Chapter 314: Was the Goddess Once a Beast Slave?

Yun Li fell silent, looked up, and said, "You speak."

Chang's face broke into a satisfied smile, "Rest assured, this is actually a good thing for a female like you who has no male and is carrying two cubs."

Yun Li was not soothed at all by his words, only sneering in her heart; whether it was good or not, she was under the eaves—could she possibly keep her head up now?

Chang clearly understood this, stopped the idle talk, and turned to brief Yun Li on the matter that required her help.

"Our lord has a friend who has been asking the lord to send some defeated beastfolk who have nowhere to go, or who need protection due to other mishaps, to the city he built."

"But male beastfolk and cubs are easy to find, as are artisans skilled in various crafts; only this female and the healer‑shaman…"

He smiled helplessly, "Even as Beast Slaves, many adult female Beast Slaves refuse to go to the lord's friend. Single female Beast Slaves are okay; most of them have physiological flaws, if it weren't that they never manage to conceive cubs."

"Therefore wherever they go they only seek a place that can accommodate them, but for paired female Beast Slaves we can't trust them to go together with their Beast Husband."

"If they run away halfway, we'd have a hard time reporting back to the lord."

Hearing that, Yun Li understood his meaning: he intended to use her, Li Sheng, and Li Cheng as numbers to fulfill the lord's task, but rather than threatening her to go along, he provoked a rebellious feeling.

Because Chang valued her status as a female shaman, he was more inclined to "request" her to go, using a tone of negotiation.

Although that "request" also carried a threat, was there any better outcome than now?

Yun Li couldn't help but smile self‑deprecatingly in her heart, then quickly composed herself and began asking detailed questions.

"Since your lord's friend can build a city, his strength can't be weak. Such a powerful beastfolk should, in theory, attract other beastfolk to seek his protection."

"Then why does he still need people to send Beast Slaves over? Is his locale harsh? Or… is he a wandering beastfolk not bound by any Tribe's beastfolk?"

Chang fell silent, stared at Yun Li, and thought, 'This female is clever; it seems not marking her with a slave mark while she was unconscious was the right decision.'

After all, having escaped being a Beast Slave himself, he knows all too well what a beastfolk will do to erase a slave mark when in a desperate bind.

Seeing Chang remain silent on the matter, Yun Li understood.

She said, "Then I'll trouble you with Li Sheng and Li Cheng for a while."

Chang laughed, chatting with the clever beastfolk was effortless.

"Alright, rest well; call me if you need anything. Oh, about the poison in you—"

Chang had summoned a shaman for her while she was unconscious, so he naturally knew Yun Li was poisoned.

He figured it was because of the poison that no male was by her side; after all, males may be love‑driven but also pragmatic.

No male would want to follow a female he can't touch, whose death time is unknown, constantly on the move.

"It's fine, I can brew an antidote myself, but the poisoning is too deep; the chance of fully eradicating it is slim."

Since the deal was sealed, there was no need to hide her condition, as Yun Li still wanted to use Chang's help to obtain herbs she couldn't get herself.

Chang didn't mind being used; it gave him more places where he could later make use of her.

Thus in the days that followed, Yun Li, Li Sheng, and Li Cheng stayed at Chang's place.

……

Whoosh!

An arrow shot out violently from the foliage; before the resting beastfolk below could react, more than ten arrows rained down.

Immediately, beastfolk sprang up from the ground, the sky, and the trees, charging straight at the panicked beastfolk.

A moment later, except for those who fought back fiercely, the rest were captured alive and pressed before two juvenile beastfolk barely chest‑high.

"Release us, do you know who I am…?"

Before he could finish, the male was kicked hard. "Be honest. We ask, you answer. If you dare not answer truthfully, that will be your end!"

The male was forced to stare at his already dead companion, seeing the tragic sight of his kin's death.

He instantly glared furiously, but his anger was useless; perhaps being someone who can't face reality, a young beastfolk laughed and said:

"Looks like a tough nut; break his leg."

The youngster's words seemed to carry great weight among the adults; as soon as he finished, the male's horrendous scream rang out.

"So noisy!"

A hint of disgust flashed in the young beastfolk's eyes; seeing the male about to have his mouth gagged, another youngster quickly said, "Aren't we supposed to question him? How can we question him if his mouth is blocked?"

Hearing that, the beastfolk who had already torn the male's hide from his waist to gag him turned his gaze toward Xi Yun.

Xi Yun's expression was cold as she looked at the male and said, "Where is the goddess?"

"What goddess? She doesn't even deserve the title; she's the one who caused our kin to die and get wounded. If you want to know where the goddess is, I won't tell you!"

The male said this, his gaze full of resentment toward Xi Yun, and Xi Yun's face darkened instantly at his first words; without any idle talk, she said coldly, "Kill him!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the male was smashed by a fist, his skull shattered, blood splattering on the ground, and Xi Yun's coldness deepened.

He looked at the other beastfolk pinned down and repeated, "Do you know where the goddess is?"

"Don't know!" "Dead!" "Even if I knew I won't tell you!" "The goddess is in the Tribe."

"I know, the goddess is in the Tribe."

Amid the angry denials, the voices of two frail beastfolk immediately caught Xi Yun's and Yun Ya's attention.

Without the two brothers speaking, the other beastfolk dragged the two frail ones and tossed them before Xi Yun and Yun Ya.

"Do you know where the goddess is?"

Yun Ya looked at the two with a hint of doubt, for their faces bore obvious slave marks; how could two Beast Slaves possibly know the goddess's whereabouts?

"We know! We know! We know!"

As if fearing they would meet the same fate as other beastfolk, the two rushed to recount having seen the goddess.

They not only had seen the goddess, but also knew she privately had contacts with many males.

Upon hearing that the goddess, seemingly a mother figure, was secretly consorting with other males, Xi Yun and Yun Ya showed no anger, but each wore a thoughtful expression.

"You claim to have seen the goddess, yet aren't you Beast Slaves? They never saw her; where did you see her?"

"Because the goddess was originally born of a female Beast Slave and a Tribe elder, she isn't an outsider female at all, but everyone says she is from outside."

"At first we didn't believe that a Beast Slave like us could become the goddess everyone in the Tribe worships, but when we left the Tribe, the goddess happened to leave with us, and we finally saw exactly what she looked like."

Because the goddess was once a Beast Slave just like us, and female Beast Slaves are very popular among Beast Slaves, we all know her, but she simply doesn't know us.

The two frail beastmen blurted out everything they knew.

But the facts they spoke were like a stone tossed into a calm lake, instantly splashing countless droplets.