Chapter 457

The elderly Beastfolk, having not suffered much this winter, now look far more spirited than when they first arrived at the Snow Tiger Tribe.

Seeing the struggle on his child's face, he sighed deeply: "The Snow Tiger Tribe kindly let us spend the winter in such a warm cave, without having to worry about beast attacks; we must remember the tribe's goodness."

And...

His patterned hand brought out a hide sack: "Our salt is almost gone; if we ask to leave now, do you think the Snow Tiger Tribe would still trade us salt?"

Now the burly male's face went utterly white, cold sweat beading down his forehead; even the female comforting the youngster turned deathly pale and lowered her head.

Perhaps their stay in the Snow Tiger Tribe had been too easy, for they forgot their identity as members of small tribes; this helpless plight is now the reality of their lives.

Perhaps sharing the burly male's tribe's mindset, not a single tribe chose to leave the Snow Tiger Tribe.

Although the beast tide had been known for a while, after the two shamans delivered such a solemn warning, everyone still felt panicked and the tribe's atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Even the chiefs of the small tribes ran to the Snow Tiger chief to ask if there was anywhere they could lend a hand.

Many hands make light work—no empty saying—and the Snow Tiger chief, without ceremony, immediately nodded and assigned tasks to the small-tribe folk.

Days passed, everyone wishing they could split themselves in two to keep up with the work, and the ferocious beast tide finally came at the morning after a busy day.

While the sky was still dim, Wu Yue rolled out of bed, took Lan Pangzi, and headed to the tribe's storeroom, where the females were already busy.

Everyone processed the food into a ready-to-cook state, then sorted and stored it.

Seeing Wu Yue pick up (the item), some females helping nearby hurriedly dried their hands and came over; these females had been specially selected by Wu Yue to learn simple wound treatment.

Since the tribe now had bows and arrows, pure humans would also take part; compared to the physically strong Beastman Warriors, pure humans are far more fragile, and if injured and not treated promptly, they easily die.

As time ticked by, the tense atmosphere began to spread through the storeroom.

"Yue, have you ever experienced a beast tide before?"

Qingcao's chubby little face scrunched up; although she was asking Wu Yue, the fear in her eyes poured out unreservedly.

Wu Yue pursed her lips and shook her head: "I've never seen one; the tribe I lived in before was too small, with few people, so each beast tide we hid in a cave, blocking the entrance with huge rocks, and my father A Mu never let me go to the cave mouth to look, so I really am seeing a beast tide for the first time."

It must be said, the original host's father A Mu protected the original host too well; in such a beast world, the original host truly has no survival ability at all.

People were chatting quietly when suddenly a huge roar spread through the whole tribe, and even the storeroom they were in shuddered.

Not to mention the other females, even Wu Yue was frightened by such a commotion.

A few grandmothers, having experienced beast tides, were much braver than the young females; they quickly went outside the storeroom, and after a while came back with slightly pale faces, also closing the storeroom door.

Following behind the grandmothers, Wu Yue's expression also grew solemn; not far from the storeroom, on an open patch of ground lay several huge-bodied bird ferocious beasts.

That ferocious beast is huge, looking like a vulture, with a ferocious appearance; its wide-open beak contains fine, sharp teeth, and its wingspan, when spread, is actually longer than a Beastfolk lying down.

In the sky, several such ferocious bird beasts still circled, while facing them at this moment were the Eagle Tribe Beastman Warriors who had stayed behind.

One of the Beastman Warriors had lost his hide clothing, with several deep claw marks on his shoulders, looking quite horrible, but thanks to the Beastfolk's strong regenerative power, the bleeding had already stopped.

At that moment, a Snow Tiger Tribe Beastman Warrior ran in: "On the first day of this beast tide, flying ferocious beasts have already come; you absolutely must not go out, there are too many flying ferocious beasts, the Eagle Tribe Beastfolk can't look after you, and if you're captured it'll be trouble."

The females nodded with solemn faces; facing the ferocious beasts, the pure-human females, who have little attack power, really can only first ensure their own safety.

As for the Beastfolk females in the tribe, Wu Yue turned her head to look out the window...

Watching one robust figure after another swinging their fists, even faster than Beastman Warriors, really made her feel a bit envious at the moment.

"What's there to envy? Train well in the body-refining technique awarded for the task; later you'll be far stronger than these Beastfolk females, and you won't end up looking like a muscular Barbie like them."

