“You’re from the Axe Tribe, aren’t you? You’re just going to betray them like this?”

Fan Zhou raised an eyebrow as he asked.

“I was captured by Hu Sheng and taken to the Axe Tribe!”

Ying Xiao’s tiny, bean-like eyes stared at Fan Zhou, afraid of being misunderstood. He hurriedly explained, “My original tribe was in the east, near the sea. Over the past few years, food has become scarce, so we decided to move.”

“But halfway through, we were attacked by a group of rogue beastmen. I was busy running for my life and got lost. One day, while resting in a tree, I accidentally fell off—and Hu Sheng just happened to pick me up!”

“He said he was going to eat me. I was so scared that I quickly told him about a grove of hard nut trees further east. Only then did he let me go and made me join the Axe Tribe.”

“Lord Tu, I was forced! I’m willing to work for you—do a lot of work! Please, Lord Tu, spare my life!”

“……”

Fan Zhou was surprised. So the hard nut tree grove that Hu Sheng mentioned actually came from Ying Xiao’s information?

“There really are hard nut trees to the east?” he asked coldly.

“Yes!”

Ying Xiao nodded vigorously, his red head feathers flying wildly. “I can take you there.”

“Then why didn’t you just stay there?”

“I was the only beastman there. I was scared.”

Ying Xiao shrank back, looking pitiful. “I can’t transform into human form, and I’m not strong. If I really had to fight, I’d barely be able to take on a snow chicken even if I risked my life.”

“……”

How useless.

He could only fight a snow chicken?

Was he even a beastman?!

But then again, snow chickens were as big as ostriches and incredibly fast. If this little parrot could go toe-to-toe with a snow chicken, he did have some ability.

A water whip wrapped around Ying Xiao’s left leg. “Weren’t you already back at the Axe Tribe? Why did you come to the Waterfall Tribe?”

Ying Xiao looked at the whip on his leg, not daring to move. He answered honestly, “Hu Sheng and the other two didn’t return to the tribe. The chief thought it was strange and sent me to gather information.”

“And what use are you? If you can’t bring any benefit to the Waterfall Tribe, I’ll break your wings.”

Fan Zhou put on a fierce expression as he questioned him.

“No, please!”

Ying Xiao’s feathers immediately puffed up in fear. His wings were his only advantage!

“I—I…” His tiny bean-like eyes darted around in panic. He bounced up and down a few times, his red crest shaking with each movement.

Fan Zhou could tell at a glance that he was hiding something. “Since you’re useless, I’ll just break—”

Ying Xiao shivered in terror and quickly interrupted, “I know where to find beast spirit flower seedlings!”

Oh? Beast spirit flowers?

Fan Zhou was slightly surprised. “Where are they?”

“On the mountain where the Axe Tribe is!”

Actually, the Axe Tribe and the Waterfall Tribe were in the same mountain range. The Waterfall Tribe was in the middle section, while the Axe Tribe was at the northern edge.

The place where Ying Xiao had found the beast spirit flowers was near the Axe Tribe, at the mountaintop, and there were several plants.

He had stumbled upon them by accident and wanted to use them for himself—his beast form was too inconvenient.

However, he hadn’t held out much hope because he had seen beast spirit flower seedlings before, but they never grew properly. They would mysteriously wither and dry up before even forming buds.

But now, with his wings on the line, he was absolutely willing to trade the seedlings for his survival.

“Alright. Take me there. If you dare lie to me, I won’t just break your wings—I’ll pluck every single feather off you.” Fan Zhou put on a “fierce” face as he spoke.

Ying Xiao was so terrified that he frantically shook his head, swearing that he wouldn’t dare lie.

And so, Fan Zhou ended his hunt and brought Ying Xiao back to the tribe.

Since Hu Sheng and the other two were still clearing land, Fan Zhou deliberately took a shortcut and avoided the main path leading to the tribe.

Hu Sheng, Niu Zhuang, and Yang Chang weren’t trying to escape, and they were working diligently. Because of that, their meal portions had increased from one bowl of stew to two per meal. Though they were still hungry, they at least didn’t have to chew on tree bark and leaves anymore.

