Chapter – 32
Are You Growing Horns?
Jiang Xi didn’t know what was going through his mind. She casually waved her hand.
“It’s nothing, just mutual benefit.”
“I help you sort your ability, and you help me find the food I want.”
Duan Si’s emotions grew even more complicated.
Because the female in front of him didn’t seem to realize at all how valuable ability-combing was.
It was definitely not something that could be exchanged for a bit of food.
Jiang Xi didn’t think that deeply. She described olives to Duan Si once more—just in case he had seen them before.
Duan Si pondered for a moment.
“I’m not sure. I can take you to look.”
Jiang Xi’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s go now!”
Duan Si shifted back into a massive black serpent, crimson eyes gazing at her.
“Get on. It’s a bit far. I’ll take you.”
Jiang Xi was just about to climb on when she suddenly felt something was off—as if she had forgotten something.
She slapped her forehead.
“Ah! Dana and Dale—the two little ones!”
She looked around everywhere.
Duan Si flicked his tail aside. On a small mound lay two little green snakes, eyes spinning with stars.
Jiang Xi jumped in fright and hurried over.
“What happened?”
She reached out to pick up the little green snakes. Dizzy as they were, they still instinctively wrapped themselves around her arm.
“Female-master… fragrant… fragrant…”
“Female-master… fragrant… fragrant…”
Jiang Xi: “…”
She tapped their tiny heads with her finger. “What time is it, and you’re still saying ‘fragrant’? Does anything feel uncomfortable?”
Worried, she tried channeling her healing ability into them.
But the next second, the little snakes grew even more woozy. They couldn’t even hold on anymore and slipped off her arm with soft plops.
A black tail swept over. Duan Si flicked the two small snakes up and tossed them onto his enormous head.
“They’re still young. They were affected by the spiritual power from your ability-combing and got drunk. They’ll be fine after a while. No need to worry.”
Normally, beastmen could only receive ability-combing after marriage.
Before the shapeshifting period, a beastman’s ability sea was calm and wouldn’t erupt, but it was also tightly connected to the brain and couldn’t be separated.
Receiving ability-combing during this stage made them floaty—unable to tell east from west. They’d be fine after a good sleep.
Moreover, getting ability-combing before the shapeshifting period was something many fathers dreamed of for their cubs.
Receiving combing early would make the cubs’ ability seas far more stable and powerful after shapeshifting.
Only places like Holy City, with a Sacred Hall induction stone, could offer such a privilege.
Even then, not all cubs qualified.
Usually only holy-favored children, children of holy females, or the core descendants of powerful tribes could obtain such an honor.
Yifu’s kids were really lucky.
Hearing this, Jiang Xi finally relaxed.
If something happened to the two little ones under her watch, she wouldn’t be able to face Yifu.
Duan Si lowered his head to the ground. “Get on.”
Jiang Xi looked at the impressive serpent head, eyes bright, and climbed up.
Its scales were cold and hard. The central scale on the top of its head was different—hexagonal, like a turtle shell.
Curious, Jiang Xi reached out to touch it.
But the moment her fingers brushed it, the serpent head jerked.
Duan Si’s voice rose from below—chilly, with a hint of hoarseness.
“Sit properly.”
Jiang Xi felt guilty and sat upright quickly, hands no longer daring to wander.
“All right, let’s go.”
But the very next second, the snake surged forward, and with the sudden motion, she fell backward.
Trying to regain balance, Jiang Xi lunged forward and ended up sprawled across the serpent’s head.
Not only touching it—her entire body was pressed against him.
Duan Si paused for a moment before slithering forward again… as if nothing had happened.
“Sorry, sorry! It’s my first time riding a snake. I’ve got no experience.”
Jiang Xi pushed herself upright awkwardly.
Then, near the hexagonal scale—closer to the serpent’s eye—she felt a small bump.
As if… something was about to poke out.
Snakes transform to jiao. Jiao evolve to dragons.
Was Duan Si… about to sprout horns?
“Duan Si, are you growing horns?”
Duan Si paused in confusion for a moment, but his movement didn’t stop.
“What horns?”
Jiang Xi lowered her head for a better look and indeed saw a small white point between the scales, as though it was about to break out.
“It’s like evolution.”
“For example, the chief of the Lion Roar Tribe has six-winged white lion blood. So his son had a throwback and grew two wings.”
“Maybe yours is also some kind of ancestral evolution?”
Duan Si’s thoughts drifted.
Throwback… evolution…
“I don’t know.”
He only knew he grew up in the snake clan’s ancestral land, Kuerkan.
Before he completed his first transformation, the white-belly snake tribe invaded. His parents and clansmen were slaughtered, and he was sold to Holy City’s underground arena—made into a gladiator for entertainment, forced to fight day and night.
His world consisted only of killing… and revenge.
He wanted to return to Kuerkan and kill the white-belly snake tribe to avenge his family.
Jiang Xi didn’t think too much about his answer.
“Fair enough.”
After all, with time and generations, even strong ancestral bloodlines would eventually dilute.
Unless a family line had never broken, many beastmen would never know what powerful ancestors they once had—not until a throwback occurred.
Just like in peaceful pre-apocalypse times, everyone’s ancestors had once been noble.
The beastman world was the same—weak genes didn’t survive.
Ordinary beastmen couldn’t even find a female-master, let alone pass on their lineage.
Jiang Xi only knew Duan Si came from an underground arena. She subconsciously assumed he was like Mu Ling—another orphan.
Except Mu Ling was luckier. Though treated as a servant, he didn’t live on the edge of death every day.
Both Jiang Xi and Duan Si were not talkative people.
The rest of the journey was silent.
Only the rustle and swish of scales sliding through grass and leaves filled the air.
Jiang Xi relaxed, enjoying the fresh forest breeze.
As they ventured deeper, the ground grew even and the air cooler.
Just when Jiang Xi wondered if they’d reach the snow forest, Duan Si stopped.
His massive head shifted toward a tree heavy with thick foliage.
Without changing back into human form, Duan Si asked, “Is it this?”
Jiang Xi bumped straight into a cluster of plump fruit.
She picked one up—about the size of a thumb—and shook her head regretfully.
“No.”
Her luck today was awful.
Why couldn’t it be like the other day—where every step she took led to more food than she could finish?
Duan Si stopped there, unsure what to do.
Hunting—he excelled at it.
Foraging for plants—he truly had no idea.
All he could do was ask, “Where to now?”
Hoping she could give him a direction.
Jiang Xi sat cross-legged on his head.
Resting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm, she sighed.
“Let’s go back.”
Lu Liufeng still had important matters to handle.
Though Jiang Xi told him to prioritize the chief female’s orders…
She had a feeling—deep down—that he would definitely wait for her.
River Canyon could be revisited anytime, and now that she had an agreement with Duan Si, future trips would be much easier.
Thinking of this, a faint sweetness rose in her heart.
The feeling of someone waiting for her… was wonderful
