Wu Fei, Wu Ming, Wu Cao, Wu Pi, and Wu Zhi, the five great shamans, felt a headache coming on. They all cast displeased glances at Wu Zhe, who was standing beside them.
If it weren't for this scoundrel bringing this little guy over, they wouldn't be suffering from such a headache right now.
...
No, the trouble caused by Wu Zhe must be resolved by himself.
After a glance at each other, the five great shamans reached a tacit understanding in their hearts.
And so, Wu Tao was temporarily arranged to stay at Wu Zhe's home.
The five great shamans' explanation to Wu Tao and Wu Zhe was that since Wu Tao was the royal bloodline of the giant tribe, he would directly go to the Giant Royal City to participate in the bloodline sacrifice after some time.
...
"Then, little brother, you can stay at my home for now!"
Wu Zhe didn't understand these intricate matters at all. He clapped his chest heartily and said magnanimously.
"Then thank you first, brother Wu Zhe!"
Although Wu Tao understood the intentions of the five great shamans, he chose not to expose them and followed Wu Zhe, taking the opportunity.
...
"You're welcome, come with me!"
Wu Zhe waved his hand and led Wu Tao to a house built from countless large stones.
"Little brother, this is my home..."
Before he could finish speaking, a "child" figure, hundreds of feet tall, rushed out from one side of the house.
Immediately, a childish yet loud voice rang out: "Dad, you're finally back!"
The "child" hugged Wu Zhe's thigh, expressing his longing after not seeing him for days.
Wu Tao looked at the giant father and son, and their father-son affection evoked nothing but envy and a sense of speechlessness.
He looked at the childish face of the child, with the lingering acne, then at his body, which was at least a hundred times larger than his own, and then thought about his own age...
And then there was no... further thought...
Given the sheer difference in size, what else was there to say?
Besides, no matter how tall and mighty the giant tribe was, weren't they still squeezed to Yunzhou by the human race to make a living?
"You brat, it's been so many days since I last saw you, and you're still this mischievous!"
After some playful roughhousing, Wu Zhe grinned, revealing a row of yellow teeth. He extended his calloused right hand and stroked his child's head, appearing very simple and honest.
Seeing this scene, Wu Tao's pupils slightly contracted, and he remained silent for a long time.
Such a simple life was indeed good, but it was not what Wu Tao pursued.
In other words, Wu Zhe and Wu Tao had different aspirations and ambitions.
Being a prominent figure who held the lives of millions in his hands was not an easy task. A single misstep could lead to a fall into the abyss.
And below the abyss were mountains of knives and seas of fire. Once one fell in, being sliced into a thousand pieces and having one's soul scattered was sometimes considered a light punishment.
However, no matter how great the risk, even if one ended up alone...
In Wu Tao's heart, it was far better than being like an ant, with one's life and death completely in the hands of others.
"Wu Ming, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and greet your uncle."
Wu Zhe held down his child and urged him to greet the guest quickly.
...
"Uncle... Hello, Uncle!"
The child named Wu Ming, after hearing this, rubbed his hair, clearly a little embarrassed.
"What's wrong? What's happening? Did we have a guest?"
Hearing the commotion outside, another woman emerged from the house. She was nine hundred feet tall and had a stately figure, considered of "average height" among the giant tribe.
"Little brother, this is my wife, named Wu Hong!"
Wu Zhe, with his wife and son, said very warmly to Wu Tao.
...
Then, Wu Zhe introduced Wu Tao's identity to his wife Wu Hong and his son Wu Ming.
Seeing the skeptical gazes of Wu Hong and Wu Ming, Wu Tao sighed helplessly and released a trace of his aura.
Only when Wu Hong and Wu Ming's faces turned pale did Wu Tao retract his supreme aura.
After showing a little of his skill, Wu Tao immediately became a distinguished guest in Wu Zhe's home, no less.
The world of giants was simpler and more realistic than the world of humans.
Although the human race indeed respected strength, they always put on a facade, enough to fool most people.
The giant tribe, however, was more straightforward, not even bothering to put on a pretense.
Once Wu Tao demonstrated his ability to destroy their entire family with a flip of his hand, Wu Tao became the master of the house, and Wu Zhe's family had to serve him attentively.
That evening, Wu Hong prepared a grand feast.
Looking at the cooked meat on the table, which was taller than houses, and the plates larger than his cave dwelling, Wu Tao suddenly regretted agreeing to eat with Wu Zhe and his family.
But since he had promised them, Wu Tao could only brace himself and sit down to eat.
Perhaps sensing Wu Tao's awkwardness, Wu Zhe produced a small plate from somewhere and handed it to Wu Tao, alleviating some of his discomfort.
