Hu Sheng and Xiong Ye were travel-worn and dusty, their faces smeared with grime.

As for Hu Rong and the other Holy Temple beastmen, they looked even worse. Each one of them bore whip marks on their bodies, held sticks as walking canes, their cheeks sunken from hunger—they couldn’t even stand steadily.

They looked like refugees.

It was now afternoon, and there weren’t many beastmen in the tribe. Glancing at the tribe’s main gate, Hu Sheng plopped down onto the ground, stuck out his tongue, and panted heavily.

Turning his head and seeing Fan Zhou and Feng Xun walking toward them, he weakly called out, “sweet water… sweet water…”

Fan Zhou: “……”

He had gotten used to Hu Sheng shouting and hollering at the top of his lungs, so now that raspy voice sounded a bit harsh to the ears.

Just as he was thinking about it, Feng Xun beside him spoke: “I’ll take you over.”

The next second, Fan Zhou was picked up by Feng Xun, and after a brief moment of weightlessness, he arrived at the entrance of the tribe.

Once he stood steadily on the ground, he bent down and handed Hu Sheng a water ball. Of course, Bao Cheng and Ying Xiao beside him couldn’t be left out either. These three were noticeably much thinner compared to when they had first departed.

Then, he turned to look at a few beastmen who were standing nearby with astonished faces.

These few beastmen looked similar to Hu Sheng, Bao Cheng, and Ying Xiao—filthy from head to toe, very thin, but their eyes were bright.

“This is Xiong Ye. His beast form is a giant panda.”

Feng Xun began introducing them one by one, pointing as he spoke: “Yang He, his beast form is a long-haired sheep.”

“Yang Ye, her beast form is a sheep.”

“Lu Duan, his beast form is a giraffe. He thinks his neck is too long and doesn’t look good, so he deliberately changed his name to Lu Duan.”

“Xiong Hong, his beast form is a polar bear. But he likes the color red, so he renamed himself Xiong Hong.”

“This is Yang Mie, the cub of Yang He and Yang Ye. Coincidentally, two sheep gave birth to a little lamb.”

Yang Mie had already taken the Beast Spirit Flower and regained his spiritual intelligence.

At the moment, he was nestled in Yang Ye’s arms, curiously looking at Tu Zhou.

“Hello there.” Fan Zhou raised a smile and lifted his hand to greet Yang Mie. Then he looked at the adults and spoke gently, “My name is Tu Zhou. Welcome to the Waterfall Tribe.”

“The journey must have been hard. I’ve already sent someone to roast meat. Have some sweet water first to fill your stomachs.”

After he spoke, he smilingly handed out a water ball to each of the five adults and the one cub.

Xiong Ye dazedly stretched out his hand. They had already started roasting meat? So thoughtful. He really was hungry. Feeling the weight in his hand, he hurried to bring the water ball closer and examine it carefully.

He poked it—slightly soft… truly a miracle.

He brought it to his lips and gave it a lick. He used a bit too much force, and the water ball burst. The water immediately spilled out, catching him off guard, and he hurriedly gulped it down.

But even so, quite a bit of water still spilled down his chin and into his collar.

The sweet water soothed his dry throat—it really tasted much better than ordinary stream water. He raised his hand and wiped his chin, feeling a bit frustrated that he had wasted so much!

Just then, another water ball was handed to him: “It’s okay, drink another one. There’s plenty.”

He quickly looked up and saw Tu Zhou smiling at him. His cheeks instantly flushed red. So embarrassing, he couldn’t even drink water properly!

He accepted the water ball and softly said, “Thank you, High Priest.”

“Just call me Tu Zhou. That’s what all the beastmen in our tribe call me.”

Tu Zhou?

Xiong Ye hesitated. The person in front of him was the High Priest, someone who carried miracles on him—much more impressive than the High Priest from the Holy Temple.

“Xiong Ye, listen to Tu Zhou. You’re my companion, and Tu Zhou is my mate. Theres no need to be so formal,” Feng Xun spoke up, even patting Xiong Ye’s shoulder.

