As soon as she stepped inside, Gao Yue was met with the sight of a brown-haired elderly man—tall and gaunt, back ramrod straight, with sharp, well-defined features. Even among old men, he was quite good-looking.
"Come in."
Male beastmen had good hearing; he had heard the entire conversation between the two just now and knew why she had come.
After Gao Yue entered the inner room, she saw a white giant python as thick as a man's thigh lying on the bed, with two old men gathered around it—one feeding it beast meat, the other coaxing it to open its mouth and eat, his tone gentle and cajoling. But the giant python kept its nictitating membranes shut and simply would not open its mouth.
Suppressing her fear, she glanced around the room. There were three elderly men inside, but she didn't see any grandmother.
So she had no choice but to speak up, holding out her hand to show the blue beast crystal.
"Hello, I'm looking for Grandma Ya. I need two sets of clothes."
The white giant python on the wooden bed opened its nictitating membranes, its upper body lifting off the bed and gliding slowly toward her, its tongue flicking out with a hiss in her direction.
Gao Yue had been forcing herself to stay calm, but when the python's head prodded right in front of her, its tongue nearly flicking against her arm, she couldn't hold back any longer. Her face went deathly pale with fear, and she sat down hard on the floor.
This was even more terrifying than Bai Suzhen's true form in the movies, but she was tougher than Xu Xian—she didn't faint from fright.
Seeing her fear, the giant python lowered its head and slowly withdrew.
The several handsome old men blanched in alarm, all rushing over to comfort the giant python, which had fallen into despondency.
"—!" Only then did Gao Yue realize that this giant python was Grandma Ya.
The brown-haired old man said to Gao Yue with displeasure, "Well, look at you, little brat. Forget your beast crystal, just go back."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the giant python hissed twice at him, as if scolding him.
"Fine, fine." The brown-haired old man then went inside to fetch the clothes, clearly reluctant.
The white giant python slid down off the bed and followed after him.
The brown-haired old man's voice drifted out in a steady murmur, gentle and full of affection.
"Why are you following me too? I'm not going to pick out bad clothes on purpose... careful, you'll strain your back. I'm not that petty..."
"Hiss, hiss..."
"What, give her that fox-fur coat? Don't you like that one? Are you sure you want to give it away? How about this one instead... fine, fine, I understand, don't shift into human form, your body can't handle it..."
"You're really so fond of that female cub. So what if she's a bit plump, what's so precious about that, and she's so timid too... oh, you're saying that cub broke her arm? That is rather pitiable, I suppose..."
The brown-haired old man brought Gao Yue two sets of clothes and told her to go change in the inner room.
After thanking him, Gao Yue went to the inner room and managed to change with the use of only one arm.
The clothes were quite long—it was clear the original owner had been very tall. What should have been a skirt hem reaching the knees fell all the way to her ankles when she wore it. It was quite warm, the wool very soft, clearly fine material.
After coming out, Gao Yue was no longer so afraid of the white giant python. Knowing it meant her no harm, she said to the python, now back on the bed, "Thank you, Grandma Ya. I really love these two outfits!"
The giant python hissed happily.
Seeing her pleased, the old men's expressions visibly brightened too, and they grew somewhat warmer toward Gao Yue. When she tried to give them the beast crystal, they still refused to accept it.
Gao Yue couldn't quite work out the relationships between these people, unsure why there were three old men. Perhaps one was Grandma Ya's husband, and the other two were relatives or something, come to visit her.
Remembering that Moya was still waiting outside, she hurried out.
Unexpectedly, the brown-haired old man stopped her, telling her not to go out just yet, gesturing for her to look outside first.
Gao Yue saw that, at some point she hadn't noticed, quite a crowd had gathered outside.
Not far from her sat a handsome-featured young woman on a beautiful feather chair. Farther off, a large group of men—bare-chested above, wearing only feather skirts below—stood hand in hand in a great circle, enclosing Moya and the tree beside him within it.
Surrounded, Moya stood with arms crossed and eyes closed, his back resting lightly against the tree trunk, seemingly ignoring the scene around him entirely.
The dozen or so men in feather skirts began dancing around him.
They swayed their hips, kicked their legs, spun and switched hands, puffed out their chests, bowed, and surged toward Moya hand in hand like a tide—then, when they were only two meters away, swept back out again with a whoosh, pulling into a wide circle once more.
Every few beats, they shouted out in loud, unified rhythm:
"Please, Lord Moya, accept female Qingqing's courtship!"
