That legendary silver beast marking became a nightmare.

However, no sooner had the man finished speaking than another voice cut in. A somewhat older beastman swaggered in, his hair half grey and half black, yet his back remained straight. He had only one eye.

The one-eyed man swept his gaze around the cramped guest shelter, seemingly somewhat surprised to see the sub-beast youth, who appeared as though he should not have been there at all. His gaze finally settled on the tracker who had evidently entered with the same purpose as himself. He said, “Trying to swallow it all by yourself in front of so many friends, young man? You certainly have quite a few tricks up your sleeve.”

The bare-chested man gave the one-eyed old man a smile that did not reach his eyes, then revealed his beast claws and said bluntly, “I have two hands, you know.”

A great many thoughts flashed through Hua Yi’s mind in succession, yet he merely rubbed his eyes, turned around, and put on an expression that looked both ignorant and astonished. He sighed, “Heavens… were you speaking to me just now? This… are all of you actually looking for me?”

He had already released the sub-beast youth and retreated several steps, shrinking fearfully into a corner of the wall. With his eyes opened wide, he said timidly, “There’s a beauty in this room, and every one of you is ignoring him and coming after me instead… Is there something wrong with all of you?”

Beastmen had always regarded courage as a virtue. Even among the oddballs, who were not naturally very brave, most would do their best to put on a fierce and intimidating front, pretending to be impressive. Someone who had not even been touched yet but was already curling himself into a ball, looking as though he might be scared out of his wits at any moment, was truly a rare sight.

For a moment, the one-eyed old beastman thought the intelligence must have been wrong, and that “the thing” was not in this man’s possession after all. Poor fellow—despite having lived so many years, he had never seen a man so willing to sacrifice his own honour to this extent.

The bare-chested man on the other side, however, remained completely unmoved. It seemed that even if Hua Yi took off his trousers and showed everyone that he really did not have that thing, the bare-chested man would still choose to believe his source of information. He took another step forward. His beast claws gleamed ominously in the night and firelight, and he lowered his voice, enunciating each word: “Stop wasting words. I know that thing is in your hands. I also know that you are ‘Silver Fang’. What are you playing innocent for?!”

Hua Yi widened his eyes and bared his teeth at him. “What golden tooth or silver tooth? My teeth grew naturally from my father and mother! Bah! If I were some great person, would I have to sleep in a guest shelter in the middle of the night, out in the wilderness? Would I let you put on airs in front of me? I would have slapped you to death long ago.”

The bare-chested man’s beast claws suddenly clenched when he heard Hua Yi’s insolent words, the hard nails colliding with a grating sound that made one’s teeth ache. Hua Yi seemed to be terrified. He scrambled towards a corner of the room, pulled a cloth bundle from inside his clothes, reached into it, and casually grabbed something. Pointing it at the bare-chested man, he cried out in horror, “You! Don’t come any closer! If you do, I won’t be polite! I’ll poison you, poison you to death! Do you believe me?”

The beastmen at the doorway looked at one another.

The sub-beast youth, who had been sitting to one side all this time with a somewhat vacant expression, seeming completely out of it, finally gave a yawn and slowly reminded him, “That’s a steamed bun.”

Hua Yi gave an “Oh!” and hurriedly stuffed the ridiculous steamed bun back into his bundle. “I took the wrong thing… I’m telling you, I really do have poison! I really do! Don’t disbelieve me…”

The bare-chested man had lost patience and was about to stride forward and seize Hua Yi, but the one-eyed old beastman stopped him with one hand. The old beastman’s unique eye, dominating his face like a king, shone with an alarming brightness, practically flashing with the cold light of a bloodthirsty beast.

The one-eyed beastman gave the rival who had suddenly appeared halfway through the affair a sinister smile and said softly, “Brother, you are being rather too dismissive of this old fellow.”

Without another word, the bare-chested man raised his beast claw and struck at the old beastman. The two immediately began fighting inside the tiny wooden hut.

Hua Yi held both hands over his head while crying out, “They’re fighting! They’re fighting! Someone’s going to die! Help!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the sub-beast youth was still sitting perfectly steadily amid the flashing blades and shadows, as though his buttocks had been glued to the ground. Hua Yi could not help lamenting inwardly—could this sub-beast actually be an attractive-but-useless fool?

Yet at that moment, the youth happened to look over. Hua Yi hurriedly signalled to him with his eyes, telling him to get farther away. Who would have thought that even after squeezing his eyes so hard they were almost cramping, that fellow still failed to understand his meaning? He continued sitting there as steadily as ever. Several times, he narrowly avoided being caught up in the struggle between the two beastmen, yet he showed not the slightest awareness of danger. Instead, he blinked with great curiosity and began concentrating on studying the constantly changing expressions on Hua Yi’s face.

Hua Yi finally could not help rolling his eyes while maintaining his posture of fleeing in panic with his head covered.

“Stop fighting! Stop fighting!” Hua Yi shouted at the top of his voice.

At the same time, the bare-chested man’s beast claw sank into the one-eyed old beastman’s shoulder. The old man’s shoulder rapidly transformed, producing a coarse layer of animal hide, yet the expression on his face still twisted. With a loud shout, he displayed the vigour of old age and raised his long sword, bringing it down in a slash.

