Chapter 134
Hu Wan then recounted in detail how he had been deceived into joining the Black Forest Tribe.
From his name alone, it was clear that Hu Wan belonged to the tiger clan. As a beastman with a larger beast form, life in his original Yellow Tiger Tribe had been fairly decent. They weren’t exactly living in luxury, but at the very least, they never had to worry about going hungry.
Unlike other tribes, the tigers hadn’t been captured or coerced into joining the Black Forest Tribe—they had been invited.
Hearing that the renowned Black Forest Tribe was extending an invitation to them, every member of the Yellow Tiger Tribe was ecstatic.
Sure, joining another tribe meant losing some of their former freedom, but who hadn’t dreamed of being invited to the Black Forest Tribe?
There was a time when the Black Forest Tribe only extended invitations to the strongest warriors. Many tribes saw this as a sign of strength, to the point that, for a while, being invited to join the Black Forest Tribe became an unofficial mark of being powerful.
Given these circumstances, the Yellow Tiger Tribe was overjoyed to be chosen. The entire tribe was swept up in the excitement of their impending journey, never once stopping to ask about what had happened to those who had joined before them.
They were too busy dreaming about the life that others envied.
On the night before their departure, the entire tribe feasted, eating up every last bit of their stored food.
That was the last full meal their tribe would have for the next two years.
On their first day in the Black Forest Tribe, they truly believed they had stepped into their dream life. When the tribe provided them with food, they felt even luckier.
The food portions were small, but no one thought much of it—after all, they were newcomers in someone else’s tribe. It was normal to receive less food. Besides, they didn’t even have to work for it.
This mindset lasted for about half a month.
During those two weeks, they were given very little to do, and what little work they did was incredibly easy.
Though the meals never left them fully satisfied, everyone was content. More than that, they noticed that the food tasted better than what they used to eat.
It was strange—the ingredients were the same, and it didn’t seem like any rare meats had been added, yet somehow, the flavor was entirely different from the food they used to prepare themselves.
A portion of the group had their movements restricted, but no one questioned it. Many beastmen disliked the scent of unfamiliar tribes. It was common for new arrivals to spend some time adjusting to each other’s presence before being fully integrated.
The Yellow Tiger Tribe was housed in a separate area. Occasionally, they would catch glimpses of beastmen who looked completely different from the ones delivering their food.
Curious, they asked their food distributors about them.
The response was simple:
“Those are beastmen who have committed crimes in the tribe. Normally, they would have been exiled or burned alive. But our chief is soft-hearted, so he allowed them to stay. Of course, punishment is still necessary, so they’re forced to do hard labor to atone for their sins.”
Even in the small Yellow Tiger Tribe, there were cases where beastmen had broken the rules. The explanation seemed reasonable.
Hearing this, the group simply nodded in understanding and stopped feeling pity for those miserable-looking beastmen.
What they didn’t know was that those “criminals” were their future selves.
Their new life was slightly different from what they had imagined, but overall, they still enjoyed it. The only downside was that, despite being in the tribe for several days, they had yet to be assigned any real work—like hunting.
The tiger clan took pride in their strength and skills, and not being able to showcase their abilities made them restless. They were eager to prove themselves.
But when they brought this up, the beastmen who delivered their food reassured them.
“No rush. Just rest first.”
This only made them more certain that they had joined a great tribe.
After two weeks, the beastmen who had been bringing them food finally took them out for their first hunt in the Black Forest Tribe’s territory.
This was the moment they had been waiting for.
After all, what better way to prove their worth than hunting?
But for some unknown reason, the normally ferocious and powerful tiger clan found themselves completely drained of energy that day.
Even when prey ran right past them, they were unable to catch up.
Once.
Twice.
Three times…
Failure after failure…
No one knew how many times they had missed their targets, but by the end of the day, the entire group was exhausted, their stomachs empty, their bodies aching with fatigue.
When they returned to the tribe, they were met with nothing but contempt from the other Black Forest Tribe beastmen.
At the time, none of them realized this had been intentional.
They were too busy drowning in their own shame.
The entire group of tigers was filled with guilt over their failure.
And then—just as they were at their lowest—one of the Black Forest Tribe beastmen suddenly spoke.
The Black Forest Tribe beastmen told them that the tribe would give them another chance, but tomorrow, they had to catch two prey.
