Could the behemoth be an ally? Orcs are the people of Xia, no…
It takes about two seasons.
Jiang Yunlan calculated how far she could travel in two seasons using the mounts of the Wise Clan, and her unease gradually subsided.
Asaka didn't tell her about how much more painful it was for Aliya and the others; they were probably still lost.
Recalling Alanya and the butterfly beastmen's terrible sense of direction, Jiang Yunlan felt even more at ease. As long as Cai Baihua and the others led the way, she believed they could stay lost for a long time.
"You two really are good friends," Shui Liujing chuckled, then her expression turned serious, and she looked at Jiang Yunlan as if she were deep in thought. "You're worried about them going to the west. Does your clan have any orcs from the west?"
He realized that Xia had already established other habitats, and he had originally intended to describe Xia as a tribe. Unfortunately, there was no word in the language of the grasslands that could refer to "tribe," so he changed his tone and used "clan" again.
Most orc languages do not use the word "tribe," but rather "clan."
Jiang Yunlan hesitated, searching her memory for relevant information. 022 noticed her pause and silently reminded her, "Forest Lake Habitat."
She suddenly realized that the report submitted by the Forest Lake Habitat had mentioned this matter. The tiger-beastman clan that joined the third habitat was a clan that had fled here from the surrounding areas at the western end.
Shui Liujing only asked her tribesmen. She did not mention the weasel-beastman clan, but instead looked puzzled. "There are no beastmen from the western end in my tribe. However, there are beastmen in my tribe who fled from the surrounding areas of the western end."
"You specifically asked about this because you discovered something at the western end?" she asked, wondering if they knew about the Apocalypse Tribe.
Shui Liujing tilted her head and looked at the Xia beastmen who always stopped for a while when they passed by. They looked over with lively and curious expressions, and their faces were lighthearted as they talked with their companions.
The orcs of Xia were dressed in clean clothes, their exposed arms and legs not at all thin, and they were carrying food in their hands. It was clear at a glance that they were well cared for, well-fed and warmly clothed, full of energy, and their eyes were full of anticipation for life.
He suddenly didn't want to talk about what he and his people had discovered here, so he looked away from the Xia beastman's eyes and said, "Let's talk about this somewhere else."
Jiang Yunlan didn't mind discussing the Tianqi Tribe publicly; she could use it to lure out an undercover agent. However, upon hearing Shui Liujing's suggestion, she didn't refuse. Nodding in agreement, she led Shui Liujing to the council hall.
It's also a good idea to release information after the secret meeting to lure in undercover agents; the content of the leaked information can be manually controlled.
“On our journey exploring the continent, we encountered orcs from the western end. They said that the forests and rivers there had disappeared. When I led my people to the western end, I discovered that not only the western end, but also the surrounding areas had lost their water sources and vegetation.” Shui Liujing held the water that the orc had poured for him and took a big sip of the refreshing drink with lemon leaves.
When he and his people stayed at the western end, it was also the hot season. The water in their water bags could only be used occasionally to moisten their lips, and it was impossible for them to drink a big gulp of water like they do now.
He had been to the desert and felt its scorching sun. But the desolate western end was far more terrifying than the desert; even insects couldn't survive there. The hard, dry soil was like stone, making it difficult to dig even with weapons.
“As soon as you get close, your body automatically goes into alert mode, frantically telling you to run away. I didn’t see anything, but tears just started falling. Orcs who haven’t witnessed that scene can’t understand how we feel. Just like this.” Shui Liujing freed her right hand to press against her heart and looked up, her blue-green eyes gazing at Jiang Yunlan.
Jiang Yunlan stared into his eyes, frozen in place, unable to utter a single word. 022, Sveta, and the other elves who had lived through the era of catastrophe, who were also witnessing this scene, fell silent.
They were all too familiar with the emotions flowing in his eyes; they were the pain they had once felt.
Silence filled the air. The orcs in the council chamber subconsciously lowered their breathing, not out of fear of disturbing anyone, but because their intuition told them that something they absolutely did not want to experience had happened again.
The wind spirit left on the grassland couldn't believe what it was hearing and couldn't help but ask, "Three snow seasons ago, Sylph and I were looking for Tongyuan and passed over the western end. I clearly remember that when I looked down, there was a very small forest in the western end."
