novelraw Chapter 439 - 438: You Also Know the Rules of Us Beastmen
Chapter 439 - 438: You Also Know the Rules of Us Beastmen
Nong Yan saw their resentment and sneered, ripping open his clothes to reveal the two cyan Beast Patterns on his neck that signified he was Level 14. "Guangshou City has plenty of High-level Beastmen. If they have upright character, it’s a blessing for all Beastmen. But if a High-level Beastman is corrupt, they will bring endless disaster. Are you sure you want to lament the loss of a Level 14 Beastman like Nong Kai?
Shouldn’t you be grateful that someone stood up to punish him, saving our Tongdong Tribe from the crisis of his one-man rule?
Or are you so determined to expel me for the sake of Nong Kai, whose Dantian has already been crippled?"
The expressions on the elders’ faces were a sight to behold. Si Shuo felt as if their faces were slick raceways and their expressions had just executed a massive drift.
"Of course not! We just think Nong Kai’s actions—harming his own kin for the sake of power—are too vile. The leader should have just taken his life!" The first to defect was the Fifth Elder, someone Nong Kai had once trusted.
The other elders who had been on good terms with Nong Kai immediately chimed in.
The Beastmen who had just moved to the south side of the arena to cheer for Nong Kai now silently lowered their heads and shuffled toward the north side, their faces filled with regret, silently praying the leader hadn’t noticed them.
Nong Yan had anticipated their reaction. He glanced indifferently at Nong Kai, who was still reeling from the pain but glared back defiantly. A cold smile touched Nong Yan’s lips. "Death would be letting him off too easy. My daughter suffered four years of humiliation for nothing. He has to experience every bit of it himself. This will also serve as a lesson to everyone, to show you all the fate that awaits a Beastman who stabs his own kin in the back!
If we continue to hand out lenient punishments like before, then tomorrow it could be your kin who suffer, or even you yourselves."
The crowd now felt nothing but awe and reverence for him. A Peak Level 14 Beastman was the tribe’s pillar of strength, a deterrent to all other powers. As long as his cultivation remained, they would turn a blind eye to any mistake he made—unless a Beastman with even higher cultivation appeared.
Nong Yan’s heart had already grown cold. These turncoats were the very people he had once sworn to protect. ’Heh.’ He looked up at the sky and muttered, "Mumu, did you see? Father has avenged you. Don’t you worry. Father won’t let a single one of the Beastmen who humiliated you get away. Father will make them repay the evil they did to you tenfold, a hundredfold!"
With that, he addressed his three sons below the stage. "Take Nong Kai away. Once the pain in his Dantian subsides, we’ll start scarring his face—one cut a day, until there’s not a patch of smooth skin left... As for Nong Ting, who framed Mumu for stealing, cut off one of her ears as a warning."
Hearing his words, the crowd trembled in fear. The gentle, upright leader they once knew was gone, replaced by a sinister devil who seemed to want to drag everyone into the grave to accompany Nong Mu!
Nong Yan had won the competition, and no one dared to harbor any ill intentions toward him now. But his steps on the way home were heavy. It was as if, by not returning, he could continue to delude himself that his youngest child was still just lost, or perhaps asleep.
Staring at the empty courtyard, he dropped to his knees with a thud on the very spot where Nong Mu had set herself on fire. "Mumu, I was wrong. I should have sent you somewhere else, somewhere safe, and only brought you back after I had settled everything in the clan..."
Seeing Nong Yan’s face streaked with tears, Da Hai hesitated for a long while before finally walking over, clutching an egg. It was about the size of a goose egg, pitch-black, and flat like a river stone.
"Grandfather, please look at this," he said, holding out the egg.
Nong Yan froze. His hands trembled as he took the egg. He quickly set up a Protective Shield, then his disbelieving gaze flickered between the egg and Da Hai. He stammered, "Son, tell Grandfather... where... where did you find this?"
’I saw it myself,’ he thought. ’There was nothing left on the ground after Mumu burned herself.’
Da Hai smiled and pointed to a parasol tree, its trunk partially hidden by the house. "I found it over there," he said vaguely, careful not to mention his suspicion that it was thanks to Little Jing’s Blessing, a good-luck superpower.
He then said bluntly, "I wasn’t going to tell you, Grandfather. It’s your fault you didn’t protect my sister. But, seeing how truly heartbroken you are over her, I decided to let you know.
But! Grandfather, you know the Beastman rule: finders keepers, especially for a young female. I will definitely protect my sister!"
Nong Yan gently caressed the pitch-black egg, his expression caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "This is a Phoenix Egg. My Mumu... she did it. She was truly reborn from the fire."
As he spoke, he clutched the egg and began to kowtow, pressing his forehead to the ground. "Thank you, merciful Beast God, for protecting my Mumu, for allowing this poor child to be reborn..."
Si Shuo sighed silently. ’The Beast God gets the credit again,’ she thought with a click of her tongue. ’I wonder if I can redeem that for some benefits later?’
Once Nong Yan composed himself, he pulled a pouch full of Crystal Stones from his Storage Ring. Selecting the Wood Element ones, he began to absorb energy from them with one hand while feeding all the Spiritual Power he converted into the Phoenix Egg resting in his other palm.
Si Shuo and her companions were shocked to see that Nong Yan’s heavy pouch was filled entirely with Wood Crystal Stones, every single one of them Level 12 or 13.
It was as if Nong Yan was transforming all his paternal love into a ceaseless stream of Wood Spirit Power, pouring it all into nourishing the Phoenix Egg.
The once-flat black egg slowly grew plump and round, as if being inflated, until it finally had the proper shape of an egg.
Only after exhausting seventy or eighty Wood Crystal Stones did he stop, his face deathly pale. He swayed on his feet. He had to extract Spiritual Energy from the Crystal Stones, filter out the impurities in his Dantian to condense it into pure Wood Spirit Power, and then transfer it to the Phoenix Egg. The impurities gradually built up inside him, and the process took an immense toll on his spiritual power.
During the four years Nong Mu was missing, he had never stopped searching for her. He had saved every Crystal Stone he acquired, waiting for her return so he could use them to nurse her back to health. Now, they were finally being put to good use.
He smiled faintly and held the Phoenix Egg out to Da Hai. "Little one, when we of the Peacock Clan are reborn from fire as a Phoenix, it is a true rebirth, with no ties to the past. A Phoenix Egg chooses its master. Since it let you find it, it belongs to you. This is all I can do for Mumu."
"By the way, I still haven’t asked your name, or who your family is. In the future, you can come to me if you ever face any difficulties."
"Can I... can I come see her from time to time? I won’t show myself, of course. I’ll just drop off some Crystal Stones for her when I find any."
Da Hai turned his head to look at his Father and Mother.
Si Shuo smiled and nodded. Only then did the little fellow speak seriously. "Grandfather, my name is Gong Chuan, but I go by Da Hai. My Father is Gong You, and my Mother is the Si Shuo Divine Female."
"You’ve heard of the Si Shuo Divine Female, right? We live with the Iron-eating Beast Clan, with my Father Wei Ce."
Nong Yan nodded emphatically, a relieved smile spreading across his face. "Yes, I know of her."
He stood up, bowed deeply to Si Shuo and Gong You, and said with utmost sincerity, "Thank you! Meeting you is a blessing for Mumu and our entire family.
From now on, if there is ever anything you need from us, you have only to ask. The Tongdong Tribe will forever be your staunchest ally!"