Beastmaster of the Ages

There were around fifty villagers outside the house, all of them towering and fierce. The sight of so many giants in one place was shocking to behold. Beibei’s straw house was completely surrounded. Shi Xiao glared at her and said, ”Where’s that arrogant outworlder? Have him come out!”

”How dare an outworlder mess with the silverfoxes and hurt the son of our chief?! Come out!”

”So much for all that bravado! Where’s he gone to hide?! Don’t tell me he escaped!”

A few middle-aged strongmen stood beside Shi Xiao, radiating cosmoforce. Their bestial appearances made them even more sinister. They looked very similar to each other, clearly brothers. In a small village like this one, there was nobody to stop families like these that bullied each other with their numbers. The regions outside the village belonged to the desolation beasts, so the villagers had no choice but to endure bad treatment for the sake of survival.

”Tuyi, Changhe, Hetu, stop shouting. The outworlder youth is long gone. He was just passing by. He simply struck Shi Xiao out of rage because he tried to use soulstones as a justification to attempt to kidnap my daughter.” Though Aunt Hua was sick, she stood her ground before the mob, shielding her daughter behind her as she fiercely glared at the mob.

”Nonsense!” Tuyi snapped. He looked at the other villagers and said, ”What do you mean ‘justification’? What do you mean by kidnap, eh?! Don’t make it sound worse than it actually is! Your man borrowed soulstones from my nephew, Shi Xiao, then croaked! Everyone in the village knows that! Are you trying to worm your way out of it?!”

”That’s right!”

”He did borrow them. I’m a witness.”

”Aunt Hua, don’t make things up. We saw your man borrow those soulstones.”

The rest looked away when they supplied their testimonies. It was clear how much it was going against their conscience to say what they did. Even then, nobody dared to defy the royals.

Aunt Hua teared up at the sight of her acquaintances not standing up for her. This was an unreasonable world!

”Aunt Hua, did the outworlder really leave?” Shi Xiao sternly said.

”He did!”

”Very well,” Shi Xiao snickered as he looked at the girl behind her.

His uncle, Hetu, laughed. ”Beibei there harmed my nephew with this outworlder. It’s truly unforgivable, especially toward your creditor. Since Beibei is of birthing age, she has to give Shi Xiao three children as repayment for the debt, per the rules of our village. But now, that offense increased that number to five. She’s to join our household right away. Aunt Hua, you wouldn’t go against the village’s regulations, would you?”

Aunt Hua visibly shook at the mere thought of that. Beibei’s face paled as she broke into tears. Everyone in that little world of hers seemed to be against her and her mother.

”Aunt Hua, how could you have been such a fool? The fact that someone from a family of your stature can join the chief’s household is a blessing of the ages!”

A few other women echoed that sentiment.

”That’s right! Once she marries into their house, nobody would dare to mess with Beibei anymore!”

”Even after you’re gone, she’ll be taken care of!”

”Beibei might be young, but Shi Xiao has experience. There’s a lot she can learn from him.”

”Shi Xiao is incredibly talented, even in the Creek Martial Academy! His future seems like it would outshine that of many seniors! Is there anything more lucky than being allowed to accompany him? Not even my daughter is that lucky!”

”How envious indeed!”

”It’s a good chance. Let Beibei marry up. If only aunties like us got a chance like that back in our day!”

They laughed and gossiped to no end, completely dispelling the angry aura of the mob, yet all of them knew that there was no way Shi Xiao was going to give Beibei any real status in the household. He was already betrothed to someone else in the village from a bigger household. Someone like Beibei wasn’t even worth her slippers.

All that would result from their union was that she would be kept confined by Shi Xiao in the village and serve as his toy and birthing machine, to be discarded when he got bored of her. That didn’t stop the ladies from playing up her fortune, however. They continued cheering her on, not noticing that Shi Xiao’s expression was growing more and more sour.

”Shut up!” he snapped, startling quite a lot of them. They looked at him, confused at his sudden angry outburst.

”What is it, Shi Xiao?” Tuyi asked. Hetu nudged him a moment later and he immediately understood. That was just what Shi Xiao was like.

”All of you, listen to what Shi Xiao has to say!” the brothers ordered.

Shi Xiao shot a cold look at Aunt Hua and Beibei. With the meanest tone he could muster, he said, ”Qian Beibei, you colluded with an outworlder and made an attempt on my life! If not for my quick reaction, I would’ve been dead! Someone as shameless and psychotic as you deserves to be punished by the village! I motion that you be made a public surrogate to contribute to the village! As for your mother, she’s afflicted by the fatigue and doesn’t have long to live. As punishment for her crimes of raising her daughter so badly, I motion that she be burned to death! If we don’t do that, her curse will bring all of us down!”

The mob was shocked. All of them backed away in fear at the sight of Shi Xiao.

”Public surrogacy and death by fire? Are you certain?” Tuyi said.

”Of course! I almost died! I’m not about to just let it go!”

The dozens of villagers gave each other looks. They had thought that Shi Xiao was only causing a commotion to get Beibei to submit to him, but little did they know that he’d been truly enraged. Not to mention, Shi Xiao had been sent to Creektown to study in the martial academy from a young age. Someone like him would never consider Beibei much of a prize. It would have been fine if he hadn’t been angered, but now that he was, he would simply condemn her to a torturous fate.

”Third Uncle, Fifth Uncle, Sixth Uncle, do you guys not agree?” Shi Xiao said, glaring at them.

”This....”

”Nope.”

”Of course not.”

”Colluding with an outworlder to harm a prodigy of our village must be punished!”

They didn’t seem to hesitate to side with the son of their brother.