Chapter 34

The giant eagle lay on the ground, still twitching slightly. Its outspread wings had feathers as long as an arm, and its sharp talons gleamed like cold steel, hinting at the many lives it had taken. Unfortunately, today, it encountered a venomous snake.

Wu Mu was a venomous snake, but Song Xu rarely saw him use his venom. Generally, he would constrict his prey with his tail, using his strength to kill them before swallowing them.

The giant eagle soon stopped moving. Song Xu squatted beside it, pulling at its wing feathers to inspect it. Several slightly larger golden-feathered birds flew down from the noisy bird flock in the tree. These slightly larger birds were only about the size of a hand, still small to Song Xu.

After landing, these birds transformed into beastmen, lightly touching the ground about three meters away and looking at them with some fear.

Song Xu dropped the eagle’s wing she was holding and focused on the cute bird beastmen. In her beastman form, Song Xu was of average height, but these bird beastmen, when transformed into their human forms, were only about one meter tall, making them quite petite. They wore little skirts made of golden feathers, with a few tufts of golden feathers in their hair, shining in the sunlight. Their clothes were so beautiful. In the beastman world, the quality of one’s clothes was innate. Thinking about it, if there were kingfishers and peacock beastmen, their clothes would surely be very gorgeous.

“Where are you from?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Is he a half-beastman?”
“Why did you help us kill this enemy?”
“Thank you for helping us.”
“We’re also afraid of snakes, so please don’t come too close.”

The clear voices of the little birds chirped one after another, creating a lively chatter.

Song Xu, used to the silent snake who couldn’t keep up with her talking pace, finally met her match. She seriously said, “We come from the Great Tang in the East, on a journey to the West to obtain scriptures, passing through your esteemed land.”

“This snake is my companion, Wu Mu. Although he looks fierce, he’s very friendly and doesn’t like to eat birds, so don’t worry!”

“This eagle has a grudge against me, and seeing you being attacked, we stepped in to help. No need to thank us!”

It was a bit challenging to accurately express the meaning of her world’s language in the beastman world’s language, but Song Xu managed it. She successfully left the bird beastmen in a daze, whispering among themselves, some showing embarrassed expressions for their lack of knowledge.

“You must be from a big tribe, right?” A brave little bird beastman asked softly, moving a bit closer.

“Yes, we are auxiliary members of a big tribe!” Song Xu replied confidently.

With one little bird setting an example, the others gradually gathered around, though only surrounding Song Xu. They curiously asked the amusing squirrel beastman, “Why did you leave the tribe? It’s very dangerous outside.”

Song Xu replied, “We are traveling, just out to have fun. Staying in one place for too long gets boring, so we came out to see the world and gain knowledge.”

“Wow!” The little birds chirped in amazement.

In this beastman world, beastmen were scattered everywhere, living in suitable areas. Only the hunting teams of large tribes would go to distant places to hunt. Most beastmen would never leave their habitat, spending their entire lives in the same area from birth to death.

Like these golden-feathered birds, they were born on this tree and foraged in the surrounding forest, never venturing far. Therefore, they rarely saw other beastmen passing by.

Wu Mu was the same. He was born in the Fierce Beast Tribe, lived there until adulthood, and stayed in a forest cave. He might have spent his entire life in that forest if he hadn’t met Song Xu.

Song Xu, being talkative, squatted down and chatted with the little birds, “Are all these birds on the tree your kin?”

The smallest bird beastman hopped around, spreading its arms like wings, and answered, “No, our kin are only a few dozen, living in the nests in the middle. The rest of the nests on the tree are for the birds we raise.”

It turned out that this was a small settlement, and the outer nests were just for ordinary golden-feathered birds.

Song Xu looked closely at the nests on the tree and found them true. The central part of the tree had a dozen larger nests, which were the homes of the beastmen. Earlier, Wu Mu had rushed up the tree to hunt the eagle, knocking off parts of a few nests. Some small branches were hanging precariously, with little birds busily repairing them.

Curious, Song Xu asked, “Why do you raise these birds?”

“We don’t do anything special. We’ve always lived like this. Our tribe and their flock live together. Although they are not beastmen, we protect them, and they protect us!” The little bird beastmen spoke matter-of-factly.

They were very animated when they talked, like little birds hopping and flapping their wings on branches—very cute.

Song Xu’s voice mixed with the chirping of the little birds. The snake waited on the side, but after a while, the conversation showed no sign of ending. The snake tapped the dead eagle with the tip of his tail, waited a bit more, and the chatter grew even more lively.