“Uh… okay.” Xiong Ye nodded hesitantly.

The other beastmen also looked hesitant. This new High Priest was really kind, not putting on any airs at all…

“How did you all get back so quickly?” Feng Xun asked curiously.

“Because we wanted to attend the Divine Sacrifice, of course.” Hu Sheng had recovered quite a bit after drinking the spiritual spring water, and his voice regained some energy. “We didn’t want to miss the Divine Sacrifice!”

“……”

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun exchanged a glance, and Fan Zhou laughed, bending down to hand Hu Sheng another water ball: “Feng Xun and I are getting married tomorrow—you’ve arrived just in time!”

Actually, he had been planning to wait a bit longer for Hu Sheng, Xiong Ye, and the others, but the Shell Tribe and Kelp Tribe had already been gone for too long. If they didn’t go back soon, the beastmen in those two tribes would probably be worried sick.

So they decided to hold the wedding tomorrow.

But he hadn’t expected Hu Sheng, Xiong Ye, and the rest to rush back no matter what just to attend the Divine Sacrifice.

“Aiya, you’re getting married?” Hu Sheng was delighted, and couldn’t help standing up from the ground. “That’s really perfect timing! Tu Zhou, shouldn’t you be thanking me? I’m the one who told Feng Xun to come back earlier.”

“I was part of it too!” When Bao Cheng saw Hu Sheng claiming credit, he naturally wasn’t willing to fall behind, and quickly said, “High Priest, one night Feng Xun missed you so much he secretly cried his nose off.”

“That’s right, that’s right! It was the night we caught Hu Rong! I saw it too!” Ying Xiao, who had also recovered much of his strength, immediately joined in and started shouting.

Feng Xun: “?”

When did he cry?

Hu Sheng hadn’t expected the two of them to fight for credit with him and hurriedly shouted, “I was the one who suggested it first! I had the idea before anyone else! Ying Xiao was too busy currying favor with Xiong Ye, how can he compare to me trying to win favor with Feng Xun!”

Fan Zhou narrowed his eyes: “You were the one who egged him on to come back?”

“Yeah, he had been gone for so long. He really missed you, and you definitely missed him too.”

Hu Sheng nodded as if it were a matter of course.

But why did Tu Zhou’s expression look kind of dangerous…? He couldn’t help shrinking his neck.

“Then I don’t want to thank you,” Fan Zhou said sourly.

“Why not?” Hu Sheng’s eyes widened.

“Because Feng Xun, in order to get back quickly, used his extreme speed and ended up in pain and covered in blood.”

Hu Sheng: “……”

He first opened his eyes wide, then immediately hid behind Xiong Ye and whispered, “Xiong Ye also urged him to hurry back.”

Panda protection shield!

Don’t take it out on him, don’t take it out on him!

Xiong Ye was also very surprised, and looked Feng Xun over from head to toe: “Feng Xun, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I had Beast Spirit Flowers with me, and Tu Zhou gave me sweet water in time,” Feng Xun said as he reached out and held Fan Zhou’s hand, gently swaying it twice: “Don’t be mad anymore. It was my fault. It had nothing to do with them.”

Hu Sheng couldn’t help but nod hard.

That’s right. It really had nothing to do with him.

Fan Zhou of course knew the responsibility was on the person beside him: “I’m not mad. But as for any thank-you gifts, there won’t be any.”

Hu Sheng pouted when he heard that and stayed silent.

“The ten stalks of Beast Spirit Flowers I promised you before you set out—I can give them to you now. These past two days, the Beast Spirit Flowers have bloomed. If you want them, I’ll go dig them up for you,” Fan Zhou added.

“Mm…” Hu Sheng’s eyes rolled. He didn’t really need the Beast Spirit Flowers at the moment. The two stalks Fan Zhou had given him earlier were still tucked away.

Bao Cheng and Ying Xiao hadn’t yet come to a conclusion, when not far off, Song Li’s voice rang out: “Tu Zhou, Lu Hua and I brought the dried meat, and also fried little fish and sticky rice cakes.”

