Chapter 475: Bull and Snake Battle
The fifth day of survival in the Xishuangbanna rainforest.
Bifang was still wandering in the dense jungle, searching for its target following the footprints on the ground.
The hoof prints of the white-lipped buffalo are very large and deep, leaving a pit on the wet ground in the rainforest that cannot be easily washed away even by heavy rain.
In a deep pit, several flying insects were drowning and unable to struggle out.
Bifang inserted his finger into it, and the mud and water in the pit directly covered the second joint. The mark left by more than a ton of weight pressing on the wet soil was so exaggerated.
"The hoof prints are very deep. Generally speaking, the shallower the hoof prints, the longer the target has been gone. Conversely, the deeper the hoof prints, the closer it is. It seems that we are almost catching up with the white-limbed bison."
Bifang wiped the sweat off his forehead and felt relieved: "Huh, after chasing for a whole day, I'm finally going to catch up."
Since yesterday afternoon, Bifang has started tracking the white-lipped bison that he encountered on the first day. Although it has been several days, experienced hunters can still track the animal based on the traces left by the animal half a month ago.
But by the time Bifang finally arrived at the spot, the hoof prints had completely disappeared due to heavy rain, and were completely covered by newly fallen dead branches.
He searched in different directions for four days before he found new clues in the afternoon. He was worried that it would rain again at night and cut off the new clues, so Bifang kept chasing until dark.
Early this morning, I took enough food and tools, made a new pair of straw sandals, and set out again, all the way to here.
Such great efforts were certainly not for hunting white-lipped buffalo, but for salt.
Large herbivores all have their own "salt mine bases".
The pH of all organisms is basically the same. Herbivores need more salt than carnivores.
They usually go to caves to lick the rock walls, or go to a salty area. As long as you wait patiently and track them, you will reach their salt mine base sooner or later.
Next, Bifang only needs to dig the soil to boil salt, or he can try to lick the rock wall of the cave and chisel out a piece of salt mine.
As long as he could find salt, Bifang would have enough meat, vegetables, and salt, and a stable life would be laid, so he could start smelting iron.
Thinking of this, Bifang continued to follow the hoof prints in front of him. He did not relax, not only because there were snakes and ants everywhere, but also because he was about to face the white-lipped bison.
"Based on the hoof prints, we can see that the buffalo hardly made any circles along the way, but walked around recklessly. This shows that it was very confident because there was no creature in the jungle that could threaten it, so it could roam around confidently."
Even a poisonous snake cannot easily bite through that thick and rough skin that is like natural armor.
Its sharp horns can pierce through anything that disobeys it, and its strong muscles can burst out with the power to uproot a tree.
"It is impossible to have this phenomenon. They will live in a fixed and familiar territory, know where there are dangers and predators, and avoid risks in advance."
After a pause, Bifang joked, "If there really is a bull charm, then the head on it must be that of a white-limbed buffalo."
At noon, Bifang's stomach began to growl. He looked up at the sky covered by leaves, listened to the cry of birds coming from somewhere in the jungle, put down the bark basket behind him , and took out a fish from it.
The fish was about the size of a forearm, with its tail tied with a vine, and the other end passing through the gills and emerging from the lips, bending the entire fish into a bow shape.
"Although I can't see the sun, my stomach and biological clock tell me that it should be noon now. Let's eat first and then continue."
Bifang cleared a space, took out his stone dagger, and cut the vines.
The moment the vine rope was cut, the trapped fish immediately jumped up, swung on the ground, and spit out water, which shocked the audience.
The fish was tied up early this morning. It’s been six or seven hours now, and it’s still alive?
It's summer now, how can fish survive so long out of water?
[Have African lungfish invaded the Xishuangbanna rainforest? ]
[This is just an ordinary carp, right? ]
"Haha, why do you think I tied the fish like this?" Bifang dug a hole on the spot and prepared to make a fire, while explaining: "This is the bow fish technique. Fish treated with the bow fish technique can survive 10 days out of water in winter, and at least one day in the dog days of summer."
"The rainforest is hot, and dead fish can easily rot. I'm always on the move, so it's not convenient to smoke the fish. I can only keep the fish alive. Although bowfishing is just a simple process of tying fish, it's actually quite complicated."
The bowfish technique consists of three steps: initial tying, water feeding and water tying.
When initially tying the fish, use a straw rope to tie the fish's head and tail. When feeding the fish, put the tied fish into the running water of a stream to let it expel the impurities and take in the fresh water.
Wait an hour later and then tie the water to the tail of the fish that has been fed. When tying the water, move the tying position up to a place slightly above the anus of the fish. This is considered complete.
If not handled properly, not only will the fish fail to be kept alive and fresh, it may even affect the quality of the fish.
"It uses a special binding method to reduce the fish's activity, and at the same time, it allows it to take in a lot of fresh water during the feeding stage, and it cannot excrete it."
