Chapter 252

Although his mouth was gagged, Hu Xiao's expression was a little strange—not like fear, but rather a faint excitement.

On the contrary, Qiu Bai, who followed closely beside him, looked extremely anxious.

To trick Ji, Heishan’s former slave tribespeople couldn’t be used directly—after two years of care and recovery, they now looked healthy and full of life. Just having a slave brand wasn’t convincing enough.

That was why Lang Ze brought in Qiu Bai at the last minute.

Somehow, Hu Xiao caught wind of this. Taking advantage of workers transporting goods from the dormitory area to the mountain, he slipped through the tribe's outer walls.

Once the beast-hide gag was removed from his mouth, Hu Xiao wore an expression like a dead pig not fearing boiling water. “Looks like you already found me out.”

Ever since Heishan granted the opportunity to join the tribe, Hu Xiao had indeed behaved for a few days. Qi Bai didn’t expect that just a few days after the hunting party returned, this guy would already act up again.

“Rather than catching you outright, we're more curious about what you were trying to do.”

Having just learned a lot from Ji, Qi Bai didn’t want to waste time playing around. “Heishan Tribe is not a place where you can act out freely. If you can’t give us a satisfactory explanation, don’t blame me for being rude.”

Hu Xiao’s eyes shone with excitement. “I want to make a deal with you.”

Lang Ze wasn’t buying it. “There’s nothing for us to trade with you.”

Unexpectedly, Hu Xiao actually had a bargaining chip. He raised his eyebrows and said, “That old man wasn’t talking about real shenxue (神血; divine blood). I can tell you what true divine blood is.”

Lang Ze studied Hu Xiao, seemingly evaluating the credibility of his words.

Under Lang Ze’s gaze, Hu Xiao finally withdrew his smile a little, though he still stood ramrod straight.

Lang Ze asked, “What’s your demand?”

Hu Xiao’s eyes lit up. “I want to join the Heishan Tribe! I want to be part of your future city! You guys have that… what was it… Council? I want to be an elder in the City Council!”

In a prophecy, Hu Xiao had seen the north. Though vague, he knew it depicted a city.

But when he arrived in the north as guided, all he saw was land more desolate than any place on the continent—no sign of any city.

Hu Xiao refused to believe that the Beast God had abandoned him, or the Lingzhi (灵知) clan.

He had originally planned to stay in Heishan and keep searching north for guidance from the Beast God.

However, what Hu Xiao never expected was to hear during the Mating Day celebration that Heishan was planning to build a city.

He had already seen how different Heishan Tribe was from other tribes. If they were the ones building a city, Hu Xiao believed it would be one-of-a-kind on the entire beastman continent.

The Beast God had not abandoned him! Nor the Lingzhi clan!

Qi Bai couldn’t help but laugh in anger. Hu Xiao sure had grand ideas.

Lang Ze exchanged a glance with Qi Bai. Hu Xiao didn’t seem blindly confident—he might really know something.

But this clearly wasn’t the place to talk. Qi Bai gestured to Ma Ling to release him. “Come with me.”

Hu Xiao followed without hesitation.

Ma Ling turned to Qiu Bai: “Enough staring. Come with me to take your punishment from Lang Ji.”

Qiu Bai lowered his head, looking even more dejected than the instigator Hu Xiao.

Ma Ling patted his shoulder in sympathy. “Why’d you get yourself mixed up with him?”

With over 3,000 beastmen in the dormitory area, Qiu Bai being promoted was no small feat. Yet now Hu Xiao was fine, and Qiu Bai was the one about to be punished.

Qiu Bai stayed silent.

His life had been saved by Hu Xiao. He would’ve gladly taken Hu Xiao’s punishment.

But he truly hadn’t known Hu Xiao was sneaking up to eavesdrop on Qi Bai and the emissary. All he could do now was hope Hu Xiao’s words could sway Lang Ze and Qi Bai.

“Let’s go,” said Ma Ling, shaking his head internally at the lack of response.

---

Meanwhile, Qi Bai, Lang Ze, and Hu Xiao had arrived at the plaza.

The five tribes’ chiefs and priests were seated around a fire pit, pretending to savor Heishan’s delicacies while clearly distracted.

Yang Luo kept glancing toward the mountain cave. When he saw Qi Bai and Lang Ze approaching, he quickly stood up. “How’d it go?”

Qi Bai nodded at him, then smiled at the hooded woman beside him. “We’ve got what we need. We're done here.”

Hearing this, the woman pulled back her hood—it was Lang Yao.

What Ji had seen earlier obviously wasn’t really Sang Xu. In truth, everything today had been a setup aimed at Ji.

From his limited encounters with Sang Xu, Qi Bai could sense that she was deeply calculating. Compared to her, it was clearly Ji, with his pretentious airs, who was their true weak point.

Qi Bai’s plan had been to collapse Ji’s psychological defenses. The key to doing that was letting Ji witness Sang Xu’s supposed betrayal with his own eyes.

