Chapter 99: Eavesdropping at the Wanxiang Priest Temple

Chapter 99: Eavesdropping at the Wanxiang Priest Temple

"Silence! Do you think you're the only ones who've paid a price? Don't forget, our Wanxiang City even sacrificed its chieftain! The skull on the bones outside the Priest Temple belongs to our chieftain!" the High Priest rebuked sternly.

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

It was said that before the first Beast God ascended, he attempted to create many mutants in various tribes, and the Lesser Female was one of them.

Originally, the Beastworld had only two genders: male and female. The Lesser Female was a failed creation by the Beast God, who had hoped these mutants would possess extraordinary abilities to lead the tribes of beastmen toward prosperity and strength after his ascension.

However, once created, the Lesser Female proved to be lacking in both skill and consciousness. They neither had the physical strength of males nor the reproductive ability of females, making them weak and utterly useless—the most futile of his creations.

Yet, since they had already been created, he couldn’t bring himself to destroy them and allowed them to live freely. Gradually, the Lesser Female became the lowest-ranking beastmen in the Beastworld.

After failing in gender modification experiments, the Beast God began experimenting on beastmen's bodies.

For instance, Brownchain of the Iridescent Snake Tribe had his heart modified. Although he showed no obvious differences from other Iridescent Snake beastmen, the High Priest had divined that he indeed carried a trace of the Beast God’s fortune. By amplifying this fortune, there was a chance to fully replace the Beast God and become the new deity of the entire Beastworld continent!

As for how to amplify it, no one knew. Even the High Priest, who communicated with the Beast God day and night, had no clues. He could only rely on intuition, suspecting the issue lay in Brownchain’s mutated heart.

He believed that if he could transplant that heart into his own body, he might discover the relics or divine power left by the Beast God.

Thus, he conducted a series of heart transplant experiments on beastmen slaves. Often, the weak beastmen slaves died immediately after their hearts were removed, even before the transplantation could be performed, which forced him to need a large number of living slaves for his experiments.

Mutant beastmen like Brownchain existed in almost every tribe, with the most typical example being the Eagle Tribe.

Originally, there was only one eagle tribe, and the feathers on their wings were only red or gray. White wings appeared later.

It was because of these white wings that the Grey Eagle and Red Eagle tribes believed eagle beastmen with white wings were easily spotted by enemies during hunting or battles, hindering the tribe's survival and development. This led to discrimination and exclusion within the tribe, with white feathers seen as an unlucky symbol, a sign of abandonment by the Beast God.

Over time, discrimination against White Eagle beastmen within the eagle tribe worsened, eventually leading to its fragmentation into the current White Eagle Clan, Red Eagle Clan, and Grey Eagle Tribe.

The Red Eagle Clan and Grey Eagle Tribe had always been on good terms, while the White Eagle Clan was on bad terms with them.

The White Eagle beastmen who split from the eagle tribe were later modified. However, while Brownchain’s modification involved internal organs, the White Eagle Clan’s modification was on their skin.

The chieftain of Wanxiang City was also a mutant modified by the Beast God, with his skull being the altered part. His skull was the first body part the High Priest collected. Unfortunately, the chieftain died before further steps could be taken. The High Priest had assumed someone as robust as the chieftain would survive until the head transplantation was complete.

A flicker of indescribable emotion passed through the High Priest’s eyes. He could still recall how he had used a stone knife to slowly remove the chieftain’s skull. He first gave the chieftain a drink that would render a beastman unconscious, hoping to reduce the pain of the live extraction of the skull and heart and facilitate the sacrificial ritual.

The so-called human sacrifice ritual involved organizing all Wanxiang beastmen for a ceremony. As the High Priest, he would perform a ritual dance, select a beastman to kill, and offer the body to the Beast God as a symbol of the beastmen’s loyalty.

Every time he collected a body part from a beastman connected to the Beast God’s fortune, he would perform a human sacrifice. Publicly, it was said to communicate with the Beast God and seek blessings for the beastmen.

But only he knew how much of it was truly about expressing loyalty to the Beast God, and how much was about atonement, repentance, and fear of divine retribution after death.

To ensure the organs remained alive upon removal, the beastmen had to remain conscious during the extraction, meaning the selected beastmen had to endure excruciating pain fully aware.