Of course, no one objected. As soon as they heard this, they immediately agreed. The next morning, they went out hunting, and for several consecutive days, the tiger clan worked tirelessly, eager to prove their strength.
With the increasing number of prey they caught, the expressions of the Black Forest Tribe beastmen did seem much friendlier. However, despite their efforts, the food they were given remained the same.
At first, they had accepted the smaller portions because they weren’t working much. Less physical exertion meant they had no right to demand more food.
But after days of successful hunting—an achievement that would have been rewarded in any other tribe—not only did the Black Forest Tribe fail to reward them, but they didn’t even increase their food rations.
The naturally hot-tempered tiger clan immediately raised an uproar.
Yet no matter how much they argued, the Black Forest Tribe beastmen simply ignored them. That night, their usual food delivery didn’t arrive.
The tiger clan wasn’t too concerned. As they lay down to sleep, they thought to themselves: Tomorrow, we’ll keep some of the prey for ourselves before handing over the rest.
But in the middle of the night, something felt wrong.
A deep, gnawing discomfort spread through their bodies—not just one or two of them, but several beastmen all experiencing the same unbearable sensation at once.
They were desperate for food.
Prey wasn’t always abundant. As beastmen, they had endured hunger before. Logically, missing one meal shouldn’t have been a big deal.
But for some reason, this particular hunger was far worse than going days without eating.
At first, only a few of them suffered from it. The others felt nothing unusual.
But before long, more and more of them were struck with the same agonizing symptoms.
In just a short time, the entire tiger clan was writhing in unbearable discomfort.
That was when the Black Forest Tribe beastmen arrived—holding food in their hands.
The tiger clan had never smelled food so fragrant before. Their instincts screamed at them to grab it and eat it immediately.
But stealing was impossible. The Black Forest Tribe had too many people watching them. Besides, the tiger clan had no strength left. Resisting now would be suicidal.
Those who remained clear-headed glared at the Black Forest Tribe beastmen, trying to figure out what they were up to.
The ones who were already delirious, however, lunged at them, begging for food.
The Black Forest Tribe beastmen calmly stated, “If you maintain today’s standard—catching two prey a day—you will continue to receive food.”
A few of the desperate beastmen immediately snatched at the food, nodding frantically in agreement.
The rest didn’t hold out for much longer.
If it were just hunger, they could have endured it.
But this wasn’t normal starvation—this was a kind of craving that clawed at their very souls, shredding their rationality until they couldn’t think straight.
From that moment on, the tiger clan’s life in the Black Forest Tribe changed completely.
Before, they had been given food at set times each day.
Now, they had to work constantly just to earn the right to eat.
And the food? It was nothing like before.
What they received were the scraps and leftovers of prey—meat trimmings, discarded bones. Sometimes, they even found half-raw animal hide mixed in.
But no matter how disgusting it was, they had to eat.
Because if they didn’t, hunger wasn’t the real issue.
The night would come.
And with it, that indescribable agony would return.
At first, some beastmen tried to resist. They refused to eat, thinking they could starve themselves rather than be controlled.
But by midnight, every one of them was in so much pain that they would have crawled to the Black Forest Tribe beastmen, begging for food.
The tribe members watched them suffer with amusement, joking amongst themselves, as if their agony was nothing more than a spectacle for entertainment.
After witnessing those examples, no one dared to resist again.
Days turned into weeks. The backbreaking labor never stopped.
Hunting quotas far exceeded their limits, and yet they had no choice but to meet them.
Within half a year, beastmen began to die.
The Black Forest Tribe beastmen didn’t even blink as they dragged away the corpses, as if they had seen it happen countless times before.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Tiger Tribe beastmen were left to drown in grief, mourning the loss of their fallen kin.
At the start, their tribe had numbered over a hundred.
A year later, only thirty or forty remained and of those, barely twenty were still capable of hunting.
Their numbers were too small to sustain themselves.
So, the Black Forest Tribe merged them with another tribe.
The other tribe had gone through the exact same thing—lured in by an invitation, realizing the truth too late, and finding themselves with no way to escape.
Under normal circumstances, two different tribes would need time to adjust after merging.
But the Black Forest Tribe had no interest in wasting resources.
On the very same day they were combined, they were immediately forced out to hunt.
And so, the endless cycle continued.
Every day, they repeated the same labor.
