Qi Bai entrusted the duck eggs and Chuan Chuan to Shu Lin, and handed the half-made cart board to Hu Huo. These were important matters that couldn’t be delayed, and they all had to be arranged before he went out.
Qi Bai returned to the cave and started to stuff water bottles and food into the rattan basket.
This time, only Lang Ze and Qi Bai were going to check it out. They would soon approach the territory of the red birds, where it wouldn’t be safe to hunt.
Therefore, they needed to try to bring enough food now.
They didn’t disturb the other members of the tribe too much. This time, only Yang Luo and Hou Yan watched the two of them leave.
Lang Ze tied a new bamboo basket to the saddle and tightly tied the rattan basket full of food.
Yang Luo pulled Qi Bai aside and kept talking about things he needed to pay attention to.
Seeing that Lang Ze had packed the bags, Qi Bai quickly said, “Grandpa Priest, we have to leave quickly, or it will be dark soon.”
Hou Yan looked serious as he said solemnly to Lang Ze, “You must bring Bao Bai back to the tribe.”
Lang Ze glanced at Yang Luo and Hou Yan before saying calmly, “As long as I am alive, he won’t be in any danger.”
Yang Luo nodded. “Remember what you said.”
Qi Bai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. These three people were discussing this in front of him and basically treating him as a child.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been learning to hunt from Lang Ze. I can protect myself.” Then he turned into a beast and jumped into the bamboo basket on the side of the saddle.
Qi Bai could now perform this set of movements smoothly and showed no embarrassment at all.
The little snow leopard held the lid of the bamboo basket and waved to Yang Luo and Hou Yan.
“Meow meow meow~”
The giant wolf heard the snow leopard’s voice and quickly rushed through the forest like a sharp sword, running into the distance.
Yang Luo sighed.
No matter how worried he was, the two of them still had to go on this trip.
It was because this wasn’t just about personal safety, but it also concerned the survival of the entire tribe.
Once the red birds threatened the tribe, they would have to abandon their newly built home and look for new territory.
Hou Yan comforted him. “Go back. We also have a lot of things to do.”
The two of them left the range of the Black Mountain and headed north, following the marks left by Xiong Feng and Huan Ping
The giant wolf had an agile posture. He leaped up with his front legs and pushed against the ground with his hind legs. Every step was like a flying leap, leaving only a white afterimage.
He ran at this speed for several hours until it was completely dark. Then the giant wolf slowed down a bit.
The giant wolf stood on a high slope and stared into the distance. Meanwhile, the little leopard stuck his head out from the side.
A towering mountain stood in the distance with continuous mountain ranges connected to it, dividing the mountains and rivers in two like a curtain.
The giant wolf tilted his head and rubbed the little snow leopard’s head. Then he jumped down from the high ground and ran straight to the seemingly boundless vast forest not far away.
A few minutes later, Lang Ze stopped and lay on the ground. He took off the saddle and turned into human form.
“We will rest here for now and continue our journey tomorrow morning.”
Qi Bai looked around and asked curiously, “How do we set up a temporary camp here?”
Lang Ze pointed to the big tree behind him.
Qi Bai stared in the direction of his finger and only saw thick tree trunks.
“Are we going to live in a tree?”
Lang Ze nodded.
Qi Bai walked around the big tree.
There were many similar big trees in this forest.
They looked a bit like banyan trees, with branches as thick as wrists wrapped around thick trunks and long tendrils hanging down on the ground, deeply embedded in the soul.
Just one tree was like a small world.
If there were only two people, setting up a camp would be too troublesome. However, the trunk of this tree was very tall, and its long beard hung around the inside like a curtain, preventing ordinary wild animals from getting close. It was indeed a good natural shelter.
Qi Bai had never slept in a tree before, and he found it very interesting.
After traveling for half a day, both of them were a bit hungry.
Qi Bai took out the food from the rattan basket, which contained various dried meats he had made, cooked sweet potatoes and taro, and dry dipping sauces in small bags.
The taste was good, but everything was a bit dry.
Still, neither of them were picky. They enjoyed the meal of dried meat and a mouthful of cold boiled water.
Qi Bai chewed some meat and said vaguely, “I only saw two lone red birds along the way. It seems that the number isn’t much different from what I saw in the tribe.”
Lang Ze had a wider field of view and naturally discovered this. “They are all flying towards that high mountain.”
The red birds had the same destination, which also indirectly pointed them in the right direction.
“Tomorrow, we will no longer follow the marks of Xiong Feng and Huan Ping.”
Qi Bai wondered, “Is there anything wrong with the marks left behind?”
“There is no problem with finding the gathering place of the red birds.” Lang Ze shook his head and said, “But there is an open grassland ahead. We can’t be sure if we will encounter a group of red birds. If we do, there will be no place for us to hide.”
Qi Bai nodded. “Then how do we go?”
“Through this forest.”
After a simple dinner, they hid the saddle between the long whiskers of the big tree.
