Chapter 294: I Think I Smelled Beast Father Mo Yan’s Scent
"Huh?"
The Steward was stunned. Clearly, he didn’t know anything about this.
He subconsciously turned to look at Tian Rong, hoping this master from the Tian Family could give him a hint, but Tian Rong didn’t understand either.
He had no idea when the Tian Family had offended an expert with Divine level Spiritual Power.
He wanted to ask for the full story, but Ao Wu couldn’t be bothered to waste his breath on them. He directly ordered the robbery to begin: "Seeing as you’re all ignorant of the matter, you can leave. The goods stay."
"If you want to know, go back and ask your Family Head what he did twenty years ago."
Twenty years ago?
Tian Rong thought of something. Connecting that to the appearance of the little girl Ao Wu was holding, he suddenly understood.
"You’re here to get revenge for that little demon?!"
The words slipped out, and he immediately noticed Ao Wu’s eyes narrow with hostility.
"Demon?"
He let out a low chuckle. "I had no idea that’s what you call my wife."
When the Tian Family’s utterly vile deeds were exposed, they instead banded together with the other major families to pressure the Heaven and Earth Stone, demanding that Yu An, who had stumbled upon their secret, be severely punished.
Overwhelmed, the Heaven and Earth Stone chose a compromise: sending Yu An away for "training."
The Tian Family was not satisfied with this "punishment," and Yu An and Ao Wu were even less so.
’Why should I be punished for upholding justice and eliminating evil?’
But the Heaven and Earth Stone was a real bastard. It tossed Yu An directly into the Beastman World and even erased her memories to prevent her from returning.
Ao Wu was even angrier than Yu An. ’My dear childhood sweetheart, my betrothed since before birth—torn apart just like that?’
He immediately gave the Heaven and Earth Stone a savage beating and followed Yu An into the Beastman World.
Thinking of this, Ao Wu’s hands started itching again. He decided he would beat up the Heaven and Earth Stone again next time.
But for now, he had to deal with this group of Tian Family members.
He could smell it—a dense aura of blood. The caravan wasn’t transporting ordinary goods. It was Blood Crystals.
’In that case, I have even more reason to rob them,’ he thought. ’And I’ll be taking the people, too.’
Tian Rong knew he had misspoken and quickly shut his mouth, but it was too late.
At Ao Wu’s command, the bandits swarmed out, surrounding the caravan so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass.
The Steward’s cheek twitched. Their caravan had just over a hundred people, but the other side... they had at least a thousand!
"Don’t, don’t attack."
Seeing the situation was grim, Tian Rong hastily explained, "Chieftain, I didn’t mean to slander your esteemed wife! It’s just... I’ve often heard others call her that, so I..."
"Take whatever you want, just spare our lives."
The Steward tried to speak, but Tian Rong silenced him with a single glare.
The disparity in strength was enormous. If a fight broke out, there was no doubt their side would suffer devastating casualties.
If he were alone, Tian Rong would have chosen to slip away in the chaos, but his wife was still in the carriage.
Seeing Ao Wu only sneer without replying, Tian Rong’s peripheral vision caught sight of Fuzai, and his tone abruptly changed.
"Chieftain, you and your wife must be deeply in love. I once had the pleasure of meeting her, and you two truly look like you were made for each other. It’s no wonder you have such an adorable, precious child..."
Tian Rong was famous in the Tian Family for being henpecked. He didn’t mind it; in fact, he was proud of it.
He had a sharp eye and could tell at a glance that Ao Wu was a kindred spirit, so he began to flatter him from this angle.
Just as he expected, Ao Wu’s expression visibly softened.
"Fine," Ao Wu relented. "Leave the goods, and you can get lost."
’I do like smart people,’ he thought. ’Because a smart person can see at a glance that An’an and I are a match made in heaven!’
Tian Rong was overjoyed. Seeing that Ao Wu was in a good mood, he pushed his luck and asked for a horse-drawn carriage.
