Chapter – 62
You’re Not Planning to Stay Too, Are You?
Jiang Xi stepped toward Lu Liufeng.
But she had barely taken a step when her hand was tugged.
She froze for a moment and lowered her gaze. Then her eyes flew open in panic.
Why were her hand and Yi Yuexi’s still clasped together?!
Jiang Xi quickly pulled her hand back and lowered her voice.
“What are you doing holding onto me? Let go!!”
There were other females and beastmen around, so she didn’t dare speak too loudly, lest some unpleasant gossip spread.
Hearing his female lord’s words, the dimness in Lu Liufeng’s eyes instantly vanished, lighting up instead.
His amber eyes gleamed, and the smile on his face was almost impossible to hide.
He practically couldn’t wait to speak to Yi Yuexi.
“Yi Yuexi, let go of the female lord’s hand. Now.”
Yi Yuexi clicked his tongue inwardly. As soon as Lu Liufeng appeared, the female lord wanted to shake him off.
How heartless.
He smiled cheerfully and tightened his grip a little instead.
Not letting go~
What can you do about it?
Lu Liufeng pressed his lips together, wanting to raise his hand and release a wind blade, but when he noticed that the beastmen in the courtyard had all perked up their ears, he suppressed his power again.
Beastmen had sharp senses. Even if Jiang Xi spoke softly, at such close range, her words could be heard clearly without any effort.
Rupert coughed lightly and spoke.
“Female Envoy, shall we go to the altar first to deal with the contamination?”
Jiang Xi couldn’t shake Yi Yuexi off even after struggling twice, so she quickly said to the chief,
“I’ll go with you!”
The moment those words left her mouth, the beastmen and the chief female in the courtyard all froze.
Because, for safety reasons, females in the tribe never went near the wall, let alone up onto it to the altar.
Even if their own mates were contaminated, they would only wait beneath the wall, or be carried by an aerial mate to observe from above the tribe.
No one knew when this rule had started, but it had long since become a shared understanding among the tribes.
Females were fragile. They could not approach the wall. They could not go up onto it.
Jiang Xi didn’t notice the strange looks, as she wanted to investigate something.
Rupert was just about to speak tactfully when Lu Liufeng spoke first.
“I’ll take the female lord to observe from above the tribe. And the female lord is a Female Envoy—she can sense contamination. Chief, there’s no need to worry.”
Since he had already said that, Rupert couldn’t object further and could only say,
“Then don’t get too close.”
Compared to beastmen, it would be far more devastating to the tribe if a precious female were contaminated.
That was why every spring, the seven tribes of the Cursed Land would spend huge amounts of food and beast pelts to offer tribute to the tribe in the Giant Wood Forest that possessed the Mother Tree of Life.
All so that the females could go beneath the Mother Tree and cleanse the power of the curse.
This was to prevent residual curse energy in their bodies that might stop them from conceiving beast eggs, or cause them to give birth to deformed ones.
It was said that many years ago, the Sheep-Hound Tribe of the Cursed Land grew dissatisfied with the greed of the tribes in the Giant Wood Forest and stopped exchanging food and pelts for purification.
The Sheep-Hound Tribe believed that low fertility among females was normal, and that even without purification from the Mother Tree of Life, nothing would go wrong.
However, the outcome slapped them hard in the face.
In the first year after stopping purification, the beast eggs born in the Sheep-Hound Tribe were perfectly normal.
But starting from the second year, deformed beast eggs began to appear.
These eggs had a very high hatching success rate, but the young beastmen born from them were severely deformed and extremely irritable.
At the slightest dissatisfaction, they would indiscriminately attack their female mothers and male parents.
After that incident, even when the other six tribes of the Cursed Land had thoughts of stopping tribute, they all abandoned the idea.
No one dared gamble with the future of their tribe.
Even though this was a land of exile—the Cursed Land—it was still home to the females and beastmen, a place with mates, offspring, and comrades who stood shoulder to shoulder against waves of cursed beasts.
Rupert left, while Hong stayed behind to accompany the female lord.
Also leaving was Marie’s mate, Oshan.
After all, this would be the place they lived in from now on, so it was necessary to better understand cursed contamination in order to protect the female lord more effectively.
Because he had been frightened earlier by the black fish’s bewitchment, Kober was still shaken and soon returned indoors to rest.
By Marie’s side, only her other mate, Mao Biao, remained.
Mu Ling still hadn’t returned, and Jiang Xi felt a bit worried.
She couldn’t help but say to Huo Lun and Yi Yuexi,
“I’m going up into the air with Lu Liufeng. You two go check around the tribe again, see if any fish slipped through.”
“Mu Ling hasn’t come back for so long—he might’ve gotten tied up somewhere.”
Her words also reminded the chief female.
“Female Envoy, rest assured. I’ll send beastmen to check each household.”
Hearing the formality in her tone, Jiang Xi felt a little embarrassed.
“Chief Female, you’ve worked hard. If there’s anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate.”
After all, the chief female was older than her—a senior.
By all logic, Jiang Xi should be the one showing respect. Yet now, it was the other way around.
But given the different worldview here, she wouldn’t force her own concepts onto them. She simply chose to express goodwill directly.
After all, she was living in Lion’s Roar Tribe. Making things convenient for others was making things convenient for herself.
If others didn’t provoke her, she wouldn’t provoke them. But if they did—she wouldn’t back down either.
This time, because Jiang Xi was going to the sky with Lu Liufeng, Yi Yuexi didn’t forcibly hold her hand again.
He let go easily.
Jiang Xi shot him a glare, but in Yi Yuexi’s eyes, it held no intimidation at all.
He rubbed his chin and smiled.
As Lu Liufeng carried the female lord into the sky, he even waved at them quite naturally.
Huo Lun looked at him with a strange expression.
“You’re not planning to stay too, are you?”
As far as he knew, at first only Lu Liufeng had stayed. Mu Ling decided to stay only a couple of days later.
And now…
Yi Yuexi didn’t look like he planned to leave at all.
But based on Huo Lun’s understanding of fox clans, fox beastmen wouldn’t choose a female lord with such a flawed appearance.
Yi Yuexi glanced at him, half-smiling.
“What does that have to do with you?”
Indeed—what did it have to do with him?
Huo Lun felt a little awkward and withdrew his gaze, stepping outward.
“Remember to burn the black fish in the courtyard. I’ll go check around the tribe.”
High above the tribe, the wind and snow grew even more biting.
Even with Lu Liufeng’s powers shielding her, gusts still lashed against Jiang Xi’s face, making it hard for her to even open her eyes.
With the wind and snow blanketing everything, flying overhead made it impossible to clearly see the tribe below.
Jiang Xi lay prone on Lu Liufeng’s broad, feathered back, burying herself in the feathers at his neck, and shouted,
“Let’s get a little closer!”
Lu Liufeng made a soft “mm” sound. His neck tickled, and his feathers trembled lightly.
He carried the female lord closer in the direction of the altar atop the wall.
But he didn’t go too close, maintaining the same safe distance that females usually kept.
Through the swirling wind and snow, the reddish-brown protective wall once again came into Jiang Xi’s view—towering and awe-inspiring.
Though she still couldn’t see it clearly, the torches on the wall and the clusters of figures revealed the altar’s location.
The altar sat on the wall like a beacon tower, circular in shape.
Facing the direction of the Cursed Land, a six-winged lion statue stood upon it, lowering its body toward the cursed land as if roaring in challenge, as though it might leap forward to tear into it at any moment.
Jiang Xi’s gaze passed over the altar and fell to the other side of the wall.
Then she narrowed her eyes.
She noticed something unusual.