The chieftain had woken from the pain at one point, his face contorted in agony as he tried to resist but lacked the strength. He could only let out wretched screams, cries, and curses with his lips. The High Priest remembered telling him, "Stop resisting. Why fight it? What's the point in living as a mutant, suffering discrimination and exclusion in the tribe? It’s better to give me your skull early so I can send you to meet the Beast God sooner!"

......

The High Priest had divined that Brownchain shared a sliver of fortune with the Beast God. Wen Ran thought that fortune must be related to the modification. After the modification, if it turned out to be another failure, the Beast God probably forgot about it. This High Priest actually wanted to collect all the failed modifications and body parts like collecting stamps and reassemble them onto himself—wasn’t he afraid it would be the death of him?

However, this modification likely occurred in Brownchain’s ancestors. Over time, it manifested again in their descendants. Given Brownchain’s age, it was highly unlikely that the Beast God himself had modified him, as the Beast God hadn’t been seen for thousands of years.

But before his ascension, the Beast God had been eager to create so many ‘substitutes’—perhaps they could be called his proxies...

Wen Ran rubbed his chin. It seemed that even back then, the Beast God had realized he was betrayed by the High Priests of the Priest Temple he himself had established. He felt threatened and worried about the Beastworld’s people. He wanted to entrust the Beastworld’s beastmen—the ‘orphans’—to these proxies before his ascension.

Yet, by the time he ascended, he still hadn’t created a reliable proxy. So, he decided to bring in a ready-made outsider from another world—a proxy who knew farming, animal husbandry, and infrastructure, with a good temperament, patience for furry creatures, a flexible mind, resilience to avoid suicide in the harsh Beastworld, and the ability to lead beastmen toward true self-reliance.

Wen Ran, who had struggled and survived for three years in an apocalypse, was the outsider proxy chosen by the Beast God.

Apart from poor combat skills, Wen Ran was suitable in all other aspects. His lack of fighting ability didn’t matter; the Beast God sent the most powerful local beastman, Lang Zhi, to him to protect him. With such a strong wolf beastman by his side, Wen Ran’s safety was assured.

......

"If you don’t trust me and don't want the Beast God’s legacy or relics anymore, you may leave now! There’s no need to send me any more mutant beastmen!" the High Priest said sternly.

The Ritual Shaman of the Red Eagle Clan and the Ritual Shaman of the Grey Eagle Tribe exchanged glances, then pushed forward several White Eagle beastmen. "How could we not trust the High Priest? Every beastman knows that among all the tribal Ritual Shamans, the High Priest is the most powerful, capable of communicating with the Beast God! Here, these are the test subjects offered by our Red Eagle and Grey Eagle tribes this time. Feel free to experiment on them, High Priest, regardless of whether they live or die!"

The mouths of the White Eagle beastmen were bound with beast hide, rendering them speechless. Their faces were filled with terror, tears streaming down their faces, as they shook their heads in desperation, begging the High Priest not to experiment on them. Some tried to escape but were captured by Wanxiang’s strong male beastmen.

The High Priest waved his hand, and the White Eagle beastmen were taken away. Then, he glanced at the Iridescent Snake Tribe, his eyes filled with unmistakable threat.

Seeing the other two tribes had already offered mutant beastmen, Zi Yao glared at them displeased. He looked at Brownchain, who stood with head bowed behind the Ritual Shaman and Bikui, his gaze was that of someone looking at a dead man. If not for Brownchain’s status as a mutant snake beastman and the use his mutated heart held for their tribe’s High Priest, Zi Yao would have killed this despicable snake beastman back in the Sand Cat Tribe! How dare Brownchain betray Zi Yao after being seduced by a shameless female from the Sand Cat Tribe? He deserved to die a thousand deaths!

Growing angrier, Zi Yao kicked Brownchain forward. "Our Iridescent Snake Tribe is also willing to offer the mutant beastman Brownchain! And those ordinary beastmen captured a few days ago—the Sand Cat beastman named Mao Yun and those zebra beastmen—High Priest, you may experiment on them as you please!"

Zi Yao’s kick was forceful. Brownchain was sent sprawling onto his knees upon impact, making no attempt to rise or struggle. His eyes were empty as he stared at the roof, neither crying nor resisting, as if he had accepted his tragic fate.

