CHAPTER 18: CHAPTER 16 TAI SENG TAKES THE INITIATIVE TO STAND BEHIND HER_1

Tai Seng murmured, "Go to Myriad Beasts City and retrieve the Holy Fire within a single day?"

"Tai Seng..." The village chief gripped Tai Seng’s hand tightly.

Tai Seng was a Red Crystal Beastman, the most powerful warrior of the Yanxiang Tribe, and the hope of the Yanxiang Tribe.

Tai Seng said without delay, "Uncle, I will depart for Myriad Beasts City right now."

The village chief shook his head. "There’s no time, no time at all."

***

When Si Yan returned from the small woods behind the hill, she heard waves of urgent wolf howls.

The hurried wolf howls, like some kind of summoning call, made Si Yan feel slightly uneasy.

She immediately ran back to her cave and found her cubs inside.

After looking around and not seeing Dongchi, Si Yan frowned and asked, "Where’s Dongchi?"

Dongchi had only had his bones set a few days ago. Although Si Yan had noticed the cub’s remarkable healing ability, he still couldn’t move yet.

Nan Mo was still hiding behind a rock, and Xi Qing wore a cold expression.

"Stop fooling around," Si Yan said. "Dongchi’s bones were just set. If he moves now, they’ll be misaligned again, and all that effort will have been for nothing."

Bei Ji stepped forward, his small, pale face looking up with innocent charm as he said, "Mother, Big Brother is missing."

"Missing?"

Si Yan scanned the cave. Seeing no signs of a struggle, waves of anger rose within her. "Leaving me even with broken limbs? You really are my good cub," she said, her voice tight with anger.

Bei Ji immediately tried to comfort Si Yan. "Mother, Big Brother isn’t like that! He surely doesn’t want to leave us!"

Si Yan gently patted his small head.

In fact, she could understand Dongchi’s resentment towards her.

She couldn’t control all the cubs. If he wanted to leave, she couldn’t stop him. But not now.

Si Yan’s face hardened. "Dongchi’s limbs were only set three days ago. If he moves now, they might be permanently damaged. Nan Mo, you continue to heal at home. Xi Qing, Bei Ji, you two bring him back."

Bei Ji nodded immediately. "Yes, Mother!"

Xi Qing’s expression remained indifferent as Bei Ji pulled him by the hand and they walked outside.

"Wait," Si Yan called.

The two cubs turned.

Si Yan asked, "What’s going on with the wolf howls outside?"

Bei Ji turned back, his small face looking up at Si Yan. "Mother, the Holy Fire of the Yanxiang Tribe has gone out. The village chief has ordered all males out hunting to return. Everyone is searching for a way to relight the Holy Fire."

At this, all three cubs looked at Si Yan in unison.

They knew Si Yan could create fire; she could relight the Holy Fire.

But this matter was too significant, so they wouldn’t speak of it to others.

Si Yan paused. "The Holy Fire?"

Bei Ji, guessing Si Yan didn’t understand, explained, "The Beastmen of our tribe don’t know how to make fire. The Holy Fire is the Yanxiang Tribe’s only flame, constantly guarded by our warriors to keep it from going out. In fact, it’s only brought out for very important occasions."

The only flame? Si Yan suddenly understood.

The civilization of this era wasn’t advanced enough to create fire at will. The tribe had only one flame, used whenever fire was needed. And now, that flame was extinguished.

Si Yan looked at her three cubs’ small faces and said, "Let the tribe deal with its own matters. First, we need to find Dongchi and bring him back!"

Xi Qing stared at her, his expression stubborn.

Bei Ji nodded to Si Yan, then pulled Xi Qing out of the cave.

Si Yan sighed helplessly. Considering Dongchi’s aversion to her, she definitely wouldn’t be able to find him herself.

Better to let the cubs try first.

Si Yan suddenly remembered how, when she first arrived in this world, she had spent day after day searching for Xi Qing and Bei Ji.

She had truly raised a den of rebellious cubs.

What a mess!

Si Yan silently began tidying the cave.

The continuous wolf howls from outside created a tense atmosphere.

Xiong Nai ran to the cave entrance, gasping for breath, and shouted, "Si Yan, what are you doing? The chief is calling everyone to gather—females too!"

Si Yan put down her broom, glanced towards where Nan Mo was hiding, and followed Xiong Nai out of the cave.

Outside, the area was in an uproar. News of the Holy Fire’s extinguishment had swept through the Yanxiang Tribe, casting a deathly pall over it.