"Chieftain, my wife is in this carriage. She can’t handle the hardships of the road, so if you could see your way to..."
Ao Wu waved his hand magnanimously. "Take it."
"Alright!"
Tian Rong gave the driver a look, and the driver immediately drove the carriage forward. Seeing that Tian Rong had no intention of protecting the supplies, the Steward began to pace anxiously.
"Elder Rong," he threatened in a low voice, "if we go back empty-handed, the Family Head..."
Tian Rong curled his lip. "Isn’t it just a batch of food, drink, and supplies? I’ll pay out of my own pocket to cover the loss later. Don’t worry, the Family Head won’t blame you."
"Relax," he said, patting the Steward’s shoulder reassuringly. "I’ll take full responsibility. None of you will be implicated."
The Steward: "..."
He felt like a mute who had eaten bitter herbs—he had a bitter pill to swallow but couldn’t complain. After all, on the surface, this batch of goods was indeed just food and supplies.
The Family Head had instructed that no one, aside from a select few insiders, was to know the truth. Thus, he was the only person in the entire caravan who was in on the secret.
After hearing Tian Rong’s promise, the guards, who had been planning to put up a stubborn resistance for fear of the Family Head’s punishment, all gave up the fight.
’If we’re not going to be punished anyway, why would we go head-to-head with these bandits?’
’No, this isn’t going head-to-head. This is an egg hitting a rock. If every bandit on their side just spat once, they could drown us all!’
"Hurry up and go," Ao Wu said, glancing at the unmoving Tian Family members. "Don’t block the road for the people behind you."
The Steward had no choice but to lead his men away. The carriages and horses were driven up the mountain by the bandits. Seeing the bandits leave like a receding tide, the common folk who had been hiding in the back finally felt safe enough to continue on their way.
"I thought we were going to be robbed," a woman holding a child said with a sigh of relief. "Luckily, they only rob the rich. They’re different from the bandits back home."
"We don’t have anything worth robbing anyway," said the man beside her, who was carrying luggage on his back. "Anything valuable was already taken long ago. Let’s go. Big Brother Mo Feng said there are wild beasts in the mountains. We need to get out of here quickly and find a village to settle in."
The woman nodded. "I wonder where Sister Shen Zi and the others went. I hope they can still catch up with us. What if we get separated..."
"Don’t worry. If they said they can, they definitely can. Let’s just hope they can rescue everyone."
Similar conversations broke out several times among the group. They were all from the same village, which had long been plagued by bandits. Every time the bandits came to raid, they would take a few villagers with them.
They never dared to resist. That is, until a handsome couple arrived not long ago. After experiencing another bandit raid on their village, they, under the couple’s leadership, finally mustered the courage to leave their home and search for a safer place to live.
On the way back to the mountain fortress, Ao Wu kept staring at his little Zaizai. Normally, his little Zaizai was a chatterbox who was fiercely protective of her Female Mother. If she had heard an outsider talk about Yu An like that before, she would have started cursing them out long ago.
’What’s wrong with her today?’
’Is she sick?’
Fuzai felt uncomfortable being stared at and turned her face away. "Beast Father, why do you keep looking at me?"
Ao Wu explained his reasoning to her, and then the words tumbled out: "You were so quiet, your Beast Father thought something was wrong with you."
Fuzai: "..."
’Bad Beast Father is the one who has something wrong with him!’
She was furious, huffing that she would write this down and tattle on him to her Female Mother later!
Seeing that her little tattletale notebook was already densely filled, Ao Wu hastily explained, "No, no, that’s not what I meant! I meant sick! Your Beast Father thought you were ill."
Fuzai harrumphed. "Oh, so you were worried about your Zaizai. Now that’s more like it."
Getting back on topic, she scratched her head and glanced back. "Beast Father, I think I just smelled Beast Father Mo Yan’s scent."