LSLFBW: Chapter 136

“There is no one at Lang Ze’s house,” a voice said from outside.

Qi Bai glared at Lang Ze. He quickly put on his animal skin coat after Lang Ze turned around. Then he turned back and saw Lang Ze’s slightly red ears.

This wasn’t a normal red. It was clearly frostbite. Qi Bai reached out and touched Lang Ze’s earlobe. “Does it hurt?”

Lang Ze thought for a moment before replying, “It is a bit itchy.”

Lang Ze’s beast form had thick fur so he normally wouldn’t get frostbite. Judging from his appearance, it must’ve been caused by spending a long time in human form in the wild.

Qi Bai felt a bit of heartache. “How could you be so careless? I’ll put a hot compress on it for you when you get back tonight.”

Lang Ze smiled slightly. “Okay.”

Qi Bai hummed softly, took two black cloaks from the wall, handed the slightly larger one to Lang Ze and put on the other one himself. The thick hood covered Qi Bai’s still slightly damp hair.

Lang Ze pushed open the door and saw Xi Zhou raising his hand. Xi Zhou said happily, “Hey, you were at Qi Bai’s house. No wonder why I called for so long and no one answered.”

Lang Ze looked Xi Zhou up and down a few times. Then he looked away and made way for the person behind him.

Xi Zhou scratched his head, still somewhat confused about the situation. Hu Qiao muttered softly, “I told you not to worry. We can just wait outside.”

Lang Ze had only gone home yet he received a brand new and beautiful cloak. This cloak was exactly the same as the one Qi Bai was wearing behind him. Hu Qiao naturally guessed the origin of the cloak and couldn’t help sighing inwardly, “It is so good to have a partner.”

Instead of heading to the sheepfold near the kiln, the group left the tribe and headed to the valley where the thorn fence was located.

After being away for over ten days, Hu Qiao’s heartbreak had largely subsided and he was back to his lively self. “Finding the four-eared sheep this time was incredibly difficult!”

Xi Zhou quickly nodded. “That’s right. The snowstorm was so severe a few days ago. The four-eared sheep wouldn’t leave their burrows even when we tried to drive them. We had to wait in the snow for three whole days.”

At this point, both Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao were clearly excited. They had never hunted in the wild for such a long time in winter before. They had both learned a great deal from this sheep-hunting trip.

Hu Qiao smiled proudly. “That is nothing, Bao Bai. You will never guess how many four-eared sheep we brought back this time!”

Before Hu Qiao and Xi Zhou could reveal the answer, they had already reached the thorn fence and Qi Bai could hear the bleating of the four-eared sheep.

Looking at the densely packed flock of sheep in the valley, he could see at least a hundred of them.

Hou Yan and Yang Luo were organizing their tribe members to repair the thorn fence when they saw Qi Bai and the others approaching. After exchanging a few words with the others, they turned and walked over.

The snow-covered road was difficult to walk. Yang Luo trudged along, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he reached them.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t hide the joy in his voice. “I just checked. There are at least eight pregnant ewes among these four-eared sheep. They just have to survive and the young sheep in the tribe will definitely not lack food this year.”

Lang Ze looked at the hut, its walls partially exposed in the snow. His gaze was somewhat somber. “Today’s snow is heavier than last year’s. The hut in the valley might not hold out.”

The hut inside the thorn fence wasn’t very sturdy as could be seen by the fact that half of it had collapsed in the earthquake. It was truly uncertain if the remaining half could withstand the weight of the heavy snow.

“The stone sheepfold at the kiln site is very sturdy and can barely hold these sheep.” Hou Yan calmed down a bit as he looked at the restless flock ready to charge at the thorny fence at any moment. “However, keeping them in the stone sheepfold won’t be so easy.”

Qi Bai glanced at the largest sheep in the flock, a four-eared sheep, and said thoughtfully, “There are ways to make them obedient.”

The beastmen confirmed that the wooden stakes surrounding the valley were very sturdy and added extra thorns before leaving.

The lead sheep led the flock in search of a way out but it was useless. Therefore, they headed towards the hut deep in the valley.

The lead sheep sniffed warily at the walls of the hut. The four-eared sheep that used to live there had left, but the hut still retained the scent of their kind. The flock confirmed there was no danger and temporarily settled there.

Ever since Ci Yi became Hou Su’s apprentice, he had always remembered Qi Bai’s words that he should study hard. Apart from attending classes at the academy, he spent most of his time in Hou Su’s weapons workshop.

So now, feeding the sheep was almost always done by Niu Yong and the younger children in the tribe.

However, Niu Yong was only a fourteen or fifteen year old boy and the children he led were even younger. The thorny fence wasn’t the stone sheepfold at the kiln and they were facing a completely untamed flock of sheep. Lang Ze carefully considered it before selecting four adult horned beastmen to guard the sheep in the valley.

Tun Quan was the person in charge and patted his chest. “Don’t worry, we can definitely keep an eye on these sheep.”

Then he walked towards a wooden shed on the hillside that had been abandoned for a long time.

This shed had been built by the tribe members who used to guard the sheep. It had survived the earthquake, but it had been largely destroyed by rats and ants in the mountains after a period of not being used. It needed to be reinforced before it could be used again.

Meanwhile, Qi Bai and Lang Ze returned to the tribe and immediately went to the bamboo hut next to the cave.

Qi Bai opened the bamboo hut door and Chuan Chuan squeezed out.

Chuan Chuan was now taller than Qi Bai’s shoulder. Qi Bai felt that he was at least 1.85 meters tall, so Chuan Chuan was probably close to 1.7 meters.