Wu Tao, Wu Zhe, Wu Hong, and Wu Ming chatted and laughed, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
On the surface, Wu Zhe's family had already treated Wu Tao as one of their own.
After dinner, Wu Tao returned to the "small house" that Wu Zhe had specially prepared for him to rest.
Back in his room, with nothing to do, Wu Tao roughly calculated how much meat Wu Zhe's family had consumed during that meal.
He was shocked by the calculation.
The three members of Wu Zhe's family had eaten three hundred tons of food in one meal.
Good heavens, that was likely the amount of food consumed by an army of thirty thousand humans in a day. This family of three ate more than thirty thousand people.
Several days passed, and Wu Tao spent his time wandering around the Stone Tribe, appearing idle, but in reality, he had already memorized all the information about the Stone Tribe.
After staying in the Stone Tribe for half a month, just as Wu Tao was preparing to take his leave, he heard that the leader and high priest of the Stone Tribe wanted to take some of their people to participate in the market of the nearby large tribe, Zhu Rong.
While the central region of the Giant Kingdom had fewer dangers, it was not without powerful divine beasts, such as the moon-gazing divine wolf packs that rampaged across the land.
Even a powerful race like the giants had to contend with herds of divine beasts.
The closer he got to the large tribe Zhu Rong, the more Wu Tao felt the difference of the Zhu Rong tribe.
If it were just fertile soil, abundant water resources, and super-large livestock, Wu Tao wouldn't have been too surprised.
After all, Wu Tao had witnessed firsthand how enormous the appetites of the giant race were.
Wu Tao had spent several days trying to calculate how much food over ten thousand giants consumed in a day, but he still hadn't figured it out.
He only knew that feeding over a million mortals was much easier than feeding over ten thousand giants.
What truly surprised him was that in the Zhu Rong tribe, he discovered many, many pillars of witches, standing tall like the sky.
On these witch pillars, Wu Tao felt not only the power of blood and qi but also fluctuations of spiritual power, indicating that the function of these witch pillars was by no means simple.
It seemed that not all giants in the giant tribe were simple-minded and strong-limbed fellows; there were still some intelligent individuals among them.
Large tribes were indeed more powerful than small tribes, and their superiority was not limited to numbers and strength but extended to many other aspects as well.
From afar, one could see the towering stone towers and the defensive fortifications spanning hundreds of miles, exuding a powerful and肅殺 aura.
Upon entering the Zhu Rong tribe, Wu Tao found that they had implemented simple planning, clearly demarcating areas for the market, ordinary residential quarters, and high-rise housing, among other things.
This alone put them many, many years ahead of the chaotically laid out Stone Tribe.
The market organized by the Zhu Rong tribe was also quite lively.
Since everyone at the market was there for trade, each giant carried something on their person or shoulder.
Although no one was shouting for customers or enthusiastically inviting them, it gave Wu Tao a sense of unique prosperity.
Of course, it might also be because Wu Tao had stayed in the Stone Tribe for too long, and today, many giants from smaller tribes had also arrived.
Various reasons led Wu Tao to feel a sense of illusory prosperity.
To be honest, even if all the people of the Zhu Rong tribe, along with the giants from surrounding small tribes, were combined, their numbers would not match that of a small town under Wu Tao's rule.
And the entire giant race was equivalent to the population of a small county under Wu Tao's rule.
As for Wu Tao, who ruled the entire Chu Domain, he had a total of three thousand five hundred counties under his command.
Furthermore, by participating in the market, Wu Tao discovered that the giant race did not have anything that could symbolize monetary value.
Due to the lack of a unified currency, these tribes could only engage in bartering. However, bartering was not only very slow but also carried significant hidden dangers.
The needs of each giant tribe were bound to be different, which would lead to significant differences in how they evaluated and perceived the goods they possessed.
Sometimes, two items of similar value would be seen as having vastly different worth by people from different tribes.
Whichever tribe possessed rare resources would have more leverage, and even if they made exorbitant demands, greedily trying to extract all the benefits, other tribes lacking resources would grudgingly agree.
Wu Tao considered this kind of distorted trade method to be extremely unstable.
This was because Wu Tao understood human nature all too well.
When, among a group of people with similar strength and status, one person consistently monopolized and took the lion's share of the benefits, if that person did not change their ways...
Their fate would almost certainly be death, and it would only be a matter of time.
This principle applied even between tribes.
Such unfair trade, accumulating over the years, would eventually lead to many tribes reaching their breaking point. When dissatisfaction and resentment grew, many tribes would inevitably draw their swords and overturn the table.
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