TFBAT – Chapter 35

Very Few Beastmen Ever Crossed the Ape Tribe’s Territory to Reach the Mountains Beyond.

Even Hu Zhuo, during his early travels across the continent, had never thought of visiting this place.

Partly because most beastmen saw the mountains merely as a boundary line.

Another reason was that the ape tribe was numerous, with a sizable territory, meaning that anyone wanting to go up the mountains would have to circumvent the ape tribe’s settlement.

At this moment, Chi Yuyang glanced back at the stone house gradually fading into the distance. A thought suddenly occurred to her.

The ape tribe seemed like the guardians of the mountains, blocking other beastmen from venturing further.

According to Yuan Wu, beyond these layered mountains lay a snow-capped peak.

And living in that snow mountain was a species even Hu Zhuo had never mentioned.

The Snow Tiger.

No matter what, the snow tiger should belong to the tiger family.

Why would a snow tiger need the ape tribe’s protection?

That was absurd.

Chi Yuyang shook her head silently.

Along the way, Yuan Wu walked ahead, while Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin followed leisurely behind.

Between the mountain where the ape tribe resided and the snow mountain lay two other peaks, with multiple overlapping paths connecting them. Following one of these paths would lead to the snow mountain.

Due to Yuan Wu’s own reasons, the mountain path he chose was not steep.

But he seemed to have picked a shortcut, and along the way, Chi Yuyang tripped over stones a few times.

Hu Jin hadn’t transformed into his beast form. When the path was difficult, he would support her, causing their pace to slow, forcing Yuan Wu to slow his already slow steps.

“You’re not in a hurry, are you?”

Hearing Yuan Wu’s distant, ethereal voice from the front, Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin exchanged a smile.

The activation condition for Yuan Wu’s mind-control ability restricted him.

To gain acknowledgment, he had to speak, which made him speak before the two behind him.

After smiling, the two remained silent, letting him act out his own little performance.

Chi Yuyang even took a fruit from her cloth bag and began nibbling on it.

As soon as she took a bite, Hu Jin leaned over and bit in the same shape where she had bitten.

The fruit she had picked was red.

Its skin was light red, and the flesh inside was bright crimson.

At that moment, Yuan Wu happened to glance at the fruit in Chi Yuyang’s hand, noticing a nearly heart-shaped pattern at its center.

It looked remarkably like that thing still struggling to survive inside his body.

He frowned slightly, then quickly averted his gaze.

Chi Yuyang was also momentarily stunned by the red heart.

She hadn’t noticed Yuan Wu’s gaze; instead, she looked at Hu Jin’s lips moving slightly and instinctively asked, “Is it good?”

The seven types of fruit corresponded to seven levels of sweetness.

Red was the least sweet, while the purple fruit was ten times sweeter than full sugar.

“Tasteless,” Hu Jin shook his head.

Chi Yuyang was not surprised by the answer, but she still felt a little disappointed.

“How could tiger beastmen even understand sweetness?” Yuan Wu suddenly spoke. “They don’t even know what emotions mean.”

Hearing the word “emotions,” Hu Jin tilted his head, his heterochromatic eyes filled with confusion. Perhaps recalling something Chi Yuyang had mentioned before, the mist within his eyes suddenly spread.

He regretted not paying attention in class as a child.

Seeing Hu Jin like this, Chi Yuyang instantly felt her defenses collapse.

She thought for a moment, then squeezed their interlocked hands and comforted him: “The clan leader may not have taught you this word. It’s not your fault if you haven’t learned it.”

As soon as she said this, something felt off.

Chi Yuyang squinted at Yuan Wu’s back.

Emotions aren’t necessarily sweet.

Moreover, she hadn’t mentioned emotions at all—why was Yuan Wu associating the two?

Although, from her observations over the past few days, ape beastmen did have richer emotions than tigers, it didn’t give Yuan Wu the right to define the entire tiger clan.

At that moment, Hu Jin spoke up.

“Emotions… it’s my fondness for my wife.”