Earlier, when Fan Zhou and Feng Xun had been teaching the beastmen how to make pottery, and heard Hu Sheng and Xiong Ye had returned, Fan Zhou had told Song Li to go to the cave and bring the leftover sticky rice cakes and dried little fish from lunch.

Of course, there was also dried meat.

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun had then hurried to the tribe entrance.

When they heard there was food, Hu Sheng, Bao Cheng, and Ying Xiao immediately couldn’t care less about thinking about Beast Spirit Flowers. They were starving! In order to hurry back to the tribe, they had only eaten a bit of leftover roasted meat from the morning at noon and filled their bellies with water.

They had pushed through until now, and that bit of meat had long since been digested.

Xiong Ye, Lu Duan, Yang He, Yang Ye, and Xiong Hong all looked at Song Li as well. They were hungry too.

The dried meat that Song Li brought filled a large basket on his back. The fried little fish filled half a basin, and there were over ten sticky rice cakes.

Fan Zhou had upgraded the filling of the sticky rice cakes. He ground the sesame seeds into powder and mixed them with hard nut paste. These sticky rice cakes were about seventy percent similar to tangyuan filled with black sesame. The texture was excellent.

Whether it was Hu Sheng, Bao Cheng, and Ying Xiao, or Xiong Ye and the others, it was their first time eating such a delicacy. They carefully examined the sticky rice cakes in their hands—so delicate in texture it was unbelievable. So delicious!

Xiong Ye, Lu Duan, Yang He, Yang Ye, and Xiong Hong exchanged looks, unable to hide the smiles on their faces. They had just arrived at the Waterfall Tribe and already got to eat such delicious food—what happiness.

And the High Priest even gave them sweet water, afraid they’d choke, letting them sip while they ate.

Yang Ye’s eyes turned red. The High Priest was so thoughtful, and so gentle. Compared to the hideous face of the Holy Temple’s High Priest, she really felt like she was about to cry from being moved.

This scene made Hu Rong and the others sitting not far off on the ground gulp with envy.

They were even more exhausted than Hu Sheng and Xiong Ye!

And even hungrier!

Along the way, they hadn’t eaten a single bite of meat. They could only eat wild vegetables until they were half full, but they still had to travel with high intensity. That they hadn’t died on the road was truly thanks to the Beast God’s protection…

The Beast God… really was watching over the Waterfall Tribe, wasn’t he?

They had already seen the two caves where the Beast Spirit Flowers were planted.

That Tu Zhou’s hand could even produce sweet water out of thin air.

All of this showed that the Beast God was truly watching over the Waterfall Tribe!

The Beast God hadn’t appeared at the Holy Temple in many years. The High Priest said that the Beast God was very busy, because he had to bless all the beastmen.

But how come the Beast God had time to perform miracles in the Waterfall Tribe…

They were lost, hopeless, and stared blankly at Fan Zhou and the others. Of course, nearly everyone was gulping— they were really hungry.

But Fan Zhou couldn’t be bothered with them. Let them stay hungry first. Once they were starving, they would be obedient.

Before long, Lang Tian came over. He was preparing for the wedding tomorrow by the altar. Fan Zhou had him tie up Hu Rong and the others, and said to deal with them only after his and Feng Xun’s wedding was over.

Fan Zhou led Hu Sheng and Xiong Ye toward the cave. As they walked, he introduced the situation of the tribe. Upon learning that the Divine Sacrifice had already passed for several days, Hu Sheng immediately wailed.

Xiong Ye and the others also had regret written all over their faces.

They had still missed the first Divine Sacrifice of the new Holy Temple.

However, their efforts had not been in vain. They had made it in time for Lord Tu Zhou and Feng Xun’s wedding!

After eating roasted meat, they couldn’t help running over to the altar. They had heard that the site was filled with wildflowers!

The altar side had indeed turned into a sea of flowers. Centered around the altar, large patches of flowers had been planted all around, stretching outward, spreading for several hundred meters.

