Chapter 475: Let Her Come and Beg
Yun Ji didn’t answer, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the elders one by one.
"The Priesthood has never interfered with the selection of the royal heir. This matter is best left for the elders to decide."
The elders exchanged glances, and the Third Elder, representing the Brown Bear Clan, stepped forward.
"The Beast King once said he wanted to pass the throne to Yu Ling. But Yu Ling has fled to escape punishment, so that only leaves Yu Ye."
Yu Ye’s eyes lit up, and he looked at the Third Elder with anticipation.
The First Elder disagreed. "Yu Ye has never been trained as an heir to the throne. How could he be competent? In my opinion, the throne should go to Yaoxi."
"Doesn’t the Beast King have another cub? I heard about him. What was his name... Right, Xueche. He’s a male cub. If Yu Ye is an option, then why can’t Xueche be one too?"
Watching the elders argue incessantly, Yun Ji stepped out of the hall.
Qiao Yi, who was waiting outside, saw Yun Ji come out and glanced toward the inner hall.
"Aren’t you going to do anything, Holy Priest?"
"Intervene? I’d rather make her beg."
Just as Qiao Yi was about to speak, Yaoxi emerged from the hall.
"Holy Priest, Qiao Yi, I’d like to talk with you."
The corner of Yun Ji’s eye lifted, a faint chill in his gaze. "Talk about what? How you ’incidentally’ planned to burn Xixi to death?"
Yaoxi’s face paled. "No," she said anxiously. "The fire wouldn’t have spread over there that fast. Her mate would have led her to safety."
Qiao Yi sneered, their azure eyes completely devoid of warmth.
"Alright. Tell us what you want to talk about."
...
In Beast King City, Qiao Xixi didn’t wake up until the sun was high in the sky.
She rolled over, and feeling the warmth behind her, she turned to meet Sunxiao’s hazy, sleepy eyes.
"Did I wake you?"
Sunxiao closed his eyes and shook his head. "No."
Qiao Xixi didn’t ask. ’Jin Ling was the one who went to bed with me last night, so how did I wake up to Sunxiao instead?’
"What’s wrong? Were you injured yesterday? You look so pale," Qiao Xixi said worriedly, gently tracing his colorless lips with her hand.
Sunxiao grabbed her hand and sat up. "I’m not hurt. I’m always like this."
Qiao Xixi frowned. ’It’s not like we just met. Of course I know what he’s usually like.’
"Are you guys hiding something from me?"
Sunxiao closed his eyes, rapidly circulating his beast soul energy to restore the color and vitality to his body. Then, he gently cupped her chin and had her look at his face.
"How about now? Do I still look unwell?"
Qiao Xixi blinked. ’Did I imagine it? How did Sunxiao look normal again in the blink of an eye?’
"Are you hungry?"
Sunxiao didn’t give her a chance to probe further. He got out of bed, grabbed a beast-hide tunic, and helped her put it on.
"A little."
"I’ll go check downstairs. If there’s no meat left, I’ll go trade for some."
Qiao Xixi nodded. "Okay."
The two had just stepped out of the stone house when they saw Jin Ling returning, carrying a fresh side of beast meat on his shoulder.
"Jin Ling."
Jin Ling looked up at the sound of her voice. "Xixi, you’re awake. I saw we didn’t have much to eat, so I went to trade for some beast meat. I’ll go prepare it now."
"Let me help."
Sunxiao didn’t stop her, turning instead to head for Sangze’s stone house.
Sunxiao walked to the bedside and checked Sangze’s condition. Afterward, his heavy brow relaxed slightly.
The beast soul energy he had infused into Sangze last night was still present; at least it wasn’t depleting as quickly.
But continuing like this was certainly not a solution.
In the backyard, Jin Ling brought out the boiled water to wash the butchered Wild Bull Beast meat.
Qiao Xixi placed the cleaned meat on a wooden board and began cutting it into small pieces with a bone knife.
"If Qiaoqiao and the others were here, they’d definitely make me cook meatballs. That’s their favorite."
As Qiao Xixi spoke, the motion of her knife slowed.
Noticing her change in mood, Jin Ling put down the meat he was holding, walked over, and took the bone knife from her hand.
"What’s wrong?"
Qiao Xixi looked up, suppressing the worry in her eyes. "Sangqi’s constitution is very similar to Sangze’s. Seeing Sangze like this... I’m very worried about Sangqi."
She didn’t tell Jin Ling or the others, but she had been constantly checking the cubs’ locations since yesterday. She’d noticed that Sangqi’s position had barely moved since then.
This meant he had been stationary the whole time, while the other cubs’ little dots would occasionally move around Sangqi’s.
She suspected something was wrong with Sangqi, too.
Sangqi was the older brother and always took good care of his younger siblings. When everything was fine, he would be darting back and forth among them. For his location to be stationary was not normal.
Qiao Xixi’s worries were justified. Not long after Sangze fell unconscious, Sangqi’s health also took a turn for the worse.
At the time, Feili was getting the cubs ready to wash up. The cubs were very well-behaved now and could handle their basic needs themselves, so he no longer had to do everything for them personally.
While he was waiting outside, he heard a commotion and saw Qiao Ang run out in a panic, his little bottom bare, yelling that Sangqi had suddenly fainted.
Feili was startled and rushed into the washroom, carried Sangqi out, and immediately summoned the witch doctor to examine him.
But at first, the witch doctor found nothing unusual, saying only that he was probably just exhausted from the day. He suggested letting him sleep it off, and he would likely be fine the next day.
But to Feili’s surprise, by the following evening, Sangqi still showed no sign of waking.
「Within the tribe’s inner city.」
Feili looked at Sangqi lying on the bed, eyes tightly shut, his own brow deeply furrowed with worry.
"Sangqi was perfectly fine before. How could his beast soul energy suddenly start draining away?"
The witch doctor knitted his brows. "This cub’s constitution is special. I really can’t find a solution. You can only try to transfer some beast soul energy into him and see if that stabilizes his condition."
Feili nodded. "It’s the only thing we can try."
After the witch doctor left, Feili tried to channel beast soul energy into Sangqi, but halfway through the transfer, the energy was blocked by his body’s resistance.
Several times, when Feili tried to force it, Sangqi’s body would twitch uncomfortably.
Worried that continuing would severely harm his body, Feili didn’t dare to force the issue any longer.
Resigned, he tucked Sangqi in under the covers, then opened the door and stepped out.
To his surprise, just outside the door, he was met with several pairs of large, expectant eyes.
"Grandfather Feili, how is brother Sangqi? Is he awake yet?" Qiao Qiao asked, blinking.
The cubs were still young, and he didn’t want them to worry.
"It’s nothing serious. Sangqi is just very tired. The witch doctor said he needs to get a lot of rest."
"Then let’s let big brother sleep. We won’t disturb him."
"Okay, you all go and play now, but don’t run off too far."
"We know!"
Feili watched the cubs leave, then turned to go downstairs, intending to have someone from the Wing Clan send a message to Feiyan and the others about Sangqi’s condition.
Feili didn’t notice that just as he turned, a small, chubby hand pushed open the door, and a little figure crawled inside.