Just as Shen Miao was lost in thought, Qing Chen's expression suddenly changed drastically, and the bowl in his hand clattered to the ground.

He clutched his head in pain, his body curled up in a ball, and the veins on his hands bulged out, looking as if he were having a seizure. Shen Miao was a little anxious and didn't dare to touch him, but asked urgently, "Qingchen, Qingchen, what's wrong with you?"

In just a short while, Qingchen was soaked through, sweat dripping from under the animal skin and pooling on the ground.

Those few minutes felt like tens of thousands of years to Qingchen.

Shen Miao was extremely anxious. She mustered her courage and reached out to pat Qing Chen, but before her hand could touch him, it was firmly grabbed by another hand.

The force was so great that Shen Miao felt her wrist was about to be broken.

Qingchen raised his head, his face full of gloom, his eyes blood red, his pupils gleaming with an eerie light, like the eyes of some kind of ferocious beast. His expression was sinister, and his body emanated an extremely powerful spiritual energy, enough to shatter any creature that tried to approach him if he so desired.

Shen Miao was filled with doubt and suspicion. She had a guess in her mind, but she was not sure if she could confirm it.

In particular, when she met Qingchen's gaze, Shen Miao felt a chill run down her spine.

What's going on? Why does she feel like Qingchen is looking at her as if he wants to kill her?

"Qingchen..." Shen Miao tried calling out.

Qingchen's eyes remained unwavering. With a single pull, he dragged Shen Miao to his side as easily as pulling a bundle of straw.

Qingchen stared intently into Shen Miao's eyes, his gaze filled with murderous intent: "Tell me, what did you do to me?"

"What?" Shen Miao was stunned.

"Don't play dumb with me. What kind of sorcery have you used on me, Shen Miao? My patience has its limits." Qing Chen's voice was icy.

Shen Miao's slow-witted brain finally processed the meaning of Qing Chen's words. So, Qing Chen thought she was a monster, and even knew magic? Why not just say she was a deity?

"Let me go first." Shen Miao struggled, but couldn't break free.

Qingchen squeezed harder, making Shen Miao almost hear the cracking of her bones.

She looked at the crazed man, took a deep breath, and suddenly shouted, "I said let me go! If you want to know why this has happened to you, let me go now, immediately!"

Qingchen stared at her scrutinizingly, and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "You better not play me."

"You can disbelieve me, kill me now, and you'll never know what happened to you," Shen Miao retorted without hesitation.

Qingchen finally slowly let go of her hand.

Shen Miao rubbed her wrist; the area where Qing Chen had gripped her wrist had turned purple.

"Damn it, does he think I'm his father's killer, that's why he's hitting me so hard?" Shen Miao couldn't help but curse under her breath.

Qingchen said coldly, "Stop with the nonsense and get down to business."

Shen Miao sighed and said irritably, "What do you take me for? Using sorcery? If I had that ability, would I have let you hold me hostage like that? I only gave you a beast crystal."

Qingchen remained motionless, his eyes slightly narrowed.

This was the prelude to his anger and impending outburst.

Holding her breath, Shen Miao quickly said, "It really is a beast crystal, but it's a high-quality one, a brown beast crystal. I was afraid you wouldn't eat it, so I melted it down and mixed it into the meat."

"Where did this brown beast crystal come from?" Qingchen questioned.

Brown beast crystals are second only to black in quality and are extremely rare, which explains why Qingchen didn't believe it.

Shen Miao continued, "I bought it from a beast merchant from afar. I gave him all the medicinal herbs I had been saving for so long for this beast crystal. There were some extremely rare ones among them. Even when Uncle Lin asked me for some, I didn't give them to him."

By the end, his tone had taken on a hint of resentment.

As Qingchen listened, the icy coldness in his eyes gradually melted, but his expression did not soften much; his expressionless face remained unreadable.

His tone softened somewhat: "If the meat was mixed with beast crystals, you should have told me that from the beginning."

Shen Miao curled her lip and said sarcastically, "I thought you knew. Don't you have any self-awareness that your spiritual power has increased? You're supposed to be a powerful orc praised by everyone in the tribe!"

After saying these words, she finally felt a little better.

Qingchen's expression froze.

He sensed the spiritual energy within his body and found that it had indeed increased, and he should have already advanced to the next level. However, there were too many people around, so he couldn't test it.

But that feeling of being full of spiritual energy was something he had never experienced since he was injured.

Qingchen knew he had misunderstood Shen Miao, but couldn't bring himself to apologize. His gaze fell, and he thought of saying something to ease the tension. Just then, he saw half of Shen Miao's wrist that was exposed, and the pinch marks on it had turned purplish-red.

He paused, looked away, and muttered, "The brown beast crystal shouldn't have been given to me."

Ha, so you think I gave you something good, but it was a waste of your time?

Seeing Shen Miao's unfriendly expression, Qing Chen added, "Da Bao and the others need it even more. They've just gained their abilities and it's time for them to advance. The tribe is currently in turmoil, so they should improve their abilities as soon as possible."

Shen Miao retorted defiantly, "Then it wouldn't be a loss to use it on you, since you also advanced, didn't you?"

"My abilities are sufficient to protect myself; it's more suitable to give them to the children," Qingchen said in a deep voice.

Shen Miao remained silent.

At the time, she was thinking that the Bloodworm Clan was so powerful that Qingchen was guarding the front line, and it would be easy for him to run into trouble, so she gave him the brown beast crystal to eat, hoping to improve his abilities.

I didn't think too much about the rest.

She paused for a moment, then said, "They're safer than you because I'm watching over them."

Qingchen pursed his lips, wanting to say something, but ultimately said nothing. After all, this was Shen Miao's heartfelt wish, and he didn't need to be too harsh on her or hurt her feelings.

The minor incident was resolved just like that, and Shen Miao strolled home with the basket of empty bowls in her arms.

As soon as she arrived at her doorstep, she heard a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered coming from inside. She quickened her pace and stepped inside. Before she could even ask what was wrong, she was stunned by what she saw.

In the yard lay a large wild boar weighing several hundred pounds, completely trapped and still trying to escape. Jiuying was holding a sharp stone knife and walking towards the boar.

Several children huddled in a circle, staring intently at the scene, their eyes full of eager anticipation.

They really were slaughtering a pig. Shen Miao was speechless. She walked over and asked, "Where did this pig come from?"

“I caught it,” the snow wolf said eagerly.

He still looked like a snow wolf, but spoke in a human voice. No matter how many times she heard it, Shen Miao felt very strange, but this guy just refused to become human.

Shen Miao praised him, then said to the children, "Slaughtering a pig is very bloody, are you sure you want to watch?"