A small path had been left directly in front of the altar, and at the entrance of the path stood a flower gate stuffed full of wildflowers.

If this had been in Fan Zhou’s past life, such a setup would have been just standard, nothing special. But in the world of beastmen, this setup left the beastmen so shocked they were speechless.

So beautiful!

So beautiful that it made people want to have another wedding all over again. Yang Ye was green with envy.

Xiong Wu and Lu Xin were also envious. Xiong Wu had always been proud of his and Lu Xin’s wedding, but compared to the wildflowers before them now, their wedding had been so plain.

However, thinking about how he had made five necklaces for Lu Xin, Xiong Wu puffed out his chest again. Lu Xin had really liked the necklaces he gave him. He was excited for a long time, and only stopped wearing them later because he found them too heavy.

He wondered what Feng Xun would give to Tu Zhou tomorrow.

Feng Xun was also fretting over this matter.

Originally, he had wanted to trade meat for a lot of flowers for Fan Zhou. But since the other beastmen didn’t want his meat and voluntarily went to dig wildflowers, that meant he had basically prepared nothing for Fan Zhou.

How could that be?

Carrying the beast hide pouch that Hu Sheng had helped bring back, he returned to the cave while pondering.

Inside the beast hide pouch were bark paper and other items he had collected, all very precious.

Opening the pouch and taking out the bark paper, when he saw what lay at the bottom of the bag, he blinked, and a sudden idea popped into his head.

Fan Zhou was at the foot of the mountain teaching the beastmen how to make pottery. Feng Xun picked up the beast hide pouch and hurried out of the cave, heading straight for the tribe’s storage cave specifically used to store large bones.

These bones were used to make bone tools. He picked and chose, then stayed busy in the cave for quite a while. It wasn’t until someone came to call for him on Fan Zhou’s behalf that he returned carrying the pouch.

“What were you doing?” Fan Zhou looked at him curiously.

“I made a little something. Tomorrow I’ll give you a surprise.” He placed the beast hide pouch onto the wooden rack and especially added, “Don’t look at it for now, or there won’t be a surprise tomorrow.”

“…Alright.” Fan Zhou agreed.

A surprise?

With this guy’s grade school-level taste, what kind of surprise could he even give?

But thinking of tomorrow’s wedding, his gaze as he looked at Feng Xun’s back couldn’t help softening.

He, Fan Zhou, was going to get married.

And the person he was marrying was super handsome~

Even though their souls couldn’t resonate just yet, he still loved him so much.

Feng Xun put away the beast hide pouch, turned around, and saw Fan Zhou looking at him with a smile. He immediately smiled too, walked over in a few quick steps, bent down, cupped Fan Zhou’s cheeks, and gently nuzzled.

Let tomorrow come quickly!

Night passed quickly, and as the sky turned pale, the territory of the Waterfall Tribe grew lively.

The beastmen gathered below the cave and, for the first time, boldly shouted Fan Zhou’s name, urging Fan Zhou and Feng Xun to come down quickly.

Just like on the day of the Divine Sacrifice—hold the wedding first, then eat!

Feng Xun had caught a lot of prey, and today they were going to eat it all!

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun put on brand-new linen clothes and descended from the cave with smiling faces.

The beastmen surrounded them and led them toward the ceremonial platform.

The tall beastmen like Xiong Wu and Xing Wei held large baskets filled with freshly picked flower petals. They grabbed the petals and tossed them onto Fan Zhou and Feng Xun.

The other beastmen howled the entire way—it was so special!

When they reached the front of the ceremonial platform, the beastmen spread out and surrounded the platform, carefully avoiding the flowers underfoot, not wanting to disturb today’s picture-perfect scene.

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun held hands and stood before the flower gate. Under the gazes of many beastmen, they walked step by step to the front of the ceremonial platform.

Feng Xun picked up Fan Zhou, and with a bit of strength, leapt onto the ten-meter-high ceremonial platform.

The beastmen below immediately began to cheer—what strength! Truly worthy of being the High Priest’s partner!

