"Chief, hyenas." He moved close to Shan Cang, his peripheral vision fixed on the pack of hyenas lurking in the bushes in the distance.
Shan Cang's pace didn't change. He gave a faint "Mm" in response.
Seeing no reaction from him, He fell back to his original position, ears pricked high in vigilance.
The hyenas murmured among themselves in hushed tones, none daring to approach rashly.
"Shan Cang! He seems to have come from the direction of the Golden Mane tribe."
"Shan Cang wouldn't suddenly attack us, right? I can't beat him."
"Quick, go report to the chief!"
"Shan Cang is so mighty and handsome. If only I could bear his pups." A smaller demi-beastman hyena gazed at Shan Cang's retreating back with infatuation.
"That wolf beside Shan Cang looks pretty sturdy too. Too bad the chief doesn't allow us to mate with Wolf Moon tribe beastmen."
"Ugh, I'm sick of looking at the beastmen in our own tribe. They're so dumb—can't even give flowers properly. One of them gave me a handful of stinking weeds. It makes me so mad!"
Hearing the demi-beastmen's ridicule, the hyena beastmen gnashed their teeth in hatred—not at their own tribe's demi-beastmen, of course, but at the Wolf Moon tribe beastmen.
So what if they're a bit bigger, a bit stronger, a bit better-looking? What's so great about that!
Thankfully, the chief had the foresight to forbid the tribe's demi-beastmen from mating with beastmen of other tribes. Otherwise, there'd be nothing left for them.
Among the hyenas gathered in a crowd, one that coughed intermittently tucked its tail and hurried back toward the tribe.
He was the hyena who had once been sent flying by Shan Cang's kick. Ever since that kick, he had been recovering in the tribe. The witch doctor said that once the bruises faded, he would return to health—but he never fully recovered, and had even developed a chronic cough.
Whenever he breathed hard or coughed, a tearing pain shot through his chest, making him far less fierce in hunting than before. He went hungry every few days.
Still, he was managing well enough—at least he could eat. Jie had it far worse. Because Shan Cang had crushed one of his arms, the witch doctor had examined it and shaken his head, saying it was beyond saving. This was the Beast God's curse. Only by cutting off the ruined arm could the affliction be kept from spreading through his body, and at least his life could be spared.
Jie, only fifteen years old and barely an adult, lost an arm that day. He lay listless in his cave den like a dead dog. Only when he saw the chief would he crawl up with bloodshot eyes and thump his head against the ground, begging her to avenge him.
"Qi? Didn't you just go out hunting? Why are you back so soon?" A tribesman bumped into the young man, who was panicked, panting and coughing, and asked in confusion.
"Cough, cough, cough… Tell… tell the chief—Shan Cang has left the Golden Mane tribe… cough, cough… and he's near our territory right now." Qi prostrated himself on the ground, speaking in broken bursts, looking like he might cough out his lungs.
"Shan Cang! Shan Cang! I'll kill him!" The youth who had been slumped lifelessly in the corner, as always, snapped back to life like a corpse rising from the dead. Veins bulged on his neck, his eyes were blood-red and dripping with rage, and his fangs pierced through his lower lip.
"Jie, Jie, don't be hasty. We'll report to the chief right away. The chief will definitely help you get revenge." The tribesmen scrambled to hold back the youth who was charging outward.
The youth was gaunt as a skeleton, his eyes bulging like a goldfish's, shot through with red veins. He looked like a demon crawling out of hell, radiating murderous intent and madness.
Reclining on soft animal hides, the hyena slowly groomed and licked her fur, her eyes dark and unreadable, as if brewing some grand scheme.
"The Golden Mane tribe, the Wolf Moon tribe—what business could they have with each other?"
Her neighbors each held their own territories, clashing from time to time. Sometimes one won, sometimes another—there was never a fixed true victor, maintaining a delicate balance.
If one day two of them joined forces against another tribe…
The chief narrowed her eyes dangerously. The hyena tribe would never be the one that got preyed upon.
"Go find out what happened in the Golden Mane tribe."
"Yes." The hyena who had delivered the news received the order and swiftly departed.
.
Shan Cang and the other stopped by a mountain stream to drink water and rest, catching some prey along the way.
The moment they returned to Wolf Moon tribe territory, tribesmen spotted them and rushed frantically into the great cave to announce the chief's return.
"The chief and He brought back lots of prey!" The tribesman on patrol beamed with joy.
Everyone was overjoyed, cheering and leaping—but Zhu and Bo's eyes dimmed.
The chief and the others had returned so quickly. They definitely hadn't managed to borrow the Fireseed.
Sure enough, aside from prey, Shan Cang and the other carried not a single spark of flame.
This time, even the abundant food couldn't bring smiles to the tribesmen's faces.
The witch doctor pushed through the crowd and stepped forward to ask what had happened. "Did the Golden Mane tribe refuse to lend us their Fireseed?"
Shan Cang shook his head. The tribesmen exchanged bewildered glances, their confusion clearly reflected in each other's eyes.
The witch doctor was equally stunned. "If they were willing, then where's the Fireseed?"
He spoke up to answer on Shan Cang's behalf: "The Golden Mane tribe's Fireseed went out long ago."
