Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 188
Chapter 188
“Regret?” The giant wolf-god chuckled as if it had heard something amusing. It stepped a few more paces into the river. “If I were to regret anything, it would probably be bringing you to our lands back then.”
The giant wolf-god’s voice was quiet. The hyena-drake leader glanced back at the pack gathered around him. Sensing his gaze, the hyena-drakes lowered their heads slightly and retreated, clearing a large space along the riverbank, leaving only the hyena-drake leader and the giant wolf-god standing in the water.
“The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. Just because you are willing to be beasts does not mean we are willing to be bound to this land forever.”
The river reflected the giant wolf-god’s figure, soon shattered and mottled by raindrops, making the image hard to discern. “Yes, it’s been nearly a thousand years. One word—‘unwilling’—and this is the state we’re in now.”
“After I die, will you kill Chen? Or will you, like me, keep it by your side to draw its energy?”
The hyena-drake leader frowned, hissing lightly. “It only has half the blood of a giant wolf-god. Better to catch more beastmen and consume them quickly.”
The giant wolf-god said nothing more, letting the rain slide down its fur. The hyena-drake leader stood silently beside it, not urging action.
“I’ve always wanted to ask—why are you so determined to take human form?”
The hyena-drake leader paused, seemingly lost in thought. Just as the giant wolf-god began to think there would be no answer, he spoke slowly: “It’s probably the unwillingness in my blood.”
The giant wolf-god looked up, waiting for him to continue.
“I am unwilling to hunt endlessly yet remain hungry. I am unwilling that thousands of years ago, it should have been our hyena-drake clan to leave the forest, yet inferior beastmen took our place. Why did your ancestors choose those weaker beastmen? They were merely food—if they hadn’t taken human form and left the forest, how could they dare oppose us? And you… After your clan was wiped out, you still tried to protect those beastmen. Tell me, why is that?”
The hyena-drake leader’s voice grew colder. The hyena-drakes standing at a distance, intimidated by their leader, quietly continued moving away from the riverbank until they disappeared into the newly grown grass.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Do you think polluting the Sanchen River with your blood would weaken us? Your dead kin never imagined that the Dosa River on the plains has the same power to purify the beastly blood within us as the Sanchen River does. Not as strong as the Sanchen’s tributaries, but since the past two winters, many dragons have gathered at the Dosa. Soon, all the dragons in this forest will know. When that happens, carnivorous dragons like us will set foot on the plains. How long do you think the beastmen will survive? Can they remain high predators—or will they become prey?”
The giant wolf-god pursed its lips, replying with a question instead, “If Chen could take human form, would you even eat it?”
“He is just a half-breed. Even if you treat him as king, he will forever be a beast, bound to our lands and this damned river.” The hyena-drake leader’s tone was furious, teeth clenched, voice sharp with anger.
The giant wolf-god sneered. “He certainly didn’t tell you that the other half of his blood belongs to the beastmen, did he?”
“What did you say?” The hyena-drake leader snorted, exhaling sharply, a threatening growl rising from his throat.
“Do it.” The giant wolf-god did not wish to speak further. It did not like Chen, yet its position was granted by Chen. Regardless of why Chen had left the tribe, now that hope had been discovered, it would finish this final task for the last of its people. It never regretted the clan’s extinction. Even if it had interfered back then, it held no regrets. If this could’ve led to transformation, perhaps it would’ve still desired to live.
But some things Chen could do, which it could not—taking human form, freely traveling the plains, the cub who had lived in the beastmen tribe since birth.
The giant wolf god raised its head, letting the rain slide down its face. On the day its clan was destroyed, the storm had been much the same. The source of the Sanchen River had been drowned in endless red. From that day on, the hyena-drakes found that consuming the flesh of the giant wolf-god sharpened their consciousness. Some even learned to think like beastmen, while it itself gained the ability to speak after consuming its own kin.