Hou Yan was already standing on the ceremonial platform. He smiled as he looked at Fan Zhou and Feng Xun and loudly said, “Beast God above, today Tu Zhou and Feng Xun become partners. We pray You bless them with love and sweetness, and endless prey to eat every day!”

“Tu Zhou, what is the seventh commandment of the Beast God’s Ten Commandments?”

“Love your partner, regardless of gender,” Fan Zhou immediately answered.

“Feng Xun, what is the seventh commandment of the Beast God’s Ten Commandments?” Hou Yan looked toward Feng Xun again.

“Love your partner, regardless of gender,” Feng Xun answered very seriously.

“Good! You must always remember the Beast God’s commandments. Do not violate them. The Beast God is watching you!”

After Hou Yan finished speaking, he began to dance. All priests knew how to dance. He picked up a small basket that had been placed to the side. It was also filled with flower petals.

He danced as he scattered the petals over Fan Zhou and Feng Xun, chanting all sorts of blessings as he did.

Below the platform, Quan Zhi watched the scene with intense envy. He was also a priest, and even one with more insight than Hou Yan, but because Hou Yan had met the High Priest earlier, today’s good fortune of officiating the wedding had fallen to Hou Yan.

To officiate the High Priest’s wedding—that was something one could brag about for a lifetime!

Hou Yan danced very seriously and shouted the blessings loudly. Only when the petals in the basket were all used up did he stop.

Looking at Fan Zhou and Feng Xun gazing at each other deeply, he smiled and said, “Alright, the wedding is conc—”

“Wait a moment.” Before Hou Yan could finish his words, Fan Zhou interrupted him.

Hou Yan was surprised. What was the matter?

The beastmen below also widened their eyes. What was going on?

If this had been in the past, Feng Xun definitely would have tensed up. But at this moment, he only looked at Fan Zhou with curiosity.

Fan Zhou reached into his pants pocket and pulled out two bone rings. He handed the smaller one to Feng Xun: “Hold it.”

Once Feng Xun caught it, Fan Zhou grabbed Feng Xun’s right hand with one hand and slipped the larger ring onto Feng Xun’s ring finger with the other: “This is a ring. Once I put it on you, you’re mine. You’ll be mine forever.”

Feng Xun: “!”

He was startled. He raised his hand and stared closely at the small and delicate ring in his hand. He belonged only to the bunny?

He immediately, joyfully grabbed Fan Zhou’s hand and slipped the smaller ring onto Fan Zhou’s ring finger: “I’m marking you too. You’re mine. Forever mine.”

Fan Zhou looked at his bright eyes and smiled with a nod. “Okay. I’ll be yours forever.”

“Good bunny!” Feng Xun was overwhelmed with joy. He loved hearing those words. He couldn’t help but cup Fan Zhou’s face and gave him a firm kiss.

The beastmen below instantly erupted into howls. These words were so fresh and unique—completely different from what was said at other beastmen weddings!

And that ring—what was it? It looked plain, but it made people feel so happy just hearing about it.

Lu Xin couldn’t help looking at the Xiong Wu beside him.

Xiong Wu was also lowering his head to look at him.

He immediately pouted: “I want a ring too!”

“Alright, I’ll ask Tu Zhou later, and have it made today,” Xiong Wu patted his chest in assurance.

It had to be arranged! He and Lu Xin had to mark each other too.

Niu Zhuang held Shi Bao in his arms and lowered his head to discuss the matter of the ring with Lu Hua. He liked this little thing!

On the ceremonial platform, Feng Xun didn’t go overboard with the kiss—he also had a gift to give to Fan Zhou. He looked down at the beastmen below, met eyes with Xiong Ye, and waved at him. Xiong Ye immediately tossed the beast hide bag he was holding up to him.

Feng Xun caught the beast hide bag, opened it, and took out the item inside.

It was a crown, styled the same as the Beast King’s crown. The difference was that the Beast King’s crown was inlaid with red gemstones, while this crown was inlaid with a blue gemstone.

