harleyscars Chapter 334: The Time Is Now
Chapter 334: The Time Is Now
"Fox Ji, you’re back."
An old voice greeted him.
Fox Ji turned and hurried forward to support the staggering figure. "Grandfather, why are you out here? The wound on your leg hasn’t healed; you shouldn’t be moving around."
The elderly fox male waved his hand. "I’m fine. It’s just a small wound. Your sister said that when you went to catch fish-beasts, you encountered some powerful beastmen, and you secretly followed them. You child... how could you do something so dangerous?"
Fox Ji knew he shouldn’t have. Especially that Golden Tiger Beast male—he could tell that if the male had wanted to deal with him, a single move would have been enough to tear him to shreds.
"Aren’t we planning to settle here for a while? I was worried about potential dangers in the area."
He hadn’t meant any harm by following Qiao Xixi and her group; he just wanted to know which tribe the beastmen belonged to.
"So what did you see when you followed them?"
"I saw a huge tribe. They’re beastmen from that tribe. Grandfather, why don’t we go and seek refuge with that large tribe?"
Fox Chuan shook his head. "You’re still just a cub, you don’t understand. It’s not so easy for a small tribe like ours to join a large one."
According to the rules of the beast world, for a small or medium-sized tribe to put down roots in a large tribe, they either need to offer enough Crystal Stones, have a sufficient number of fertile females, or possess a large enough quantity of males with powerful beast souls.
They must meet at least one of the three conditions to show their value. Only then will a large tribe allow them to enter.
Otherwise, if they are all just old, weak, females, and children who need to be cared for, the other tribe isn’t stupid. Why would they take them in for free and add a burden to their own tribe?
Hearing this, Fox Ji’s light-colored eyes dimmed.
Many of their tribe’s powerful males had been killed during their migration, either by wild beasts or Mutant Beasts. On top of that, suddenly appearing Wandering Beasts had snatched away several of their fertile females.
Now, the remaining beastmen in their tribe would be nothing more than a burden to a large tribe.
Fox Ji didn’t bring up the matter again, but the image of Jin Ling’s imposing figure lingered in his mind, impossible to shake.
’If only I could become such a powerful male one day.’
As the two were talking, rain began to fall from the sky.
The rain during the hot season was different from other times; it was always heavy and sudden.
Fox Ji quickly helped Fox Chuan back into their only small cave.
Inside the cave sat the tribe’s females and cubs, along with some elderly males. Because the space was so cramped, adolescent males like him weren’t qualified to stay inside.
After helping Fox Chuan into the cave, Fox Ji went to the entrance.
The tribe’s adult males had already gone to pick some large leaves and were setting them up at the cave entrance to block the rain.
"This rain is really coming down hard. Looks like we’ll be going hungry again today."
In this weather, it was impossible to go hunting on the mountain.
The Black Panther Tribe’s Hunting Team also returned to the tribe after the rain started.
Because of the rain, today’s haul was smaller than usual. However, they had many males with high-level beast souls, so the prey they caught was still enough to feed the tribe.
By now, Qiao Xixi and Jin Ling were in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Feili returned with the cubs, one after another.
Qiao Xixi was holding a wooden mallet, repeatedly pounding the deboned fish meat. She planned to make fish ball soup.
"Female Mother, we’re back!"
From a distance, Qiao Xixi could hear the cubs’ boisterous voices.
She put down her work and walked out of the kitchen, seeing them all soaked like drowned rats.
"There’s hot water in the boiler room. I’ve already prepared it for you. Go take a good soak in a bit, and don’t get sick, understand?"
"We know!"
"Uncle Langqi, Feili’s father, you two should also hurry and change your clothes."
Feiyan huffed, "It’s like you can’t even see me."
Qiao Xixi glanced at him, and seeing his bruised and swollen face, she felt a pang of pity.
"You go too. You and Qiao Ang, go wash up and change. I’ll put some medicine on you later."
Having received her attention, the fox was delighted and scampered off towards the bathing room.
Feili shook his head; his own father looked on with disdain.
Qiao Yi frowned. His father-in-law couldn’t bear to watch.
"Xixi, I’m back."
Qiao Xixi looked at Xijing with some surprise. "Is the Hunting Team back so early today?"
Xijing waved a finger, and the barrier shielding him from the rain dissipated. Despite the heavy downpour outside, he wasn’t the least bit wet.
"Yes. It started raining, so hunting became difficult and we came back early."
Xijing walked into the kitchen and placed his share of the beast meat on the countertop.
Jin Ling washed the meat, cut it into chunks, and tossed it all into a pot to stew.
With so many people in the family now, it took two large pots of food to feed everyone for a single meal.
As they ate, the rain grew heavier and heavier.
Qiao Xixi stood on the veranda, frowning at the dark, oppressive sky.
Calculating by the season, this should be the flood season, but she wasn’t too worried.
The Black Panther Tribe’s territory was on relatively high ground, not situated in a mountain ravine. Even if there were mountain torrents, it would be difficult for them to flood the tribe. The tribe was built on a relatively stable stone mountain, so the possibility of a mudslide was also small.
Thinking about it, she had to admire the beastmen who had first chosen to build their tribe here. They were truly clever.
The only thing was, if it kept raining like this, the creek and the mountain spring water they’d channeled in would probably turn murky. But that wasn’t a major problem.
That night, Feiyan used his injuries as an excuse to coax Qiao Xixi into his room.
Once he got her inside, there was no way he was letting her leave.
Qiao Xixi, drowsy and dazed, could still hear the PITTER-PATTER of the rain outside.
’I have a bad feeling that if this rain keeps up, something is bound to happen.’
Qiao Xixi’s worries were not misplaced. Something did happen under the torrential rain, but it wasn’t the Black Panther Tribe that was in trouble—it was Fox Ji and his people on the mountain.
"The mountain is collapsing! Quick, get everyone and run!"
Boulders had already begun to slide down near the cave where they were staying. The mountainside looked like it was about to give way completely.
After assessing the situation, Fox Chuan immediately ordered the males to lead the cubs and females out of the cave.
"Hurry, run! Down the mountain! Don’t go that way, there’s a flood!"
The beastmen ran in a panic. Beneath the roar of the immense downpour, the cries of the females and cubs could be heard.
High up in a colossal, towering tree, two figures stood, coldly watching the beastmen fleeing in panic below.
Huang Ying smiled coolly. "After waiting for so long, the opportunity has finally presented itself."
Fenglin had changed into his beast form. His massive wings were spread over Huang Ying’s head, shielding her from the rain.
Hearing her words, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
In truth, they had arrived here two days ago, but Huang Ying had made no move, only saying they should wait a bit longer.
He didn’t know what she was waiting for.
"Female Master, is this the moment you were talking about?"
"Yes. It’s now."