Chapter 189: The Beast Cub of the Snake Tribe

“Bird meat and wild vegetable soup—”

Chang Xia rolled over and sat up, stretching her waist.

She squatted down to rinse her mouth and wash her face, not even bothering to wipe away the water droplets left on her cheeks. She walked over to the stove, eyeing the bubbling breakfast in the stone pot.

“I used your sinew bow to shoot two green birds,” Shen Rong said.

Green birds, which look like pigeons.

They’re not very big, but their meat is tender and fresh.

The beast tribes often catch green birds to feed their young cubs, as it’s said to be very nourishing.

Chang Xia exclaimed with delight, “Green birds! I used to eat green birds and fruit paste all the time.” She’d been frail since childhood, so anything good for her health, Su Ye and the other tribe members would make sure she ate plenty of. But since the tribe lacked cooking skills, they always prepared things in the simplest ways.

Roast, or stew.

No matter how delicious the food, eat it too often—

And eventually, it just tastes bad.

“Here, try it. See how it tastes?” Shen Rong ladled half a bowl of the bird and wild vegetable soup for Chang Xia. It was too hot, so he didn’t fill it too full, afraid she’d burn her hands.

Chang Xia took the wooden bowl and sipped the soup.

The tenderness of the green bird meat and the sweetness of the wild vegetables had all melted into this one bowl.

One sip, and she felt refreshed and invigorated.

“Shen Rong, this soup is amazing!” Chang Xia gave a big thumbs-up, full of praise.

Shen Rong’s cooking was getting better and better—she was almost ready to retire from kitchen duty herself. She’d promised to take care of food and lodging, but now it felt like Shen Rong didn’t need her at all.

Chang Xia rolled her eyes.

She’d heard this line so many times, her ears were about to grow calluses.

She was born a chinchilla beast, and no matter how much meat she ate, she’d never turn into a black panther or a wolf. Just like the mountain sparrow always called her “cat-cat” in beast form—chinchillas were rodents in her previous life, while panthers were actually felines.

“You don’t even believe that yourself!” Chang Xia teased, giving Shen Rong a glare.

Shen Rong just smiled.

He didn’t say anything more, only urged her to eat and drink plenty.

After breakfast, Shen Rong used a vine basket he’d woven that morning to tidy up their things, then hung the basket from a tree. Soon, he’d be taking Chang Xia out hunting again, and they wouldn’t return to camp until evening.

He grabbed his spear and took up his bow.

The two of them continued deeper into the grasslands along the edge of the forest.

Chang Xia had made it clear she wouldn’t go near Wei Mountain, much less approach the Wei River. But in reality, both she and Shen Rong were edging closer to Wei Mountain. The tribe hadn’t said anything yet, but they guessed it was only a matter of time before someone came to investigate.

Wanderers were like ticking time bombs.

No one knew when they might explode. Rather than wait for disaster, why not take the initiative?

Investigate the changes in Wei Mountain while also tracking any possible wanderers.

They could handle both at once—not a bad thing.

On the first day,

Chang Xia and Shen Rong had incredible luck.

Aside from running into a herd of wild goats, they saw nothing else.

Not even a single hair from the prairie wolves, tigers, or leopards they’d worried about.

The second day was even luckier.

They came across a herd of black-horned cattle.

And Shen Rong managed to capture a black-horned cow with a calf.

During this time, Chang Xia managed to shoot two goats with her sinew bow. As for the black-horned cattle, she still needed to work on her arm strength—she just wasn’t strong enough yet to bring one down.

The hide of a black-horned cow could be used for leather armor—her strength wasn’t enough to pierce its defenses. But she could still harass them.

As for beast transformation, using her beast form to attack—

Chang Xia hadn’t even considered it. After all, she couldn’t exactly “cute” a black-horned cow to death with her chinchilla beast form. That was just too unrealistic.

