Lu Xin lived in the forest outside the Giant Bear Tribe, about a kilometer away from the tribe. The farther Xiong Wu walked, the more worried he became. Lu Xin was very timid, and now he was living alone outside the tribe. He didn’t even dare to imagine how Lu Xin had spent these past few days! But what made Xiong Wu even angrier was that before he even reached Lu Xin’s small shelter, he heard scolding voices.

“Ugly freak, are you trying to get us all killed? Get lost and go somewhere else!”

“Finally made it to the Giant Bear Tribe, and we ran into this kind of beastman. What bad luck. We should trade salt elsewhere in the future. Who knows, the entire Giant Bear Tribe might get infected by him.”

“!”

Xiong Wu could no longer suppress his fury. With a roar, he immediately charged forward.

Hou Yan saw this and also quickened his pace, loudly explaining, “They’re beastmen from the Treehouse Tribe. They just arrived today, here to trade for salt.”

Tribes often came to the Giant Bear Tribe for trade, so the tribe had specially cleared a piece of land outside the settlement to make it convenient for visiting beastmen to stay.

Lu Xin’s small shelter was right next to this open space. Hou Yan hadn’t expected the Treehouse Tribe to hear about Lu Xin’s strange illness the moment they arrived today, and to start driving him away right after.

He picked up his pace. The Treehouse Tribe wasn’t small, and their chief was a leopard with considerable strength. If a real fight broke out, things could go badly.

Xiong Wu had already been driven into a rage. As he reached the edge of the open area and saw four or five beastmen gathered around a small shelter, his massive body charged forward like a gust of wind. With a sweep of both paws, he sent two of the beastmen flying.

The remaining beastmen were startled and quickly jumped back.

“Xiong Wu?!”

Seeing clearly that it was Xiong Wu, Bao Cheng, who had been about to fight, suddenly felt guilty. But before Xiong Wu could speak, he shouted loudly, “We came to the Giant Bear Tribe to trade salt—are we supposed to let ourselves get infected?”

“Bullshit! It’s not contagious at all! If it were, would I still be standing here? Am I shedding fur? Do I have black spots on me?!” Xiong Wu roared as he charged at Bao Cheng.

Bao Cheng quickly dodged. His beast form wasn’t as large as Xiong Wu’s, but he was more agile. However, the furious Xiong Wu had tapped into his potential, and his speed was faster than usual. Caught off guard, Bao Cheng was struck by Xiong Wu’s millstone-sized paw.

His body went numb and froze on the spot. Seeing Xiong Wu raise his massive paw again, panic surged in his heart.

At that moment, a voice Xiong Wu had longed for day and night came from behind him: “Xiong Wu, stop!”

That tear-choked shout made Xiong Wu turn his head instantly. He saw Lu Xin standing at the entrance of the small shelter, holding a large leaf to cover his face, with only a pair of tear-filled eyes showing.

He felt terrible and immediately rushed toward Lu Xin.

“Don’t come over!” Lu Xin took a few steps back, one hand clutching the small door of the shelter, tears flowing like a dam breaking: “Go back, don’t look at my face.”

To be able to see Xiong Wu one more time before he died— the Beast God had treated him well.

Xiong Wu had never seen Lu Xin cry like this before; his heart felt like it was shattering, and his eyes turned moist too: “Lu Xin, in my eyes, you’re the most beautiful, no matter what you look like!”

That one sentence made Lu Xin cry even harder, his whole body trembling. Xiong Wu wanted to come closer and comfort him, but Lu Xin stubbornly refused, even trying to retreat back into the shelter.

Xiong Xing ran over and saw the scene, immediately speechless: “Chief! Hurry and take out the Beast Spirit Flower!”

He was exasperated. What was the point of standing there talking while someone cried? Take out the Beast Spirit Flower!

That sentence snapped Xiong Wu out of it. He fumbled hurriedly to fetch the beast hide bag on his back.

The words also stunned the other beastmen present—Beast Spirit Flower?!

When Xiong Wu opened the beast hide bag, inside indeed appeared two stalks of Beast Spirit Flower. Greed immediately flashed across Bao Cheng’s eyes, and he subconsciously tried to step forward.

