“Wen Ze, I am Fu Chen from the Feathered Fierce Tribe. The tribe leader heard that you were going to make bricks, so we came to help you.” 

“We heard from the beastmen patrolling your tribe that you were heading this way, so we came to find you.” 

“I’ve already sent word to the tribe leader, and they’ll be here soon.” 

As Fu Chen finished speaking, the massive golden eagle slowly flapped its wings. After Wen Ze and the others cleared a space for it, it landed steadily. 

Wen Ze smiled and said, “Thank you, thank you. Besides you, are there any other tribes sending people over?” 

Fu Chen turned into human form, standing tall with long legs, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist, looking like a handsome man. 

He said, “We ran into people from the Rainbow Sun and Fierce Wind Tribes on the way.” 

Wen Ze thought about the locations of the Feathered Fierce Tribe’s territory, which was indeed next to the Rainbow Sun and Fierce Wind Tribes. 

He wondered if the Snow Sea and Wild Field Tribes from the opposite direction would also send people over. 

Soon, his guess was confirmed. 

Across the vast wilderness, two teams of beastmen, transformed into their beast forms, carried half-beastmen on their backs and rushed from different directions. 

These beastmen included large foxes, leopards, lions, tigers, and more. 

As for the people of the Feathered Fierce Tribe, they flew directly down from the sky. 

When they all gathered, the entire field felt like a gathering of ferocious beasts, creating a truly shocking scene. 

Various intimidating and powerful auras mixed together, and Wen Ze couldn’t help but rub his sensitive nose. 

Fortunately, the beastmen soon turned into human form, and the leaders of several surrounding tribes were clearly among them. 

Each of them had outstanding looks and remarkable auras. 

They walked over to Wen Ze with long strides and smiled as they explained they intentions. 

Upon learning that each of them had brought about twenty people, Wen Ze sincerely thanked them once again, saying: 

“Thank you all for coming to help me, but I don’t need so many people for brick making. How about you let some of your people return? We don’t want to delay hunting and gathering.” 

Chi Yu smiled and said, “Since we’re already here, we won’t go back. For those who aren’t needed, they can stand aside and not interfere with your work.” 

Wen Ze also smiled, “That will certainly not be a problem.” 

Luan Xun and the others felt the same way: “The more people, the faster the work gets done. Once you’re finished here, we’ll head back.” 

Wen Ze nodded, “Alright.” 

A member of the South Mountain Tribe spoke up, “They arrived just in time. We still wanted to discuss the Yangyang Grass and garlic with them!” 

Chi Yu and Bai Han quickly looked up and asked in confusion, “What?” 

Wen Ze chuckled at how eager they were: “Shall we talk while working?” 

“Sure!” The crowd responded eagerly. 

Since so many people had arrived, Wen Ze decided to have them work separately. 

He gathered them together and quickly gave out instructions: “Wu Ye, take a group of beastmen to the riverbank and dig up some river sand for me. We need the light yellow, fine-grained kind.” 

Wu Ye nodded. “Alright.” He quickly picked out more than ten beastmen and left. 

“Bai Xia, take the people from the Feathered Fierce and Rainbow Sun Tribes with you to help me split some wooden planks.” Wen Ze gave them an estimate of the length and width. 

They carefully noted it down and quickly turned into their beast form before leaving. 

“As for the rest…” Wen Ze scanned the crowd with his black eyes, “Zhuo Mu, Li Shui, Qin Shan, you three, stay here with me to get some red clay. The rest of you, Uncle Sang Hui, please help me sort the different types of clay in the territory. We’ll meet by Bao Fang River.” 

Everyone quickly agreed. 

Sang Hui handled things efficiently and took more than half of the group with him. 

Wen Ze led the remaining people to dig for red clay, carrying it in large baskets to transport to the kiln. 

They hadn’t been there long when other groups began returning as well. 

On the wide-open space by the river, fine sand and clay were placed separately, and wooden planks were stacked on the other side. 

With so little work to do, it wasn’t even considered a warm-up, yet everyone eagerly asked, “Wen Ze, what’s next?” 

Wen Ze continued directing people and, using interlocking wood joints, he made a row of wooden frames for the bricks and several “brick boxes.” 

Seeing the shape of the boxes, everyone immediately understood. 

“These should be molds, right? Are you making all the bricks the same shape?” 

