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

Chapter 173 The Totem Tribe of "The Clever Die"
At this moment, it is only a wall away from the real totem stone.

Xia Minghao was about to give the order for everyone to work together to push down the earthen wall. He even wanted to use the power of the wolf totem to smash the earthen wall with a single punch, relying on the powerful werewolf strength, and quickly see this totem stone.

It would be virtually impossible to conduct research on totem power using only those totem stones extracted from the body.

The key to this research lies in finding the source of totem power, the genuine totem stone.

But just a second before he was about to give the order, Xia Minghao realized he had almost acted rashly.

If this earthen wall is load-bearing, wouldn't I be crushed under it if it collapsed?

They could escape using the power of the wolf totem, but all the deer riders would perish here.

You can't destroy the entire wall, but you can start from the gaps and use bronze tools to cut out a small space, just big enough to crawl into.

Xia Minghao then ordered everyone to use bronze halberds to widen the narrow vertical crack.

After all, it's a bronze artifact, and although it's not a professional tool, it's hard enough.

With their combined efforts, they quickly created a narrow doorway that allowed a person to pass sideways.

Xia Minghao walked in and finally arrived in front of the large totem stone.

The large indigo totem stone not only glows, but it also twinkles like a beating heart.

He raised his hand, about to touch the large totem stone, but suddenly remembered his own special status as a dragon descendant, and then first dispersed the crowd.

Who knows what might happen? It might even lead to the explosion of the Great Totem Stone.

The mutation has occurred; I can run away, but this group of people can't.

After Hua Lian led everyone back the way they came, Xia Minghao called out to the passageway a few times but received no response. Only then did he return to the large totem stone, raise his hand, and touch it.

but……

There was no reaction whatsoever; the Great Totem Stone seemed to be nothing more than a stone, showing no reaction whatsoever to the power of the totem.

Strange, could this not be a large totem stone?
Staring at the large indigo totem stone for a long time, Xia Minghao still couldn't come up with any answer. Just then, in his confusion, he happened to catch a glimpse of the four walls illuminated by the indigo totem stone.

Is this a mural?

Xia Minghao then vaguely noticed that there were patterns on the wall.

I turned on my flashlight, and the bright light illuminated the mural—it was indeed a mural!

Looking at the four murals, Xia Minghao's mind raced, and he finally understood what was going on.

It is unknown how long ago this large totem stone belonged to a tribe.

This group of people obtained the power of the totem, which was personified as an eye.

But it wasn't about seeing how far away it was. Based on two or three murals, Xia Minghao learned about several questions that had previously puzzled him.

The city of Megastone and the secret chamber in the mountains were both built by the people of this tribe.

Two or three murals even depict the construction details of the megalithic city and the secret chambers in the mountains.

The island where the Great Stone City is located originally had a main road that connected it closely to the shore of the Great Lake. This group of people dug a narrow path, and after the water level rose, they used water power to move the boulders that originally existed on the shore of the lake to the island.

They actually used buoyancy...

The secret chamber in the mountains was opened by a domesticated animal. This animal was drawn in a rather abstract way, looking like an electric drill. However, Xia Minghao had never seen this animal in the few days he had been to this lake.

Given that this tribe is estimated to have existed for a very long time and that they made extensive use of this animal, it is highly likely that they are already extinct.

What a pity! Such a good thing. If it were still around, it could help me mine stones or something.

Meanwhile, Xia Minghao also discovered that behind the megalithic city depicted in the murals, far from the island, along the lakeshore, there were patches of land arranged in a grid pattern, resembling farmland...

Could it be that this tribe has already mastered agriculture?
If the orientation in the painting is correct, then this area is currently controlled by the Mao people, who are pushing their way through with their deer cavalry, and it would probably take them more than a month.

does it worth?
The answer is definitely yes!

Now all we have are things like foxtail grass that can't really be considered crops. If we had decent crops, the early stages of the agricultural era wouldn't have been so difficult.

Moreover, crops are hard to eradicate, so as long as there are no problems with the painting, there is a high probability that you will be able to find what you want.

I just hope it's something like rice; if it is, we'll be rich!

Using water power to transport giant stones to build cities, domesticate animals, and cultivate agriculture...

The ability represented by the eyes in the first painting is self-evident; it is most likely wisdom.

But when he saw the last picture, Xia Minghao felt that this was not accurate. Rather than wisdom, it was more like cleverness.

This clever totem tribe gradually began to experience serious internal conflicts due to personal interests, and these clever barbarians eventually turned on each other because of their own cleverness.

The final outcome was the destruction of the tribe, and the Great Stone City was taken advantage of by the people from the heart of the Great Lake tribe.

But Xia Minghao could also see that the last survivor had reflected on the matter, sealed off the last wall, and left behind a mural.

Whoever the survivor was in the end, they eventually realized that what destroyed them was not something else, but rather what made them "intelligent".

Intelligent people can walk the right path, but a nation without wisdom can never walk a long road.

