Chapter 294

The atmosphere in the great hall tightened at once; no one dared make the slightest move.

The Wan Gu Da Wu narrowed his eyes, carefully sizing up the attire of Lang Ze and the others, as if finally judging their identity:
“Yanqiu City and Wan Gu have always been on good terms. By doing this now, do you intend to provoke war between our two cities?”

Ji stared at the sanctimonious Wan Gu Da Wu, hatred in his eyes impossible to hide.
“There is no envoy from Yanqiu City. We are here to make you pay with your lives for Ye Shen Shi.”

“Ye Shen Shi?” the Mu Shen Shi barked, “Wasn’t Ye Shen Shi killed by wild beasts while on a mission? What does that have to do with Wan Gu City?”

The faces of several wuzi from Wan Gu all changed at once, their eyes darting toward the Da Wu.

The crime of murdering a Shen Dian’s envoy was far too great—even as a mid-tier city, Wan Gu could never bear such a charge.

The wuzi Lai, standing in front, flickered his gaze a few times, and when no one noticed, slipped into the shadows beyond the firelight, his figure quickly vanishing.

The Wan Gu Da Wu glared at Ji, his expression venomous.

He hadn’t expected there would still be survivors from that little tribe.

Three years ago, he had been summoned by the Cang Shen Si.

Since Wan Gu was founded, it was the first time he had bypassed the stationed Du Shen Shi to be summoned directly by the Cang Shen Si—showing just how important the task was.

And indeed, the mission was extraordinary.

“Ye betrayed the Beast God. He secretly hid away those children who carried divine blood, hoping to raise them. I have found their location. Go—bring him back to the Beast God for judgment.”

The words sounded righteous, but the Wan Gu Da Wu had dealt with two generations of Shen Si before. He knew very well the truth: Ye Shen Shi had not betrayed the Beast God. The Cang Shen Si simply wanted to remove a rival.

That Ye Shen Shi had died was because he was both too clever—and too naïve.

He discovered that the initial “revival of divine blood” had already been twisted into something else, and he even thought he could walk away. But he never understood—there had only ever been one way to leave.

“You are one of that tribe’s children,” the Wan Gu Da Wu chuckled darkly, “Do you not know? The one who made those children orphans was Ye Shen Shi himself.”

Qi Bai looked at Ji, whose fists were clenched and whole body trembling. A ridiculous thought suddenly flashed across his mind.

Perhaps Ji wasn’t Ye Shen Shi’s son at all. Perhaps he had only inherited Ye’s forging craft, and since his beast form was also a tiger, Hu Liao and the others had simply mistaken him for Ye Shen Shi’s child.

Thinking back, Ji had never once directly admitted Ye was his father.

Ji’s chest heaved violently as he breathed deep, trying to calm himself.

The foster father who raised him, who taught him his craft, had also been the butcher of his clan.

If possible, Ji wished he had never learned this truth.

He thought of his parents, slaughtered brutally to death, and of his younger brother whose fate he still didn’t know. He should hate Ye Shen Shi—should hate him for causing it all.

And yet, ten years of life together told him otherwise. The Ye Shen Shi he knew was not that man. He had raised hundreds of orphans, he had risked his life to let Ji escape the tribe. He had not been cruel.

Ji hated Wan Gu City, who had killed Ye. But he could not bring himself to take vengeance on Ye’s behalf. In the end, he shifted all his hatred onto Gu Jin, the substance tied to the revival of divine blood.

But even so, for the past three years Ji had lived in torment, in contradiction—fleeing from himself, wallowing in self-loathing and exile—until Lang Ze and Qi Bai appeared and woke him up.

“The ones who deserve to die—are you!”

The words squeezed through Ji’s teeth.

It was never the victims who should pay the price. It was the perpetrators who had slaughtered without restraint.

“Ye Shen Shi first killed the adults of that tribe, then hypocritically penned up the children. And you would avenge him? Laughable. Utterly laughable.”

The Wan Gu Da Wu’s voice dripped with malice.
“Enough. If you still cling to him, then I’ll send you after him—go accompany him to the Beast God.”

Hearing the Da Wu’s open admission, the Mu Shen Shi felt a chill run down his spine and unconsciously stepped back.
“You… you dare so much?”

Among beastmen, Shen Shi stood just below the Shen Si, and each was appointed directly by the Da Shen Si at the Central Shrine.

Once one became a Shen Shi, one ceased to be a common beastman.

No matter the crime, the harshest punishment was lifelong imprisonment in the depths of the Central Shrine. Not even the Da Shen Si himself could execute them directly.

But this Wan Gu Da Wu—he had dared kill a Shen Shi. It was an unforgivable crime.

“Mu Shen Shi,” the Da Wu sneered, “you should learn from Du Shen Shi—know what to say, and what not to say.”

“You…” The Mu Shen Shi pointed a trembling finger at him. “How dare you speak to me like that!”

“Of course he dares,” Zhao wuzi’s soft, mocking voice cut in. “Because he not only killed Ye Shen Shi—he has long controlled Du Shen Shi. And now, he plans to control you too, Mu Shen Shi.”

A wuzi stepped forward angrily. “Zhao, what nonsense are you spouting?”

He had already sensed something was wrong—Zhao had been standing at those three’s side from the start. And those three were brought into the Da Wu Hall by Zhao himself.

Zhao ignored him. Instead, he walked to a nearby si shi’s table, picked up the clay bowl of meat soup, and slammed it onto the ground.

