Chapter 19
Chapter 19: It Made Him Over the Moon
Little Luo burst in, breathless. “Sister—someone’s here. Brother Lin Lang.”
Su Yan paused mid-bite. “Did Ashley give birth?”
“Haven’t heard anything.” Little Luo shook his head. “A new baby in the mouse clan is a big deal. They wouldn’t hide it, especially not for the tribal shaman’s granddaughter. If there were news, we’d know.”
Outside, Lin Lang’s voice thundered through the yard.
“Zulu! Get out here!”
Su Yan’s heart tightened. “What happened between them?”
She tried to stand, but Zulu pressed her gently back down.
“It’s nothing,” he said, calm and dismissive. “That guy’s brain got rammed by a boar. I’ll handle it, then I’ll go pick fruit for you.”
Su Yan let him go, one hand on her belly. Hunger gnawed again, a steady ache.
Next time, she told herself bleakly, if she ever took a golden marrow pill again, she’d stockpile heavenly treasures first.
The noise outside faded. From the silence, Su Yan guessed the two men had left the courtyard.
Little Luo hovered by the doorway, clearly wanting to speak.
Su Yan pushed the plate toward him. “Do you want some too?”
Little Luo jerked his hands up. “No. Jerky is fine for me.”
“Then what is it?” Su Yan asked. “You’re twitchy.”
Little Luo hesitated, then blurted, “Brother Lin Lang is angry because Brother Zulu became my brother-in-law.”
Su Yan let out a quiet breath and didn’t answer.
…
Zulu and Lin Lang didn’t stop until they reached the Greenwood Plains Beast Forest. Only then did their faces truly harden.
Wind moved through the canopy in long, restless breaths, carrying the scents of sap, damp earth, and old blood. Somewhere deeper inside, something howled once—far away, but close enough to raise the hair on the neck.
Both men were Yellow-rank talents. Neither was weak.
“You can’t beat me,” Zulu said, blunt as a blade. “And you still have hidden injuries from that devil beast. At least half a level down.”
“If I don’t try, how will I know?” Lin Lang snapped.
He attacked first.
The earth split open as if struck by an unseen axe. Dozens of soil spikes burst upward, stabbing toward Zulu with killing intent.
Zulu sprang onto a tall tree, light as wind. A thorn vine snapped from his wrist, lashing out, tangling the spikes, yanking them sideways so they tore up clumps of dirt instead of flesh.
Lin Lang’s expression changed. “You have wood-type talent too?”
“My wood-type talent is even higher than my water-type,” Zulu said, almost bored. “Close to profound rank. So don’t waste your strength.”
He turned, already moving deeper into the forest. “I have fruit to find for Yan Yan. We’ll drink together another day.”
Lin Lang didn’t chase.
What was there to chase with? Earth against water and wood. And Zulu had already stepped into her home—already taken what Lin Lang had once dreamed of.
Lin Lang stood among the trees, fists clenched so tight his knuckles went white, and swallowed the bitterness down like poison.
Zulu had said it plainly for a reason. Heavenly treasures were rarely unguarded, and he refused to waste strength on Lin Lang when a guardian beast awaited.
The Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit was no exception.
A two-headed wolf—wind-type devil beast, Yellow-rank talent—protected it.
Zulu had crossed paths with it before. The last time, they’d ended in a stalemate—claws and ice, wind and water, neither side finding a true opening.
This time, Zulu didn’t have the luxury of a draw.
The two-headed wolf fixed him with four eyes, each gaze bright and hungry. Its lips peeled back. Two throats rumbled, and its roar rolled through the trees like a storm warning.
Zulu drew his bone knife. The blade looked small in his hand—until the way he held it made it feel like an executioner’s tool.
“I only want the Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit behind you,” he said evenly. “Give it to me, and I’ll spare you. Refuse, and I’ll take your devil crystal too.”
The wolf answered with its body.
It lunged.
Claws flashed—each one larger than a grown man’s palm, sharp enough to split stone. Wind screamed around its paws.
Zulu vanished.
The next instant, a scream tore out of both wolf throats.
Zulu had appeared at its waist. He brought a bamboo blade down hard—
crack.
