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

Chapter 217 Mirage Ritual
Su Weihua rarely asked her anything, so Ling Chengen asked with some curiosity, "Are you interested in this?"

"good smell."

Su Weihua glanced at the smoke-filled stove, then at the ferocious beastmen around her, and said softly, "The stuff in your pot probably won't last until tonight."

Ling Chengen couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I didn't expect it to last overnight. I made this so that everyone could have a taste first."

She thought about it for a long time, and after considering everything, braised dishes were the most suitable.

First of all, it doesn't require much technology.

As long as the braising liquid is flavorful, it will generally taste good no matter what you're braising, as long as the cooking time is well controlled.

Secondly, the aroma of the braising liquid is very strong.

No need for elaborate advertising, this flavor alone is enough to make people crave it.

She opened the lid at the perfect moment, and the aroma exploded all at once, so enticing that all the soldiers were nearly overwhelmed.

Ling Chengen scooped the braised beef out of the pot, then scooped out all the lotus root from the pot and placed them on a bamboo tray. When the juices had mostly drained, he asked Su Weihua to help slice the beef and lotus root.

After Chang Tianchen arrived, he didn't go near Ling Chengen, but instead curiously examined the food that had been scooped out of the dark broth.

He reached out, picked up a piece, and popped it into his mouth, his brow furrowing slightly on his hard face.

Lin Jing, who was very outgoing, also joined the group of warriors in the stone forest, scrambling for the slices of meat and lotus root that had been cut up and placed on wooden plates.

Su Weihua finished slicing a plate and casually placed it on the table next to her. In the blink of an eye, the plate was empty.

After finishing his meal, Lin Jing secretly licked the soup off his fingers and whispered to the warrior from the Stone Forest beside him, "Is your young clan leader really planning to take this to the sea market to trade tomorrow?"

"Otherwise?"

Lin Jing said, "Such delicious food should be kept for ourselves. It would be a loss to trade it to someone else..."

Xuan Yan, who was quietly eating braised food, suddenly said, "Isn't it easy to eat if you want to? Just make it yourself."

"The young chieftain has always been generous to the orcs in the tribe. He never avoids making things for us and has always encouraged everyone to learn on their own initiative."

"Besides, we helped collect all the ingredients for the braised pork. As long as you are willing to do it, you can always replicate it."

"But this thing is absolutely unprecedented in the market, and it should be able to be exchanged for a lot of good things."

Along the way, Xuan Yan has come to see things clearly.

Ling Chengen sometimes seems to do things haphazardly, leaving people completely baffled, but in reality, she is very purposeful.

She didn't care much about those things that were quite precious to the various tribes.

On the contrary, they are very curious and prefer to tinker with things that are overlooked by others.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jing fell silent, a rare occurrence for him.

However, when the new braised dishes were served, he still grabbed several slices of braised lotus root and a piece of chewy meat with lightning speed.

Although he wasn't quite sure what kind of animal the meat came from, everyone else was eating it, so it couldn't be wrong.

After the whole pot of braised dishes was finished, everyone conscientiously licked... no, washed the empty plates in front of them clean, and returned them.

Seeing that Ling Chengen only tasted the food at the beginning and barely ate any afterward, Chang Tianchen placed a small plate of braised beef that he had just hidden in front of her: "I heard that you want a larger space container?"

Ling Chengen glanced at him: "What? You have connections?"

Chang Tianchen: "I wouldn't call it a channel, but I've been to JiBH City a few times and heard about space container transactions a few times."

"I can tell you if you need it."

Ling Chengen: "Paid?"

"Free of charge," Chang Tianchen said speechlessly. "Do you really think I'm that materialistic?"

Ling Chengen focused his gaze on him intently this time, remaining silent for a long while.

Chang Tianchen felt a chill run down his spine and became uneasy under her calm, expressionless gaze.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ling Chengen asked, puzzled, "I don't quite understand. We weren't exactly on good terms from the start, were we? Why are you still not giving up?"

Sometimes, she couldn't help but suspect that Chang Tianchen was the one who had actually received the strategy guide.

She was reluctant to do the main questline task of winning over Chang Tianchen from the very beginning.

Therefore, the basic approach is to maintain a "delay it if possible" attitude.

Chang Tianchen and the people from Snake Mountain contributed greatly to the Mulan Plain incident, making her plan progress faster and more smoothly.

But she didn't ask the people of Snake Mountain for help for no reason.

At least the salt shortage problem in Snake Mountain was solved with her help.

