As the strongest orc in the Tiger Clan, and having lived in the forest year-round, Mengya possessed top-notch skills in running and hiding. He led Xu Zifan through a maze of paths, relying on his superior familiarity with the forest to completely shake them off, leaving them with no trace. Along the way, he asked Xu Zifan if he wanted to rest and eat something, but Xu Zifan politely declined. He had taken a fasting pill and wasn't hungry; his recent physical conditioning allowed him to withstand the exertion. His only thought now was to reach the trade fair as quickly as possible and avoid being captured by the Tiger Clan.
Along the way, Mengya led Xu Zifan, avoiding others. Halfway through their journey, they unfortunately encountered a ferocious beast—a large, savage animal unable to transform into human form due to its lack of intelligence. Mengya's aura changed drastically upon seeing it, as if he might pounce and bite its neck at any moment. He placed Xu Zifan in a tree and fearlessly charged at the beast, tearing at it. Xu Zifan watched from the tree, frowning, his Xuan Tie Fan hidden in his sleeve, ready to help at any moment. However, helping would require explaining himself, a troublesome matter. Before he had a firm foothold, it was best not to reveal too many cards.
However, passively taking a beating wasn't in Xu Zifan's nature. While watching Mengya fight fiercely, he mentally simulated many ways to deal with the beast. Mengya fought the ferocious beast for half an hour, and while Mengya was bitten on the right hind leg, the beast was killed by him! Xu Zifan quickly slid down from the tree and ran to his side to check his wound, "How are you? Try moving a little."
The ferocious beast lay on the ground and moved its hind legs. "It's nothing, just a minor injury."
Xu Zifan saw that the wound was quite deep, and Mengya said it was just a minor injury because he could bear the pain. He took out some medicinal powder wrapped in leaves from his bundle and sprinkled it on the wound. "No bones or tendons are broken. I've stopped the bleeding for you. It's best not to run, or it will heal very slowly. Let's walk slowly from now on."
Mengya stood up nonchalantly, dusted himself off, and said in a deep voice, "I'm fine. The trade fair is in two days. There's no point in doing anything before we get there. Let's go."
Xu Zifan bent down and pressed on his wound. A top-grade elixir from the cultivation world appeared in his palm. He crushed it and applied it to the wound before mounting Mengya's back and solemnly saying, "Thank you."
Mengya tossed the beast's corpse onto his back and ran off at top speed. The wound, which should have been very painful, seemed to cause him little discomfort, which made him even more convinced of Xu Zifan's abilities. Just a day later, as they approached the trade fair location, they encountered another beast. Mengya told Xu Zifan to climb a tree, but Xu Zifan pulled out a packet of powder and smiled, "Let me do it this time."
What are you saying?
Mengya looked at Xu Zifan in disbelief, only to see Xu Zifan suddenly rush out before he could stop him. Mengya was startled and ran after him, only to find that Xu Zifan moved with extreme agility. The ferocious beast pounced twice but failed to catch him. Xu Zifan even threw a handful of powder at the beast's face, then lay down and slid under the beast's belly. The beast turned to chase after him, but suddenly swayed a few times, its eyes glazed, and it collapsed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Mengya paused, looking at Xu Zifan who was walking back panting, and asked, "What was that?"
"The anesthetic I concocted, as I've mentioned before, can make people lose consciousness."
Mengya knew about Mafeisan (麻沸散), and Xu Zifan had prepared several kinds of the medicine, but they hadn't tested it yet. Everyone had only heard of its effects and didn't take it too seriously. After all, it was always the Grand Shaman who handled the medicinal materials, and they didn't think Xu Zifan would know more than the Grand Shaman. But Mengya was truly shocked to see Mafeisan incapacitate the ferocious beast with his own eyes.
Is anesthetic powder easy to prepare?
"It's easy to mix, but you have to get the dosage right. Some people may not be sensitive to herbs by nature, so they can't mix them no matter what they try. So only a portion of people can learn it. I will teach everyone later."
"It's truly selfless of you to share such a valuable resource with everyone," Mengya thought, giving Xu Zifan a deep look before walking over, baring its sharp teeth, and biting the beast to death. Xu Zifan dusted himself off and was about to approach when Mengya suddenly adopted a defensive stance towards the bushes. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
"Hey! Fang, don't be nervous, it's me."
Hearing the sound, Xu Zifan immediately ran to Mengya's side, warily watching the bushes. He saw a completely black panther slowly emerge. The panther tilted its head, looking at Xu Zifan with interest. "Mengya, is this your female? What a special female! You have good taste. No wonder you're thirty and still haven't married; you just don't find any of those other females attractive."
Seeing that he had relaxed, Mengya's voice was still cold, indicating that he was not wary. "Sada, this is the wise man recognized by the Beast God, Xu Zifan, not my female." He then said to Xu Zifan, "This black panther is Sada, the young chieftain of the Black Panther Clan, and also the strongest beastman in the Black Panther Clan."
Sada's eyes lit up. "Not your female?" He took two steps forward, his tail swaying slightly. "Female, you haven't married yet, have you? How about becoming my female? I'll protect you and give you the best. I saw you subdue that stupid thing just now. You're strong, I like you."
