Starting from Robinson Crusoe

Hurriedly getting up from the side of the rising campfire, Chen Zhou sternly ordered Tiger Second to stop.

When Tiger Second stopped bewilderedly in front of the campfire, Chen Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief and then nervously checked on Tiger First and Tiger Third.

Luckily, these two guys didn’t share the same peculiar habit as their African second brother.

Tiger First hesitated for a long time but would rather go hungry than entertain any thoughts of eating feces.

Since recovering from a serious injury, Tiger Third has gotten much shrewder; in daily hunting, Chen Zhou can clearly feel it is much smarter than the two brothers, and its performance this time likewise satisfied Chen Zhou—

Not only did it not participate in the defecation action, but it also sneakily licked quite a bit of rhinoceros blood.

When Chen Zhou looked at Tiger Third, its face was already stained with quite a bit of congealed blood, the stench assaults the senses.

But no matter how strong the smell of blood, it’s better than the stench of feces.

With a look of disgust, Chen Zhou grabbed a handful of dry grass stalks, pushed Tiger Second to the side, glanced around and found no water source, so he had to grab Tiger Second’s short and stout tail, which felt like a hairy club, and forcibly dragged it to a snow pile.

"Stay here obediently!"

After scolding it, Chen Zhou quickly cut a small piece of fur from the hairy rhinoceros, then used this piece of fur as a pad, grabbed a bunch of snow, and wiped it on Tiger Second’s face.

Fortunately, the saw-toothed tiger had grown thick, water-repellent fur to cope with the winter, and the feces were all stuck on the surface of the fur, not penetrating to the roots, and could be rubbed off.

However, snow water is of course not detergent, and even after wiping off the feces on Tiger Second’s fur, the entire facial fur still showed a darker color.

As for the strong smell of rhinoceros feces, it wouldn’t go away anytime soon.

Having barely cleaned up Tiger Second, the sharp sense of smell could still detect the pungent odor coming from its body.

Looking at the little guy sitting on the ground, still not knowing exactly what mistake it had made, and looking aggrieved, Chen Zhou didn’t know at the moment whether to scold it or comfort it.

"Ah, things are as they are, let’s eat first..."

Picking up the long saber, trying not to think about Tiger Second eating feces, Chen Zhou walked over to the hairy rhinoceros’s carcass.

...

After winter set in, snowfall became a frequent occurrence, making clear days appear somewhat unusual.

After more than half a day of bright sunshine, the cold wind finally swept over the entire prairie again.

It was 5 days later when Chen Zhou returned to the Baihar Mountain Range with the three-headed saw-toothed tiger.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, looking at the primitive forest covered in pure white snow, and turning to glance at the three-headed saw-toothed tiger behind him, Chen Zhou’s face, reddened and stiff from the wind and snow, finally showed a rare smile.

"Finally home."

He called the little guys to follow him up the mountain, treading the frozen hard soil, Chen Zhou’s mood relaxed.

Traveling in the bitter winter, the mental pressure one has to endure is immense.

Especially when the journey is so long that it takes ten or more days to go back and forth, he constantly worried about encountering a blizzard; if they got stuck in one, even if he could ensure his own life, the three-headed saw-toothed tiger might not survive.

Fortunately, sudden blizzards like the one that day are very rare. Though he encountered snowfall on his return trip, he never got lost due to snowstorms and never faced the risk of freezing to death again.

The return trip was slow, but Chen Zhou did not regret not taking two great horned deer from Bi Kai.

Firstly, after teaching his martial arts, Bi Kai was completely exhausted and unable to teach him the beast taming technique before waking up again.

Without the beast taming technique, the great horned deer wouldn’t listen to him; even if he forcibly took one, he’d likely spend all his energy supervising it, which would be self-inflicted suffering.

Secondly, to Chen Zhou, the great horned deer could only serve as a beast of burden or a transport tool, not as a mount.

His weight already destined that aside from mammoths or hairy rhinoceroses weighing tons, ordinary animals simply could not serve as his means of transport.

Weighing over 300 pounds, even if the great horned deer could carry him for a moment, they wouldn’t hold up for long, much less run.

Riding a deer would probably be slower than leading it, so in Chen Zhou’s mind, the greatest use of the great horned deer was actually to help Paul keep up with his pace and carry supplies.

Apart from these two points, there was actually a third point—

Chen Zhou had made a promise at Gao Yao’s grave to bring back the family heirloom treasure bow and bury it with Gao Yao.

