The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 205 Blood Ticks and Poisonous Insects

The moment Ling Chengen's voice rang out, a leopard transformed into a blur and flashed past everyone's eyes.

Behind the lead leopard, the beastmen, full of fighting spirit, followed closely at top speed, sweeping past like a passing hurricane.

As Dia approached the dire boar, she suddenly leaped into human form mid-air and caught the bone blade that flew from the side.

He turned his body to the side, using the momentum of his high-speed movement to spin around and approach the dire boar from the left front. With a single slash, he cut through the thick, tough hide of the beast, then grazed the beast's belly, avoiding its strong hooves, and narrowly created distance.

After Dia landed, he twirled the bone blade in his left hand halfway around, and the blood droplets on the blade were shaken off onto the rotten leaves and black soil.

Ling Chengen jumped down from the tree and used his mental power to examine the wound that Diya had left on the neck of the dinosaur. He frowned slightly and said, "The wound is shallower than I expected."

Bai Qingyu's face was covered in water, and glistening water droplets clung to his eyelashes. He took off a cloud-patterned handkerchief wrapped around his wrist and casually wiped the water off his face: "The skin of the Fear Pig is too thick."

"The fur on the surface of this prey's skin was very thick, especially around the neck. When Dia used all her strength to cut, she mostly struck the bristles on the neck of the dire boar."

"If he had used a metal blade instead of a bone blade, he probably wouldn't have been able to leave a mark on the pig's skin."

Ling Chengen said with a headache, "Our weapons are no good."

Bone blades are extremely rare. The one she had was a gift from Bai Qingyu, and Ling Xiao also had one...

None of the other family members, including Bai Qingyu, possessed weapons made of bone and knife.

Dia's bone blade was inherited from his father.

Including the newly joined Rattlesnake Beastmen, the hunting party of thirty-eight people only had four bone blades in total.

The orcs, without bone blades, showed no fear whatsoever.

For orcs, weapons are only a part of their power.

Without weapons, one's own body is the best weapon.

Ling Chengen stopped commanding the ten-person squad in battle. She and Bai Qingyu stood aside, quietly observing each person's reaction to the fearsome boar.

"Among this group, only Dia has some ability to command in battle, but he..."

Ling Chengen crossed his arms in front of him, his brows slowly furrowing.

"His personality is too indecisive."

Bai Qingyu quickly picked up where she left off.

In less than five minutes, three members of the ten-person team were so impulsive in their attacks that they were nearly knocked over by the chaotic and struggling dire boars.

Dia's observational skills are amazing; she can anticipate whether her companions will be injured, so she always reacts immediately.

Instead of stopping his teammates' attack or intervening to remind them, he abandoned his own offensive rhythm after the other teammate became too hot-blooded and lost his sense of proportion, and instead went to support and protect his teammates.

Because this is always done, those who are taken care of tend to underestimate the serious consequences of prolonged conflict.

As a result, even though his combat power was clearly the strongest among the ten, he was unable to exert his greatest influence and instead resembled a full-time nanny watching over a group of unruly children.

Ling Chengen shook his head in disappointment and said, "Too kind."

A kind heart cannot command an army, so even a small team of ten people was not well managed by Dia.

The ten-man attack rhythm was completely chaotic.

The most outrageous thing is that some orcs would throw their powers at each other at the same time, and the powers would collide in mid-air and explode.

The wasted ability did not cause any substantial damage to the Fear Pig.

Instead, it forced its companion, who had finally gotten close and was about to finish off the wound, to retreat.

Ling Chengen looked on with a headache and turned to ask, "When you led the autumn hunt, were the people in your team like this too?"

Bai Qingyu shook her head: "No."

“The situation in Cold Mountain and Stone Forest is different.” Bai Qingyu comforted her when he saw that she looked a little pale. “This time, you brought young beastmen who have no experience in long-distance hunting and have not been trained together. When I led a team to hunt before, there were elders in the team. That way, they could guide the young beastmen on what was the most appropriate time and how to do it.”

"Moreover, young orcs are mostly quite unruly and not very obedient, so the pressure is definitely immense when you first start leading a team."

Ling Chengen already had a high reputation in the Stone Forest, and she had brought about great changes to the tribe. These young orcs had a certain degree of admiration for her, which is why they eagerly signed up as soon as she organized the autumn hunt.

But psychological admiration is one thing, but when it comes to actual practice, it's another matter entirely.

Bai Qingyu was also somewhat disappointed in Dia, and sighed, "If Dia can't get rid of this habit of cleaning up other people's messes, let alone larger-scale battles in the future, he won't even be able to fully control this ten-person team."

