We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 134 The Large Stone Sculpture on the Riverbank

The fawns that had been running away stopped and hid in the woods.

I watched with curiosity this two-legged creature that looked like it wanted to drink from the hot spring.

Suddenly hearing Xia Minghao's excited shout, she was so frightened that she quickly ran back a few steps.

The silly deer that first encountered Xia Minghao was the most alert and quickly retreated, but bumped into another figure.

"Ouch."

It cried out in pain, and its body was knocked to the ground by the silly deer.

This time, however, the silly deer didn't run away. Instead, it saw the two-legged creature it had knocked down in pain and walked over, lowering its head to lick it.

The girl who was knocked down got up and didn't blame anyone. Instead, she rubbed her head against the silly deer's.

He then cautiously walked towards the hot spring, found a large tree, hid behind it, and only showed his eyes, watching the uninvited guests coming into the hot spring.

After walking around the hot spring a few times, I noticed that there were clear boundaries around the hot spring, which seemed to be some kind of rock.

Overall, the hot spring is shaped like a large, tilted basin, facing the direction of the river.

Xia Minghao guessed that this place was probably a basin or something like that before. It was smoothed out by the flooding of a large river and is now sloping towards the direction of the river because of the flowing water.

But this analysis was just a random act; Xia Minghao was actually looking for the source of the spring.

Sulfur is often more readily available near springs, just like the spring near Salt Spring Mountain.

Xia Minghao is now eager to find sulfur to prove his hypothesis that the hot spring can produce sulfur.

Since it couldn't be found, it means the spring's source is probably at the bottom of the hot spring.

Upon closer inspection of the water surface, it was indeed found that many areas of the hot spring water had been disturbed.

In some places, you can even vaguely see water flow and bubbles.

It seems there is more than one spring; there are quite a few, some large and some small.

If you want to get sulfur, you have to go down into the pool and fish it out.

Recalling the scene of the deer fleeing that I first saw, many of them ran out of the hot springs, rather than swimming out.

In other words, although the hot spring covers a large area, it is not very deep.

Xia Minghao thought for a moment and decided to go into the water and try to retrieve it.

He then rolled up his trouser legs and carefully stepped into the pool.

But the moment his feet touched the hot spring, Xia Minghao instantly changed his mind...

……

comfortable!
As soon as he felt the warmth, Xia Minghao immediately decided that since he was already there, he had to relax in a hot spring.

After taking off his clothes, Xia Minghao went straight into the hot spring.

But they didn't forget the main purpose. First, they felt the uneven but not uncomfortable surface of the hot spring.

He took a deep breath, grabbed a protruding piece of ore, and with a forceful snap, he lifted the stone off.

It's sulfur!
Looking at the large, pale yellow piece in my hand, I had already made my judgment.

Sulfur has three main characteristics: it is yellow in color, has a loose texture, and can burn.

If it can be easily broken off and appears clearly in front of you, then the two criteria for judgment have been established.

As for the third point, we can verify it again later for the sake of rigor; burning it wouldn't hurt.

We have sulfur, and charcoal goes without saying. If we can build a toilet and collect enough saltpeter, then we can start gunpowder experiments!

Having witnessed the wolf tribe, even if Xia Minghao had mastered the iron-smelting technique, he wouldn't be entirely certain of success.

After all, it's a cold weapon, close-quarters combat. If it weren't for me, it would probably have taken more than a dozen lives to subdue someone like Gadan.

But what if I could make explosives myself...

If we can blast open mountains, what are we afraid of regarding wolf tribes?

Unfortunately, the sulfur reserves in this hot spring are probably not large. If you really want to manufacture explosives on a large scale, you still have to go to the volcano.

The distance is hard to estimate. If you really want to go, you'll at least need to unlock some vehicles, like donkeys or horses.

Otherwise, even if they went, they wouldn't be able to mine and transport the sulfur ore, and all their efforts would be wasted.

It's a pity that we haven't even seen a donkey or a horse's hair yet, and going to the volcanic area is just a long shot.

The discovery of sulfurous hot springs has provided much-needed relief.

Xia Minghao was in high spirits after confirming the presence of sulfur.

Get ready to enjoy this rare, primitive-era hot spring experience.

Should we build a large public bathhouse based on this hot spring in the future? It would not only improve the personal hygiene of the Xia tribe, but soaking in this hot water would be so refreshing! The happiness index would definitely increase dramatically!
Feeling the warm hot spring water, Xia Minghao thought of the Roman baths he had heard about before, and his excitement grew even stronger.

Yes, if a large public bathhouse were to be built, it would probably improve more than just hygiene and happiness.

The greatest charm of places like the Roman Baths lies in their social attributes that transcend mere cleanliness.

