TFBAT -Chapter 68

Outside the Tiger Tribe chief’s den.

“Xiao Chi, do you think it’s that little fox cub that’s causing Hu Jin to be unable to revert to human form?” The chief stared at the elegant and imposing white tiger before him, looking again and again, a wave of emotion stirring in his heart.

He remembered when the tiger cub could be lifted with one hand; now it had grown into a formidable tiger capable of standing on its own.

Time had indeed molded Hu Jin into a composed…

Before the chief could finish reflecting, Hu Jin urgently cried out, “Awoo awoo awoo woo woo woo… awoo woo woo…”

The cries were continuous, as if he were trying to speak all the words he had accumulated over the past two days in one go.

Forget it, the chief thought, withdrawing his earlier comment; this matter still needed careful consideration.

Hu Zhuo stepped forward, gently patting the white tiger’s head, and then carefully relayed, word by word, what Hu Jin wanted to say to Chi Yuyang.

Chi Yuyang listened patiently. To her surprise, most of what Hu Jin said aligned with her own thoughts.

When he, through the chief, mentioned that the number of lionesses sheltered in the Tiger Tribe had exceeded limits, Hu Zhuo paused for a moment before speaking, clearly having not considered this issue seriously before, even as the chief.

Seeing this, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but ask, “Chief, may I ask roughly how many lionesses are in the tribe?”

Hu Zhuo lowered his head in thought for a while, but couldn’t come up with an answer.

He let out a deep sigh.

When he first took in the first lioness, what was his original intention?

Hu Zhuo carefully recalled.

Years ago, he had heard that within the lion tribe, there was inequality between females and males. At that time, the relationship between the Tiger Tribe and the Lion Tribe wasn’t as good as it is now.

His gaze fell on the pair before him, a human and a tiger.

Although Hu Jin was speaking with him, he noticed his gaze occasionally flicking toward Chi Yuyang.

That’s right—back then, he was trying to promote new ideas learned from other tribes, namely gender equality and lifelong partnership.

So, influenced by these new ideas, he kindly took in a stray female from another tribe.

That tribe happened to be the Lion Tribe.

Once he set the precedent by taking in the first, there would inevitably be a second, a third…

One by one, more lionesses entered the Tiger Tribe. He could no longer refuse.

Fortunately, these females caused no trouble. The Tiger Tribe and Lion Tribe, both felines, were compatible. Even after the Lion Tribe’s new chief took over, the relationship between the two tribes became much more harmonious.

The outward peace had prevented Hu Zhuo from connecting the weakness of this generation of females to the Lion Tribe.

Now, after Hu Jin’s warning, he immediately realized what the Lion Tribe was attempting.

Hu Zhuo narrowed his eyes.

He was old, his legs weren’t as strong, his mind not as sharp, but he was still a tiger; the tiger blood boiling in his veins did not change with age.

And the Lion Tribe… actually wanted to alter the genetics of the Tiger Tribe through offspring?

Seeing the danger and alertness slowly appear in the chief’s eyes, Chi Yuyang did not press further.

This was not just a matter involving her and Hu Jin by chance, but concerned the interests of the entire Tiger Tribe.

As the chief, Hu Zhuo had his own considerations. She and Hu Jin only needed to convey the message.

After so many years as chief, Hu Zhuo’s life experience as a tiger was certainly more than twice that of Hu Jin.

Chi Yuyang knew that her own life experience was of little use here.

As both the chief and Chi Yuyang were lost in thought, Hu Jin quietly shook his body.

A fruit fell out.

Before it hit the ground, he quickly caught it with his tail.

Chi Yuyang noticed Hu Jin had produced a Xiaoxiao fruit.

“Awoo woo woo! Awoo woo woo woo woo!” Hu Jin blinked at the chief.

At that moment, the chief seemed taller and more imposing in Hu Jin’s eyes than usual.

After hearing Hu Jin’s words, Hu Zhuo solemnly nodded.