Every day, their numbers dwindled and if nothing changed, they would keep working like this—until the day they died.
Hu Wan was still young—at the prime age for beastmen, making him one of the few who had survived for more than two years. Due to his youth and strength, he was chosen to be part of the team responsible for transporting supplies.
He had known for a long time that there was something wrong with the food, so he always ate only half of his portion—just enough to avoid starvation while enduring mild discomfort. This allowed him to withstand hunger better than the others. Eventually, the tribe changed its method of control, switching from food deprivation to medication distribution. During the day, they had to work hard enough to earn a dose of medicine at night.
With the introduction of medicine, Hu Wan found it easier to control his intake and prevent further weight loss. By eating as much food as possible while secretly reducing his medicine consumption, he noticed his body growing stronger instead of weaker.
Hu Wan shared this discovery with a few close beastmen. They followed his example and, although the initial reduction in medicine was painful, they persevered and gradually regained some of their strength. While they were still far from their former selves before entering the Black Forest Tribe, at least they weren’t in the same half-dead state as the others.
However, they could only share this secret with a select few. Telling more distant acquaintances was too risky—not just because they might not believe it, but because someone might betray them to the beastmen guarding them.
Due to their superior strength compared to other low-ranking beastmen, Hu Wan and his companions were selected for the supply transport team. Before they could find a good opportunity to act, two members of the group attempted to escape under cover of darkness.
Initially, everything seemed to go smoothly—until another beastman in the team reported them to the guards. To make matters worse, the escapees succumbed to withdrawal symptoms mid-flight and, unable to resist the lure of the medicine, turned back.
After witnessing the Black Forest Tribe’s beastmen brutally execute the escapees, Hu Wan became even more cautious. He knew that this trip to the market was his only chance. The tribe’s territory was heavily guarded—if he returned, he would never get another opportunity to escape.
As fate would have it, they got lucky. Something had happened in the tribe, though their group hadn’t been involved. Instead, it was another batch of low-ranking beastmen, which worked in their favor—the tribe’s shaman decided to return early.
Hu Wan knew that as long as the Black Forest Tribe’s beastmen were heading back, there would be an opening. Since the return was unplanned, the shaman and the beastmen would inevitably overlook something.
He guessed correctly. Because the return to the tribe was suddenly announced, several medicine apprentices who followed Wu Jiu were completely bewildered—let alone everyone else. They had originally planned to stay at the market for at least six or seven days, but now, on just the second day, they were already preparing to return. The news was so abrupt that many of the tribe’s beastmen were woken up before they had even fully rested.
The guards watching over the low-ranking beastmen, the warriors protecting the shaman, and those patrolling the area—everyone was thrown into chaos the moment Wu Jiu finished speaking.
If the chief had been here instead of the shaman, he would have immediately reorganized the beastmen, assigning each team its respective duties. However, the chief was absent, and Wu Jiu was the type who only cared about himself, never about others. As a result, the once orderly group that had arrived together fell into complete disarray by the second day.
Hu Wan waited patiently, and finally, when the beastmen guards watching over them got distracted, he and a few others—who had long planned for this—made their escape.
This trip had already exhausted them, and if they were forced to return, they wouldn’t last much longer. Their fate would be the same as those orcs who had already died. Hu Wan didn’t want to die, so he chose to run. There was a risk of being caught and taken back, but if he didn’t try, he wouldn’t live long anyway. Given the choice, he would rather take his chances.
In the end, their gamble paid off. Too many beastmen escaped at once, and since they all ran toward the market while the Black Forest Tribe was in disarray with no one properly in charge, the beastmen from the tribe did not immediately pursue them. That brief window of time was enough for them to catch their breath. However, as the adrenaline of escaping wore off, some beastmen began experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Hu Wan was the last to succumb to the symptoms and had the mildest reaction. He was also the first to recover from the discomfort and made the decision to expose the Black Forest Tribe’s crimes.
What he hadn’t expected was the sheer shock on everyone’s faces as he spoke.
After Hu Wan finished telling his story, the other beastmen who had escaped with him shared their own experiences. Many had entered the Black Forest Tribe under circumstances similar to Hu Wan’s—they had met beastmen from the tribe at the market or elsewhere and had been invited in, only to realize too late that it was all a deception. The promised good life never existed.
