Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Ye Tang sat down next to Qi Xuan and casually picked up the unfinished military newspaper beside her, flipping through a couple of pages. Qi Xuan leaned against her, no longer making a fuss, just quietly closing his eyes. Chu Chu occasionally smacked her lips in the cradle before falling asleep again.

After a while, Qi Xuan suddenly spoke up: "Xiao Tang, that black-hearted little leopard is making me angry."

"What did he do to upset you?" Ye Tang asked.

"He berated me, complaining that I talk too much, and said that Chu Chu shouldn't be like me." Qi Xuan immediately started complaining. "Where do I talk too much? I'm just being poised and natural. Isn't it good for Chu Chu to be like me?"

"Hanzhou likes quiet. Our little one can look like whoever he wants, no fussing allowed." Ye Tang kissed Qi Xuan, "Be good."

"Okay, I'll be good. Whatever Xiaotang says goes." Qi Xuan buried his head in Ye Tang's neck. "Xiao Tang, I'm not feeling bad these past two days. Can you comfort me?"

"How do you want me to appease you?" Ye Tang could tell from Qi Xuan's expression that the dragon was thinking about something inappropriate for children again.

"Xiao Tang, you know the answer to that question. Does my beauty not seduce you now that I'm pregnant?" Qi Xuan's outer robe was loose, revealing glimpses of his muscles.

Ye Tang reached out and straightened his outer robe: "You're pregnant, so behave yourself."

"I'm behaving myself perfectly well," Qi Xuan said, but his hands were busy.

Ye Tang pressed down on his hand: "Qi Xuan."

"Xiao Tang~" Qi Xuan drawled out the sound.

Ye Tang finally couldn't resist and lowered her head to touch his lips: "Just once. No more."

"Xiao Tang, just this once." Qi Xuan pulled her into his arms. "I promise, just this once, I won't make a fuss."

"Your pregnancy is in its early stages, and the fetus is unstable."

"But I'm really in pain. Xiao Tang, please comfort me." Qi Xuan was more affectionate than usual.

Ye Tang looked at him and remained silent for a while. This dragon, though usually sarcastic and quick-witted, truly couldn't bring herself to refuse him in a situation like this.

She reached out and gently patted his back: "Just once. No messing around." Qi Xuan's eyes lit up, and he lowered his head to kiss her forehead: "Okay. I'll listen to you."

Ye Tang finally complied with Qi Xuan's wishes. Qi Xuan was much more restrained than usual, his movements were gentle and slow, always remembering Ye Tang's words, "Don't do anything reckless." After it was over, he put his arm around Ye Tang and didn't cause any more trouble.

"Xiao Tang, I'm being good, right?" Qi Xuan hugged Ye Tang tightly like an octopus.

"Sweetie. Loosen your grip a little." Ye Tang almost couldn't breathe.

"Xiao Tang, I really want to be close to you." Qi Xuan loosened his grip slightly.

After catching her breath, Ye Tang patted his arm and said, "Alright, go to sleep. You have things to do tomorrow." Qi Xuan hummed in agreement and didn't say anything more.

The next morning, when Ye Tang woke up, Qi Xuan was still asleep. She got up quietly and went next door to check on Chu Chu. Han Zhou was already up and breastfeeding Chu Chu. Ye Tang greeted him and then went to the library.

"Young Palace Master, you want to investigate immortal bones?" Linlang asked, holding a stack of documents.

"Hmm. Qi Xuan said it was a small-scale holy war on the high seas a thousand years ago. The Empire has no records of it, so I wanted to see if the Beast God Temple had any records of it," Ye Tang said.

"There's no record of this in the Beast God Temple. But I know about this. That Immortal Bone thing was chosen as the representative of the evil god. A thousand years ago, he had just obtained a bit of the evil god's power and was causing trouble in the high seas. Then he was sealed in Antarctica. Then the mine collapsed, and it seems he was released." Linlang said, "When I first went to Antarctica to mine, the mine was heavily guarded and mining was not allowed."