Bone gave like snapped wood.
The wolf’s claws raked through Zulu’s afterimage… and hit nothing but water, the impact splashing across the ground in a cold spray.
Water Profundity Shadow-Body Technique—a feint to the east, a strike from the west.
Zulu snapped thorn vines around the wolf’s limbs, binding it. The vines tightened, digging in, leaving thin lines of blood.
Both wolf heads snapped open, spitting wind blades. The air itself turned into knives.
The vines shredded.
More blades hissed toward Zulu.
Zulu lifted his hand, answering with ice. Ice blades met wind blades in midair, shattering into glittering fragments that rained down like broken glass.
The wolf moved like a storm, speed nearly an afterimage as it circled behind him and launched another barrage.
Zulu slammed an ice wall into place. The wind blades struck, screeching, carving shallow grooves into the frozen surface.
With his other hand he ripped a tree from the earth—roots tearing free with a wet, violent sound—and hurled it.
The two-headed wolf’s body swelled, strength surging, and it caught the trunk with a brutal heave.
Zulu used that heartbeat.
Shadow bodies blossomed—false Zulus darting left and right. The wolf snapped and snarled at illusions, wind blades slicing through empty air, while the real Zulu slipped low, silent as breath, to its belly.
He drove the bone knife in where the devil crystal sat deep inside the abdomen.
The wolf screamed, a sound so sharp it sent birds exploding from the canopy in a frantic storm of wings.
Beastmen hunting throughout the forest heard it.
Even Lin Lang, already outside the Greenwood Plains Beast Forest, heard it—and went pale.
He knew that two-headed wolf. Even without his old injuries, he couldn’t have killed it that quickly.
…
Oro returned home with a bucket of fresh cow milk.
The moment Su Yan smelled it, her mouth watered. The rich scent hit her like a hook. “Dad, I want cow milk.”
“I bought it for you,” Oro said quickly, already pouring a bowl.
Su Yan drank it down in one breath. “More.”
Oro stared at the bucket, then at her. “…Here.”
By the time she’d drained more than half of it, she finally eased back, breathing hard. The hunger still lurked, but it stopped clawing for a moment.
“Has Brother Zulu come back yet?”
Oro hurried outside. When he returned, his face was lit with joy. “He’s back. He’s back!”
Zulu strode in with the Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit in one hand. Over his shoulder he carried a live deer bound in thorn vines, still kicking.
“I’m back.” His gaze swept the room, fierce with worry. “Is Yan Yan okay?”
Oro hurried to take the deer from him. “She’s been asking for you. Go.”
Zulu was already running.
Su Yan had skimmed enough from the system book to know the simplest use was the best.
The Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit could be stewed into medicine, or refined into Seven-Star Pill—but she couldn’t refine pills.
Eating it directly wasted nothing.
She popped the red fruits into her mouth one by one, chewing even the star-shaped seeds until they broke.
It was sweet at first, then bitter and spicy, heat blooming down her throat and into her chest.
And gradually—slowly—the endless hunger loosened its grip, like a hand unclenching.
By the time she finished the whole plant, she leaned back and let out a small, helpless burp.
Zulu hovered beside her, eyes locked on her face, waiting for the smallest sign of trouble.
“I’m fine,” Su Yan said, and then her shoulders sagged with relief. “And… I finally don’t feel hungry.”
She reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You worked hard, Brother Zulu.”
With her clinging to him like that, Zulu looked like he’d won the whole world.
Then doubt flickered. “Why don’t you feel hungry now? What if it’s not pregnancy? What if it’s some kind of sickness—”
“It’s because of the Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit,” Su Yan said, laughing softly. “It’s a heavenly treasure. One plant probably equals who knows how much fresh meat.”
“A heavenly treasure…” Zulu murmured, thinking of the guardian wolf. A devil beast didn’t guard something worthless.
And when he’d arrived, the fruit had just ripened—perfect timing.
Su Yan lifted her head. “Is there more in the beast forest?”
“Yes,” Zulu said immediately.
In his mind, he was already turning Greenwood Plain upside down.
Whatever it took, he’d find more for his female.