Others had been lured in different ways. Some were told they could trade two hunted animals for a chance to join the Black Forest Tribe. Excited by the prospect of such a deal, they had eagerly gathered food and set off, only to discover that the entire offer had been a lie from the very beginning.
“It’s all true?” someone murmured.
“Does a tribe like that really exist?”
“That’s impossible. The Black Forest Tribe has so much food—why wouldn’t they even feed their own beastmen?” Some still didn’t believe Hu Wan’s words. After all, the notion that the Black Forest Tribe was well-stocked with food was deeply ingrained in their minds.
If food wasn’t abundant there, why had people assumed that anyone without food was simply an imposter pretending to be from the Black Forest Tribe?
Hu Wan didn’t even need to explain further. He simply responded, “The food they eat—isn’t it all the prey that we catch?”
The Black Forest Tribe did have plenty of food, more than they could finish. But that food was reserved for the high-ranking beastmen. Low-ranking beastmen like them were only given scraps, barely enough to survive. The taste was even worse than dirt.
With Hu Wan’s words, the skeptical beastman suddenly realized something. If the entire tribe wasn’t out hunting, then where was all their food coming from? The answer was clear—what people envied was the life of the high-ranking beastmen, but once someone joined, they would only ever live as a low-ranking beastmen.
Sometimes, when someone is trapped in a certain belief, it’s difficult to break free from it. But if someone comes along and shatters that illusion, it suddenly makes them recall all the details they had previously ignored. This was exactly what was happening now—regarding the beastmen who had joined the Black Forest Tribe.
A beastman from the monkey clan muttered, “My best friend joined the Black Forest Tribe…” His friend had been a gray-furred, strong wolf from the wolf clan. But ever since he entered the Black Forest Tribe, he had disappeared without a trace. He had never seen his friend—or any other members of his friend’s clan—again.
“I also knew someone who joined the Black Forest Tribe…” another beastman said.
In the past, whenever someone mentioned that so-and-so had joined the Black Forest Tribe, their reaction had always been envy. Almost no one ever discussed how long it had been since that person last made contact with the outside world. After all, the Black Forest Tribe used a different method to trade for salt, and their members rarely left the tribe. Unlike others, who came to the market frequently, the Black Forest Tribe’s isolation didn’t seem suspicious.
But now, hearing so many beastmen say that their acquaintances had vanished after joining, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over them.
So many people had disappeared.
Didn’t that mean the Black Forest Tribe was exactly what Hu Wan had described—a vicious place that tricked people into laboring for them, working them to death, and then discarding them like trash?
Upon suddenly hearing that the mighty Black Forest Tribe was actually engaging in such atrocities, most beastmen found it hard to believe. However, the truth was laid bare before them—one after another, scarred and battered beastmen stepped forward to recount the abuse they had endured. Even some of the more soft-hearted beastmen couldn’t hide the pity on their faces.
The injuries on these beastmen were too numerous to ignore. Take Hu Wan, for example—he had a deep knife wound on his leg, inflicted during a fight with a high-ranking beastman from the Black Forest Tribe. That beastman had a habit of picking fights with strong-looking beastmen just to prove his own strength.
There was nothing unusual about challenges; in many tribes, young beastmen often fought older beastmen to test their strength. Winning meant proving oneself stronger, which led to better access to food and a greater chance of finding a mate. The more victories a beastman had, the more privileges they gained.
However, this particular beastman’s challenges were different. Born into the Black Forest Tribe with parents of high status, he never needed to establish his own position. Instead, his way of proving his strength was by fighting other beastmen with a knife—but only in human form.
The difference between beast forms was significant, but in human form, the gap was much smaller. Yet, if one opponent had a knife and the other didn’t, there was no real competition—the outcome was obvious. Moreover, because his parents were influential, no one dared to harm him. What should have been a fair challenge became nothing more than one-sided slaughter. The low-ranking beastmen he chose as opponents could only dodge desperately, avoiding not only the knife but also the risk of accidentally harming him.
That beastman, however, slashed recklessly without restraint. When Hu Wan was chosen, he knew exactly what his fate would be. Sure enough, the match ended when he was stabbed in the leg, bleeding profusely.
