It took two days for Bai Qi to feel confident enough to leave the tent and meet with Huo Laohu. The two [White Tiger] sisters did not leave his side even for a moment, provided with everything by Heise Zhao and Zhua, and they did not do so now either.

Bai Qi had even asked them if they felt that something may go wrong or why they would be so insistent on following him into Huo Laohu's tent, but both only shrugged and responded that he was yet weak and so they had to take care of him.

But he did have a few reasons to speak with the war pack leader while alone, and so when they reached the tent, and Huo Laohu asked the girls to leave them alone, Bai Qi felt grateful for it.

___________________________________________________________________

If one had told Huo Laohu before he would be injured, by a Sage realm, or something summoned by it, human cultivator, the man-tiger would probably laugh for a while and then attack the jester. Not because it was unthinkable, but to protect the honor of carrying the title of the strongest Beastman below the man-beast kings.

His injuries weren't anything serious, just a few small gashes on his forearms left by the claws of whatever was Bai Qi at that moment.

Still, it was an injury. Thankfully no one except a few beings knew about it, and none of them would allow themselves to gossip about it.

What did appear strange was that a week had passed since the incident, and the gashes had not healed. Huo Laohu usually used a short-sleeved tunic or went bare-chested, but for this week, he had been wearing long-sleeves only.

Huo Laohu could not answer himself, and he could not ask anyone, anyone, except the one who caused them.

And that human, Bai Qi, was currently approaching the tent.

***

As the human and the two [White Tiger] sisters entered the tent, Huo Laohu almost immediately dismissed the latter two, "Don't worry. I will not eat him. Leave us alone."

Seemingly Bai Qi had a similar idea as he reassuringly nodded to the sisters. It was only after his nod that they excused themselves and left.

"Did you recover?" As soon as the two beast girls left and his aura enclosed the entire tent, Huo Laohu asked.

"Somewhat." Bai Qi wryly smiled while shrugging. He had been hiding all of his thoughts about his current state to avoid the sisters discovering it, but without their presence, he allowed himself to take a look and confirm his first impressions.

While most of the backslash from what he did to sense the Dao law had passed after he went unconscious and the pills did work as intended, and as Bai Qi had infused all of its power into Kui Mulang, his soul wasn't affected either.

But, at the same time, what looked like a good development, one that he had planned for, turned out to be the worst one possible for the condition in which he had ended at the moment of going unconscious.

The interruption he suffered caused the overexertion he forced upon his body and mind to remain even now. Several days with frozen qi and no way to correct the obtained damage to his circulation made it heal as it was, with several pathways connecting wrongly. Thus, his overall qi circulation speed had dropped, not to mention he was now simply unable to connect to the spleen meridian.

Some hidden damage to his consciousness caused him to continuously feel part of the pain from the backslash until he recovered entirely. It was manageable, but as he was still unable to discover what he supposed a crack, he could not correct it for now.

Other issues also were present. But one Bai Qi was especially worried about was Kui Mulang. Bai Qi was unsure if it was the forceful stop of essence he had done after briefly snapping out or if he had overspent the demon's energy. Right now, the demon's presence was very faint, and he could not even contact him. Hopefully, Kui Mulang would recover by himself, but again, Bai Qi could not be sure without his soul healing entirely, something that would take a couple of weeks at least.

"I see that your, somehow, words mean that things are bad." Noticing that Bai Qi went silent, Huo Laohu flashed a wry grin. And then asked directly, "How badly is your prowess affected? Can all the damage be healed? Can I help?"

"Thank you for your intentions, but if any way to heal overnight existed, I would have either used it or asked for help already." Bai Qi snapped but quickly calmed and smiled with a slightly ashamed expression. A few breaths later, he continued, "I can only wait for everything to finish healing and recovering naturally before starting to correct the damage. I should be able to fight on my realm, and maybe a 1st level Warrior Lord, but it's better for me to avoid fighting for a week more."

"Got it. And while it shames me to ask. I can not heal the wounds that you inflicted on me. Can you take a look?" Huo Laohu asked before disrobing and extending his forearms.

Four deep gashes were present on each of them, and while they did not look serious, Bai Qi gasped.

