Xuan Long opened his mouth again.
"There’s more," he said.
Everyone looked at him immediately.
"That young birdman," Xuan Long continued calmly, "is the biological son of the Bird Tribe’s leader...the tribe closest to our mountain."
Hu Yan’s expression changed instantly.
"...Is it the same Bird Tribe we took shelter with last year?" he asked.
Xuan Long frowned slightly, clearly unsure. He shook his head. "I’m not certain."
Hu Yan paused, then explained, "That tribe lives on the high mountain directly facing ours."
Xuan Long froze for a second. Then he nodded.
Su Qinglan nodded as well. "It’s them."
Hu Yan’s fingers tightened around his spoon.
Crack.
The wooden spoon nearly snapped in half.
Xuan Long continued, his voice growing colder. "That young man secretly followed us before. Together with his father, they were planning the beast tide to attack our tribe."
Everyone sucked in a breath.
"And they weren’t acting alone," Xuan Long added, frowning.
Rong Ye immediately asked, "Then who’s helping them?"
Xuan Long let out a short, cold laugh.
"Who else?" he said. "The old witch doctor."
The name alone made the air turn heavy.
"That man has already gone to the Bird Tribe," Xuan Long continued. "He fed them lies...told them we are the protectors of the Black Temple and that we’re secretly hoarding resources."
"He painted us as villains," Xuan Long said slowly, "and himself as the righteous one."
That was why...
"The Bird Tribe believed him," Xuan Long said. "They think destroying us is justified."
"Because he wants to swallow our entire tribe," he added flatly.
Now because we have more food, power, and resources than them.
Then Xuan Long turned his gaze toward Su Qinglan.
"And not just our food," he said. "But our females as well."
Su Qinglan stiffened.
Xuan Long looked directly at her. "That young birdman specifically wanted you."
Silence exploded.
Su Qinglan immediately choked on her soup.
"What?!"
She coughed hard, her face turning red.
"That teenager?" she said incredulously. "Is he dreaming?"
She still remembered that boy...pale-faced, terrified, barely daring to breathe when questioned.
Where did he even get the confidence to think like that?
She really wanted to crack his head open and see what was inside.
Xuan Long glanced at her and smiled faintly, clearly amused by her reaction.
At the same time, his eyes darkened.
That young man...
In his eyes, he was nothing more than an ant. Something he could crush with his thumb.
The other beast husbands were no longer calm.
Their expressions turned murderous.
The son of a Bird Tribe leader wanting to take their female?
If that birdman dared step foot here again, they wouldn’t just kill him... They would scatter his bones across the forest.
Su Qinglan finally calmed herself down from the absurd shock of the situation.
She took a slow breath, then lifted her head to look at Xuan Long.
"There’s something I don’t understand," she said seriously. "How are they planning to direct the beast tide toward only us?"
Everyone looked at her.
"The distance between our tribe and the Bird Tribe isn’t that far," Su Qinglan continued. "If a beast tide this large breaks out, it shouldn’t be possible for it to avoid them completely. Wouldn’t they also suffer losses?"
The question hung heavily in the air.
Xuan Long’s eyes shone faintly with pride.



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