"Because the giant beasts went to the western end and slept there on their own initiative. My people and I were lucky. On the second day after we arrived at the western end, we saw a giant beast. It was injured, but not fatally, and it still had a chance to survive. But it just stayed quietly at the western end, as if waiting for something..." Shui Liujing recounted everything she had seen, as if she had returned to that day.
The moment they saw the giant beast appear, Shui Liujing and her people instinctively turned and ran, abandoning even their mounts.
Like other orc clans, they viewed the giant beasts as ruthless killers, fearing that an accidental encounter would mean certain death. They had heard far too many tales of orc clans being attacked by giant beasts in the past.
In the instant between encountering the giant beast and turning to run away, Shui Liujing clearly saw the beast's eyes.
The wounded behemoth also spotted him and his people, squinted its eyes, roared, and raised its forelimbs.
The fear of being targeted by the behemoth surged through him, and Shui Liujing ran even faster. A few minutes later, he suddenly realized that there was no sound of the behemoth behind him, and he turned around in confusion and fear.
The giant beast in their field of vision lazily strode away in another direction from where they were.
He realized that the giant beast seemed different from what he had heard, and curiosity immediately overcame his fear. So, he led his equally curious tribesmen, riding their mounts that had fallen to the ground, and chased after the giant beast from afar.
Why did the giant beast merely roar to scare them away instead of unleashing its natural power to attack them? The orcs found this puzzling.
Stealing the first sunset from the giant beast.
They saw the giant beast circle a spot on the ground, then lie down contentedly, resting its head on its forelimbs. They couldn't resist taking a few more steps forward, wanting to observe the beast's state, only to see it open its eyes and stare at them.
It seemed to recognize them as the harmless orcs who were sneaking around following it, and then lazily closed its eyes again.
Shui Liu waited patiently for the orc to cautiously approach a little further. It opened its eyes, growled impatiently, and waved its paw. Shui Liu waited for the orc to freeze, becoming as silent as if it didn't exist. Seeing that they weren't coming any closer, it closed its eyes with satisfaction.
The wise clan's beastmen scratched their heads, knowing it didn't want them to get any closer, so they set up camp nearby to continue observing its behavior. It was the first giant beast their clan had encountered, and a very important subject of observation.
The fifth sunset followed the giant beast. Perhaps because they were becoming more familiar with each other's scent, when Shui Liujing approached it again, it didn't even open its eyes, only letting out two perfunctory roars.
The seventh sunset followed the behemoth. Shui Liujing was now able to crouch within five meters of the behemoth.
The twelfth sunset followed the giant beast. Shui Liujing stroked the beast's forelimb and offered it a piece of meat. It turned its head away and grunted, as if to say it wouldn't eat it.
Isn't its food meat? The water flowed silently, then offered it plants instead. It didn't eat, but instead purred softly, as if coaxing a cub to eat its little treat.
The sixteenth sunset followed the giant beast. Shui Liujing heard a sound in the distance and thought it was her tribesmen returning from searching for food.
He looked up and saw a wounded behemoth approaching. The first behemoth he had observed seemed to be speaking to the newcomer. The second behemoth glanced at him and his people, then responded to the first. Afterward, it found a place to lie down, just like the first behemoth.
The thirty-first sunset he stole from the giant beast. The first giant beast Shui Liujing encountered no longer roared at him, nor did it make the "purring" sound that sounded like it was coaxing a cub.
It lay there quietly, as if asleep.
Today was the day Shui Liujing saw the third wounded giant beast arrive at the western end. The second giant beast he encountered cried out a few times. The third giant beast looked at him, blinked, and uttered a gentle voice.
The newly arrived behemoth crew rested their heads on the back of the lifeless behemoth next to the first behemoth, closing their eyes to rest.
Shui Liujing suddenly felt like crying.
The first season of stealing from the behemoth has passed. The body of the first behemoth has merged into the earth, and the water flows still as new plants are born in the fruiting season.
This place is no longer a lifeless wasteland.
The plant gradually grew from where it slept to where the third giant beast slept, and then gradually spread to where the second and other giant beasts slept.
New forests were born beneath them. The dried-up river flowed with new water, and wild beasts came along the river and settled at the western end.
The silent forest has awakened.
On a rainy day, the stream gazed silently at the thriving forest, then led its people away from the western edge without looking back.
