Chapter 249

Qi Bai made a trip home, and when he returned, he was carrying a small wooden box.

Ma Ling and the others immediately approached with torches. The box was opened to reveal several small pouches of earthy yellow powder, wrapped in animal hide.

This powder was exactly what Lang Ze had found in the Sanghuo Tribe’s tents.

Aside from the original packet they found in Ji’s hide, Lang Ze had discovered a few more pouches in Sang Xu and Hou Pei’s tents—though none were as plentiful as Ji’s, and Hou Pei’s bag was nearly empty, just a thin layer left at the bottom.

Niu Xin asked curiously, “Is this the Gu Jin?”

Qi Bai was nearly certain it was.

Because they had to wait for Yun Jing to contact the Xushan Tribe, Lang Ze and the others had stayed in Sanghuo Tribe for quite a while. During that time, warriors from the four tribes had essentially turned the whole place upside down.

Aside from a few unnamed plants, the only thing they couldn’t figure out was the purpose of this yellow, metallic-looking powder.

Lu Jian pinched a bit of powder between his fingers, sniffed it at his nose, then shook his head and said, “The Julu Tribe has never seen this stuff before.”

And that was the problem.

They didn’t know for sure whether this was Gu Jin, nor did they know how it was used. It felt like they hadn’t made much progress at all.

“Give it to me,” Lang Ze called out from deeper in the cave, extending his hand toward Qi Bai.

Qi Bai cooperatively passed the wooden box over.

With Lang Ze’s actions, Qi Bai quickly understood his intention.

They might not know how this stuff worked—but that didn’t mean someone else here didn’t know.

Lang Ze used a sliver of bamboo to scoop out a fingernail-sized bit of the powder and placed it in front of one of the cubs who had been muttering nonsense.

The cub suddenly seemed to catch a whiff of something incredibly enticing. His previously dazed eyes lit up with clarity. Then, as if possessed by great strength, he snatched the bamboo shard from Lang Ze’s hand and swallowed all of the powder in one gulp.

The Sangmeng cub’s sudden movement shocked everyone in the cave.

Most of the Heishan Tribe had smelted iron before and had been warned by Qi Bai that the slag from the furnace was toxic and not to be eaten. So the idea of swallowing this powder directly had never even crossed their minds.

Qi Bai’s eyes were practically bulging from his head.

Even if this “Gu Jin” wasn’t actual gold, based on the technological development level of this continent, there was no way metals were being fully refined. Unrefined ores could contain all kinds of heavy metals, and heavy metal poisoning was no joke.

That cub had just swallowed the powder raw. How could nothing go wrong?

But the thing that shocked Qi Bai even more came next.

Even though the cub hadn’t fully recovered after consuming the Julu Tribe’s healing medicine, after swallowing that bit of yellow powder, his convulsions ceased entirely. He even lifted his head and looked around, as if he’d regained consciousness.

But Qi Bai quickly realized—he wasn’t awake. He had entered a hallucination.

Muscles that shouldn’t have existed bulged on his arms. He clenched his fists and began swinging wildly at the air, as if fighting off invisible enemies, muttering madly:
“Mine! Give it to me! Get away from me! Don’t you dare steal it! All of you, die! Die!”

Everyone began slowly stepping back.

The cub, still flailing, eventually hit the stone wall of the cave.

He seemed to regard the wall as a new enemy. With his fists, he pounded it repeatedly, making a harsh metallic clang with every blow. Dark red blood ran down the rock, but he showed no sign of pain.

This state lasted less than ten minutes. Then the cub’s body deflated like a balloon, collapsing to the ground like a pile of dead flesh, no longer moving.

Qi Bai stepped forward, placed two fingers under his nose, and then turned to everyone:
“He’s dead.”

Lu Teng’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, stunned into speechlessness. Despite being a priest’s disciple, and having seen a great many things, even he was rattled by what had just unfolded before his eyes.

This was not the effect of the Julu healing medicine. Their medicine might allow a beastman to say a few more words before dying, or die with slightly less pain—but this?

After a long pause, Lu Teng finally managed to speak:
“Was… this the Beast God’s punishment?”

“Don’t go making wild guesses,” Qi Bai cut him off. “The Beast God is a busy deity. He doesn’t have time to deal with a single cub from the Sangmeng Tribe.”

Qi Bai would never encourage the beastmen to abandon their faith in the Beast God—he had never intended that.

There were too many mystical and inexplicable things in this world, not to mention Qi Bai’s own unexplainable transmigration. Even though he had never encountered the Beast God directly, he still held a deep reverence in his heart.

But he also didn’t want people constantly blaming the Beast God for every strange thing. A single phrase like “the Beast God’s punishment” could brush off countless phenomena that were hard to explain. That mindset killed curiosity, and would only hinder the beastmen’s understanding of the world.

Lu Jian brought his cane down hard on the back of Lu Teng’s head. The strike snapped Lu Teng out of his panic, restoring a bit of rationality.

