Chapter 436: Xiong Da, Xiong Er

This punch was heavy and forceful, carrying Xiong Da's fury at having his authority challenged and a trace of mortified rage at having his true thoughts laid bare, landing solidly on Xiong Er's face.

Xiong Er felt a sharp pain in his nose bridge, his vision went black, and he staggered several steps back before the beastman behind him caught him; warm liquid instantly gushed from his nasal cavity, his mouth filled with a rusty, bloody sweetness.

All the bear clan around were stunned, the previously noisy chatter stopping abruptly, leaving only heavy breathing and Xiong Er's suppressed pained groans.

"Pah!" Xiong Da spat, shook his fist, and glared down at the disheveled Xiong Er, his voice like muffled thunder: "We are discussing the matter of the new land. As for everything else, what gives you the right to make decisions?"

He used the most primal method, the one most in accordance with bear clan law, to re-establish his absolute dominance.

Violence was the bear clan's eternal creed.

Wisdom? In his view, that was nothing more than a feeble trick for the weak to deceive themselves.

Xiong Er covered his face, still not having figured out what expression to show, when he heard a rapid knocking at the door.

"Xiong Da, Xiong Er! Something's wrong!"

The bear clan beastman standing near the door yanked it open, and the anxious face of Xiong Zhuang appeared before their eyes.

His face was deathly pale, he was panting heavily, clearly having sprinted all the way back.

Without even paying mind to the strange atmosphere in the room or the blood on Xiong Er's face, Xiong Zhuang raised his head and shouted directly at Xiong Er: "The cave entrance... over at the cave entrance! A human came out from inside! After just two exchanges, she laid out all the several brothers I brought along in a couple of moves!"

"She... she... was terrifying! I've never seen a human like that! She was clearly a full head shorter than me, yet her strength was that great! They all went down, and when I saw things were looking bad, I hurried back to report! What do we do? What should we do now?"

Xiong Zhuang's words were like a thunderclap, making every bear clan heart in the room suddenly contract.

The tense atmosphere from the internal power struggle just moments ago was instantly swept away by this more direct danger from outside.

The ferocity and smugness on Xiong Da's face froze, replaced by a trace of barely perceptible panic.

"A human? One that came out from inside the cave entrance?"

He repeated subconsciously, his mind buzzing.

They hadn't even had time to go in yet—how had the person inside... no, how had the thing inside already come out?

And this strong?

Wait... a human?!

Xiong Da finally seized upon this key point. He frowned and asked in a stiffly disdainful tone: "A single human scared you this much?"

"The few you brought along, are they all trash?!" He roared as he stood up, his eyes fixed dead on Xiong Zhuang.

The people present also slowly reacted, discussing in low voices:

"It's a human?"

"That land is human land?"

"Humans deserve to own land? What's all this about humans or not? If we found it, it's ours!"

"That's right, this is our land! Drive those humans out!"

The discussion gradually grew louder, and everyone present was worked up with excitement, as if that land was already theirs for the taking.

Only Xiong Zhuang, who had seen Cheng Shuili, kept trembling, muttering: "She kicked Xiong Xiong flying with one foot, and Xiong Ying was slapped silly to the ground... how could there be such a terrifying human?"

But the other bear clan beastmen were all immersed in the joy of their fantasies—how could they possibly hear what he was muttering?

Xiong Da gave a hearty laugh, stood up and shoved aside Xiong Zhuang who was blocking the doorway, and declared in a loud voice: "Xiong Er, the ones you picked are truly unreliable. Just to be safe, I'll have to go there myself."

He turned to look at the other bear clan beastmen: "Everyone, who's willing to come along with me and have a proper look at our new land?"

These words completely left Xiong Er out!

The other beastmen exchanged glances; everyone knew full well that the fewer people there were, the more would end up in their own hands when the time came.

As if by tacit agreement, they stood up following Xiong Da and responded: "We need to go have a look. Go see properly how those humans are occupying our land! Drive them out!"

"Right! Drive them out! Drive them out!"

The beastmen marched in grand procession toward the rear mountain, leaving only Xiong Er and Xiong Zhuang, two beastmen, here.

After it grew quiet, Xiong Zhuang finally noticed the fresh blood on Xiong Er's face. His brow twitched, and he hurried forward and asked: "Brother Xiong Er! What happened to you? Where did the blood on your face come from?"

Xiong Er slowly lowered the hand covering his face; the nosebleed had half-coagulated, leaving dark red stains on his face.