The little bird beastmen, afraid of the snake, gathered around Song Xu. Occasionally, one would be curious about Wu Mu but only look from a distance, getting scared and hiding behind their companions after a few glances. The snake’s tail began to move faster, and he hissed twice. But the sound was too small, drowned out by the chatter, and Song Xu didn’t hear it.

The snake’s warning sound finally startled the birds and the squirrel. Frightened, the bird beastmen transformed into little birds and flew up, fluttering around Song Xu’s head.

Song Xu said, “Just a moment, just a moment, I’ll finish in ten minutes!”

She had just started asking about the grudge between the eagle and the bird beastmen and hadn’t finished listening. According to the little birds, the eagle had appeared two years ago, seemingly from a distant place, and had already eaten several of their kin and many ordinary golden-feathered birds. In their beast forms, they were small, and in their beastman forms, they couldn’t fly. They couldn’t deal with the giant eagle in any form and could only resist with all their might each time. Now that the giant eagle was killed, they were all pleased and excitedly gathered around Song Xu to talk. They might have invited them to stay in the tree if it weren’t for their fear of the snake that killed the eagle.

Song Xu chatted happily, and time passed quickly. A big snake slithered over. Noticing the snake approaching, Song Xu quickly said, “Just a little longer, almost done!”

The snake got closer, approaching the squatting Song Xu from behind, climbing up her back and placing his head on top of hers, opening his mouth wide.

Instantly, the little birds scattered in all directions.

Song Xu sighed, “Alright, alright, let’s go.” She muttered, “If you were in my world, you’d definitely be the kind of guy who hates shopping with his girlfriend. But since you’re a cute snake, I can forgive you.”

She waved to the little birds, “Goodbye, we’re leaving! Take care!”

The tree full of bird nests looked like an island in the green forest. As they moved away, it felt like they were sailing in a green sea. The snake slithered ahead, suddenly turning his head to hiss at Song Xu, the sound full of irritation.

Song Xu was a bit confused by his hiss. She quickly ran over, straddled the snake’s tail, and asked with her hands on her hips, “Why are you hissing?”

The snake turned his head and hissed again angrily. Song Xu immediately opened her mouth and mimicked his hissing sound, louder and longer, though it sounded more like a cat hissing. Wu Mu felt her anger.

The snake, unsure why he was angry, closed his mouth. Seizing the opportunity, Song Xu hissed at him twice more until the snake’s head shrank back. She was satisfied.

The snake flicked his tongue, realizing he couldn’t win the argument, and turned to slither away. Song Xu, not paying attention, fell off him. She lay on the ground and shouted angrily, “I’m not moving! I’m staying right here! Ah!”

Lying there, she saw a few tender leaves above her, glowing in the sunlight. She picked one and put it in her mouth. Rustling sounds came as the snake returned, slithering to her side. His head was right in front of her, and she pushed him away. The snake circled around her, trying to nudge her up with his head. Song Xu deliberately slid down, refusing to get up, even crossing her legs. She looked just like a stubborn child in front of her father, as spirited as ever.

The snake, out of options, lay down beside her. But he wasn’t as relaxed as Song Xu, trying every now and then to push her up. Seeing that Song Xu intended to spend the night there, the snake got up and slithered away.

Song Xu watched him disappear into the bushes, hesitating whether to follow. She lay there, pondering why Wu Mu was angry, and as her anger subsided, she was about to get up when Wu Mu returned. Hearing the rustling of the bushes, she quickly lay back down.

The snake returned with several flowers in his mouth, dropping them on Song Xu. He placed his head on her stomach and nudged her.

The silly snake actually knew to bring food to make peace. Song Xu sat up and hugged his head, “Alright, I’m not angry anymore. Let’s go!”

But the snake’s head pressed her down, refusing to let her up. Song Xu tried to drag him up but failed, “Ah, now you’re the one throwing a tantrum and refusing to get up?”

There was no choice; it seemed they would spend the night there. The randomly chosen sleeping spot wasn’t very comfortable, and Song Xu didn’t sleep well. In her drowsiness, she heard faint sounds and the ground rustling. She woke up to find the snake rolling beside her, revealing a face with snake scales.

Song Xu: “!”

“What’s going on? What are you doing?” Song Xu was startled awake and leaned over to check on Wu Mu.

Wu Mu suddenly grabbed her shoulder, his hand as strong as the eagle’s talons, causing it to ache. His chest heaved as he struggled to speak: “Talking, happy. Stay here, no.”

Song Xu understood why he had hissed at her during the day. “No, no, no, I won’t stay here. I want to travel with you. I’m happiest when I’m with you.”