Wen Ze nodded. “Yes, it will make it easier to build the wall later.” 

Everyone felt they had learned something new and expressed their amazement, saying, “So it can be done this way as well.” 

After the brick boxes were done, the main task of the day began—processing the clay. 

Wen Ze said, “Everyone, help me pick out the impurities from the clay. Try to pick out the finer bits if you can.” 

“Got it!” 

After picking out the tree roots, stones, grass leaves, and other things, Wen Ze asked them to crush the soil, and then he got them to bring water to mix with the clay. 

The prepared clay needed someone to step in and turn in circles with bare feet. 

Wen Ze took off his shoes and stepped into the muddy water. The soft, squishy feeling made his scalp tingle, as if something deep inside him had been awakened. 

Curious, the others asked, “Are we stepping in the mud?” 

“Yes, we need to soften the clay until there are no lumps left.” 

Before the adults could respond, the younger ones were already shouting, “Wen Ze, can we use our beast forms to step in the mud too?” 

“I’m great at stepping in clay! I’ll do it fast and well!” 

Wen Ze chuckled. “Alright, give it a try, but there’s not much clay, so don’t make a mess. If you do well, I’ll give you a small red flower.” 

The cubs became even more excited when they heard about the little red flowers and rushed forward. 

However, the pile of clay couldn’t accommodate so many cubs, so Wen Ze picked one with the form of a little black bear and let him step in the clay in circles. 

The little black bear puffed out its chest, happily stepping around and occasionally asking, “How is it? Is it smooth enough? Haha, this is so fun!” 

The other cubs, seeing this, became upset and started shouting that they wanted to step in the clay too. 

“Hold on, hold on. You’ll get your turn soon,” Wen Ze reassured them. 

After the other beastmen followed his example and prepared the clay, the cubs quickly rushed to step in. 

Wen Ze looked around and said, “Just using beast forms isn’t enough. We’ll still need a person to step in as well.” 

Seeing how happy the cubs were, many of the adults raised their hands, volunteering to help. 

In the end, these “opportunities” were given to some of the younger half-beastmen. 

Regardless of their tribe, everyone laughed and played together, soon forming a lively group. 

Chi Yu and the others, who had left in a hurry the previous night, were now curious about how Wen Ze had “punished” Yin He and the others. 

The people from the South Mountain Tribe explained the use of the “small red flower,” and they couldn’t help but exclaim: 

“This method is great! When I return to the tribe, I’ll give the cubs small red flowers too!” 

“Haha, no wonder your cubs are so eager to work.” 

“And what about the river clams?” 

The people from the South Mountain Tribe explained, and then mentioned that they were also planning to plant Yangyang grass and garlic. 

“So, the river clam meat can not only be made into delicious dishes, but also produce pearls? This is amazing!” The leader of the Fierce Wind Tribe, Kuang Xin, said loudly. “Chi Yu, Bai Han, on behalf of our tribe, I also want to exchange some Yangyang grass and garlic with you!” 

Chi Yu and Bai Han didn’t expect that while helping Wen Ze, someone would be eager to make a deal with them. They were quite happy about it. 

However, they didn’t agree immediately. They said, “It depends on how much the South Mountain Tribe needs. After we’ve exchanged with them, if there’s any left, we can exchange it with you.” 

Kuang Xin hesitated for a couple of seconds and nodded. “Alright, just don’t forget, okay?” 

Chi Yu smiled. “Don’t worry, we won’t.” 

The leader of the Wild Field Tribe, Mo Xing, suddenly thought of something. He turned to ask the leader of the Feathered Fierce Tribe, Luan Xun, “Does your tribe also have pearls?” 

Luan Xun nodded. “Yes, our tribe lives by the sea, so we have sea pearls.” 

Chi Yu chimed in, “Sea pearls are great. They’re very shiny and don’t fade easily.” 

Bai Han sighed in envy. “That sounds nice. Our tribe doesn’t even have a sea.” 

Luan Xun smiled. “But your tribe has deep mountains, and the nuts there are so delicious. Anyway, although our tribe has the sea, it’s not so easy to gather shellfish. Even if we bring back several baskets, we might not find a single beautiful sea pearl.” 

Mo Xing nodded in agreement. “That’s true. The sea is so deep, and the storms are fierce. It’s dangerous to go down.” 