Because of a happy environment, people are more willing to communicate in a peaceful manner.

Increased communication not only enhances cohesion but also fosters a harmonious and united atmosphere.

It could even form an economic zone around the bathhouse, which he could naturally control. Currently, Xia Minghao uses "commerce instead of taxation," controlling hard currencies—red salt and pottery—to acquire and distribute the consumer goods produced by everyone.

Having this large bathhouse would be equivalent to having a special kind of "hard currency," which is used to acquire resources from people who have accumulated sufficient consumer data.

This would not promote ordinary distribution, but secondary distribution, preventing those with consumer goods from not having enough time to consume them, thus avoiding the accumulation of large amounts of consumer goods and slowing down the pace of development.

However, distributing what one has acquired in this way through rewards or other means can increase one's power!

This method was completely impossible to achieve with the previous control over red salt and pottery.

But if a large public bathhouse were actually built, this would be easily achievable.

The reason is simple: red salt and pottery are ultimately necessities for survival, while this large bathhouse is a necessity for life!
……

A pair of bright blue eyes watched the strange man as he stripped off one animal skin after another.

Finally, pale yellow skin was revealed...

But when their gaze fell downwards and they saw the elephant's trunk, their bright blue eyes widened in shock.

Once the figure had completely disappeared into the hot spring, the girl who owned the eyes quietly stood up.

First, she walked to the side of the yellow-skinned man, and when she saw that his eyes were closed, she swallowed hard.

Then he tiptoed over.

He came up behind the yellow-skinned man, looked at his chest that was floating on the surface of the water and covered with a few water droplets, and inexplicably reached out his hand.

Just as his dirty fingers were about to touch her, Xia Minghao suddenly moved.

He suddenly opened his eyes and immediately reached for the oval wooden box on the shore where the wolf totem stone was placed.

I almost fell asleep; I guess it was too comfortable...

Xia Minghao was well aware that although it was comfortable, this was not some bathhouse in Northeast China, but a primitive era fraught with danger, an undeveloped forest.

Feeling a wave of fear, Xia Minghao lost interest. After washing up briefly, he got up, dressed again, and quickly headed towards the river.

Unbeknownst to them, in the woods beside the hot spring, a young girl was covering her mouth, panting.

"Chief! The smell on you..."

"Oh, nothing."

Shea, with her keenest sense of smell, immediately detected the strange smell.

Xia Minghao also took a sniff. Actually, the smell was somewhat familiar, somewhat like the smell of after using sulfur soap to take a bath.

But it wasn't that strong.

Looking towards the hot spring in the distance, it would be a lie to say I wasn't captivated by the wonderful feeling of the hot spring in the forest. If I could make love to it again, wow, that would be the ultimate bliss.

But we can only hope for that one day when that large bathhouse is actually built.

"Let's go! Home!"

At the command, everyone went to their posts.

Xia Minghao and Ye Zi exerted their strength at the same time, and the boat began to move upstream at the speed it used to travel downstream.

By the time they reached the confluence of the rivers, it was already dusk.

I estimate that I will be able to return to Yanquan Mountain in another day.

Finally back in the river, just as Xia Minghao was about to order a rest, he suddenly spotted a large rock in the sparse woods in the distance.

Why does this stone look so strange?
On the observation deck, Xia Minghao picked up his binoculars and looked into the distance.

This stone is actually a stone sculpture!
This was clearly carved by human hands.

It is a product of fertility worship!
I can't believe this thing exists.

It is important to know that the Da tribe once had a fertility worship and also had skilled stone carvers.

But no one has ever created such a thing.

why?
Of course, it's because I don't have the time for that yet.

The fact that someone carved this thing here indicates that there must be a human settlement here, and a more advanced one at that than the former Da tribe.

The obsession with childbirth exists in every tribe, stemming from the reality of high mortality rates. Without high birth rates, tribes are bound to perish.

However, the appearance of a large, carved figure carries a completely different meaning, signifying the formation of a certain culture.

This indicates that they no longer have concerns about food, but have instead developed concerns about population, and even have time to start thinking nonsense.

The urgent need to increase the population of the ethnic group became even stronger, and under the influence of ignorance, they began to crave supernatural ways to increase the population.

Seeing that the fish had many offspring, and noticing that the fish's mouth looked quite similar to that thing, I started to idolize the fish.

Seeing that snakes are very long, like this thing, and often live in "holes," people start to worship snakes.

Such bizarre ideas, various forms of fertility worship, a whole mess of nonsense.

Examples include frogs, seashells, wind-eroded mushrooms, geoduck clams, and so on.

Clearly, this stone sculpture is one of them.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Minghao immediately made a decision.

We must find this tribe!!
(End of this chapter)