Ling Chengen took a deep breath: "Let's see."

This is the first squad battle. Last night was a chaotic melee, so there was no way to carefully observe each person's situation or their coordination.

"It seems we'll have to do a few more of these group hunts in the future."

Otherwise, if a few strong fighters in the team attack together, the others will just be muddling through and won't be able to see the problem at all.

Bai Qingyu withdrew his gaze from the battle and looked back at the distance: "I see you didn't include those eight orcs from Rattlesnake in this team. Are you planning to have them form a separate team?"

“No.” Ling Chengen shook his head. “The eight orcs of Rattlesnake are not the same kind of orcs as the young orcs in our tribe.”

“During my battle with Genja, I paid close attention to their fighting habits.”

"Rattlesnakes are ruthless and unscrupulous, and they are experienced in combat. Their teamwork is almost flawless. It would be very risky to rashly put their people into our team, or to put our people into their established teams."

"Take it slow, there's still plenty of time. Two months is enough for everyone to get to know each other's attacking habits. If we're lucky, we might find some great fighting partners."

"For example, those two, their unconscious cooperation was surprisingly good—"

Ling Chengen pointed to the giant spider beastman who was keeping a certain distance from the dire boar, and smiled: "Zhi Lu is actually a bit beyond my expectations."

Although he doesn't have any special abilities, he always manages to control the situation or delay the panicked pigs at crucial moments.

And that gibbon-beastman, Yuan Ran, always managed to seize these fleeting opportunities, deeply embedding the bone blade in his hand beneath the jaw of the dire boar.

Yuan Ran is a wood-type superpowered warrior, but the strength with which he swings his sword, and the decisiveness and swiftness with which he sheathes it, are extremely rare.

……

Su Weihua, with a stern face, scouted and defended the area. Lin Ying, with Du Qi following behind him, asked curiously, "Brother, which beast husband are you to Ling Chengen?"

Su Weihua ignored him.

Undeterred, Lin Ying, her towering figure looming over her, followed closely behind Su Weihua. "Then let me ask you another question. How many beastly husbands does Ling Chengen have in total?"

Su Weihua didn't really want to satisfy his curiosity, but Lin Ying was a very talkative person who kept going on and on.

He turned his head and said coldly, "What does this have to do with you?"

"Asking so many questions is useless. Ling Chengen chooses her husbands based on their looks. Someone like you wouldn't even catch her eye."

Du Qi covered his mouth and chuckled softly. Lin Ying's face stiffened for a moment, then he grinned and said, "I have no interest in that little brat!"

"Can't I just be curious?"

Su Weihua said speechlessly, "Do you usually talk this much?"

Du Qi whispered, "Our boss talks a lot. He likes to chat with Brother Yan, but Brother Yan treats him like he's invisible. He won't reply to even one of ten sentences."

Lin Ying kicked Du Qi in the butt and said disdainfully, "Get lost!"

“Xuanyan is just a man of few words, but he still listened to me attentively.”

Su Weihua didn't really want to talk about this topic, nor did he like others asking him about Ling Chengen.

Moreover, he felt that Lin Ying was asking so many questions because she had some other purpose, but she hadn't revealed it yet.

So he quickened his pace, trying to shake off the two people behind him who were getting in his way.

However, Lin Ying was like a stubborn plaster, impossible to shake off.

About ten minutes later, the fighting in the woods stopped.

Su Weihua immediately turned around and walked back. He grabbed Lin Ying with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, "A herd of pheasants is coming. There are seventeen of them in total."

"The two leading dire boars are very strong, let's go!"

Du Qi and Lin Ying immediately wiped the smiles off their faces. Du Qi flew into the air, while Lin Ying bent down and pressed his ear to the ground. He quickly looked up at Du Qi and said, "Go and inform them that seventeen dire boars are coming from the southwest. They are very fast. Tell them to retreat as soon as possible."

Du Qi immediately flapped its wings and flew towards the hunting team, while Su Weihua transformed into a Frost Silver Wolf and quickly chased after Du Qi with Lin Ying on its back.

A dozen or so mongooses started running, causing the ground to shake.

After collecting the carcass of the mongoose, Ling Chengen ordered everyone to retreat immediately.

As dusk fell, the hunting party left the western forest area and arrived at the foothills north of the Luolu Mountains.

Su Weihua led the team to a lake. There were still many tall trees around the lake, but they were not as densely distributed as on the mountain. Around the lake, you could see many small animals, as well as flocks of migratory birds migrating from north to south.

