Chapter – 57
You Have Grown Horns on Your Head
Xing Qi’s eyes were filled with terror. “How could this be… you…”
She couldn’t believe her eyes. Yet, Lei Qingqing’s wounds had truly healed, and even the blood on her chest had vanished without a trace.
Lei Qingqing felt a surge of power spreading from her heart throughout her body.
[Host, this is the Xuanming Forest helping you.]
Xuanming Forest?
She immediately thought of the legend of the divine dragon. Could it be that the dragon hadn’t died, but was sleeping in this Xuanming Forest?
Just as she was thinking this, Xing Qi had picked up her sword again and was swinging at her.
Qi Shen also transformed into his beast form and lunged at her.
Instinctively, she raised her hand to block the sword. The pain she expected did not come.
Instead, the sword shattered.
Lei Qingqing countered with a palm strike to Xing Qi’s chest.
Warm, sticky liquid covered her hand.
She quickly withdrew her hand and kicked Qi Shen away.
Just as she was about to finish them off, Xing Qi suddenly turned into a cloud of black smoke, enveloping Qi Shen and carrying him away.
On the ground was a layer of human skin she left behind.
“System, what exactly is going on?” she asked, frowning at the human skin on the ground.
Everything was too strange—escaping by shedding a layer of human skin.
[Sorry, Host. Her abilities do not belong to this world, so it is impossible to know.]
Lei Qingqing picked up the broken sword. Well, it seems next time she meets her, she might have changed her skin again…
Elsewhere, the four others, thrown far away by Lei Qingqing, were rushing back in panic.
Xiao Ziye on Ling Mo’s back suddenly coughed violently. “Cough… cough… cough…”
“Xiao Ziye, you’re awake?” Ling Mo quickly stopped and placed him on the ground, checking his condition.
The others also paused. Chi Lin looked at Xiao Ziye’s head in shock. “You… you have horns on your head?”
Xiao Ziye was still groggy from his unconscious state. Hearing this, he reached up to touch his head—
He instantly became fully awake. How did he grow horns on his head?
Ling Mo reached out and touched the horns—they were hard, unlike his ears.
He had never seen such horns before, nor had he heard of any tribe whose beast-men grew horns like this.
Bai Yuan’s attention had long since drifted to Lei Qingqing—he didn’t care about Xiao Ziye’s horns. “Hey, what are you still discussing horns for? Go find Qingqing!”
Xiao Ziye, having no memory of Lei Qingqing throwing them away earlier, asked, “Qingqing is still there?”
Upon receiving confirmation from the others, he quickly got up.
Chi Lin lit a tree nearby, dispersing the fog.
Just as they were about to set off, a familiar figure emerged from the firelight.
Lei Qingqing walked over, blood covering her body, holding a broken sword.
“Qingqing!” Bai Yuan immediately recognized her and ran up, holding her tightly in his arms, afraid the person before him might be an imposter.
The others rushed over as well, inspecting her wounds carefully.
“Qingqing, why are you bleeding so much?” Chi Lin asked, distressed.
Lei Qingqing looked at her hand, still dripping blood. “It’s okay, this isn’t my blood.”
Ling Mo gathered quite a bit of information from this sentence. “That must be their blood? You won?”
Lei Qingqing pressed her lips together. “Not really, they escaped.”
Xiao Ziye had been silent the whole time, and it was only now that Lei Qingqing noticed him.
“Xiao Ziye! You’re alive!” she exclaimed, cupping his face in disbelief.
Blood was still smeared across his face.
Xiao Ziye, somewhat annoyed, brushed her hand away. “If I’m not alive, do you think I’d be dead?”
The joy of finding him safe stopped her from arguing further.
“Hey, why do you still have dragon horns?” Lei Qingqing noticed the horns on his head and was a little surprised.
For a moment, her mind connected the protective light, the Xuanming Forest, the divine dragon, and Xiao Ziye…
“Dragon horns?” Ling Mo murmured.
Dragons had long been extinct, and no one present had ever seen one.
When Lei Qingqing mentioned it, everyone was astonished.
“Xiao Ziye, are you a dragon?” Chi Lin couldn’t help but reach out to touch the horns on his head.
But he pushed her hand away. “Don’t touch!”
Lei Qingqing remembered the first time she had seen Xiao Ziye’s beast form—she had felt he wasn’t a snake, but a flood dragon.
Could it be that he had just undergone a near-death tribulation and transformed into a dragon?
“It’s fine, whether dragon or snake, you’re still Xiao Ziye,” Lei Qingqing said, which lightened Xiao Ziye’s confused mood considerably.
By now, dawn was approaching, yet Lei Qingqing still had a bad premonition.
“No, I have to go back. I feel like something’s about to happen.”
She began walking outside.
Chi Lin asked in confusion, “What’s going on? What could possibly happen in the tribe?”
Ling Mo was somewhat inclined to trust Lei Qingqing’s intuition.
After all, he had felt the same way when Xiao Ziye and Chi Lin were in danger.
But thinking about how they had dealt with Xiao Ya and Mo Li, he worried, “How are we supposed to explain this when we go back?”
Lei Qingqing saw his concern, but she still had the feeling the tribe had no time to handle it.
On the way back, Bai Yuan kept looking at her like a little puppy, and Lei Qingqing couldn’t bear it, so she finally chose to sit on his back.
Xiao Ziye was displeased. “This little brat always acts pitiful.”
They traveled quickly, returning to the tribe by noon.
However, the tribe’s atmosphere was heavy and eerie.
Everyone’s faces were gloomy.
Some people, upon seeing Lei Qingqing, seemed hesitant to speak.
If it were any other time, they would have started gossiping openly in front of her.
Arriving at the tree hollow, Zi Su was standing outside.
Seeing Lei Qingqing return, she burst into tears. “Miss Qingqing, you’re finally back! Zi Su sent someone to deliver the message a day ago… why did you only return now…”
She quickly realized something had happened to Lei Yue. “Where’s my mother?”
“Le… leader… she…” Zi Su stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.
Ignoring her, Lei Qingqing rushed inside, only to see Lei Yue lying on the bed, her face pale without a trace of color.
The mother who had sent her off hunting just a few days ago had become a cold corpse.
“What on earth happened!” Lei Qingqing shouted, on the verge of collapse.
Zi Su, kneeling on the ground, was already sobbing uncontrollably. “The day before, I brought her food. After eating, she started vomiting blood, and then… then she just…”
Tears welled up in Lei Qingqing’s eyes. This was the second time she had experienced the death of her parents.
Why hadn’t she received a single message the day before, when someone had come to find her?
“Who sent them? Why didn’t I even see the person, let alone hear about it?”
“I specifically sent An Xuan, and An Xuan said she saw Mo Li there… and told Mo Li to relay it.”
Tears poured from Lei Qingqing’s eyes. Lei Yue had been poisoned the day before, and just that day, she and a few beastmen had also been targeted.
Both she and Lei Yue were marked for death. The beneficiary was obvious.
“What about Su Qianyi?”
Zi Su didn’t understand why this matter of Su Qianyi came up again, but indeed, she hadn’t seen her for several days.
Ling Mo raised a hand to wipe Lei Qingqing’s tears, comforting her. “We will definitely help you find the culprit.”