“Mm, yes, I understand.”

Then he turned to Chi Yuyang.

In that instant, Chi Yuyang felt nervous.

What had Hu Jin said to the chief? Was it about the Xiaoxiao fruit? Or did the chief also think the little fox’s matter was troublesome?

Slowly, Hu Zhuo began to explain: “Chi Yu, it’s like this. Hu Jin asked me to tell you…”

Next, Chi Yuyang heard from the very serious and solemn chief that, due to Hu Jin’s size, this Xiaoxiao fruit was temporarily insufficient.

“……”

Chi Yuyang’s face turned bright red. She first glared at the white tiger shaking his tail wildly beside her, then stammered, “Ch-chief… I… understand…”

She would deal with this silly old tiger as soon as she got back! How could he let the chief tell her such a thing!

“However, it is indeed troublesome that Hu Jin cannot revert to human form,” Hu Zhuo timely shifted the topic.

“Yes,” Chi Yuyang’s mood sank further.

It seemed even the wise chief was at a loss.

Would they really have to wait for the little fox to show up on its own?

Hu Jin let out a low “awoo.”

He absolutely did not want to see that damned fox again!

“Soon, it will be the Tiger Combat,” Hu Zhuo said, thinking of something different from what they assumed.

“…Tiger Combat?” Chi Yuyang heard this new term for the first time. From the literal meaning, she guessed, “Is it a fight between tigers?”

Hu Zhuo nodded.

“Hundreds of years ago, to let the ranked tribe members spar, the ancestors set the Tiger Combat at the end of spring. I modified the rules to determine the tribe’s strongest through it.”

Even when the Tiger Tribe was not yet unified, members held regular Tiger Combats. After becoming chief, Hu Zhuo continued the tradition with improvements.

“Last spring, the victor of the Tiger Combat was Hu Jin, recently come of age, participating for the first time.”

Hearing this, Chi Yuyang noticed the white tiger lift its head and wag its tail proudly.

It seemed to say, “Wife, I’m awesome!”

Chi Yuyang smiled, stroking the fur on Hu Jin’s head. She sincerely whispered, “Hu Jin, you’re amazing!”

However, Hu Jin’s pride was immediately dampened by the chief’s cold words.

“But Hu Jin, in your current state, how will you compete with the other fourth-rank tigers?”

“Awoo… then I’ll use beast form…”

“No! The rule requires maintaining human form during the combat,” Hu Zhuo replied sternly, his sharp eyebrows furrowed.

If Hu Jin could not win the Tiger Combat, how could he hope to win the future chief selection against other strong tigers?

The peers in the tribe already looked down on him. The older tigers relied on strength—they would never respect a tiger who could not win the combat.

Hu Jin was strong, but too young.

Even if he had won last year, Hu Zhuo worried other tigers would claim it was luck.

He himself had won three Tiger Combats in his youth.

“Chief, why must the tigers maintain human form for the combat?” Chi Yuyang asked, curious.

Hu Jin’s personality was straightforward—not just boldly male, but also blunt and sincere. He always spoke his mind.

Raised by the chief, this trait was naturally influenced by him.

So Chi Yuyang rarely beat around the bush with him.

Unfortunately, not every beastman on this continent was like Hu Zhuo and Hu Jin.

Many she had encountered had two faces.

Hu Zhuo, of course, didn’t know how highly Chi Yuyang thought of him.

He merely explained, like he often did to cubs, the reasoning in detail.

“First, most Tiger Tribe beastmen are zero-rank as juveniles.”

Hu Jin was an exception.

He had reached second-rank before coming of age, and upon adulthood, quickly rose to fourth-rank.

This wasn’t just due to his father’s genes…

Hu Zhuo continued: “Previously, there was no such rule. But typically, juveniles did not participate in Tiger Combat.”

The advantage of tiger form was speed. Otherwise, healing, individual burst, and attack were inferior to human form. Using beast form against human form almost guaranteed defeat.

Yet some tigers refused to believe this.