However, his still-numb body reminded him—if he wanted to snatch the two Beast Spirit Flowers, he had no chance at all.

“How do you have Beast Spirit Flowers?!” He suppressed his envy and asked anxiously.

Xiong Wu was busy trying to give the Beast Spirit Flowers to Lu Xin and had no time to answer him.

Xiong Xing puffed out his chest and loudly declared: “They were grown by the new High Priest chosen by the Beast God!”

“New High Priest chosen by the Beast God?” Bao Cheng was utterly shocked. The Treehouse Tribe was mid-sized. As its chief, he was fairly well-informed—but more importantly, the Treehouse Tribe was only seven or eight days’ journey from the Siguo Bridge!

Many beastmen exiled by the Temple to the Wild Continent would pass by the Treehouse Tribe, and some even joined the tribe. So he did know about the Temple—he had even seen beastmen from the Temple patrolling the Wild Continent.

But when had the Beast God selected a new High Priest?

The Beast God himself hadn’t appeared in many, many years…

Bao Cheng’s face showed confusion with obvious suspicion. Xiong Xing snorted coldly: “The current High Priest of the Temple has betrayed the Beast God, so the Beast God delivered divine punishment and made the Beast Spirit Flower go extinct! But the Beast God wouldn’t let beastmen walk toward death, so he selected a new High Priest and bestowed a miracle, allowing this new High Priest to grow Beast Spirit Flowers!”

“These two stalks of Beast Spirit Flower in the chief’s hands are the proof, and the new High Priest has several dozen more Beast Spirit Flowers in his possession. He said that as long as anyone has Beast Spirit Flower seeds or saplings, they can go find him—he’s willing to trade other things in exchange for Beast Spirit Flower seeds and seedlings. Any beastman who gives him seeds or seedlings will be able to trade for Beast Spirit Flowers in the future with only a tiny amount of goods!”

Trade for Beast Spirit Flowers?!

Bao Cheng’s pupils trembled, and a landslide-tsunami erupted in his mind.

That one statement contained a tremendous amount of information, but the most critical part was the final line—they could exchange a small amount of goods for Beast Spirit Flowers!

Beast Spirit Flowers—extinct to the point that even seedlings were nearly impossible to find—and beastmen could trade for them with this new High Priest?

Whether it was Bao Cheng or the newly arrived Hou Yan, they were both utterly dumbfounded.

Of course, the reason for the Beast Spirit Flower’s extinction—that the old High Priest had angered the Beast God—was already shocking enough. But compared to being able to exchange for Beast Spirit Flowers, that news seemed almost secondary.

“Where is the new High Priest?!” Bao Cheng snapped out of his stupor, suppressed the burning excitement in his heart, and asked urgently.

His voice trembled slightly. He had seeds—he had quite a lot of seeds!

“The new High Priest is at the Waterfall Tribe! This new High Priest has the wisdom bestowed by the Beast God—he can weave hemp cloth, refine salt, farm, raise animals, and even do arithmetic. Everything the old High Priest could do, he can too. He’s already built the Waterfall Tribe into a new Holy Temple!” Xiong Xing declared proudly. From now on, the beastmen of the Wild Continent finally had someone to rely on.

Waterfall Tribe?

Bao Cheng looked a bit confused—he had never heard of it. But if he could trade for Beast Spirit Flowers, then it didn’t matter! He walked up to Xiong Xing, wanting to ask where the Waterfall Tribe was located.

If he had been asking about something else, Xiong Xing wouldn’t have paid him any mind. But since this concerned the new High Priest, Xiong Xing explained it all in great detail.

Besides, Xiong Xing knew that Fan Zhou needed a lot of grass seeds. He would only help beastmen who truly wished to travel to the Waterfall Tribe; he would never obstruct other beastmen from heading there.

And besides, Hou Yan was right there too, eyes glowing and filled with tears of excitement as he listened.

On the other side, Xiong Wu took advantage of Lu Xin being stunned, shifted into human form, and rushed to his side, bringing the Beast Spirit Flower to Lu Xin’s mouth.

Lu Xin’s appearance at the moment was indeed somewhat frightening. His hair had completely fallen out, and dark grey patches covered most of his face, forming a sharp contrast with the pale skin on his forehead and chin.