Wu Yue ruffled Tongzi's round head: "You still look down on those Beastfolk females, huh? Different places have different standards of appreciation; these Beastfolk females are actually quite popular with Beastman Warriors, and their great combat power and bodies mean their fighting strength is not at all weaker than Beastman Warriors, making them far superior to us females who can only wait here."

After saying that, she poked Tongzi's little nose: "And you, you're even stronger than that."

Tongzi scrunched his face: "I'm just not convinced; I, Tongzi, am also excellent, right? Is it that I don't want to go out and slaughter everywhere? I just want to stay here to protect my host, you."

Wu Yue amusedly looked at the five-section small-statured Tongzi, wondering who was protecting whom.

From the sky came the incessant sharp cries of the bird ferocious beasts; the females could only observe the outside situation through the small window above the storeroom.

The beast tide on the first day lasted until evening before it ended; the ferocious beasts and wild animals that had attacked all day were finally summoned by a loud low roar, they picked up the carcasses of nearby wild and ferocious beasts, and rumbled back to the distant forest.

Looking at the ground outside the city wall dyed red with blood traces, several tribal folk had solemn expressions.

"The Beastman Warriors who just finished resting go out to retrieve the arrows; the rest of the folk go to the storeroom to rest, but the beast tide hasn't ended yet."

The wild and ferocious beasts carried away all the corpses; left in the Snow Tiger Tribe were only some bird ferocious beasts; although their number is not as many as those that died outside the wall, it's barely enough for everyone to have a meal today.

The folk from the small tribes who first witnessed such a ferocious beast tide all had weak legs, especially since it was their first time facing ferocious beasts head-on; not having pissed themselves from fear is already a sign of good quality.

"Chief, will we come again tomorrow?"

A male from the small tribes came trembling-legged to his own chief, his voice shaking as he asked.

"Of course we'll come; the Snow Tiger Tribe has already given us weapons, we just need to stand on the wall and shoot arrows—look at your cowardice, are you even one of our tribe's folk?"

After being scolded by his own chief, the male again trembled-legged back, but he gained a bit of confidence; since the chief hasn't given up, what reason does he have to say no?

But what he didn't see was that after seeing the male off, the chief covered his face with both hands for a while, then rubbed it hard until his face turned red, finally letting out a heavy sigh.

Don't be fooled by how well he just spoke; in fact, when he previously attacked the ferocious beasts, he almost stuck his hand bow into himself.

Fragrant, delicious food was brought out pot after pot, openly supplied, letting these beast-tide-resisting folk eat their fill.

Meanwhile, the high-ranking figures gathered together and began to tally today's casualties.

"Thanks to the wall's protection, our casualties are much smaller compared to previous years."

Xuehu Wu smiled and shook his head: "It's just that after the vulture beast broke into the tribe and killed some pure-human warriors, only the half-beast and Beastman Warriors suffered no casualties."

"But this is only the first day; over the coming week the beast tide will grow stronger and stronger, we must definitely prepare."

Ready at any time to sacrifice one's life for the tribe.

The beast tide on the second day was obviously more intense than yesterday's; the ground at the tribe's entrance was almost soaked in blood, and gradually wounded pure humans and half-beast warriors began to be carried back.

They were all seriously injured and needed proper recuperation.

By the third day, the half-beast and Beastman Warriors in the two major tribes also began to suffer casualties.

Even with uninterrupted treatment from Xuehu Wu, Hei Lang Wu, and Wu Yue, they cannot guarantee that they'll be able to withstand tomorrow's even more ferocious beast tide.

"Wu Yue's child, the hemostatic herbs are gone; how much medicinal powder do you have left?"

Xuehu Wu's solemn voice came from beside; Wu Yue heard it, turned her head, and raised the bottle in her hand: "I only have this much left here."

However, there is still some hemostatic grass in my home's storeroom; I need to go back to get it.

As soon as she finished speaking, the Snow Tiger Shaman and the surrounding tribespeople fell silent, their eyes full of disapproval.

Wu Yue is the hope of the Snow Tiger Tribe, the one who will lead the tribe to its peak, so naturally nothing must happen to her.

"Tell me where the herbs are placed, I'll send someone to fetch them; it's still very dangerous outside."

