Chapter 227
If it were face-to-face interactions, the Eagle Tribe might not match many beastmen, but when it came to gathering intelligence, they were far superior to most.
The beastmen who arrived with the sub-beasts thought they had hidden well, unaware that their every move was under the scrutiny of the Eagle Tribe.
Their enemies were clearly well-prepared, with over two hundred beastmen in total. However, the number of people in Snow Rabbit Tribe far exceeded the number of beastmen there. Capturing all two hundred beastmen took less than a day. Some attempted to escape in the chaos, but they had no chance—members of the Blood Wolf Tribe had stationed themselves around the perimeter, capturing anyone who tried to flee.
Although the enemies were captured, Lang Qi still wasn’t at ease, so he arranged for wolf warriors to take turns keeping watch outside the settlement, ensuring that at least fifty wolves were always on standby.
Bai Tu didn’t want to trouble the wolf tribe, but to his surprise, not only did the wolf warriors not refuse the task, they even competed for the positions. Eventually, over 150 wolves were selected and divided into three teams—one team on watch per day, one hunting, and the last resting. On the fourth day, they rotated.
After hunting, they were supposed to return to the Blood Wolf Tribe, but instead, the wolves would bring their prey straight to the settlement and rest outside.
Seeing the wolves helping them while having no proper housing and standing guard every other day, Bai Tu immediately made arrangements for expansion.
Expansion was a must.
Once the expansion was set in motion, the captured beastmen were put to work—digging for raw materials. Since they were so eager to learn about Snow Rabbit Tribe’s lifestyle, Bai Tu decided to let them see it up close.
Hearing Bai Tu’s reasoning, the captured beastmen looked grim.
They had wanted to learn about Snow Rabbit Tribe’s way of life, but their real goal was to seize their food and salt—not to find out how much work they did daily, much less do it themselves. However, their opinions didn’t matter. If they dared to target the Snow Rabbit Tribe, they had to pay the price.
Among the captives, a small number of beastmen actually found life in the Snow Rabbit Tribe appealing, but they were quickly drowned out by the louder voices of resentment.
After the settlement was expanded, more members of the Blood Wolf Tribe moved in. Before long, some beastmen even came with their young cubs, asking if they could stay permanently.
The settlement’s homes had heated brick beds, kitchens, and other facilities, making them much more comfortable than caves. Some cubs struggled with the cold in the caves, but in the heated houses, they stayed warm.
Adult beastmen didn’t mind rough living conditions, but cubs were different. Their resistance to cold was much weaker. Sometimes, the temperature that an adult found tolerable could be dangerous for a cub. Parents tried to stay with their cubs to keep them warm, but they couldn’t be by their side at all times. Whenever they had to leave, their cubs faced serious risks.
Previously, the settlement was small and mainly housed rabbit tribe members, along with a few wolves and eagles. Now that it had expanded, some beastmen—concerned for their cubs—tentatively asked Bai Tu if they could move in.
Bai Tu had no resistance to wolf cubs. Even though he already had three at home, he still felt sympathetic seeing more. The houses were already built, and there were extra, so it made perfect sense to let the wolf families move in.
Once the wolves with cubs and the patrolling wolves settled in, the original housing of the Blood Wolf Tribe was left two-thirds empty. Only about a hundred wolves remained there.
Seeing that over three hundred wolves were now living in the settlement, Bai Tu looked at the remaining hundred or so and asked Lang Qi, “Should we just move everyone in?”
It seemed unfair for some of them to live in warm houses while others still had to endure caves. From the beginning, the settlement wasn’t exclusive to the rabbit tribe—there were already nearly two hundred eagles living there. With the wolves included, there were five to six hundred people in total. Since so many were already living there, it made sense to accommodate the rest of the Blood Wolf Tribe as well.
Lang Qi, remaining expressionless, simply said, “It’s up to you.”
