I Transmigrated as a Villainess to Raise Babies, and My Beast Husbands Are Fighting Madly Over Me!-Chapter 123: A Mouth Harder Than Bone

’Would Qiao Xixi like him?’

Feiyan was suddenly very curious about her answer.

If her cub hadn’t been staring at her so eagerly, Qiao Xixi would have never even considered the question.

’Now that I think about it, the answer is no.’ She didn’t like the smug fox.

Of course, it wasn’t that she disliked him, either. She just saw him as her cub’s father, and nothing more.

"Your father is a great beastman." She closed her eyes and gave a noncommittal, positive answer. It was just to placate a child, after all.

Qiao Qiao’s heart skipped a beat. ’This is bad! Mother wasn’t like this with Father Jin Ling!’

Little did she know, the fox outside the cave was grinning from ear to ear.

As if realizing his reaction was a bit much, the fox quickly wiped the smile from his face.

"Then... would Mother want Father to be her mate? Would you?"

*Hiss...* ’Why is my cub asking me such a loaded question?’

Qiao Xixi suddenly clutched her head and leaned against the stone wall. "Qiaoqiao, Mother has a headache. Quick, blow on it for me."

Hearing Qiao Xixi was unwell, Qiao Qiao forgot all about her question. She quickly grabbed Qiao Xixi’s hand, wanting to use her special ability to heal her.

Qiao Xixi stopped her. "Mother is just too tired. No need for your ability, just blowing on it will be fine."

A flicker of disappointment crossed Feiyan’s light brown eyes.

’Qiao Xixi doesn’t like me.’ He wasn’t a complete fool; he could hear the evasion in her words. ’She’s probably just reluctant to say it out loud because she’s afraid of hurting Qiaoqiao’s feelings.’

"Father, why aren’t you going in?"

Feiyan frowned and turned to walk toward the river. "I’m not. Let’s go. We’ll catch some fish-beasts."

Qiao Ang wrinkled his little nose, scrambled onto Feiyan’s back, and wrapped his arms around his neck.

"Didn’t you say you were going to ask Mother what kind of fish-beast she wanted to eat? Why didn’t you ask?"

Feiyan snorted. "Ask what? It’s already this late. She’s lucky to have anything to eat. How dare she be picky?"

"I’m not picky. Anything to eat is fine."

Feiyan froze mid-step, his neck stiff as he turned to look at Qiao Xixi behind him.

"Why aren’t you in the cave with Qiaoqiao? What are you doing out here?"

"I came out to pick some leaves to spread on the ground. It’ll be more comfortable to sleep on tonight."

Feiyan turned his back to her, his tone harsh. "If you want something, just tell me. There’s no need for you to do it yourself. Hurry up and take Qiaoqiao back inside."

The two cubs frowned so hard you could have squashed a fly between their eyebrows.

’Stupid Father is obviously worried Mother will run into danger, but he’s just too stubborn to admit it!’

Qiao Xixi remembered that Feiyan had, at the very least, pulled them out of the water, so she decided to tolerate his attitude.

"It’s a small thing. I can do it myself. No need to trouble you."

As she spoke, Qiao Xixi shifted into her beast form, leaped into a nearby tree, and used her sharp claws to slice off large leaves.

"You should hurry and catch some fish-beasts while it’s still light out."

Feiyan’s lips were set in a tight line. Without a word, he turned and left with Qiao Ang.

The cubs exchanged glances.

The cubs sighed helplessly.

「Meanwhile, back at the Silver Tribe」

The male beastmen of the tribe were engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the Mutant Beasts.

"Quick! Bring all the large stones and block the gate! We can’t let any more Mutant Beasts in!"

The blood on Feili’s body had dried, gotten wet, and dried again, forming a stiff armor over him.

Nearly a full day and night of fighting had left them exhausted.

Fortunately, the Mutant Beasts were also showing signs of fatigue. As long as no new ones arrived, they would be able to hold this wave off.

