Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Countdown to the Return Journey (3)

As soon as Moharm entered the door, Rylan, who was rumored to have a persistent high fever, lunged out, hugged his arm, and said coquettishly:

"Papa, how did everything go?"

Moharm nodded, leisurely sat down by the stone table, and glanced at Rylan:

"Tomorrow, when that group goes far away, everyone in the tribe will recover from their ’illness’, and you can go outside too."

Rylan smirked, sitting sideways on the bed, and said: "Papa is still the most formidable, acting so decisively. But Papa, as long as Mie hasn’t been found, my heart is still not at ease."

Moharm slammed the wooden bowl down on the table and scolded: "Isn’t it because you brought this upon yourself? I taught you so much, yet in the end, you always like to beat around the bush when doing things, leaving us with no choice but to speed up the process. I still wanted to squeeze a bit more profit out of that brat Kaelen, but good for you, directly causing his death.

On top of that, you left loopholes for others to exploit! For these next few days, it’s best you lock your door and reflect on yourself. That brat Mie fled into the dark forest on the other side of the tribe; presumably, not even a piece of bone is left of him by now."

Rylan pouted: "I just wanted to play around a bit, who knew it would be so troublesome? If I had known, I would have just done it like Papa, killing them all with a dose of poison and be done with it."

"It’s not too late to know now." Moharm stood up, rubbed his son’s head, and said: "Your Daddy sent word back; they are encountering a massive blizzard over there and cannot come here immediately. Wait until the blizzard clears, and you will be able to meet him."

"Really? Then I have to prepare well!" Rylan laughed happily, then crawled into his sleeping area to examine all his jewelry, seeing which piece could make him look the most beautiful.

Moharm looked at his son affectionately, calmly taking a few sips of tea. Having endured for twenty years, he was finally about to reap the sweet fruits of his labor. The White Tiger clan had ruled the Obsidian tribe for generations, but in the end, they still fell from power before the Lion clan and the Gray Wolf clan. As long as the warrior training method was in their hands, this Southern Continent would be ruled by Cipher!

Jaxon would never have expected, even to his death, that there were so many spies in his tribe. He stood waiting until past noon, but the number of people who arrived was only half of yesterday’s. Knowing that they had changed their minds, Jaxon was incredibly disappointed.

"No more waiting, let’s go."

He transformed into his beast form, carrying his mate and Sub-Beast grandchild on his back, and let out a roar to order everyone to set off. Draven used animal skins to wrap Nyx’s body, sitting together on Wofu’s back. From time to time, he fed Nyx water and touched Nyx’s forehead, his heart tangled with a hundred different anxieties.

The reason the Obsidian tribe had such a name was because, in the past, the White Tiger clan had led the other clans across the rift between the two halves of the continent, choosing an area surrounded entirely by black rocks as their dwelling place, and their prosperity lasted for thousands of years.

A tribe that had been through the chaos of war, faced with betrayal, and forced to drag one another along in a desperate flight for their lives, ultimately had only over three hundred people left. Now, only two-thirds remained, and one-third had left. Without the land surrounded by black rocks, without the White Tiger clan leading them, could Obsidian still retain the name Obsidian?

---

In the middle of the dense, large forest, a small figure was running away with all his might. Behind him was a giant Snake. Mie ran around wildly like a headless fly, accidentally missed a step, tumbled down the slope, and slammed his back hard against an ancient tree.

Fresh blood spurted from his mouth, and his vision blurred, but the corners of his lips curled into a smile. This smile was somewhat bitter, mingled with relief. Come here, bite me to death, tear me apart; living this life of mine no longer holds any meaning anyway.

When the snake’s fangs were only a few millimeters away from Mie’s neck, another figure darted out and bit viciously into the snake’s neck. The snake hissed in pain, its body writhing and thrashing endlessly in an attempt to throw off the thing hanging onto its body. The leopard was shaken until he was dizzy but adamantly refused to let go, acting as if he wanted to fight this snake to the death.

Theron was a beastman after all; even if he wasn’t a warrior beastman, he wasn’t too weak either. It was just that he was currently poisoned, so his strength had been greatly reduced. However, to protect Mie, he didn’t hesitate to drag his half-crippled body to fight against the enemy. Mie’s eye sockets stung, and tears fell continuously.

The wounds on Theron’s body that Mie had carefully bandaged were now oozing blood again, and new wounds also appeared. His gaze was somewhat unfocused, but his mouth remained clamped shut. The snake, bitten at its seven-inch mark, struggled for a long time before finally stopping breathing. Mie still didn’t dare to relax; he lifted a rock and forcefully smashed the snake’s head to pieces. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and exhaustedly crawled to Theron’s side, sobbing as he called out to him:

"Theron, don’t sleep. Open your eyes and look at me!"

Theron struggled to open his eyes, but ultimately couldn’t resist the exhaustion and completely sank into unconsciousness. Mie was completely in despair. He flopped down next to Theron, his hand grasping the spotted leopard’s front paw, looking at him unblinking. Today, the two of them would probably lose their lives here, so let him clearly look at this person who made him feel both affection and guilt.