Qi Bai climbed up the tree along the trunk and found that Lang Ze had turned into a beast and was lying on his side at the junction of the trunk and branches.
The moonlight shone on Lang Ze’s horn, which was as white as jade. Under him was a bed woven with vines, making him look like a god guarding the forest.
Qi Bai suddenly felt a bit nervous staring into the giant wolf’s dark blue eyes.
He took two steps forward and suddenly disappeared from where he was. A little snow leopard stretched out his limbs and got under the giant wolf’s forelimbs.
There was no way. The space here wasn’t small, but Lang Ze’s beast form was too big. One person took up almost all of the branch.
If he kept his human form, their sleeping position would be even more awkward.
The little snow leopard curled up in a ball, covering his face with his tail in defeat.
In any case, his beast form was small. He could sleep as long as there was a gap, so it wasn’t shameful.
In the early spring forest, the melodious chirping of insects was the most beautiful white noise.
The little snow leopard lay with his limbs facing the sky in his sleep. He scratched the air with his claws a few times, but found that he couldn’t move at all. He kicked his legs and fell asleep again holding the huge wolf claw that was holding him down.
A breeze blew through the forest, and the giant wolf’s ears turned left and right. His tail swung from behind and turned to cover the snow leopard sleeping in his arms.
Early the next morning, Qi Bai woke up with a shiver and happened to see Lang Ze coming back with a bamboo tube.
Qi Bai’s mind was still filled with last night’s dream.
Qi Bai, who had been keenly touching the wolf in his dream, finally suffered a backlash. The little snow leopard was pressed down and patted for a whole night, completely unable to move.
In his dream, he tried hard to open his eyes, wanting to see who was holding him…
He seemed to… see a pair of huge blue eyes.
Qi Bai was a bit confused.
Lang Ze didn’t hear any movement for a while, so he looked up and saw Qi Bai sitting on the tree with a shocked expression on his face. Lang Ze reminded, “Come down to eat.”
“Oh… Oh!”
Qi Bai quickly calmed his mind and made sure there was nothing wrong with him before jumping off the tree. However, seeing Lang Ze’s stern face, his thoughts started to wander again.
Would Lang Ze in reality also touch a leopard like in the dream?
Flipping his belly and lifting his tail, it was too embarrassing…
“Cough cough cough.”
Lang Ze quickly handed over the bamboo tube. He saw Qi Bai’s cheeks that were red due to coughing and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m not, I didn’t, I didn’t think about it.”
Lang Ze: “……?”
Qi Bai: “……!”
The two of them finished breakfast in a somewhat weird atmosphere. After Lang Ze took out the saddle, Qi Bai took a step back.
“Why don’t I try running by myself today?”
Qi Bai wasn’t trying to be brave.
His running endurance on the plains might not be as good as Lang Ze, but in the forest, a giant wolf had less room to maneuver. At this time, Qi Bai’s agile beast form became an advantage.
Lang Ze guessed that Qi Bai didn’t want to stay in the bamboo basket all the time, so he fixed the lid of the bamboo basket so that Qi Bai could jump up and rest whenever he was tired.
In the forest where vines hung down, two white figures, one big and one small, moved quickly.
The snow leopard’s thick paw pads landed on the branch without making any sound.
He jumped lightly between the giant trees. He even squatted on the high treetops and wagged his tail leisurely when the giant wolf encountered obstacles.
It was only after the giant wolf had crossed the obstacle that he would turn lightly, jump left or right a few times, and run in front of the giant wolf.
Traveling through the dense forest was safe, but the speed was much slower.
It wasn’t until the second morning after their departure that the two people bypassed the mountains and finally saw the scene that terrified Xiong Feng and Huan Ping.
Under the gloomy sky, the seawater surged and hit the rocks on the cliff.
Thousands of red birds gathered together.
Their huge wings seemed to block out the last ray of light in the sky.
Under the sky, more red birds were crouching, making the blue sea seem to be dyed a dark red.
This was indeed the habitat of the red birds.
Who would’ve thought that just a high mountain blocking the way could lead to a completely different world here?
Qi Bai narrowed his eyes and found that what Xiong Feng and Huan Ping said wasn’t accurate.
These red birds weren’t floating on the sea.
Qi Bai whispered, “There is an island there.”
Lang Ze looked in the direction Qi Bai pointed and saw that there was indeed dirt between the red birds. However, there were so many of them that the dirt was completely covered.
As long as they had this understanding and looked carefully, it wasn’t difficult to find the stone nest underneath the birds.
It seemed that these red birds, who were densely packed on the shallows and islands, were hatching their young as expected.
At this time, a group of red birds flew back from the depths of the sea like a dark cloud. Above their long and sharp beaks, they could see the swaying fish tails.
The birds finished feeding the food to their companions, hatching eggs, before turning around and flying back to the deep sea.
The two of them observed carefully for a long time before sneaking back to the forest quietly.
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Thanks for the chapter! I think that during the nesting time, the beastmen should camouflage their living area where the vulnerable are, including kids & the sheep they’re raising.