Free Web NovelChapter 375: Chapter 375: Is Your Tongue Laced with Poison?
Leaving Kunlin behind, Huang Yue departed with the others.
Qiao Yi had already been taken away. There was no point for Qiao Xixi to give chase now.
Feiyan, Xijing, and Kunlin first escorted Qiao Xixi back to the tribe, while Sunxiao and the others followed the lingering scent of Qiao Yi and his captors to investigate.
"Be careful."
Sunxiao and the others nodded, their figures quickly vanishing into the dim mountain forest.
They wove through the forest, and as dawn approached, they finally discovered the battlefield on another mountain where Qiao Yi had fought the beastmen.
Even for seasoned warriors such as themselves, the scene before them was utterly stunning.
They were halfway up the mountain. All the flora in the area had been burned to cinders, leaving not a trace of life. Most terrifying of all, a massive crater had been gouged out of the hard mountain rock, as if a chunk of the mountain itself had been horrifyingly scooped away.
’What immense power could have carved such a huge chunk out of solid rock?’
"Last night, Langqi... our father-in-law only just left the tribe."
At a normal pace, even they would have struggled to get from the tribe to this mountain in such a short time.
In other words, Qiao Yi must have been traveling at least twice their speed.
The males realized their understanding of their father-in-law’s power was far too limited.
Sunxiao circled the enormous crater. Just then, golden sunlight burst through the clouds, illuminating the wreckage.
Staring at the crater, Sunxiao’s serpentine pupils narrowed before he leaped in. He walked to the center of the crater and picked up a crimson snake scale as large as his palm.
"This scale looks a lot like yours," Jin Ling said, walking up behind him and frowning at it.
Sunxiao clenched the scale in his hand. ’The Heaven-Swallowing Python lineage... Are there really others left?’
"I scouted ahead. There are no more signs of a fight over there. Our father-in-law was taken from right here."
Jin Ling frowned and shifted into his beast form, sniffing the residual scents. To his surprise, all he could detect was a jumble of scents in the air; he couldn’t identify the beast forms of their opponents by smell.
"Let’s head back for now."
"Right."
The cubs didn’t know what had happened the night before, only that when they awoke, there was a new beast-shaped wood carving at the head of each of their beds.
"This carving is so cute! It looks just like me."
The carvings were made with great care, even dyed with various colors from flower and plant juices, and the cubs loved them.
"Mother, where were you so early in the morning?"
The cubs were playing happily when they looked up and saw Feiyan and the others returning with Qiao Xixi.
Qiao Xixi’s face was still streaked with tears, and the cubs noticed at once that something was wrong.
Sangqi anxiously tugged Qiao Xixi’s hand. "Mother, what’s wrong?" he asked nervously. "Did a bad guy bully you?"
Hearing this, the cubs all quickly crowded around her.
Qiao Xixi hadn’t wanted to be overly emotional in front of the cubs, but Qiao Yi was their maternal grandfather. They had a right to know.
"My cubs, there’s something I need to tell you."
Seeing Qiao Xixi’s solemn expression, the cubs all put on serious little faces of their own.
The little tiger cub also squeezed her way to the front, hugging Qiao Xixi’s leg and looking up at her with wide eyes.
Qiao Xixi picked her up and looked at Qiao Lie and the others. "I’ve never told you this," she said, "but Langqi is actually your maternal grandfather."
The cubs were all astonished.
Qiao Ang’s eyes widened. "Is he your father beast, Mother?"
Qiao Xixi nodded. "Yes. But last night, he was taken away by bad beastmen."
The cubs’ little faces fell.
"Mother, we have to save Grandfather!"
"We... we want Gwampa!"
Looking at her cubs, Qiao Xixi’s gaze became even more determined.
"Yes," she said. "We will definitely save my father!"
"Xixi, no matter what you decide, Feili Father Beast will support you."
Qiao Xixi looked back at Feili, her eyes reddening. "Thank you, Feili Father Beast."
Feili waved his hand and looked at the cubs. "Come, cubs, go train with Grandpa Feili. You can only save your grandfather if you get stronger."
"Okay!"
Brimming with fighting spirit, the cubs followed Feili to the training grounds.
Even the little tiger cub leaped from Qiao Xixi’s arms and followed her older brothers and sisters.
Seeing that the little tiger cub was running too slowly, Sangqi picked her up.
"Xixi, you didn’t sleep at all last night. Go back to your room and get some rest."
Qiao Xixi didn’t feel tired, but she didn’t refuse.
Feiyan led her back into the house, and Xijing brought up a large bowl of meat broth for her.
"Eat something before you sleep."
Qiao Xixi had no appetite, but she ate it all. She had to maintain a strong body so she could fight her enemies.
After finishing her meal, Qiao Xixi quickly washed up and lay down on the bed.
Feiyan and Xijing only left the room after they could hear her steady breathing.
Closing the door, Feiyan saw Kunlin standing just outside. No matter how he looked at him, the man was an eyesore.
"Xixi agreed to let you stay and help, not to have you follow her around constantly. If you’ve got nothing to do, go patrol the tribe."
An unapproachable coldness radiated from Kunlin. He just gave Feiyan a frigid glance, showing no sign of leaving.
"How I choose to help is not for you to decide."
Xijing’s lips curled, but there was no mirth in his expression. "Feiyan, Kunlin is right. This is for Xixi to decide. And don’t worry, Xixi is very picky. She’d never give a taken male a second glance. Not even if... that male’s mate is already dead."
The aura around Kunlin grew even colder.
Feiyan shot Xijing a look. ’Sometimes,’ he thought, ’I really want to see if that damn fish’s tongue was dipped in poison.’
Qiao Xixi did fall asleep, but she awoke again quickly—only this time, she regained consciousness within a dream.
She didn’t know how powerful the beast guards from the Watchtower had become, but there was never anything wrong with improving her own strength.
She took out the sheepskin scroll Yun Ji had left for her and opened it. The characters on the scroll were like strange pictographs, not a form of writing she recognized.
But miraculously, she could understand them.
The scroll explained in detail that the wind and water manipulation she had previously learned were merely basic, entry-level techniques. To improve further, she had to keep learning.
Further on, there was even a spell for Thunder Attraction, but compared to manipulating wind and water, it was much more difficult to learn.
Qiao Xixi recalled that when she fought the beast guards, her wind couldn’t stop them at all.
The scroll also stated that if an opponent’s speed surpassed that of her wind, her wind wall would be breached.
Qiao Xixi silently recited the spell from the scroll, but she kept feeling like something was missing.
When Yun Ji had been around, she had mastered these spells after reciting them only once or twice. ’Is it because the introductory material was the simplest?’
Qiao Xixi pinched her fingers together, closed her eyes, and silently chanted the spell from the scroll. What she didn’t notice was that after she repeated the incantation again and again, a green, thread-like halo of light shot out from her chest.
