013 Green Scale Beast Crystal, for you.

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Blood dripped onto the beast mark over Lanxi’s chest. The pale-violet patterns immediately flared to life, spreading faint trails of radiance like sparks that had just been kindled.

Liyue watched the glow gradually fade before withdrawing her arm. Her voice still carried a tremor she had only just suppressed, yet her tone was firm.

“That makes the first of the three blood offerings I promised you. I’ll give you the other two tomorrow and the day after.”

As for why she could not finish all three at once, that was simply the rule: blood offerings could not be completed in a single day. At most, one could be given each day. That was also why females were unwilling to use blood offerings to dissolve their contracts.

Lanxi’s entire body stiffened. His violet eyes fixed on her bleeding arm, then shifted to her face, where she was pretending to remain calm. Something seemed to strike him in the chest.

He had assumed that her promise to give blood was merely something she had blurted out in desperation, afraid that he would refuse to save her. After all, she had once been skilled at coaxing promises out of them, only to forget them completely the moment she turned away.

But now, not only had she honored her promise and given blood, she had also pledged to complete all three offerings.

He had given blood once while making salt. Adding these three offerings made four.

Once he reached six, he would be able to dissolve the contract completely and escape the female who had once tormented him until he wished he were dead.

It should have been something worth celebrating. Yet for some reason, he felt nothing like as happy as he had imagined.

His gaze fell on the wound in her arm, where blood was still seeping out. His Adam’s apple bobbed once before he asked softly, “Doesn’t it… hurt?”

The question pierced through the composure Liyue had been forcing herself to maintain.

How could it not hurt?

When the giant crocodile serpent’s fangs had raked across her arm, it had felt as though her flesh itself had been torn open. She had deliberately left the wound unsealed so she could give the blood offering, and now it burned fiercely, making her arm tremble faintly.

She had not dared complain of the pain while looking at the beast companions, whose injuries were even more severe than hers. But at Lanxi’s question, all her grievances surged up at once. Her eyes reddened, tears swirling within them, though she bit her lip hard and refused to let them fall.

She did not want to cry in front of them. Every one of these villains wished they could kill her, and crying before them would only give them something to laugh at.

But the pain was real, and so was her grievance.

Sniffling, Liyue turned and hurried over to Siqi. She extended the arm that was still bleeding and spoke with a slight nasal twang.

“Siqi, could you heal me? I’ll give you one blood offering in return.”

Siqi was a priest and could heal through spiritual power. But since she was asking him for help, she naturally had to show some sincerity.

By offering him blood of her own accord, she was making it a fair exchange.

Siqi looked at her reddened eyes, then at the wound on her arm. A complicated emotion flickered through his amber gaze.

He had originally hoped to accumulate as many blood offerings as possible so he could dissolve the contract sooner. Yet now that he had heard her request, he could not feel the slightest joy.

Indeed, he found that her nasal-voiced plea mattered more to him than the blood offering itself.

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Siqi frowned slightly and reached out to hold her arm down.

“Heal the wound first. Don’t move.”

“But—”

Liyue still wanted to insist. Once the wound was healed, she would have to cut her skin open again if she wanted to give him blood.

If the matter could be settled in one go, she did not want to endure the pain of reopening the wound. Besides, they did not even have strips of cloth with which to bandage it.

“No buts.” Siqi cut her off.

A faint white light appeared at his fingertips, and gentle spiritual power enveloped the wound.

In an instant, the fiery pain vanished, and the bleeding stopped as well.

She stared at the injury in astonishment. The wound, which had been deep, began healing beneath the covering of spiritual power at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the end, not even a scar remained—only a faint blush of pink.

It was her first experience of being healed by spiritual power, and it was far more miraculous than she had imagined.

She parted her lips, intending to thank him, only to see that Siqi had already withdrawn his hand. He turned to retrieve some herbs, leaving her with a slightly rigid back.

Clearly, a mere verbal thank-you was not enough to move a villain. So she said, “Tomorrow, when I give Lanxi his blood offering, I’ll give you one as well.”

