Fan Zhou looked toward Hu Tu again. “Where is the Beast God?”

Hu Tu was stunned when he heard this. This Tu Zhou didn’t know where the Beast God was? Then how did he receive the Beast God’s divine sign?

His eyes instinctively darted around.

Fan Zhou immediately rolled his eyes. Still trying to play mind games with him? The water whip instantly tightened, squeezing Hu Tu until he cried out, “The Beast God hasn’t appeared for many, many years!”

“You don’t know where the Beast God is either?” Fan Zhou was a little skeptical and made the water whip tighten again.

Hu Tu felt so suffocated it was unbearable, it felt like his rough hemp clothes were being squeezed right into his flesh. He hurriedly shouted, “I really don’t know where the Beast God is!”

“You don’t know? Then what did you come here to look at the Beast God’s outfit for?”

“I, I…” Hu Tu stammered.

Fan Zhou completely lost his patience. At this point, he still wouldn’t be honest? A strand of the water whip split off and covered Hu Tu’s mouth and nose.

The feeling of suffocation came instantly. Hu Tu was terrified and struggled, but the more he struggled, the more suffocating it became.

Seeing that his face was turning red, Fan Zhou finally snorted coldly and removed the water mask.

“Have you gotten honest now?”

Hu Tu coughed violently, feeling terrible, but upon hearing this, he didn’t dare not answer. He quickly nodded frantically. He was honest now. Really honest!

Too scary, this divine sign was too scary. Why hadn’t the Beast God passed this divine sign down to the line of High Priests?!

He was filled with all kinds of envy, but when he saw Fan Zhou staring coldly at him, he didn’t dare delay and rasped out, “I wanted to… cough cough… I wanted to put on the divine artifact left behind by the Beast God, to…”

He lowered his head and softened his voice. “To kill you and Feng Xun.”

“Kill me?” Fan Zhou glanced at the mech. “You know how to use it?”

“Just press the green button on the back and you can get inside the divine artifact,” Hu Tu said honestly.

Upon hearing that, Fan Zhou first wrapped himself in a water sphere, then pulled Hu Tu over and held him in front as a shield. Only then did he go around to the back of the mech.

There really were two buttons on the mech’s back, one red and one green.

He used the water whip to press the green button, and the mech’s back indeed opened from the middle. He could see the inside of the mech at a glance.

Inside, at chest level, there was a control panel with only a few simple buttons.

Next to each button was a drawing, just like how he had first taught Feng Xun to recognize characters. Next to the start button was a picture of two legs walking.

Next to the flight button was a picture of a pair of wings.

But!

Next to every single button, there were Chinese characters.

Chinese. Chinese!

He would never forget Chinese even if he died!

“These are characters from your homeland!” Feng Xun had also noticed and was very surprised.

Fan Zhou took a deep breath. His mind was a chaotic mess. “Yes, they’re from my homeland.”

But why was it Chinese?

Was it that Earth had already been destroyed, and this was a rebooted version of Earth?

Or was it that Earth’s technology had advanced enough to enable interplanetary travel, and then some fellow countryman who loved performing came to this primitive world to play the role of the Beast God?

“When was the last time the Beast God appeared?!” He suddenly turned to Hu Tu and urgently asked.

Hu Tu noticed something was off with him, but couldn’t understand it. Characters from his homeland? These were clearly divine script passed down by the Beast God, which only successive High Priests could learn!

He suppressed his doubts and opened his mouth: “My teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher said he had seen the Beast God. Calculating from that, it should have been four hundred seventy-eight years ago.”

“…The Beast God hasn’t appeared during all that time?!” Fan Zhou found it hard to believe—it had really been that long?

“No. At least not at the Holy Temple.”

“Then when did he appear for the first time?!” Fan Zhou asked again.

“Hmm…” Hu Tu opened his eyes wide, and only after a long while did he shake his head. “I don’t know. It was the Beast God who created the beastmen. He taught the beastmen to hunt, to gather, to make fire, to dig holes…”

“He passed on many skills to the beastmen. He also bestowed the beastmen with beast spirit flowers and hard fruit.”

“Later, he built the Holy Temple and no longer stayed in the beastman continent. He would appear once every few years.”

