Chapter 183: Silver Eagle Wood

Yun Li and Ji Xuan followed the Silver Eagle Clan Chief and the Silver Eagle Priest to a forest where massive trees hundreds of meters tall grew everywhere; of course, the claim that they reach hundreds of meters is only Yun Li's own estimation, since she has no measuring tools.

However, the trees here are indeed taller and more majestic than those elsewhere, and what is rarer is that, compared with other places, the competition for sunlight between trees leaves the canopy lush while the understory suffers from insufficient light and oppressive humidity.

These giant trees are clearly of a dominant class, because beneath ordinary trees one would expect weeds or climbing vines, yet under these trees no weeds appear, apparently because they have seized all the underground moisture for themselves, preventing any other plants from surviving here.

Yun Li does not know why the Silver Eagle Priest brought them here, but while walking through this open expanse, she happened to look up at the stout branches and inexplicably thought—this is the place where winged eagle‑beastmen should naturally dwell.

"Are there no beasts here?"

After landing and walking for a while without seeing any beasts, Yun Li felt that thought grow even stronger.

"Of course there are, but up there."

The Silver Eagle Clan Chief Jicheng said, pointing upward, "And those aren't ordinary beasts; they're a fiercely ferocious, flying predator. If it weren't the dry season and the imminent arrival of the rainy season, it would need to eat its fill before the rains, otherwise the Chief and the Priest wouldn't have brought you here on this adventure."

After all, Yun Li is now very important to the tribe; besides the offerings she herself has given, her foresight and unique thinking, unlike that of other tribe beastmen, are considered invaluable to the Silver Eagle Priest.

He has a premonition that the longer Yun Li stays in the Silver Eagle Tribe, the more he and the tribe can gain from this female.

Perhaps one day, all the tribe's beastmen will change because of this female, and then the Silver Eagle Tribe will certainly no longer be confined to the tiny Heiyan Shanmai.

"Then what exactly is here?"

Yun Li was genuinely puzzled; they couldn't have brought her here just to sightsee, and even the most beautiful scenery becomes tiresome after a while.

"Hold on, we're not there yet."

Seeing her impatience, the Silver Eagle Priest let out a light laugh; after all, she's still a young beastman, unable to stay calm.

The one who can stay calm, the Silver Eagle Priest noticed Ji Xuan seemed to have thought of something, and a look of pleased indulgence appeared on his face.

"Did you think of something?"

"Hmm."

Ji Xuan snapped back to attention and said to the Priest, "I recall the tribe has a kind of trunk called Silver Eagle Wood, harder than many predator beast‑bones; if I'm not mistaken, that material should come from here."

The Silver Eagle Priest smiled without replying, while the nearby Jicheng nodded, "You're right; that Silver Eagle Wood was indeed taken from here to the tribe."

No wonder... Ji Xuan thought, no wonder weapons made of Silver Eagle Wood are so few.

Aside from the tribe's Blue Rank Beastmen, there are a few Patrol Team captains and Hunting Squad captains; other beastmen have no weapons made of Silver Eagle Wood.

But the Silver Eagle Priest and his party brought Yun Li here not solely to find Silver Eagle Wood, because its hardness means that even Jicheng and Ji Xuan, those two Blue Rank Beastmen, would expend considerable effort to obtain it with weapons made of Silver Eagle Wood.

"Then how do we get it?"

Yun Li stayed by their side, and after watching their party stealthily climb the giant tree, she saw that even a branch as thick as a finger required repeated heavy chops with a short dagger made of Silver Eagle Wood to break.

She immediately furrowed her brows; at this collection rate, how long would it take to gather the four or five wrist‑thick pieces of Silver Eagle Wood the Priest mentioned before returning?

"Don't rush; it's just up there."

However, after the Silver Eagle Priest said that, he walked a bit farther upward, then stopped standing still, and looked up at Jicheng and the two males who were still moving forward.

"Up there..."

Even though Yun Li's eyesight doesn't match that of eagle‑beastmen, she could still see that something massive seemed to be up there.

Ji Xuan didn't follow Jicheng and the others upward; standing beside Yun Li, he also looked up, his vision far better than Yun Li's, and said, "It's a bird's nest."

"The nest of that ferocious beast?"

Yun Li instantly realized; if that beast builds its nest using locally sourced material, then taking Silver Eagle Wood directly from the beast's nest would indeed be far easier than laboriously cutting a few pieces themselves.

"If even Silver Eagle Wood can be broken, that beast seems more formidable than we imagined."

Hearing Yun Li's words, the Silver Eagle Priest turned his head and said, "Indeed formidable; if it weren't for that beast, when we first discovered this place we would have tried to claim it."

But lacking the strength, they could only think about it and gave up.

"Yet with that beast present, even if other beastmen happened upon the unusual trees here, they wouldn't dare return."

Yun Li thought that, in a way, the beast's existence indirectly ensured that the Silver Eagle Wood wouldn't spread outward.

The Silver Eagle Priest looked at Yun Li with a gentle gaze and said, "Your thoughts are indeed like ours."

Although that beast is present, preventing them from monopolizing the good resources here, it also truly blocks other beastmen's probing.

Because not everyone, like the Silver Eagle Tribe's beastmen, can keep a distant watch on this area.

Yun Li smiled, then got back to the matter, "Lord Priest and Chief, are you planning to forge new weapons from Silver Eagle Wood? Yet this wood is so hard that shaping it into weapons would likely take a long time."

The Silver Eagle Priest nodded slightly, "But it suits us well. When we didn't see you produce those weapons, we would at most treat it as a hard beast bone, or grind it into a bone knife for use.

But you gave us a different approach, showing us that Silver Eagle Wood can become a more handy weapon."

Yun Li was silent for a moment, then softly said, "Actually, I only sketched those weapons; it was A Qing who actually forged them."

"Your snake‑beast husband?"

When the Silver Eagle Priest heard Ji Xuan talk about the new weapons, he was only astonished at how the weapons were made and who conceived them; this was the first time he learned that the weapons he had seen were actually crafted by Mu Qing, that snake‑beastman.

He thought that although the tribe knows Mu Qing is a powerful Blue Rank Beastman, his snake‑beast identity prevents him from truly participating in the tribe's administrative affairs.

Upon learning of Mu Qing's skill, the Silver Eagle Priest couldn't help but contemplate how to get Mu Qing to willingly teach the tribe's artisans to forge new weapons.

Seeking his female's assistance to speak on his behalf is certainly feasible, but the Silver Eagle Priest is pondering even more.