Bai Tu understood Lang Qi better than even his own younger siblings, Lang Ze and Lang Ya. Naturally, he knew this statement meant agreement, so he immediately set about making arrangements.
Why did the tribe that tried to ambush them have so many sub-beasts?
It was likely because they wanted to take down the patrol team in one swift move. The enemy tribe had sent over thirty sub-beasts, all of a similar age. This meant that the total number of sub-beasts in their tribe was several times that—an unexpectedly large number.
They couldn’t get any useful information from the captured beastmen, so the two brothers focused their interrogation on the sub-beasts.
At first, the sub-beasts were unwilling to speak. Compared to the captured beastmen, they were even more silent, obeying every order without resistance.
Bai Tu noticed something different about their attitude—the sub-beasts had no goals or opinions of their own, as if they had resigned themselves to fate. This made Bai Tu suspect that they had never been free before and that their previous tribe likely had forces capable of controlling them.
Since sub-beasts were often discriminated against in many tribes, Bai Tu decided to give them some time.
As time passed, the sub-beasts came to a clear realization—no one who had been captured had managed to escape. Eventually, they began to reveal some information voluntarily.
They came from the Xihe Tribe in the western continent. Their mission was to capture a small but resource-rich tribe, then proceed to raid the Heilin Tribe in the eastern continent.
As Bai Tu suspected, the sub-beasts of the Xihe Tribe had always been imprisoned. They were only allowed temporary freedom when their tribe needed to use them.
To ensure their obedience, every sub-beast sent out on a mission had at least one family member held hostage in the Xihe Tribe. If they failed to follow orders, their relatives would be punished in their place.
This was why they didn’t dare to tell the truth at first. The beastmen who attacked the Snow Rabbit Tribe were only a small faction from Xihe—many others were simply following Xihe’s orders. But the Xihe Tribe had over a thousand beastmen, and they could come at any time.
If the Xihe Tribe learned that their sub-beasts had betrayed them, their families would suffer.
However, after a long time without seeing a second wave of Xihe attackers, the sub-beasts realized two possibilities: either the Xihe Tribe had given up on conquering the Snow Rabbit Tribe, or the Snow Rabbit Tribe had defeated any reinforcements.
Either way, it meant one thing—they wouldn’t fall back into the hands of the Xihe Tribe’s leader. And the beastmen who had been captured wouldn’t have a chance to report back.
Since the Xihe Tribe’s leader and shaman wouldn’t hear their words, the sub-beasts finally dared to tell the full truth.
After hearing this information, Bai Tu immediately shared it with Lang Qi, Bai An, and the others.
There were always enemies trying to launch ambushes, but the tribe’s defenses were growing stronger. With more people living in the settlement, they weren’t as worried about external threats anymore.
After capturing the sub-beasts and the first group of beastmen, they continued to catch more. Over time, they had captured over a hundred more beastmen.
But simply locking them all together would only encourage them to share information and plan an escape. So each new group of captives was kept separately and given different tasks, ensuring that those caught earlier wouldn’t know what happened later.
Even though they had captured many enemies, they weren’t confident about confronting the Xihe Tribe directly.
The Xihe Tribe was the largest tribe in the western continent, with the most people and the most land. The Snow Rabbit Tribe, by comparison, was still developing. Though they had built relationships with nearby tribes due to food shortages, waging war was a different matter. Would other tribes even help?
The only tribes they could confirm as allies were the Rabbit Tribe, Wolf Tribe, and Eagle Tribe—but even combined, their numbers were far smaller than the Xihe Tribe.
There was another concern.
While some nearby tribes were friendly, others had their own ambitions. If they sent too many warriors away to fight, would their land still be theirs when they returned?
On one hand, they wanted to eliminate the Xihe Tribe completely. On the other, they needed to protect their own settlement.
As the group debated how to deal with the Xihe Tribe, Bai Tu came up with a different approach.
Since the Xihe Tribe wanted to take over their settlement, why not let them come?