He looked with hollow eyes toward the doorway where Xiong Da and the others had disappeared, then slowly turned back to Xiong Zhuang's terrified face.

The sharp pain from that punch just now was still there, but compared to his face, the chill in his heart was worse.

Xiong Da's contempt, the desertion of the beastmen, the sudden turn of events at the new land...

All of it engulfed him like an icy tide.

"Xiong Zhuang," his voice was hoarse, carrying a nearly numb calm, "you just said... that human, took down several of you in just a couple of moves?"

Xiong Zhuang nodded forcefully, still shaken: "It's true! So fast, I didn't even see clearly! And her strength was absurdly great! Brother Xiong Er, did we... provoke something we shouldn't have? That thing is nothing like a human! More like... like the kind of monster that eats beastmen, the kind my mother told me about when I was little!"

Xiong Er did not answer. He walked to the doorway and gazed at the faintly visible outline of the rear mountain in the distance.

Xiong Da and the others should be charging over aggressively right now, their heads full of the fanaticism of driving out the humans and monopolizing the land.

"Something we shouldn't have provoked..." Xiong Er repeated in a murmur, the corner of his mouth pulling into an extremely bitter arc. He turned around and looked at Xiong Zhuang: "Tell me, can Xiong Da... deal with that human?"

Xiong Zhuang opened his mouth, thought of that terrifying figure, and ultimately just shook his head in bewilderment: "I... I don't know. But that thing is truly very strong."

He hesitated for a moment, then still asked with a trembling voice: "B-Brother, are we still going to the rear mountain?"

Xiong Er closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, he had already regained his calm.

"Xiong Zhuang," he said in a low voice, his tone carrying a trace of resolve, "we are not going to the rear mountain."

"Huh?" Xiong Zhuang was stunned.

"We... are going to town." Xiong Er wiped the bloodstains from his face, his gaze becoming sharp and complex. "Not to question the King, but... to request an audience."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower, as if persuading himself: "To tell the King that his territory... his bear clan, is doing a foolish thing that could bring catastrophic ruin. And we... need his judgment, or... protection."

This was submission, and also a gamble.

A gamble that Xiong Ji was still the King of the bear clan who could control everything, a gamble that some connection they could not comprehend existed between that terrifying human who emerged from the cave entrance and the "Old King" in town.

In any case, staying here—whether facing the enraged Xiong Da or that unknown powerful enemy—meant only a dead end.

The rear mountain cave entrance.

The cave entrance, which had been simply disguised by Xiong Zhuang, had been thoroughly cleared out, and the light illuminated the deep passage.

Near the cave entrance lay several Bear Tribe warriors groaning in disarray, exactly the group Xiong Zhuang had taken earlier.

They had no mortal wounds, but clearly had been struck by some tremendous force, temporarily losing their combat ability.

Before the cave entrance, a figure stood backlit.

That was indeed a human female, her stature appearing petite before the Bear Tribe, yet she stood ramrod straight.

She wore neat dark clothes and boots dusted with a little soil, yet it did not detract from the calm, sharp aura about her.

She seemed altogether like an unsheathed precious sword.

She had originally been squatting beside a Bear Tribe beastman, seemingly asking something, when Xiong Da led dozens of Bear Tribe beastmen in a dark, surging crowd, she then rose unhurriedly.

Witnessing this, the Bear Tribe beastmen who had hurried over all felt a hint of hesitation.

Simultaneously, a thought rose in their minds: "Could it be… that what Xiong Zhuang said is true?"

That thought lingered in their minds only an instant.

Looking at that petite human figure, then at their own side—dozens of stout, muscular, rage-filled kin—that hesitation was quickly swept away by more primal confidence and greed.

Just a human—what waves could she stir?

Xiong Zhuang and his lot must have been terribly careless!

"Human!" Xiong Da stepped forward, his voice like a great bell, trying to overwhelm the unease rising in his heart with volume: "This is Bear Tribe territory! You wounded my kin—are you seeking death?!"

Cheng Shuili's gaze fell on him, showing no sign of being frightened; instead she slightly tilted her head, as if pondering something.

After a moment, she spoke, her voice clear and steady, overriding the Bear Tribe's clamor:

"Your territory? Here," she pointed at the land beneath her feet, "and that over there—all of it is my domain."

"My domain?" Xiong Da blinked, then exploded: "Bullshit! This cave we discovered! The land inside naturally belongs to the Bear Tribe! You, a lone human, dare speak so arrogantly?!"