Mmh, even though it was covered in blood, these patterns on the fur were quite similar to the patterns of his Iberian Lynx clan, weren’t they? If he and Theron had children together, could they possibly give birth to a Spotted Leopard with Lynx-like patterns, or a Lynx with Spotted Leopard patterns?

Mie smiled bitterly, his vision gradually blurring. If he could do it all over again, he definitely wouldn’t be friends with Rylan anymore; if possible, he wouldn’t follow Rylan’s lead to isolate Walter and Kaelen anymore; if possible, he definitely wouldn’t give that cup of water to Theron. And if he could do it all over again, he definitely would take the initiative to pursue Theron, bearing him a litter of truly adorable leopard cubs and kittens...

---

"Kaelen, are you alright? Your complexion looks terrible."

Sane held the animal-skin water pouch and fed Kaelen some water, then carefully used an animal-skin cloak to wrap him up tightly. Kaelen shook his head, reaching his arms out, wanting Sane to hold him in his embrace.

They had left the Crimson tribe three days ago, but Kaelen was tormented by morning sickness until he barely looked like himself. Everyone could only travel and rest alternately; in three days, they had only covered a short distance.

Sane turned around to look at the group of tribesmen and said: "How about everyone heads back first? Kaelen and I will follow slowly behind."

Anthony stretched lazily and said: "If we go, we go together. Even though you are a level-three warrior, we can’t rest easy leaving you two behind. Here’s what I’m thinking. Quinlan flies fast, and his small body makes it easy to hide. Let him go back first to inform my Daddy and everyone else so they can have peace of mind."

Quinlan also said: "That works, I travel very fast. At most, I’ll be back at the tribe in seven days."

Sane thought for a moment, then nodded and said to Quinlan: "Then it’ll be hard on you. Remember to pay attention to your safety on the way."

Quinlan chuckled, transforming into a sparrow, intending to fly away, but Walter spoke up:

"That’s not good either. With Kaelen pregnant like this, it’s truly difficult to travel. We should still let Sane and Kaelen return to the Crimson tribe to take shelter for a while. Anyway, there are many people in the tribe; missing a few of us won’t matter at all."

Mostly, he was afraid that upon returning, a crowd of people would rush out to criticize the two of them, or condemn Kaelen and Sane for violating the tribe’s rules prohibiting unauthorized intercourse before mating. It was best to let Kaelen finish giving birth and then return later. But primarily, it was because Walter found the people in the Crimson tribe very endearing; if he wasn’t still tied down by his tribesmen and his Papa, he wouldn’t want to go back either.

What Walter said also made sense. The group put their heads together to discuss for a while, deciding to let the group of five return first, while Kaelen and Sane would head back on their own to seek refuge with the Crimson tribe.

Everyone parted ways and headed in two different directions. Sane picked Kaelen up and walked toward the Crimson tribe. Kaelen raised his hands to converse with him, all of which were words he had thought of but hadn’t dared to say in front of everyone:

[Tell me, since they helped us so much, should I teach them how to make food and pottery?]

Sane followed Kaelen’s slender fingers with his eyes and said: "First, just teach them how to make food from golden tuber flour. And that type of yellow seed of theirs that you said could be planted—teach them how to plant that too. As for making pottery, let it be. After all, that thing is greatly related to the future of a tribe; we cannot share it without consulting the high council first." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Kaelen nodded, let out a long yawn, and snuggled deeper into Sane’s embrace. During this time, besides having a poor appetite, he also had trouble sleeping, so he always felt tired. Sane said softly: "If you’re tired, go to sleep. We’ve only walked a short distance; we will reach the Crimson tribe before dark."

In the opposite direction, Walter lay dejectedly on Anthony’s back and said: "Say, everyone, if I bring Papa to live in the Crimson tribe, do you think they would take us in? There are also a few large Avian clans there. Since I’m so capable, who knows, I might even snag a guy?"

Anthony laughed so hard his whiskers shook, Sangi and Hugh also burst into giggles, and Quinlan shot the boy a look of disgust, saying:

"Look at that, look at that, is there anyone who praises themselves as being capable like you? Even if you truly have talent, other beastmen wouldn’t dare take a Sub-Beast who threatens to blow off a beastman’s head at the drop of a hat!"

Walter clicked his tongue in dismay, buried his head into Anthony’s white fur again, and muttered: "I’m not afraid of you guys scolding me, but I don’t want to go back to our tribe at all. Look at their tribe; even though they arrived fleeing from disaster, they are still harmonious and happy. Not like our tribe, full of foul atmosphere and gloom."

The beastmen did not rebut, because after all, comparing the two tribes, the Crimson tribe was much better than Obsidian. Quinlan glanced at his cousin lying flat like he had no bones on Anthony’s back, wanting to lecture Walter a few sentences, but his gaze suddenly stopped on Walter’s wing.