After spending many minutes going through the scrolls, Tang Lingxi placed the scroll in her hand down and sighed, "What a waste of time. 500 years of research and all they got are speculations."
"I didn't expect much, but to think it had nothing…" Qiuyue also shook her head.
"I don't blame them for not comprehending something that is beyond their understanding," said Su Yang.
A few minutes later, Qin Liangyu entered the hut and said, "Esteemed guests, our hunters have returned from their trip, and they have brought back spiritual meat. Would you like to join our feast tonight?"
"Spiritual meat, huh?" Su Yang raised his eyebrow.
The meat of powerful spiritual beasts is often treated as a delicacy in the cultivation world, as they provide Cultivators with spiritual energy, allowing them to become stronger just by eating. However, for the Boar Tribe, spiritual meat is akin to a normal meal, as they hunt beasts for a living.
"If you don't mind having me, I would like to join this feast." Su Yang nodded. He wanted to experience for himself the spiritual food in this type of place.
"I will join, too," Qiuyue said.
"Great!" Qin Liangyu immediately showed enthusiasm and spoke in a delighted tone, "We will not disappoint you!"
"By the way, were the scrolls of any help?" she continued.
"Unfortunately... no." Su Yang shook his head.
"That… I am sorry for not being more useful…" she quickly became dejected.
"Don't worry about it."
A few moments later, Qin Liangyu led them outside.
Once they were outside, they were able to see about 50 to 60 extremely bulky men standing by the entrance with half of them carrying the corpses of spiritual beasts, and most of them were emitting an aura at the Earth Spirit Realm with a few being at the Heavenly Spirit Realm.
"I have already realized this, but the people here… their cultivation base is quite impressive for people living in this condition." Su Yang said. "Even most of the females here are at the True Spirit Realm."
Qiuyue nodded and said, "Their dangerous lifestyle requires them to hunt for spiritual beasts almost every day, and they eat spirit meat almost every meal, so it's not weird for them to have such cultivation bases. In fact, compared to the Eastern Continent, the Southern Continent is simply stronger overall."
"Hm…"
Meanwhile, the native men also noticed Su Yang and his group.
"W-Who are those three standing over there? Their skin is as pale as ghost!" One of them asked with a shocked expression, his gaze at the two beauties by Su Yang's side.
It was not just one of them. All of the men there were staring at Qiuyue and Tang Lingxi with their eyes wide with disbelief, almost like this is their first time seeing women as beautiful as the two.
And because they had been hunting outside when Qiuyue arrived, they are not aware of their existence.
"They are our Esteemed Guests, especially the one with the silver hair and eyes — she's the Goddess from the legend... even though she does not want to admit it. If not for her, the Tiger Tribe would've destroyed this place and made us their slaves," said one of the girls.
"What?! Those Tiger bastards attacked us?!" The men were outraged upon hearing this news.
"Unacceptable! This is a declaration of war against our Boar Tribe!"
"Why would they suddenly attack us after over a decade of peace?" One of them pondered loudly.
"It must be the Dragon Tribe! They have been getting along with each other recently!"
"Maybe they think they can rule us because they have the Dragon Tribe's backing now? The audacity!"
"If it's war they want, it's war they'll get!"
The native men began shouting with war screams, causing the air to shake.
"Hey! Stop screaming like savages!" Qin Liangyu suddenly approached them and spoke, "You guys are bothering our Esteemed Guests!"
"Chief Qin!"
The native men instantly stopped shouting and bowed to her with respect.
"Now drop the meat and pay respect to our Savior and Esteemed Guests!"
Qin Liangyu was emitting a different aura at this moment, looking nothing like the bashful female just a few minutes ago.
"Yes, Chief!"
All of the native men dropped their meat and weapons before approaching Su Yang and his group.
"We the Boar Hunters pay respects to the Goddess and Esteemed Guests!" They bowed to them. "Thank you for saving our Boar Tribe! If not for you, the Tiger Tribe would have burned this whole place down and kidnapped our people!"
"Don't call me your Goddess!" Qiuyue deeply frowned.
"W-We deeply apologize if we offended you, S-Savior!" The natives immediately began sweating when they felt the immense aura coming from Qiuyue. They have fought countless dangerous spiritual beasts in their life, but this is the first time they have felt true fear. It was almost like they were before the God of Death.
"Forget it." Qiuyue sighed.
Sometime later, the Boar Tribe began setting up for the festival.
During this time, Qin Liangyu approached Su Yang and asked him, "Esteemed Guest, do you need anything right now?"
Su Yang pondered for a moment before saying, "Actually, I do."
And he continued, "My name is Su Yang. I will feel more comfortable if you can start calling me that from now on."
"B-But you are the Savior's…" Qin Liangyu hesitated.
Su Yang didn't say anything else and only showed her a gentle smile.
"..."
Qin Liangyu suddenly turned silent. A short moment later, she nodded with a bashful smile.
"Thank you," he said, and continued. "Anyway, tell me more about your tribe. I am quite interested in how this place functions, as I am from a very distant place."
Qin Liangyu nodded and proceeded to explain to him the Boar Tribe's lifestyle. "As you can see, over two-thirds of our tribe's population is female. This is because of the men's duty to scavenge food outside while the female tends the houses and other necessities, and hunting spiritual beasts is a dangerous job no matter how strong you are. When the hunters leave, they usually don't come back any faster than three days, and tragedies tend to happen when you are living in this kind of environment."
"Resources and food are scarce in this place, hence why tribes tend to attack other tribes and steal their food."
"Our Boar Tribe is one of the stronger tribes around this area so we usually don't have to worry about being attacked. However, the Tiger Tribe, a slightly less powerful tribe, has been getting friendly with the Dragon Tribe, another powerful tribe around here. Since the hunters were unavailable at that time, if not for the Savior, the Tiger Tribe would've already destroyed and looted this place, and the rest of us would be treated as slaves in their settlement."
"I see…" Su Yang nodded.
A few moments later, he asked, "Why don't you leave some of your warriors behind? It isn't wise to leave your entire settlement vulnerable every time you have to hunt for food, after all."
"Of course, we normally don't send all of our warriors to hunt. However, the wilderness has been getting even more dangerous recently, and if we don't send everyone, our casualties will double, even triple. We can't afford to lose any more warriors, too." Qin Liangyu sighed, feeling hopeless.