“A few years ago, some juveniles tried participating and even won several rounds. To prevent others from imitating and causing chaos, the rule was changed.”

Through Tiger Combat, Hu Jin advanced in rank as a juvenile—but at the cost of many injuries.

Juvenile Tiger Tribe beastmen were not strong in healing, not much faster than ordinary beastmen.

Hu Zhuo treated Hu Jin as his own child, hence the rule change.

He did not reveal all details.

Hu Jin was his child; other abandoned cubs too; other juniors as well.

He had built the tribe himself and could change rules freely, but these changes must benefit the entire tribe.

Unfortunately, Hu Jin triggered an unfavorable condition.

“Second, over the years, some tribe members’ beast forms are not purely tiger…”

Here, Hu Zhuo realized how deeply the Lion Tribe genes had infiltrated.

In breeding, the child resembles the stronger parent, unless both are equally strong, then the child shows traits of both.

There were no pure lions in the tribe, but many had mixed tiger-lion forms.

In youth, this was subtle, but once adult, the lion’s mane appeared, creating obvious differences.

Even lionless females had slight differences in beast form compared to female tigers.

Chi Yuyang grew angrier.

She had suspected this, and now confirmed by the chief, she wanted to go back to Hu Jin’s childhood to scold those gossiping peers.

Some weren’t even tigers, yet dared to call Hu Jin an anomaly?

Her Hu Jin was more tiger-like than any beastman!

The thought made her pause. Why did she feel Hu Jin was truly tiger-like?

Thinking of tiger instincts, her mind became chaotic.

Hu Jin voiced his dissatisfaction appropriately.

“Awoo! Awoo woo woo woo woo!”

Chi Yuyang didn’t need to ask; she knew Hu Jin meant that even in beast form, he wouldn’t lose to other beastmen.

Hu Zhuo shook his head.

“Perhaps before that, we can find the little fox to lift the restriction. I’ll have tigers leaving the tribe keep an eye out.”

Hu Jin’s eyes dimmed instantly, yet his tail kept wagging.

Knowing Hu Jin’s personality, Hu Zhuo added,

“Don’t think about secretly participating in Tiger Combat; I’m the referee this year!”

At this, Hu Jin’s tail froze mid-air, then dropped to the ground as if it had lost all life.

Every year the chief toured at the end of spring—why was it different this year…

“Brother!”

At this moment, the shaman tiger Hu Yu walked in from outside the den.

“Massage time?” The chief absentmindedly rubbed his waist.

Ah, just standing a bit longer than usual, yet his waist…

Hu Zhuo sighed silently.

Seeing the fatigue on Hu Zhuo’s not-so-old face, Chi Yuyang was slightly taken aback.

She had never been sure of the chief’s exact age. Beastmen lacked clear age records, but from She Qing’s words, he seemed like a grandfatherly figure.

“Hu Jin, Chi Yu, you’re here too!” Hu Yu greeted the closely bonded pair, “Have you returned from the Snake Tribe?”

Hu Yu didn’t know what had happened to Hu Jin.

Given many tigers in the tribe had improper thoughts about Hu Jin, the chief thought it unwise to spread the matter.

Not only were there males wanting to provoke Hu Jin, but some females might also do absurd things while he remained in beast form.

The experienced Hu Zhuo naturally understood; beast form was easier to exploit than human form.

“Awoo woo woo woo woo!”

Hu Jin quickly explained everything to Hu Yu.

He trusted the shaman would do nothing harmful.

After listening, Hu Yu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You mean… it was the little fox that did this to you?”

Seeing Hu Yu’s shock, Hu Zhuo had to break his brother’s good impression of the little fox, who had previously been overly friendly.

After leaving, Hu Yu had even wondered whether Hu Jin would treat it kindly.

“It’s true. That little fox is no good at all.”

“This…” Hu Yu scratched his head nervously, hesitating before finishing, “Yesterday, near the tribe, I ran into the little fox…”