Xiong Wu’s tears fell instantly. He knew how much Lu Xin cared about beauty—Lu Xin had always been the best-looking beastman in the Giant Bear Tribe since childhood. And now Lu Xin had turned into this, and he, Xiong Wu, hadn’t even been in the tribe during these past days. Lu Xin must have been devastated.

Lu Xin had no time to panic over Xiong Wu seeing his face. He stared at the Beast Spirit Flower in front of him and, almost instinctively, opened his mouth and swallowed it.

The taste was extremely bitter, so bitter he wanted to roll on the ground. At that moment, Xiong Wu pulled him into a tight embrace and gently patted his back, saying, “It’ll be better very soon, just hold on.”

Once he endured the bitterness and finally regained the strength to speak, Xiong Wu brought the remaining Beast Spirit Flower to his lips again. He hesitated for a moment, but still opened his mouth—he wanted to be completely cured.

Just earlier, while listening to those vicious words from Bao Cheng and the others, he had already grabbed the bone knife and pressed it against his throat. Living had lost its meaning—he might as well just die. The weather was hot; by the time Xiong Wu returned, his body would already have rotted.

Xiong Wu wouldn’t have to see him in his ugliest state.

But never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Xiong Wu would suddenly come back—and bring Beast Spirit Flowers with him! At that thought, his tears began to fall again. Was that new High Priest sent by the Beast God…

After consuming the two Beast Spirit Flowers, Lu Xin’s condition improved noticeably—his body no longer ached or itched, and the black patches on his skin also began to fade.

By the next day, the patches had already grown faint.

By the third day, they had completely disappeared.

His body had recovered, and even the places where hair had fallen out were now sprouting fine downy fur.

Xiong Wu was completely relieved. The Beast Spirit Flower truly could cure strange illnesses—it was indeed a miracle bestowed by the Beast God upon the beastmen.

Now, Xiong Wu didn’t even need to go out of his way to spread the word—every single one of the over two thousand beastmen in the Giant Bear Tribe was eagerly seeking information about the Waterfall Tribe.

Bao Cheng also lost all intention of challenging Xiong Wu—after taking that swipe from Xiong Wu, it had taken him several days to recover!

He set aside all conflict and put on his friendliest smile, hoping to convince Xiong Wu to bring their Treehouse Tribe along to the Waterfall Tribe to pay homage.

Xiong Wu held no grudges—that was only right. In the past, the old Holy Temple had not been located in the Wild Continent, so the beastmen here had no way to go on pilgrimage.

But now that the Beast God had chosen a new High Priest, every beastman in the Wild Continent ought to visit the Waterfall Tribe and witness the divine miracle.

And even more coincidentally, it turned out that the Treehouse Tribe had an abundance of sesame growing there!

According to Bao Cheng, the area near their tribe had a lot of sesame plants. Of course, the Treehouse Tribe had always considered sesame just another weed, and for years they hadn’t paid it any attention. But the quantity was immense, covering the mountains and hills. By Bao Cheng’s estimate, after threshing, they could fill at least a hundred beast hide sacks.

This made Xiong Wu incredibly envious, because the Giant Bear Tribe didn’t have nearly as much chili as he had originally imagined.

Before, young cubs had occasionally eaten chili by mistake, so he assumed there was a lot of it. But now that he went to look carefully, it turned out to be quite rare.

He was frustrated, he had originally planned to give Tu Zhou a huge surprise.

While the Giant Bear Tribe and the Treehouse Tribe were busy preparing to head to the Waterfall Tribe, on the Waterfall Tribe’s side, thanks to the beastmen’s diligent work, the livestock farm had already been completed. The big-horned beasts and mud beasts captured by Feng Xun were moved in, and from that day onward, the foraging team was responsible for feeding them.

Fan Zhou shared all the livestock-raising experience he knew with the foraging team—frequent cleaning, no slacking off, changing water daily, and so on. The beastmen of the foraging team took notes very seriously. If they wanted to eat meat in the winter, they would be counting on these big-horned beasts.

At the same time, Lang Tian waved his hand and assigned Song Li and Niu Shu to Fan Zhou. From that day onward, the two of them became Fan Zhou’s assistants.

