Chapter 15
Not far from both the Mad Lion Tribe and the Blood Wolf Tribe, the Snow Rabbit Tribe also heard the commotion.
The lion’s enraged roar, clearly a declaration of war, echoed through the mountains. For the rabbitfolk, who had an innate fear of large, ferocious animals, the sound was terrifying. It was even worse for the timid rabbit cubs, many of whom burst into tears upon hearing it.
Bai An immediately issued defensive orders. “Protect the cubs!”
All the able-bodied beastfolk in the tribe armed themselves and took up defensive positions around the settlement. The elderly beastfolk carried the frightened cubs—many of whom had instinctively reverted to their beast forms—into a highly concealed cave at the base of the mountain.
The rabbitfolk’s talent for digging wasn’t limited to the mountains but extended underground as well.
This was one of the reasons why, despite their seemingly weak appearance, the Snow Rabbit Tribe had managed to survive in the area for decades.
The underground tunnels crisscrossed in all directions, forming a labyrinth that only members of the tribe could navigate. If anyone from another tribe entered, they’d end up wandering aimlessly before retreating empty-handed.
What made the tunnels even more unique was that they were constantly being updated. The rabbitfolk would dig new ones whenever they had free time, so the layout would often change from one day to the next.
Even more impressively, they could dig on the move—running while creating escape routes until they reached a safe location. This ability was an essential survival skill.
*
Bai Tu didn’t follow the elderly, weak, and young into the tunnels. Instead, he handed some instructions and supplies to Tu Bing, who was holding Bai Chen in her arms.
“Be careful not to touch Chen’s injured leg,” Bai Tu instructed, passing Tu Bing the ointment he’d made earlier. “If it starts bleeding again, apply more of this.”
Although Bai Chen had regained consciousness, he was still extremely weak and couldn’t speak coherently. Most of the time, he remained in his beast form, which helped with his recovery. Ideally, Bai Chen should have been left to rest and heal without any movement, but given the current situation, survival took precedence.
Even though the sound of the lions seemed distant, no one dared to take any chances and wait until they saw the enemy to start evacuating. For the Snow Rabbit Tribe, every moment was precious in ensuring their safety.
While the Snow Rabbit Tribe was urgently retreating, Bai Zhou, who had the sharpest hearing, stood at the mountain peak for a moment, listening carefully. He then ran down to report. “Chief, the sounds are coming from the Mad Lion Tribe. I can hear Lang Qi and Shi Hong’s voices.”
Only beastfolk of the same species could accurately distinguish who was making a particular sound, but the voices of tribal leaders were generally very recognizable.
With Bai Zhou’s keen sense of hearing, he was able to identify which tribes were fighting. However, he couldn’t tell how many beastfolk were involved in the battle.
“The Blood Wolf Tribe is fighting the Mad Lion Tribe?” Bai An said in surprise.
Although both tribes were equally fierce by nature, the wolves rarely interacted with other tribes.
Wolves also preferred to hunt at night, so most other tribes seldom encountered them. Attacking other tribes proactively was unheard of for them.
The Blood Wolf Tribe was large and strong, but their reputation had always been decent, completely unlike the Mad Lion Tribe. In fact, if someone had claimed that the Mad Lion Tribe had gone crazy and provoked the wolves instead, it would have been much easier to believe—especially given that Shi Hong had a history of such reckless behavior.
Bai Tu found the name “Lang Qi” vaguely familiar. After a moment of reflection, he remembered that some kids had mentioned it the other day, saying that Lang Qi was strong enough to defeat Shi Hong.
This suggested there was some prior conflict between the two. If they had bad blood, fighting seemed natural. However, Bai An’s surprise puzzled Bai Tu, so he turned to Bai Qi for an explanation.
Bai Qi explained, “Two years ago, Shi Hong tried to abduct Lang Ya, Lang Qi’s younger sister. Lang Qi gave Shi Hong a beating, but after that, they left and completely ignored the Mad Lion Tribe. They haven’t interacted since.”
Now it made sense to Bai Tu—vengeance for old grievances was understandable, but the Blood Wolf Tribe wasn’t the kind to provoke others without reason. Since the last fight had been two years ago, it seemed unlikely they were suddenly reopening an old wound. This must be about a new conflict.
Though the details remained unclear, the tension in the group eased considerably. Bai Qi asked, “Since the Blood Wolf Tribe went there first, does that mean we don’t need to hide anymore?”