Hua Yi suddenly gave a sly smile and said to the beastmen poking their heads through the doorway, uncertain whether they should enter and interfere or remain where they were awaiting orders from their respective leaders, “Oh, come on, stop fighting. I’ll let you search me. What thing? What could I possibly have…”

As he spoke, he really did take out a small bundle and slowly began to unwrap it.

The two who were struggling with each other did not pay attention, but the people at the doorway were already becoming anxious. The two groups exchanged glances and simultaneously crowded towards the narrow doorway of the hut. As a result, they collided head-on. Then, as though they had made an agreement, they suddenly transformed into giant beasts at the same time, biting and rolling out of the hut together.

The bare-chested beastman was distracted for an instant when he saw Hua Yi open the bundle. His experienced and treacherous enemy seized the opportunity and slashed off his beast claw with a single stroke of the sword. The beast claw, larger than a human head, flew away trailing hot blood. Accompanied by a shrill scream, it landed bloody and wet in front of the sub-beast youth, narrowly missing his lower leg.

The youth calmly drew his leg back a little to avoid getting blood on it. He glanced at Hua Yi and happened to see the strange smile hidden beneath his deliberately evasive expression. He concluded that this man was completely at ease and not in the slightest danger. He therefore yawned again, leaned against the stone wall, and closed his eyes.

He could actually sleep even under these circumstances!

Fortunately, everyone present was far too busy, and no one noticed this strange sub-beast youth.

When the leader on their side had ordered someone to cut off the beast claw, the beastmen outside immediately tried to rush into the hut. But the little wooden house was simply too small to accommodate such a chaotic group brawl. Before long, the people on both sides were completely entangled in the fight, and they almost forgot about Hua Yi.

Hua Yi, eager to see the world thrown into chaos, pointed at the “one-armed” beastman and shouted, “Everything I have is right here! Why are all of you acting so strangely? What exactly do you want me to hand over?! Which thief stole something and then tried to frame me for it? Oh… right, I remember now! It was that blind, pockmarked fellow the other day who stole your wife’s clothes. Heavens, I’ve been accused unjustly! I mean, look at your wife—she could crush a donkey to death just by sitting on it. Apart from that blind, one-eyed old bald fellow, who could possibly take an interest in her?”

The youth, who had closed his eyes, showed a trace of amusement on his face when he heard this. Hua Yi continued to spout nonsense: “Just for the sake of that old woman’s ragged, hole-ridden skirt, you had people chase me through the pouring rain for such a long time. Tell me, what exactly are you after? Are you jealous because I’m more handsome and dashing than you? I was born this way, wasn’t my choice!”

At this point, the old beastman finally broke free from the melee. One aged hand transformed into a claw and viciously reached towards Hua Yi’s chest. “Stop talking nonsense, you give me—”

He could not finish his words. Hua Yi suddenly raised his hand, and a large cloud of white smoke burst towards the old beastman’s eyes.

The old beastman cried out, “Ah!” and hurriedly held his breath, his vision becoming completely blurred.

Hua Yi’s somewhat cheeky voice came through the white smoke. He said, “I warned you not to come any closer. I’m best at poisoning people.”

Without hesitation, the old beastman tried to retreat. Yet, unfotunately, he collided with the beastmen fighting inside the guest shelter. His foot caught on something, and before he could regain his balance, he felt a chill at his throat.

A low male voice sounded beside his ear. The man seemed to give a low laugh. As for what happened after that laugh, the one-eyed old beastman would never hear it.

The dead cannot hear anything.

No one knew what the white smoke inside the hut was made of, but clearly it was not poisonous. It simply refused to disperse for a very long time.

Within the white smoke, there were only screams and shouts, making the scene even more chaotic. More than twenty beastmen inside and outside the wooden hut were practically rolling into one tangled mass, unable even to distinguish friend from foe. Some were trying to get inside, some were trying to get out, and some collided with each other at the doorway and fell hard onto their backsides.

After a short while, the white smoke finally dispersed, and those who were still alive saw the situation inside the hut.

There were corpses strewn all over the ground. The man who had just been hiding in the corner of the room now stood right in the middle. In one hand, he held a nine-inch-long short blade, while the other had transformed into a beast claw. Blood dripped from between his fingers. He lowered his head and, with leisurely composure, licked the blood staining the nails of his beast claw. His gaze swept over the dumbfounded faces of the people outside the hut, and he smiled. “I possess nothing of value; there are only a few pieces of maltose candy left in my bundle. Anyone want to rob me?”

Someone whispered softly, “Silver Fang.”

Then the beastman standing at the very front, who already had one foot inside the guest shelter, suddenly staggered backwards several steps, staring at the dazzling silver beast marking on Hua Yi’s beast claw as though they had seen a ghost.

When they had been led by their self-proclaimed brave leader to hunt down “Silver Fang” together on that rainy night, they had not been afraid. They had even felt a bloodthirsty yearning. Yet now, as they watched helplessly as the leaders of both sides died right before this man, that legendary silver beast marking became a nightmare.

These “brave” beastmen, skilled at fighting in groups, stared at the corpses lying across the ground and finally stopped concealing the fact that they were scared out of their wits. They scattered and fled.

Only after the chaotic guest shelter had once again fallen silent did Hua Yi let out a muffled groan. He staggered, then dropped to one knee on the ground. His beast claw reverted to a human hand, which seized his chest. A thin layer of blood had seeped through there, slowly soaking through his clothes.

 

Translator : DarNan