Bai Tu suggested:
“Tell the Huang Lion Tribe, White Lion Tribe, White Bear Tribe, and Flower Deer Tribe—if they help capture Xihe’s beastmen, they can exchange them for food. They can also work with us to receive seeds for planting.”
These were tribes that they had built good relationships with.
Defending against constant ambushes was difficult for a few hundred people. But if all the surrounding tribes kept watch, the workload would be greatly reduced.
Besides, the Xihe Tribe’s movements near their land were a potential threat to everyone, not just the Snow Rabbit Tribe. If all the tribes joined forces, they could capture the Xihe warriors much more efficiently.
The neighboring tribes had always envied the Snow Rabbit Tribe for its abundance of food.
When they heard that capturing Xihe warriors could earn them food, seeds, or even the chance to learn how to build a settlement, they were eager to help.
They couldn’t wait to hunt down every Xihe warrior that dared to approach.
With two or three tribes capturing enemies, the results were already good. But with six or seven tribes working together, it was overwhelming.
Other tribes, such as the Brown Deer Tribe, also joined in.
As a result, the Xihe Tribe’s scouts were completely ineffective.
Before their warriors could even approach the Snow Rabbit settlement, they were spotted and immediately captured, tied up, and sent straight to the Snow Rabbit Tribe.
The Snow Rabbit Tribe happily accepted the free labor—after all, there was plenty of work to do.
The settlement continued to expand, and the permanent population kept increasing.
- The entire Blood Wolf Tribe had moved into the settlement.
- Most of the Black Eagle Tribe had also settled there.
- Nearby friendly tribes, especially those with young cubs, were asking for a place to stay.
With more people, the Snow Rabbit Tribe felt even safer.
After all, this was a home they had built from scratch, and everyone wanted to see it thrive.
As the tribe grew, Bai An began to feel overwhelmed.
He delegated the responsibilities of the Rabbit Tribe to Bai Chen, Bai Tu, and Hei Xiao, while allowing the original leaders of each species to handle their own affairs. However, all major decisions still prioritized the Rabbit Tribe.
Before long, the chief of the Xihe Tribe could no longer accept the fact that all the beastmen he had sent out had been captured. He decided to personally lead an attack on the Snow Rabbit Tribe. However, due to the increasing diversity of its members, the Snow Rabbit Tribe had already renamed itself the “Hundred Beasts Tribe” and had far more people than the Xihe Tribe was aware of.
When the Xihe Tribe’s chief led his forces to attack, he and his beastmen were captured as soon as they stepped into the Hundred Beasts Tribe’s territory. Among those who captured them were the very sub-beastmen he had once sent out. The Xihe chief was furious, but no matter how angry he was, he had no way of venting it in the Hundred Beasts Tribe. Meanwhile, the sub-beastmen who had defied him remained free.
On the same day that the Xihe Tribe’s chief was captured, the Hundred Beasts Tribe sent people to investigate the Xihe Tribe’s situation and check on the sub-beastmen who had been held there.
With their strongest warriors captured, the Xihe Tribe was in disarray. The smaller tribes that once depended on them could barely protect themselves. Even though the Hundred Beasts Tribe only sent a small force, the Xihe Tribe had no ability to resist. Some even surrendered without a fight.
The Xihe Tribe had spent months preparing to seize the Snow Rabbit Tribe as a prize, only to discover that the “prize” was actually bait—leading to their own downfall.
With the Xihe Tribe destroyed, many long-hidden truths came to light. It turned out that the claims made by many shamans that sub-beastmen were cursed by the Beast God were nothing more than lies—part of a scheme to consolidate power and eliminate rivals.
Baitu and Heixiao immediately checked the list of rescued sub-beastmen, but, unfortunately, their father Bai Luo was not among them.
Determined, the brothers sent people out to search for missing sub-beastmen.
At the same time, Baitu also began studying Langqi’s condition.