"Exactly! Get out!"

"Bear Tribe territory, humans scram!"

Behind him, the Bear Tribe members erupted in clamor, waving their thick arms and issuing threatening low growls.

Cheng Shuili let out a soft sigh; the sound was not loud, yet it caused the frontmost clamoring Bear Tribe members to inexplicably fall silent.

She said nothing, merely stepped forward and raised her hand to wave at Xiong Da—clearly meaning: if words fail, let's fight.

With that invitation, alarm bells rang instantly in Xiong Da's heart.

Merely seeing the beastmen strewn on the ground left many other possibilities; but now, with Shen Huai Xu making that gesture, the chance that she herself had felled those beastmen multiplied manifold.

Xiong Da harbored some doubts, yet under everyone's gaze he could not retreat.

He bellowed for courage, his massive frame charging like a war chariot, his sand‑bowl‑sized fist whistling as it smashed toward Cheng Shuili's head.

This punch was ten times fiercer than when he struck the bear earlier!

He put all his strength into it!

Yet Cheng Shuili's expression did not change; she merely tilted her head slightly outward, and Xiong Da's certain‑to‑land punch grazed her hair ends and missed.

Before Xiong Da could retract and shift his move, Cheng Shuili's hand had already lightly rested on his thick wrist.

The next instant——

"Crack!"

A grating bone‑split sound rang out clearly!

"Aooo!!!"

Xiong Da let out a miserable shriek, his huge body as if struck by an invisible great hammer, spinning and flying out to slam heavily into a large tree, shaking leaves down in a rustle.

He slid down the tree to the ground, and only after a long while of pain did he open his eyes.

The other beastmen who had come with him were already terrified out of their wits, huddling together like a flock of frightened quail, not daring to breathe.

Their gazes toward Cheng Shuili were filled with fear—an instinctive dread of absolute power and of an incomprehensible existence.

Xiong Da leaned against the trunk, clutching his weirdly bent, deformed wrist; sharp pain made his vision swim, and cold sweat soaked the clothing clinging to his body.

He struggled to rise, but found his legs weak, utterly unable to support his massive frame.

Fear—this time it was not the ancestral awe felt before Xiong Ji, but a stark, life‑or‑death terror that finally overwhelmed him completely.

Cheng Shuili flicked her wrist, not even glancing at the limp Xiong Da, her gaze sweeping over the silent Bear Tribe, and finally said: "Now, can we talk properly?"

"Talk?"

Upon hearing that word, the Bear Tribe beastmen all shuddered involuntarily.

"Talk talk?"

"A 'talk' that snaps wrists at the slightest disagreement?"

But now they had no courage to flee; they could only stiffly nod, emitting vague sounds of assent from their throats.

Cheng Shuili was not surprised by their reaction.

Xiong Ji had long said that the Bear Tribe venerates martial might, and only after subduing these trouble‑makers could she truly become the Bear Tribe's master.

With Xiong Da as a living example before them, the other beastmen dared not overstep.

Cheng Shuili drew the Bear Tribe's token from the Abyssal Ring; before the crowd, first dazed, then astonished, finally turning to incredulous gazes, she held it high.

"Bear Fang?!"

"Bear Fang!"

This is the Bear Tribe's hereditary heirloom, which ought to be in Xiong Ji's hands—or rather, in the hands of the Bear Tribe's king!

Yet now it was produced by this strange human female, as if it were perfectly natural!

Cheng Shuili took in all the bears' reactions, grasped the Bear Fang, her gaze calm as it swept over each Bear Tribe member, her voice clear and firm:

"Recognize this and that's enough. I am now the Bear Tribe's king. You understand, right?"

Her words were like a second thunderclap, leaving the Bear Tribe dizzy and dazed.

Wang Zhen really is a human!

And this human is now right before them, openly revealing the token!

This means…… she truly is the new king of the Bear Tribe!

When these Bear Tribe beastmen talked, each was bolder than the last, but when Wang Zhen held the token and appeared before them, the bloodline suppression made them dare not even breathe.

Just moments ago the air was filled with roars and howls, but now it is deathly silent.

All the Bear Tribe lowered their heads, their massive bodies uncontrollably collapsing to the ground, burying their faces deep in their hands, emitting low, submissive whimpers.

This is the Bear Tribe's most instinctive posture of submission when facing indisputable royal authority.

Even the bears collapsed on the ground struggled to prop themselves up with their uninjured hand, forehead touching the ground, completing the same motion.