Seeing their discussion was nearly over, Wen Ran tugged Lang Zhi’s hand. "Let’s leave now. We’ll come back after figuring out a rescue plan."

Before leaving, on an inexplicable impulse, Wen Ran collected the white bones outside the Priest Temple into his space and took them with him.

......

Returning to their temporary shelter, he checked Mao Ping’s wound—fortunately, it wasn’t infected. A crowd gathered around Wen Ran, asking about the Wanxiang Priest Temple, whether he had seen Mao Yun and the zebra beastmen, and other questions. The chatter was giving Wen Ran a headache. Eager to study the bones carefully, he waved everyone away to ask Lang Zhi instead and found a quieter spot to examine the bones.

As if guided by fate, Wen Ran touched the bones, set the skull aside, and began piecing together the snow-white beast bones. Just as he suspected, it was the skeleton of a gigantic beast, somewhat resembling a dragon.

As soon as he assembled it, a faint green glow shot out from the porcelain-white bones and flew into his body. A wave of warmth enveloped him, filling him with strength and relaxing his tense nerves. Simultaneously, his understanding of this world seemed to sharpen, as if the green light had forged a subtle yet profound and intricate connection between him and the Beastworld.

Just then, Lang Zhi approached. Wen Ran asked him, "Did you see a green light?"

"Green light? What green light?" Lang Zhi’s expression made it clear he hadn’t seen anything. Could it be that only Wen Ran could see the green light?

Wen Ran shook his head. "Let’s prepare to eat. I’m hungry after running around all day."

Lang Zhi said, "I was just coming to get you. The beast meat is roasted."

As he ate the roasted meat, Wen Ran took out the salt crystals he had exchanged at the tribal market and placed a handful of snow-white fine salt on a large leaf. He explained to everyone, "This is unprocessed crude salt—it has a salty and bitter taste. After processing, it becomes this snow-white fine salt, with no bitterness, only saltiness. Using this fine salt in cooking makes food taste better."

He emphasized, "If beastmen don’t consume salt for a long time, they’ll get sick—weakness, fatigue, dizziness, and in severe cases, cerebral edema, violent vomiting, confusion, irritability, and can even lead to convulsions, coma, or even life-threatening conditions."

Hearing Wen Ran’s serious tone, everyone regarded the salt with awe. Mao Ye picked up a salt crystal and examined it carefully. "How do we turn this salt crystal into fine salt?"

"It’s simple. We can use a purification method, mainly removing visible impurities and some soluble impurities. The steps are as follows: First, remove large visible impurities like sand and small stones by sifting it through a sieve woven from branches. Second, put the sifted crude salt into a wooden bucket, add water, and stir quickly with chopsticks to dissolve the salt. Once dissolved, the salt will separate from the sediment. If the crude salt chunks are large, crush the salt chunks gently after sifting out sand and stones to speed up dissolution before adding water."

Banna asked skeptically, "This dissolved water looks black and muddy. Can it really become such snow-white fine salt?"

Wen Ran smiled. "Yes, it can. The water looks muddy now, but filtering it will clear it up."

With a ripping sound, Wen Ran tore a piece from his short sleeve, laid it over a funnel woven from vines as a filter, and placed a wooden bucket underneath to collect the liquid. He slowly poured the muddy saltwater into the funnel.

To everyone’s amazement, the fabric from Wen Ran’s sleeve trapped sediments and impurities, while the liquid collected in the bucket below was clear, as clear as river water.

Wen Ran poured the filtered liquid into a large iron pot and started heating it. He pulled two vigorously burning logs from the fire, leaving only one to maintain a low flame. He cautioned patiently, "When boiling salt, always use a low flame. A high flame causes localized overheating, leading to salt clumping or burning. Stir continuously with chopsticks while heating to prevent boiling overflow and ensure even evaporation."

"When a crystalline film appears on the surface, it means the water is reducing and salt is crystallizing. Once fine salt grains form at the bottom, remove the pot from the fire. Use the residual heat to evaporate the remaining moisture, avoiding overheating that could discolor the salt. When the pot cools enough to touch, collect the white fine salt with a spoon and store it in a sealed container or bucket. That’s it."