Even Que Yu, only half-qualified, had three apprentices. As the High Priest, Tu Zhou had far too few beastmen to command!

Especially since Tu Zhou raised so many prey animals and planted so many grass seeds—it was far too tiring. Assistants had to be arranged.

In fact, all the beastmen in the tribe wanted to help Fan Zhou with work, but Fan Zhou turned them down. These tasks were only a bit tedious, and he and Feng Xun were perfectly able-bodied. Now that Song Li and Niu Shu were also helping, it was more than enough.

After the livestock farm was finished, Fan Zhou set up a benefit for the Axe Tribe.

The beastmen of the Axe Tribe’s hunting team had participated in the construction of the farm from beginning to end. Summer was almost over, and it was time for them to start thinking about winter.

The small sheds they currently lived in could not withstand wind and snow, so they were allowed to make mud bricks, fire cement, and build houses.

Fan Zhou mapped out a specific construction area for them. He would not interfere in the rest—everything would be decided by the beastmen of the Axe Tribe themselves.

Of course, in the early stages of brick-making and cement-firing, they could only work after finishing their daily labor. This was to reform them through labor—they were working for the Waterfall Tribe. If they wanted to take on private projects, they had to wait until after hours.

Fan Zhou hadn’t forgotten their past actions just because they now treated him with fear and reverence.

Once it was actually time to start stacking walls, he would then grant these beastmen time off.

However, the beastmen of the Axe Tribe didn’t feel that Fan Zhou was being harsh with them. On the contrary, they were all extremely happy—they could build their own houses! It was wonderful!

Previously, when they saw the big-horned beasts and mud beasts living in brand-new pens, they had secretly felt envious. They didn’t expect Fan Zhou to immediately allow them to build homes of their own.

These kinds of houses were great—more spacious than caves, and they could shield them from wind and rain. They loved them!

Besides, whether it was making mud bricks or firing cement, the tasks weren’t too heavy. After a full day’s labor, doing a bit more was still manageable—they could endure it!

Currently, their main tasks involve watering the grass seeds and weeding. Watering was a bit tiring, but with gritted teeth, they could push through. That was because Fan Zhou had directed them to dig many small channels to draw water from the stream.

So, they could continue working even after their regular hours!

However, this kind of overtime wasn’t very convenient for the Waterfall Tribe. Dinnertime in the evening was the most anticipated moment of the day, and no one had time to keep watch on them. So Fan Zhou specially promoted Xing Wei and appointed him as acting squad leader, putting him in charge of supervising those beastmen.

Axe-folk should be ruled by axe-folk.

Xing Wei had been working hard these days and hadn’t caused any trouble. He just so happened to be the strongest warrior of the Axe Tribe and held prestige, so he was the perfect fit for the acting squad leader.

The acting squad leader also received a salary: ten jin of meat every seven days.

This salary made the beastmen of the Axe Tribe’s hunting team quite envious, because ever since they stopped making bricks and firing cement for Fan Zhou, their meals had returned to how they were before.

Chewing on wild vegetables every day, they were absolutely craving meat.

After settling the matters within the tribe, Fan Zhou began to busy himself with things for himself and Feng Xun. The first batch of grass seeds they planted was nearly ripe, and they needed to dig a few more caves to serve as storage.

The new caves were located at the foot of their mountain, right next to the first warehouse cave.

He had planted three batches of grass seeds in total. The first batch was small, only about half the size of a football field, roughly five mu.

These five mu were treated as demonstration fields. He had planted them with great care, and the resulting grass seed stalks did not disappoint him—they were quite delightful.

The second batch was planted together with the tribe, with a larger quantity. The seeds used were the ones Niu Shan brought back from the Giant Bear Tribe, amounting to about ten or so mu.

The third batch was from the newly acquired two thousand-plus jin.

With so many grass seeds, even just the five mu from the first batch could fill one entire cave, so digging more caves was necessary.

Feng Xun’s claws were sharp, and with the help of his ability, they only needed one day to dig out a large cave.

