Chapter 77: You Need to Cultivate
First, she had to eat her fill to maintain her bodily functions.
She didn’t want to eat raw meat.
She had two choices now.
1. Take pre-packaged food directly from her spatial storage and eat it.
2. Use the portable stove and iron pot from her spatial storage to cook the raw meat.
After all, even though that stinky snake always did as he pleased, insisting on feeding her raw meat, the quality of the meat he provided was usually quite good. It would be a waste to throw it away.
However, she also considered that the cave entrance was piled high with rocks. Although air could get through, the ventilation wasn’t very good.
Cooking in an environment like this would too easily leave behind evidence.
Nan Zishi didn’t want to do something so obvious right under Xuan Jin’s nose, so she went with the first option.
She opened her spatial storage and took out a package of bread and a bottle of Coke.
After heartily eating and drinking her fill, she cleaned up after herself, putting the packaging and bottle back into her spatial storage.
In the jungle marsh, Xuan Jin had already passed by several potential prey animals.
His little female was a picky eater; she refused to eat any of the prey he hunted.
He could only search for more tender and delicious meat for her.
Finally, he saw a Unicorn MooMoo Beast by a stream. Wielding his Snake Scale, he flashed past it, and the Unicorn MooMoo Beast instantly collapsed by the water’s edge.
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman butchered the Unicorn MooMoo Beast, discarding the ordinary cuts and taking only the most tender loin. He washed the meat in the stream before heading back to the cave.
The rocks at the entrance to the cave were undisturbed; it looked as though no Beastman had moved them.
’So obedient today?’
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman stood at the cave entrance. Seven Beast Patterns materialized on his face as he put his Beast King power on full display, moving the large rocks blocking the entrance one by one.
Inside the cave, Nan Zishi squinted as sunlight flooded in.
"You’re awake?" Xuan Jin asked, his expression cold.
’She really does seem more obedient today than yesterday.’
’Maybe she’s decided to behave for a few days since her escape failed yesterday?’
Xuan Jin thought that was unlikely.
Still, he held the cleaned piece of meat out in front of her.
"Eat."
The sickening memory of raw meat instantly assaulted Nan Zishi.
She refused flatly. "No, I’m not eating that."
Xuan Jin glanced at the meat in his hand. He took yesterday’s portion out of the cave and discarded it, then placed the new cut of meat into a fresh stone bowl and set it beside the stone bed.
’His little female is quite difficult to care for.’
’But she’ll definitely eat when she gets hungry enough.’
Xuan Jin silently tried to gauge her level of hunger.
’Almost two days have passed since I brought her here. And she hasn’t eaten a thing...’
’I didn’t think a female with such a weak constitution could be so resistant to hunger.’
"What are you looking at?" Being sized up and down by the Cold-blooded Snake Beastman’s sinister eyes made Nan Zishi’s skin crawl.
"Do you plan to stay in the cave all day?"
"I can go out?" Nan Zishi gave him a deadpan look.
Xuan Jin began to transform into his full snake form in front of her. "You’ve been obedient today, so you can go out," he said during the transformation. "I’ll go with you."
Nan Zishi watched, eyes wide, as the Cold-blooded Snake Beastman before her changed into his full snake form. Goosebumps instantly erupted all over her body!
What the f—#%&@#%@!
Not wanting to seem weak, Nan Zishi asked calmly, "Xuan Jin, you know perfectly well that I’m terrified of your true form! Can’t you just stay in your human form?"
Xuan Jin raised his head to look at her.
’The little female is indeed afraid of my snake form, but...’
"You’ll have to get used to my true form sooner or later. After all, I’ll be using it to mate with you frequently in the future."
HOLY SHIT!
’That bastard! That stinky snake!!’
"Impossible! I’ll never agree! If you dare to force me, I’ll sever our mate bond!"
In this world, once a male entered into a mate contract, he became subordinate to the female, who then held a degree of control over him.
Xuan Jin acted as if he hadn’t heard. He raised his head, flicking his forked tongue at her. "Not going for that walk anymore?"
Nan Zishi immediately shot back, "I’m going. Of course I’m going!"
Xuan Jin slithered ahead, with Nan Zishi following unhurriedly from more than ten meters away.
She had been so busy trying to escape before that she hadn’t had a chance to carefully observe the surrounding terrain. Now that she had a moment, she could finally take a look around.
This appeared to be a mountainous region, with endless ranges stretching into the distance. The landscape was markedly different from the coastal area she’d been in before.
’That stinky snake. To keep Hu Bai and the others from finding me, he really brought me far away.’
As Nan Zishi walked, she saw a flock of vultures gnawing on a carcass. The gruesome manner of the animal’s death was so familiar that she knew at a glance it was Xuan Jin’s handiwork.
The sight was so nauseating that Nan Zishi abruptly turned away and began to retch.
Xuan Jin slithered around to her side. "Can’t handle it?"
"I’m fine," Nan Zishi managed, gradually composing herself. She said nothing more to Xuan Jin.
"Do you want some water?" Xuan Jin asked.
"I don’t!"
Nan Zishi turned and headed back to the cave. But when she reached the entrance, she found she couldn’t bear the thought of re-entering the cave that served as her prison. Instead, she sat down at the entrance to soak up the sun.
Seeing that she had settled down, Xuan Jin shifted back into his human form beside her. After wrapping a Beast Skin Skirt around his waist, he sat down across from her.
"If you keep refusing to eat, how are you supposed to cultivate?"
Xuan Jin was actually a Cold-blooded Snake Beastman of few words, but since Nan Zishi remained silent, he was forced to speak.
He wasn’t just trying to talk to her; he was doing so patiently, keeping his voice low, and even speaking with a hint of an indulgent tone.
But Nan Zishi was completely oblivious to this.
"Cultivate?"
"You need to cultivate."
’The female I want is not one to be shared with a pack of other males.’
’I want a female who is mine and mine alone.’
’As a Cold-blooded Snake Beastman, I do have weaknesses.’
’Therefore, she needs to become stronger. Strong enough to face adversity on her own when I’m unable to protect her.’
Nan Zishi was about to say she didn’t want to cultivate, just as she had with Hu Bai.
But one look at Xuan Jin, and she truly understood how harsh the Beast World was.
’This isn’t a peaceful world; it’s too dangerous. The only thing you can truly rely on is your own strength.’
The Xuan Cold-blooded Snake Beastman observed her and said, "From now on, you follow me. You will go where I go.
As for your former Beast Husbands, I can ignore them. I can even spare their lives. But you are forbidden from seeing them ever again.
And in the future, if you try to take another Beast Husband... for every one you contract, I will kill one."
Nan Zishi was speechless. ’It’s not like I was planning to take on any more Beast Husbands anyway. But that’s my decision to make, not his.’
’Like hell I’d listen to him.’
’Threatening me? As if I’m that scared of you.’
"You might not be much to look at, but you’re quite the dreamer," Nan Zishi retorted. "Given your... attributes, you can’t even manage me in winter and summer. And you think you can have me all to yourself?"
’Not much to look at?’
The Male Beastman’s eyes darkened slightly as he remembered the fox he’d fought before.
’That fox was ridiculously flamboyant.’
’The little female is blind. She actually likes that flamboyant type.’
"You like that flamboyant fox?" His long, well-defined fingers gripped her jaw, forcing her to look at him. "You had better get used to looking at me."