook his head and pointed to the snow-covered area above. “We want to rent that piece of land above you, preferably a natural ice cave covered with snow, so that we can extend the preservation time of our prey.”

"Rent? You're comfortable leaving your prey on our territory?"

Bai Xi, the second son, stood with his arms crossed in front of him, a mocking smile on his lips, watching her with a leisurely air.

Ling Chengen smiled confidently: "If I didn't have enough confidence, I wouldn't have asked for this."

"First of all, your Hanshan tribe is a trustworthy neighbor. If it were the untrustworthy Giant Serpent tribe, I wouldn't even bother to pay them any attention, even if they came to my door begging for cooperation. Secondly, what I want to cooperate with is not just renting an ice cave to store prey."

“And this.” Ling Chengen picked up a potato from the basket and casually tossed it into Bai Xi’s arms.

Bai Xi held the grayish-brown potato, looking utterly bewildered: "Isn't this just a groundnut? Qingyu and I dug them up when we were kids. You can't eat them, and they're not fun to play with, but the wild boars in the forest loved to dig them up to fill their bellies."

"Qingyu, isn't this what we dug up when we were kids?"

Bai Qingyu nodded: "Yes."

Ling Chengen simply told Wu Zhuo to gather firewood: "I knew you wouldn't want this stuff, but it's a good thing to fill your stomach when prey is scarce."

"Was the prey you hunted last autumn enough for all the orcs in the tribe to safely survive the winter? Were any orcs starved to death?"

This topic really hit a nerve with the Hanshan tribe.

Bai Yun and the others remained silent for a long time before Bai Qingyu spoke first: "We did our best during last year's autumn hunt, but the prey we stored only lasted until early February this year."

"Especially this spring, the ice thawed late, so most of the waters in the Northern Wilderness did not begin to thaw until mid-March. Between the end of February and mid-March, a total of twelve old orcs in the tribe quietly left to save food for their cubs and never returned."

Their failure to return means they have died somewhere in the wasteland.

Bai Yun sighed deeply: "Every year from winter to spring, the food shortage is similar in every tribe. Even though more than a dozen of our tribe's orcs left, four of our cubs still died from lack of food."

Ling Chengen had anticipated the situation they described. The harsh living environment in the Northern Wilderness, food shortages, lack of medical care and medicine, and constant disasters were all common occurrences.

Every year when the winter snow melts, one can always see many orc corpses or remains in the wasteland. Some of these corpses were frozen to death, some were starved to death, and some were killed by prey while searching for prey in the extreme cold.

Ling Chengen took the potato from Bai Xi's hand and said calmly, "Therefore, everything that can be used as food has great value to us."

“But this stuff tastes terrible, and it can cause problems if you eat it.” Bai Xi thought for a moment, “I remember my older brother ate this stuff when he was little, and he had a stomachache for several days. He had to see a witch doctor to cure him.”

Ling Chengen: "That's because you haven't found the right method. Some foods are inedible on their own, but with a little processing, they can be eaten."

Wu Zhuo returned carrying a pile of firewood and skillfully moved stones to build a stone stove.

He turned to look at Bai Xi: "You're a fire-type ability user, right? Can I borrow a light?"

Bai Xi squatted down beside him. Although she didn't understand what he meant, she knew that it involved food supplies and could not be taken lightly. She flicked a wisp of orange-red flame from her fingertip onto the dry firewood.

Soon the firewood in the stone stove was burning.

Ling Chengen placed the iron pot on the stone stove and looked at Bai Qingyu beside him: "Borrow some water."

Bai Qingyu looked at the black pot: "How much do you need?"

"Half a pot."

Bai Qingyu flipped her right hand in front of her, and a stream of silvery-white water fell into the pot. Ling Chengen peeled a basket of potatoes, had Bai Qingyu rinse them clean, and then threw all the potatoes into the pot and covered it with a large lid.

"What's next?" Bai Xi asked.

"Wait." Ling Chengen found a rock to sit on, propped his cheek with one hand, and glanced at the sky. "In half an hour, we can take the potatoes out and eat them."

Half an hour passed quickly, and more and more orcs gathered in the open space, all curiously examining the smoky stone stove and large pot.

While waiting, Ling Chengen had already prepared several wooden bowls and spoons.

After taking out the cooked potatoes and mashing them, he took a small amount of salt from the animal skin bag at his waist, added it to the mashed potatoes, stirred it well, and then handed a small bowl to Bai Yun.

Ling Chengen also took a small bowl, and before Bai Qingyu could even stop her, she put it directly into her mouth.

Wu Zhuo took the opportunity to grab an extra potato, mashed it up with salt, and proudly showed it off while holding the bowl and chopsticks.

Bai Yun looked at Bai Qingyu beside her, a look of hesitation on her face.

Wu Zhuo glanced up at him and said speechlessly, "Sister En's family has been eating this kind of mashed potatoes for several days now, and they're perfectly fine!"

"What are you worried about? Are we going to poison them?"

Bai Yun scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and put it in his mouth. He was quickly amazed by its delicate, slightly hot texture and even tasted a very unfamiliar aroma. The heat rising in his abdomen gradually warmed his entire body.

This is the warmth that hot food brings.

Unparalleled.

Irreplaceable.

Bai Xi had already eaten the mashed potatoes before anyone else could react.

Bai Qingyu, following Ling Chengen's example, mashed herself a portion of mashed potatoes, plucked a tiny bit of pale yellow crystal from the bag with her fingertips, and turned her head to look at Ling Chengen, who had already put down his chopsticks and bowl.

His gaze was very focused, with an unconscious gentleness and tranquility in his eyes, and a slight hint of doubt on his face, which had a unique kind of beauty.

At that moment, Ling Chengen suddenly realized the charm of this person.

Tsk, no wonder he could become the heartbreaker who made the original owner so infatuated.

Bai Qingyu blinked, puzzled, and asked, "What is this pale yellow powder?"

"Salt."

Ling Chengen stared directly into his deep eyes, then suddenly smiled brightly, dazzling the person opposite him.

(End of this chapter)