“Gradually, his appearances became less and less frequent, until that one recorded by my teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher. He said the Beast God took away a beastman with a broken leg, and one day later sent that beastman back, and the one with the broken leg was already bouncing around, full of life. Then the Beast God left.”

“Since then, he hasn’t appeared again.”

“…Then what’s the story with this outfit?” Fan Zhou pointed at the mech.

“This was the divine artifact he left for the Holy Temple. In case any enemy wanted to destroy the Holy Temple, the High Priest could put on this outfit to repel the enemy.”

Fan Zhou: “…”

No clues at all.

The Beast God acted like a true god of creation. He taught all that needed teaching, allowed the beastman world to form a simple order and ensure functioning, then patted his ass and left.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand to rub his face. This Beast God—did he know that this world was on the verge of collapse now?!

Feng Xun looked at his expression and felt a little distressed. “Let’s keep looking. Maybe the Beast God Lord is sleeping somewhere.”

The Beast God Lord might be tired, fallen into slumber, and thus didn’t know about the matters of the beastman continent.

Fan Zhou gave a bitter smile at those words.

Asleep?

Even if the Beast God Lord were asleep, he wouldn’t choose this primitive world.

Look at the mech he left behind—so simple it was like a children’s toy. Those few foolproof buttons were clearly tailored to the beastmen.

He taught what needed to be taught, and even left behind defensive tools. If it were him, he’d feel reassured to leave this world too.

That Beast God had either left or died.

Without this Beast God, and only relying on his bit of spirit spring water, the beastman world really might be doomed.

He was silent for a long time, then sighed inwardly, and looked at Hu Tu who was cautiously watching him. He frowned and said, “Besides this outfit, did the Beast God leave behind anything else?”

Upon hearing this, Hu Tu racked his brain and then said, “There’s also the bone sword of the Enforcer.”

“Nothing else besides that?” Fan Zhou’s expression was not good.

“No, if you don’t believe me, you can search however you want.” Hu Tu looked at Fan Zhou’s furrowed brows, afraid that Fan Zhou would torment him again, so he kept his attitude extremely proper.

“Fine.” Holding the mindset of trying anything in desperation, Fan Zhou really did pull Hu Tu to walk out.

He untied Hu Tu’s legs, only binding his upper body.

Hu Tu wore a face of despair and stumbled as he followed.

Feng Xun also followed along.

“Feng Xun, there might be some underground chamber here. Try to think carefully, see if you can recall any clues,” Fan Zhou said while surveying the Beast God’s courtyard.

Feng Xun nodded lightly.

“And you! Think hard. If you can’t remember anything, then prepare for punishment. I promise your end will be worse than Xiang Er’s,” Fan Zhou glared at Hu Tu.

Hu Tu’s face turned pale with fright. He already knew what had become of Xiang Er. He didn’t want his legs broken and be forced to haul dung!

But he really couldn’t think of anything else! Though the Beast God taught some divine script, that was only for controlling the divine artifacts.

There were no written records, only oral transmission and year records noted down by successive High Priests. He really couldn’t recall anything else!

The Holy Temple was divided into four areas, and the Beast God’s residence was an absolute forbidden zone. It was very quiet here.

Leaving the Beast God’s residence, next to it was the High Priest’s large courtyard.

This place was very lively, because the High Priest had placed the locations for making hemp cloth and firing pottery right in his big courtyard.

In addition, there were several apprentices in his courtyard whom he had personally taken in. Calling them apprentices was generous—truthfully, they were more like servants. He often ordered these apprentices around to serve him.

In this courtyard, Hu Tu held absolute power over life and death. Now, Fan Zhou walked in pulling Hu Tu along with a water whip, which gave those beastmen quite a scare.

But when they saw Feng Xun, those beastmen immediately understood what was going on.

That huge piece of news brought back by Shi Shi had already spread throughout the Holy Temple!

As beastmen who were closest to the High Priest, of course they didn’t want what Shi Shi said to be true.

If the High Priest was finished, then there would be no good days left for them either!

But they hadn’t expected that Feng Xun would silently capture the High Priest…

Panic flashed across their faces—what should they do?!

