CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 32 XI QING FINALLY CALLS FOR MOTHER_2

The Hawk Clan and the Snake Tribe were natural enemies, and Xi Qing noticed this as well. He became even more frightened and fled in panic.

"Ah!! Ah!! Don’t come over! Don’t come over!!"

"Xi Qing!!"

The hawk swooped down fiercely, grabbing Xi Qing in its talons! Helpless, Xi Qing was caught. Desperate, Si Yan pulled out her pistol and fired twice at the hawk!

The bullets struck the hawk’s wing. With one wing broken, it began to fall. Si Yan looked ahead and saw a sheer cliff right in front of them.

Just then, Si Yan’s speed reached a level she had never achieved before. She sprinted to the edge of the cliff at the limit of human speed and, in the nick of time, grabbed Xi Qing’s tail!

However, the hawk with its broken wing also plummeted, crashing into Si Yan. The impact left her dizzy and off-balance, sending her tumbling from the cliffside!

"Mother!!!" Xi Qing screamed.

"Si Yan!!!" Tai Seng rushed to the cliff’s edge, skidding to a halt. His heart clenched, and his four strong paws shifted restlessly.

Si Yan, Si Yan, Si Yan, you mustn’t be hurt! Please don’t be hurt!

The panicked cry brought Si Yan back to consciousness. By then, she had already fallen halfway down the cliff.

One hand gripped Xi Qing, while the other frantically activated her Wood-based Ability. Vines clung tightly to the cliff face, leaving Si Yan and Xi Qing dangling from the precipice—it was a hair’s breadth from disaster!

"Mother! Mother!!" Xi Qing cried urgently.

Si Yan managed a bitter smile. "So, you’re finally calling me Mother."

They were now suspended in the middle of the cliff, unable to go up or down.

Xi Qing pursed his lips and then suddenly burst into childish tears. "I didn’t want to! I didn’t want to hurt you! I was just scared! I really didn’t want to hurt you..."

"You haven’t hurt me," Si Yan said.

Facing despair, Xi Qing was filled with regret. "Mother, I was wrong! I was wrong... I was just... just too scared. I didn’t want to hurt you. What do I do? I don’t want to hurt you..."

"It’s good that you know you were wrong," Si Yan said through gritted teeth. "Xi Qing, hold onto me! Quickly! I can barely hold you!"

The snake scales were slippery. Despite all her strength, Si Yan felt him sliding.

Xi Qing didn’t dare resist. He climbed up Si Yan’s arm and coiled around her waist.

Dizzy...

Si Yan was terrified of snakes. Even knowing Xi Qing was her own cub, waves of dizziness washed over her instinctively.

"Mother..."

"I’m all right."

Rocks tumbled from the cliff above, Tai Seng’s voice echoing, "Si Yan! Si Yan!!"

Si Yan looked up and shouted loudly, "Tai Seng, I’m okay!"

The voice on the other side seemed to pause for two seconds, then the Silver Wolf Beastman’s anxious voice came through, "Find a safe place to wait! You must find a safe place! I’ll get help!"

"I know! Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you!"

After speaking, Si Yan glanced down. The dizzying fear of heights struck her.

She decided not to look down anymore.

Si Yan’s Special Ability wasn’t strong enough for her to climb back up. She spotted a ledge on the cliff face large enough to stand on and began using her Wood-based Ability to grow vines, planning to climb over to it.

Finally, she reached the ledge. Still dizzy, Si Yan instinctively used her ability—a habit from her previous life—to create a barrier of vines around it.

The ledge wasn’t large, nor was the vine barrier. Si Yan and Xi Qing were squeezed into the small space. By this point, Xi Qing had already reverted to his human form and was nestled in Si Yan’s embrace.

He had been shocked and terrified, but in his mother’s warm embrace, he quickly felt safe.

He hugged Si Yan, crying as if filled with regret and fear. He cried for a long time, until he cried himself weak, grew drowsy, and was about to fall asleep.

This little cub really was carefree.

Cradling the little cub, Si Yan looked at her own hands. She recalled how her mother in her previous life had held a child and adjusted Xi Qing more comfortably in her arms.

She held him, gently patting his back.

"Sleep now," she murmured. "Mother’s here. Sleep."

Mother’s voice is so gentle.

It’s so contradictory. I’m supposed to hate her. I’d decided never to forgive her.

But I don’t know why... that moment I saw Mother rushing recklessly toward me, jumping down with me without a second thought...

It’s like nothing else matters anymore.

Xi Qing closed his eyes, remembering the kindness Si Yan had shown him recently. For a moment, he actually couldn’t recall any of Si Yan’s past mistreatment.

He lay in Si Yan’s arms, sobbing softly. He was only a four-year-old cub. Love and hate warred in his heart; at such a young age, he truly couldn’t bear or process such complex emotions.

The more he had loved Si Yan as a small child, the more fiercely he had hated her later.

He hated Si Yan, yet he also loved her.

I’m so tired... I don’t want to think about past grievances anymore...

Si Yan heard the cub’s even breathing in her arms. Lowering her head, she saw the little one had fallen asleep.

After sunset, the evening wind rustled. She urged more leaves to grow, shielding the sleeping Xi Qing from the cliff drafts.

From sunset to sunrise, Si Yan forced herself to stay awake, watching over Xi Qing until dawn.

The cliff ledge, as it turned out, was a good place to watch the stars and the sunrise.

Si Yan quietly watched the sky, feeling a sense of peace and beauty.

Until the little imp in her arms, having slept his fill, opened his eyes wide and looked up at her.

Si Yan looked down at Xi Qing. The little cub stared blankly, as if still not fully awake from his dream. Then, quite suddenly, his face flushed.

Xi Qing looked truly adorable. Si Yan couldn’t help but smile and tease him gently, "Xi Qing, we’re here with nothing to eat or drink. We might die of thirst or hunger. Are you scared?"

Xi Qing lowered his head, seeming to seriously ponder the question Si Yan had posed to tease him.

Starve to death...

But like this... with Mother...

He shook his head and looked at her with determination. "I’m not afraid."

With Mother, it seems there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.

"I’m teasing you." Si Yan smiled down at him. "I won’t let you go hungry."

Xi Qing’s face was bright red.

Looking at such an endearingly proud little cub, Si Yan found him incredibly cute.

Right in front of Xi Qing, Si Yan opened her dimensional space. She took out a bottle of mineral water and, along with it, a bar of milk chocolate she found tucked in a corner.