He didn't know why the giant beast had come to the lifeless land, but he realized that he should find out why the land had lost its life and why the giant beast was hunting the orcs.
The giant beasts he and his people encountered had never attacked them; how could they be the ferocious beasts that indiscriminately slaughtered orcs?
"After seeing the forest appear, I finally understood that they had come to the lifeless western end specifically to wait for a new forest to appear," Shui Liujing said, picking up her cup and taking a sip of lemon and lotus leaf water.
It tasted sour, making him blink involuntarily.
He didn't speak again. The orcs in the council chamber were in a state of chaos; after struggling to function for a while, they crashed.
“They are guardians; protecting nature is their mission,” Sveta said. The “nature” in her words refers not only to nature itself, but also to the spirits of nature.
Without nature, spirits would cease to exist. Without spirits, nature would vanish from the world.
Heitu, who was standing behind Jiang Yunlan, held back for a while before uttering a sentence with a blank expression: "If the giant beasts are not the mortal enemies of us orcs, then why did the wind beasts attack my master's clan? My master and his people did nothing, they were just staying in their own habitat when the wind beasts suddenly came and took away their habitat and their people."
She would always remember the expression on Yan Duoyu's face when he mentioned his tribe and their chieftain, Mother. So many orcs had lost their habitat and their people because of the giant beasts; the giant beasts deserved to die.
“That wind beast attacked your master’s clan, and it was indeed right to retaliate. But I think we orcs and giant beasts can coexist peacefully. Something must have caused the giant beast to kill us, making us hate them,” Shui Liujing replied.
He had seen colossal beasts that wouldn't harm orcs, and if he could, he hoped that the beasts and orcs would no longer hurt each other. Most orcs couldn't defeat the colossal beasts, and he wanted to stop the tragedy of the orc clans being slaughtered. He also hoped that the colossal beasts who were willing to die wouldn't die with a bad reputation.
“I spent a season with them. I could sense that after they got to know us, they could understand our clan's language,” he said, silently adding to himself.
The behemoths are beings capable of understanding orcs; they possess the same intelligence and experience sadness and grief as orcs. Such behemoths are no different from orcs who have transformed into their beast forms.
The previously quiet council hall gradually became noisy, with the orcs of the Wise Clan and the Xia Orcs arguing incessantly. One disagreed that all giant beasts should be killed, while the other disagreed that not all giant beasts should be killed, and both sides tried to persuade the other.
After arguing for about ten minutes, both of them looked at Jiang Yunlan, who was watching them argue with her right hand propping up her chin, and asked in unison, "Lan, do you think the giant beast should be killed?"
“I’m more in favor of killing the behemoths that deserve to be killed, and not killing the ones that shouldn’t be killed,” Jiang Yunlan said slowly, lowering her right hand. “But what I’m more concerned about is whether the loss of life on the land is related to the disappearance of the elves. If it is, then is the behemoths attacking the orcs also related to the disappearance of the elves?”
Giant beasts are guardians of nature. They are beings that protect the spirits of nature, and will always attack any creature that harms these spirits.
She remembered that the bear-beastmen Chi, Duoguo, and Tianfeng had all been attacked by giant beasts. And coincidentally, the beasts they encountered were fire beasts and wind beasts. If it had been a wood beast as well, she would have suspected that the giant beasts were deliberately chasing and attacking the beastmen who had plundered the elves.
The only thing she couldn't understand was: the Leopard Beastman clan was being attacked by a giant beast. Why would a Wind Beast attack the Leopard Beastman clan?
It's a pity. If we could confirm that the behemoth's target was the orcs who had plundered the lives of the elves, we would have many more allies who wield the power of nature. In that case, our chances of winning the battle against the Apocalypse Tribe would have been much higher.
Remembering Shui Liujing's statement that the behemoth could understand the orc language, Jiang Yunlan thought long and hard, and finally decided to let Xia interact with the behemoth once to see what would happen. She genuinely wanted to invite the behemoth to become her ally.
Just as she made the decision, she suddenly remembered that Gracia had been killed by the giant beast.
Gracia is the guardian of the sky and the dragon who protects the mountains in place of the water spirits; she couldn't possibly have killed any spirits. Something's not right. What exactly are the giant beasts targeting? Could they really be allies?
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