Wu Yue's small face stiffened; how could she say that those herbs were all stored in her system space, and she must return herself to retrieve them?

"In the storeroom there are still several kinds of herbs I gathered earlier but haven't prepared yet, which are far better than the hemostatic grass, but I need to personally go back to prepare them, so this time I must go back myself."

The young female's face showed full persistence; the Snow Tiger Shaman fell silent for a moment, he also knew Wu Yue always had her own ideas and would not change easily, he sighed deeply and said: "Then you take half of the beastman warriors with you; we will stay in the storeroom and not go out, there's no danger."

The Snow Tiger Shaman was very insistent, seeming to say that if you don't bring the beastman warriors, he absolutely won't let you leave.

Wu Yue gave a wry smile and nodded: "Okay, I'll take the needed herbs and medicine powder, and will return as quickly as possible."

Having obtained consent, Wu Yue didn't delay, directly taking half of the beastman warriors, leaving the storeroom and hurrying toward her home.

"Screech!"

As soon as the few people exited the storeroom, they were spotted by the vulture ferocious beasts in the sky; after letting out a sharp cry, several vulture ferocious beasts flapped their wings, bypassed the flying eagle beastmen in the sky, and swooped toward the few people.

Wu Yue tightly gripped her shaman staff with her right hand, looking at the vulture ferocious beast that was even larger than a beastman's stature; although she felt a bit nervous inside, her face remained very calm.

Seeing her so calm, the beastman warriors couldn't help but all give her admiring looks.

Indeed, as long as you pretend to be cool well, the beastfolk's admiration is indispensable.

The beastman warrior roared, leapt up and grabbed the vulture ferocious beast's wing, his arm muscles bulging; with a loud "boom", the ground shook, and several vulture ferocious beasts were slammed hard to the ground by the beastman warriors, letting out a mournful cry.

Having dealt with the few vulture beasts that had charged over, the group didn't linger, sped up again, and in just a moment arrived at Wu Yue's home.

After instructing the beastman warriors to go out and gather some food from the cellar, Wu Yue herself entered the storeroom pretending to sort herbs, but actually filled several large baskets from her space.

At this moment she also couldn't help but secretly feel fortunate that she hadn't sold the herbs she usually gathered to the system for points.

Everyone carried the food and herbs, running all the way back to the storeroom; the Snow Tiger Shaman looked at the several large baskets of herbs, and his gloomy old face of the past few days finally showed a smile.

"Good good good!"

Having said "good" three times, his heart was also extremely happy and relieved.

With the herbs replenished, treatment once again got back on track; the beast tide grew worse day by day, and because of the involvement of ferocious beasts, it was more dangerous than any beast tide in previous years.

On the fifth day of the beast tide, a saber-toothed bear as tall as half the city wall actually charged out from the deep forest in the distance.

"Roar!"

The saber-toothed bear that burst from the deep forest roared as it charged toward the city wall, its huge limbs trampling the corpses of wild beasts in the moat ditch, and with a powerful leap it actually surged onto the city wall.

A saber-toothed bear with such leaping ability, the beastman warriors had never seen before; they were momentarily stunned.

Seeing that damned beastman right before its eyes, the saber-toothed bear's scarlet pupils also couldn't help but flash a hint of excitement.

Just as it thought it was about to climb onto the city wall to go on a killing spree, the upward force on its body suddenly vanished, and the next moment it began to fall downward.

Despite its frantic arm-waving, its sharp claws left deep gouges on the city wall; in the end it still unwillingly roared as it fell downward.

The Snow Tiger Clan chief raised his arm to wipe his face; ferocious beasts are ferocious beasts—when they roar, their saliva can spray that far.

"Chief, this saber-toothed bear must be killed immediately, otherwise it will be too dangerous for us to go out later."

Yuan Lang drew his longbow, each of his sharp arrows capable of hitting a ferocious beast.

The Snow Tiger Clan chief looked at the saber-toothed bear still trying to jump onto the city wall, his face heavy as he nodded: "Such a powerful ferocious beast has already appeared; I don't know how fierce the ferocious beast that will appear on the last day will be."

Yuan Lang pressed his lips, his deep gaze toward the roaring saber-toothed bear beneath the city wall suddenly brightened as if he had thought of something.

Turning his head, he ordered Teng Qian, who was beside him drawing his bow to shoot arrows: "Go get some oil, it needs to be melted."