Xu Zifan's face was cold; he felt he must be turning pale. This damned world—he absolutely had to find a way to make them reproduce women!
Fierce Fang stepped forward to block Sada, saying unhappily, "Did you hear what I said?"
Sada asked, "Did you hear that? What does 'wise one' mean? Isn't a wise one also female? Does that mean she can't marry like a great shaman?" He saw the hesitant look in Mengya's eyes, transformed into human form, and winked at Xu Zifan with a smile on his handsome face. "I knew the Beast God didn't have that requirement. So what's wrong with me pursuing the female I like? The nobler and braver the female, the more worthy I am of pursuing her. What do you say, Zifan?"
Xu Zifan took a deep breath and said coldly, "Like the Great Shaman, I will not marry anyone, and I don't like orcs."
I hope I won't hear you say those things again.
Sada looked bewildered, even somewhat terrified. "You don't like orcs? You like females?"
"No! I don't like orcs, and I don't like females. I have no emotions because I'm here to impart wisdom to the world." Xu Zifan didn't want to discuss this anymore. After saying that, he looked at Mengya and asked, "Shall we go?"
Mengya nodded and said, "I met Sada three years ago when I was traveling. We fought and became friends. He is trustworthy." Then he looked at Sada and said, "The Tiger Clan is going against the Wise Man. We escaped and we need your help. The Wise Man can find food and herbs that we don't know about, and he knows many other things. He can reduce the death toll. The Beast God once appeared and ordered us to obey the Wise Man's commands."
Sada became serious, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized Xu Zifan. "Why won't the Tiger Clan listen?"
This was the first time Xu Zifan had heard Mengya speak so much. It seemed that this black panther was indeed trusted by Mengya, so he took the initiative to explain: "Because I have a grudge against several people in the Tiger Clan, including the young clan leader Bai Yi. The Tiger Clan leader was afraid that I would come after them if I left the Tiger Clan, so he wanted to put me under house arrest and make me work only for the Tiger Clan. But I swore an oath to the Beast God to help the people of this continent, not just the Tiger Clan, and I can't be someone with such selfish motives. That's why I escaped, hoping to find the most suitable place to settle down at the trade fair."
Sada laughed gleefully, "So it was that idiot Bai Yi. He really is capable of doing something like this. Fine, I'll help you out of respect for Mengya, but whether the Leopard Clan will fully support the Wise One is another matter. After all, we didn't receive instructions from the Beast God, so I hope you can understand."
Xu Zifan nodded. "Of course, so can we leave now? Is the trade fair about to start?"
Sada raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Let's go. Mengya is injured. I wonder if I could have the honor of giving you a ride?"
As soon as Sada finished speaking, he transformed into his beast form and lay down in front of Xu Zifan, wagging his tail twice to signal him to get on. Xu Zifan glanced at Mengya, who nodded, and only then did Xu Zifan confidently mount the black panther's back. The black panther then galloped off. He and Mengya gave off a very different feeling; his leaps and runs were remarkably light, without any sense of jolting. However, Xu Zifan remained tense, sitting upright. He hadn't forgotten that he was currently an attractive member of the opposite sex to them, and any inappropriate movement could easily lead to misunderstandings, which he desperately wanted to avoid.
This messed-up world setting is a tragedy for straight men. Xu Zifan couldn't remember how many times he'd swore since coming to this world; in short, this feeling was awful. He had to find a way to make sure no one dared to mess with him again.
No one knew that Mengya and Sada were friends. Their arrival at the trade fair together attracted everyone's attention. When they saw them transform into human form and walk on either side of Xu Zifan in a protective posture, everyone's curiosity grew even stronger. They all wondered where these females came from and how they managed to subdue Mengya and Sada so quickly.
Xu Zifan silently instructed Shao Hua to monitor the situation. "[Shao Hua, collect and record everyone's information, listen to what they're saying. I hope to analyze and identify a few reliable candidates by the end of the trade fair, and ideally, choose a suitable tribe to settle in.]"
[Shaohua: Scanning enabled, information collection enabled, personnel and information recording enabled.]
[Shaohua: Based on the whispers of the crowd, I've figured out something you didn't know before: in this world, females can marry several males and become a family, but a male can only have one female.]
[What? Polyandry?] Xu Zifan was slightly startled. Recalling his time in the Tiger Tribe, he had arranged many tasks for the tribe members, and the beastmen and females were busy every day. He hadn't paid attention to who was related to whom. He spent most of his time studying plants in his room and hadn't noticed such a strange phenomenon. But thinking about it, it made sense. There were half as many females as males, which was similar to a matriarchal society. Why would they do this to reproduce? No wonder some people looked at him with ambiguous expressions when they saw him walking with Mengya and Sada; it was a misunderstanding.
He took a deep breath, unable to make any expression. For the first time, he felt troubled because of his gender. He felt that as a "female," the road ahead was truly long and arduous. He decided to speed things up and change everything, asking the two people beside him, "Do you have any good friends? Trustworthy ones? Can you introduce them to me?"
Mengya shook his head, and Sada casually looked around for someone. "Hey, I'll introduce you to a stinky snake. Come on."