Years ago, a shaman had temporarily suppressed the poison in Langqi’s body with another toxin. However, this treatment led to severe side effects—Langqi would occasionally revert to a juvenile state, and under stress, he was prone to entering a frenzied, beast-like state. Either condition was best managed when Baitu was by his side. The more strangers around, the slower Langqi’s recovery.
Because Langqi only recognized Baitu when he was unwell, his younger brother Langze often suspected that this dependency was intentional.
To care for Langqi, Baitu found a secluded place ideal for recovery—a mountain with hot springs that stayed warm in winter and cool in summer, a short distance from the main settlement.
When Baitu and Langqi were away, Heixiao and Heiyan took charge of investigating the tribes that had captured sub-beastmen. Once Langqi recovered, the group would split up to continue their search.
Tribes similar to the Xihe Tribe were not uncommon, and soon, they rescued countless sub-beastmen and exposed many fake shamans who had been deceiving people with false knowledge of medicine.
Among the rescued were also beastmen who had suffered under these fraudulent shamans.
However, not everyone they saved was grateful. A single lapse in judgment almost cost Langqi his life.
One of the rescued beastmen had previously served under a cruel shaman who mistreated his apprentices. After being brought to the Hundred Beasts Tribe, this individual sought to replace Baitu. He deliberately misled Langqi with half-truths and even poisoned him, forcing him into a premature frenzy.
Baitu immediately took Langqi away from the tribe, returning to a place they had often visited before.
Their choice of retreat wasn’t just because of the hot springs. From the very first time Langqi lost control and transformed into his adult beast form, Baitu had prepared for the worst. If Langqi ever fully succumbed and became a mindless beast, at least here, he wouldn’t pose a threat to the tribe.
In his beast form, Langqi refused to allow any beastmen near, except for Baitu. Even Heixiao, who wanted to observe Langqi’s condition, was forced to leave.
After the others departed, Baitu sat beside Langqi, running his fingers through the sleek fur of the massive wolf. Despite Langqi’s dangerous, nearly feral state, Baitu showed no fear.
Over the years, Langqi had transformed into his full adult beast form many times, but he had never harmed Baitu. The large wolf nuzzled against him, his eyes filled with urgency. A beast in its primal state had only the most basic instincts.
A warm home, a mate—there was only one thing left to desire: offspring.
Baitu, already experienced in handling such situations, calmly instructed, “Change back to human form.”
Feeling no danger, and entirely focused on his mate, Langqi obeyed without hesitation. Once back in his human form, he even took the initiative to prepare food and tidy up their living space.
Baitu: “…”
No wonder Langze suspected Langqi was doing this on purpose. In human form, he was fully self-aware, yet he still occasionally lost control and reverted to beast form, where he recognized no one but Baitu.
However, something unexpected happened—Langqi’s misfortune turned into a blessing.
After living in the mountains for three months, Langqi fully recovered. He no longer shifted uncontrollably into his beast form, and, miraculously, the side effects of both poisons had disappeared. The three toxins in his body had neutralized each other, ultimately restoring him to perfect health.
And when Baitu returned to the tribe, he carried two small rabbits in his arms.
Upon their return, Baitu had not forgotten their ultimate goal: finding their father.
Even the slightest possibility was worth pursuing. The brothers refused to give up.
More importantly, there were still countless sub-beastmen across the Beast God Continent who needed their help.
For a long time afterward, Baitu and Heixiao continued their search.
Their journey eventually led them to the Heilin Tribe, where they finally learned that their father had died over a decade ago.
The shaman they exposed sneered as he lay dying, taunting them, “Bai Luo has been dead for years! You’ve wasted all this time—do you regret it now?”
Baitu looked at the transformed world around him, so different from the one he had woken up to years ago, and simply shook his head.
“No regrets.”
The sub-beastmen they had saved were still alive. That alone proved that everything they had done was worthwhile.
As long as someone was saved because of their efforts, it meant their actions had meaning.
Their father had once set out to uncover the truth.
Now, he would have been able to witness the very future he had longed for.