Besides, with the sweet spring water, Fan Zhou always made sure their large wooden barrels were filled. With the spiritual spring water nourishing their bodies, they hadn’t lost much weight.

Ying Xiao spotted Hu Sheng, Niu Zhuang, and Yang Chang chopping trees with stone axes from a distance. He was so shocked that he hurriedly brushed away the red feathers blocking his vision and rubbed his eyes with his wings.

These three were the most notorious troublemakers of the Axe Tribe. When they first heard that the Waterfall Tribe had salt and hemp cloth, they had practically wanted to sprout wings and fly over to rob them.

And now, not only had they been captured—they were actually working willingly???

“Go greet them. From now on, you’re on labor reform too.” Fan Zhou gestured with his chin toward the three.

Hearing that, Ying Xiao’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He couldn’t even take human form—how was he supposed to do manual labor…?

With a bitter face, he slowly flapped his way over to Hu Sheng.

Hu Sheng was surprised to see Ying Xiao. “You got caught this fast?”

Ying Xiao didn’t say a word, only flapping his wings and staring at him.

Not far away, Niu Zhuang noticed Ying Xiao and got excited, about to speak—when Hu Sheng suddenly shouted loudly, “Ying Xiao! Now that you’re in the Waterfall Tribe, you have to work hard! As long as you’re honest, you definitely won’t go hungry!”

“This is my first time seeing such a generous and kind beastman like Tu Zhou. As expected of the beast god’s chosen new priest! The beast god must have guided me to meet him! Now, I just want to work hard and officially join the Waterfall Tribe as soon as possible!”

Fan Zhou: “……”

Ying Xiao was horrified. He instinctively flapped his wings, backing away in shock.

By the beast god—was Hu Sheng’s brain broken?!

But what frightened Ying Xiao even more came next.

Niu Zhuang and Yang Chang also spotted Fan Zhou. After hearing Hu Sheng’s words, they glared at him angrily—then immediately started racking their brains to flatter Fan Zhou.

“Tu Zhou! You caught so many birds before noon—you’re amazing! You’re the best beastman I’ve ever seen! Smart, strong, and good-looking!”

“Tu Zhou, you’re incredible! You’re better than all the priests and chiefs on the entire Wild Continent! The beast god definitely chose the right person!”

……

Fan Zhou rolled his eyes. “You guys seriously want to join the Waterfall Tribe?”

“Yes!”

“Absolutely!”

“More than anything!”

The three beastmen scrambled to answer.

“Why?” Fan Zhou asked.

Has their brain been overworked?

“We can eat our fill. You are the beastman chosen by the Beast God, and you can grow Beast Spirit Flowers. If we follow you, we definitely won’t go hungry,” Yang Chang said honestly.

He had been quietly observing the Waterfall Tribe for some time. The beastmen here were living an incredibly comfortable life.

Free sweet water, people teaching them how to farm, and just a handful of seeds could be exchanged for hemp cloth fabric. And most importantly, the Beast God was watching over Tu Zhou!

With the Beast God’s protection, it was extremely safe here—not only would there be no strange diseases, but the food supply would only increase.

Such a great place was exactly what he had dreamed of. If he didn’t want to join, his brain really must be broken.

“Yeah! In the Axe Tribe, we work so hard hunting and still can’t get enough to eat. I don’t want to go back,” Hu Sheng quickly added.

He had originally thought that only drinking a single bowl of stew per meal while doing heavy labor would soon wear him down to death.

But not only did he not die, he hadn’t even lost much weight.

The sweet water was miraculous!

He had to join the Waterfall Tribe!

Niu Zhuang shared the same thoughts as Hu Sheng and Yang Chang. He even added, “Tu Zhou, my wife and child are still in the Axe Tribe. Why don’t you and Lang Xun conquer the Axe Tribe?”

He wanted his wife and child to come and enjoy this life too!

His wife and child had never robbed anyone, so once they arrived, they wouldn’t have to do heavy labor.

