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

Chapter 281 Close Your Eyes
Because he failed to dodge in time, Zeiss took the full force of Chang Tianchen's attack.

As a spray of blood gushed from the wound on his abdomen, Zeiss slashed backward with the chipped and rolled blade of his greatsword, using all the strength in his body to deliver the blow.

Chang Tianchen's expression was cold. He spun the halberd in his right hand halfway through the wound, then cleanly and neatly pulled out the halberd. He used the hard shaft of the spear to block the broadsword, which was clearly out of sync with the attack angle. He then swept the spear towards Cai Si's wrist, flicking and striking it, forcing the opponent's weapon out of his hand.

Looking at the battle below, Lin Jing couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

Their clan leader never knew the meaning of showing mercy, so once he started fighting, he was always aiming to kill his opponent, and every move he made was extremely ruthless.

He almost couldn't help but feel sorry for the high-ranking Fear Cat Beastman on the other side.

However, the other party deserved it.

If you want a city, just build it yourself.

They had to come all the way to their central region to seize the city, especially since it was built with great care by the young chieftain of Shilin. And they seized it when the hunting party hadn't returned and the defenses were at their weakest. They couldn't let this go without risking their lives here.

Lin Jing reached out and grasped the bow on his back, drew two arrows from the quiver at his waist, nocked the arrows, aimed at the exceptionally tall and fast-running Xia Ma tribesman, and immediately released the arrows when the opportunity arose.

The bow and arrows in his hand could only cause limited damage to the Xiama tribe.

However, he is a ninth-tier earth-type warrior. Although he has not yet joined the ranks of high-tier warriors, he has maxed out his talent in defense and stealth, and usually works hard in these two directions. Therefore, he has long mastered the most important skill of earth-type warriors - high-level hardening.

Arrows from the Northern Wilderness Plains generally have low arrowhead hardness.

Because it was the metal warriors who used very crude methods to extract metal from metal ores, then made metal arrowheads, which were attached to arrows made of wood. Bird feathers were tied to the arrow tails to stabilize the arrow's flight in the air.

This type of arrow is still somewhat effective against orcs with low physical defense or those that move in human form.

However, when used against orcs with strong physical defenses, the effect is not much different from that of bamboo arrows.

The advantage of bows and arrows lies in long-range attacks, but they are limited by the user's strength and accuracy, as well as the strength of the bow and the condition of the arrow, so they are not popular on the Northern Beast Plains.

Lin Jing was very poor at close combat, so he didn't like to get into fights. Finally, on Chang Tianchen's advice, he chose to use a bow and arrow as his primary weapon.

After reaching the eighth rank, he began to study advanced hardening skills. When he finally advanced to the ninth rank, he fully mastered the hardening skills and was able to attach this ability to arrows, thereby achieving greater destructive power.

The Xiama tribe orc, struck by the arrow, instinctively tried to dodge, but due to its large size, it failed and was hit in the upper part of its forelimb.

When he finally realized what had happened, he discovered that the arrow's destructive power was beyond his imagination.

The flesh on the upper part of his right forelimb suddenly tore open, and the wound was so deep that the bone was visible.

With a neigh, the Xiama warriors, who were still running and charging, fell to the ground and were quickly trampled by their own kind who rushed up from behind. Because their vital parts were trampled repeatedly, they died before their people could treat them.

When Bai Xi led her people to catch up with the group ahead, she found that something was amiss.

He looked at the slowing-down procession ahead and the chaotic shouts and killing sounds in Qulingguang Valley, and said to the two people on his back, "You two lead the team to deal with these people behind, I'll go check the situation ahead."

Ling Chengen grabbed the feathers on the back of his neck and said, "I'll go with you. With your crane clan's night vision, what can you possibly find out?"

While what I'm saying is true, some things don't need to be said so bluntly.

Bai Xi inwardly scoffed, paused for a few seconds with difficulty, and then changed her mind and said, "Okay."

Yuheng jumped off his back and said, "Then you two be careful."

Ling Chengen responded, and Bai Xi carried her forward, ignoring the chaotic scene below where enemies were searching for a way out, and flew directly into the valley.

Upon entering the valley, a strong stench of blood assaulted our senses.

Ling Chengen simply scanned the area with his spiritual power and said, "They are warriors from Snake Mountain."

Bai Xi circled in the air once and asked, "Should we go down?"

"I'm not going down." Ling Chengen told him to turn around. "Judging from their fight, Snake Mountain won't lose."

"However, these Xiama tribesmen are quite interesting."

On the way to pursue these defeated enemies, Ling Chengen also learned about the situation of these attackers from the people around him.

The Uja tribe was the leader, though she had never heard of them.

The Xiama tribe, which followed the Wujia tribe, was a medium-sized tribe with a similar situation to the Shilin tribe.

The horse tribe...

If we can bring them under our command, it might save us a lot of trouble in the future.

Ling Chengen used her mental power to connect with Chang Tianchen. The other party must have already discovered her in the air, and was not surprised at all by the sudden voice in her mind.

