LSLFBW: Chapter 52

Qi Bai lived next door and could sometimes hear the sound of Lang Ze chiseling stones and wood, but he hadn’t seen the inside of Lang Ze’s cave for many days due to the bamboo door blocking his view.

Unexpectedly, Lang Ze managed to tidy up the room that was turned over by wolves and only had some hay left in it in just over ten days.

The room became much more spacious. Many small cabinets that were recessed inwards were carved out of the stone wall. Various types of bones were placed on them and it looked like a weapons display cabinet.

The most important thing was that in the corner of the room, there was a large, low wooden bed made of wooden boards.

The base of the wooden bed was six logs of similar thickness. Flat wooden boards were directly pressed on the logs as the bed surface. The wooden boards were covered with hay and animal skins. It looked a bit like a simple tatami.

Qi Bai sat on the soft bed. He looked up and saw Lang Ze’s back as he took off his fur coat.

Looking at his strong back and lean waist, Qi Bai suddenly realized that Lang Ze seemed to have really changed a lot in these few months.

Only…

Qi Bai stood up somewhat awkwardly. He always felt that the scene was weird, and it seemed inappropriate for him to sit on the bed at this time.

A furry head gently nudged him. Qi Bai came to his senses and found that Lang Ze was already lying on the bed, looking at him with his huge head tilted.

The color of Lang Ze’s fur became lighter. Due to this, Qi Bai discovered that the fur color on Lang Ze’s face wasn’t completely consistent. Under the dark blue wolf eyes, there were two wide silver lines. This gave his beast form a sense of antiquity and solemnity.

Qi Bai rubbed his cheeks and smiled. Then he took a small comb, took off his shoes, got on the bed, and immersed himself in the fur.

Alas, there would be no worries as long as there were furries in this world.

Qi Bai hadn’t slept much for a day and a night. The soft fur and warm touch made his eyelids fight each other after he combed the fur a few times. He soon fell asleep on Lang Ze’s body.

It wasn’t known how long it had been, but there was suddenly the sound of animal skins stepping on the snow outside the door.

Lang Ze opened his eyes and turned into animal form. He carefully caught Qi Bai’s falling body and gently placed him on the bed.

He looked at the sky outside and guessed who the visitor was.

The hunting team patrolled around the tribe twice a day.

The first trip was after the wall was built early in the morning every day. This patrol task was more arduous. Lang Ze not only had to lead a hunting team to patrol the territory, but he also had to collect firewood and clay from a place a bit far away from the tribe.

After all, in such cold weather, the sub-beastmen could only go out in human form. They couldn’t walk too far and couldn’t collect enough firewood and clay to support the kiln.

The other trip was after nightfall. This trip was mainly to drive away and guard against large wild beasts that traveled at night. After all, no one wanted a wolf pack to suddenly attack the tribe again.

Normally, Lang Ze would arrive at the gathering place early but it was a bit different today. Seeing that the hunting team’s patrol time was almost up and Lang Ze had yet to show up, Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao thought of going to Lang Ze’s stone house to take a look.

Lang Ze added a few pieces of charcoal into the charcoal basin. According to Qi Bai’s request to everyone, he left a gap in the bamboo door. Then he turned around and looked at the two people who had just walked onto the stone platform.

Lang Ze’s expression was indifferent, and his eyes seemed to be asking, ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’

Xi Zhou scratched the back of his head. He suddenly felt that their presence was unnecessary. “We… just came to ask you to go to the gathering point together.”

Lang Ze nodded and walked in front. Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao followed him while looking at each other in confusion.

At the foot of the mountain, the beastmen were already waiting there. However, today’s team was obviously much larger.

Patrolling was originally the hunting team’s mission, but in fact, most of those involved were the young beastmen approaching adulthood.

After all, the Black Mountain Tribe’s hunting team only had ten people, and Hou Yan, Lang Ye, and Ma Shu hadn’t yet recovered from the injuries they suffered in the wolf attack. There was limited manpower, so there was no need to worry too much about age.

At this time, six or seven beastmen in their early teens were also gathered here, each with an eager look on their faces.

“They will follow us to drive the sheep during the day.” Xi Zhou patted Zhu Ya’s shoulder. “They think that they are already qualified beastmen warriors. Now they are staying here because they want to join the hunting team.”

Bao Yue stared at Lang Ze with her eyes as if to show her will as a beastman warrior.

Hu Meng’s lips curled up and he thought to himself, ‘What can they do when they are so young? Lang Ze is just letting them help herd the sheep in order to make a formation. How can he let them join the hunting team? They should just go back to the collective cave and sleep.’

Hu Meng’s idea wasn’t wrong. The danger in the mountains at night was unpredictable and Lang Ze couldn’t take them with him.

However, he understood the children’s desire to become stronger and didn’t want to send them away casually.

“Hu Meng.”

Hu Meng heard Lang Ze calling his name and walked out of the crowd.

Lang Ze asked, “Do you remember the previous training methods?”

Hu Meng nodded somewhat proudly.