Qi Bai patted Chuan Chuan’s shoulder. “Our Chuan Chuan is already a very strong sheep.”

Chuan Chuan happily nuzzled Qi Bai with his head, but he was no longer the cute little lamb he once was. A gentle nudge could make Qi Bai lose his balance.

Lang Ze supported Qi Bai from behind. He understood Qi Bai’s meaning. He thought that Chuan Chuan would soon leave Qi Bai and couldn’t help finding Chuan Chuan more agreeable. “Hmm, it is time for him to conquer his own flock.”

Qi Bai blinked. “Conquer?”

Qi Bai and Lang Ze had a slight disagreement about how Chuan Chuan should take over the flock in the thorny enclosure.

Lang Ze said decisively, “Let him defeat the flock’s leader and he will naturally become the new leader.”

Undoubtedly, Qi Bai had decided to train Chuan Chuan into a strong four-eared sheep from the moment he raised Chuan Chuan alone. Eventually, Chuan Chuan would take over the position of flock leader.

Chuan Chuan had grown up alongside beastmen and didn’t reject them. This meant the sheep would gradually become familiar with them. Perhaps one day, the sheep would be able to eat the food gathered by the beastmen without needing to wash away the scent with stinky vegetables, just like Chuan Chuan. Of course, what Qi Bai most hoped for was for the sheep to be able to forage independently every day and obediently return home after dark.

Qi Bai had already raised Chuan Chuan well. Out of the other sheep born around the same time as Chuan Chuan, the largest was only two-thirds the size of Chuan Chuan. Chuan Chuan was now almost the same size as the lead sheep in the stone sheepfold.

However, this was also a problem. Qi Bai frowned and said, “Chuan Chuan has never lived with the other sheep. He can’t fight. How can he possibly defeat the leader of the flock?”

Lang Ze was stunned as he asked, “If he can’t fight, how can he become the leader of the flock?”

Qi Bai suggested, “Chuan Chuan is a little sheep with a powerful background. We can help him.”

Qi Bai’s idea was simple and direct. Kill the original leader of the flock and let Chuan Chuan take over. In any case, the beastmen were backing him and there was no need to worry about Chuan Chuan being bullied.

Qi Bai originally planned to implement this on the flock in the stone sheepfold, but that leader had been quite cooperative recently. Now that the tribe had a new flock, his goal naturally changed.

Lang Ze looked at the muscular little sheep and shook his head. “Beasts only recognize the strongest in the tribe. He isn’t a sheep from that flock and he is tainted with the aura of the beastmen. If we put him directly into the flock, the other sheep won’t accept him. They might even kill him.”

Qi Bai’s hand paused.

He seemed to have forgotten one thing. This wasn’t the modern world he once lived in. Here, there were no domesticated animals and no animals tamed over centuries. They faced wild beasts accustomed to the law of the jungle. Becoming a leader sheep here was no longer something a shepherd could forcefully intervene in. It required bloody battles, even for herbivores.

Qi Bai suddenly felt like an incompetent parent as he looked at Chuan Chuan, whom he had raised from a young age and was so dependent on him. He had spoiled his child and failed to cultivate Chuan Chuan’s ability to live independently. “Then… what do we do now?”

Lang Ze smiled and patted Chuan Chuan’s back. “Combat skills aren’t innate. At worst, he will suffer some hardships.”

This horned beastman, who had always been at odds with him, suddenly became amiable. Chuan Chuan suddenly felt a sense of crisis. However, the four-eared sheep leader, lying in the stone sheepfold and greedily eating from the trough, felt even more uneasy.

In the open space in front of the Black Mountain stone wall, the beastmen were training. The open space was divided into several different areas according to each person’s different beast forms and physique.

This was a new training method that Lang Ze devised after returning to the tribe, based on the school Qi Bai had established.

Several figures stood out among all the trainees.

“Baa baa~”

“Quack quack~”

Seeing Qi Bai approaching with food, Chuan Chuan quickly broke free from the horned beastman he was fighting and ran towards Qi Bai without looking back.

Every time Chuan Chuan moved, the three ducks following behind him flapped their wings.

Lang Ze took the sweating beastmen to take a break and walked towards Qi Bai.

Chuan Chuan ate the vegetable leaves in Qi Bai’s hand with a wronged expression, whimpering when he saw Lang Ze approaching and deliberately turning his rear end to the side.

Lang Ze ignored Chuan Chuan’s little tantrum. “This afternoon, I’ll bring out the leader sheep and let him try.”

It was no wonder that Chuan Chuan had such a bad attitude towards Lang Ze. He had already discovered that the horned beastmen fighting him these past few days were all instigated by this bad guy.

In order to ensure Chuan Chuan’s training was as realistic as possible, Lang Ze had been having beastmen with similar beast forms fight alongside him for the past few days.

Unlike wild beasts, whose forms were similar in size, there was a clear polarization in the beastmen’s forms.

Even as adults, the sub-beastmen’s forms were only around half a meter long, making them practically unusable in combat. Meanwhile, the forms of the adult horned beastmen were far too large. This meant Chuan Chuan’s opponents the past few days had primarily been teenage horned beastmen.

Aside from agile forms like Bao Yue and Hu Meng, the other horned beastmen teenagers no longer had any advantage against Chuan Chuan. Lang Ze judged that Chuan Chuan was now strong enough to fight the other four-eared sheep.

However, Chuan Chuan was the only four-eared sheep in the tribe close to the beastmen. Lang Ze didn’t want him to make any mistakes. It needed more training, so he decided to test his strength with the lead sheep in the stone sheepfold.