Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Pretty Kitty

“Kong Shan, did you know about this?” Maple Leaf took the chance to grab Kong Shan as he came over to move the snowflake slate, pulling him aside and whispering.

Kong Shan leaned in and gave Maple Leaf a kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t mess with Shen Rong. He’s very strong,” Kong Shan didn’t say much else, just warned Maple Leaf not to provoke Shen Rong. That lunatic was already strong before he was poisoned. Now that he’s cured, Kong Shan couldn’t even imagine how strong he was.

In short—

If it came to a fight, Shen Rong would definitely win.

After all, if Shen Rong were really unreliable, would the elders have let Chang Xia live at White Lake?

You have to know, before the tribe expanded, White Lake wasn’t even within the tribe’s daily patrol range. Even though it was nearby, anything outside the tribe’s boundaries was at least somewhat dangerous.

Given how much the elders doted on and valued Chang Xia,

How could they bear to let her be at risk?

“Would I ever lie to you—” Nan Feng gave Maple Leaf a disdainful look and said sarcastically.

Maple Leaf waved her fist, her heroic profile breaking into a bright smile. She opened her mouth and said, “Nan Feng, what did you just say?”

“……” Nan Feng was speechless and fell silent.

She cursed inwardly. Ever since Maple Leaf started training with Elder Pukan, her personality was becoming more and more like his—completely over the top.

After Chang Xia left, the cave courtyard was as lively as ever.

But somehow, it didn’t feel quite as lively.

“Elder Yami, do I have to train in beast form?” Chang Xia asked, acting cute.

Her beast form was still small and delicate, not much changed.

When she transformed, she was about the same size as Mountain Sparrow and the others.

---Of course, it was also possible that her beast form was even smaller than Shanque and the others.

Just thinking about the Changxia family made her scalp tingle—she couldn’t imagine what would happen if Shanque found out that the pretty “cat” was actually her. That scene was just too wonderful for Changxia to even dare imagine.

Yami shook her head and said seriously, “Changxia, unless you don’t want to enter the forest, you must become proficient at switching between both forms. The forest is dangerous—everyone knows that. Chenrong is strong, but you don’t want to drag him down, do you?”

“Okay, I get it,” Changxia replied awkwardly.

With a heavy heart, she stepped into the tribe, passing through the central square and heading deeper in.

The kiln cave belonging to Gen and Muqin was just up ahead.

Elder Yami didn’t stop, continuing further into the heart of the tribe until she finally halted at the edge of a cliff.

At that moment, Shanque and a group of beast cubs were tumbling around on the open ground near the cliff. The cliff overlooked a waterfall, and below the waterfall was a pool. Not far from the pool, a kiln cave had been built on the hillside.

Changxia blinked and asked, “Elder Yami, whose kiln cave is that?”

In her memory, there weren’t any beast dens around the training grounds used for the cubs. Where did this extra kiln cave come from?

“Pukang’s family,” Yami replied.

Because of Changxia’s influence, Pukang had shamelessly insisted on building a kiln cave by the waterfall, saying it would make fetching water and fishing more convenient. No matter what she said, he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Doesn’t Elder Pukang mind the noise?” Changxia asked in surprise.

It was several hundred meters from the waterfall, but at that distance, the sound of the water would be impossible to block out. How could anyone stand such a racket? At least, Changxia couldn’t.

Yami chuckled and said, “He knows now.”

Hehe—

Changxia couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that. She could just imagine Elder Pukang’s frustration after a few days of being tormented by the sound of the water.

“Changxia-jie!”

Suddenly, Shanque at the training ground was the first to spot Changxia and Elder Yami.

He immediately dashed over and threw himself at Changxia.

Changxia quickly crouched down and caught the oncoming Shanque.

Thud—

Luckily, Changxia had been working out recently, or she really might have been knocked over by Shanque.

“Shanque, you almost knocked Changxia-jie over, you dummy!” Luyou scolded in a low voice.

He ran over and carefully took Changxia’s hand, checking her over with concern.

Shanque knew he’d done something wrong, and for once didn’t argue with Luyou. Instead, he looked aggrieved and said, “I forgot, I’m sorry. Changxia-jie, are you hurt?”

Changxia held Luyou’s hand and reached out to gently rub Shanque’s head.

“Don’t worry, Shanque. Changxia-jie is really strong now—a little bump is nothing!” Changxia comforted him softly. Soon, all the other beast cubs had gathered around.

In the Heluo tribe, there weren’t many beast cubs under ten years old.

There were only eleven in total, or thirteen if you counted the newborn twins from Nuanchun’s family. For a beast tribe in the Misty Forest, that was quite a lot.

Some weaker beast tribes would consider themselves lucky to have thirteen cubs in the whole tribe. For Heluo tribe to have so many under ten was really impressive.

Clap clap—

Elder Yami clapped her hands, signaling for Changxia and the cubs to stop chatting.

Seeing this, Changxia let her hand fall from the beast pouch at her waist. Inside were some sweets—she’d planned to bribe the cubs with them, hoping they’d go easy on her during training so she wouldn’t embarrass herself too badly.

Unfortunately, things weren’t going her way.

“Now, everyone shift to beast form,” Yami instructed.

Swish swish—

Eleven soft, fluffy cubs instantly transformed into eleven little beasts.

Among them, Shanque’s beast form was the most robust.

Changxia hesitated, took a deep breath, and shifted into her beast form. She picked up her clothes from the ground in her mouth and set them aside. The cubs, who wore animal skins, did the same with their own clothes.

Now, among the group of fluffballs, Changxia and Luyou stood out the most.

That’s right—their beast forms were the smallest.

And with Changxia’s white fur streaked with gold, she was especially eye-catching.

“The cat is Changxia-jie!!!”

Shanque stared at Changxia in excitement, howling a few times before charging straight at her—this time even faster than before!

But this time, Changxia was ready.

She nimbly hid behind Luyou and dashed toward Elder Yami.

Even though she was already an adult, her beast form wasn’t just smaller than the adult black panthers in the tribe—even Shanque, who was still a cub, was bigger than her.

At this moment, Changxia’s beast form was about the size of a housecat.

With a few leaps, she nervously climbed onto Elder Yami’s shoulder, her tail carefully wrapping around the elder’s neck as she let out a couple of anxious cries.

Clearly, Shanque’s sneak attack had given her quite a scare.

Elder Yami couldn’t help but laugh, her eyes full of amusement as she looked at Changxia’s beast form.

This cub’s beast form was as small and cute as ever.

The beast form of the chinchilla tribe should have been bigger, but perhaps because Changxia had been frail since childhood, even as an adult her beast form was still tiny. If the shaman hadn’t repeatedly confirmed that Changxia was healthy, Elder Yami and the others would have worried she was ill.

Beastfolk were usually strong and sturdy—their beast forms were never supposed to be this small.

Changxia might be the only exception.

Even the rabbit and cat tribes, which were considered small beastfolk, were several times larger than Changxia. It was rare for an adult beastfolk to be the same size as an immature cub.

“Shanque, are you out of your mind?”

“I told you not to pounce on Changxia-jie, why do you forget every time?”

Luyou started nagging, sounding more and more like Elder Ximu.

Sure enough, Elder Yami couldn’t help but feel exasperated.

The elders in the tribe were just too unreliable. One after another, they’d spoiled the cubs rotten—that’s why Elder Yami made time to teach the cubs herself. She was afraid that if she left it to Pukang and the others, they’d ruin them.