When they caught the black-horned cow with its calf, Shen Rong used his beast form to subdue it. In beast form, he was even more robust than the cow, his silver-white fur streaming in the wind, with a striking tuft of golden hair between his brows.

If Chang Xia hadn’t remembered he was hunting—

She would have rushed over,

Grabbed onto Shen Rong’s long wolf legs, and given them a good rub.

Damn, he was just too handsome!

Utterly irresistible.

“Want mutton again tonight?” Shen Rong asked.

He discussed with Chang Xia that they’d head back to the White Lake cave tomorrow. This rookie trial of hers was basically complete. Plus, they’d managed to catch a black-horned cow with a calf, so they’d have fresh milk for half a month or more.

Chang Xia sighed, “Let’s eat mutton.”

If they didn’t, it would spoil, and she hated wasting food.

With two goats, she and Shen Rong had been eating mutton every meal for the past two days. Honestly, they were getting a little tired of it. But in this heat, if they didn’t eat it, it would go bad.

Even smoked and roasted mutton probably wouldn’t last more than a few days.

“Shen Rong, you chop up the bones for soup and roast some meat. I’ll go fetch water from the river and pick some wild vegetables. Maybe I’ll find some bird eggs?”

Chang Xia stood up. For this last meal before the end of her trial,

She suddenly didn’t want to just go through the motions—maybe it was time for a real feast?

These past few days, they’d wandered all over the grasslands.

And hadn’t run into a single tribe member, which made Chang Xia curious.

Could it be that the tribe had spotted her and Shen Rong first, and deliberately avoided them?

“Hurry back,” Shen Rong said.

It was still early afternoon, plenty of daylight left.

Besides, the river wasn’t far from camp. Shen Rong could see it from where he stood, so he didn’t insist on going with her.

Chang Xia replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay where you can see me.”

She picked up a wooden bucket and answered as she walked away.

She wasn’t reckless—she wouldn’t dare wander the grasslands alone.

True, she and Shen Rong had swept the area several times these past two days, so there shouldn’t be any danger. Otherwise, Shen Rong wouldn’t have agreed to let her fetch water alone.

At the riverbank, Chang Xia filled her bucket.

She set it aside and started searching the grass along the river.

Picking wild vegetables as she went, she also kept an eye out for bird eggs.

In the past few days, Shen Rong had found a dozen or so bird eggs in the grass by the river. Chang Xia wanted to try her luck too—maybe she could find a few to boil for breakfast tomorrow.

She wandered along, searching, when suddenly a strange-looking branch in the grass caught her eye.

“Shen Rong—!”

Chang Xia shouted loudly.

At the same time, she hurriedly stepped back a few paces.

In the distance, Shen Rong heard her call.

He dropped his ironwood knife at once, not even bothering to grab his spear, and sprinted toward the river where Chang Xia was.

“Chang Xia—!”

In the blink of an eye, Shen Rong was at her side, shielding her behind him.

He scanned the area warily, but saw nothing unusual. Puzzled, he asked, “Chang Xia, what happened?”

“A snake—a strange snake,” Chang Xia whispered.

She pointed to a spot in the grass ahead, signaling for Shen Rong to check if it was poisonous.

Shen Rong parted the thick grass and looked in the direction she indicated.

“…”

A look of disbelief crossed his face.

“Chang Xia, you mean this one?” Shen Rong carefully stepped forward, picking up the little snake coiled around a branch. It was about as thick as two fingers, maybe thirty or forty centimeters long, and right now it was lying there with its eyes closed, limp in Shen Rong’s hand as if dead.

Chang Xia tilted her head, hesitating. “Shen Rong, do you… want to eat it? We still have some python meat back at the cave. This one’s so small, there’s hardly any meat on it.”

“Chang Xia—” Shen Rong looked at her with a complicated expression and explained, “Chang Xia, it’s a ‘he,’ not an ‘it.’ He’s a beast cub of the snake tribe, less than a year old, so he can’t transform into human form yet. Look, here’s the beast god’s mark.”"