The Mad Lion Tribe was infamous for bullying other lion tribes. Sometimes, when their aggression peaked, they would even randomly attack nearby tribes.
The Blood Wolf Tribe, on the other hand, was very different—they only fought those they had a grudge against, and they left immediately after. They rarely caused trouble for unrelated tribes.
However, Bai An shook his head firmly. “Wait until morning before coming out.” No matter what had caused the fight, the involvement of the Mad Lion Tribe meant the situation couldn’t be taken lightly.
Suddenly, a member of the gathering team exclaimed, “I just remembered something!”
Bai An instantly became alert. “What is it?”
The member hesitated for a moment before explaining, “The wolves said that before Lang Yu and Lang Zhu died, they were clutching their stomachs and vomiting—just like that field mouse from the other day.”
Lang Yu and Lang Zhu had been the previous wolf king and queen of the Blood Wolf Tribe. Lang Yu was Lang Qi’s older brother. The Snow Rabbit Tribe only knew that both had died suddenly, but they didn’t know the cause. Now that the mention of poisoning had come up, everyone immediately thought of Hu Bu.
Bai Tu voiced his guess: “Could it be that they suspect Hu Bu of poisoning Lang Yu and Lang Zhu?” The timing was curious. Hu Bu had only recently been exposed, and now the Blood Wolf Tribe was storming the Mad Lion Tribe to demand an explanation.
Not far away, a young girl stepped forward nervously under the group’s scrutiny. “I… I met Lang Ya that day…”
The gathering team had over twenty members. Each time they went out, they would spread out after reaching a forest to search individually, only regrouping in the evening to return to the tribe together.
After all, there were only so many fruits on each tree, and ripe ones were even rarer. Sticking together would only waste time, so splitting up was much more efficient.
This was a common practice for gathering teams across most tribes. Since they usually gathered in safe areas, there wasn’t much risk in splitting up, and occasionally, they would encounter people from other tribes. If relations were friendly, they might even exchange a few words.
The girl explained that on the day Tu Cheng left the tribe, she had run into Lang Ya. The two had known each other before and got along well.
Furious about Tu Cheng’s betrayal of the tribe, the girl had shared the news with Lang Ya—it wasn’t something she felt the need to keep secret. In her shock, she had even described the field mouse’s death and the appearance of the poison.
It was clear the girl hadn’t known about the circumstances surrounding Lang Yu and Lang Zhu’s deaths. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have only now connected the two incidents.
Between the forager’s revelation and the girl’s story, the group began to piece together the truth.
Bai Qi whispered to Bai Tu, “So Lang Qi now knows that Lang Yu and Lang Zhu were killed by Hu Bu’s poison, and he’s gone to settle the score?”
Bai Tu nodded. That was a definite possibility. However, one thing still bothered him: why had the Blood Wolf Tribe chosen to act on the eve of the salt trade?
Morning was fast approaching, which meant it was almost time for the salt trade team to set out. If the Blood Wolf Tribe delayed their journey, the Snow Rabbit Tribe might have no choice but to join the Flower Deer Tribe instead. But could they even catch up with them? This uncertainty made Bai Tu uneasy.
After piecing together the likely truth, the beastfolk still chose not to return to the cave. Everyone knew the Mad Lion Tribe’s reputation all too well. What if they lost to the Blood Wolf Tribe and decided to take out their frustrations on smaller tribes? It was safer to remain in hiding.
Bai An thought for a moment before giving orders. “If you’re tired, go back to rest. If you’re not, stay here and keep watch.”
Even with this option, most of the beastfolk chose to stay at the base of the mountain, unwilling to take chances.
Having been woken up and now wide awake, Bai Tu felt no desire to return to sleep. Instead, he found a less crowded spot and asked Bai Qi to tell him more about the surrounding tribes and the Mad Lion Tribe’s foxfolk healer, Hu Bu.
This was something he should have asked about days ago, but the preparations for the salt trade had kept him too busy to gather this information.
Bai Qi, knowing Bai Tu had a poor grasp of the region’s dynamics, started explaining everything he could remember—from the local tribes and their rivalries to personal feuds.
The Snow Rabbit Tribe was surrounded by four main tribes: the Blood Wolf Tribe, the Mad Lion Tribe, the White Bear Tribe, and the Flower Deer Tribe.