Si Yan looked around. Xiong Nai whispered, "The Holy Fire is the tribe’s spiritual core. With it extinguished, everyone is as if they’ve lost their souls."

Is the Holy Fire really that important? Si Yan didn’t understand.

Xiong Nai said, "Don’t you know? The Holy Fire is a gift from the Beast God! The Grand Priest of Myriad Beasts City says that only cubs baptized by the Holy Fire can grow up healthy, and only with its protection can the tribe flourish endlessly."

Then, Xiong Nai added softly, "If the Holy Fire goes out, the tribe will decline."

"Oh," Si Yan nodded.

Xiong Nai said to Si Yan, exasperated, "I’ve told you all this, and you still don’t seem worried? The tribe’s decline would be bad for every Beastman, especially us females. We have no fighting ability; we can’t even fend off wild beasts. If the tribe declines, we won’t escape the consequences."

Si Yan smiled helplessly and turned to Xiong Nai. "Fire, in the end, is just a tool."

Xiong Nai, both anxious and angry, exclaimed, "What nonsense are you talking about? Fire is the most sacred thing! Si Yan, are you still out of your mind?"

Si Yan gave her a helpless look and then walked towards the Yanxiang Tribe’s gathering place.

Of the Yanxiang Tribe’s more than four hundred male Beastmen, over half had already arrived, and more were steadily trickling in.

The seventeen female Beastmen were nearly all surrounded by males. Xiong Nai, too, was immediately encircled by several male Beastmen as soon as she arrived.

Si Yan figured they were Xiong Nai’s males.

Si Yan stood alone, a conspicuous figure among the females.

The village chief looked up at the silver wolf Beastman beside him. Following the wolf’s gaze to Si Yan, he asked Tai Seng in a low voice, "Tai Seng, do you want to mate with Si Yan?"

If Si Yan had heard this, the bluntness of the Beast World would have made her ears burn!

Tai Seng snapped back to attention. The handsome male gave a sheepish smile. "Uncle, don’t tease me."

The story was already well-known: Tai Seng, the strongest and most handsome male among the tribe’s relatively few Beastmen, had courted Si Yan—the ugliest, thinnest, and least desired female—only to be rejected!

Everyone loved to hear such a story.

And so, news of Tai Seng’s rejected courtship had spread throughout the entire Yanxiang Tribe.

Si Yan, living in a corner of the Yanxiang Tribe, was an anomaly. Though a female capable of bearing offspring, she was dark-skinned, thin, small, and considered ugly. No male had ever wanted to pair with her.

The tribe supported her out of obligation but also despised her. Many Beastmen also despised her snake-Beastman cubs.

Recently, however, Si Yan seemed to have changed. She began to fulfill her duties as a mother, tirelessly seeking treatment for her cubs’ worm illness and bringing Dongchi and Nan Mo back home.

Truth be told, even the village chief had begun to see her in a slightly different light.

But Tai Seng was the only male in the Yanxiang Tribe in nearly a hundred years to awaken a Special Ability bloodline. He was the Yanxiang Tribe’s hope; his mate could not be chosen lightly.

After scrutinizing Si Yan for a moment, the village chief glanced towards Xiong Nai.

Compared to Si Yan, the chief felt that Xiong Nai, who looked healthy and robust, was a more suitable match for the village’s bravest warrior.

Just then, however, Tai Seng took the initiative and leaped directly behind Si Yan.

His powerful presence made Si Yan tense up. Controlling herself, she slowly turned and raised her pockmarked face to look at the silver wolf Beastman.

"Do you need something?" she asked.

"I am Tai Seng," the silver wolf Beastman said, his face stern. "You have no male protecting you. I’m here under the chief’s orders to ensure your safety."

The village chief thought, I never gave such an order!

When Tai Seng had previously made advances, Si Yan had been preoccupied with Bei Ji’s illness. She also found the custom of directly requesting to mate rather frightening, so she had refused outright without even looking at him.

So, for Si Yan, this was effectively her first real meeting with Tai Seng.

"Protect me?" Si Yan silently glanced at the handsome, silver-haired man, then at the other females nearby, each surrounded by males. Perhaps this is some tribal custom I don’t know about, she thought. After a moment of silence, she tacitly accepted the arrangement.

What Si Yan didn’t realize was that her silent acceptance had made the other females of the Yanxiang Tribe burn with jealousy.