He asked curiously, "Are you interested in the Xiama people?"

Ling Chengen said, "Well, if you have enough resources to make the Xiama tribe orcs surrender, that would be even better."

Chang Tianchen asked, "What benefits would I get?"

Ling Chengen wasn't buying it at all, and said only, "You have to do it first before you talk to me about the benefits."

"You're quite brave, daring to ambush them with only two thousand soldiers."

"They outnumber you by at least twice, so they won't be easy to fight."

Chang Tianchen sneered, "Although Snake Mountain is terrible, it's not as weak as you think."

Ling Chengen chuckled and said, "Then I wish you a resounding victory."

After Bai Xi led Ling Chengen away from the valley, she asked, "Was it Chang Tianchen who led the team?"

Ling Chengen nodded and said, "I didn't expect him to have already returned to Snake Mountain."

Although Bai Xi disliked Chang Tianchen, she had to admit that he was indeed a very capable fighter. Although she was a little annoyed, she still said honestly, "With him here, those enemies in the valley won't be able to escape."

"You seem to admire him quite a bit?"

Bai Xi looked at the group that was going around the north side of Qulingguang Valley and said, "Chang Tianchen is quite famous in our area. I guess you were too young at the time and didn't pay attention to this kind of thing, so you didn't know how famous he was."

"When he was still a child, he was about the same age as you and became the young chieftain of Snake Mountain. Later, he led the then relatively unknown Snake Mountain to conquer several surrounding small tribes, expanding Snake Mountain's territory by more than two times."

"He was already a high-level warrior when he came of age, but he and his mother seemed to have a bad relationship. As he grew up, the conflict between the two grew bigger and bigger. Then the internal forces of Snake Mountain split into three factions. One faction firmly supported his mother, another faction was conservative and mainly composed of the original native snake tribe of Snake Mountain, and the remaining faction supported Chang Tianchen to seize power and become the clan leader, thus sidelining his mother."

"Chang Tianchen's mother is also a bit strange. Maybe all the nobles in Nanyuan are like this. Anyway, she has a strong desire for control and tried every means to control him, but she failed. In the end, she wanted to get rid of Chang Tianchen and support Chang Yinbo, who is easier to control, to become the young clan leader."

"Later, during the critical period of his advancement and awakening, Chang Tianchen was betrayed by his trusted confidants one after another. He was not only seriously injured, but also seemed to be poisoned. After that, his personality changed drastically. For a period of time, he even lost his rationality and became like a wild beast."

"In order to detoxify and regain his sanity, he risked his life many times, went to many dangerous places to search for medicine, and even searched everywhere for the witch doctor from Nan Yuan, namely Yu Heng."

"But basically, it never ends well."

"His mother was truly ruthless. Even under those circumstances, she still wanted to exterminate him." "In order to bring the power of Chang Tianchen's faction under her control, Chang Tianchen's mother orchestrated the incident where he killed the daughter of the Snake Mountain Elder while out of control. This caused the neutral faction to defect to her side, and she pinned a crime on him, ultimately successfully expelling him from the tribe."

Ling Chengen only knew the general outline of Chang Tianchen's dementia, but he never expected that there were so many conspiracies involved.

She sighed, "That Madam Chang is quite special."

After Bai Xi had been talking for a while, she couldn't help but laugh when she heard this evaluation: "In the Northern Plains, almost everyone says that the snake clan is ruthless and heartless, and that Chang Tianchen's mother is vicious and scheming. I didn't expect her evaluation to be so unique here."

Ling Chengen lowered his eyes and said, "To be honest, isn't someone like that special?"

"They have no weaknesses and can give up anything. That makes them harder to deal with."

The saying "a mother's love is as strong as the sea" doesn't apply to her.

Bai Xi led her to intercept the orcs who wanted to escape around the north side of the valley, and said to her, "It might be because Chang Tianchen wasn't born to her."

"Could that be his stepmother?"

Bai Xi shook her head: "That must be his biological mother. Otherwise, when there was a conflict at the beginning, Chang Tianchen would have killed her long ago. Why would he pretend to be friendly with her? He's not the kind of person who can endure humiliation!"

Ling Chengen's imagination ran wild: "Could it be that it was born from his father? Can male beastmen even have offspring?"

Bai Xi asked in surprise, "You didn't know? Although it's relatively rare for male beastmen to give birth, it does happen. A typical example is your forest panda, which can reproduce on its own. It's said that deep-sea merfolk can do it too, but it depends on their wishes."

"Chang Tianchen's father should be a two-headed snake from the Southern Plains. It is said that he is a variant of some kind of snake, possibly hermaphroditic, so he can reproduce on his own. Chang Yinbo and Chang Tianchen do not look alike at all, and neither of them inherited the bloodline of their mother's clan. However, the two have no similarities, which is said to be because their father was a two-headed snake."

"Of course, there's also the theory that Chang Tianchen isn't Madam Chang's biological son at all, which is why that snake-woman could be so ruthless towards him. But I think that's absurd. If it weren't for his mother, he would never have tolerated her repeatedly testing his bottom line."