“All of you, come here. Gather in the courtyard!” Fan Zhou said sternly, ordering all the beastmen to stand in the middle of the courtyard.

Feng Xun also went into the large houses where pottery was fired and hemp was processed, bringing out the beastmen from inside.

Once these beastmen obediently stood in place, Fan Zhou untied the hemp backpack on his back and pulled out a handful of dried beast spirit flowers: “I want to know anything related to the Beast God. Whoever can tell me, I’ll give them beast spirit flowers.”

This nouveau riche kind of behavior shocked all the beastmen present. Several of them began to breathe heavily, and everyone’s eyes lit up.

Beast spirit flowers!

Just one grab and there were more than a dozen stalks. Could it be that the whole bag was full of beast spirit flowers?

The news Shi Shi brought back really wasn’t false!

But as for matters concerning the Beast God, they truly didn’t know. With both the High Priest and Feng Xun here, could they know more than those two?

Obviously not possible!

Fan Zhou saw that although this group was very tempted, no one took action, and he felt a deep disappointment.

“Go tell the other beastmen. Anyone who knows news about the Beast God, just come find me. As long as the information is useful, I’ll give as many beast spirit flowers as they want.”

“Also, many beastmen in the Holy Temple have violated the Ten Commandments of the Beast God. For those whose offenses are minor, I can let it go, but for those with serious offenses, they must be punished.”

When these words came out, the beastmen looked at one another—some with relief on their faces, others in panic.

“You can all go now, go ask other beastmen about matters concerning the Beast God. If you get any information, come find me at the gate of the Holy Temple.”

Fan Zhou waved his hand, telling these beastmen to hurry up and go do the task for him.

He wasn’t afraid of anyone running away out of fear. If they ran, so be it. Anyway, a few years later, if they weren’t dead, they would still have to come beg him.

After this group of beastmen dispersed, he dragged Hu Tu toward the gate of the Holy Temple.

Meanwhile, Feng Xun took the opportunity to go to the Beast Emperor’s courtyard and drag Li Zhong over.

It wasn’t even noon yet. Normally, Li Zhong, as the Beast Emperor, should have been leading the beastmen on a hunt by now.

But it turned out that not only had Li Zhong not gone hunting, he was in the middle of seeking pleasure with a female beastman!

Feng Xun’s sudden appearance gave him a fright. Feng Xun’s expression was like ice and didn’t even let him get dressed—he knocked him out with a single swipe, then brought him to the gate of the Holy Temple.

There was a large plaza at the gate of the Holy Temple. Fan Zhou was standing there with Hu Tu in tow.

Not far away stood a few beastmen, watching Fan Zhou with both fear and curiosity.

Feng Xun threw Li Zhong onto the ground, then angrily told Fan Zhou what Li Zhong had just been doing. After listening, Fan Zhou sneered and looked toward Hu Tu.

“You picked Li Zhong to be Beast Emperor because he’s brainless and easy to fool, right?”

Hu Tu: “…”

He kept his head down, not daring to make a sound.

“Speak.”

Fan Zhou’s anger surged.

Earlier, because he had been too shocked by the sight of the mech, his mind had been entirely focused on the matter of the Beast God no longer being around, so he hadn’t had time to settle the old score with Hu Tu for scheming against Feng Xun.

Now, looking at Li Zhong in this pitiful state, all the anger he had suppressed for so long suddenly surged out.

With a thought, the water whip binding Hu Tu immediately split off a strand, then lashed down hard on Hu Tu’s body.

Hu Tu trembled from the pain, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Not far away, the eyes of those few beastmen watching this scene nearly popped out of their sockets.

Th-this… this was the divine miracle bestowed by the Beast God?!

“Are you going to talk or not?”

Fan Zhou recalled the scene when he found Feng Xun, and couldn’t help but whip Hu Tu once more.

This lash carried heavy force, and he had deliberately added a blade to the water whip. Like a knife’s edge, the whip tore through Hu Tu’s clothing and left a bleeding gash on his body.

Hu Tu cried out in pain and fell to the ground. He no longer dared to stay silent and hurriedly shouted, “Yes, you’re right, Li Zhong is very stupid, and also obedient, so I picked him to be the Beast Emperor.”

