Whenever she imagined Yi Wan being skinned, his bones scraped, and his tendons pulled, just as Dao Yuan had described, her heart felt like it was being violently squeezed, and her whole body trembled in pain.

Zhi Li hugged her. Though his own eyes betrayed his anxiety, he said firmly, "Yi Wan is used to traveling far and wide. He has the Beast God’s protection; he’ll definitely be able to turn this misfortune around. What’s more, Ji Liang and Wei Ce are with him.

At the very least, they’ll have no problem protecting themselves!"

Still worried, Si Shuo rushed back to her room to write a note to Ji Liang and Wei Ce, telling them what had happened that day.

Less than a minute after the note was sent, Ji Liang teleported over. He chuckled softly, pulling Si Shuo into his embrace and nuzzling against her. "Little Shushu, we’re fine. In fact, we destroyed the cultivation of the people who came to make trouble for us. Trust me, whoever Dao Yuan incited to move against us will only end up hating him for it. It’s a fool’s errand, like an egg trying to break a stone. Who wants to be played for a fool, right?"

Only then did Si Shuo’s heart settle. She said seriously, "That Dao Yuan is just a selfish, power-hungry male. He has absolutely no regard for the safety of the Beastmen of the Southern Continent.

And the Beastmen on good terms with him are probably cut from the same cloth. In order to control Father Yi Wan, they completely disregard the lives of the Beastmen under their own jurisdiction.

Participating in the trial not only strengthens the Beastmen’s forces and allows them to gain extra supplies, but it also helps reduce the number of Wild Beasts after a Beast Tide. An opportunity this good is incredibly rare.

Who wouldn’t be eager to join?"

Ji Liang gently stroked her back and nodded in agreement. "Exactly. That’s why this time, instead of heading straight into the city and hitting a brick wall, we found people to spread the word in the surrounding tribes and Beast Cities.

We’re spreading the news that Golden Lion City is hosting an arena tournament, and we’re making sure every tribe and Beast City hears about it. The message is that several thousand Warriors will be chosen from the tournament to receive a trial in a Secret Realm organized by the Beast God, and that opportunities will be plentiful."

Si Shuo smiled, her lips pressed together. "The males in those tribes and Beast Cities will be waiting with bated breath. Once they start getting anxious, you can send people to spread another rumor—that the messengers were driven away by certain leaders, elders, or High Priests. That way, the Beastmen friendly with Dao Yuan won’t be able to withstand the pressure from everyone else and will have no choice but to lead their teams here to compete.

All you have to do is fan the flames. You don’t even need to show your faces or go through the trouble of persuading anyone. Instead, you’ll have them begging to join the tournament!"

Ji Liang smiled and gently tapped the bridge of her nose. "Little Shushu is so clever. That’s exactly the plan. Dao Yuan’s power base is built on these influential Beastmen, while ours is the entire Beastman population."

"The same water that carries the boat can also capsize it! I get it," Si Shuo said, nodding eagerly.

Ji Liang couldn’t stay away for long. He reluctantly nuzzled her one last time before teleporting back.

Zhi Le explained the plan to Zhi Li and Xia Ming. "Yi Wan and the others won’t be making an appearance, so they’ll be safe. Dao Yuan has already lost his influence. Right now, he’s just a grasshopper in late autumn—he won’t be jumping around for much longer.

We were originally planning to just ignore him—out of sight, out of mind. But since he’s so determined to pop up and cause trouble, it would be impolite of us not to return the favor, don’t you think?"

"Xiao Le, how are we going to do that?" Xia Ming felt a peculiar sensation. ’I died and came back to life, mated with the two males I love most, have a son about Zhi Li’s age, and a whole bunch of grandchildren. Who could possibly beat my record for becoming a happy Grandma?’ she thought. "We can’t even find this Dao Yuan, can we? What exactly is his superpower? Or does he have some kind of Secret Technique?

Can he really make people take on his appearance and then control them as he pleases?"

Zhi Li was curious too. ’After being gone for twenty years,’ he thought, ’I feel completely disconnected from the world.’

"He may have a Secret Technique, but we have a counter-strategy. Father, Mother, you two don’t need to worry about this," Zhi Le said with a smile.

The entire courtyard was where Dao Yuan had lived, so finding his scent should be easy. Shi Si sniffed all around the courtyard, inside and out, and eventually found a tuft of fur that had been scraped from Dao Yuan’s body.

He turned his head to look at his Father. Xiao Cheng smiled and transformed into a Three-tailed Blue Fox. With Si Shuo on his back and the two cubs perched on his head, he activated his Invisibility and vanished on the spot.

Shi Si used Xiao Cheng’s ears like a steering wheel, directing which way his Father should run. Following the scent, they were led to several places within the courtyard: a hollow in a thick, centuries-old tree; the stone bed in the master bedroom; the wardrobe in the west wing; and the stove in the east wing! To think there were tunnels under the courtyard. It was highly likely they were being watched this whole time without even knowing it.

The fur on Si Shuo’s body bristled. She hated being watched; the mere thought of it made her shudder!

With a cold look on his face, Xiao Cheng transformed into a squirrel, taking the small female and the cubs with him as he ducked into a tunnel to continue tracking Dao Yuan’s scent.

The underground tunnels formed a sprawling network, connecting to many important locations within the city and even providing passages to the outside. ’Dao Yuan must have used these tunnels to commit all sorts of misdeeds, hasn’t he?’

However, Shi Si directed Xiao Cheng to a particularly... lively... spot. Just as they crawled out from a hole in a basket, they saw two figures writhing together on a stone bed.

Xiao Cheng immediately turned to shield the large female and two small cubs from the sight. Si Shuo pressed her lips together, hiding a silent laugh, and wrote a note to Wei Ce. A moment later, Shi Si and Ali were summoned away.

Si Shuo wrapped her arms around Xiao Cheng’s neck and whispered, "It’s okay, don’t be so tense. Wei Ce called the cubs away..."

Xiao Cheng swallowed the rest of her words.

Si Shuo pinched his side, which only made Xiao Cheng more aroused; he wished he could fuse her into his very being. After a long, passionate embrace, he finally just held her tightly, waiting for his arousal to subside.

The other two people in the room were also reaching their finale.

"Dao Yuan, when will we be able to stop sneaking around like this?" the female asked, panting with a hint of dissatisfaction. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"My dear, I want that too, but you’re my ace in the hole. If anyone knew about our relationship, I would lose my chance to come back from the dead! It’s a good thing I was cautious; otherwise, the one who was kidnapped and secretly burned to death would have been me..." Dao Yuan laughed smugly. "They’ll never know which one is my real body. Haha, I’m unkillable."

"Is Yi Wan really not coming back this time? Without him, won’t Xinba be ours for the taking? In my opinion, we shouldn’t even bother with the tournament. We can just give the slots to whoever gives us the best gifts! Of course, all of our own people will go on the trial to improve their cultivation. We’ll see who dares to make a peep then!"

Dao Yuan patted her on the head. "That’s right. Yi Wan is definitely not coming back. He’s cut off the income of too many people. There are plenty of Beastmen who want him dead.

As for those guards of his... heh. What good are they against a bit of poison powder?"

As if Yi Wan and his group were already dead and buried, the female praised with a smile, "Dao Yuan, you’re incredible. With just a few simple words, you’ve thrown the whole situation into chaos, and now everything is back under your control without anyone even noticing."

Dao Yuan nodded. "The Beast God agreed to establish the Secret Realm for the Beastmen to undergo their trial. As long as we handle this correctly, we can pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and have the Beast God unknowingly train Beast Soldiers for us..."