This was the first time Ling Chengen had ever heard of these things.

"You know so much?"

Bai Xi laughed and said, "If you have many friends and enjoy interacting with those unassuming little guys, you can also get a lot of useful information. However, these are just hearsay and I can't guarantee their accuracy."

"Let's chat about gossip later, it's time to get down to business."

Ling Chengen suddenly used one hand to support his wing and jumped down from mid-air.

Bai Xi followed closely behind, watching Ling Chengen transform into a giant tiger of the Boshan Mountain, blocking the weapons that wanted to hurt her from behind.

The battle did not end until noon the next day.

Ling Chengen watched the enemy choose to surrender, gripped his bone blade, and leaned wearily against a rock, his eyelids almost closing.

A damp handkerchief was placed over her face. Ling Chengen suddenly opened his eyes, removed the handkerchief, and squinted at the person beside him: "Why did you come here?"

Yuheng sat down beside her and reached out to touch her hair, which was soaked in blood. Because the blood had dried, her well-maintained black hair was tangled into knots, making her look rather miserable and disheveled.

Yuheng took out a bag of dried meat, wiped her blood-stained and wounded fingers with the damp cloth in her hand, wrapped the wounds on her hand with her supernatural power, and said slowly, "I came over after I finished my work."

“Around this morning, warriors from the White Bear Tribe came over, and Bai Ba said he could help us escort these surrendered enemies to the Beast City.”

"You've used up so much energy, eat something first, and if you're sleepy, just go to sleep. I'll take you back in a bit," Yuheng said.

Ling Chengen smelled the blood and the strong smell of burnt ash, and glanced at the plain that had been burned bare.

"Did the White Bear tribe also help put out the fire?"

"They sought help from the Flat Crocodile Clan, the Beaver Clan, and the Otter Clan, who live upstream of the Xuemu River, to put out the fire." Yu Heng leaned against Ling Chengen and sighed softly. "Last night's fire, while eliminating the attacking enemies, also offended many surrounding tribes."

"I'm afraid I'll be very busy from now on."

Ling Chengen ate a piece of dried meat and then completely lost his appetite.

It was so dirty that even she couldn't stand it.

Moreover, her psychic abilities were almost completely depleted, her physical strength was severely lacking, her head was throbbing with a dull pain, and she wanted to fall asleep all the time, but she was also worried about other things to do, so she could not close her eyes peacefully.

Yuheng knew that her body was exhausted, but her mind was constantly tense. Although her special ability could easily put others to sleep, it couldn't work on her.

Seeing that she had no appetite, Yuheng took the bag from her arms, reached out and covered her eyes, his voice gentle and calm: "Close your eyes."

Ling Chengen was surrounded by darkness. Hearing his voice, he slowly became sleepy and lost consciousness without realizing it.

Yuheng sensed that her muscles were no longer tense and her breathing was gradually becoming steady. He slowly removed his hand, turned his head to look at her small face, which was covered with unsightly wounds and bloodstains, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

In fact, she fell completely asleep in less than three minutes after he covered her eyes with his hand.

This clearly shows how tired she was that day and night.

Yuheng bent down and picked her up, looking at the empty plain in front of him, and walked towards the mouth of the valley.

Bai Xi is currently negotiating with Chang Tianchen, and it's unclear what the situation is like now.

This place is some distance from Beast City, but very close to Snake Mountain. However, Ling Chengen definitely doesn't want to go to Snake Mountain, so they need to go back as soon as possible.

Otherwise, he wasn't sure if Chongzhen could handle those surrendered soldiers properly.

As soon as Yuheng reached the mouth of the valley, he discovered that the stone that had been blocking the entrance had been moved.

Bai Xi and Chang Tianchen, both covered in blood, were walking towards him.

Upon seeing Ling Chengen in his arms, the two stopped talking simultaneously.

Bai Xi quickened her pace and asked, "Is she injured?"

“She’s asleep.” Yuheng said softly. “Are you going back? If not, I can borrow a warrior from Hanshan. I’ll take her back to rest first.”

Chang Tianchen stood aside, quietly watching Ling Chengen bury his face in Yu Heng's arms, his thoughts unreadable.

He was quite keen to take on the task of escorting Ling Chengen back, but he knew that Yu Heng would definitely not hand him over, so he simply decided to avoid seeing him and crossed his arms, saying, "You guys go back first. I'll take care of cleaning up the battlefield here. I'll go to Beast City when I'm done."

Yuheng gave him a deep look, nodded and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. We'll go back first."

Seeing that the two had made their decision in just a few words, Bai Xi naturally had no objections. With a command, she led the exhausted Crane Clan warriors back on their journey.

After they left, Lin Jing slid down the earthen slope beside him, still holding his bow and arrow in his right hand, and said with a hint of disappointment, "Chieftain, you just let them go like that?"

Chang Tianchen gave him a haughty, aloof glance: "Otherwise what?"

"What have we been working on all night for?"

Annoyed by him, Chang Tianchen snorted coldly, "Go do your work!"

(End of this chapter)