“Feng Xun was too restless. After eating his fill, he was always thinking about this and that, and even ran around everywhere. I was afraid he would discover the Beast God’s clothing, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to suppress him, so when the Beast Emperor election came, I had his father add numbing powder to his roast meat.”

“Numbing powder was just developed last year. After eating it, it makes the whole body of a beastman go numb.”

After the extinction of the beast spirit flower, all the tribes began researching various herbs, and the Holy Temple was no exception.

Last spring, one of the priests under him accidentally developed numbing powder.

That was good stuff, it could be used on prey or disobedient beastmen.

He had that priest keep it secret.

So Feng Xun didn’t know, and since he had no defenses at all against his own father, Hu Tu succeeded.

But this couldn’t really be blamed on him—Feng Xun was hard-hearted and didn’t know how to be tolerant of others.

And unlike other beastmen who were satisfied after eating their fill, Feng Xun was restless once he was full!

It was only normal for him to eliminate Feng Xun!

But he didn’t dare to say that out loud. He looked fearfully at Fan Zhou, his heart in chaos.

Fan Zhou hadn’t expected the reason Feng Xun had suffered to be this—that Feng Xun had different needs after being full, so Hu Tu grew murderous?

It was absurd, truly absurd…

He was so furious he couldn’t help but lift the whip again and lashed Hu Tu several more times.

Hu Tu was whipped until he was covered in blood, screams of misery pouring from his mouth.

Fan Zhou gritted his teeth and said, “Remember, it was the Beast God’s Ten Commandments that saved you. Though you deserve to die, I won’t kill you. I’ll let every beastman know your ugly, vile face.”

Hu Tu heard this and was so frightened that he couldn’t even feel the pain on his body anymore. He quickly begged loudly, “Lord Tu Zhou, please… mmph mmph—”

The rest of his words were smothered by the water dome.

Feng Xun watched this scene and raised a paw to gently touch Fan Zhou’s hand. “I don’t hate him anymore.”

“……”

Fan Zhou couldn’t help but stretch out a hand and firmly jabbed him in the forehead. Thinking of the white wolf in the previous life—his injured leg had never healed, crippled for life!

Moreover, not even counting the past life, just in this life, after getting injured, how much pain and suffering had Feng Xun endured? Now that he finally had a chance to get revenge, all he got was a light “I don’t hate him anymore.”

Idiot!

“If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have met you, so I don’t hate him anymore.”

As Feng Xun spoke, he raised his paw again and gently tapped Fan Zhou’s hand. “Don’t be angry anymore. He’s not worth your emotions. Just handle it like official business.”

“……”

That made sense. Fan Zhou’s anger instantly diminished a lot. However, he still couldn’t resist poking the white wolf once more.

Feng Xun smiled. “You wait here. I’ll go down the mountain to see where Xiong Ye and the others have gotten to.”

Earlier, when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Fan Zhou had told the other beastmen to climb slowly while the two of them quickly went ahead to capture the ringleaders first.

Now that Hu Tu and Li Zhong had been captured, it was time to see where Xiong Ye’s group had gotten to.

Xiong Ye’s group had been held up by beastmen of the Holy Temple.

Of course, the beastmen of the Holy Temple didn’t want to fight them—they were curious!

To be honest, the beastmen of the Holy Temple had already believed the news that Shi Shi brought back. It made too much sense, completely irrefutable!

Only beastmen with identities like the High Priest or Beast Emperor could anger the Beast God.

How could ordinary beastmen possibly enrage the Beast God? The Beast God was so busy, he didn’t have time to argue with ordinary beastmen.

So these beastmen of the Holy Temple didn’t want to fight with Xiong Ye’s group—they only wanted to know news about the beast spirit flower!

Now there were rumors that Xiong Ye and the others had been rescued by Feng Xun, so why were those people appearing at the Holy Temple again?

To dare to swagger openly into the Holy Temple like this—did they have some kind of backing?

Xiong Ye and the others were too familiar with the Holy Temple, and also familiar with the beastmen in the Holy Temple. Now all these former colleagues were full of confusion, so of course they had to get some answers.

That’s right!

Everything Shi Shi said was true!

