Chapter 4035 Gaining Trust

Just moments ago, everything was peaceful and harmonious. But when the disheveled Taoist priest asked about Zhaoyao Mountain, the people from Nie Er Kingdom instantly became alert and picked up their harpoons, aiming them at us.

One of them angrily said, "Why are you asking about Zhaoyao Mountain? Are you plotting something?"

Seeing their behavior, both the slovenly Taoist priest and I were somewhat bewildered.

However, at this moment, the slovenly Taoist priest and I quickly realized what was going on.

When we came here before, we asked Master Wuwei about it. We learned that Zhaoyao Mountain is the holy mountain of several alien races in the vicinity, and they protect it together. The reason they protect Zhaoyao Mountain is because Zhaoyao wood grows on the mountain.

Therefore, when we asked about Zhaoyao Mountain, these people from Nie Er Kingdom must have assumed we were going to Zhaoyao Mountain to steal treasures, and they were certainly on guard.

However, that is indeed the case; we did go to Zhaoyao Mountain to find the Zhaoyao Wood.

Fortunately, the slovenly Taoist priest was quick-witted. With a quick glance, he waved his hand and said, "Friends, you have misunderstood. A friend of our clan also came to the Fire Domain before. He seems to be near Zhaoyao Mountain. We came here this time to go find him and bring him back from the Fire Domain."

It has to be said that the slovenly Taoist priest was a master of deception; he could spout lies on the spot. After hearing his spiel, the people from Nie Er Kingdom put down their harpoons again, which meant they had lowered their guard against us.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Why don't you come and sit in our village? After all, you helped us kill Longzhi, so you're our benefactors. Let us treat you to a meal as a way of expressing our gratitude." The man who looked like the leader extended an invitation to us.

We naturally have no reason to refuse this. It's a good opportunity to use these people from Nie Er Kingdom to carefully inquire about the situation in the Fire Domain, which will be helpful for our next actions.

I quickly said, "Friends, we have a few friends from other ethnic groups who came with us. They are new here and don't know the area well, so they don't dare to show themselves. Could they come with us to your village?"

“No problem. Since they are your friends, they are our friends too. Let’s go together,” the leader said with a smile.

Immediately, I turned around and shouted into the woods not far away, "Come out!"

At this call, Brother Gu and Zhang Qing'an walked out of the woods and came this way.

Meanwhile, the people of Nie Er Kingdom had already begun cleaning up the scene, placing all those killed and injured by Long Zhi on the backs of the spotted tigers. On the way, they were discussing how to call everyone in the village over and take Long Zhi back, enough to feed the village for several days.

The thought that Longzhi lives by eating people, and that these people from Nie Er Kingdom want to eat Longzhi, makes me feel somewhat unable to accept it.

I thought to myself, "Would the people in their village offer us some fish?" I knew I wouldn't eat it.

On the way back, the slovenly Taoist priest chatted with the chieftain and learned that his name was Wukan, the village chief. He usually hunted with the young men in the village to make a living.

People living in spaces like this tend to have low productivity and live very primitive lives, which I can understand.

We followed the people of Nie Er Kingdom for nearly two hours before finally arriving at their village.

The village isn't very big, with just over a hundred households. All the houses are wooden structures, all made of bright red wood. Because of the high temperature, most of the men are shirtless, and the women are dressed very lightly, with a few red leaves hanging on their bodies.

The people of Nie Er Kingdom, regardless of age or gender, all have exceptionally large ears that can flap. If they feel hot, they flap their ears, thus saving the need for a fan.

As for their appearance, they are similar to us in both build and size. The biggest difference is that they have very large ears and fair skin.

Upon returning to the village, some villagers came to greet them, lifted the wounded off the spotted tiger, and took them back to the red wooden house for treatment.

I also noticed that almost everyone in this Nie Er Kingdom was accompanied by two spotted tigers, even the children.

These spotted tigers are quite large, but they are very docile, just like pet dogs.

Most of the time, when they go hunting, they take these spotted tigers with them to help them hunt.

After Wukan brought us back to the village, he led us to a large red wooden house and told us that this was his residence.

Inside the house, a middle-aged woman was busy cooking.

I glanced at it and saw freshly cooked meat, a huge pot of it. I didn't know what kind of meat it was. They also had wild vegetable soup, which was bright red, like a pot of blood.

Wukan warmly invited us to sit down, and said somewhat apologetically that their village was not well-off and they could only serve us this cooked meat, asking us not to mind.

We're new here, so we're just glad to have a place to stay; we don't have many other requirements.

Then the woman brought us cooked meat and vegetable soup, telling us to eat it while it was hot.

I took a bite and found the meat to be quite tasty, while the wild vegetable soup had a slightly sweet taste.

Just as we were halfway through our meal, two young men from the Nie'er Kingdom suddenly ran up to us, saying that the two men who had gone hunting earlier were badly injured and on the verge of death, and asked what to do in Wukan.

Wukan quickly got up and said he wanted to go and take a look.

Upon seeing this, the disheveled Taoist priest quickly exchanged a glance with us, then smiled and said to Wukan, "Chief Wukan, we both know a little about medicine. Perhaps we can help you cure those people. Why don't we go with you?"

Wukan was a little anxious and agreed without much thought.

So we let the rest of the people continue eating there, while the two of us followed Wukan to another red house not far away.

The reason we followed Wukan was that the slovenly Taoist priest and I both had our own plans. We needed to gain Wukan's trust so that we could find out more about the Fire Domain. As long as we healed the people in his village, he would be less wary of us.

Before long, we arrived at the place where four or five people were lying, seriously injured. These people were all injured while fighting with the dragon. Some were bitten, some were whipped by the dragon's tail, and all of them were seriously injured. The two most injured were completely still and lay there motionless.