"Keep moving the rocks! Up top, intensify the fires to drive them away!"

There were too many Mutant Beasts to kill them all; they could only block and repel them.

By the stream behind the tribe’s mountain, Sunxiao dragged his massive, scar-covered snake body downstream along the bank. When he saw the trees snapped by Mutant Beasts, his scarlet serpent eyes grew even colder.

He had been following the scent of Qiao Xixi and Qiao Lie.

But the trail went cold here at the stream.

No one knew where his little female and cub had gone.

Suddenly, a commotion came from the water. Sunxiao’s massive form paused, his snake head rising high to look at the surface.

A Mutated Black Bear Beast suddenly burst from the water. Just as Sunxiao poised to attack, he saw the beast’s body slam hard onto the water’s surface, completely lifeless.

Immediately after, a small, crimson snake shot out of the water as well. A cold red glow emanated from its body, and it was slightly larger than before.

"Qiao Lie."

Sunxiao slithered swiftly into the water, coiled around the small snake’s body, and brought him to the shore.

Qiao Lie writhed uncomfortably. Sunxiao could feel the power about to erupt from within the cub; his scales could barely contain the force.

Sunxiao wrapped his enormous tail completely around Qiao Lie, using the power of his own beast soul to channel the energy in the cub’s body, helping him absorb it better.

An unknown amount of time passed. Invisible energy radiated outward, and ripples suddenly spread across the water’s surface.

Sunxiao slowly unwound his tail and shifted back into his human form, holding Qiao Lie, who had reverted to his cub appearance, in his arms.

He looked at the inside of Qiao Lie’s arm. There were now two stars there. Qiao Lie had advanced to a two-star beast soul.

Qiao Lie, draped over Sunxiao’s shoulder, opened his eyes. Feeling Sunxiao’s presence, he clutched tightly to his beast-hide clothing.

"Father, hurry and save Mother! She, my brother, and my sisters were all washed away by the water!"

Sunxiao’s arms around him tightened. "Which way did they go?"

"Downstream. Mother went downstream."

Sunxiao had Qiao Lie sit on him and transformed back into his beast form, preparing to head downstream to search.

But the moment he moved, his snake body stiffened and collapsed with a crash.

"Father! Father!"

Qiao Lie was horrified, but he reacted quickly, using his beast soul’s energy to catch Sunxiao’s massive body.

"Father, what’s wrong? Father!"

Qiao Lie placed a small hand on Sunxiao’s chest. As he felt the energy of his beast soul, the color drained from his little face.

He could feel the energy inside his father draining away at an alarming rate.

Qiao Lie was so panicked his eyes turned an even deeper scarlet. He remembered his mother saying that his body and his father’s were different; if they ever felt their energy rapidly draining, they had to replenish it with Crystal Stones.

’Father must be losing his energy now, too.’

At this thought, Qiao Lie quickly took out a green Crystal Stone from his pouch.

’Good thing I couldn’t bear to use the green Crystal Stone when I was absorbing energy in the water before. It’ll come in handy now.’

Qiao Lie placed the green Crystal Stone on Sunxiao’s chest and slowly infused its energy into his body.

But to his surprise, Sunxiao’s beast soul energy had been depleted so much that a single green Crystal Stone was nowhere near enough.

Qiao Lie had no choice but to take out all his Crystal Stones and infuse their energy into Sunxiao’s body.

「Back in the cave, Qiao Xixi knew nothing of this.」

She had been asking the little sprite for the route back to the Silver Tribe. Just as she got a clear answer, Feiyan and the others returned, carrying several fish-beasts.

Qiao Ang followed behind him, hugging a pile of firewood.

Qiao Xixi snapped back to reality and got up to help, but the back of her hand was slapped, turning it red.

Qiao Qiao covered her eyes with her small hands, her little body flopping softly onto the bed of leaves.