Now not only had they arrived, but Lord Tu Zhou and Feng Xun had also come. The purpose of this trip was to eliminate the traitors who had betrayed the Beast God!

With a tone both righteous and excited, they enthusiastically explained to the beastmen of the Holy Temple all the glorious deeds of Tu Zhou, the new High Priest. The beastmen of the Holy Temple listened with both yearning and worry.

All the beastmen knew that Hu Tu had indeed violated the Beast God’s Ten Commandments. However, regarding this matter, some beastmen thought it was understandable—as long as it wasn’t a grave offense like Xiang Er killing his own kind, there was no need to be so rigid about other mistakes.

But there were also beastmen who devoutly worshipped the Beast God. They liked Tu Zhou’s sense of justice.

In the past, they dared to be angry but not speak out. They could only watch helplessly as Hu Tu violated the Ten Commandments of the Beast God. But now that the Beast God had chosen a new High Priest, they hoped Tu Zhou would move into the Holy Temple and sweep away Hu Tu, the great traitor.

A group of people walked and talked, which slowed them down.

Feng Xun found them and told them to go to the entrance of the Holy Temple to find Fan Zhou. He himself went to the tribe at the foot of the mountain.

After abdicating, the old Beast Emperor Niu Gao had moved out of the Holy Temple and lived in the tribe below the mountain.

Since Fan Zhou was going to hold a public trial, naturally this man couldn’t be left out.

As for his master, his parents… forget it, he no longer held it against them.

In the following days, the Holy Temple held public trials every single day.

The first to be judged were Hu Tu, Niu Gao, and Li Zhong—these three. Fan Zhou listed their crimes. He didn’t let the beastmen present give their opinions. He directly announced his judgment.

Only the Beast God had the right to kill beastmen. As the newly appointed High Priest chosen by the Beast God, naturally he wouldn’t blatantly violate the divine commandments.

These three people—each had one leg broken and were sent to reform through labor.

Once the three traitors had been dealt with, next came the ordinary criminals. Those beastmen who had previously been shielded by the three traitors were dragged out one by one, and Fan Zhou dealt with them according to the severity of their crimes.

During this time, he and Feng Xun turned the Holy Temple upside down. The four major sections, the four courtyards—every stone slab laid on the ground, they lifted them all.

But unfortunately, they did not find a secret chamber.

Feng Xun even climbed the two peaks of the Twin Mountains, patting and touching every single stone, but still found no hidden entrance.

Apparently, the Beast God had completely entrusted the Holy Temple to the beastmen and had not built any secret area here himself.

Fan Zhou felt a bit of despair. If they couldn’t even find clues in the most unique Holy Temple, could they really find anything in other places?

No matter how you looked at it, the Sacred Mountain was just an ordinary mountain. After all, in the previous life, Feng Xun had led a group of beastmen who stayed on it for quite a while, yet they hadn’t discovered anything.

But he no longer had other options.

After discussing it with Feng Xun, the two of them decided to go directly to the Sacred Mountain.

They wouldn’t bring any other beastmen—only him and Feng Xun.

The situation in the Holy Temple had already stabilized. All the criminals had been sent to labor camps, and they could no longer stir up any trouble.

Moreover, all the other beastmen wanted beast spirit flowers. Since he had control over the beast spirit flowers, he wasn’t afraid they wouldn’t obey.

He let Xiong Ye temporarily act as Beast Emperor, also established a set of reward and punishment rules for the beastmen of the Holy Temple, and then he and Feng Xun set off.

Feng Xun transformed into his beast form, and Fan Zhou rode on Feng Xun’s back. The distance they traveled in one day was equivalent to what they previously covered in three days.

After traveling at high intensity for over ten days, Feng Xun was also exhausted. On the night before reaching the Sacred Mountain, the two of them had a proper night’s rest to restore their strength.

The Sacred Mountain was located in the Wild Continent. On the way there, they encountered several tribes that they had previously never known about. These tribes had also never heard of him, the High Priest.

He was in a hurry to reach the Sacred Mountain and didn’t stop to learn about these tribes, but overall, the situation was not bad.

None of these tribes were like the White Flower Tribe, where half the people had fallen ill.