The tribe with the closest relationship to the Snow Rabbit Tribe was the gentle Flower Deer Tribe. The White Bear Tribe was composed of hulking beastfolk who rarely acted aggressively, but people generally kept their distance from them just in case. The wolves, on the other hand, primarily hunted at night, so the Snow Rabbit Tribe’s gathering teams were more familiar with them than their hunters.
The worst relationship, of course, was with the Mad Lion Tribe. That wasn’t the Snow Rabbit Tribe’s fault, though—almost no tribe got along with them.
Many lionfolk held to a tradition where young beastfolk would expand their territory by taking land from others.
The Mad Lion Tribe, full of young members, constantly sought to take more land, even though they already controlled a vast territory. Every year, they would pick fights with one tribe or another. Although the situation had improved slightly in the past two years, the Mad Lion Tribe still had plenty of enemies.
Bai Qi pointed to the north. “That direction is all lion territory. The Mad Lion Tribe is the largest and closest to us, but there are other lion tribes further north, most of which have been attacked by Shi Hong and his people.
Some of those tribes are ones we’ve met before. To the south is wolf territory. For Lang Qi to fight Shi Hong, they’d have to cross the river down that way.”
The Snow Rabbit Tribe was sandwiched between the two tribes. For the Blood Wolf Tribe to get to the lion territory without alarming the Snow Rabbit Tribe, they would have had to cross two rivers.
Since they hadn’t heard any noise before being woken up, it was clear the wolves had taken the long way around to avoid tipping anyone off.
After introducing the nearby tribes, Bai Qi moved on to Hu Bu. The fox was something of a local legend, and there were many stories about him—some with conflicting details. Bai Qi recounted the most well-known ones.
Hu Bu was the third child of the previous leader of the Red Fox Tribe, neither the eldest nor the youngest.
Neglected by his parents, he disappeared at the age of seven and only reappeared three years ago.
When he returned, he was accompanied by a beastfolk from a large tribe who claimed that Hu Bu had been a favorite of the tribe’s healer and had learned a great deal about herbs.
Two years ago, after the beastfolk who accompanied Hu Bu passed away, Hu Bu was bullied by others in the Red Fox Tribe.
This caught the attention of the current leader, Hu Jin. Later, when Shi Hong and Hu Jin fought for the right to take Hu Bu as a mate, Shi Hong won, and Hu Bu joined the Mad Lion Tribe.
Not long after, Shi Hong’s first mate fell seriously ill. Since then, Hu Bu had been Shi Hong’s most prominent and favored partner.
By the time Bai Qi finished talking, his mouth was dry, but Bai Tu had gained a much clearer understanding of the local power dynamics.
*
The lions’ roars lasted for one or two hours, only stopping as dawn began to break. During that time, some beastfolk returned to the cave to rest, but Bai An and Bai Zhou stayed at the base of the mountain, listening to the sounds of the conflict and occasionally exchanging a few words.
When Bai An realized that the fighting had ended, he said with concern, “Let’s go back to the cave. If Shi Hong loses, he’ll take his anger out on smaller tribes.” And the Snow Rabbit Tribe was exactly the kind of “small tribe” he meant.
Hearing this, the ever-cautious Bai Tu immediately stood up with the others. But just as he prepared to head back, a low, unfamiliar voice rang out nearby.
“Chief Bai An.”
The voice was deep and didn’t belong to anyone in the tribe.
Bai Tu froze. The roars from the Mad Lion Tribe had continued all night, showing no signs of ending anytime soon. Most of the beastfolk had gone back to the cave to rest and recover for tomorrow’s journey. That left only a few people keeping watch outside.
Regardless of whether the newcomers were from the lionfolk or the wolffolk, any rash movements now could easily provoke them. With that in mind, Bai Tu stopped in his tracks and, like the others, turned to look in the direction of the voice.
A group of seven or eight beastfolk appeared in the distance. The leader was a young man who looked about twenty years old. He was tall and strikingly handsome, though his expression was cold. The people behind him all wore stern, unfriendly looks.
Seeing this scene, Bai Tu’s pupils contracted in shock.
The Snow Rabbit Tribe had stationed people around their territory to keep watch as soon as they’d heard the commotion from the Mad Lion Tribe. Yet somehow, this group had approached without making a sound, now standing right at their doorstep.
What’s the difference between this and running into a ghost on the road in broad daylight!
Thanks for the chapter 🙂
The gong? Ehehehe