Chapter 61: The Void Blossom Tribe

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Chapter 61: The Hollow Tribe

Li Bingbing was just as Li Hongshen had guessed; her territory housed a swarm of spirit bees, and every half year she could trade spirit honey, with a quota of five wooden barrels. Each barrel contained one liter of spirit honey, and the selling price was set at ten blood crystals. Besides this, she also offered several medicines for sale, each individually priced, ranging from one to five blood crystals.

Mogo presented products from his spirit plants, which were a kind of aloe that could be processed into aloe gel, remarkably effective for external wounds. Though it didn't match the efficacy of specialty spirit items, it was much better than common wound medicine. He could sell a batch every month, limited to five portions, each portion also a liter.

As for Gongsun Bieli, he currently had no products for external trade, or rather, his products overlapped with those of Li Hongshen, and his mineral salt output was only a small amount, not comparable to Li Hongshen’s sea salt. However, he reached an agreement with Li Hongshen: he would produce refined mineral salt, and come next year, Li Hongshen would cooperate with him to coordinate prices and sell uniformly to other territories, avoiding price wars. Certainly, he would also offer ordinary, unrefined mineral salt, allowing other lords to choose for themselves, to which Li Hongshen had no objections.

Lin Shengzun, on the other hand, was impressive; not only did he sell food, but he also traded ironware and pottery in quantities that even made Li Hongshen take notice. Each month, he could sell five sets of spearheads and three iron spears, priced the same as Li Hongshen’s, and he also offered pottery, accepting custom orders or purchases of his produced clay pots and jars, priced from one to three blood crystals.

Originally, Lin Shengzun had a specialty spirit item for sale, but Li Hongshen directly signed a contract with him, agreeing to monopolize his specialty spirit item in exchange for Lin Shengzun relinquishing pottery sales, supplemented by resource support and blood crystals. Thus, for the next few years, Lin Shengzun would supply his specialty spirit item exclusively to Li Hongshen, in return for monopolizing pottery sales.

Lin Shengzun was unconcerned about others selling pottery next year. During the arrangement, the school had considered students’ resources and performed some degree of combination; at most, each resource supplier would be two or three people. According to Li Bingbing’s information, apart from Li Hongshen, only Lin Shengzun had clay resources here; unless someone else found a large amount of clay in the wilderness, he was assured of achieving monopoly.

They proceeded to discuss aid work and the protocols for entering the vast mountain range, and ultimately, after cordial and friendly negotiations, reached several agreements.

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Among the agreements, the most important for Li Hongshen were as follows:

First, the Hong Tribe must provide grain to other contract parties in times of necessity, with repayment required within a stipulated period, and interest to be paid.

Second, it was agreed that the Hong Tribe could be employed for a fee to help conquer wild tribes, but reconnaissance by the Hong Tribe was mandatory beforehand, and after conquest, the Hong Tribe had the right to select spoils first. During conflict, the Hong Tribe could not withdraw unconditionally; however, should the inviting party conceal any information, the Hong Tribe could withdraw without liability.

Third, during the closure of the virtual market, caravans from each tribe could rest in the contracted tribes’ territory, and the host should provide assistance within their means.

The first two points needed little explanation, while the last was added after deliberation with the other lords, for currently only Li Hongshen’s tribe had the capability to form caravans and conduct trade in the wilderness. As for the other lords, except Mogo and Gongsun Bieli whose territories were adjacent, the rest were one to two weeks’ journey apart, so for trade, aside from waiting for the virtual market to open, they could only rely on Li Hongshen’s caravans for now.

This was also the responsibility of a typical alliance leader—to link allied tribes and facilitate resource flow within the alliance.

Yet Li Hongshen estimated the alliance would not last long, perhaps only a few years. He and Li Bingbing, along with Lin Shengzun, would enter the vast mountains in about four years. The remaining two, Gongsun Bieli and Mogo, would need to accumulate longer, five or six years, but by then it would no longer concern Li Hongshen.

Once they finalized the covenant and other matters, they dispersed, leaving their exhibition stands within the city, folding their tribal banners to reuse next year.

Li Hongshen then went to the city center, to the office where maps and resources were first distributed, and reported the information about the fissure valley, adding a good location for future juniors to claim. Afterward, he collected his school reward and left.

In the end, a week after the virtual market opened, the city became quiet again, with only a few guards patrolling; the lords had all withdrawn.

On his way, Li Hongshen was accompanied by Li Bingbing. After their negotiations, Li Bingbing hired Li Hongshen, for there was a wild tribe near her tribe’s hunting grounds, and conflict had arisen. Since all his goods were sold and the exchanged items were much smaller, Li Hongshen simply followed Li Bingbing, bringing his warriors along.

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He intended to first check the specifics—if it was manageable, they would settle it at once; if not, he would simply retreat, gather reinforcements, and return.

Li Bingbing’s camp lay east of the city; departing from the east gate, it took a week and a half’s journey to reach a forest, sparser than the beast forest, with much slimmer trees.

“Is this the Eastern Forest? It seems a little different.”

“Yes, it is the Eastern Forest. Based on my investigation, a century ago a great fire swept through here, burning almost everything, which is why it’s so sparse. Most trees in the Eastern Forest are new, less than a hundred years old. Those dozen or so giant trees you see have survived the flames, withered wood reborn in spring, rejuvenated old trees. Now my tribe is stationed on the outskirts of this forest. Do you see that mountain in the distance? The Eastern Forest stretches to the base of that mountain, where the wild tribe is located.

Human tribe, about three hundred people, with an altar—most likely a zero-tier altar. After conquest, you can have all the population.”

Li Bingbing led the way, explaining as they went, while Li Hongshen observed the scenery. The storm eagle patrolled overhead, and the battle wolves occasionally sniffed around the paths.

Regarding Li Bingbing’s offer of the entire population, Li Hongshen was unsurprised. In the early stages of development, integrating alien populations was always a major problem. Even with his absolute loyalty talent, he would not attempt it lightly, for it posed a great challenge to administrative management; mishandling could lead to racial strife and tribal division.

Soon, after seeing the Eastern Forest, Li Hongshen and Li Bingbing walked for several more hours and finally arrived at Li Bingbing’s Hollow Tribe.

(End of chapter)