The next morning, the two of them woke up early. After hunting and eating until they were full, they set out for the Sacred Mountain.

In fact, they could already see the Sacred Mountain, but even with Feng Xun’s speed, it still took half a day to truly reach the foot of the mountain.

Just as Que Yu had described, the Sacred Mountain indeed looked like a mushroom. However, this mushroom was no small thing—the cylindrical mountain body occupied a vast area. He and Feng Xun circled around the mountain once, which took more than two hours.

They gained nothing.

Lifting his eyes to look at the mushroom-shaped summit towering into the clouds, Fan Zhou transformed into his beast form, crouched on top of Feng Xun’s head, and then Feng Xun used his claws to grip the mountain surface and began slowly climbing upward.

This nearly vertical mountain surface was so steep that even Feng Xun didn’t dare to be careless—he moved with extreme caution.

Fan Zhou’s ability was of no use either. The two of them climbed until nightfall and finally reached the mountaintop.

The summit was a mushroom cap, and beneath the cap there was a ring of rocks that extended outward around the mountain, like a balcony that had been built by man.

There was grass growing here, and also beast spirit flowers.

To the east of the mountaintop, there was a clear spring about the size of a water bucket. The water that surged from it nourished the entire mountaintop.

The excess flowed down along the mountain surface.

Just as Que Yu had said, the mountaintop space was not large, but it could still accommodate a thousand people and could even be used to grow some vegetables.

“Do you see anything unusual?” Feng Xun finished scanning the area and couldn’t help but look toward Fan Zhou not far away.

Fan Zhou shook his head, his expression a little heavy. “No. This seems to have formed naturally. There’s no definite clue.”

Hearing this, Feng Xun pressed his lips together and once again looked around.

On this tiny summit—where had he stood in his previous life to gaze into the distance?

The two of them stayed on the mountaintop for one night. Early the next morning, they started down the mountain.

Going down was even harder than going up. Feng Xun moved with even more caution.

Once they reached the foot of the mountain, Fan Zhou felt a bit powerless. Despair enveloped him. Could it be that a few years from now, he would have to lead the beastmen to shrink back and survive in such a tiny place…

Feng Xun didn’t know how to comfort him. But since they had come all this way, they couldn’t just return to the Waterfall Tribe right away.

Since they had examined Twin Mountains inch by inch, they should now examine the Sacred Mountain inch by inch too.

In order to find the Beast God, perhaps he and the bunny would need to search every inch of the two continents.

Feng Xun did not get discouraged. He carried Fan Zhou on his back and truly began checking the Sacred Mountain inch by inch.

He avoided the path they had taken last time and chose the western-facing back side.

This time, their luck was better. When they had climbed to about halfway up the mountain, both he and Fan Zhou saw two characters the size of millstones:

Entrance.

Just like the writing inside the mech, it was in Chinese, written with blue dye.

However, after centuries of wind and rain, parts of the two characters had already faded.

But even faded, they could still recognize them—they were indeed the characters for “entrance”!

Fan Zhou was ecstatic. He crouched atop Feng Xun’s head and carefully examined the surroundings.

Very quickly, he saw a protrusion about the size of Feng Xun’s paw.

He told Feng Xun to go down a bit, then whipped out his water whip and struck that protrusion heavily.

A thunderous rumble sounded at once, shaking Feng Xun so much that he nearly lost his grip on the mountain surface. Two minutes later, next to the word “entrance,” a pitch-black opening appeared.

The two of them didn’t move immediately. They waited a long while, but nothing emerged. Fan Zhou tested the opening with his water whip again and, seeing no signs of danger, the two of them cautiously approached the entrance.

Clinging to the mountainside and looking inward, both of their eyes widened at the same time. The interior was completely silver and very spacious, though this was just the outer section—inside was a silver door.

Next to the large door were big characters that read: Welcome to the Beast God’s Temple. If you can understand this text, please go inside. Inside lies the answer to this world.

Fan Zhou: “……”

Mysterious and cryptic.

After thinking for a moment, he told Feng Xun to go back down.

To be safe, they would catch a few birds and toss them in first. Only after confirming there was no danger would he and Feng Xun enter.