The information hidden in the blood concealed the secret that beastmen could transform. It made the giant wolf-god believe, again and again, that perhaps one day it too could succeed in taking human form, leaving the forest behind to step onto the endless plains. It had heard that at the far end of the plains lay an infinite expanse of water, called the sea—the territory of the Azure Dragon. The giant wolf-god had longed to see it, but it was not Chen. In summer, it could not remain on the plains, or it would weaken and die.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Because it had broken the taboo of eating beastmen—an act forbidden for thousands of years—its body grew weaker by the day. In the past, it would never have imagined that one day it would wish to fulfill its duty as the king of the giant wolf-gods, and all for a cub it had never even seen. Its former self would likely have despised such a thought.
“I thought you would insist on transforming at any cost,” the hyena-drake leader said slowly, approaching the giant wolf-god. From the day they first met, he had recognized in the other a beast as ruthless as himself—though a giant wolf-god, its blood still carried a violent, cold-blooded edge.
“I never insisted on doing it at all costs. I tried… but I failed,” the giant wolf-god said, exhaustion flickering across its eyes, mingled with a sense of unrecognized relief.
The hyena-drake leader paused, staring deeply at the giant wolf-god. He stepped closer, his tongue brushing the fragile skin of its neck. The wet fur sent a chill through the giant wolf-god’s body—perhaps the proximity of death made it stiffen—but it soon relaxed again.
The hyena-drake leader sniffed, as if committing the scent to memory, lingering without moving for a long time.
“What? Addicted to my blood? Can’t bear to let go?” The awkward closeness made the giant wolf-god uneasy.
“No.” The hyena-drake leader continued, slow and deliberate. He leaned close to whisper in its ear: “When your blood runs dry, I will tear your flesh and bones bit by bit, chew them, swallow them, and make you part of my body. Do you think that’s fair? I’ve never eaten the giant wolf-gods’ king before. I wonder if you taste different from the others—less pleasant? More delicious? Your blood is already exquisite, so the rest can’t be much worse.”
The giant wolf-god held its head half-raised, ignoring his words—until a sharp pain lanced through its neck. Dizziness swept over it, and its body collapsed uncontrollably into the river.
Bright red blood flowed from the wound, mingling with the rain and quickly seeping into the river. The once calm water began to churn, carrying the faint tang of blood outward.
“What’s wrong?” A man in white fur glanced back at the giant wolf-god, puzzled by its sudden halt.
“There seems to be one less of my kin.”
“Your kin? Do you mean the cub or your new king?”
“You seem very concerned about that cub.”
“Didn’t you say it carries my scent? Maybe it’s my child,” the man said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“Wouldn’t you know if you had children?” The giant wolf-god rolled its eyes, pushing the strange feeling aside. “How does it feel to walk on two legs?”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The man tilted his head. “You can try it yourself. You should be able to transform by now.”
“It’s not yet time.” The giant wolf-god passed him and continued forward. “Unlike you, once I transform, I won’t be able to change back.”
Neither spoke again, and soon the man and the beast vanished into the thick rain.
Aling remained crouched in the grass, motionless for a day and a night, until the blood of the giant wolf-god in the river was fully washed away. As the hyena-drake leader had said, it had devoured the giant wolf-god bit by bit.
“After the rain stopped, countless dragons gathered around the Sanchen River. I’ve never seen such formations before, and many of the dragons were ones I’d never even seen,” Aling said, scanning the assembled crowd. He had recounted this when he first met the beastmen of the Lion-Wolf Tribe, but now the story emerged clearer and more organized.
“I’ve lived in the forest for decades and have encountered most dragons there. I’ve even ventured deep into the forest several times. But this time, even along a fairly ordinary stretch of the Sanchen River, there were dragons I had never seen. Most carnivorous dragons looked weak, as if from long hunger, but after lingering near the river for a few days, they regained their strength.”
“Did this happen after the giant wolf-god’s blood mixed into the river?” Chen Qi asked. He already had a rough idea of what had happened. Unlike the beastmen, he wasn’t bound by their ways of thinking, and he had some understanding of this world before arriving—so he was not as surprised as the others.
Aling nodded. “And do you know what happened to the hyena-drake that ate the giant wolf-god?”
“What happened?”
Aling clenched his hands. Even having witnessed it himself, it still seemed unbelievable. He took a deep breath to steady his emotions and slowly said, “That hyena-drake… transformed into a human on the day the thunderstorm ended. He looked just like us.”
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 1 of 3 for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
