novelraw Chapter 448 - 447: It’s Really You
Chapter 448 - 447: It’s Really You
Si Shuo said with a smile, "Then why don’t we go take a look at the Southern Continent? The business and the farm are on the right track now, so they don’t need us watching them constantly.
We can take a trip to the Southern Continent and just pop back every now and then to handle things."
Ji Liang was stunned for a moment. He squeezed her hand, then smiled, nodded, and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Okay. I’ll listen to Little Shushu."
When they first left their home, they had followed a Traveling Merchant Team from the Southern Continent to the Central Continent. The journey was fraught with danger, and back then, they thought they might never have the chance to return.
After all, the Dongye Forest separating the Southern and Central Continents was rife with danger, and Traveling Merchant Teams always had to be prepared to lose twenty to thirty percent of their members.
Now, all he had to do was retrace their original path in his mind, and they could arrive in the Southern Continent within fifteen minutes. This was something they had never dared to imagine.
Since the family was planning a long journey, everyone got busy. This was especially true for Ji Liang, Xiao Cheng, and Zhi Le, who were in charge of the family’s shops and fields. They would try to check in every three to five days; for the rest of the time, they let their trusted people take charge. As long as a problem could be solved with Crystal Stones, it wasn’t a problem at all.
Zhi Le, Xu Chi, Gong You, Yin Jiang, and Wei Ce were all Beast Soldiers. Aside from Wei Ce, who was a Vice Admiral, the other four were squadron leaders. There were many construction projects in the city, so they basically got only one day off for every three days on duty.
They simply forfeited half of their monthly pay. Every four days, they would only return for one day and rest for one day, using Crystal Stones to hire Beast Soldiers of good character and similar ability to cover their shifts for the other two days. There were plenty of Beastmen willing to help and earn those Crystal Stones!
With all their supplies and important belongings placed in Storage Rings and dimensional spaces, the group had little to pack. So one morning, after Si Shuo woke up and finished breakfast, Ji Liang brought the entire family back to the Southern Continent, appearing at the outskirts of the Dongye Forest.
It was currently early on a summer morning, and there were quite a few Beastmen forming hunting parties. They did their best to avoid using their superpowers in front of people, preparing to travel normally.
Yet after running for a full day from the outskirts of the Dongye Forest, they had only seen Wild Beasts that were slightly more numerous and of a higher Level than in the past. They hadn’t spotted a single Beastman!
Zhi Le and Ji Liang exchanged a look, seeing the gravity in each other’s eyes. They were the most familiar with this region, especially Zhi Le. He used to hunt here often with Beastmen from his tribe, and it was also here that Ji Liang, just passing by, had saved him from a Fierce Beast after it had already left him half-crippled.
Without a word, they led their Couple Brothers, along with the females and cubs, and ran with their heads down. Aside from eating and sleeping, they were constantly on the move.
On the third day, as they were about to exit the Dongye Forest, they finally spotted a small hunting party of about ten Beastmen. But the moment the other party saw them, they turned and ran, scattering in all directions.
Gong You, Yin Jiang, and Xiao Cheng shot out and captured three of them.
"Cui Tai?" Zhi Le exclaimed, his voice tinged with excitement as he looked at one of the males.
The Golden Leopard Beastman, who had his head down and body tensed, ready to make a move at a moment’s notice, froze when he heard the familiar voice call his name. He jerked his head up. "Zhi... Zhi Le?"
Gong You let him go. Cui Tai stopped thinking about running. With tears welling in his eyes, he excitedly stepped forward to embrace Zhi Le, and they clapped each other on the shoulders.
"This is great! Zhi Le, Ji Liang, Si Shuo, it’s really you!
We haven’t heard a thing about you since what happened in Puchang City last year. They... they said you overestimated your strength and went to the Central Continent, that you ended up as food for the Wild Beasts in the Dongye Forest.
It’s so good you’re all okay. And you are..." The harsh survival conditions had forced the Beastmen to hunt and fight without rest. When they had left, Cui Tai had been a Level 5, but now he was already a Seventh Level.
He looked at the Beast Pattern on Zhi Le’s neck, and after a stunned moment, couldn’t help but reach out to rub it. The raised texture and the overflowing sparks of electricity made his fur stand on end. "Zhi Le, are you a Level 12 Beastman?"
Zhi Le touched his neck and exchanged a look with his family. ’Well then.’ In their excitement to be back, they had completely forgotten about this.
In the Southern Continent, the highest Level a Beastman could reach was Level 12. And yet, the weakest among them was Zhi Le, who had his cultivation suppressed to Peak Level 12.
’I wonder if it’s too late for them to hide their cultivation now?’
And so, the males all lowered their apparent cultivation by four Levels in unison. Ji Liang laughed and said, "We just learned a little trick to disguise ourselves as having High-Level cultivation. By releasing an intimidating pressure as a bluff, the low-level Wild Beasts don’t dare approach, which saves a lot of trouble."
This was considered a Secret Technique, a fairly normal phenomenon on the Beast World Continent, so Cui Tai understood and asked no more questions.
Zhi Le then voiced the question that had been puzzling him on their journey.
Cui Tai’s expression was a mixture of sorrow and numbness. "It’s a good thing you left. So much has happened in this past year. The Beast Tide in Puchang City last year wasn’t an isolated incident. Many of the large tribes and Beast Cities near the Dongye Forest were influenced by the Central Continent; Beastmen were no longer willing to hunt all day and wanted to live a more relaxed life.
With the number of hunted Wild Beasts declining, Beast Tides of all sizes started to occur frequently. Fortunately, you set an example in Puchang City, and for the first time, everyone worked together to provide support everywhere, allowing us to handle last year’s Beast Tide.
The problem was that those frenzied beasts couldn’t be purified. Their meat was inedible, and their pelts, sinews, and bones couldn’t be used effectively. Gradually, everyone was investing more for a smaller return, and some just stopped wanting to come.
At the end of last summer, a Beast Tide broke out that swept across the entire Southern Continent. Everyone fled without a fight, and many of the weaker females, small cubs, and elderly Beastmen died.
Fortunately, although this Beast Tide was large in scale, the Wild Beasts’ Levels weren’t that high. Things gradually calmed down after the beasts from the tide had spread to every corner of the Southern Continent... The Beastmen were completely scattered. With the long rainy season and the coldest season approaching, everyone finally gathered together, retook several large tribes and Beast Cities, and drove out the Wild Beasts inside...
After spring came, everyone started running around asking for news about their friends and relatives. Our Luoni Tribe is now in Golden Lion City—oh, right, the Qianmiao Tribe is there too... This year, no one dares to slack off. We all form teams to hunt Wild Beasts, but there are just too many of them. Moreover, after the Beast Tide, the Wild Beasts’ Levels all increased by at least one. They’re faster and more vigilant. The food a team can hunt in a single day might not even be enough to feed its own members..."
Si Shuo was reminded of when she turned into a Blue Whale and chased after schools of fish. There were countless fish in the school, but they were all so alert and fast. They would swim right before her eyes, yet she just couldn’t manage to get a single one into her stomach.
The young female Cui Tai was with had been injured. With her frail constitution, she had barely survived the winter, and the cubs were so hungry they were skin and bones, almost unable to walk. That was why he had teamed up with his friends to hunt out here.
Everyone noticed that Cui Tai himself had also grown terribly thin. ’He must be hunting with all his might,’ they guessed, ’and giving all the prey he catches to the female and the cubs.’