The surrounding crowd was absolutely speechless. The fox and lion warriors stood there with their jaws dropping. It was their first time seeing a female boldly clamp the mouth of a massive predator like that.
Even if she was their female, it was still very shocking, because no matter how close the females were with their males, they were still afraid of the beast form, especially the beast form of such a big tiger.
Snapping the jaws shut of a big tiger by a little female was unheard of.
"Is she not afraid heāll accidentally bite her?" one fox whispered.
"Sheās too bold! Thatās a five strip tiger!" a lion added, shaking his head in disbelief.
Just then, Su Mingxuan, the Tribe Leader, stepped into the clearing. He looked at the scene...the tiger, the wolf, the lion, and his daughter holding a tigerās snout, and he couldnāt help but let out a chuckle.
He was not brainless. With one look he immediately understood everything. He was not old in vain. With his old age there was also deep analysis of all situations.
Otherwise he wouldnāt be fit to be called a tribe leader at all if he couldnāt find what was wrong with one look.
"Let them be, Lan Lan," Su Mingxuan said, patting his daughter on the shoulder. Su Qinglanās lips twitched. She looked at her father, hoping for some support, but he just had a knowing smirk on his face.
"Father, stop them! Theyāre going to kill each other!" she cried.
Su Mingxuan just shook his head. "Daughter, you donāt understand beastmen. All beastmen start their arguments with words and end them with a fight. Itās how we settle things. We cannot stop them. Let them fight and get over the grudge, or they will forever keep it. After all, it is about the honour of the female."
He couldnāt be happier that his daughterās beast husbands were so caring. If they were not, then there would be real tension coming for him.
The other beastmen nodded in agreement. Now they understood...this was a classic duel over a mate.
"What fight? Grudge? This is just stupid!" Su Qinglan shouted. But it was too late.
Taking the cue from the Tribe Leader, Hu Yan pulled his face away from her hands and immediately leaped away, followed by Shi Feng.
The two giants ran toward an open clearing further out to engage in dual combat. They werenāt trying to kill each other now; they were just letting out their frustration.
Han Jue and Rong Ye didnāt join in this time.
They knew it would be truly shameless to gang up on one person during a formal duel. They stood back, watching the dust fly as the lion and tiger began to wrestle in the mud.
Seeing that the fight had started anyway, Han Jue and Rong Ye tried to walk over to Su Qinglan to comfort her. They reached out to hold her hands, acting like nothing was wrong.
SLAP! SLAP!
Su Qinglan slapped both of their hands away with a sharp sound. Her face was red with anger. "Donāt touch me! You three are all the same! Big, stupid blockheads!"
She didnāt even wait for a response. She turned around and began stomping back toward her house through the rain.
"Lan Lan! Wait!" Rong Ye called out, looking like a kicked puppy.
"Donāt follow me!" she yelled back over her shoulder. "Go watch your āhonorableā fight! Iām going home, and the door is going to be locked!"
Han Jue and Rong Ye stood in the rain, looking at each other with miserable expressions. They had tried to protect their mateās honor, but now they were the ones in the doghouse.
Su Qinglan didnāt look back once, leaving them to wonder if this nonsense "honor" was really worth sleeping on the wet ground.
Xuan Long had been alone in the house for a while.
Everyone else had gone out, the noise of quarrels and roars fading far into the distance, leaving only soft rain tapping quietly across the mountainside. After sleeping for weeks, his body finally felt light again, no longer heavy or weak. So he decided to step out and look around.
He had to make sure the dome he left before sleeping was still working.
When he stepped outside, the sky was covered in thick clouds, rain falling steadily across the mountain forest. He lifted his head slightly and breathed in the damp air, then tested the barrier with his senses.
It was still there, stable and protecting the place.
He could have blocked all the rain completely if he wanted, but he wasnāt selfish.
The mountain needed rain.
The trees needed water to grow. The soil needed to breathe. So instead of sealing the sky, he only weakened the rain around the cliffs, making it fall softly instead of harshly, just enough to nourish the land without washing anything away.
That was enough.
He walked slowly through the rain soaked paths.
But if anyone had looked at him closely, they would have been shocked.
Because not a single drop of rain touched him.
He walked straight through the rainfall, yet his body was dry, his hair untouched, like he carried his own small world around him. A faint invisible energy pushed the raindrops aside before they could land on his skin.
Soon, he finished inspecting the surroundings.
He noticed something unusual. A strange female seemed to be living in another tree house.
He didnāt linger there. Instead, he wandered toward the backyard of the spare tree house and spotted two "weeds" huddling together under a leaf.
It was Stove and his new flower wife. The moment the two spiritual plants sensed Xuan Longās presence, they began to shiver violently.
Stove tried to stand tall to protect the little flower, but he was trembling so hard he nearly uprooted himself. So much time had passed, but he still couldnāt make himself face this beastman alone.
Xuan Long looked at them with a bored expression. He reached out a finger and poked one of Stoveās leaves before turning away. Why are they so afraid? he wondered. Iām not a vegetarian. I have no interest in eating a bunch of angry grass.
He feared that if he stayed another second, the plants might actually pass out from sheer terror, so he started to head back toward the main house. However, his ears caught the sound of stomping footsteps and angry shouting.