Lei Xiao rolled his eyes pitifully: “I didn’t want to either, but I’ve been holding back since last night.”
“…” So? What exactly are you planning? It’s broad daylight.
Yun Jiao had intended to lecture him about propriety and restraint, but seeing him like this, her heart softened. She coughed lightly and turned her head away, embarrassed. Once a man has tasted intimacy, he always craves more—especially a beastman with boundless energy. Her beast-husband was hers to spoil, and she could accept that.
“Clean this place up. I’ll wait for you in the cave.”
“Right away!” Lei Xiao’s eyes lit up, instantly transforming into a diligent little worker bee.
Yun Jiao regretted it. That moment of weakness kept her trapped in her “hamster nest” for three whole days, her body nibbled over and over again.
Crying no longer worked—if anything, it only provoked Lei Xiao further. The more she cried, the more he bullied her.
What Yun Jiao couldn’t bear most were Lei Xiao’s shameless words. They were even more explicit than the erotic novels she had once read. If she didn’t respond, she suffered. If she forced herself to respond, she still suffered.
What Yun Jiao didn’t know was that during this time, the entrance to her cave was very lively. Many males who wanted to be her partner, after failing to persuade the chief, and after Mu Bai and Wa Li had also been rejected, began wandering near Yun Jiao’s cave. They hoped for a chance encounter—ideally a heroic rescue.
Yun Jiao was unaware, but Lei Xiao knew. Male beastmen’s hearing was far sharper than females’. Whenever he sensed them outside, he would punish Yun Jiao even more fiercely.
The males loitering outside, hearing the commotion inside, thought: “…”
That damned snake beastman—what kind of luck did he stumble into, becoming the Sacred Female’s first beast-husband?
The noises were far too loud; nothing was gentle about them. Unlike them—if they ever had the chance to be the Sacred Female’s beast-husband, they would certainly be tender and gentle.
“Mu Bai, it’s been three days. How much longer are you going to stand here listening? Aren’t you going back to the tribe?” wailed the male beastman, A Li. His beast form was a leopard cat, and he was Mu Bai’s closest brother.
For as long as the sounds inside continued, Mu Bai had stood outside. And A Li had stood with him.
A Li really couldn’t understand: “Is it just because she’s the Sacred Female that you’re so obsessed? You used to shout that you’d never be a female’s second beast-husband. Turns out it was only because those females weren’t the Sacred Female, huh?”
Mu Bai leaned against a tree, arms crossed, eyes closed as if dozing. At first, he didn’t want to respond, but A Li’s words grew more outrageous.
Mu Bai opened his eyes and said calmly: “It’s not like you think. Do you still remember my father?”
A Li nodded. “And then?”
Mu Bai gazed at the night sky, recalling his childhood: “My father loved my mother very much. But my mother didn’t love him. She only took him as her second beast-husband because he was, at the time, just like me now—the Cat Clan’s first warrior.”
“That winter, when the whole tribe migrated here, my mother stepped on thin ice by the river and fell into the water.”
“My father didn’t hesitate—he jumped in immediately and pulled her out.”
“But what about my mother? As soon as she was out, her other beast-husbands surrounded her, fussing over her. She completely forgot my father was still in the water. No one went to save him.”
“By the time she remembered, my father had already drowned.”
Mu Bai let out a bitter laugh: “Isn’t it ridiculous? The Cat Clan’s first warrior—didn’t die in a hunt, didn’t die fighting enemies, but drowned in such a humiliating way.”
“Afterwards, my mother only shed a few fake tears to win the comfort of her beast-husbands.”
“At that time, I wondered—what is love? Was it because she didn’t love him that she treated him like he didn’t matter?”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t know what love was. So I secretly decided that when I found a partner, I would only ever be her first beast-husband. Maybe only the first beast-husband would truly matter to her.”
“But during the coming-of-age ceremony, I saw Yun Jiao—and my thoughts changed.”
Mu Bai’s gaze softened: “Even though there were so many outstanding males below the stage, all wanting to be her first beast-husband, she firmly chose that cold-blooded beastman instead.”
“In that moment, I seemed to understand what love was, and I realized what kind of partner I had always been searching for.”
A Li asked curiously: “What kind of partner?”
Mu Bai looked toward the distant cave, the corner of his lips curving ever so slightly: “The partner I want is a female who won’t abandon me even in hardship. One I can entrust my back to when danger comes. One who, even when everyone says I’m not worthy of her, will still firmly choose me.”
“Grateful, kind, gentle… Yun Jiao is exactly that kind of female. She’s the partner I’ve always dreamed of.”
“Even if I have to be her second, third, or fourth beast-husband, I’ve already chosen her.”
A Li fell silent at his words. After a long pause, he muttered gloomily: “When you put it that way, such a female really is better. But they’re too rare. Most females are spoiled and willful, treating their beast-husbands like slaves—ordering them around and still thinking it’s their right. My partner, for example, scolds me every day, no matter what I do. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bonded with her. Now it’s too late to regret.”
Mu Bai gave a cold laugh, jerking his chin toward the distance: “Now *he’s* the one regretting the most. He’s been hanging around here for two days.”
A Li turned to look—and saw it was Shi Yi. “Pfft… Doesn’t he already have a partner? Too late for regrets now.”
Mu Bai sneered: “Who knows. The beastmen of the Mountain Tribe say Yun Jiao used to like him a lot. But the moment she became a ‘useless female,’ he immediately bonded with another female.”
Perhaps because of his parents, Mu Bai despised beastmen like that the most. And unfortunately, that kind of beastman was the Mountain Tribe’s first warrior—a disgrace to the title.
Just then, the noise inside the cave stopped.
Moments later, Lei Xiao’s panicked voice rang out in the night: “Yun Jiao, what’s wrong?”
Mu Bai’s eyes turned cold, and he sprinted toward Yun Jiao’s cave.
The males lurking nearby also rushed forward, and even Shi Yi followed.
She was the Sacred Female—what if she was hurt? That damned cold-blooded beastman, he’d gone too far.
So when Lei Xiao carried Yun Jiao out in his arms, he was met with a crowd of furious faces.
Looking at Yun Jiao, she was pale, covering her mouth, looking as if she might keel over at any moment.
Shi Yi was the first to lash out: “Lei Xiao, what did you do to her?”
“Get out of the way!” Lei Xiao snapped, in no mood to talk, carrying Yun Jiao as he strode forward.
But Shi Yi blocked him: “You can’t even take proper care of the Holy Female, and you stop her from finding other beast-husbands. You’ve gone too far.”
Yun Jiao tried several times to speak, but each time she opened her mouth, she couldn’t help but vomit, so she could only press her hand tightly over her mouth.
Lei Xiao was frantic, his eyes filled with raw killing intent: “I’ll say it again—get out of the way!”