Chapter 5

Chapter 5: How Dare She!

The words barely left her mouth before heads snapped toward her. A ripple of attention spread through the crowd—sharp, curious, and not a little hostile.

Kane Xue Zha De Lin let out a cold laugh. “That’s what you said yourself. Who knows if you’ve got some brother backing you? If it keeps you out of Breeding Den, lying isn’t exactly impossible.”

Lin Lang’s brow knotted. For a moment, it looked like he would cut Kane off. But when his gaze flicked to Su Yan’s face, he held back, jaw tight.

“The Fertility Stone didn’t react,” someone murmured. “That’s never happened before.”

Grom’s eyes stayed on Su Yan, steady and probing, as if she could peel away flesh with a look and find the truth hidden underneath.

“Enough,” Grom said. “We’ll begin the final stage of the coming-of-age ceremony—the Female Contest. Males choose. Females decide.”

Lin Lang raised his hand first, clean and decisive. “I choose Su Yan Mi Lu Te.”

Silence struck for a beat—then the clearing shifted as every gaze swung his way.

He was the most coveted male in this Female Contest. If he chose Ashley, no one would be surprised. A strong match with a strong match—people loved that sort of outcome. They expected it.

Ashley’s expression changed in an instant. Rona’s did too, the same stiff flash of disbelief, as if both of them had been slapped.

Even Grom stared at Lin Lang, caught off guard. “Lin Lang, think carefully. A male only gets one chance to choose.”

“I want her,” Lin Lang said, like it wasn’t even a question.

“Her fertility is unknown.”

“So what?” Lin Lang’s voice stayed flat, almost bored. “The tribe’s bloodline won’t fall apart because of me.”

“But you’re Jia Luo,” someone pressed, voice growing sharper with each word. “Warrior blood. Our youngest and strongest male. Yellow-grade earth talent. Your children should be born from a female with proven fertility.”

The meaning was obvious. Pick her granddaughter. Pick Ashley Gu Sa.

Su Yan stepped forward before the pressure could fully close around her throat. She planted her feet, lifted her chin, and asked, clear as a blade drawn from its sheath, “Then how much dowry does Warrior Lin Lang have?!”

Dowry—not bride price.

In other words, she meant to be the wife-lord.

Little Luo’s face went blank, as if his thoughts had scattered like startled mice.

His sister was out of her mind.

She was so thin she looked like a strong breeze could fold her in half, and her fertility wasn’t even clear. How could she dare demand that Lin Lang Jia Luo lower himself and become a beast husband?

Su Yan didn’t look away. Not once.

Lin Lang’s mouth curved at one corner, a wicked, careless sort of smile. He reached down, yanked the leather pouch from his waist, and tossed it lightly in his palm. “Sixteen crystal coins.”

The pouch opened.

A bright, ringing clatter spilled out—sixteen coins tumbling onto the ground, crystal-clear and gleaming, each one catching the light in a different color like frozen fire.

For a second, no one breathed.

Then the clearing erupted.

The outer edge of the Senyu Beast Forest held only ordinary beasts.

But deeper in, where the trees grew thick and the shadows turned heavy, lived devil beasts—stronger than anything that should have existed under the same sky.

Devil beasts were sly by nature. They could steal a beastman’s gift simply by eating a gifted beastman. If they could also take human form and speak, they’d be no different from mutant strain beastmen.

They were the common enemy. Every beastman clan dreamed of erasing them from the world.

And crystal coins were exactly what their name implied—the crystals formed inside a devil beast’s body.

The purer the crystal, the stronger the devil beast it came from.

The sixteen Lin Lang displayed were all flawless, all top-grade—the kind found only in large devil beasts.

One top-grade crystal coin could be traded for one hundred thousand red coins.

Sixteen coins meant one million six hundred thousand red coins.

A fortune so huge it made people’s mouths go dry.

Whether Lin Lang killed those devil beasts himself or not, those coins were still a banner of strength and wealth.

Lin Lang lifted his eyes to Su Yan. “Is it enough?”

Every gaze followed his and landed on her.

Sixteen top-grade crystal coins. In the past, even the loose change from a haul like that would have been enough to marry Ashley.

Ashley’s face went tight and ugly.

Rona’s glare turned sharp enough to cut—because the male she’d wanted was Lin Lang too, and now that hope was being ripped out of her hands.

Su Yan didn’t know the precise value, but she didn’t need to. The way the other females reacted told her everything: this was an enormous dowry.

Then—

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A rapid drumbeat hammered from outside, urgent and rhythmic, like the heartbeat of something huge running straight toward them.