But in the end, that high-ranking beastman met a tragic fate himself. One day, he challenged a young wolf beastman, who suggested that the fight take place outside, claiming the area below the mountain was too cramped. Foolishly, he agreed. Once they reached a more secluded spot, the young wolf immediately shifted into his beast form and tore the challenger’s throat out in a single bite.
Wolves were too fast—before any of the bystanders could react, the beastman’s neck had already been snapped. If the injury had been elsewhere, the tribe’s shaman might have been able to save him. But a severed neck? Even Wu Jiu could only shake his head.
“What happened to that wolf beastman afterward?” someone asked when they noticed Hu Wan had stopped speaking.
At first, everyone had been focused on exposing the true nature of the Black Forest Tribe. But upon hearing Hu Wan’s story, they couldn’t help but ask, eager to know whether the wolf beastman had faced any punishment. To them, the beastmen who had been killed had deserved it. After slaughtering so many others, no number of deaths could have been enough to atone.
“He ran away while everyone was distracted. No one knows where he went,” Hu Wan replied. He had been particularly interested in that wolf beastman’s fate, hoping to follow the same escape route. Unfortunately, before he got the chance, he had been selected for the supply transport team.
Hearing this, several beastmen around them let out a sigh of relief. That beastman who had avenged them had managed to escape—good.
This time, dozens of beastmen had managed to flee, all of them the strongest members of their respective teams. They came from over a dozen different tribes, and each one had a unique story to tell. As the crowd listened, one after another, they began discussing and piecing together the details, making sure nothing had been overlooked.
For many, realizing that the so-called mighty Black Forest Tribe was nothing like the legends was a revelation. It was a story they would carry back to their own tribes and recount for days. No one wanted to miss a single detail.
Of course, there were still a few die-hard supporters of the Black Forest Tribe, trying to defend its reputation. However, they were far outnumbered. If only one or two people had accused the tribe, they might have been able to argue or even start a fight to silence them. But now, with voices coming from every direction, they didn’t even know who to refute.
Even trade at the market ground to a halt. Beastmen who had come to exchange salt stopped trading. Those bartering for food and supplies also set their business aside. Everyone was talking about the Black Forest Tribe.
Beastmen who had timed their arrival to coincide with market day entered the marketplace only to find something was off.
The atmosphere was completely different from usual. Alarmed, they quickly sought out familiar faces to ask what was going on. When they finally got the full story, they were utterly shocked.
As they listened, hearing the horrific tales of what had transpired in the Black Forest Tribe, they found themselves wishing for extra ears—just so they wouldn’t miss a single word.
The beastmen who had arrived too late and could only catch bits and pieces of the conversation were growing restless. Some climbed trees, others stood on the shoulders of their companions—whatever it took to see what was happening in the center of the commotion.
Meanwhile, the medicine apprentices and beastmen who had initially wanted to create a distraction to draw attention to themselves had gone completely silent. They could sense the shift—everyone’s perception of the Black Forest Tribe had completely flipped.
With each new revelation, the tribe’s reputation only worsened. Admitting to being part of the Black Forest Tribe at this moment would likely bring nothing but trouble.
A group of them desperately tried to minimize their presence, but it was impossible. Just earlier, Bai Qi and the others had deliberately gathered them in the middle of the market to teach others how to avoid being deceived. Even with more people arriving, they still occupied the most central area.
Beastmen on the outskirts of the crowd, unaware of the full situation, pointed at the strangely dressed group and loudly asked, “Who are these people?”
Those who had been discussing the Black Forest Tribe’s atrocities suddenly snapped back to the present. Their attention quickly turned to Hu Wan and his companions. “Are they from the Black Forest Tribe?”
“They are,” Hu Wan confirmed.
He had noticed the cloaked figures before, but he hadn’t been certain. However, once the others pulled off their hoods and revealed their faces, there was no doubt—these were orcs from the Black Forest Tribe.
“These ones are the medicine apprentices, and those are the beastmen who protect the shaman and the apprentices,” Hu Wan explained while scanning the group. His gaze suddenly landed on Wu Xi, and he instinctively turned to Ying Quan, the one who had brought him here.
“What do you want to do?” asked Hei Fan, a normally quiet beastman who had noticed Hu Wan’s hesitation.
“This medicine apprentice never mistreated the beastman in the tribe. Can we let him go?” Hu Wan asked tentatively.