After viewing the four murals, Xia Minghao couldn't help but feel a little sentimental.

Looking at the totem stone again, he couldn't help but ponder whether the Xia tribe needed intelligence.
The answer to this question was immediate the moment it arose; it was inevitable. To throw the baby out with the bathwater because of this "clever" tribe would be the greatest folly.

The people of the Xia tribe should, of course, become wise and achieve all-round personal development, rather than destroying themselves like these clever barbarians.

To ensure this, wisdom is required.

As a modern person who has studied a little bit of Marxist philosophy and Mao Zedong Thought, Xia Minghao felt that he could barely be considered to have this kind of wisdom, and he just needed to be more careful.

After touching the large totem stone again, Xia Minghao took out his survival knife and used the handle to smash off a small fragment of the large totem stone.

Suddenly I remembered that hairy man from earlier.

The hairy man's head contained fragments of the Wisdom Totem.

Could it be that the hairy people have become more organized because fragments of the Wisdom Totem have become embedded in their skulls?
In other words, large totem stones are different from totem stones taken out of the body. They will not react when touched by oneself, but if they are embedded in a person's body, they will generate totem power.

What if it's embedded in other places?
In addition, where do those totem stones inside the body come from?

Countless doubts arose in my mind, and I could only find the answers slowly through experiments. If I really found the pattern of using the Great Totem Stone, the overall intelligence level of the Xia tribe might be greatly improved!

At that time, the development of the entire society will leap forward like a rocket.

"I've entrusted your inheritance to you. Don't worry, it won't turn out like this."

Looking at the fourth wall, Xia Minghao patted the portrait painted on it.

These people are clever, but why are they all so ugly?

I don't know if it's also due to the influence of the totem power released by this large totem stone.

After speaking, Xia Minghao crawled back out of the narrow door. Before leaving, he didn't forget to pat each of the wart-covered faces of these "clever people" on the mural...

……

……

……

Wartface finally returned to Rock City, and he touched the large jar of red salt.

"Five hundred palm fruits for a bottle of red salt, that's a lot of palm fruits, what if they don't give it to me?"

Worry rose in his heart, and the wart-faced man remembered the witch's words again.

"Then I'll exchange it for 510, I only need 10 more."

With all these extras, Wartface probably won't go hungry, and he can eat palm fruits to his heart's content.

Just as he thought of this, the wart-faced man suddenly remembered the palm fruits he had hidden.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to exchange the red salt for enough palm fruits, so I forgot to bring the palm fruits over.

"Don't forget tomorrow, or you'll go hungry."

Wartface reminded himself, while the herd of giant elk arrived in the heart of the city.

The city of Dashilan has a strict class system, which is based on surnames.

The reason is simple: in this primitive era, people with the same surname belonged to the same clan. The larger the clan, the stronger it was, and the more advantages it had in terms of survival.

Even though the clan with the most members occupied the highest class, the class structure in the entire megalithic city was still pyramidal.

Because there are too many small clans.

This division primarily resulted in three classes, with the highest class consisting of only one clan, who lived within the city of megaliths in an area separated by another set of megaliths.

This is the only place where you can get close to the lake; otherwise, if you want to fish, you have to climb up the huge rocks, but you can't fish on those rocks.

Besides that, he left the city of Boulder, came to the lake, and was captured and killed by the hairy people.

The middle class consisted of three or four medium-sized clans responsible for producing pottery or wooden boats. The lowest class, comprised of small clans that had been wiped out by the hairy people and were reduced to only a few or a dozen, did the dirtiest and most arduous work and ate the worst food.

Besides these, there is another class, consisting of only one person: the one with warts on his face.

"Where's one of the big elk?"

"No... Ah!"

He had barely uttered a single word when a tremendous force struck his chest.

The wart-faced man was kicked to the ground, clutching his chest and whimpering in pain.

Another person in charge of the great elk herd came over, counted them, and then spoke to the man who had kicked the man with the warts on the face.

"It's the same quantity, 43."

"Oh, then I miscounted."

It seemed the man already knew, but he gave a perfunctory reply.

Then, without looking back, he began to drive the herd of giant deer into the enclosure.

"Look at him, doesn't he look like a hairy man?"

"It looks like a toad."

The wart-faced man got up, holding the red salt. He ignored the voices of a woman from some unknown clan beside him, as he was used to such pointing and whispering.

He used to feel disappointed, wondering why he was the only one in the Tai clan who looked like this, but he doesn't think about it now.

Especially now, he is still immersed in the tension of "selling red salt".

When they arrived at the center of the Great Stone City, where everyone gathered to trade, Wartface felt his heart pounding even faster, just like when he first saw the Hairy Man.

The people here usually have clothes to wear and belong to the middle class. They are able to come here to barter with others because they have surplus products.

Without clothes, and belonging to an even lower social class than the lowest, the warty-faced man stood out in the crowd. Even more striking was the exquisite pottery jar from the Xia tribe that he was holding in his arms.

