Chapter 99 - 98: Vying and Scrambling
’Why is his armpit hair so neat and tidy, with each strand distinct? And it’s so clean...’
Nan Zishi lifted her arm and glanced at her own.
Hmm...
"Done fooling around?" The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman opened his jet-black eyes, squinting at her slightly.
Nan Zishi was suddenly embarrassed. "Fooling around? What fooling around? I wasn’t fooling around. Get me down from here!"
This time, Xuan Jin didn’t make things difficult for her. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and with a powerful thrust of his snake tail, his body shot upright before landing on the ground.
The whole process terrified Nan Zishi.
Once on the ground, Nan Zishi immediately pushed Xuan Jin away and jumped onto the solid earth. Little Snake Yang’er instantly coiled around her arm.
Nan Zishi gave Xuan Jin an angry huff, then stalked ahead without another word.
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman’s tail transformed into legs. He unhurriedly fastened his Beast Skin Skirt and followed behind her.
Nan Zishi stormed ahead in a fit of pique, running quickly, while Xuan Jin followed unhurriedly behind.
Nan Zishi realized she couldn’t outrun Xuan Jin and stopped in her tracks.
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman also came to a halt behind her.
"What is wrong with you?" Nan Zishi whirled around and demanded angrily.
"Can you cure me?" Xuan Jin asked, looking down at her.
Nan Zishi: "..."
"Stop bothering me. I’m going to find Little Fu."
"Little Fu? That golden mermaid cub? Didn’t they end up in the hands of the Bird Beastmen?"
"Even if the Bird Beastmen have them, I have to get them back."
Xuan Jin snorted, clearly having a very poor impression of the Bird Beastmen. "Those Birdmen are arrogant, warlike, ill-tempered, and unreasonable. In their hands, your cub will indeed have a very hard time."
Nan Zishi stopped and turned to face him. "Xuan Jin, you’re still my Beast Husband. So, theoretically, you’re also the cubs’ father. You can’t just stand by and watch."
Xuan Jin raised an eyebrow, not at all angered by this statement.
"But I don’t even want my own cubs. Why should I care about cubs you had with someone else?"
Nan Zishi stomped her foot in anger and turned to leave.
"Oh, still angry? Getting angry so easily is bad for your health."
Nan Zishi was truly speechless.
’Of all her Beast Husbands, she really hated Xuan Jin the most.’
Nan Zishi spun around, looked up at him, and said, "Stop following me. I’m going home now!"
Little Snake Yang also poked its head out and hissed fiercely at Xuan Jin. HISSSSSS.
Xuan Jin stopped in his tracks.
Nan Zishi took a few steps, looked back, and saw that Xuan Jin really hadn’t moved. So she started to run.
But before she had run more than a few steps, the Cold-blooded Snake Beastman reappeared behind her.
Nan Zishi: "...How did you start following me again?"
Xuan Jin: "Going home."
"What?" Nan Zishi said in disbelief.
Xuan Jin walked casually behind her. "Going home."
Nan Zishi: "...?"
’Going home?’
’What did this incredibly possessive Cold-blooded Snake Beastman mean?’
But when she saw Xuan Jin actually follow her back to the cave, Nan Zishi was truly dumbfounded.
’He’s going to follow her home?’
’Is this really ’going home’ in the sense that I think it is?’
When she returned to the cave with Xuan Jin and Little Snake Yang’er, the two males at home, Hu Bai and Lanxing, had already been waiting for a long time.
Xuan Jin strode into the cave as if he owned the place, looking left and right. Faced with the bare, empty cave, he showed a hint of disdain.
Hu Bai was lying there weakly, yet even in his casual posture, there was an air of elegant charm.
He simply sized up this Xuan Snake.
Lanxing, never one to compete, leaned obediently against the cave wall, watching the flashy snake.
After inspecting the not-so-large cave, Xuan Jin came to a stop beside Nan Zishi.
Nan Zishi tried to avoid him and shifted to a different spot.
Xuan Jin simply followed, moving to stand beside Nan Zishi again.
"Fox, Fish. Hello. I’m Xuan Jin. Nan Zishi’s... Snake Husband."
Hu Bai: "..."
Lanxing: "..."
The resulting awkward stagnation was truly hard to describe.
The expressions on the two Male Beastmen’s faces were as disgusted as they could possibly be.
Nan Zishi looked up at the sky. She couldn’t see the sky in the cave, but she could see the ceiling.