"Ah!?"
"What!?"
"How is that possible!"
Voices clamored all at once, a boiling cacophony of disbelief.
"The Golden Mane tribe is a major tribe of a hundred people. Their Fireseed couldn't possibly have gone out. He, you two weren't tricked, were you?"
"Yes, yes. How could such a big matter as the Fireseed going out not leak even a hint of news? And besides, if the Golden Mane Tribe's Fireseed had gone out long ago, why wouldn't they have borrowed from another tribe?"
He understood that his tribesmen weren't saying these things to question him, but rather to deceive themselves, because once they believed that the Golden Mane Tribe had no fire, it meant that the Wolf Moon Tribe was about to face an extremely grueling rainy season.
They might lose the few tribesmen they had.
Shan Cang cut off their speculation in a deep voice: "I saw it with my own eyes. It's true."
Those who had been about to argue further opened and closed their mouths, their throats as if gripped by a large hand, only able to emit hoarse gasps like the dying.
"It's over…"
Sobbing and whimpering sounded throughout the great cave. A little cub was pulled tightly into her mother's arms, blinking with innocent, uncomprehending eyes, looking up in confusion as she wiped away her mother's tears.
The cub's small, warm hand gently brushed across the demi-beastman's cheek. "Don't cry. Mama, don't cry."
The demi-beastman's red-rimmed eyes burst into a flood of tears, holding the cub in her arms even tighter, as if to press her into bone and blood, so that she could shield her from wind, frost, rain, and snow with her own body.
Under extreme weather, the ones most prone to illness were the cubs and elderly beastmen, followed by demi-beastmen and physically weaker beastmen.
"Witch Doctor, I beg you, think of another way. I don't want to lose Tian He." The demi-beastman, sobbing while holding her child, crawled on her knees before the Witch Doctor and knocked her head heavily against the ground.
Qing hurried forward to pull the demi-beastman up. "Li, don't do this. Tian He won't necessarily be in danger."
He tried to help Li to her feet, but she shoved him away forcefully, a mother beast entirely on the brink of collapse.
"What do you know? Tian He is only three years old, and she's a demi-beastman. She can't withstand even the slightest danger!"
The great cave housed several cubs who had lost their fathers and mothers, all of them beastmen without exception. Demi-beastman cubs had fragile constitutions, and without the protection of parents, they simply couldn't survive. That was why demi-beastmen were so precious in the Beast World.
Tian He was Qing and Li's cub, and the only demi-beastman cub in the tribe.
Qing was left speechless, his empty mind flooding with lingering fear, terror swallowing him like a tsunami.
Right. Tian He was the youngest demi-beastman in the tribe. If she fell ill, it would already be extremely dangerous even with the Fireseed present. Now without the Fireseed, wasn't she already halfway into the Beast God's embrace?
The burly, broad-shouldered man spun around and suddenly dropped to his knees before the Witch Doctor. "Witch Doctor, I beg you, think of another way."
The Wolf Moon Tribe had an almost innate respect for elders and love for the young. Many people wiped their tears while kowtowing to the Witch Doctor, begging him to pray to the Beast God and use his great powers to save the tribe.
The Witch Doctor could never have dreamed that he would one day find himself in such an impossible predicament.
The Witch Doctor, who had always treated his own tribesmen as tools to elevate himself, clearly didn't understand the principle that water can carry a boat but also capsize it.
His face was pale, his two hands twisted tightly together, his teeth clenched against his molars, his heart crashing wildly in his chest as if it might leap out of his throat at any moment.
Could he tell them plainly that he was at his wit's end?
Of course not. Wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting his own incompetence?
Such an act of throwing his dignity to the ground and trampling on it—the Witch Doctor would never do that.
His gaze unconsciously drifted to his loyal follower—Cai—trying to use his eyes to signal Cai to bail him out. However, he forgot that Cai was also a parent with a cub. Although Cai's cub was a beastman, two years older than Tian He, that didn't mean safety.
Cai's gaze was even more fervent than the others', filled with hope.
He believed that the all-powerful Witch Doctor surely had a way to resolve the tribe's predicament.
The Witch Doctor's lips trembled, his nails digging deep into his flesh.
Damn Cai!
He had no choice but to turn his gaze to his fervent admirer—He.
He received his look, his pupils slightly dilating, then nodded to him after a moment.
The Witch Doctor, nearly suffocating, quietly let out a breath. At least he was somewhat useful.
He stared straight at him, his tone firm and resolute: "Fei, speak boldly. I believe in you."
Everyone turned their heads in unison to look at He, unable to hide the teasing in their eyes, glancing back and forth between him and the Witch Doctor.
At a moment of life and death, the fun-loving folks still didn't forget to enjoy the drama.
"Yes, Witch Doctor, speak boldly and without fear. We believe in you."
"We believe in the Witch Doctor!"
So there was such a thing as helping that only made things worse. The Witch Doctor's knuckles cracked audibly, his face flushing red then turning pale, cold sweat trickling down his back.
He suddenly clutched his chest, his body swaying as if about to collapse, falling deliberately toward Shan Cang's arms.