The Black Forest Tribe was vast, with thousands of beastmen, including three shamans. Unlike smaller tribes where a single shaman would teach only one or two apprentices, the shamans of the Black Forest Tribe had several apprentices under them. Once these apprentices matured, they were often sent to other tribes to serve as their shamans.
However, Wu Jiu, the most powerful shaman of the Eastern Continent, never truly passed on his full knowledge. He kept his status secure by ensuring that the other shamans remained reliant on him for medicine.
With dozens of apprentices and disciples under him, Wu Jiu couldn’t personally oversee all of them. Most apprentices studied under Wu Ming, another high-ranking shaman, or spent their time gathering herbs.
Hu Wan had often worked in the herb gardens tended by Wu Jiu, so he was more familiar with the medicine apprentices than most. Of course, whenever the apprentices were around, low-ranking beastmen like him had to shrink their presence as much as possible, hoping to become invisible.
Neither Wu Jiu nor the medicine apprentices saw them as people, so they often didn’t bother dismissing them before speaking openly. As a result, Hu Wan had witnessed many things.
For instance, Wu Xi was frequently bullied by the other medicine apprentices. Tasks meant for two people were often dumped on him alone.
One apprentice, Wu Cong, would always find a shady spot to nap while Wu Xi did all the work. When time was up, Wu Cong would emerge, take the majority of the gathered herbs for himself, and then falsely accuse Wu Xi of slacking off if questioned by Wu Ming or Wu Jiu.
Then there was Wu Shi—ill-tempered and favored by Wu Jiu—whom many disliked. At times, when important announcements were made, others would deliberately exclude him, leaving only Wu Xi to deliver the message. Yet, Wu Shi often refused to listen. Sometimes he would scold Wu Xi, other times others would accuse Wu Xi of meddling unnecessarily.
One time, Wu Xi had been sent away for another task and was unable to relay a message to Wu Shi. Yet, when Wu Shi was left out of something important, everyone placed the blame squarely on Wu Xi. Wu Shi accused him of neglecting his duty, while the other apprentices claimed Wu Xi had deliberately withheld the information. In reality, Wu Xi had never even been involved.
Among the medicine apprentices, Wu Xi held the lowest status. He worked harder than any of them but received the least praise. No matter what went wrong, he was always the scapegoat—even for things he hadn’t done.
Wu Jiu never bothered to verify the truth. When so many apprentices accused Wu Xi of being lazy or making mistakes, Wu Jiu simply punished him without question.
Yet despite everything, Wu Xi remained the kindest of all the medicine apprentices. He secretly mixed medicines and gave them to the low-ranking beastmen who were constantly injured from hard labor.
Hu Wan had always felt that Wu Xi was different from the others. After all, it was Wu Xi who had treated his leg wound. The high-ranking beastman who had fought him normally wouldn’t stop until his opponent was dead. That day, the only reason he spared Hu Wan was because he had assumed the injury was fatal.
Everyone, including Hu Wan himself, had thought he was doomed. After the fight, most beastmen had walked away, but a few members of the tiger clan stayed behind. They tied off his wound, placed him on a rock, and silently stood guard. If they hadn’t, passing beastmen from the Black Forest Tribe might have simply dragged him away and thrown him into the pit where they dumped corpses outside the tribe.
Hu Wan, having lost too much blood, thought he would never live to see another sunrise. He vaguely felt himself shifting into his beast form, which only deepened his despair.
It was during this time that Wu Xi secretly came to him, using his own concocted medicine to stop the bleeding. In the days that followed, he took every opportunity to bring Hu Wan more medicine—always in small amounts, since he had to steal it unnoticed to avoid suspicion.
Hu Wan never forgot the kindness that saved his life. Now, seeing Wu Xi tied up like the other captured beastmen, he couldn’t help but plead for him.
Hu Wan spoke in front of everyone, recounting how Wu Xi had saved him and secretly brought him medicine. Hearing this, even those who had insisted that no one should be spared fell silent.
After all, Wu Xi had not only suffered bullying from his fellow apprentices but had also risked his own safety to help others. Perhaps he truly wasn’t a bad person.
However, Wu Xi and the others had been tied up under Bai Qi’s orders, so the crowd instinctively turned to him for a decision. Since Bai Qi had proven himself to be an expert at detecting deception—and his previous warnings about the Black Forest Tribe had turned out to be true—everyone trusted his judgment. If anyone was to decide whether Wu Xi should be released, it had to be him.