The handsome-featured young woman seated in the feather chair—none other than female Qingqing—watched their dance with satisfaction, thinking to herself that sending the Protectors to study with the Painted Snipe Tribe had clearly been the right call; they danced even better than that tribe of birdmen.
She turned to Moya with a sincere smile.
"Young Master Moya, be my First Beast Husband!"
The men in feather skirts chanted rhythmically to keep their own beat, puffing out their chests, bowing, and joining hands to circle clockwise around Moya, then breaking into a frenzy of hip-swaying, their colorful feather skirts rustling in time.
"Please, Lord Moya, accept female Qingqing's courtship!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
They shook their hips as they tightened the circle, their voices booming in unison, feather skirts fluttering, every long pair of legs lean and straight.
"Please, Lord Moya, accept female Qingqing's courtship!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
They drew the circle in tighter still, their voices growing even louder and more forceful, until they were only two meters from Moya.
"Please, Lord Moya, accept female Qingqing's courtship!!"
Moya, who had kept his eyes closed the whole time, finally let a sharp vein bulge at his temple from sheer forbearance. He opened his eyes at last, and a cold, merciless Tier 5 pressure spread out from him.
"Get lost!"
The pressure crashed down like a killing intent from above, and in an instant, the dozen-odd men in feather skirts scattered like a troop of monkeys pelted by hail, scrambling and tumbling away in a panic.
Even as they fled, they didn't forget to haul female Qingqing away, chair and all.
Inside the wooden cabin, Gao Yue watched, first stunned, then unable to hold back a laugh.
Seriously, was every tribe of monsters this absurd? It made her stop being afraid of them altogether.
"Pfft, hahahahaha!"
She thought she'd accidentally laughed out loud herself and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, only to realize a moment later that the laughter belonged to a man.
She saw a strikingly handsome man with emerald-green hair step out from a few paces away, laughing as he walked toward Moya. He walked with some difficulty, laughing so hard he seemed on the verge of bursting like a pressure cooker, wheezing between fits of laughter.
"Please, Lord Moya, accept female Qingqing's courtship!" He mimicked the tone of the feather-skirted men from before, unable to stop laughing.
Moya shot him a flat glance, killing intent lashing out along with it. Every hair on Hefeng Lü's body stood on end, and the smile froze instantly on his face.
He straightened his expression, switching to a serious tone.
"Why did you come out of the Holy Lake?"
"Business to attend to."
Moya said curtly, his tone indifferent.
Hefeng Lü said, "What kind of business could get you to come out here, when you'd rather come out and endure all these females' countless tricks than stay in?"
Moya said nothing.
Hefeng Lü's brows gradually knitted, and he arched one slightly, his voice shifting. "Are you planning to kill Shoupan?"
Moya said flatly, "What are you talking nonsense about?"
"No?" Hefeng Lü looked puzzled, leaning back against the tree and rubbing his chin. "Then I can't think of a second reason."
Moya had originally been female Lin Xi's Protector. Female Lin Xi was a rare female of Superior-Grade top-tier talent within the Youpython Tribe, and Moya was the strongest Tier 5 beastman in the Youpython Tribe—the two of them were considered a match made in heaven.
Everyone had previously assumed, as a matter of course, that Moya would eventually become Lin Xi's First Beast Husband.
However, at the Autumn Moon Festival a few days ago, female Lin Xi had publicly announced that she would form a bond with the Tier 4 male Shoupan at the Beast God Festival, and that Shoupan would be her First Beast Husband.
Moya, in turn, had also publicly announced he was withdrawing from his role as Lin Xi's Protector.
Since then, sentiment within the tribe had been unsettled.
The females were overjoyed, flocking to Moya one after another to try to win him over. Farce like today's had already played out many times before.
In the end, worn out by the endless bother, Moya had gone to the Holy Lake to escape it all and find some peace.
No one had expected him to come back out after only a few days.
Hefeng Lü thought that, knowing Moya's temperament, he would absolutely have stayed at the Holy Lake until every last female gave up on him before coming out.
Unless he meant to kill Shoupan.
The vow made at the Autumn Moon Festival could not be broken, so Lin Xi surely wouldn't dare go back on it. But if Moya killed Shoupan, that would be a different matter entirely.
If Shoupan were killed, Lin Xi wouldn't be considered to have broken her vow—it was the only way out of this.
"Are you really sure you didn't come out to kill Shoupan?" Hefeng Lü asked again.
✦✦✦