"And by keeping the fish's mouth open, the fish's gills are forced to open, increasing the absorption of oxygen in the humid air, so the fish live particularly long."
Bifang took out the fire, produced thick smoke and flames, threw it into the pit, and then processed the fish again.
This fish was caught at the fish farm this morning. It still had some fat on its belly, but its scales and internal organs had not been processed. Spread out the leaves and Bifang took out all the internal organs.
"The biggest benefit of the bowfish technique in summer is that it not only keeps the fish alive and fresh, facilitates transportation, but also removes the earthy smell of river fish. In 2009, the bowfish technique was included in the FJ Province Intangible Cultural Heritage List."
The fish were inserted into bamboo sticks and grilled over charcoal. Bifang also cooked some wild vegetable soup in a bamboo tube, sealed the lid, and inserted it directly into the campfire.
Bifang had prepared for a long battle early on. When he went out this morning, he brought all the basic supplies with him, including three cans of bamboo water, three big fish, and he was also collecting edible flowers and wild vegetables on the way, so he didn't have to worry about running out of food.
After eating, Bifang cleaned up the place and continued tracking along the increasingly deep cow hoof prints.
Finally, in the afternoon, the hoof prints were so deep that they could almost touch the entire finger. Bifang poked the soil on the ground and found it was very soft. The heavy rain had turned the soil of the entire rainforest into a semi-mud state.
In order to prevent the mud from seeping into the straw sandals and coming into close contact with the skin, Bifang covered his feet with three layers of large leaves, which barely blocked it.
"The bison weighs about 1,200 to 1,300 pounds. Judging from the softness of the soil, it should be this deep if you step in. It may have been gone for less than half an hour. We have to be careful. Maybe the big guy is nearby."
The hoof print in front of him was bigger than Bifang's palm. No one could survive from this one hit, let alone using his horns.
At this point, Bifang no longer dared to move forward at will, and basically half-crouched to track: "I said before that when someone approaches, the white-lipped buffalo can sense human activities within a range of 200 meters with its extremely sensitive sense of smell and hearing."
"It's very likely that it has already spotted us before we spotted it, so it's best to stay alert at all times and not stand upright casually, as that would attract its attention."
[It's over, Fang Shen has regressed]
[Young man, you have great waist strength! ]
[It looks a bit waist-breaking. 】
Bifang bent his knees and moved forward, sweeping away the nearby bushes with his spear. This was the way it was in the primitive rain forest. It was very inconvenient to travel, as apart from the towering trees, there were bushes everywhere.
There are no roads at all, and after walking for a while, you may be scratched all over by the bushes. Fortunately, the red mud can not only repel mosquitoes, but also give Bifang a thin layer of physical armor, so there is no need to worry about scratches.
Bifang held a tree stick and pressed down the bush in front of him. In an instant, the branches under the stick shook and then bounced back.
Press again, and bounce again.
Um?
[God Fang's hands also tremble? 】
[Hahaha, excellent elasticity]
"It's not that my hands are shaking." Bifang narrowed his eyes, squatted deeper, and used his fist to press a deep hole in the ground. The accumulated water quickly gathered in it, forming a small earth-yellow puddle.
After a while, ripples began to appear in the puddle, layer after layer, never stopping.
Bifang's expression became serious: "It's the ground that's shaking."
【An earthquake?! 】
The audience was confused and shocked. When they heard the ground shaking, they immediately thought it was an earthquake and were completely shocked.
[Here, find an open place to hide? ]
[Where is the open space here? ]
[I haven’t heard that Yunnan is in an earthquake zone]
"It's definitely not an earthquake." Bifang thought of the huge size of the white-lipped buffalo, the corners of his mouth twitched, he pressed down all the bushes in front of him and walked through the bushes.
The next moment, the view in front of me suddenly became clear, but it was not due to the terrain, but was caused by acquired factors.
Everyone was stunned by the scene before them.
The same white sharp angles, the giant's tall body, the super-ton muscles, and the powerful and sturdy aura can be clearly felt even from dozens of meters away.
But at this moment, an extremely huge snake head was stuck on its sharp horn, and large pools of red blood were dripping down, accumulating into blood puddles under the hoof prints as it ran past.
The huge python covered in blood and black spots tightly wrapped around the body of the white-limbed bison, shrinking inch by inch, and muscles bulged on its sturdy body.
The white-lipped bison charged into the big tree in front of it again and again like crazy, and the surrounding bushes all fell down as if they had been bombed.
Many trees were not spared. One after another, the saplings that had not yet grown into towering trees all fell down, as if on a battlefield.
The violent and bloody scene impacted the senses of Bifang and even the audience in front of the screen, making them feel hairy all over, as if a wooden plow was plowing through their hearts over and over again.
[Oh my god, a battle between a bull and a snake! ]
