Chapter 487: The Mystery Behind Premature Deaths of the Young
A’ze soon brought in a tall and thin middle-aged human-bird hybrid with gray wings.
The human-bird hybrid, named A’hui, was very skinny, with protruding cheekbones and a long scar across the right half of his face. He looked very fierce.
“A’hui pays respects to Elder Bai,” A’hui said. He seemed to be very respectful of Elder Bai.
“Miss Yun, this is A’shui’s father. You can ask him anything you want!” Elder Bai said.
“Where’s A’shui’s mother?” asked Yun Jiuge, realizing that she had not seen a female eagle after being in Eagle Cliff for so long. Could it be possible that the female was eaten after she gave birth to a child?
“She died because of a difficult birth,” said A’hui. Although his voice sounded cold, there was a flash of pain in his eyes. She could tell that he still had feelings for his wife.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Yun Jiuge said in a low voice. Then she asked, “Do you still remember what your wife mainly ate while she was pregnant with A’shui?”
“I remember,” A’hui nodded and said, “At that time, her appet.i.te was extremely poor. She did not want to eat anything at all. So, I specially went to the Blue Lake to find the freshest Gaga Gra.s.s for her to eat. Later, her appet.i.te gradually improved and she ate spiders, bamboo rats, pythons from the mountains along with us…”
A’hui listed each item clearly.
Yun Jiuge became increasingly dumbfounded as she listened. She knew these things had no nutrition the moment she heard them. How could a pregnant female tolerate eating these every day?
A’hui astutely perceived Yun Jiuge’s thinking and said a little angrily, “These were already the best I could find. At the time, many pregnant females did not eat as well as she did.”
“That’s right. A’hui is an expert hunter. It happened to be winter at the time and food was scarce. Several old people in our clan almost starved to death,” Elder Bai added with a sigh.
It was truly a shame that their Eagle Clan was a king of the sky, yet they were unable to let their clan members safely survive the cold winter.
“Alright, can you bring those foodstuffs for me to take a look?” Yun Jiuge once again corrected her thinking.
This was not s.h.i.+wan Grand Mountain, which was plentiful in natural resources. It was a barren land devastated by the Death Energy which made it extremely difficult to source for food.
“We have stock in our warehouse. I’ll show them to you,” Elder Bai said. He brought Yun Jiuge to the Eagle Clan’s warehouse.
She could see that this warehouse inside the cliff was vast and very cool, but there were too little foodstuffs. It looked very empty.
“Last winter, the snow came extremely fast. We almost didn’t make it because we didn’t prepare enough. So, we’ve begun preparing the supplies early this year. These are foodstuffs specially prepared for the pregnant females,” Elder Bai said while he opened a large wooden box.
Sun-dried spiders, poisonous snakes, field mice and other things were placed inside.
Yun Jiuge’s face could not help twitch a little. How could they fill their stomachs with so little food?
It seemed that the human-beast hybrid clans’ survival situation was more difficult than she thought.
“These are the foods that our Eagle Clan often eats. This Gaga Gra.s.s is something which the pregnant females love to eat. Only the territory of the human-snake hybrid clan on the sh.o.r.es of the Blue Lake always has it. We’ve to fight with them each time we go there in order to obtain it,” said Elder Bai who took out a handful of sugar cane-like black gra.s.s and reverently presented to Yun Jiuge.
Yun Jiuge took a whiff of it. Then she broke a little off to have a taste. There was a fishy hint within the sweet taste.
She opened her Spiritual Eye again and found that the Gaga Gra.s.s contained traces of the gray energy, just like the insides of A’shui and the others. This looked like the reason for the children’s poor health.
“You said that this Gaga Gra.s.s grows in Blue Lake. Where is the Blue Lake?” Yun Jiuge put down the Gaga Gra.s.s and asked.
“The Blue Lake is the largest lake in our Chaotic Secret Realm. When the black rain came, each of our tribes sent 10 soldiers to protect the Blue Lake, so the water over there is the cleanest.
Each of our tribes has its own territory in Blue Lake. But the Gaga Gra.s.s only grows on the territory of the human-snake hybrid clan,” Elder Bai explained.
“I’d like to go and see the Gaga Gra.s.s,” said Yun Jiuge, feeling that something strange was going on.
This Blue Lake was not polluted by the Death Energy. But why did the Gaga Gra.s.s have the same gray energy as A’dai?
Yun Jiuge felt that she had grasped some clues and could learn the truth of the matter as long as she continued to investigate.
“You want to go see the Gaga Gra.s.s?” Elder Bai was somewhat taken aback, but soon made a decision and said, “Okay, but you’ll have to wait awhile. The soldiers are hunting outside and haven’t returned yet. I’ll send 10 soldiers to escort you over there tomorrow.”
“No need for that. Just let A’dai escort me over,” replied Yun Jiuge. The few members in the Eagle Clan whom Yun Jiuge encountered today were extremely thin and appeared very weak. It was better to take A’dai along.
“Miss Yun, the human-snake hybrid clan is not only valiant in nature, but they also have the weapon given by the Divine Envoy. No matter how strong the prince is, he may not be able to protect you both,” Elder Bai answered. It was not that Elder Bai looked down on Yun Jiuge and her guard. He was well aware that outsiders simply could not use their magical powers in this Secret Realm.
This was also the reason why he dared to lead the Eagle Clan to pledge allegiance to Yun Jiuge. They could fall out and turn hostile at any time without pressure.
The Divine Envoy? Yun Jiuge could not help but look at Zi Shang.
She remembered that she herself had not sent any Divine Envoy. Even if Li Wei reincarnated, he was just a Celestial Palace Guard.
Zi Shang also looked doubtful, but he could not operate his Demonic Power now. So there was no way to secretly communicate with Yun Jiuge through mental transmission. He could only shake his head to imply that they would talk again later.
“Is that Divine Envoy male or female? What has he done? And what’s so special about him?” Yun Jiuge then asked Elder Bai.
“The Divine Envoy is a beautiful young girl who came to our Chaotic Secret Realm a month ago.
Not only was she able to use Holy Power, she also brought a lot of food, weapons, and equipment. Whoever is loyal to her, will receive help. A lot of tribes in our Secret Realm have turned to her for help.
The human-snake hybrid clan was the first tribe to vow loyalty and devotion to the Divine Envoy. They obtained a type of crossbow which was laced with poison from the Divine Envoy, used specially to deal with our Eagle Clan. We’ve also suffered a lot of losses,” Elder Bai said.
“Since this Divine Envoy is so good, why hasn’t your Eagle Clan gone to her for help but instead pledged allegiance to me instead?” Yun Jiuge asked. She did not think that she was so charming to have completely enticed Elder Bai.
“There’s no free lunch in the world. I don’t believe them. If the prince had not signed a contract with you, I wouldn’t have believed you too,” Elder Bai said, revealing a wise smile.
The prince had now become an idiot. Even if he had great strength, he would be easily bullied and humiliated by others.
But he looked well-fed and sleek. He was also very trusting of Yun Jiuge. Based on that, Elder Bai knew that he was doing well.
He believed that a person who treated her idiotic mount so well could not be bad.
“Well, since the human-snake hybrid clan is so strong, all the more I want to meet them. Rest a.s.sured that I’ve a way to deal with them,” said Yun Jiuge, guessing that the Divine Envoy should be Nangong Yue.
That woman had indeed come well-prepared. Yun Jiuge did not know how the weapons provided to the human-snake hybrid clan looked like, and she was very curious indeed.