Chapter – 103
Lying on the Back of the Eagle
Suo blinked, then quickly said,
“I know, I won’t be delusional. I won’t think that the female envoy would marry me.”
Lu Liufeng nodded lightly.
“Good that you know.”
After saying this, he left the firehouse and returned to his own room, symbolically taking out a piece of animal skin.
In reality, staying in Rehe Valley for a night didn’t really require him to prepare an animal skin.
Duan Si would prepare everything for the female master; his own preparations were just for show.
Still, since he had this excuse, he went ahead and packed a piece anyway.
Jiang Xi wrapped herself in an animal skin in her room and looked around, trying to see if there was anything she could bring to Duan Si.
Finally, her gaze settled on a jar of snake oil in the corner.
But the thought had barely arisen before it was quickly dismissed from her mind.
Although snake oil was effective for skincare and preventing chapped skin,
Rehe Valley was warm; there was no need to worry about hands or feet cracking.
Moreover…
Duan Si was from the snake clan!!!
It simply wasn’t appropriate.
Jiang Xi quickly finished packing, and Lu Liufeng came in to help her tie it up. They set off.
Standing in the courtyard, Jiang Xi waved toward the new firehouse.
“We’re leaving!”
The little lynx beastling ran to the threshold and obediently waved back.
“Safe travels, female envoy.”
Jiang Xi clicked her tongue.
Furry little beastlings really are adorable.
Too bad Lu Liufeng was an eagle, not something fluffy and small.
She felt that if there were a little furry cub at home, life would be much more joyful.
Lu Liufeng saw that his female master was reluctant to leave and was momentarily unsure of what she meant.
However, he didn’t speak up or try to figure it out.
Inside the firehouse, the mocking voice of Yiyuexi sounded.
“Anyone unaware might think it’s your female master.”
He was holding the same bowl that the female master had used earlier.
He hadn’t changed it; he simply scooped some potato powder and mixed in a bit of stewed beef, and began eating.
He spoke without much patience.
“Finish eating and leave quickly!”
He certainly wouldn’t indulge these little beastlings.
Especially ones with wandering thoughts.
Suo crouched at the door and only turned after the female envoy’s figure had disappeared.
But his pale yellow beast eyes had returned to their usual coldness, no longer showing the joy he had moments before.
Suo didn’t answer Yiyuexi. He jumped onto the chair, his front paws resting on the edge of the table, lowered his head, and swept the last of the potato powder into his mouth in just a few bites.
Then he jumped down, standing on all fours, and looked up at Yiyuexi.
“I will use food as payment.”
After saying this, he turned and leaped out.
Yiyuexi was stunned for a moment.
Then, his gaze fell on the bowl left on the table, smeared with sauce, giving him a new reason to scold.
“Leaving without washing the bowl!!”
“Damn it! Ungracious little beast!!”
Outside the tribe, high in the sky,
Lu Liufeng had transformed into his eagle form, carrying the female master along with the animal skins and their bags.
Jiang Xi sat atop the eagle’s back. Once she settled, her mind began replaying the argument back home.
After hesitating for a moment, she couldn’t help but ask Lu Liufeng,
“Lu Liufeng, do you think I shouldn’t have let Suo in to eat?”
“There wasn’t much food at home anyway…”
The importance of food didn’t need to be explained.
But she was thinking that since they were leaving the day after tomorrow, the food at home that couldn’t be taken along should be eaten.
Moreover, the food for this trip to the Ice River would be provided by the tribe.
So when she encountered a little beastling who had lost his family due to contamination and couldn’t get a meal, her compassion had been stirred.
For her, giving a little beastling a meal was no big deal.
But after all, now they were part of a collective; some things were no longer hers to decide alone.
Thinking of the atmosphere at home earlier, she felt a little regretful.
Lu Liufeng spoke gently.
“Whatever the female master does is correct. It’s Yiyuexi who is too immature, arguing with a little beastling who has no parents.”
“Besides, there are still plenty of potatoes and powder at home. It’s just that meat is scarce. Suo, being a little beastling, can’t eat much anyway.”
“And, as a Saint-blessed female, even in Saint City, the female master would regularly help elderly or helpless little beastlings, showing the saintly compassion expected of a Mother Tree Earth Walker.”
Hearing Lu Liufeng’s words, Jiang Xi felt slightly relieved.
Her memories of Saint City were already hazy, so she didn’t know much about what he was talking about.
For some reason, she suddenly wanted to know more about Saint City.
“Lu Liufeng, do you like Saint City?” she asked.
Lu Liufeng didn’t understand why the female master was asking, but he answered earnestly.
“Saint City is a cold city, extremely strict with hierarchy.”
“Compared to Saint City, I probably prefer Eagle Strait, or the Lion Roar Tribe.”
“There’s no unchallengeable Saint Temple, no nine great beast clans controlling all city affairs, no cruel dungeons where the big clans and females can play…”
Jiang Xi lay back on the eagle’s back.
She watched the wind swirl into a vacuum, howling through the snowy heights, and listened as Lu Liufeng described Saint City.
The image of Saint City gradually formed in her mind.
If the Cursed Land was a place without order, then Saint City was the ultimate embodiment of order.
In the Cursed Land, as long as you were strong enough, you could carve out a place for yourself.
In Saint City, no matter how strong you were, without identity or the backing of a great beast clan, it was difficult to stand out.
She let out a deep sigh.
Indeed, the end of socialization is always oppression.
Saint City had never been a utopia that beast females longed for.
Lu Liufeng saw his female master fall silent and asked her the same question.
“Female master, do you like Saint City?”
Jiang Xi smiled slightly, resting her head on his feathers, and shook her head.
“No, I don’t like it.”
“Although I haven’t been to Eagle Strait, I think, like you, I would rather prefer Eagle Strait or the Lion Roar Tribe over Saint City.”
Lu Liufeng was about to invite the female master to live in Eagle Strait with him in the future when he heard her quietly say,
“Actually, I like peaceful, friendly societies without disputes…”
As she spoke, Jiang Xi almost laughed at herself.
“However, I know that wherever there are people, there will be conflicts. That’s unavoidable.”
“The place where I live is very turbulent. Outside the safe zones, there are many things like cursed beasts—humans, beastlings, and females…”
She slightly adjusted the adjectives.
“When beastlings or females are caught or bitten, they turn into things as terrifying as cursed beasts. They can be killed, but because there are so many, and new lives constantly replenish them, it’s impossible to exterminate them all…”
“So, in a way, I actually quite like this world.”
She didn’t have to be on constant alert…
Even so, ever since the Black Fish appeared, Jiang Xi couldn’t help but feel a faint unease.
This unease felt strangely reminiscent of the apocalypse.