This blue gemstone had been something he accidentally discovered while passing by a mountain during his journey. In the beastman world, such pretty colored stones were decorative items and very rare.

Even though Fan Zhou didn’t care much for appearance, Feng Xun had still brought it back to gift to him.

However, when he saw this stone yesterday, he had a new idea. Rather than making it into a necklace, it would be better to make it into a crown.

Other beastmen were sensitive about the word “King” since a real Beast King existed.

But he wasn’t.

The word “King” carried immense meaning, was incredibly precious—his bunny deserved that word!

So he decided to forge a crown.

He placed the crown on Fan Zhou’s head. Meeting Fan Zhou’s surprised gaze, he seriously said, “You are my king, mine alone.”

Fan Zhou: “……”

Awkward.

Not exactly a surprise.

But seeing the seriousness on the handsome man’s face, he lifted a hand to touch the crown atop his head and smiled as he said, “I really like it.” Upon hearing this, Feng Xun immediately smiled as well—so long as the bunny liked it, all was good! This was the most precious thing he could think of.

He sincerely said, “You look really good wearing it.”

Really good?

At that, Fan Zhou smiled sincerely too. His appearance could only be called delicate, and this person rarely praised him for being good-looking.

He touched the crown atop his head again and changed his mind—since this man thought he looked good in it, then he would wear it more often from now on.

Standing on tiptoe, he kissed the man’s lips and smiled at Hou Yan. “It’s over now, let everyone start roasting meat.”

As soon as he said that, the beastmen below began howling again—it was time to eat, time to eat, today was roast meat day!

Roast meat couldn’t compare to hot pot, but there was no helping it. Fan Zhou had been busy these past few days teaching beastmen how to make pottery—he hadn’t had time to stir-fry the base or make sesame sauce.

Still, eating meat always made people happy. The beastmen jumped and cheered, said their blessings to Fan Zhou and Feng Xun, and then rushed off to the livestock area.

The prey Feng Xun had caught in the past few days had all been stored in the livestock area.

Fan Zhou didn’t plan to eat roasted meat with the beastmen—this was their wedding day, of course they needed to be alone.

Feng Xun couldn’t wait. Holding him, he quickly ran back to the cave. As soon as Fan Zhou’s feet hit the ground, he couldn’t help but poke Feng Xun’s chest. “It’s broad daylight, beastmen could come over at any time. We’re not doing that.”

Feng Xun’s eyes widened: “I have another gift to give you.”

“…Another gift?” They rushed back so urgently—not to do that?

“Yes!” Feng Xun pulled him into the cave.

At the wooden shelf, Feng Xun opened a clay box and took out a very small and delicate crown. “This is for your beast form to wear. It’ll definitely look really cute.”

Fan Zhou: “……”

Looking at the man’s expectant and sparkling eyes, his mouth twitched slightly, then he transformed into his beast form.

Feng Xun carried him to the pillow, placed the delicate little crown on his small head, and studied him closely. Feng Xun’s eyes lit up even more—too cute, so cute he wanted to roll around!

He couldn’t help but scoop up the entire bunny and kiss him several times.

Fan Zhou: “……”

Fine, whatever makes him happy.

However, before the handsome man could roll around with him on the bed, Fan Zhou quickly changed back into human form.

He wanted to enjoy the handsome man too—he couldn’t let him have all the fun. Today was his wedding, after all.

The other beastmen were busy roasting meat and probably wouldn’t pay them any attention.

Thinking this, he set up a water curtain at the entrance of the cave and hung a hemp curtain over it.

Feng Xun understood what he meant and immediately pressed him into the bedding, kissing him fiercely—so much that his body went soft, his heart burned hot, and his mind turned hazy.

Of course, the handsome man’s feelings were much the same. He made no attempt to hide his affection, his gaze burning hot, as if he wanted to swallow him whole.

He closed his eyes, letting himself sink into a state where both body and mind were no longer under his control.

So good.

The handsome man was so good.

Being in love was also so good.

Everything… was so good.