Chi Yu said, “When we return, we can try harvesting river clams. Maybe we’ll find some pearls.” 

He decided to follow the South Mountain Tribe’s rule that small river clams shouldn’t be harvested. 

Plus, their territory had Yangyang grass, so they didn’t need to worry about wasting clam meat. 

Bai Han, thinking the same thing, nodded lightly. 

Looking up, they saw Wen Ze supervising the young ones. Bai Han stepped forward and said, “Wen Ze, we followed your method and sprinkled the juice from the thorny fruit and prickly balls on the pearwood forest.” 

Wen Ze became interested. “Oh? How’s the effect?” 

Bai Han replied, “It’s great. After mixing the wood ash with the soil, some of the larvae that weren’t killed tried to crawl up the fruit trees. However, they just circled around the trees without climbing them, almost as if they feared something up there.” 

Wen Ze nodded. “Hmm, that means it’s working.” 

Xue Yuan walked over and added, “We were thinking of burning more wood ash in a couple of days and sprinkling it in the forest again.” 

“No need. This is enough. If you sprinkle too much, it could harm the tree roots. Those larvae will eventually die off or leave the forest because they won’t be able to get nutrients.” 

The two of them nodded right away and said, “Got it. Good thing we came to ask you.” 

Bai Han sincerely thanked Wen Ze again. If it weren’t for him, that pearwood forest would have been ruined. 

Although people from other tribes had heard of Wen Ze’s insect control methods, they were still shocked when they saw how grateful the Snow Sea Tribe was to him. 

Worried that their tribes might face a pest infestation too, many of them gathered around to seek his advice. 

Wen Ze didn’t hold back and shared his knowledge. He spoke not only about pest control but also about the importance of intercropping and crop rotation. 

His words were not only easy to understand but also fresh and organized, which attracted everyone’s attention. 

Everyone listened intently, nodding from time to time. In their eyes was a respect and admiration that they hadn’t even noticed themselves. 

It wasn’t until Yin He called out, “Brother! We’ve finished stomping over here. Do you want to come see?” that they suddenly felt a little awkward, remembering they were supposed to help Wen Ze. 

The young ones were working hard, while they were just “slacking off”! 

Wen Ze chuckled and turned to respond, “Coming!” 

He walked over and took a look. Several piles of clay in different colors had indeed been thoroughly worked until they were finely smooth by everyone. 

He picked up a stone shovel with a wooden handle, gathered the clay, and instructed people to stomp it some more. 

After repeating the same process three to five times, when he gathered the clay with the shovel again, it no longer collapsed downward. 

Wen Ze’s eyes lit up. “It’s almost done.” 

“Can we fire them now?” someone eagerly asked. 

“No, we need to make bricks first.” Wen Ze instructed everyone to bring over the brick molds he had made earlier. They scattered a layer of fine sand inside, then filled it with the clay, patting and pressing it down to make the clay more compact. 

The others followed his lead and began making brick molds. 

Once the brick molds were removed from their boxes, Wen Ze discovered another issue. 

The problem was that the clay was still wet, and the shapes were not very uniform. 

“This won’t do…” he mumbled, thinking for a moment. 

He raised his head and asked Zhuo Mu, “Do you have any thinner beast tendons? They need to be elastic.” 

Zhuo Mu replied, “Yes, I have some.” 

Soon, he handed over a piece. 

Wen Ze took a branch with good flexibility and tied the beast tendon to both ends, forming a “bow” shape. 

He stretched the tight beast tendon and heard a humming sound. 

“Oh?” Bai Ling curiously leaned forward and said, “That sound is quite pleasant.” 

Wen Ze thought of some musical instruments and casually added, “It seems like different plucking methods can produce different sounds. It could form a tune.” 

Bai Ling’s eyes widened: “What is that?!” 

Wen Ze replied, “A musical instrument.” His eyes curved into a smile as he changed the subject, “But unfortunately, I can’t make one.” 

Bai Ling’s handsome face suddenly dropped: “There’s actually something you can’t do?” 

Wen Ze laughed heartily: “There are plenty of things I can’t do.” 

Holding the newly made ‘bow,’ Wen Ze went to the brick molds and began using the beast tendon to scrape the surface of the bricks and shape them. 

Unexpectedly, the results were quite good. The brick molds quickly became neat, with sharp edges and a square shape. 

