57: Chapter 57 The Reasons for Fleeing

The gaze of the human race is subtle, tentative, and carries various emotional filters.

The gaze of the Beast race is direct, naked, and unadorned, like a beast seeing its prey, or prey seeing its protector.

He withdrew his gaze and turned to Shen Xun'er; the Moonlight Priestess had already brought Hua Jieyu and Warm Sun Warlock Wen Qingxue to stand before the Beast race girls.

Silver-blue Moonlight Blessing flowed from Shen Xun'er's fingertips like a gentle river, enveloping the seven people.

Wherever the moonlight passed, wounds healed, spiritual power recovered, and exhaustion faded.

Hua Jieyu crouched beside White Deer, her apricot eyes curved like two warm crescent moons, her slender, fair fingers tending to the Savage Beast claw marks on the Deer-eared girl's arm.

Hundred Herb Medical Immortal's spiritual ointment emitted a faint herbal fragrance. When applied to the wounds, White Deer frowned slightly, but soon relaxed.

"Does it hurt?" Hua Jieyu asked gently.

"...It doesn't hurt." White Deer's voice was low, like the call of a deer in the forest scattered by the wind.

"Liar." Hua Jieyu smiled, shallow dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth, "I saw it, you're biting your lip."

White Deer's deer ears drooped slightly; that was the instinctual reaction of the Deer Spirit Tribe when shy.

She turned her head away, her amber slit pupils drifting unconsciously toward Wang Sheng, who stood beneath the village gate tower, then quickly withdrew them as if burned.

Hua Jieyu noticed her gaze; Hundred Herb Medical Immortal's observational skills were as precise as her medical skills. She smiled slightly, said nothing, and continued tending to the wounds.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun walked down from the defensive wall. The Frost Mage's silver-white hair drifted like snow in the morning breeze. When her ice-blue pupils swept across the group of Beast race girls, they carried a cold scrutiny—not hostility,

but the professional instinct unique to a Frost Mage: "Freeze them first to see if there's any danger."

Her gaze landed on White Deer and paused slightly.

The Deer-eared girl was also looking at her.

Two women of different races locked eyes for a moment in the morning light. One was the Frost Mage with skin like jade and bones of ice, her silver-white hair like snow, her ice-blue pupils like the deep-sea frost;

the other was the wild and agile Deer Spirit Archer, her short light-brown hair like autumn leaves, her amber slit pupils like honey-soaked amber.

The two distinct beauties in the morning light were like a twin portrait painted by the hands of a wild deity—one cold as the moon, the other warm as a deer.

White Deer's deer ears perked up slightly; she was sensing the Frost Mage's spiritual power fluctuations.

A Rank 2 Barbarian Warrior Frost Mage; her spiritual power was unfathomable, at least three times that of her current state.

"You are his..." White Deer's lips moved slightly, her voice so low that only she could hear it.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's ice-blue pupils constricted slightly. Beast race intuition, like their worship of the strong, was carved into their bones; this Deer Spirit Archer had guessed her relationship with Wang Sheng in a single sentence.

"Wife." Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's voice was cold as ice, but the tail end—that tail end was like a warm current surging beneath the ice, carrying a trace of tenderness like ice melting into water. "The second one."

White Deer's deer ears drooped slightly, then perked up again. Her amber slit pupils flashed,

what flashed within them was not jealousy, not retreat, but a feeling akin to when the Deer Spirit Tribe discovers a more lush pasture in the wilderness,

anticipation.

Wang Sheng stood in the council hall of the Chiefs Tent.

The seven Beast race girls were settled in an empty tent next to the Chiefs Tent. Hua Jieyu and Warm Sun Warlock Wen Qingxue had finished treating all their wounds, and Shen Xun'er's Moonlight Blessing had restored about thirty percent of their spiritual power.

The seven of them were squeezed into one tent. The Beast race girls' animal ears and tails inevitably brushed against each other in the cramped space, making rustling sounds.

White Deer walked out of the tent alone. As the leader of the seven, the Deer Spirit Archer needed to speak with the person who had saved them.

She stood before the Chiefs Tent. The two-story structure built of wild logs radiated a warm wooden luster in the morning light, and the Holy Light Spirit Runes on the outer wall shimmered with a faint golden glow in the sunlight.

She took a deep breath, then raised her hand and tapped the Savage Beast bone ornament on the doorframe, producing a crisp clicking sound.

"Please come in."

