Chapter 25

Song Xu followed the group of beastmen for several days. They had already gone beyond her usual range of activity and were still moving forward. After some hesitation, Song Xu decided not to continue following them.

The day she stopped following, Wei Shan led the beastmen to their destination. This place was near the edge of Wu Mu’s territory, upstream of the river where he often hunted. Three tributaries converged here, making the river wide and deep even in winter.

“The primitive beasts haven’t arrived yet. We’ll wait here; they should be coming soon,” Wei Shan, experienced and seasoned, ordered, and the beastmen began their preparations.

They unloaded ropes made from beast tendons, hooks and locks made from beast bones, and spears crafted from primitive beast bones, hiding in the forest near the river to wait. A day later, black dots appeared on the horizon, shooting like arrows from the sky and slowing down as they approached the riverbank, eventually landing. At first, small primitive beasts arrived, about a meter long, with bird-like wings, long beaks, and thin tails. These small primitive beasts were the most numerous and agile, always the vanguard.

The young beastmen waiting in the forest grew restless at the sight of the primitive beasts, but the older beastmen held them back.

This was just the beginning. They usually didn’t hunt these small primitive beasts because they were mostly bones and skin with little meat and very alert. If disturbed, they would never land again, affecting the hunt for larger primitive beasts. Next came the seven- to eight-meter-long primitive beasts, mostly with patterns on their bodies and large beaks taking up most of their bodies. Their wings looked almost translucent. There were also over ten-meter-long primitive beasts covered in fine feathers, with long crests on their heads and serrated beaks.

The young beastmen, who had only seen the meat chunks brought back by the hunting team in previous years, were excited to see the real primitive beasts, eager to try their hand.

“Stay put!” Wei Shan scolded in a low voice, calming the restless young beastmen.

They continued to wait patiently until the last few primitive beasts of the migrating group arrived. These were the slowest and largest hunting targets. These beasts were bulky, like small brown mountains. Their wings were as large as clouds, creating whirlwinds on the river surface when they flapped. There were only six such large primitive beasts in the group. When they landed by the river to drink, Wei Shan’s eyes gleamed as he stood up with his spear, “Warriors, the hunt begins!”

The riverbank turned into a battlefield, with dust rising and the noise faintly reaching the nearby cave.

Song Xu, wondering when the hunt would start, heard the commotion and immediately ran out, climbing a tall tree to look into the distance. It was too far to see clearly, only some dust and faint strange sounds, making her intensely curious.

“Just a quick look from afar to see what the primitive beasts look like, then I’ll come back.” She glanced at the quiet cave and ran along the treetops.

The commotion was so great that she saw many startled animals fleeing, even a hibernating bear crawling out of its den. She decided not to get too close but didn’t need to, as the so-called primitive beasts were huge and visible from afar.

Seeing the primitive beasts, Song Xu bit into a nearby tree trunk in shock.

What primitive beasts? These… these were dinosaurs!
She only knew there were beastmen here, but she hadn’t expected dinosaurs!

The giant creature was dragged into the forest, struggling and roaring. It looked like a mix of pterosaurs and spinosaurus from the dinosaur books she had seen as a child: short forelimbs, strong hind limbs, a sail-like ridge on its back, and two giant wings.

Song Xu stared blankly as the “dinosaur” fell, the ground shaking.

Her first thought was: Is hunting dinosaurs illegal?

Then Mr. Luo’s voice echoed in her mind: Of course not, because dinosaurs aren’t protected animals, right?

Song Xu: “…”

The hunt ended, and the other small primitive beasts scattered everywhere. One with an injured wing panicked and flew into the forest where Song Xu was.

Song Xu immediately snapped back to reality and jumped down from the tree. The primitive beast, several meters long, landed on the dense forest, breaking several trees.

Matching this struggling primitive beast with a pterosaur in her mind, Song Xu recalled the Jurassic Park she watched as a child.

There were still many “dinosaurs” flying in the sky, wings everywhere, and one might land and crush her. Song Xu finally understood why the snake had repeatedly warned her not to go out; the excitement of dinosaurs was indeed not worth it.