She had a detailed conversation with Chang Tianchen. As long as he could guarantee that Snake Mountain would not have any more crooked ideas and try to take over Shilin's territory, then the salt trade would not stop.

In addition, Snake Mountain's pursuit on the Mulan Plain yielded them a large harvest of prey.

Furthermore, there was the previous incident where Chang Yinbo ran away from the marriage, and Sheshan tried to use inferior animal hides to offset the debts owed in the agreement.

After discussing with Ling Xiao, Ling Chengen decided to wipe the slate clean after considering that the people of Snake Mountain had replaced the beastmen of Stone Forest in fighting on the Mulan Plain.

So, putting aside the matter of Yin Xin Huo for the time being, she and Chang Tianchen have basically settled their score.

She had also seriously considered the issue of Yin Xin Huo.

Although he didn't quite understand the connection between bloodline reversion and the advancement of superpowers, his state at that time was clearly not entirely under his personal will, which is why such an unpleasant situation arose.

It's true that she doesn't like him.

Similarly, she didn't understand why Chang Tianchen was so persistent in his pursuit of her.

If you ask her if she has any redeeming qualities... Ling Chengen is very self-aware, so there are basically none.

At most, she possesses some knowledge that doesn't exist in this world, and a useless system cheat.

Chang Tianchen saw her brows furrowed and heard her questioning tone. His initial apprehension suddenly subsided.

He countered, "Why should I give up?"

"I'm doing what I want to do and pursuing the people I like."

"I'd love to."

"If the relationship wasn't harmonious before, can't it be harmonious in the future?"

Chang Tianchen tentatively reached out his left hand, wanting to get close to her brow, but Ling Chengen instinctively dodged his movement.

Undeterred, he continued, "Besides, I think we got along quite well before."

"If you were willing to treat me a little better, that would be perfect."

Ling Chengen: "You really want to be my beastly husband?"

Chang Tianchen sat opposite her, resting his chin on one hand, his eyes slightly narrowed: "Am I not obvious enough?"

"What if I keep disagreeing?"

Chang Tianchen raised an eyebrow and said, "That means I'm useless, and it has little to do with you."

Becoming partners is a two-way choice between two people.

But finding a partner is a personal choice.

If one harbors thoughts of revenge simply because the other party keeps rejecting them, that's truly tasteless. Chang Tianchen, while not a good person, is definitely not a tasteless male beastman.

Ling Chengen stood up and said, "You should go back early, and take this beef with you."

Looking at her somewhat somber figure, Chang Tianchen suddenly asked, "Are you asking these questions because you're already considering me?"

Ling Chengen glanced back at him and said, "You're overthinking it. Go back, wash up, and go to sleep!"

……

Before dawn the next day, all the hunting teams in the surrounding area were already fully prepared and headed towards Amber Bay in large numbers.

Amber Bay is an inner bay located in the northeastern part of the far north.

It gets its name from the amber-colored algae that grow in the bay from May to October each year.

Ling Chengen didn't sleep well because of his conversation with Chang Tianchen.

So, while traveling, she practically buried herself halfway in Su Weihua's fluffy, warm fur, yawning constantly, her eyes glistening with tiny tears from exhaustion.

The reason Bai Qingyu wasn't allowed to bring it was because it was too cold to fly at high altitudes in the early morning.

Qinghe was extremely fast; sitting on Bai Qingyu's back, it could blow her face stiff in less than ten minutes.

Therefore, she preferred to nestle on the snow wolf's back rather than on the broad, flat, but cold and wind-swept back of the crane.

Hearing her yawn, Su Weihua said to her, "Actually, you can sleep a little longer. We're not in such a hurry to leave."

Ling Chengen grabbed the hair on the back of his head with his fingers, closed his eyelids and said, "How can I sleep in all night and make everyone else wait for me?"

"Today is the first day that Haishi is open to the public. There will definitely be a lot of people and it will be very lively. They probably didn't sleep all night because they were so excited."

"If I delay any longer, they might rush into the cave, carry me away, and run me away."

Su Weihua simply smiled upon hearing this.

Ling Chengen was right. Many of the orcs in the group had never been to the Sea Market before. They had only heard about how lively and prosperous the Sea Market was, and their expectations were already high. Few of them could sleep the night before the market opened.

Lin Ying clung to Xuan Yan's back, smiling as she spoke to the sleepy-eyed Ling Chengen, "On the first day of the market's opening, there's usually an opening ceremony. Most of the beastmen set off so early probably to watch this ceremony."