"Here, I'll trade you this earthenware pot."

At this moment, a person came up, carrying a garment woven from straw.

"Don't change the earthenware pot, change the contents inside. You can put them in the earthenware pot to cook, and they will taste delicious. Eating them will give you strength."

Upon hearing the words of the man with the warts, he paused for a moment, then looked at the open pottery jar and reached his hand inside.

He dipped a finger in the red salt and put it in his mouth, mixing it with the dirt and grime in his mouth, releasing the flavor of the red salt.

"This is delicious. I'll trade with you!"

This time, the man tried to force the salt onto the wart-faced man and then took it away.

"No, that's too little. You need 510 palm fruits in exchange."

Seeing this, the others gathered around.

Seeing that so many people had gathered around, and that the man with the wart-faced face wouldn't let go, the man who wanted to steal the item had no choice but to give up.

You can't steal things.

This matter has never been explicitly mentioned, but it is a consensus.

Because no one wants to be robbed, the seeds of a "social contract" were subtly sown.

Everyone took out their fingers, dipped them in the brown salt, and put them in their mouths. When they tasted it, they all showed expressions of surprise.

Their bodies are telling them they need this.

"I'll give you a clay pot, bigger than the one you're holding!"

"I'll trade you the fish nest I built!"

The cacophony of voices left the wart-faced man bewildered; he hadn't expected to be able to exchange them for these things.

This is much better than palm fruits, which are something unwanted and found everywhere by the lake and in the city of Boulder.

"But I want to..."

"I've brought you some palm fruits, how much will you give me in return?"

Just as he was about to explain, he suddenly heard a shout from outside the crowd.

Everyone looked over and saw a person walking over, pulling seven or eight palm fruit branches.

There were approximately a thousand palm fruits.

The man struggled immensely, yet he still forced himself to drag it along, even as his hands began to tremble.

Upon seeing so many palm fruits, the warty-faced man quickly took out his small ceramic jar and dug out a bottle of red salt.

Then she fell into the man's outstretched arms.

Just as I was about to turn it over a second time, I saw the man rushing home.

Looking at the scene before him, the warty-faced man stared blankly at the thousands of palm fruits.

Just give the witch five hundred, and the rest are all yours!

The wart-faced man tried to call out to the departing man, but in the end, he made no sound.

Because he wanted those five hundred palm fruits that belonged to him...

……

……

……

From dawn onwards, the shaman began to wait, sitting facing the direction of the Great Stone City.

It's safe here now. Although the chieftain has left, he left behind twenty deer riders who originally belonged to this place.

Five deer riders remain to guard the tribe, while the rest have gone to hunt down the hairy people around the great lake.

Those who left were ten deer riders, including Hua Lian, along with several families of deer riders who remained, and several newly selected men who were chosen as deer riders.

Although the place had become much emptier, the witch no longer needed to worry about the hairy people.

Because they didn't have to worry about the hairy people, they were able to go fishing by the lake and hunting in the forest.

The shaman was old, and all he could do was obey the chief's orders and say some persuasive things to gain a sense of satisfaction from being revered, something he had lost for so long.

Now, he is doing as the chief instructed, who said that the people who would deliver the palm fruit would come.

But why?
The chief didn't even know that the person delivering the palm fruit was the one with the wart-like face, so how could he have known that he would come today?

When the sun was high in the sky, Wu, who was almost asleep in the warm sunlight, suddenly opened his eyes.

I thought I was dreaming, but the wart-faced man was already in the distance.

He's really here!
They also brought palm fruits that had been fed to them for almost a month.

So many palm fruits?

Was it exchanged for red salt?

Wu Yi was momentarily dazed and began to doubt the wart-faced man's intentions.

"Here are these palm fruits. I counted them all night, and they can be exchanged for more than a clay pot of red salt!"

How could red salt be exchanged for so many palm fruits?
Suddenly, Wu felt he understood why the chief had made him say those things.

But upon closer examination, the already decayed brain cannot be thoroughly understood.

He learned at least one thing: red salt could be exchanged for many things, which made the shaman want to possess the red salt for himself.

But this idea was immediately dismissed by the memory of the bronze halberds of the deer riders and his own sons and grandsons who had been taken away by the chieftain.

"I will give you red salt."

The shaman's expression remained unchanged, showing no sign of the turmoil within him.

The wart-faced man looked at the two jars of salt that had been taken down as if he were looking at a cooked lake fish.

He planned to go and eat lake fish this time, fish he had never eaten before, but whose aroma made his mouth water.

But that's not all; what he wants to exchange is far more than just lake fish!

Watching the warty-faced man's departing figure, the shaman did not delay and immediately ordered people to pick the palm fruits according to the chief's request and put them into the basket.

We'll just wait for those deer cavalrymen who killed the hairy people to return, and then send them to the Xia tribe tomorrow.

At this moment, the witch realized something she had never noticed before.

Why does the chief need so many palm fruits?
(End of this chapter)