Siqi’s figure stiffened slightly, but he said nothing.

Afterward, he took herbs from his hide pouch and distributed them among the others.

Healing magic consumed a great deal of spiritual power. Siqi had already expended much of his strength fighting the giant crocodile serpent, so he had no intention of wasting more of it on the males’ wounds.

The males accepted the herbs and tended to their injuries, but all their gazes remained fixed on Liyue.

Liyue realized that they probably would not be able to continue traveling immediately, so she quietly sat beneath a tree to rest.

The males treated their wounds with distracted movements. They could all clearly sense that Liyue seemed different somehow.

Jinye pressed herbs against the wound near his shoulder blade, baring his teeth at the pain, yet his gaze remained glued to Liyue’s profile.

She leaned against the tree trunk, her lashes lowered. Her deep-purple hair lay carelessly across her shoulders, while sunlight fell upon her face and softened even her formerly pallid complexion with a tender flush of pink.

He suddenly lost himself in thought. If she remained like this—if she stopped brandishing her whip and shouting at them, if she even began sharing meat and honoring her promises—then perhaps not dissolving the contract would not be so bad after all.

The thought had barely surfaced when Jinye abruptly came to his senses, startling even himself. He instinctively raised a hand and smacked it against his head.

He cursed himself inwardly. She had abused him so terribly in the past, yet the moment she showed him the slightest kindness, he forgot all the pain. What a spineless fool!

He could scold himself all he liked, but when he looked at Liyue again, that strange emotion in his heart still refused to fade.

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Youlie also stiffly turned his gaze away from Liyue. His dark-red eyes were filled with conflicting emotions.

As soon as he looked away, he saw the carcass of the giant crocodile serpent nearby.

Rather than dwell on such useless thoughts, he might as well see whether he could find a beast crystal.

He walked over. Sharp black claws emerged from his fingers, and he slashed viciously at the giant crocodile serpent’s hard skull.

The sound of cracking scales grated against the air, but he paid it no attention. After reaching into the flesh and groping around for a moment, his fingertips suddenly touched something cold and hard.

The next instant, he pulled out a green crystal the size of a pigeon’s egg. Under the sunlight, it shimmered with a warm green radiance.

It was a Green-Rank beast crystal.

“Green-Rank?” Chiyu was the first to hurry over. Astonishment filled his pale-green eyes. “Looks like luck is on our side. We killed a Green-Rank beast and obtained a beast crystal.”

Siqi also raised his head, a ripple of emotion passing through his amber eyes.

Green-Rank beast crystals were exceedingly precious in the beast world. Of the group, only Lanxi had reached the Green Rank; everyone else had been stuck at the Yellow Rank for a long time. With this crystal, at least one of them would have a chance to break through to the Green Rank.

Lanxi came over as well. He looked at the beast crystal with violet eyes, but there was little excitement in his expression.

That was because whenever a male hunted a powerful beast and obtained a beast crystal, he was required to hand it over to the female.

Beast crystals in the beast world were divided into two categories: colored crystals and transparent crystals.

Transparent crystals could strengthen the body and thereby extend one’s lifespan.

Males were generally reluctant to use transparent crystals themselves, choosing instead to give them to females.

Colored crystals could raise one’s rank, but once a crystal was handed to a female, she was not necessarily willing to return it to the male.

Beast crystals were hard currency in the beast world. At the tribal market, they could be exchanged for all sorts of supplies.

They could buy the rare grain fruit that females loved to eat, or splendid hides and beautiful shell necklaces.

Youlie held the beast crystal in his hand, silent for several seconds. Then he turned and walked toward Liyue.

Liyue was leaning beneath the tree with her eyes closed, resting. When she heard footsteps and opened her eyes, she saw Youlie holding out the green crystal to her.

She stared for a moment, then looked at Youlie questioningly.

“A Green-Rank beast crystal taken from the giant crocodile serpent. It’s yours.”

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