"The terrain here is open, and on the slope near the foot of the mountain, there are two small caves that can easily accommodate all of us."

Su Weihua pointed to the area blocked by nearly two-meter-tall wormwood: "I'll take some people over there to clear out the burrow. You can rest by the lake. This lake is relatively small, there are no large aquatic beasts in it, and the fish are few in number and not very aggressive, so you don't have to worry about being attacked by aquatic beasts when you go into the water."

Ling Chengen nodded and split up with Bai Qingyu.

To ensure safety, Bai Qingyu first inspected the small lake, then caught a few large fish and threw them onto the shore.

Ling Chengen followed Su Weihua to the cave. Su Weihua used her hands to clear away the weeds, making a small path for the people behind her, without clearing away the other weeds.

"There are no barriers here, so try not to clear these tall weeds in front. This will block the view and make it safer to light a fire in the cave at night."

Otherwise, lighting a campfire on the open grassland would be too conspicuous and would definitely attract nearby animals and beastmen.

They fought with Huanya last night and now need to rest and recuperate. It is not advisable for them to clash with other forces.

Ling Chengen took a walk around the cave. It was indeed not very big, and the cave was not deep. It didn't look like an abandoned animal den, nor did it look like a cave run by wandering beastmen.

Su Weihua dragged all the rotten grass and leaves out of the cave and said to her, "This cave is a resting place I used to stop at when I led a team to hunt in Luolu Mountain."

"Apart from me and some orcs from the Snow Wolf tribe, no one else knows this location."

Su Weihua tossed the rotting grass leaves beside the fire and said calmly, "Judging from the state of decay of these insect-repelling grass leaves, the beastmen of the Snow Wolf Tribe should not have come here in the past two months."

Ling Chengen asked, "You mean they won't be going to Luolu Mountain for their autumn hunt this year?"

"It's hard to say; it depends on the Snow Wolf Tribe's autumn hunt this year. If they don't have enough game, they'll probably go hunting in the mountains in mid-to-late October."

In the north-central part of the northern wilderness, it usually starts snowing in mid-to-late October.

The situation south of Mount Lolo will be slightly better, but snowfall is expected by early November at the latest.

Su Weihua was still a minor, so he wouldn't go too far when leading the hunting team. The only place near the Snow Wolf Tribe with abundant prey resources was the Luolu Mountains. Su Kang didn't usually pay much attention to him, so he often led a few familiar tribesmen to the Luolu Mountains.

It was precisely because he frequently led his people in and out of the dangerous Lolu Mountains and managed to bring everyone back alive that Su Kang felt threatened even before he came of age.

"Is your leg feeling better? I saw you ran a bit with Lin Ying today." Ling Chengen sat on the flattened wooden board and rubbed his taut calf muscles.

Su Weihua sprinkled insect repellent powder into the cave, wiped her fingers clean, and said, "My legs don't hurt anymore, and I can run and jump normally without any problems."

"Is your leg bothering you?" He knelt down on one knee in front of her, lifted her calf onto his knee, and examined her leg. "This wound on your leg is probably from a poisonous insect bite..."

"Don't you feel anything?" Su Weihua looked up at her.

Ling Chengen shook his head, looked down at the redness and swelling on the back of his calf, and said with some doubt, "I didn't notice when it happened."

Su Weihua pinched her wound with his fingertips, took out a metal piece from his waist, and the metal quickly turned into an extremely thin blade in his palm.

Ling Chengen: "Do we need to cut the wound open again?"

"This is a wound left by a blood tick. These insects are very small and will burrow into the wound to suck blood. They cannot be cleaned off without cutting open the wound."

As he explained, he methodically made two cuts on her fair calf with a blade. Beneath the small cross-shaped wound was a blackish-red blood tick, saturated with blood, lazily burrowing into the wound.

Su Weihua skillfully used the tip of her knife to pick out the round, poisonous insect, then flicked the blade in her hand, cutting the small insect on the ground in two.

Ling Chengen didn't even frown. Just as he was about to take out the powder, Su Weihua had already shaken the powder onto the wound.

"I'll cook dinner, you can rest first."

"Some orcs will experience severe symptoms after being parasitized by blood ticks. If you feel unwell, be sure to tell us."

Su Weihua moved her legs away, stood up and rubbed her numb legs, then looked up at Ling Chengen, who had been quiet the whole time.

"Have you always been like this?" Ling Chengen looked at him for a long time and couldn't help but ask.

She found him as calm as a stone, seemingly unaffected by anyone's gaze.