She lifted the animal hide curtain.
...
"My wings are long and I’m the fastest flier. I’ll take you back myself." Song Yi transformed into his beast form and lowered himself slightly next to An Jin, his beautiful, narrow blue eyes gazing at her gently.
"Thank you."
An Jin didn’t refuse. She readily grabbed a few tufts of soft, golden feathers on his wing and kicked her legs, trying to climb up.
Below them were sheer cliffs; only the Eagle Clan could fly down.
Before her was a beautiful Golden Eagle with a slender, elegant form. He was remarkably robust, with a wingspan of nearly six or seven meters, like a small airplane.
The Eagle Beast’s feathers, both soft and hard, shimmered in the sunlight with a dazzling, golden luster, so beautiful they were almost opulent.
Seeing the female was too small to climb up, Song Yi spread his wings and lowered them, scooping her onto his broad back.
An Jin felt the scorching yet gentle warmth of the Golden Eagle’s body radiating from beneath the tightly packed feathers under her hands.
Chi Li also transformed into a Red Fox the size of a small cat, leaping into An Jin’s arms and curling into a fluffy ball to hitch a ride with her.
This was the first time An Jin had seen Chi Li’s beast form.
’How... How is he so small? So soft?’
It was completely different from what she had imagined.
She had thought that with his flippant and sharp-tongued personality, he would be a domineering Nine-tailed Demon Fox or something similar.
Yet in her arms was a beautiful little Red Fox. Its fur was as fiery and soft as a flame, but the tips of its ears and tail each had a tuft of white.
The little fox rested its front paws softly on her arm. Its posture was noble and elegant, and its fiery red tail was so soft and fluffy it was bigger than its body.
It tilted its head and looked up at her.
Its pair of round, gilded fox eyes were as dazzling as gemstones, appearing even more limpid and gentle in the warm light.
The human and the fox stared at each other.
The little fox was utterly disgusted. "What are you looking at? Don’t look at me like that. Turn your face away."
The moment it opened its mouth, all its cuteness vanished without a trace.
Chi Li was furious. In his race, until they reached a certain level, this was the only form they could take.
But he hated how An Jin was gazing at him so gently with that motherly look one gives a cub.
The great eagle flew swiftly, and in just a short while, they reached the main city, landing at the City Lord’s Stone Castle.
Ling Hong heard the news and rushed over at once with several other Beastmen. "It’s so good to see you’re okay."
He rushed forward and pulled her into his arms, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe.
"Clan Leader, we were worried to death about you! If anything had happened to you, we would have fought them to the death!" The Beastmen clenched their fists and glared at Song Yi, who was standing to the side, mistaking him for the Golden Eagle who had abducted her.
The two brothers looked similar and were often mistaken for each other. Song Yi had taken the blame for Song Ke many times, so he had gotten used to it and couldn’t be bothered to explain.
"Clan Leader?"
He murmured those two words, then looked up at An Jin.
It was only then that Song Yi realized that this female was actually the Clan Leader of her tribe.
’Was she the one who invented that cloth?’
He was truly amazed. As for their previous trade agreement, he now agreed to it readily without a second thought.
The two sides exchanged the cloth and iron ore they needed.
...
A black and red python had been curled up in a cave in the forest. It hadn’t eaten in days, so despondent it wanted to starve itself to death.
’It’s all because I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t protect her, and that’s why Jin’er was taken.’
’I failed in my duty as a mate.’
’If she really ends up carrying an Eagle Beast’s egg, I won’t do anything malicious like secretly killing the hatchlings. If she had a few more powerful mates, maybe today’s situation wouldn’t have happened.’
When news of her return finally arrived, Gu Yin’s dead heart was rekindled. He finally emerged from the cave, wishing he could fly to her side.
"I’m sorry, Jin’er. I failed to protect you..." He was so ashamed he didn’t even dare to hug her, feeling he had lost the right. An Jin blinked her dark eyes and took the initiative to throw herself into his arms.
She nuzzled against him softly and looked up at him with her small face. "I’m fine, don’t worry. See? I’m back now."
Her voice, both delicate and soft, melted Gu Yin’s heart into a puddle.
Ling Hong, who had been walking over, stopped in his tracks. The arm he had just started to reach out was instantly and helplessly withdrawn. He watched An Jin pitifully and said, "I was worried about you, too..."
"I’m back now, so you don’t have to worry." ’Actually, I had a pretty good time there.’ Seeing how terribly ashamed the two of them were, An Jin felt even more ashamed herself.
’After all, relatively speaking, the privileges for females in this world are huge. I rarely have to worry about survival.’