Everyone was stunned: “I thought you were going to use your hands to shape them! I didn’t expect you to make such a tool!” 

“Beast tendons and branches combined like this are actually so useful?” 

“I’ve learned something new again. Next time I need it, I’ll make one!” 

Everyone had the same thought: it was definitely the right choice to help Wen Ze! It seemed like they were working, but in reality, they were learning so much from him. They were really benefiting a lot! 

Everyone started making their own ‘beast tendon bows’ and worked together with Wen Ze to shape the bricks. 

After they finished, Wen Ze had an idea. 

He turned to everyone and said, “The bricks are still too wet. If we move them into the kiln now, they’ll deform.” 

Sang Hui asked, “Then what should we do? Should we let them dry?” 

“Yes,” Wen Ze looked at the rows of bricks with different colors and said, “We should let them dry for at least a day. The bricks can’t be exposed to direct sunlight, so we need to put up a shelter over them.” 

He was also inexperienced; otherwise, he would have directly made the molds in the shaded area. 

Wu Ye said, “Setting up a shelter is easy. We have plenty of people here.” 

Once again, Wen Ze understood the meaning of strength in numbers. Everyone worked together—chopping wood, setting up stakes, tying frames, and covering them with dry grass. In less than half an hour, a row of simple grass shelters was completed. 

Wen Ze glanced at the sun, which hadn’t yet reached its peak, and smiled. “This is good enough. Thanks for the hard work, everyone.” 

Chi Yu and the others waved their hands. “We barely did anything. It’s you who shared so much useful information with us.” 

Luan Xun asked, “If there’s no other work, should we head back?” 

Wen Ze nodded. “Yes, you can all head back now. Thank you for all of your help.” 

Yu Qiao asked, “When are you coming to dig potatoes at our place? I remember the route really well.” 

Wen Ze glanced at the hesitant half-beastmen from the South Mountain Tribe, then said, “Probably after we finish firing the bricks. We have other things to do these next couple of days.” 

Yu Qiao looked a bit disappointed. “Alright, but don’t forget.” 

Wen Ze smiled. “I definitely won’t forget.” 

After bidding farewell to the other tribes, Wen Ze grinned and waved at Yin He and the other little ones. 

Their faces lit up as they hurried over. 

Wen Ze took a handful of small red flowers from his space and handed one to each of them. 

“You all did great today. Each of you gets a little red flower as a reward.” 

The cubs were overjoyed. They clutched their flowers and cheered loudly: 

“Thank you, Brother Wen Ze!” 

Seizing the moment, Wen Ze ruffled the fluffy fur on a bear cub’s head and said, “There’s nothing more to do here. You can go play now, but remember, don’t run too far.” 

“Got it~” 

The little ones carefully put away their flowers and happily ran off together. 

Finally, Bai Ling and the others found an opportunity and asked, “Wen Ze, since we’re not firing bricks today, can we dye the cloth instead?” 

Li Shui added, “I’ve gathered lots of red fine-stamen flowers and prepared cloths. I’ve been waiting to dye them.” 

“That’s right! I picked some bluebell flowers as well! Wen Ze, let’s dye them today!” 

Everyone was so enthusiastic and eager that Wen Ze couldn’t dampen their spirits. 

So, he smiled and said, “Alright, let’s dye the cloth today! First, let’s head to the tribe’s altar square. We’ll need the stone mill there.” 

“Great!!” This time, the half-beastmen responded even more eagerly than the beastmen. 

Leaving a few people to patrol the pottery kiln, most of the tribe excitedly made their way to the altar square. 

Once there, Wen Ze assigned tasks. “Does anyone have a large clay pot at home? It should be open-mouthed and deep.” 

Sang Hui said, “I have one. I made it when I fired pottery before but never actually used it.” 

A few others chimed in: “I have one too!” 

“Let me borrow them first.” 

Without hesitation, they all brought their clay pots over. 

Then, Wen Ze assigned some beastmen to gather firewood while he led a group of half-beastmen to prepare the dyeing materials. 

“Place all the flowers you collected here, and I’ll take a look.” 

The petals were delicate, so everyone had kept them in their own space for safekeeping. 

Following Wen Ze’s instructions, they had gathered only two colors of flowers—red and blue. 

As the half-beastmen took out the petals one by one, Wen Ze gestured for Zhuo Mu to come over. 