"Was there any explanation at the time about how the Immortal Bone was sealed?" Ye Tang pressed.

"I led the sealing," Linlang said. "But I didn't participate in the holy war. They were almost done fighting, and they said they wanted to seal it, so they paid me to do it."

Ye Tang was taken aback: "You sealed it?"

"Yes. Back then, the Beast God Temple was dirt poor. I took on all sorts of freelance work to make the mecha, specializing in all kinds of engineering projects. I also drew the sealing array," Linlang said. "However, they provided the materials; I was only responsible for designing the array patterns and the construction."

Ye Tang looked at her, speechless for a moment: "So, your shoddy construction project has endangered public safety."

"My formation is absolutely fine. The collapse was due to their materials. They said it was just a minor leader of a demonic beast, and they had already weakened him to a pulp, so I listened to them and drew a mid-level sealing formation. Then, Antarctica had the strongest spiritual energy at that time, so I sealed him there. But later, the mine near the seal collapsed. But, does this have anything to do with the current demonic beasts?" Linlang scratched her head. "That mine was quite valuable. If it hadn't collapsed, I could have paid back more money."

Ye Tang looked at her and remained silent for a while. So, the skeleton was able to escape because Lin Lang cut corners back then? No, Lin Lang said the materials were provided by someone else. That means the materials were substandard. But no matter what, the seal did pass through Lin Lang's hands. She sighed, "Sister Lin Lang, that little leader of the evil beasts is most likely the skeleton we see now."

Linlang was stunned for a while before she reacted: "You mean, the little leader I appointed back then is the same skeleton who's going to kill you now?"

"Mm." Ye Tang nodded.

Linlang rubbed her face, remaining silent for a long time. Back then, to pay off her debts, she took any job imaginable. Sealing evil beasts was something she'd do as long as she was paid. Who knew that the "little leader" she casually sealed would actually be a representative of an evil god? Even more unexpectedly, a thousand years later, this thing would escape and try to kill her young temple master.

"I should have added a self-destruct formation back then," Linlang gritted her teeth.

"It's too late to talk about this now," Ye Tang said. "Can you still remember the exact location of that seal?"

"Yes. It's at the end of the third mine tunnel, under the Antarctic ice sheet," Linlang said. "However, the mine has collapsed, so we'll have to dig it all over again."

"How many days is it from the Empire to Antarctica?" Ye Tang asked.

"At the current speed of the hovercar, it will arrive in six days," Linlang said.

"Six days? That's quite a long time," Ye Tang thought for a moment.

"Young Palace Master, you can have Xuanfeng take some people to take a look. He's quite familiar with Antarctica," Linlang suggested.

Ye Tang thought for a moment. Xuan Feng was an elder of the Beast God Temple and had gone to Antarctica with Lin Lang in his younger days, so he was indeed familiar with the situation there. She nodded: "Okay, I'll have Fu Shan make the arrangements."

Ye Tang immediately went to Fu Shan and asked him to arrange for Xuan Feng to lead a small team to Antarctica. Fu Shan accepted the order and went to carry it out. Ye Tang gave them a few more instructions, telling them to bring identification array plates and communication talismans, and to send a message back immediately if they found anything unusual.

After making these arrangements, Ye Tang returned to the main hall. Han Zhou was already waiting there, with intelligence just delivered by the military spread out on the table.

The intelligence report stated: Over the past three days, there have been traces of unidentified activity near the abandoned watchtower on the outskirts of the Ghost Cry Swamp. The activity was small in scale but covert. The watchtower faces directly towards the capital.

"It seems the date Qianmian mentioned was false, but there was definitely activity around the 17th," Ye Tang said. "Have Chi Heng take some men to check it out."

Han Zhou nodded and went to relay the order. Ye Tang then combined Qi Xuan's analysis with Lin Lang's statement and reviewed them again. The withered bones were most likely immortal bones, sealed in Antarctica. Since their strength had not yet recovered, they dared not launch a direct attack and could only rely on assassination and infiltration. And this group of people active in the Ghost Cry Swamp were very likely his vanguard.