The second and third batches of grass seeds also needed caves for storage, not to mention the sesame, soybeans, and other grains, so he and Feng Xun continued digging. Anyway, the beastmen of the Waterfall Tribe would help transport the dug-out earth and stones—they only needed to focus on the digging.

They dug for ten days straight and dug out ten large caves.

The ten large caves lined up at the foot of the mountain, and with the one they had dug before, there were a total of eleven!

This attracted quite a crowd. The beastmen all knew these caves were meant for storing grain, and they were extremely envious—ten large caves full of grass seeds, wasn’t that enough to keep one’s belly round every single day?

After coming to admire them, most of the beastmen from the Axe Tribe felt some regret. Tu Zhou’s first batch of grass seeds was about to ripen, and those heads were big and heavy, bending the grass stalks over!

Compared to wild grass seeds, these heads were plump and enticing. Just relying on this first batch of grass seeds, Tu Zhou wouldn’t have to go hungry in the winter. That whole big patch of grass seeds—only he and Feng Xun would be eating them!

But now it was too late for regrets. Summer was almost over. According to Tu Zhou, if the temperature wasn’t high enough, then once winter arrived, even if the grass seedlings didn’t freeze to death, the harvest would still be poor. In that case, it would’ve been better not to plant at all…

These past few days, Hu Sheng had finally straightened his back, and even his tail was held high as he walked. Previously, he had tried persuading the beastmen of his tribe to plant grass seeds, talking until his mouth was practically smoking, but not a single one of them had listened!

Well, no, two beastmen had listened. One was Yang Da. Yang Da had gone ahead and planted his share of grass seeds.

Niu Zhuang had also listened, but hmph, Niu Zhuang had only planted most of his and Luo Hua’s share of seeds—he hadn’t dared to plant them all.

Aside from them, no other beastmen had taken his advice.

Especially Yang Chang, the beastman who had been captured along with him—he had even doubted Tu Zhou! What an idiot—he couldn’t even recognize food when it was right in his mouth!

Anyway, he had already planted his share of the grass seeds. Back when he followed Fan Zhou to the Axe Tribe, he’d brought all his belongings along. As soon as he arrived at the Waterfall Tribe, he planted his share right away.

Even though taking care of the grass seeds while building roads had been tiring, this winter, he definitely wouldn’t be going hungry!

Though truth be told, he wasn’t hungry now either—hehe, Feng Xun gave him a prey animal every few days. Once, Feng Xun had even given him a big bowl of fried little fish. Though the fish weren’t fresh out of the pot and no longer crispy, they still smelled heavenly to him.

It seemed the information he had provided last time had been quite useful. And since the road they were building now stretched farther and farther from the Waterfall Tribe, he figured he might as well keep an eye out and see if he could find anything else useful.

After the rainfall, the daytime temperatures weren’t as high as before—summer was almost over.

Fan Zhou took the opportunity to give himself and Feng Xun two days off, because digging those caves had been exhausting.

Feng Xun’s claws were indeed sharp, but after all, they were made of flesh. Worried that Feng Xun’s claws might wear out, he had asked Feng Xun to use a stone axe to assist with the digging.

His own ability also had its limits, so half of those large caves had been dug out using stone axes.

Just as they finished digging, it rained, so he justifiably gave both himself and Feng Xun two days off.

Damn! He was so tired that at night all he wanted was for Feng Xun to massage his sore arms—he didn’t want to do anything else.

What a loss—especially after they had just started having meat again.

With the heavy work behind them, Fan Zhou completely let himself go, rewarding his exhausted self with beauty. And of course, that included Feng Xun. Feng Xun liked him so much, he was definitely enjoying it too.

However, since Feng Xun had given him a bone necklace, he couldn’t help but show some appreciation in return.

So, while Feng Xun was out patrolling the grass seed fields or busy with other tasks, he secretly got to work.

The gift he gave was very simple; it was completed in just two days—a small rabbit necklace carved in imitation of his beast form.

Although it was his first time carving, the finished product turned out quite well. When he was making it, he squatted by the stream, using his beast form as a one-to-one reference. The finished product looked just like him.

That night, after indulging in beauty, he didn’t fall asleep immediately like he usually did. He struggled to get off the straw mat and took out the little rabbit necklace hidden on the wooden shelf.