Song Xu decisively turned and left. She had seen the primitive beasts and gained knowledge, so it was time to go.

By the river where the giant primitive beast had fallen, dozens of beastmen from the Fierce Tribe, in their beast forms, were driving away the smaller primitive beasts trying to approach. After they had killed their prey with great effort, the task was not over. The surrounding primitive beasts, large and small, would compete with them for the meat of the dead primitive beast.

In this hunt, they lost six young beastmen: one eaten by a primitive beast, three trampled to death, and two crushed by the wings of a primitive beast. But this was the most successful hunt in years.

Everyone was excited after the fierce battle. Now, they just had to wait for the competing primitive beasts to leave before cutting up the meat and taking it back to the tribe.

Covered in blood, Shi You, in his beast form, stood on the corpse of the primitive beast, roaring to drive away other approaching primitive beasts, venting his excitement.

The smaller primitive beasts dared not approach, but those over ten meters long were unafraid of a lion and still tried to land and taste the rare food.

Ignored by the primitive beast before him, Shi You forgot Wei Shan’s order only to drive them away and not attack. Impulsively, he pounced and bit its hind leg. The primitive beast screeched, flapping its wings to fly high and shake off the attacker on its hind leg. Shi You was lifted into the air, panicking, and could only hold on tightly, swinging wildly to hinder the beast’s flight.

Seeing this, Wei Shan roared, grabbed a hook lock from a companion, and threw it at the primitive beast, wrapping it around its neck. Using his brute strength, he temporarily held it in the air, and the other beastmen quickly helped, pulling it and Shi You down.

The primitive beast, its neck tightly bound and several beastmen biting it, struggled weakly on the ground. Realizing it was about to die, it raised its head and let out a hoarse cry towards the sky. A ten-meter-long primitive beast circling above responded with the same cry and dived down. The beastmen, exhausted from continuous fighting, couldn’t react in time. One who had just stood up was caught in its jaws, and with a crunch, he was bitten in half and swallowed.

“It’s a pair. Attack quickly!” Wei Shan shouted, charging forward. The other beastmen, swinging their hooked ropes, rushed to attack the primitive beast.

After a fierce struggle, Wei Shan tore out the primitive beast’s innards, ending the fight. Exhausted, the big tiger lay in front of the beast’s open abdomen, panting heavily, his mouth bloody. The other beastmen were also exhausted and sat on the ground to rest. Fortunately, the series of battles had scared away the smaller primitive beasts, and the riverbank was much quieter.

“This primitive beast isn’t dead yet. Why don’t we take it back to the tribe alive and let everyone see a live primitive beast!” Shi You stood up first, looking at the primitive beast he had bitten, imagining the glory of returning to the tribe.

Gathering his strength, Wei Shan stood up and kicked the proud lion, scolding, “Who told you to attack suddenly!”

Shi You, covered in dirt, got up and shouted defiantly, “If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t have hunted two more primitive beasts!”

These eight-meter-long primitive beasts were different from their target prey. Usually, a female was accompanied by several males. If they provoked a female, several males might attack them simultaneously. This time, they were lucky with only two; otherwise, more beastmen would have died. Wei Shan didn’t want to explain and beat the impulsive young lion.

After the beating, Wei Shan called everyone to cut up the prey. The primitive beast Shi You insisted on keeping alive was not killed. The other beastmen thought that since it had little meat, taking it back alive for the tribe to see would be interesting. So, they processed the other two primitive beasts.

The primitive beast Wei Shan had torn open had little meat after removing the membrane-like wings. It looked big but was mostly bones and skin, with inedible innards. The hunting team usually didn’t bother with such beasts. The beastmen cut off a thin layer of meat and opened its innards to retrieve their companion’s body.

The primitive beast’s stomach contained many undigested items, even small stones. While rummaging, they found a necklace of tiger teeth strung with colorful stones.

Wei Shan and a dozen older beastmen were processing the giant primitive beast when a companion brought over the familiar tiger tooth necklace.

“Look, Wei Shan, isn’t this Hei Sen’s tiger tooth necklace?”