Wang Sheng's voice came from within, like the tolling of a golden bell, steady and powerful.

White Deer pushed the door open and froze.

There was more than just Wang Sheng in the council hall. Shen Xun'er sat on a Savage Beast skin chair to his right, her moon-white ceremonial robes like silver armor,

her jet-black hair cascading to her waist like a waterfall, her moist apricot eyes looking at her gently,

the composure and bearing of the head priestess were like a full moon, making one involuntarily want to look up to her.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun stood by the window, her silver-white hair like snow, her ice-blue pupils sweeping a cold glance at her—not hostility, but a protective deterrence that said, "If you dare hurt him, I will freeze you into an ice sculpture."

White Deer's deer ears drooped slightly. Beast race perception of the strong made her feel a pressure before these two women akin to facing a high-rank Savage Beast—not fear, but an intuitive recognition of an absolute gap.

These two women's spiritual power was unfathomable, and furthermore, they both carried the scent of that man.

That scent was warm and irresistible, like Holy Light.

"Sit." Wang Sheng pointed to the Savage Beast skin chair opposite him.

White Deer sat down. The Deer Spirit Archer's posture was like her profession—upright and alert, her deer ears perked up slightly, her amber slit pupils watching Wang Sheng unblinkingly.

"My name is White Deer," her voice was like the call of a deer in the forest, "Cangmang Region, Deer Spirit Tribe, Deer Spirit Archer, C-rank profession, currently a Rank 2 Barbarian Warrior."

She paused, "The seven of us escaped from the Cangmang Region."

"Cangmang Region?" Shen Xun'er's apricot eyes flickered slightly; the Moonlight Priestess's knowledge far exceeded that of ordinary people,

"Cangmang Region is the territory of the Beast race, at least a thousand miles away from the Central Wasteland Region. How did you get here?"

White Deer's deer ears drooped even lower; that was the instinctual reaction of the Deer Spirit Tribe when recalling pain.

"Our tribe... was destroyed." Her voice became low, like the call of a deer in the forest half-scattered by the wind,

"A tribe called the Blood Wolf Tribe, their chieftain is named Zhao Mang, led people to attack our territory.

We Deer Spirit Tribe are a peaceful tribe, not skilled in combat... He killed many of our kin and drove the rest out of the Cangmang Region."

Zhao Mang!

Wang Sheng's pupils constricted slightly—that Blood Wolf Tribe chieftain who had humiliated him in public at the Myriad Races Market!

He recalled that scene at the Myriad Races Market: Zhao Mang riding a blood-red giant wolf, accompanied by a dozen burly Beast race warriors,

a contemptuous smile hanging on his lips when he saw Wang Sheng, "A human? And a soft-skinned one at that? Such trash dares to come to the Myriad Races Market?" He humiliated Wang Sheng in front of everyone, attempting to win over other tribal chieftains to isolate the Bright Tribe.

At the time, Wang Sheng did not act, only intimidated him. It wasn't out of fear, but because the Myriad Races Market was a neutral zone where private grievances were not allowed to be settled.

But the name Zhao Mang, he remembered it.

Now, this name had appeared again, and it was linked to the destroyed Deer Spirit Tribe.

"Zhao Mang." Wang Sheng's voice was like the tolling of a low bell, cold light swirling in his golden pupils—not the gold of Holy Light, but the gold of anger. "Chieftain of the Blood Wolf Tribe."

"You know him?" White Deer's deer ears perked up sharply, a trace of hatred and anticipation like flames flashing in her amber slit pupils.

"I have met him." Wang Sheng's lips curved slightly; that arc was not a smile, but the certainty of a hunter seeing prey. "He has humiliated me."

White Deer's breath hitched slightly. She looked at that arc on Wang Sheng's face, looked at the cold light swirling in those golden pupils,

the Deer Spirit Tribe's perception of emotions was the strongest among the Beast race; she could clearly feel the aura radiating from this man,

not a desire to protect her, not hatred for Zhao Mang, but an unshakable firmness and determination like a wild beast marking its territory on the Savage Continent.

"You are my territory; anyone who dares to infringe upon it shall suffer my wrath."

That aura surged like a tide. White Deer's deer ears turned toward him uncontrollably, her short white tail wagging rapidly behind her like iron filings attracted to a magnet.

Her heartbeat—the heartbeat of the Deer Spirit Tribe—was like a war drum urged on by the beat, faster and faster, louder and louder.