Hearing this, even though Chi Yuyang knew he was contradicting Yuan Wu, she couldn’t stop the sudden blush that spread across her face.

It was even redder than the fruit in her hand.

Yuan Wu didn’t speak; he merely chuckled softly, as if mocking Hu Jin’s arrogance.

At the same time, he slowed his steps further.

“Hu Jin, do you want to undergo tribulation to become a fifth-rank beastman?”

Before Hu Jin could answer, Yuan Wu coughed.

After the cough, he continued, “Once we’ve both reached the fifth rank, we can fight openly and fairly.”

Saying this, he quickened his pace.

Hu Jin was not afraid of Yuan Wu at all, only following him for clues about his father.

Yuan Wu’s body was too weak; he could sense that with a single strike, he could easily kill Yuan Wu.

And Yuan Wu, wanting his life, would have to use every trick in the book.

So Hu Jin didn’t expect this situation to change once they reached the fifth rank.

The ape beastmen, who had focused on enhancing intelligence for centuries, had long abandoned the part of themselves associated with raw strength.

Unless Yuan Wu reached the fifth rank first and controlled his mind.

Chi Yuyang had thought of this as well.

She and Hu Jin guessed that Yuan Wu hadn’t reached the fifth rank because his constitution was too weak to withstand the tribulation lightning, which was why he hadn’t attempted it.

However, without the interference of Hu Jin and his brother, Hu Jin could also succeed in the tribulation.

Thus, Chi Yuyang simply treated Yuan Wu’s words as background noise and lowered her head to finish the red fruit.

Seeing that she didn’t object, Hu Jin said to Yuan Wu in a deep voice, “If you survive until then, I’ll make you understand the consequences of coveting another beastman’s wife.”

Strangely, this time, Yuan Wu didn’t reply.

But Chi Yuyang was certain she had heard Hu Jin’s words.

The only response they received was a cough.

…

After finishing the red berries in her hand, Chi Yuyang noticed her hands were sticky.

“Hu Jin, do you hear any flowing water nearby?” she asked.

“There’s a lake ahead,” Yuan Wu interjected at just the right moment. “I’ve been here before.”

“…” She hadn’t even asked him.

“There’s the sound of water ahead,” Hu Jin said.

At least Yuan Wu wasn’t lying to them.

But that didn’t mean Chi Yuyang could relax.

“We’re here.” With this, Yuan Wu stopped and turned around.

Chi Yuyang came back to her senses and looked toward his position.

Because Yuan Wu was standing at a corner, she could only vaguely see that behind him was a lake.

Hu Jin sniffed the air.

“There are no living creatures nearby.”

Then he led Chi Yuyang closer.

When the shimmering lake appeared before her, her first reaction was a hope that it was a saltwater lake.

After washing her hands, she scooped some water with one hand and poured it into her mouth—so quickly that Hu Jin didn’t even have time to stop her.

“It’s saltwater!”

She hugged Hu Jin as he lunged toward her, her lips curving into the brightest smile she had shown since joining the Ape Tribe.

Hu Jin instinctively wrapped his arms around her, nuzzled her flushed cheeks with his ear, then took her hand and licked her palm.

“Wife, this water doesn’t taste good.”

Chi Yuyang burst into a soft laugh.

“Of course I’m not drinking it for the taste,” she said. What she wanted was the salt it contained.

So Chi Yuyang asked, “Hu Jin, are there similar lakes in the forest?”

Hu Jin shook his head.

This left Chi Yuyang in a dilemma.

If saltwater lakes only existed in the mountains, then to harvest salt, she would have to pass through the Ape Tribe again.

Chi Yuyang’s conflicted expression caught Yuan Wu’s eye, and he immediately guessed her interest in the lake.

Yet his face remained impassive.

“Shall we continue?” he asked.

Chi Yuyang got up, brushed the dust off herself, and stepped back a few paces with Hu Jin, maintaining about a two-meter distance from Yuan Wu.

It meant they could move.