The man with sharp brows and a cold expression walked over, listening as Wen Ze asked, “Do you remember how I explained extracting brine before?” 

Zhuo Mu nodded: “I remember.” 

“Can you go and get me two buckets of it?” 

“Okay.” 

The task was simple, and Zhuo Mu could handle it alone. Since he was fast, Wen Ze felt reassured entrusting it to him. 

Before long, the flower petals were all sorted. 

Wen Ze directed the half-beastmen to pick out any stray-colored stamens, grass leaves, and other impurities from the flowers. 

This step is a bit tedious, but since everyone is sitting on the ground, working and chatting at the same time, the time goes by quickly. 

Wen Ze wasn’t much of a talker and mostly listened in silence. 

Even though he didn’t show much expression, he was actually quite shocked by some of the explosive gossip he overheard. 

People of the Beast World might be simple, but in some ways, they knew how to have fun. 

Halfway through, the beastmen who had gone to gather firewood and Zhuo Mu, who had gone to collect the brine, returned. 

Wen Ze told everyone to keep going, while he took a few half-beastmen and began pouring the sorted petals into the stone mill, then added water to grind them. 

Under the stone mill, a clean, open-mouthed clay jar was placed to collect the flower juice. 

Bai Ling and the others watched closely. “The color is really rich, and it even has a floral fragrance. So once we finish grinding, do we just soak the fabric in it?” 

Wen Ze smiled and said, “We can’t soak it directly. The effect won’t be good.” 

Sang Hui guessed, “We probably have to boil it, right? Since we brought over the clay pots and firewood.” 

“That’s right.” 

Seeing everyone so eager about dyeing, Wen Ze decided to warn them in advance. “To be honest, I don’t have any experience with dyeing. If it doesn’t turn out well, don’t be too disappointed.” 

Li Shui shook his head and smiled, “That won’t happen. If it doesn’t work this time, we can improve it next time.” 

Sang Hui agreed, “Yes, we can try different materials. I know some minerals that have color in them.” 

Wen Ze’s eyes lit up. Of course, minerals could work! They’d try that next time! 

Li Shui added, “Either way, no matter how it turns out, the fabric is still usable.” 

Bai Ling grinned. “And now that we have a weaving frame, making fabric is much easier than before. We don’t have to worry about failing!” 

“That’s right, no worries!” 

Everyone’s firm support gave Wen Ze a lot of confidence. 

They first ground the red flowers into juice, then collected the leftover crushed petals from the stone mill, added them to the juice, and mixed in some clean water and brine to soak them and help the petals release their color. 

Next, they carefully cleaned the stone mill, followed the same steps, and ground the blue petals. 

Afterward, Wen Ze had everyone set up a fire pit, placed the large clay pot on it, and poured in the red juice to boil it. 

As it boiled, he stirred the dye with a wooden stick and carefully observed the color. 

“Hmm, why did the color change?” Sang Hui stood next to Wen Ze and asked curiously. 

Wen Ze had expected this. “Some plants change color when heated.” 

Sang Hui suddenly realized, “Oh, right! I once collected a type of purple stem roots. After steaming it, it actually turned gray.” 

Bai Ling also leaned over, looking quite anxious. “This dye, it won’t fade, right?” 

Although they weren’t afraid of failure, after working hard all afternoon, who wouldn’t want a good result? 

Wen Ze spoke calmly, “Don’t rush, let’s take a look first.” 

Fortunately, after boiling, the bright red juice only turned a deep orange-red and was still usable. 

Once the pot was done, Wen Ze had them bring over some old hemp cloth and filtered the juice several times to remove the impurities. 

Then, he asked, “Who wants to dye their fabric this color?” 

The crowd erupted in enthusiastic responses: “I do, I do! I love this color!” 

“I want it too! This color is so beautiful!” 

“Wen Ze, take my hemp cloth!” 

A few breaths later, Wen Ze had over a dozen pieces of hemp cloth in his hands. 

Under the intense look of the crowd, he took several pieces of cloth, fully immersed them in the juice, and stirred them thoroughly. 

The setting sun cast a soft glow over his face and body. 

His sharp features were focused, and his dark eyes were clear and steady. 

With his slender fingers, he lifted a piece of cloth as if he were using long chopsticks. 

Droplets of dye dripped down, and when everyone saw the color, they collectively gasped. 

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