Everyone listened intently, afraid to miss any step.

Wen Ran answered several practical questions to ensure everyone had learned the method. By then, dusk was falling. With everyone seated around the fire, Wen Ran didn’t need to call them again. He said solemnly, "Now that everyone has learned how to purify crude salt into fine salt, it’s time to discuss serious matters! Does anyone have good ideas for rescuing Mao Ping and the zebra beastmen imprisoned by the Wanxiang High Priest, the Iridescent Snake Tribe, the Red Eagle Clan, and the Grey Eagle Tribe?"

Everyone first expressed their astonishment that the High Priest could be such a beastman, and even more so that the attacks on each tribe by the Iridescent Snake Beastmen were all orchestrated by the High Priest. They were further shocked to learn that these four tribes had joined forces to attack the Black Wolf Tribe, leading to its annihilation... Everyone instinctively glanced at Lang Zhi, their eyes filled with unconscious pity and sympathy. It was well known that Lang Zhi was a Black Wolf beastman, so he must have originated from the Black Wolf Tribe.

Wen Ran had anticipated these reactions from everyone, especially their shock, doubt, and anger toward the High Priest. No one would have expected that the High Priest, who sat high in the sacrificial temple and was closest to the Beast God, would betray the Beast God and even aspire to become the Beast God himself.

Mao Bu sighed and said, "A direct assault is definitely not to our advantage. Putting aside everything else, we are outnumbered in terms of beastmen. Those four tribes must have brought many male beastmen with them. Even though we have bows and arrows, we can't guarantee we can rescue them alive!"

"Exactly, we're not familiar with the territory of Wanxiang City, nor do we know much about the barren black stone mountain behind us. Time is tight, and the difficulty of rescuing the beastmen alive is immense!"

"Who knows if that deranged High Priest will experiment on the surviving beastmen tonight!"

"Without a doubt, he will!"

......

Everyone discussed back and forth, but no feasible method was devised.

Banna, unable to bear it any longer, abruptly stood up and said, "Whether there's a good method or not, we must rescue them! And we must go now!"

Banna, being decisive by nature, grabbed her stone knife and was ready to leave immediately. However, Ban Shan stopped her, leading to a heated argument. "I'm not afraid, and I'm just a female beastman! What are you male beastmen scared of? You cowards, get out of my way! Don't block me from saving our people!"

Ignoring Ban Shan's attempts to hold her back, she charged desperately and fiercely toward Wanxiang City like an unstoppable bull. In a moment of desperation, Ban Shan slapped her across the face. The surroundings fell into silence, and everyone held their breath.

Ban Shan lowered his head, staring disbelievingly at his own hands.

Ban Qing, clumsy with words, anxiously waved his hands back and forth but didn't know what to say to comfort anyone.

Ban Ji, with his messy hair, looked anxiously at Ban Shan and then at Banna, chiming in, "Banna, calm down! Listen to what Wen Ran Sage has to say!"

Hearing Wen Ran's name mentioned, Banna finally turned her head, her voice choked with tears as she asked, "Wen Ran Sage, do you have a good method? Our tribesmen might not survive past tonight..." As she spoke, Banna could no longer hold back her emotions and sat down, bursting into loud sobs.

Wen Ran calmly replied, "Yes!"

Banna's crying stopped abruptly. Her tear-filled eyes stared at Wen Ran with hope, and everyone's gaze shifted uniformly toward him.

A slight smile curled at the corner of Wen Ran's lips. He decided to use an overt plan. Since stealthy rescue wouldn't work, he would save them openly and honorably!

If they held unwavering faith in the Beast God, then he would openly invoke the Beast God's authority to rescue them!

As the Beast God's Messenger, he would represent the Beast God and deliver a divine command, ordering the High Priest of Wanxiang City to release Mao Yun, the zebra beastmen, and the captured beastmen from other tribes. The High Priest would not dare to refuse!

If he dared to disobey, Wen Ran would intimidate them with fireballs from the sky. He had initially considered using a mirage, similar to how he had scared the Iridescent Snake Tribe away from the Sand Cat Tribe before. However, mirages are natural phenomena, and he couldn't be sure when one would occur again.

Using fireballs from the sky or solar energy panels to create supernatural phenomena would be more reliable.