The precious pottery shattered, but no one cared about its value—because the spilled soup hissed and bubbled like boiling poison.

Others might not know what it was, but the Mu Shen Shi was a healer. At one glance, he recognized it: “Poison!”

His throat constricted. He seized his own bowl and smashed it down as well.

The result was the same—his soup too frothed with bubbles.

The Mu Shen Shi’s heart pounded wildly. A moment more, and he would have drunk it.

“This is no mere poison,” Zhao said sweetly, smiling. “It is ‘Divine Water,’ brewed from Gu Jin and infused with Evil Bone’s witch-water. A most precious concoction.”

He gestured toward the Wan Gu City Lord and Du Shen Shi.
“Drink this, and you can never escape its control. Even Shen Shi and a City Lord—what does it matter? They too become obedient to the Da Wu.”

The Evil Bone tribe’s witch-water could control beastmen, but left them to wither quickly—used only on slaves.

The Wan Gu Da Wu, however, had refined it. With Gu Jin, he had made a “Divine Water” that didn’t age its drinkers, and with Gu Jin’s addictive pull, he could subtly enslave even Shen Shi, si shi, and the City Lord himself.

With the Da Wu Hall under his grip, he could control the entire city.

Before, no one had suspected. But now, looking again at the City Lord, the Shen Shi, and even Ke si shi—it was clear something was wrong with them.

Especially the Wan Gu City Lord. Even with danger upon him, he remained utterly apathetic.

The Mu Shen Shi trembled, pointing at Du Shen Shi: “Du… you knew. You knew!”

Du Shen Shi only smiled twistedly. “It’s nothing. Drink the Divine Water—you’ll enjoy it too.”

Zhao’s laughter tinkled.
“Now you see, don’t you? Evil Bone’s Da Wu never feared you. Because soon, you would have become just like Du Shen Shi—forever under his control.”

He stepped into the hall’s center, raised his hand, and declared:
“The Evil Bone line—murderers of Shen Shi, defilers of the Beast God and the Shen Dian—today, we kill them, in Ye Shen Shi’s name!”

At once, hurried footsteps thundered outside, surrounding the Da Wu Hall.

A line of cloaked guards appeared at the doors.

The Wan Gu Da Wu let out a hoarse, gnarled laugh. He knew it—only his Xun, only his child would return to save him.

“Even Shen Shi are nothing. All of you will submit to Wan Gu—to me! In Wan Gu, I alone am god!

Ants think to shake gods? You should all die—every last one!”

He spread his arms, robe billowing, eyes bloodthirsty.
“Wan Gu warriors, kill them! Hang their bones on the city gates!”

His mad voice shook the hall.

The envoy delegation shrank back. The Mu Shen Shi’s face went white. His own si shi had drunk the “Divine Water”—they would not protect him. Was he really going to die here?

One second. Two. Three…

But the warriors at the door never moved.

“Attack!” the Wan Gu Da Wu howled, his voice turning from arrogance to fury. “What are you waiting for?!”

Silence.

Lang Ze swept him a cold glance, then beckoned.

The leading warrior straightened and called, “Bring him in!”

Two more fighters entered, dragging none other than Lai—the very wuzi who had fled.

All dignity gone, Lai wept and wailed:
“Da Wu! Da Wu! Outside—it’s all their men! Our warriors can’t fight anymore! Do something, Da Wu!”

The Wan Gu Da Wu froze. “Impossible. Where is Xun? Wasn’t that Xun’s guard force?”

The lead warrior ripped off his hood.
“Look again. See who we are!”

At the sight of the face revealed, two men at the far end of the hall went rigid.

Lang Tai staggered forward two steps, disbelief and joy in his voice:
“…Zhan! Zhan—you’re alive!”

The Wan Gu Da Wu’s eyes bulged, nearly tearing from their sockets. His bone staff clattered to the floor as his hand shook, pointing to the rear of the hall.

His voice tore from his throat:
“You—you Silver Moon scum! Betraying your tribe wasn’t enough—you dare scheme against me, against Wan Gu?! Lang Shuo! The Cang Shen Si should never have spared you, never made you Silver Moon’s chief! You should have been destroyed!”

The smile on Lang Tai’s face froze. Betraying their tribe? That wasn’t true. “Chief…”

“He doesn’t deserve the title!”

Now, Lang Shuo was nothing but a shadow of himself—ugly, corrupted, far from the once-proud Silver Moon hunter captain. But whatever he had become, Lang Zhan’s hatred burned bright. He recognized him instantly—and yearned to fight him to the death.

“A traitor dares call himself Silver Moon’s chief?

The Silver Moon’s chief—the king of the wolf tribe—was Lang Shun then, and now it is Lang Shun’s son, Lang Ze!

It will only ever be Lang Ze!”

Lang Lin’s voice broke into sobs. “Father, what traitor? What are they saying? Father, speak!”

He remembered Lang Zhan, remembered Lang Sheng—they had held him as a child, slipping him dried meat.

Confusion gripped him. We were one tribe. Why do you look at us with such fury?

The Wan Gu Da Wu suddenly broke into mad laughter.

It was over. All of it was over.

Thirteen years spent building this city, this grand hall—gone.

But don’t think he would surrender so easily. If he was to die, he would drag them all down with him!

As his laughter echoed, the Wan Gu City Lord suddenly lunged, striking at the four in the hall.

But one man was faster. Lang Ze, who had been watching closely, moved the instant the City Lord twitched.

He caught the strike and snarled, “Courting death.”