A man’s word is his bond.

Not to mention that, for Chen Zhou, it was not a big deal at all, but even if it was an arduous task, once the words were spoken, Chen Zhou would complete it even if it meant risking his life.

Just like the promise he had made to the natives in the past on a deserted island—

"Anyone who puts in effort can get their rightful reward;

Any brave warrior will have awards and promises..."

Chen Zhou never easily agreed to something or made a promise, nor would he easily cross his bottom line or break a promise unless the other party proved unworthy of these.

As the weather turned colder, Chen Zhou planned to go home briefly for a rest, hand over the rock salt to Paul and let him handle the simple refining and filtration of impurities, while he would set off immediately to deliver the bow.

Additionally, he planned to bring an antidote to Bi Kai.

The regeneration potion could heal the injured organs of animals, even achieving a limb regrowth effect, which had been verified.

But whether it could eliminate the accumulated toxins within the body was still up for debate.

Since the precious regeneration potion was used on Bi Kai, he planned to fully commit to saving him and simply decided to give the antidote to Bi Kai as well.

Moreover, when he returned to the rock salt collection place to find Bi Kai, there was something he wanted to ask about—

Herbs.

For many years, Chen Zhou had struggled with the lack of opportunity to thoroughly learn practical medicine, especially the primitive aspects related to traditional Chinese medicine.

Modern medicine relies on various advanced instruments, hormones, and extracts to treat diseases—fast-acting and effective.

However, in his environment, there was no access to any medical equipment, no ready-made medication, and hardly any plants that he recognized.

Under these conditions, fundamentally understanding the "pharmacology" and treatment methods mentioned in traditional medicine would be very helpful to Chen Zhou.

But modern Chinese medicine is difficult to get into, and experienced practitioners often won’t easily pass down their skills to outsiders.

Not to mention that before starting to learn, a lot of time would have to be spent distinguishing which old doctor had real skills and which were charlatans.

Meeting Bi Kai, who might even be from an ancient or martial arts world, was undoubtedly a lucky surprise for Chen Zhou.

Though Bi Kai expressed remorse over his lack of medical skills for failing to save Gao Yao,

the mere fact that he tasted various herbs for dozens of days without poisoning himself already showed Chen Zhou that Bi Kai indeed possessed some true skills.

Prehistoric plants are vastly different from modern ones; daring to try them isn’t the skill, surviving after eating them is.

Even though Bi Kai humbly claimed his medical skills were not high, Chen Zhou found them already sufficiently practical.

With a much stronger physique than Bi Kai and better resistance to toxins than average people, Chen Zhou believed that if he learned these medical skills, he might save his own life in similar unfamiliar environments in the future by identifying medicinal properties through tasting herbs.

Moreover, Chen Zhou felt there must be some underlying logic, such as "mutual generation and restraint," in Bi Kai’s herb tasting practice.

Otherwise, blind attempts would have killed him long ago, regardless of how tough he was.

Apart from learning medicine, returning to Bi Kai’s place would also yield another benefit—a pharmacological understanding verified by Bi Kai himself through trial.

Based on Bi Kai’s accumulation, Chen Zhou could save time by directly understanding and recognizing many herbs—

Whether these plants were toxic, their cold or warm nature, and which diseases they could treat had all been tested by Bi Kai himself and were very reliable.

Having already learned marksmanship and saber techniques from Bi Kai, this time he intended to learn a lot more things.

Although Bi Kai called him a benefactor, Chen Zhou couldn’t comfortably place himself in a superior position.

This time, the antidote he planned to bring to Bi Kai could also be considered as tuition or a gift for a "mentor" from another perspective.

Apart from learning medicine, returning to Bi Kai’s place would also yield another benefit—a pharmacological understanding verified by Bi Kai himself through trial.

Based on Bi Kai’s accumulation, Chen Zhou could save time by directly understanding and recognizing many herbs—

Whether these plants were toxic, their cold or warm nature, and which diseases they could treat had all been tested by Bi Kai himself and were very reliable.

Having already learned marksmanship and saber techniques from Bi Kai, this time he intended to learn a lot more things.

Although Bi Kai called him a benefactor, Chen Zhou couldn’t comfortably place himself in a superior position.

This time, the antidote he planned to bring to Bi Kai could also be considered as tuition or a gift for a "mentor" from another perspective.