A deeply awkward atmosphere began to spread.
Hu Bai got up from the bed. Perhaps to project an imposing aura, he made every step firm and solid.
"You are the female master’s Beast Husband, yet you spirited her away, bullied her, and let her get this thin?" Hu Bai demanded sharply.
Xuan Jin didn’t think he had done anything wrong at all. He crossed his arms, saying nonchalantly, "You all are incompetent. What use is she, being this pathetically weak? Any male could kill her.
What’s more, there are beasts out there more powerful than us Seven-striped Beasts. If she doesn’t even have the strength to protect herself by then... all the males in this cave will be buried with her.
Fox King. You should know, once a male contracts with a female, it’s like giving himself a huge weakness. Is spoiling her good for her? Is it good for all of us?"
Hu Bai paused slightly. "My name is Hu Bai." This was his response to being called Fox King.
Xuan Jin didn’t care what his name was. He kept his arms crossed and said, "I was just training her, and my training is very effective. Her escape skills are first-rate now."
It was true. She was fast and skilled at camouflage. After escaping from his grasp time and again, she was bound to improve.
Xuan Jin’s words silenced the males present. Hu Bai and Lanxing began to ponder.
It seemed they were actually being persuaded by his words.
Lanxing was still unconvinced. "That’s still no reason to stop her from eating her fill. She’s gotten so thin!"
Xuan Jin thought for a moment and said, "I had trouble accepting her eating habits before. My mistake. I’ll change in the future."
Hu Bai and Lanxing thought at the same time: ’This Snake King is surprisingly good at admitting his mistakes?’
’Something’s not right,’ Nan Zishi thought. ’Weren’t these three males at each other’s throats just now? How did the atmosphere get so harmonious as they kept talking?’
’They’ve already understood and forgiven Xuan Jin?’
Having said what needed to be said, Xuan Jin fell silent. He calmly walked out of the cave.
Nan Zishi hurried over to Hu Bai’s side and steadied him.
She asked, somewhat uncomprehendingly, "You and Lanxing have already accepted him?"
Hu Bai and Lanxing looked at each other.
For a moment, they too couldn’t figure out why Nan Zishi would contract with a Cold-blooded Snake Beastman.
But looking at it from another angle, having the Cold-blooded Snake King of the Eastern Swamp as her Beast Husband...
...was indeed quite a powerful asset.
Hu Bai lowered his eyes, looking docile and obedient. "Female master, Xuan Jin is your Beast Husband. That makes him our family."
Seeing Hu Bai state his position so quickly, and wanting to show his own magnanimity, the mermaid also nodded vigorously. "Sister, I will do my best to accept all of your Beast Husbands."
Nan Zishi: "...?"
’Is this right?!’
...
Just as Nan Zishi was discussing Little Fu’s situation with Lanxing, the cave suddenly began to shake violently.
Nan Zishi and the others rushed out of the cave and saw the jet-black Cold-blooded Snake Beastman. The scales on his tail were raised, each one as sharp as a blade.
His tail drilled straight into the stone wall before them, and in no time, it had excavated a huge new cave.
Lanxing asked anxiously, "Xuan Jin, what are you doing?"
"Carving out a big cave for the little female."
Lanxing asked loudly, "But isn’t there already a cave?"
Xuan Jin’s tail paused for a moment. He turned and asked, "You’re saying Hu Bai’s little cave belongs to the little female? Then where does Hu Bai live?"
Hu Bai, Lanxing: "..."
’This Cold-blooded Snake Beastman plans to carve out a whole new cave for Nan Zishi himself?’
After finishing the large cave, the Cold-blooded Snake King was finally satisfied. Then, he began to excavate another cave right next to the big one.
Hu Bai asked, "Xuan Jin, what are you digging now?"
The Cold-blooded Snake King glanced sideways at Hu Bai. "Fox King, you have a cave, the little female has a cave. It makes no sense for me not to have a cave."
He looked down on the cave someone else had dug for the little female; he had to carve one for her himself.
’And... I don’t know how many Beast Husbands the little female will have in the future, but my cave must be the closest to hers!’
Hu Bai and Lanxing had very strange expressions on their faces.
When it was just the two of them, they’d felt the competition had already begun.
But only after Xuan Jin arrived did they realize their previous competition had been child’s play.
This snake was the one who truly knew how to fight for what he wanted.