Azhang raised his hand slightly, and the beastmen drew their wooden bows to full tension. Once the dragons charged, they would shoot at their weakest point—the eyes.

To the beastmen’s surprise, the ironshell-drakes and hyena-drakes had no intention of charging into Qi Ze City. Instead, they turned and retreated toward the forest.

Only after the dragons completely vanished across the plains did Ayan ask in disbelief, “Did they just leave?” Everyone knew that when hyena-drakes encountered beastmen, they never left without attacking or biting at least a few times.

Azhang shook his head. These dragons had appeared and left for no apparent reason. It didn’t look like an attack—more like they were scouting ahead.

He shared his guess with the others. Aze’s expression darkened as he remembered the hyena-drakes that had entered through the snow bear’s cave during winter and those that had ambushed beastmen in the snow.

Ayan, unaware that hyena-drakes had once ambushed them here, found it hard to believe that a group of beasts could plan such reconnaissance before a hunt.

The Salt-Water Tribe was the farthest from the forest, and although they had never encountered such a situation before, having lived in Qi Ze City for quite some time, Axu pondered Azhang’s theory seriously.

“No matter if they came to scout or not, it would be better not to leave Qi Ze City for the next few days. We can’t be sure they aren’t lying in ambush outside,” Azhang suggested when he saw Ayan’s doubtful look.

Ayan didn’t immediately agree. He wasn’t the leader of the Lion-Wolf Tribe—he needed to discuss it with Bo De before deciding.

The males and elderly females were orderly arranged in the classrooms at the school. There were desks and chairs for lessons, and Ali had brewed a pot of tea, pouring each person a cup to calm their nerves.

Several elderly females from Qi Ze City stood guard outside the classroom. The older females from the Flame-Hill Tribe exchanged surprised glances when they saw the Qi Ze elders, who were even older than themselves, calmly and methodically continuing their tasks without panic, despite dragons appearing outside the city.

Finally, one of the elderly females walked up to Ali and asked if there was anything he could help with.

Ali was momentarily stunned, then smiled and led him to Acheng. Though Acheng was supposed to stand guard outside, he knew his senses had dulled with age and weren’t as sharp as the younger females like Ashu’s. So, he and Azhu sat to the side weaving bamboo sieves.

Beside them lay many split bamboo strips. Acheng had first started weaving to make better paper, but over time he improved his craft. With Chen Qi’s many suggestions, he could now make baskets and other bamboo goods as well. The paper-making work had long been handed over to Azhu and several Salt-Water Tribe females, while Acheng had spent his time crafting bamboo products—the bamboo mats the beastmen slept on last night were made by him.

After hearing Ali’s explanation, Acheng warmly invited the elderly females to sit and handed them bamboo strips, carefully demonstrating how to weave the sieves.

Bo De quietly watched the busy Ali. The sight of that limping figure made him frown in distaste. In truth, he had long forgotten Ali’s existence over the decades. If not for seeing him surrounded by people when they arrived in Qi Ze City, and hearing that vaguely familiar name called out along with spotting the limp, Bo De might never have remembered that this was the same female he had once been betrothed to decades ago.

Decades ago, Ali had been one of the fiercest females in the Rock-Mountain Tribe. During his coming-of-age ceremony, he had led other newly adult females to hunt an adult male stegosaurus. His triumphant return carrying the prey had drawn the admiration of many young males. Bo De was older and naturally had experienced much more than the other males who had just reached adulthood and had not yet lost their childishness. This undoubtedly stood out and attracted the attention of single females.