That’s right—even though the cub’s behavior was bizarre, it wasn’t entirely without clues. Everyone had watched him change right after eating the powder.

Lu Teng looked to the side and noticed that Ma Ling and the others were relatively calm. They had clearly seen worse and weren’t as shaken—he realized his own reaction had been overly dramatic.

Of course Ma Ling wasn’t shaken—this cub was nothing. He’d seen a beastman vomit skull-shaped black smoke before. This? Child’s play.

Niu Cheng and Niu Xin, though newer members of the tribe and not present when Ma Li first encountered the Heishan walls, were both ox-type beastmen, known for their composure. Even the usually noisy Niu Xin had a strong mental fortitude for his age.

No matter what happened here, they would remain focused on their duty. As long as Qi Bai and Lang Ze didn’t give new orders, they had no reason to fear or retreat.

That’s why Lang Ze trusted the Niu Tribe so much—with good reason.

This one cub’s transformation didn’t change their plans. After all, if they did nothing, the remaining cubs would simply die soon anyway. But now, Lang Ze was even more cautious with the Gu Jin dosage.

—

The next morning, after staying up all night, the group emerged from the cave.

After assigning Niu Shuo and Xi Zhou to monitor the cave, Qi Bai and Lang Ze headed toward the decision-making group’s office.

Yang Luo and Hou Yan, who only learned the news after waking up, hurried over upon hearing Qi Bai and Lang Ze were there.

After spending a grim, sleepless night in the cave, both Qi Bai and Lang Ze looked exhausted.

Seeing them, Qi Bai pinched the bridge of his nose and said,
“This powder is almost certainly Gu Jin.”

Lang Ze nodded. “Those three cubs, like Hou Pei from the Sangmeng Tribe, had bones that became unnaturally strong before death—hard as birds’ bones—but afterward, their skeletons crumbled like sand. It must be caused by eating Gu Jin.”

Lang Ze had originally planned to bring back some of Hou Pei’s bones for analysis, but only then had he discovered that Hou Pei’s bones had degenerated after death. Since the powdery remains were useless for study, he decided to bring the six cubs back instead.

Hearing about such horrific deaths, Yang Luo shuddered: “All those cubs are dead?”

Qi Bai shook his head. Perhaps due to taking the healing medicine, or perhaps because they consumed smaller amounts of Gu Jin, only the first cub died. The remaining three who took smaller doses survived, far exceeding Lu Jian’s expectations.

But Qi Bai didn’t think Lu Jian had made a mistake. He shared his theory:

“This Gu Jin… is probably a metal that can alter a beastman’s physique—and it’s both addictive and habit-forming.”

That would explain why Hou Pei had the powder and why his mental state kept fluctuating. Only after taking some Gu Jin could he remain lucid for a while.

And as for the six cubs in the cave—their current state was clearly due to having gone without Gu Jin ever since the Sanghuo Tribe was destroyed.

Even now, knowing all this, they wouldn’t live much longer. Feeding them Gu Jin was only **prolong

ing their lives a little**.

The thought sent chills down Qi Bai’s spine. From every angle, the Sangmeng Tribe seemed like a sacrificial experiment.

No one knew how they discovered Gu Jin’s effects, but ignorance, coupled with a blind pursuit of power, had driven Sang Xu and Ji to conduct such mad experiments on ordinary beastmen. They might have even promoted Gu Jin as a miracle drug, or else the tribe’s leader would never have risked using it on himself.

Yang Luo was terrified. He’d only ever known some plants and animal meats to be poisonous—now even soil and rocks were deadly?

He’d have to go back and warn his tribe to watch their cubs closely. Apart from food provided by the tribe, they mustn’t eat anything else—especially not worms dug out of the yellow earth.

Hou Yan’s face was dark with anger. He loved cubs, and now hearing that these young ones had died so pointlessly filled him with fury.
“How’s Ma Ling’s interrogation of Ji and Sang Xu going?”

It had been over ten days since Lang Ze returned to the tribe, and Ma Ling had never stopped interrogating the two. He’d used increasingly harsh methods, but those two were tough and still hadn’t confessed anything useful.

Thinking about the three Sangmeng cubs whose lives hung by a thread, Qi Bai said grimly,
“We can’t wait anymore.”

Lang Ze nodded. “Let’s try that method.”

Yang Luo and Hou Yan exchanged glances, confused by their cryptic words.

But Qi Bai and Lang Ze didn’t plan to keep it a secret—they’d need Yang Luo and Hou Yan’s cooperation for what came next.

After Qi Bai explained the plan, Yang Luo’s face changed several times. In the end, he couldn’t help but glance at Lang Ze—this kind of ruthless tactic had to be his idea.

Qi Bai had no idea Lang Ze had once again taken the blame for him.

After briefing Hou Yan and Yang Luo, the two hurried home—they needed rest.

After all, there was a big performance to put on that afternoon.