The little rabbit was very small, about the length of a finger. If Feng Xun were in beast form, it would have been far too tiny to wear around the neck, but in human form, it was just the right size.

“Ding-ding-ding~” He smiled as he handed the little rabbit necklace to Feng Xun. The moonlight was bright that night, and earlier, while enjoying the beauty, Feng Xun had been standing at the cave entrance, and he had remained on the straw mat.

At this moment, Feng Xun took the necklace, turned around, and lifted it up toward the moonlight to examine it closely.

Feng Xun immediately recognized it—it was his rabbit.

He turned his head toward Fan Zhou in delight, his beautiful eyes sparkling brightly. “When did you make this?”

“When you weren’t in the cave.” Feng Xun’s intense joy made Fan Zhou feel a bit embarrassed. As someone from the modern world, giving a necklace like this wasn’t a big deal.

However, given the conditions of this savage world, it wasn’t like he could offer anything better…

“I really like it.” Feng Xun had no idea what Fan Zhou was thinking. He gently stroked the little rabbit, then brought it to his lips and kissed it before putting it around his neck.

“Does it look good?” He looked at Fan Zhou with anticipation.

Fan Zhou’s face immediately flushed red. Of course, it looked good! Ahem, a beautiful man with a bare chest—like a masterpiece.

“It looks good. You look the best. Come in, come in, it’s cold outside.” He gestured for Feng Xun to come into the cave. The temperature difference was already large, and now that summer was nearly over, Feng Xun had just broken into a sweat—he didn’t want him catching a cold from the night breeze.

Feng Xun obediently walked in. Fan Zhou grabbed Feng Xun’s hand, intending to lie down immediately, but Feng Xun gently tugged him into his arms instead. Then, with both hands cupping Fan Zhou’s face, he kissed him deeply.

The force was heavy, as if he were devouring him.

But Fan Zhou understood—Feng Xun must have been truly moved. Feng Xun liked him so much!

He clung to Feng Xun’s shoulders and did his best to respond. He had noticed that lately, Feng Xun hadn’t seemed as happy as he had imagined.

Beastmen had simple minds. As long as they had enough to eat, they’d be silly with joy—life was that simple.

Before, after Feng Xun had eaten, although he wouldn’t nap or play like other beastmen, his whole presence had been calm, peaceful, and content.

But recently, it wasn’t like that.

He had already agreed to become mates with Feng Xun and had even gone all the way with him, yet sometimes, a trace of disappointment would still appear on Feng Xun’s face.

He couldn’t understand it.

But not understanding didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to soothe him. A melancholic beauty was indeed still beautiful like a painting, but he wanted Feng Xun to be happy—happy every single day.

That kiss ended up igniting another round of passion. By the time they were finished, it was already deep into the night. Fan Zhou fell straight asleep, while Feng Xun stared at his cheeks for a while, then reached with his big hand to touch the little rabbit around his neck.

Feng Xun truly hadn’t expected the rabbit to give him a gift, and it was a little rabbit!

Of course, the rabbit usually gave him many things, but those weren’t gifts. Often, even Xiong Jing had them.

But this little rabbit was different—it was meant for him, only for him, and no one else had one.

The rabbit did like him—liked him more and more with each passing day.

This realization filled his heart with peace. He kissed the little rabbit again, hugged the person in his arms tightly, and fell asleep with satisfaction.

Tomorrow, the rabbit was going to teach him those mysterious symbols. The rabbit said they were called “Chinese characters,” a type of symbol that was especially complicated and especially hard to learn, even harder than arithmetic.

He wasn’t afraid.

Before, he had only wanted to get closer to the rabbit, so he had wanted to learn. But after watching the rabbit over the past few days, using charcoal sticks to draw and write on white tree bark, he realized that these symbols, just like numbers, had very important uses.

He was very interested. He wanted to learn.

Once he learned them, not only could he be closer to the rabbit, but he could also help share some of the workload. The rabbit was too tired. Being a high priest wasn’t an easy job—the high priest in the temple had many ordinary priests under him.

The rabbit’s wisdom was far greater than that high priest. Hmm… he should try to persuade the rabbit to take on a few more apprentices.