Feeling the weight of everyone’s expectations, Bai Qi scratched his head awkwardly. “Uh… I’ll have to ask.”
The stories he had shared about spotting scammers had all been taught to him by Bai Tu. Judging whether Wu Xi was truly innocent was beyond him—after all, he himself had once envied the Black Forest Tribe. He figured it was best to ask Bai Tu for advice.
Ying Quan glanced at the growing crowd outside. “I’ll go instead.”
Bai Qi took one look outside and immediately nodded. With so many beastmen packed together, he’d have a better chance escaping by digging a hole in the ground. Bai Tu was stationed just outside the marketplace, not far from where they were. Ying Quan only needed to flap his wings twice before reaching him and explaining the situation.
After listening carefully, Bai Tu thought for a moment and then said, “He can be released, but Hu Wan must take full responsibility for him. Tell Hu Wan that if Wu Xi ever does anything wrong in the future, both of them will bear the consequences equally.”
The fact that Hu Wan had managed to escape with the other beastmen and had the presence of mind to head straight for the marketplace proved that he was no fool. If, after everything, he still believed Wu Xi was innocent, then it was worth giving Wu Xi a chance.
Ying Quan immediately relayed Bai Tu’s decision to Hu Wan—Wu Xi could be freed, but neither of them could leave the marketplace just yet. The Black Forest Tribe’s beastmen had been captured, but their crimes had yet to be fully exposed.
Hu Wan agreed without hesitation, promising to stay in the marketplace until everything was resolved.
Once Wu Xi was untied, the other beastmen quickly warmed up to him. They had always held respect for kindhearted beastmen who knew medicine. Now that they knew Wu Xi had even risked helping a low-ranking beastman like Huwan, they couldn’t help but wonder—if they ever needed medical treatment in the future, wouldn’t he be willing to help them too?
With that in mind, the crowd unanimously accepted Ying Quan’s proposed arrangement.
As Wu Xi regained his freedom, a few beastmen even asked if the ropes had hurt him, offering small words of concern. Meanwhile, Wu Cong’s eyes were practically burning with rage, but he could do nothing but watch.
By now, with Hu Wan and the others pointing them out, it was undeniable that these beastmen were from the Black Forest Tribe. While the other medicine apprentices held the same title as Wu Xi and had medical knowledge, their actions were far more sinister.
Wu Cong had once ordered several beastmen to be beaten to death—simply because they had given something to Wu Shi before him. Wu Ming personally handed out the tribe’s medicine to the beastmen, making him the most aware of the drug’s true effects.
The other medicine apprentices hadn’t been as overtly cruel as Wu Cong, but they certainly weren’t innocent, either. There was no way they would be released early.
Suddenly, from the outer circle of the crowd, a beastman who had been unaware of the situation spotted one of the medicine apprentices and shouted, “I know him! He saved my life. I was bitten by a rogue beastman, and he treated me.”
Another beastman on the other side of the crowd quickly echoed, “Me too! I didn’t dare say anything earlier. When our tribe was attacked by rogue beastmen, I was bitten, and it was him who gave me medicine. We only arrived today because of our injuries.”
Earlier, with the entire marketplace condemning the Black Forest Tribe, he had been too afraid to speak, worried that others might accuse him of colluding with them. But the truth was, he really had been saved by the apprentice.
With the first few voices speaking up, more beastmen in the outer circle of the marketplace began carefully scanning the captured beastmen. Soon, a few more stepped forward, claiming that not all of the Black Forest Tribe’s medicine apprentices were bad—at least, some of them had saved lives.
The beastmen who spoke up had only arrived at the market today and were unaware that these same apprentices had been handing out free medicine yesterday. All they knew was that they had been attacked on the road, had their food stolen, and suffered injuries. Fortunately, the medicine apprentices had passed by and given them medicine. Since their wounds were severe, their journey had been delayed, which was why they had arrived at the market later than the others.
At first, Bai Tu listened with interest, thinking that perhaps some of the apprentices were genuinely kind hearted. But as more and more people came forward with similar stories, he gradually realized that something was off.
Was it really just a coincidence that all these beastmen had encountered rogue beastmen—and then, almost immediately afterward, happened to run into the Black Forest Tribe’s medicine apprentices?
Thanks for the chapter!