Lang Yao had spent over a decade in the Sangmeng Tribe. While it seemed like she only cared for orphaned younglings, she had also been silently observing the tribe.

Now, imitating Sang Xu—whose build was similar—was no problem for her.

Lang Ze nodded to Lang Yao. “Thank you for today.”

Lang Yao looked energetic and even smiled. “This old woman doesn’t have many skills, but I’m glad to help.”

Xiong Han couldn’t stay patient like the others. Seeing that they were still avoiding the main point, he quickly asked, “So what exactly is gù jīn (锢金)? Did Hou Pei become that strong because of it?”

Lang Ze’s eyes turned cold. “Gù jīn does enhance beastmen’s strength—but it’s also highly toxic. Ji and the others have been using it for nearly ten years, and no beastman has survived longer than one year.”

Everyone was shocked.

Lang Ze continued, “A beastman’s strength comes from their training. If anyone wants a shortcut, I’ll be happy to help you meet the Beast God directly.”

Sensing Lang Ze’s gaze, Xiong Han felt terribly wronged.

She hadn’t meant to slack off, okay? She was just curious about Hou Pei’s transformation.

“No matter what gù jīn does, it will be strictly banned in Obsidian City. No one is allowed to use it, and none of you may speak of it. Understood?”

The last sentence was directed at Hu Xiao, who shrank his neck and nodded reluctantly—why stare at him like he’d go blabbing?

Yang Luo frowned. “If gù jīn is so dangerous, why were they playing with it for ten years?”

“Shenxue,” said Qi Bai. “The upper cities want to use gù jīn to awaken divine blood in beastmen.”

“Shenxue?”

The tribal chiefs and priests looked at each other—clearly none had heard the term before.

Can’t blame them. The beastman continent was disconnected and slow on information. They hadn’t even seen a low-tier city, let alone heard about Cang Shensi’s so-called Shenxue Plan.

“I told you, that’s not real divine blood.”

Hu Xiao’s still-youthful voice broke in.

Yang Luo gave him a curious glance.

He’d been wanting to ask—when had Hu Xiao gotten down from the stone platform? He’d been working in the plaza all day and never saw him go up.

But that was a small matter. He let it go—until now, when Hu Xiao interrupted serious business.

Under Yang Luo’s skeptical gaze, Hu Xiao stood straight and solemnly declared: “Hundreds of years ago, as the great Beast God prepared for slumber, he blessed every beastman with his divine power—giving them forms different from wild beasts.”

“But most beastmen don’t know that his five most devout tribes also received his divine blood.”

“These five tribes, graced by the Beast God,

gained divine wisdom, divine power, and divine bodies—far beyond ordinary beastmen. They were the Beast God’s incarnations. They taught ordinary beastmen how to hunt and gather, how to use fire and tools. Without them, beastmen wouldn’t have survived among wild beasts.”

Qi Bai’s eyelid twitched. This guy was practically telling a creation myth.

And the way he talked about those five tribes—it was a little too over-the-top.

He interrupted: “So what were these five tribes called?”

Hu Xiao, clearly without an answer, calmly shook his head. “Too much time has passed. For various reasons, the five tribes no longer exist.”

“You want to know why Cang Shensi from the upper cities is looking for divine blood?” Hu Xiao lifted his chin. “Because the last divine blood tribe to vanish was the Xianling (先靈) clan, who ruled the Central Temple two centuries ago.”

Hu Xiao scoffed. “Those servants of the Xianling took over the temple—and now they dare covet the divine blood.”

Lang Yao frowned. “If the last divine blood tribe is gone, what’s Cang Shensi still looking for?”

Hu Xiao: “The tribe vanished—but their blood still flows in their descendants.”

Originally, since mixed offspring with ordinary beastmen wouldn’t inherit the divine blood, the Xianling refused intermarriage.

Over time, as births declined and infant deaths increased, the clan grew ever stricter.

Especially for sub-beastmen who could bear children—they weren’t even allowed to leave Beast God City until their reproductive years ended.

Still, some beastmen pursued freedom—some even fled the city for love.

To punish these traitors and their mates—and given their unique powers—the Xianling wiped out many clans in rage.

But at that moment, their own temple servants betrayed them. And so, many stray bloodlines survived.

Ironically, the mixed-blood children once despised by the Xianling were the ones who eventually awakened the divine blood.

Qi Bai picked up on something. If it was just a power, how could the Xianling have tracked down every runaway?

He asked: “What were the Xianling’s abilities?”

“Prophecy and life,” said Hu Xiao. “The first High Priest of Beast God City reportedly lived over 300 years.”

Qi Bai thought: Prophecy—figures. No wonder they controlled the temple and could track everyone down.

But… life?

A thought struck him. He asked, “These surviving bloodlines—do they only awaken part of the divine blood’s power?”

Hu Xiao raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised Qi Bai had figured out so much. He nodded slightly. “That’s right.”

He then looked toward Wu Rao and Wei of the Jufeng Tribe.

“They’re the best examples.”