"Are you swapping or not? If not, let's end the deal quickly—I'm waiting to go shopping."
Shen Yunyun reached for the button to terminate the transaction, and Xu Zimo quickly said, "I'll swap."
Though this white crystal core wasn't much use to him, he could trade it with other cultivators—for example, exchanging it for talismans from a talisman master.
The two finished the transaction, and Shen Yunyun hurried back to the beastmen.
This beastman situation was different from her earlier encounter with the Empress. Back then, she'd wasted time outside holding Little Tangyuan, but not much time had actually passed on her end.
Here, though, it was a different story. When she returned, Zhi had already been tied up, and a tall pile of firewood had been erected on the altar.
A beastman with long feathers stuck in his hair and black ash smeared on his face held a crooked, snake-like staff in one hand and a tortoise shell in the other. Barefoot, he danced on the ground with bizarre, contorted movements.
Around him, a group of beastmen chanted lowly in a language Shen Yunyun couldn't understand.
The feathered beastman suddenly spread his arms toward the sky, muttered something under his breath, let out a loud roar, and pointed the wooden staff at Zhi.
Three beastmen hopped forward in a strange dance. Two pinned Zhi down, while the third bared sharp claws and raised a hand high.
Shen Yunyun had no doubt that with one swipe, Zhi's veins and throat would be slashed open—maybe even his head would part ways with his body.
Without a word, she tossed out a lightning talisman.
A sudden crack of thunder exploded above the beastmen's heads.
Shen Yunyun appeared on the altar.
The beastmen trembled in fear and immediately fell to their knees.
One of them gasped, "Beast God! Beast God!"
All of them looked up at the altar, and upon seeing Shen Yunyun standing there, they kowtowed to her.
"I don't like your sacrifices at all!" Shen Yunyun pulled out a portable speaker—the kind used for square dancing—and shouted into the microphone.
The beastmen, startled by the loud noise, kowtowed frantically.
"I want you to love each other, help one another, and support each other in times of need. I don't want you killing people as sacrifices," Shen Yunyun repeated.
"Yes, Beast God," the feathered beastman, thinking he could communicate with the deity, was the first to respond.
But Shen Yunyun looked at Zhi. He had already freed himself from his bonds and knelt before her.
Shen Yunyun raised an eyebrow slightly. This Zhi had big plans.
He clearly had the ability to save himself, yet he insisted on asking her for help.
Maybe he feared being ostracized by the beast world if he escaped on his own, or maybe he wanted to use her influence to secure his position as leader.
Oh well, she'd go along with his wish—consider it added value.
She spoke again: "The birds of a thousand mountains, the beasts of the forests, the fish of the seas—anything without intelligence can be your food.
You must not kill each other, must not harbor evil thoughts. Zhi is kind-hearted and resourceful, worthy of great responsibility."
All the beastmen kowtowed tremblingly, endlessly echoing Shen Yunyun's words.
In truth, Shen Yunyun doubted they understood a thing she said.
She knew very little about the beast world—she'd only read two novels about it, both steamy. Either it was about how a beast husband doted on his little female, or how many babies a female gave birth to in one litter.
There was even a snake husband with two of those things—use one, then the other. The spice was relentless.
The sky was blue, the flowers were red, and she was yellow.
She just loved reading that spicy stuff, mostly skimming through it.
What the normal beast-world novel formula was, she had no clue.
So everything she'd just said was just a lead-up to that last line.