“Are you male or Female?”
Sen Zhu looked at her dark face, somewhat puzzled.
“Already seeking death, yet still asking so many questions.” The clear, cold voice was like heavenly music, melodious and pleasant to the ear.
Shen Qi curled her lips into a cold smile. Both were third rank—perfect for some practice.
Hearing the exquisite voice, Sen Zhu froze for a moment. Seeing her launch another attack, he stopped overthinking and charged forward as well.
Every time his tail was about to sweep toward Shen Qi, she nimbly dodged it, her movements agile.
Sen Zhu frowned, not expecting this Female to be so troublesome.
The thing in her hand was also dangerous. Although he had tried his best to avoid touching it, he was still accidentally cut once.
Sen Yan saw that his younger brother was at a disadvantage, and he wasn’t faring much better himself, with far more injuries than the Tiger Beast before him.
This Tiger Beast kept glancing toward that Female from time to time, a faint trace of worry visible in his eyes.
Could that Female be his mate?
Sen Yan was slammed against a tree trunk by Bai Yuwei’s fierce strike. A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his mouth, and with a flick of his tail, he lunged toward that Female.
Before Bai Yuwei could open his mouth to warn her, Shen Qi sensed the sharp wind attacking from behind and abruptly rolled to the side.
The snake tail left a shallow mark on the ground where it struck.
Sen Yan wrapped his tail around Sen Zhu and retreated several meters away.
He flicked his crimson forked tongue, as if conveying some secret signal.
The Evil Beasts still fighting immediately stopped upon hearing it.
“They’re trying to escape,” Shen Qi said coldly, throwing her dagger. It struck the neck of a lone snake Beast, killing it instantly.
Indeed, the gap between first rank and third rank was vast.
Just as Shen Qi and Bai Yuwei were about to give chase, they saw Sen Yan open his mouth and spew black liquid toward them.
Bai Yuwei pulled her into a spin. Seeing the spot where they had just stood rapidly corrode and rot from the black liquid, they paused.
Taking advantage of their hesitation, Sen Yan and Sen Zhu slithered away, with the remaining Evil Beasts following closely behind. However, the Evil Beasts weren’t as fast and were intercepted and killed by Bai Yuwei and Shen Qi.
“What should we do with these two?” Shen Qi withdrew her gaze from the direction the Evil Beasts had fled and looked at the two Beastfolk who had been restrained and were now unconscious.
Hard to tell if they were faking it or just scared…
“Take them back for the Shaman to deal with!” Bai Yuwei ordered, leading the other Beastfolk back.
“Brother, how are you?” Sen Yan, seeing they weren’t being pursued, began checking his wounds.
“Brother, I’m fine. But you—you have far more injuries than I do.”
“I’m fine too. We must report this to the King, and also about that Female…”
Sen Zhu nodded and returned to the Dark Gloom Forest with Sen Yan. As soon as they saw the King lazily reclining on his throne, a teasing voice came from the right.
“Well, well, what happened? You’re so badly injured.”
Sen Zhu shot him a glance. “Don’t joke around. We almost died.”
Hearing this, the Beastfolk frowned and dropped his playful tone. “Weren’t you going to the Tiger Tribe to exchange for Females?”
Sen Yan replied coldly, “Yes, but unexpectedly, those two Tiger Beasts were discovered. We were ambushed as soon as we arrived.”
“Wasn’t it a setup by them?”
“It didn’t seem like it. They were captured by the Tiger Beasts too. That Tiger Beast is fourth rank like me, but close to fifth rank.””Moreover…” Sen Yan paused, “there was also a Female whose strength rivals that of a third-tier warrior. My brother fought her to a standstill—no! Actually, that Female was even more formidable!”
He suddenly recalled that the Female bore no injuries, while his brother already had several small wounds.
Sen Zhu clenched his fists, somewhat annoyed at having been bested by a Female.
“A Female?” The Beastfolk’s interest was piqued. “What did she look like?”
“Well… I don’t know how to describe her.”
Sen Zhu found it difficult, as he truly didn’t know how to describe her appearance.
Sen Yan remembered the Female’s appearance and spoke for him: “Her build is smaller than the average Female, and her face was extremely dark, making it hard to see what she looked like. If it were nighttime… I think she could blend right into the darkness.”
“So she’s hideous to the extreme?” The Beastfolk’s smile froze, but he grew even more curious about just how dark she was.
Both Sen Yan and Sen Zhu nodded.
Having grasped the situation, the Beastfolk cast a teasing glance toward the one seated at the head. “Ze, what do you think?”
The Beastfolk in the main seat leaned back casually, toying with his hands, his eyes never lifting as a low, sinister voice fell. “The Tiger Tribe? A third-tier Female? What’s owed will be repaid sooner or later…”
Meanwhile, the Tiger Tribe’s Beastfolk gathered in a dense crowd, hurling various useless objects at the two traitors in the center while cursing them with hatred.
“You two traitors! Why don’t you just die!”
“No wonder Females went missing for no reason before! It’s because of scum like you, causing Females’ mates to become crippled beasts!”
“If it weren’t for Bai Yuwei uncovering your schemes, we might still be treating you as good people, living alongside wolves every day. How terrifying!”
“Did you ever consider the consequences of trading with Evil Beasts? Why did you do it? Just to get beast cores to boost your strength? Couldn’t you have searched for them yourselves? Instead, you harmed so many Beastfolk!”
“I really misjudged you. I even shared food with you two before, and I shared my newly learned roasted meat with you. Yet you betrayed our Tiger Tribe—utterly shameless!”
Xin Lei had woken up after the effects of the medicine wore off. After learning the whole story, anger filled her entire face. Trembling, she was helped up by her mate and brought before the two traitors.
She picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it directly onto their heads, creating small gashes from which blood flowed.
Xin Lei felt somewhat disgusted by the sight and turned to her mate beside her. “Deal with them for me! I don’t want to see them again!”
Bai Yuwei used his hand to block Shen Qi’s line of sight, comforting her, “Qiqi, don’t look.”
Shen Qi, having witnessed the earlier scene, remained remarkably calm.
Xin Lei was the victim and naturally had the right to decide their fate. Keeping such dangers around was something she had no intention of doing, nor did she want to simply expel them from the tribe.
After the matter was resolved, Xin Lei looked at Bai Yuwei, knowing he had saved her. She ran up to him, her tone much gentler than before. “Bai Yuwei, thank you for saving me.”
“No need to thank me. It was Qiqi who told me, otherwise I wouldn’t have known,” Bai Yuwei explained.
Xin Lei glanced at Shen Qi beside her, her expression somewhat awkward, but she still offered thanks. “Thank you. Before, I didn’t think much of you, so my tone wasn’t very good. This time, you saved me, I…”Xin Lei racked her brains but couldn’t think of anything that would make Shen Qi forgive her.
Her gaze settled on Bai Yuwei, who furrowed his brows. She continued, “I won’t bother him anymore from now on. You two should form a mating bond soon! I’m looking forward to your cubs! Our cubs can play together then.”
Females are always very caring toward cubs, so saying this should make her happy, right?
Shen Qi twitched the corner of her mouth and interrupted her, “Alright, stop talking. I forgive you.”
She hadn’t taken it to heart in the first place, viewing her as a young girl who became overly reactive upon seeing the person she liked being kind to someone else.