Earlier, when he saw Ying Xiao coming over, he had wanted to ask about his wife and child.

Fan Zhou: “…”

What wishful thinking.

With an annoyed tone, he said, “Get to work. If you dare slack off, you’ll only get one bowl of stew for lunch.”

Hearing this, the three of them didn’t dare to waste another second and quickly picked up their stone axes again.

Fan Zhou gave a few instructions to Niu Shu, then continued walking forward with Ying Xiao.

Ying Xiao’s little brain was struggling to process this—Hu Sheng and the others had defected so quickly? Just a moment ago, they were still thinking about robbing the place.

Soon, he saw vast fields of grass seeds already as tall as a person’s knees, and his entire bird body froze.

Unlike the scattered wild grass seeds in the Axe Tribe that grew in clumps here and there, the ones here were arranged in neat rows, all of uniform height, and there were just so many of them!

In winter, they definitely wouldn’t go hungry!

Before long, he followed Fan Zhou to the area below the caves.

Upon seeing the row of chicken coops at the foot of the mountain, all his feathers stood on end in shock.

They had captured so many birds?!

This was terrifying! What were they planning to do?!

“These birds are for eating. I won’t make you live in one of these coops for now, but if you don’t behave, you’ll have to live with them,” Fan Zhou said, his tone still harsh.

But Ying Xiao let out a deep sigh of relief.

Oh, so they were for eating.

At least he wasn’t going to be stuffed into a cage.

He looked at Fan Zhou with newfound reverence. Before, he had only dared to loiter near the Waterfall Tribe but had never approached it.

If he had known Tu Zhou was this powerful, he would never have reported to the Axe Tribe. He would have run straight here and clung to him instead!

But now, it was too late…

Sigh.

Fan Zhou carried Ying Xiao up to the cave and told Feng Xun that he was going on a long journey to dig up Beast Spirit Flowers.

After listening, Feng Xun’s gaze shifted to Ying Xiao.

Ying Xiao was so frightened that he buried his head under his wing, his small body trembling.

Shifting his gaze away, Feng Xun said to Fan Zhou, “I’ll take Ying Xiao with me.”

“You?” Fan Zhou was surprised.

“Yes, my body has recovered a lot.”

Under Fan Zhou’s careful care, the withered Beast Spirit Flower had bloomed again. After eating one, his pain had lessened a little.

In fact, even before, the pain hadn’t stopped him from moving freely. Now that he had eaten another Beast Spirit Flower, he was feeling even better. A trip outside would be no problem.

As long as he didn’t exert his full strength, his body should be fine.

He couldn’t just let the rabbit keep running around outside.

Fan Zhou frowned.

Truthfully, Feng Xun’s request was reasonable. After all, he had once traveled far and wide. Being trapped in a small cave after getting injured must have been suffocating for him.

But Fan Zhou still didn’t feel at ease letting the white wolf travel alone. The last time he had seen him covered in blood, the memory still sent chills down his spine.

“Let’s go together,” he suggested.

“No need. I’ll take Ying Xiao myself,” Feng Xun refused. He wasn’t a cub—he didn’t need the rabbit to watch over him constantly.

The rabbit treated him and Xiong Jing like they were cubs. He had only recently realized something was off.

When Xiong Jing wanted to go hunting, the rabbit even figured out how to use a bladder to make a water pouch for her.

For Xiong Jing, the rabbit not only made one but also crafted a small hemp cloth backpack so it wouldn’t get in the way while hunting.

The rabbit had even prepared two sets of hemp cloth clothes for Xiong Jing in his beast form!

This level of care was just like how one would treat a cub.

But he wanted to be the rabbit’s mate, not his cub. He had to prove himself by going out alone.

Fan Zhou couldn’t argue with Feng Xun, so he had no choice but to pack his things and send him off.

Ying Xiao watched Feng Xun’s back, his eyes filled with not just reverence but also deep envy.

Tu Zhou had actually given Feng Xun two Beast Spirit Flowers!

Along with hard nuts, dried meat, salt, and sweet water—he was so envious!

He had to join the Waterfall Tribe too!