Chapter 298: Predicament

There was nothing unsayable about the place where they found her; the Witch Doctor even gave a location more precise than Axiang's.

Yun Li silently noted what he said, then wrote a question to the Witch Doctor about the Tribe.

Last year she had obtained, within the Tribe, a map centered on East Origin that covered the Heiyan Shanmai and part of the Western Desert; although she couldn't read it at the time, someone kindly explained it to her, so she roughly knows which major Tribes and cities lie near the Heiyan Shanmai, as well as the more famous locations.

Therefore gathering information about this Tribe is still necessary; she needs to know whether the area where the Tribe resides matches any of the conditions she knows from those places.

To that end, the Witch Doctor was quite cooperative and spoke at length about the Tribe.

Perhaps it was Yun Li's just‑expressed attitude, or perhaps the information she unintentionally revealed while questioning him convinced him that the female before him was far from ordinary; she might even be a female from those legendary great Tribes.

After all, an ordinary beastman, when hearing him mention Purple-rank, even if uninterested in strangers, would, out of the instinct to admire strength, not react like Yun Li—treating the legendary Purple-rank the same as hearing about a slightly stronger beastman; although surprised that Purple-rank appear here, they do not have much longing for them.

Only beastmen born in great Tribes, who have heard much about Purple-rank and have not rarely seen them, would display such indifference toward Purple-rank.

…

Yun Li didn't realize that merely furrowing her brow upon hearing him say that even Purple-rank disappear without return in the deep mountains far from the Tribe, without showing overt shock, caused the Witch Doctor to suspect she came from a great Tribe.

When she learned that the Tribe she was in, as well as Tribes within several hundred kilometers, had not a single Qing Rank Beastman, and that a single Green-rank beastman was already considered the strongest, she doubted whether the Purple-rank the Witch Doctor mentioned was truly a Purple-rank.

After all, the divisions of beastmen's realms are such that even a one‑rank gap is hard to bridge with external means, aside from deadly poisons and those drugs that temporarily incapacitate.

If an example is needed, a Green-rank beastman can move a heavy object weighing four to five thousand stones, whereas a Qing Rank beastman can shift something up to ten thousand stones.

Moreover, Green-rank and Qing Rank beastmen differ in regeneration: for non‑immediately fatal penetrating wounds, a Green-rank beastman needs no professional treatment from the Witch Doctor, can patch itself up, and typically takes over ten days to recover naturally, whereas a Qing Rank beastman recovers in under ten days.

Thus she thought that if that outsider beastman were only slightly stronger than a Green-rank beastman, it would still be possible for the Witch Doctor, who had never seen a Purple-rank, to mistake him for a Purple-rank.

But she kept those speculations to herself; when Axiang dragged the chieftain Anzhi over, the Witch Doctor was admonishing her to rest more, eat more, and take good care of her body.

"Actually, even if I don't tell you, you should have some idea yourself. After you fell into the water, fortunately you suffered no external or internal injuries, but my pulse revealed signs of poisoning in your body."

Upon hearing this, a hint of gloom flashed in Yun Li's eyes, but her face showed little surprise.

The Witch Doctor noted her reaction and, in his mind, deduced that she had been poisoned before falling into the water; moreover, the poison might have caused her accidental plunge.

These were merely his conjectures, which he kept hidden, and he continued, "However, the poison you took is probably not the kind common around here, so I cannot brew a specific antidote for you.

There are some detoxifying herbs in the Tribe, but when I asked Axiang to look after you earlier, I had her give you the antidote potion a few times.

Even if it can't fully cure you, at least it should make you feel better."

Hearing this, Yun Li instantly cast a grateful glance at the Witch Doctor.

She herself is the Witch Doctor; after Axiang left, she took her own pulse. The thousand-leaf poison and another toxin in her body are still present, but they haven't suddenly erupted from her diving, otherwise she would have died long ago.

Yet her current condition is considerably better than when she was beside Canglang; at first she thought her own fall into water and the surrounding temperature had suppressed the poison, not realizing she also had the Witch Doctor's assistance.

Ordinary detox herbs indeed cannot cure the two mutually suppressing poisons, but they can somewhat alleviate the aftereffects caused by the two toxins.

For example, they clear internal damp‑heat, making her feel a bit more comfortable; also, when the thousand-leaf poison flares up and she can't sleep, the detox herbs make the internal poison insects disinclined, and since Yun Li's current environment is not a time when poison insects are active, they temporarily settle, allowing her to get a good sleep.

However, as the saying goes that medicine is three‑parts poison, after the Witch Doctor had Axiang administer the brew to Yun Li several times and saw no change in her toxins, he stopped having Axiang give it to her.

Instead, Axiang took matters into her own hands, always thinking of bringing fresher herbs to feed Yun Li, but the approaching cold season and Axiang's awareness of the Witch Doctor's skill limited her.

Thus later, aside from occasionally giving Yun Li water and beast milk suitable for her to drink, she mostly just heeded rumors from some Tribe beastmen, bringing in some pungent aromatic herbs to place in the house.

Although these are of little use and sometimes exacerbate the involuntary physiological reactions Yun Li experiences while in a vegetative state, they are nonetheless well‑meaning.

"Ang Bo Bo, I've brought the chieftain over! And this!"

Axiang was genuinely delighted when she returned, after all whether it was basking in Yun Li's aura or simply luck that today she happened upon the fresh game the chieftain had only brought back yesterday afternoon.

In short, after enduring so long, she finally could enjoy a good meal.

Yun Li glanced at the game they brought with a hint of surprise; the prey was indeed pitifully small, only two heads.

Yet there were four beastmen in this skin bag, so how could that be enough to eat?

"It's for the two of you; just eat it."

Because the mountains and forests near the Tribe are sparse, the firewood used here in the cold season is mostly combustible beast dung, sometimes supplemented with gathered thick beast hair and fire‑resistant dry aquatic plants.

Seeing Yun Li help with the barbecue, Anzhi calmly pushed the meager roasted meat, which had been carefully divided into four portions, toward himself.