A child!
Henggong Fish was so startled at this it very nearly toppled straight out of the great tree!
“What do you mean by that?”
The Roaring Hare wasn’t joking in the slightest, its expression deadly serious. “You really didn’t notice?”
“Notice what? Just say it, stop being so mysterious — this isn’t something to joke about!”
Henggong Fish grew agitated at once — not out of a bad temper, but because this matter really was rather serious.
It concerned a child!
After all, a special-grade poisonous beast could never possibly bear a child!
Among the poisonous beasts of this world, none were born special-grade from birth — only through hundreds, even thousands of years of arduous cultivation could a beast rise to that rank!
And that cultivation wasn’t merely of the body, but of the mind as well!
Cultivate the body to grow powerful, capable of stretching and shrinking at will; cultivate the mind to become enlightened, capable of speech!
But once a beast achieved special-grade status, its very body underwent a fundamental transformation — it became fundamentally incapable of conceiving ever again!
In other words, if a beast were pregnant, it absolutely could not be a special-grade poisonous beast!
“I’m not joking. I caught that scent myself! It’s true!”
Fearing Henggong Fish wouldn’t believe it, the Roaring Hare emphasized it further. “I’m not lying to you, it’s absolutely true. The moment I brushed against her, I caught that scent! It was unmistakably the scent of new life! Didn’t you notice anything strange either?”
“I… I… no, no!”
Henggong Fish wanted very much to say that it had barely had enough presence of mind to flee for its life, let alone spare any attention to sniff out some extraneous scent!
“So what do we do?” The Roaring Hare was deadly serious.
“Are you absolutely certain?” Henggong Fish asked again.
“Absolutely, without a doubt — I’ll swear it to the heavens!”
During the fight, the Roaring Hare hadn’t had the presence of mind to think about such things — but now, looking back on it, something immediately seemed off!
If the monster in that cave wasn’t a special-grade poisonous beast, then how could she speak human words? What exactly was she, and how powerful was she really?
Though the Roaring Hare and Henggong Fish had fled in a panic during the fight, both of them knew perfectly well that the creature hadn’t even used her true strength.
Whatever she was, so long as she was stronger than them, she posed a threat to them both!
The world of poisonous beasts, after all, wasn’t organized only by rank — it was also divided by territory.
The great gates divided the poisonous-beast world into four regions — east, west, south, and north — belonging respectively to the Roaring Hare, Henggong Fish, the Nine-Tailed Fox, and the Zizhu Great Beast.
Among these, the largest territory, forever standing at the very pinnacle of the poisonous-beast world, belonged to the fiercest of the four special-grade poisonous beasts — the domain of the Zizhu Great Beast.
It was called the Zizhu Great Beast precisely because this poisonous beast was so meticulous and calculating down to the smallest detail — utterly not to be trifled with.
Next came the Nine-Tailed Fox, which had held the top seat in the poisonous-beast world for a thousand years running, though it had a peculiar temperament, appearing and vanishing without a trace, and never once interfering in any conflict within the poisonous-beast world.
After that came Henggong Fish and the Roaring Hare, roughly equal in standing.
And within the domains of these four special-grade poisonous beasts lived first-tier beasts like the big foolish bear, as well as smaller second-tier and third-tier beasts.
Within the territories of the four great special-grade beasts, these lesser beasts would further carve out their own small domains!
The forest around the big foolish bear’s den, for instance, fell within the Nine-Tailed Fox’s jurisdiction — it was the bear’s own small territory within that larger domain.
If it weren’t for the fact that the Nine-Tailed Fox never involved itself in such matters, the Roaring Hare and Henggong Fish likely wouldn’t have dared chase all the way here!
Of course, none of that concerned them right now.
What concerned them was that mysterious, unidentified creature — what exactly it was, how powerful it truly was, and what it intended to do.
“Why don’t we go test the waters again?” Henggong Fish suggested.
“No good. This matter absolutely must be reported to the Nine-Tailed Fox and the Zizhu Great Beast. It’s entirely possible she doesn’t belong to this world at all!” The Roaring Hare wore a worried expression.
Henggong Fish thought it over and still felt uneasy. “Going to them feels far too humiliating, doesn’t it? They’ll think the two of us simply couldn’t handle it ourselves!”
The Roaring Hare immediately shot back, “What does humiliation matter compared to that? If we end up losing our entire territory over this, you won’t even have time left to cry about it!”
This point cut straight to the heart of the matter!
What if that creature intended to contest their territory?
What if the two of them simply couldn’t defeat it?
If that happened, wouldn’t it mean the end for both of them — after a thousand years of arduous cultivation just to claw their way up to third and fourth place in the poisonous-beast world? Neither of them could afford to let their authority in this world be threatened by anyone!
Their only option was to seek out the other two special-grade beasts, using the pretext of protecting the poisonous-beast world to form an alliance, and kill this mysterious, unidentified creature together!
Seeing the Roaring Hare’s resolute expression, Henggong Fish stopped hesitating, and the two beasts hurried off together toward the highest peak in the east.
Though the Roaring Hare and Henggong Fish had their scheme carefully calculated, tracking down the other two elusive special-grade poisonous beasts, who came and went without a trace, was no simple matter at all!
Day after day passed. Meanwhile, Ziqing and the big foolish bear settled into a routine of eating until full, then sleeping, then waking to eat again in their cave!
This kind of life suited the big foolish bear perfectly well — but Ziqing found it far from comfortable.
Yet she found herself unable to help it. After several days recuperating in the cave, aided by the royal jelly, her body recovered remarkably fast — but along with her recovery came an ever-growing drowsiness.
She desperately wanted to venture out of the cave and see what this world of poisonous beasts actually looked like; she was anxious to recover the Wuzheng and find her way back home — and yet she found herself utterly without energy to do any of it.
At first it wasn’t so obvious, but as the days passed, the cycle only deepened — eat until full, grow drowsy, sleep, wake up hungry again, over and over.
Finally, the big foolish bear’s entire supply of royal jelly ran completely out, and it was at that very moment that Ziqing woke up, hungry once again.
She looked at the big foolish bear pitifully, and the bear looked back at her just as pitifully. Then, as it kept looking, something seemed to strike it, and it suddenly, cautiously, crept closer!
Having spent so much time together, there was no longer any distance between them at all — they’d grown as close and familiar as family.
The big foolish bear brought its long snout close to Ziqing’s belly and sniffed carefully, as if it had caught something out of the ordinary!
But Ziqing only laughed and pushed it away. “I’m hungry again — don’t tell me you can even smell that?”
Only then did the big foolish bear lift its head to look at Ziqing, its face full of confusion.
Its sense of smell certainly wasn’t as sharp as a special-grade poisonous beast’s — but as Ziqing’s body had continued to recover, that faint, once-barely-there scent of new life in her belly had grown stronger with each passing day, and it had finally noticed it too.
This creature was pregnant — the child had to be around two or three months along by now.
But how could that be possible? Wasn’t she supposed to be a special-grade poisonous beast? How could she possibly be pregnant? The big foolish bear stared fixedly at Ziqing, utterly unable to make sense of it.
And Ziqing, only now noticing the bear’s strange behavior, slowly lowered her gaze, letting it fall upon her own belly.
After half a month in the cave, eating and sleeping in an endless cycle, she’d only really noticed her body growing stronger and stronger with each passing day — she’d never once paid attention to her actual figure.
Now, truly looking at herself as she stood, she was struck with sudden alarm!
Only half a month, and yet somehow… A thought suddenly flashed through Ziqing’s mind, leaving her utterly stunned. Could it be…