Now that she had a way to get salt, she planned to deal with Hu Jin’s father first before thinking about the salt further.

After leaving the lake, Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin fell silent again.

They merely held each other’s hands, quietly following Yuan Wu.

Whenever the path was difficult, Hu Jin would half-carry Chi Yuyang across.

Then Chi Yuyang would kiss him on the side of his face, and Hu Jin would return a kiss to her lips.

Yuan Wu observed their silence and unusual behavior, feeling a strange emotion spreading in his heart.

Jealousy didn’t exist in the cognition of any beast tribe.

Just as the male tigers believed they excluded Hu Jin because he was different, Yuan Wu assumed his own inner agitation was simply due to his inability to accept such human-like licking.

Being unable to control his feelings was a humiliation for a mind controller, so he deliberately ignored the emotion and increased his pace forward.

…

Chi Yuyang hadn’t expected night to fall so quickly.

Even though she and Hu Jin remained silent the entire way, she didn’t feel bored; instead, there was a sense that time was slipping through her fingers.

Since leaving the Ape Tribe, Yuan Wu initially tried to make small talk, but seeing that Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin ignored him, he also fell silent and just led the way.

He didn’t cause any trouble.

But Chi Yuyang didn’t think Yuan Wu would just give up.

He had harmed Hu Jin before, more than once.

“Let’s rest for the night,” Yuan Wu said, pointing with his cane to his right. “I don’t have the energy.”

Hearing this, Chi Yuyang suddenly smiled.

A smile that was hard to interpret.

Even Hu Jin didn’t understand why she was smiling.

But he saw clearly where Yuan Wu was pointing—it was a cave.

“Wife, that’s a cave.”

“A cave?” Chi Yuyang leaned closer into Hu Jin’s embrace.

Winter nights were far colder than daytime, and she was already feeling the chill.

Entering the cave, she thought about how familiar Yuan Wu was with this route,

and that he had even arranged a place to stay for the night.

His plan must be meticulous and thorough.

“This cave is deep. I can sleep at the far end, you stay near the entrance,” Yuan Wu said, moving further inside the cave.

“Wife, he can’t hear us now.”

The Ape Tribe’s senses were only slightly better than humans, so their hearing had its limits.

After putting down her cloth bag, Chi Yuyang looked back and saw Hu Jin’s heterochromatic eyes shining brightly in the dark, while Yuan Wu seemed to blend into the darkness, disappearing completely.

“Wife, I’m changing into my beast form now.”

After saying this, a white tiger appeared before Chi Yuyang.

Chi Yuyang touched Hu Jin’s furry ears, then leaned against his tiger body as usual.

…

After a long while.

“Auwoo?” The white tiger nudged Chi Yuyang’s closed eyes with his head.

He sensed that she still couldn’t sleep.

Chi Yuyang didn’t know why she was insomnia-stricken tonight.

Even though Hu Jin was right beside her.

“Hu Jin,” she whispered his name, “I don’t know why I can’t sleep.”

Her sixth sense told her that Yuan Wu was hiding something.

Even now, she couldn’t guess Yuan Wu’s plan.

The asymmetric information made it impossible for her to connect Yuan Wu’s actions with his help in finding Hu Jin’s father.

Over these days, flashes of something had crossed her mind multiple times, but she had never been able to grasp them.

“Wife, I’ll sing for you.”

The tiger beside her suddenly transformed back into human form.

Sing? Hu Jin could sing?

Chi Yuyang was momentarily stunned.

“When I was little and couldn’t sleep, the tribe leader would sing lullabies to us,” Hu Jin added, seeing her surprised expression.

“Alright.” The words “lullaby” sparked anticipation in Chi Yuyang’s heart.

She loved Hu Jin’s voice—deep yet pure, sometimes carrying a lightly cheerful tone.

As soon as he started singing, the melancholy in her heart immediately melted away.

Not because of the sound itself, but because of the song he sang.

“Two tigers, two tigers, run so fast…”

“One has no eyes, one has no tail…”

“So strange, so strange…”