During the 20 days when Lang Ze led Xi Zhou, Hu Qiao, and Hu Meng to the Horse tribe to gather information, they weren’t just traveling on the road. In addition to the experience of surviving in the wilderness, more importantly, Lang Ze took them through training that they had never heard about before.

The horned beastmen were born with powerful beast forms, so their method of attack usually evolved based on their own beast forms. Even in a hunting team, it was just a matter of honing everyone’s offensive coordination.

Meanwhile, what Lang Ze taught them was something completely new. Not to mention that Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao were once slaves, even an ordinary beastman like Hu Meng had never heard of such a training method.

Of course, if Qi Bai was present then he would be surprised to find that Lang Ze had a set of military-like training. This not only strengthened the physique and skills, but also trained willpower and discipline.

Lang Ze looked at him and said, “From today on, you will be responsible for training them into qualified beastmen warriors.”

Hu Meng was frozen in place by Lang Ze’s words.

What was a ‘qualified beastmen warrior?’ How could he train others when he didn’t even know it himself?

The most important thing was that after Lang Ze said this, he left Hu Meng and the little beastmen behind, leaving the tribe with a dozen other beastmen.

Hu Meng no longer had the proud look from before. He could only look in a depressed manner at Bao Yue and the others, who also looked unconvinced.

Since the tribe had added a sheepfold, an important asset, the hunting team slightly changed their patrol route today.

There were always people guarding the sheepfold. The one guarding here now was Ma Ling, who said, “In the afternoon, the sheep dispersed in the valley. A few of them approached the fence but didn’t move forward again after being pricked by the thorns wrapped around the fence. Bao Bai’s method is really useful!”

Lang Ze nodded. This was pretty much what they expected. From beginning to end, what they were worried about was the food problem for the sheep.

Lang Ze returned to the cave and found that Qi Bai was still lying on the wooden bed, snoring with his mouth slightly open.

He stood in front of the charcoal brazier for a long time until the coldness on his body dissipated. Then he changed into his beast form.

Lang Ze had long discovered that Qi Bai would be particularly intimate when facing his beast form, so he naturally circled Qi Bai gently. He covered Qi Bai’s body with his big tail and pretended that he had never left.

It snowed all night.

Perhaps the first time was new while the second time was familiar. Qi Bai didn’t feel embarrassed when he woke up and saw the giant wolf next to him. Instead, he secretly rubbed Lang Ze’s fur with his head.

Qi Bai just listened to the cracking sound in his ears, and his hair stood up. Static electricity was really annoying.

After a simple wash, QI Bai quickly put on the rattan basket and went to the sheepfold to check.

Qi Bai first walked around the thorn fence and found no signs of damage. Then he climbed up the steep wall where he had placed the food.

Looking across from the hillside, the roof of the shack was covered with a thick layer of snow. However, it still looked very solid because it was supported by wood and soil.

The sheep had consciously lain down under the shed to keep each other warm. The snow on the ground had been cleared yesterday. Then he used a straw rope to pull the plants down into the valley.

Qi Bai looked down the steep wall and found that the plants that had slid down before were gone. He didn’t know if they were eaten by the sheep or covered by the snow.

He walked to the side of the raft, uncovered the upper layer of the raft from a distance and used a straw rope to pull the plants down into the valley.

Hearing the noise, the leader sheep in the middle of the flock looked up vigilantly towards the mountain wall. Soon, he slowly walked in front of the plants.

Qi Bai was on a mountain more than ten meters away from them, holding his breath. The sheep didn’t seem to touch the food. He returned to the shed again after finding out that there was no danger.

Qi Bai wasn’t in a hurry. The entire valley was around the size of a football field. Under the snow, many plants that hadn’t completely withered could be seen. Even if they didn’t eat the food he fed them, they wouldn’t starve to death for the time being.

He put the wild grass he was carrying on the raft. Then he looked around and saw Niu Yong lying behind a tree trunk. After asking him to keep an eye on the wild grass to see if it would be eaten, Qi Bai returned to the tribe.

It was noon on this day.

Qi Bai and Hu Huo were studying the wood they had collected in the square.

In order to build the gate of the tribe, the tribe members had collected a lot of tree trunks. QI Bai and Hu Huo took the measured straw ropes and sorted the wood in the open space one by one.

Now the square had been divided into three piles of tree trunks according to their thickness.

Each pile was of uniform thickness and had been cut into consistent lengths while the peeled bark was piled on one side.

The two of them were now studying how to connect these woods together to form two huge wooden doors.

According to Hu Huo’s idea, he could weave strong grass ropes and directly tie the wood together to make the gate like a huge raft.

However, Qi Bai felt that this wasn’t safe. Straw ropes were more easily worn out than wood, and they had to be exposed to the wind and sun outdoors. There might be no problem in a short period of time, but they would definitely become weak over time. Don’t wait until a wild beast really attacked the tribe and caused the wooden door to be smashed to pieces.

Therefore, Qi Bai was holding a small piece of wood and trying to see if he could use the mortise and tenon structure to connect the wood together.

At this time, Niu Yong ran back to the tribe. “They ate it! Bao Bai, the sheep finally ate the weeds you put down!”

Qi Bai threw away the block of wood in his hand. “I’ll go and take a look!”