Ling Chengen's interest was piqued, and he quietly raised his head: "What kind of ceremony is this? It's so fascinating?"

Lin Ying: "I heard it was held jointly by the Elephant Clan and the sea beastmen from the far north."

"It is said that a grand sacrificial ceremony will be held before the market opens."

"The sacrificial ceremony will worship two beast gods at the same time, one is the sea god of the far north, and the other is the beast god of the northern lands."

"The ritual not only involves chanting sacrificial words, but also includes many people from the far north singing local sacrificial songs together, culminating in a sacrificial dance..."

"It is said that the ritual dance is the most beautiful."

"The elephant-beastmen perform on land, while the sea-folk leap out of the water at sunrise to perform a sacrificial dance on the sea."

"Among them, the most beautiful sacrificial dances are undoubtedly performed by the high priests of the Elephant Clan and the Sea Clan..."

Lin Ying poured out a whole bunch of information like beans spilling out.

Ling Chengen and Su Weihua, who were listening silently, both perked up their ears and looked at Lin Ying, who was talking non-stop, with subtle expressions.

The elephant high priest is one thing, but this sea tribe high priest...

We're not in the far north right now; we're probably in their Stone Forest.

Will this year's mirage opening ceremony really be able to proceed smoothly?
Su Weihua avoided Lin Ying and the others behind her, and turned to look at Ling Chengen, who seemed lost in thought: "That Shi Ruoan..."

“He said he was the High Priest of the Sea Clan.” Ling Chengen sat up straight and said with a serious expression, “If he had successfully found those two medicinal herbs, Pan Xing’s life would definitely be saved by now.”

"If he cares a lot about the sacrificial ceremony in the sea city, maybe he'll come back by water?"

Su Weihua said in a deep voice, "Shi Panxing and Shi Ruoan were close. Shi Panxing was killed because of a power struggle within the royal family. Shi Ruoan sided with him, so he probably has a hard time in the far north sea. Perhaps the person who made the move back then had already planned to replace this high priest of the North Sea?"

"I can't say for sure right now. Let's wait and see when we get there."

"If you do run into Shi Ruoan, there's no need to rush to greet him."

Ling Chengen pondered to himself, "I asked Yuheng before I set off."

"He said that even if Shi Ruoan gets those two medicines and can heal Pan Xing's injuries, it will take at least half a year before he can return to the sea."

"Otherwise, even if the limbs are repaired, they will only be able to look at and move, which is purely for show."

Su Weihua asked in surprise, "Does it really take this long?"

Ling Chengen: "You saw Shi Panxing's injuries. They are much more serious than yours. It's basically like all the flesh and blood on his limbs were scraped off. It takes time for the flesh and blood to grow back."

"Six months, that's an optimistic estimate."

"If Shi Panxing's recovery is slow and he has to stay on shore for several years, that would be normal."

"However, it doesn't matter."

"Anyway, given his current state, he has no hope of seizing the throne if he returns to Beihai."

"If we wait until he fully recovers from his injuries and returns to his peak physical condition, it will be too late."

Su Weihua: "At that time, whether Ruo'an went back or not, wouldn't it be very dangerous?"

Ling Chengen grinned and said, "His danger has nothing to do with us."

"As long as he doesn't reveal Shi Panxing's information, and we keep our mouths shut, the sea creatures in the North Sea and we will have a normal trading relationship."

"If word gets out..."

"Then we're in big trouble."

She has many ideas about saving these two people, but she hasn't had the chance to realize them yet.

It's very likely that this won't be possible in the future.

But this is like buying stocks.

I've already bought it, and I even added to my position once.

Selling it now would be a huge loss.

Therefore, it definitely cannot be thrown away.

I'll just keep it in my hand and wait and see.

Who knows, this stock might go up in a while?!

If all else fails, we can wait until we find out more about the sea creatures at the market before making any plans.

"Anyway, we can't let the sea people know that Shi Panxing is in our hands."

“Even other land beast races that are on good terms with the sea people are absolutely not allowed.”

Su Weihua nodded and said, "I understand."

“After the market opens, I’ll take Wu Zhuo to inquire about the situation of this year’s high priest of the sea tribe who is participating in the ceremony,” he said.

Ling Chengen pondered for a moment: "Chang Tianchen also knows about Shi Panxing's matter. Why don't you ask him to lend you someone?"

“Wu Zhuo is not careful enough in intelligence gathering, so you won’t be of much use with him.”

Su Weihua: "Are you talking about Lin Jing?"