Chapter 463: Chapter 463: A Packet of Spicy Little Fish
Yang Xiao and Monk Ben Yin returned to the cave, gathered branches, lit a bonfire, and Yang Xiao took out a wolf for Monk Ben Yin to skin and roast.
"Amitabha, can’t you spare me from doing such bloody tasks?"
Yang Xiao: "..."
"I really wish you’d say that when you’re eating too. There’s grass all around; you could just pull some and eat that."
Yang Xiao tossed the giant wolf to Ben Yin, went in front of the Giant Eagle, and took out a ten-meter-long tiger from his Space Ring. He skinned it with his Longsword and tossed the meat to the Giant Eagle.
Monk Ben Yin was taken aback, "Amitabha! Breaking a precept is a minor matter, starving to death is a major one. Buddha will forgive me because I need to keep this useful body to spread Buddhism!"
After saying that, he took the Longsword to skin the wolf.
Yang Xiao had already swiftly skinned the tiger.
"This tiger skin is quite good, nice and big, the fur is very warm; it can be spread in the cave for resting after it’s air-dried."
With the Genetic Evolution Level of both Yang Xiao and Ben Yin, they no longer feared the cold, but laying out a tiger skin in the cave would still feel much more comfortable.
Yang Xiao hung the skinned tiger skin on the rocks outside.
Ben Yin, following Yang Xiao’s lead, skinned the wolf and hung its skin to air-dry on the rock wall.
Before skinning, Monk Ben Yin chanted "Amitabha" a few times, which made Yang Xiao laugh out loud.
The sky was still early, and the sun hung over the distant mountain peaks.
Yang Xiao glanced around, always feeling that something was off, but couldn’t pinpoint it.
He still took out a box of spicy small fish from his Space Ring, took out a pack, tore it open, and began eating with Monk Ben Yin.
"Alcohol, take a swig!"
Ben Yin said somewhat anxiously.
Yang Xiao smiled and handed the alcohol to Ben Yin.
"I think you’re the reincarnation of Jigong Monk, haha!"
Ben Yin took two big swigs and passed the bottle back to Yang Xiao, saying:
"The first time I encountered alcohol before I became a monk, I particularly liked it; when I was a child, I loved the sweet wine my grandmother made, and later I grew fond of liquor and beer—essentially, I like all kinds of alcohol."
"You shouldn’t have become a monk; you should have opened a bar, haha!"
Ben Yin laughed along.
"Just take this bottle of alcohol, you don’t need to give it back to me, take a swig whenever you want."
"It won’t work, I can’t control myself if the alcohol is in my backpack, it’s better to keep it with you, to drink little by little. On such tedious and lonely days, it’s only drinking, eating meat, and enjoying the mountain breeze that passes the time."
The two chatted idly, eating the roasted meat, and with the spicy small fish, they turned the roasted wolf meat into a flavor that was deliciously spicy.
After eating, Yang Xiao casually tossed the packaging to the side of the bonfire; suddenly, something occurred to him. He scanned around the bonfire and said:
"There’s been a monster here."
Monk Ben Yin was startled, "Why do you say that?"
"The two packages I dropped on the ground a couple of days ago are gone."
Yang Xiao pointed at the newly tossed package of Star Moon Lake brand spicy small fish.
Ben Yin laughed:
"This is the forest; maybe a gust of mountain wind had blown them away long ago."
"No, there hasn’t been a strong wind these past few days, and the ashes from our bonfire have not been blown about."
"Perhaps other monsters did come by and took away the packaging on the ground as food, that’s quite normal."
Yang Xiao nodded, but deep down he always had a strange feeling, it was just an intuition, inexplicable.
Nothing happened during the night, and early the next day, the two of them made a fire, ate roasted meat, then rode the Giant Eagle towards the depths of Shenlongjia.
Before leaving, Yang Xiao deliberately left behind a bag of unopened spicy little fish and also left some roasted wolf meat over the bonfire, with salt sprinkled on it.
...
After Yang Xiao left, Ah Yong came to the cave entrance on time.
When he saw the whole bag of spicy little fish on the ground, his eyes went wide.
The day before, many people in Ah Yong’s tribe had licked the chili oil from the packaging bags, and after being spiced to the point of tears, they found it extremely enjoyable and stimulating. They wanted to taste it again only to find that it was all gone.
Their usual food was mostly raw; they didn’t have oil or salt, but the chili oil had salt, which intensely tantalized their taste buds to the point of addiction. Even if it was so spicy that they screamed "ah ah," it was still thrilling.
Now, a whole bag of spicy little fish was laid in front of him, Ah Yong was over the moon.
He grabbed the spicy little fish, didn’t even spare a glance at the roasted wolf meat over the bonfire, and immediately ran off.
They now had fire and could roast meat themselves every day, so the roasted meat on the bonfire was not valued much, what was rare was the salty taste the spicy little fish brought.
Ah Yong quickly ran back to his tribe’s valley and shouted loudly:
"Fish, fish, fish..."
All the children and other people from the valley came out, and upon seeing the whole bag of spicy little fish in Ah Yong’s hands, they were overjoyed. Those who had tasted the chili oil yesterday were freshly reminded of that unique flavor, and saliva immediately started to secrete in their mouths.
Ah Yong’s father, the Elder of this primitive tribe, took the spicy little fish from Ah Yong’s hands, happily patted his shoulder, and said:
"Ah Yong, well done!"
The surrounding youngsters also shouted in praise,
"Brother Ah Yong, well done!"
Dozens of eyes were looking at the bag of spicy little fish in the Elder’s hands, and after thinking for a moment, the Elder said:
"We’ll add this to the stew tonight, just put the ’ah ah fish’ into the soup."
The other tribe members applauded the idea.
On one chance occasion, a group of hikers cooking in the wild at Shenlongjia left behind several large aluminum pots for unknown reasons, which were then picked up by this tribe and became their daily utensils, occasionally used to stew meat and fish soup when they had fire.
At noon that day, the tribe used a simple stove made of stones to stew a pot of meat soup, adding half a bag of spicy little fish. Every member got a bowl of meat soup with a bit of spiciness and saltiness, savored with great delight.
The tribe had some porcelain bowls and iron basins, which were collected or stolen over the years from tourists and residents from down the mountain.
These simple utensils were very helpful for improving their lives, and some of the tribe members had even learned to use chopsticks.
Many sipped the spicy soup while gasping for air, "ah, ah, ah..."
A chorus of "ah, ah, ah" echoed inside the cave.
At this moment, several dozen young adults from the tribe entered the valley and came to the front of the cave. Hearing the "ah, ah, ah" sounds coming from the cave, they were all astonished.
One of the leading strong men laughed:
"Elder Shitou’s tribe is becoming more and more open. A group of people are ’ah ah ah’ together in broad daylight; we’ve stumbled upon quite the scene today."
"Hehe, boss, let’s go take a look."