Chapter 142: Encounter with a divine beast

"Ssss"

Han Cheng couldn't help but take a sharp breath, not because he found the Martial Ancestor terrifying, but because a strong tingling sensation emanated from his arm. The refreshing feeling was beyond description.

His right arm was already swollen and red, with a bulge in the middle and a whitish ridge with some blood spots.

"Darn it, why does this damn thing happen now?"

With his hands and face turning purple, Han Cheng scratched the swelling on his arm vigorously, cursing indignantly.

Oh, don't worry. The purple color on Divine Child's hands and face is not due to poisoning but for another reason.

Let's go back to yesterday.

Yesterday, when the first house of the Green Sparrow tribe was already tied with beams and thatched, and they were about to apply mud on top of it, the weather turned unfavorable as rain started pouring down. Hence, the roofing work was temporarily suspended.

Fortunately, it wasn't a heavy storm, so the unfinished house could withstand the rain.

The rain continued drizzling, and it didn't stop even today. Wearing a large straw hat, Han Cheng inspected the courtyard house and suddenly remembered the dozen or so mulberry trees four to five miles away. His heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't because he recalled silkworms again.

After treating leather and making many pairs of leather underwear, silkworms are not that urgent.

The reason for his sudden excitement was the mulberries, those small purple sweet and sour fruits.

These were Han Cheng's childhood favorites, comparable to popsicles, Tang monk's meat, Nande, and Beijing instant noodles.

Now, thrown into primitive society, thinking about the other three things might take a while, but these mulberries, he could relish once more.

In his past life, mulberries usually ripened when wheat was ready for harvest. The climate where Han Cheng was now wasn't much different from his past life, so it should be around the same time.

Han Cheng slapped his forehead, scolding himself for being forgetful. How could he almost forget such an important matter?

With the thought of eating mulberries, his excitement grew uncontrollably, making him unwilling to wait any longer.

Han Cheng returned to the cave and called several Senior Brothers resting in the cave. Carrying their weapons, they accompanied him to the mulberry forest.

Han Cheng wouldn't go alone far from the tribe; he valued his life highly.

Under his efforts, the days of the Green Sparrow tribe were getting better and better, showing signs of gradually resembling rural life in the last century. Now, losing his life just for eating mulberries would be a huge loss.

The big brothers naturally agreed upon the proposal from the Divine Child. In these days, they either built fences or constructed houses. They hadn't gone far for a long time. Hearing Han Cheng's words, they also felt itchy and joined himeight people in total.

If it weren't for the scarcity of straw hats in the tribe, more people would have joined them.

The straw hats had started being made early in the spring of this year, still crafted by Lame.

The reason for making straw hats was that umbrellas were too troublesome. The required materials were temporarily unavailable in the Green Sparrow tribe. Therefore, they could only make straw hats as a backup, mainly for those standing guard in the rain.

Having flexible tree branches, thatch, and ropes, along with Han Cheng's guidance, making straw hats wasn't too difficult for the skilled Lame.

First, they used trees to weave a hollow cylinder, about five to six centimeters deep and a diameter of over ten centimeters, to be worn on the head. Then, they bent several branches as ribs outward and downward from the woven cylinder, forming an angle of about forty-five degrees with the main body. Continuing with these branches as ribs, they wove several circles from top to bottom using tree branches, shaping them into an inverted cone. Next, they used ropes to bind thatch sections, cut into about fifteen centimeters, around the horizontal wooden strips from bottom to top. A small piece of animal hide could be added to prevent rain from leaking through the top of the hat.

Han Cheng's current suffering is related to what happens next: the eating of mulberries.

Arriving at the mulberry forest, which he hadn't visited for quite some time, Han Cheng wasn't disappointed. Most of the tall mulberry trees were indeed hanging with red and purple mulberries.

Several birds, shiny black but not crows, had arrived earlier, feasting on these mulberries in the mulberry trees. These birds weren't afraid of humans. Seeing a few two-legged creatures climbing up with sticks, they just tilted their heads, looked arrogantly, and let out some unpleasant calls.

Han Cheng paid no attention to these noisy birds, busy picking mulberries with one hand holding onto a branch while the other brought the mulberries to his mouth.

The rain had washed away the dust on the mulberries, and being soaked in rainwater, they were cool when eaten. With a bite, the thin and soft fruit skin burst open, releasing a sweet purple juice that filled the mouth, more irresistible than the taste of sour plums.

As people say, too much joy brings sorrow. Just when Han Cheng was immersed in the taste of his childhood, tragedy struck quietly.

A strong, stinging sensation suddenly came from his left arm. The hand that Han Cheng used to pick mulberries retracted abruptly. When he looked at it, a red ridge had risen visibly at an alarming speed.

Han Cheng's first reaction was to give up. He had survived the fierce beasts of the primitive era only to be attacked by primitive bugs.

Thinking this way, he rushed to check the branches that had brushed against him. Even if he died, he had to kill the culprit first; he couldn't wait to seek revenge in the next life.

Those branches seemed ordinary and showed no difference from the others. When Han Cheng flipped them over with a broken branch, he finally saw the culprit hiding under a leaf.

This little guy wasn't big, about the size of two soybeans. Its body was green with some red or white spots, and it had some spikes about two to three millimeters long on its back, appearing pale yellow.

Seeing the true face of the assailant, Han Cheng first breathed a sigh of relief, followed by intense anger. Despite searching for silkworms on the mulberry trees for so long, he never saw a trace of silkworm droppings. Now, he encountered such a divine creature.

This little fellow, a genuine divine creature, was known as the "foreign pepper" in Han Cheng's hometown. Despite its small size, its body contained tremendous energy. Being stung was unbearable, and it would take several days to recover fully.

Han Cheng had been stung before and could only temporarily relieve the pain by applying cool toothpaste.

But now, there was no toothpaste around.

After some thought, he reached out to scratch the swollen area and broke off the branch where the foreign pepper was hiding. He told the people below to step back, then threw the branch down from the tree.

He slid down the tree, under the concerned gaze of his Eldest Senior Brother, and used two small sticks to dismember the divine creature that had harmed him. Afterward, he applied the pale green liquid that oozed out of it to the stung area.

Strangely, after applying this liquid, the intense stinging sensation quickly eased.

Perhaps this is the principle: "the original soup conquers the original food."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay