Upon seeing Moya and Gao Yue arrive, Hefeng Lü began complaining endlessly to him about how timid and difficult to handle this horse was.
Gao Yue walked over to the zebra.
This zebra also had splints on it.
At this moment, the splinted earthling and the splinted earth zebra silently stared at each other.
Indeed, the zebra's eyeballs seemed to roll a little, glancing at Gao Yue.
Moya finally finished listening to Hefeng Lü's complaints.
He looked at the stiff, frozen zebra and raised an eyebrow, baffled. It had only been swallowed once—how could it still not have recovered?
Thinking of Gao Yue's grasshopper-sized courage, he almost wanted to laugh.
"Are all the animals from your hometown this timid?" he said.
"Who says so!"
Gao Yue immediately retorted, wanting to defend her hometown's honor.
How were they timid at all? Their bears, tigers, and rhinos were all mighty and fierce!
But when she thought of a giant python of their size, the words got stuck in her throat before they came out. Heh, no matter what kind of animal ran into a python that huge, wouldn't it be scared half to death?
She said crossly, "Yes, they're all timid, even a single blade of grass is unbearably timid."
After that, Gao Yue tried to find ways to soothe the zebra, and no matter how Moya tried to talk to her, she wouldn't speak to him.
She was a little angry at Moya, but even more, she felt a pang of sorrow.
Although this zebra wasn't exactly a good creature—it had stepped on her twice—it was at least a fellow earthling. In a place so unfamiliar, having a familiar earth animal around was a great comfort.
She sat down on the ground and checked its hoof.
Sure enough, it had become inflamed from lack of movement.
If this kept up, the zebra would definitely suffer localized tissue death from impaired blood circulation, and then it would be done for.
Gao Yue was plump and wrapped in thick animal skin, so from behind she looked like one big, fuzzy, stubborn lump.
Moya poked her.
Gao Yue acted as if she felt nothing, not even turning her head.
Was she really angry?
Moya, finding himself unwelcome, glanced at Hefeng Lü.
Hefeng Lü shrugged helplessly, unable to do anything about it.
This was actually the first time he'd ever seen Moya get the cold shoulder from a female. Even Lin Xi, when she first started following him around everywhere, had done so of her own accord—when had he ever seen him coax anyone?
Still, this little female really did look quite adorable.
So plump and soft-looking, the flesh on her arms looked so squeezable it made one want to pinch it just to see how it felt.
Moya took out a grass-green Tier 4 Beast Crystal.
Hefeng Lü, catching sight of it from the corner of his eye, turned his head in disbelief, his eyes immediately going wide.
Grass-green beast crystals were the mildest kind, and also extremely rare—even a First-Tier grass-green crystal was hard to come by, let alone a Tier 4 one. Within it was contained a wealth of abundant life energy.
Him taking out that crystal—could it be that he meant to...?
Sure enough, Moya walked over and placed his hand on the zebra's head.
His hand was snow-white and glossy, almost glowing, like a meticulously carved work of art, and it made Gao Yue, who had still been angry, forgive him instantly.
She thought he meant to stroke the zebra's head to soothe it, just as she had.
Who would have thought that the very next moment, his thumb pressed down against the zebra's skull, and with terrifying force, punched a hole straight through it.
Gao Yue's face froze, and she was so startled that all her fur stood on end.
Holy crap, was that finger made of a drill bit?! Was this because she wasn't talking to him, so he was torturing the zebra to make an example of it?
But then she saw that before the zebra's brains could spill out, Moya swiftly stuffed a grass-green beast crystal into the hole.
The zebra convulsed violently, its eyes turning blood-red, looking like it was about to go mad.
Moya pinned it down with one hand—the veins on the back of his hand didn't even bulge, as if he wasn't exerting any force at all—yet the zebra seemed pressed beneath an immovable mountain, unable to budge even slightly.
He continuously used his own Beast Energy to help the zebra fuse with the crystal.
Fully two hours passed before the zebra finally quieted down completely, having fused with the crystal.
The zebra had undergone a massive transformation by now—its fur looked far glossier, the inflammation in its hoof had vanished entirely, and its bones and flesh had both been strengthened.
Its mind had also grown sharper.
It no longer trembled in fear; instead, it lowered its head toward Moya and nuzzled against him, expressing its gratitude.
Hefeng Lü watched with undisguised envy.
Such an incredibly precious grass-green Tier 4 Beast Crystal, and it had gone to an ordinary horse of all things—if only it had been given to him instead, how wonderful that would've been. He wanted one too.
Only then did Gao Yue ask Moya, "You stuffed the crystal into its brain—does that mean it's turned into a Fierce Beast now?"
Moya: "Yes, but its innate condition was too poor. Even with me helping to refine its energy, it barely made it to Tier 2."
The zebra broke free of all the splints on its body, quickly finished eating the Huihui Grass, then ran over to provoke the two tethered local horses—only for both horses to so much as move, and the zebra flinched back in fright.
Moya let out a soft chuckle.
Still timid as ever.
Gao Yue envied the zebra's vibrant, healthy look, but she didn't dare let anyone put a hole in her own skull.
She went over hoping to play with the zebra for a bit, but the zebra seemed to look down on her, fawning over Moya instead.
Gao Yue got angry. "Hey, you—Moya only saved you because of me, you know! And here you are making that smug horse face at me!"
The zebra let out a mocking whinny.
Gao Yue was so furious she wanted to hit it. The moment she approached, the zebra bolted, so Gao Yue grabbed a branch and gave chase, full of fighting spirit—but there was no way a person could outrun a zebra. By the time she was panting and could chase no further, the zebra stopped again, turning its head back to look at her.
That smug, cheeky look on its face infuriated Gao Yue to no end.
"So you're feeling alive now, huh?"
Moya watched from the side, keeping an eye out in case Gao Yue tripped.
Gao Yue, unable to catch the zebra no matter what, was so furious she stamped her foot and said to Moya, "Hurry up and dig that crystal back out of it!"
The zebra glanced at Moya, then, quite sensibly, trotted right back over to Gao Yue.
Gao Yue seized the chance to punch it a few times, finally venting her anger.
Hefeng Lü watched from the side, thoroughly amused—such a weak little female, such an adorable little female. What good would a couple of punches like that even do? Hadn't he noticed the zebra hadn't even blinked?
At this point, two burly, handsome middle-aged men walked over—one named Dahe, the other named Qishi.
Hefeng Lü greeted them, "Grand-Father, Father."
The two men nodded at Hefeng Lü.
Then, smiling warmly, they looked toward Moya and Gao Yue.
Dahe said to Moya, "We just heard from Zhi that Young Master Mo Ya had brought a little female along, so I came to invite you both to eat with us. Young Master Mo Ya, why not join us for a meal? Our family's food—the female should like it quite a lot."
Moya looked toward Gao Yue.
Seeing she wasn't opposed to being a guest, he nodded. "Alright. But Gao Yue is afraid of pythons, so have your Giant-types withdraw somewhere else, and don't shift into your Beast Forms for a while either."
The two men were stunned for a moment.
Dahe: "Sure, no problem at all."
Qishi: "Then I'll head back first and have them run off somewhere far."
Gao Yue felt a bit embarrassed listening to this.
As a guest, making the hosts avoid their own home like this felt awfully shameless—but then she thought of how terrifying giant pythons looked, and decided to stay shameless anyway.
She gave them an apologetic smile. "We don't have such mighty giant pythons where I'm from, so I'm not quite used to it yet. Sorry for the trouble."
Mighty?
This little female cub said their Youpython Tribe's Beast Forms were mighty?
This bit of flattery left the four male Youpython Clan Beastmen nearby thoroughly pleased with themselves.
Dahe and Qishi hadn't been upset to begin with, and they were already fond of the little female cub—neither of them had had a female cub of their own, and seeing one so plump made them practically drool with envy.
Now they were beaming, flattered beyond words, their voices even cracking a little, despite being two rugged middle-aged men.
"No trouble at all, no trouble at all! Our Beast Forms are a bit frightening, sure—even the smaller-bodied beastmen of the Rabbit Tribe get scared just looking at us."
"I'll head back right now—I promise by the time you get there, you won't see a single python."
Qishi went back first to clear out the Giant-types at home, hurrying off.
Moya and the others then slowly made their way over.
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