"It's bad?" Huo Laohu immediately asked as he heard the gasp.

"Oh, no, sorry. It, or no, I used both a spiritual flame and demonic essence, so while there is a remnant of any, the wounds will not close." Bai Qi explained while extending his arm and calling for the remnants.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Grrr. But how did I not notice them?" Huo Laohu did think of remnant energy, but he did not find even the slightest trace.

"Your bloodline and qi are of the fire element intrinsically while a spiritual flame stands higher in the hierarchy of flames. As for the demonic essence, it just used the flame to hide." As two wisps, one akin to a blotch of darkness and another one, with a small amount of crimson, flew out of the wounds, Bai Qi immediately absorbed them. He groaned as he felt them enter his dantian but forced himself and quickly absorbed them.

The fact that neither Bai Qi nor Huo Laohu attempted to apologize for their actions made both of them feel that the incident was behind them already. They knew that their actions weren't the correct ones. And that was enough for both.

After both confirmed that the other party did not have any apprehension, they continued speaking as if nothing had happened at all.

***

Huo Laohu's urge to speak with Bai Qi, the main reason for the incident, turned out to be reasonable as well.

"The [Steel Fang] man-beast kings have decided to go to war. Even more, our entire region is entering an alliance with the [Great Forest] region and overlord."

"I heard some gossip about that back in [Shuomen], but I did not know the details. And never could have expected it to develop so quickly, at least not directly to war. So, who? The [Demon Worshipper] region powers?" Bai Qi had only heard a few words about an agreement between the regions from Grandmaster Li. Still, the [Demon Worshipper] region was the only conceivable opponent, enemies to both and almost in the middle of the new allies.

"No, not them." Huo Laohu denied with a shake.

"Huh? Then who?"

"The [Beast Lands], or more correctly, the Beast Lords of the South will be our foes." Huo Laohu explained and then slightly chuckled at Bai Qi's reaction. Indeed, who would expect the northernmost region to declare war against the southernmost one?!

Huo Laohu followed with some of the reasons, the ones he could reveal, for this war, as well for the alliance. And about the latter, Bai Qi had to admit that the [Great Forest Sect] leadership was astute indeed.

***

Although locals said that Beastmen only lived in the [Steel Fang] region, this wasn't entirely true. Better said, it could simply be not so, as not every Beastman born in other places would leave everything and relocate. Some probably had not even heard about the [Steel Fang], living in the wild as their beast ancestors had done.

A settlement of such Beastmen was suspected to exist in the [Beast Lands], but nobody had confirmed it. At least until now, with a few disciples of the [Fish Gazing Sect] encountering and capturing a Beastman! At first, they even suspected it was someone from the [Steel Fang] region, and their Sect leadership even contacted the man-beast Kings.

And while the Beastman wasn't one of theirs, the Kings immediately dispatched a few of their men to retrieve him.

After questioning the foreign Beastman, the information that the man-beasts Kings obtained was enough to make them roar in anger and begin gathering their forces.

"The Beast Lords of the South treat the local Beastmen as slaves! They do not allow them to grow past a level of strength and go so far as to cull their numbers when they feel they are too many!" Huo Laohu's savage roar was enough to make even the unrelated Bai Qi shiver. Not that he couldn't understand the Beastman after all, here beasts could join the pack on the same rights.

In any case, the reason was there. Still, the regions were, and are, on different corners of the plane, so it was just inconceivable to even think about starting the war.

Going by land, the [Steel Fang] forces would need to cross at least three regions, and navigating the seas was even crazier, especially with the Beastmen's lack of ability with anything that floated. And while teleportation formations could help them, the problem of the hundred beings per day limit existed. No overlord would allow an entire army to gather in one of their holdings or even pass through their lands.

And then suddenly, or maybe not so, the [Great Forest Sect] offered to do so. Even more, they would provide part of the supplies and let the [Steel Fang] forces use a part of their region as a base. And in exchange, they requested an alliance agreement.

Some cooperation talks had taken place before, but they had been hardly anything but local collaborations and similar. But before Bai Qi wondered why the sudden change, the following words of Huo Laohu perfectly explained it.

"The [Demon Worshippers] are getting more and more brazen, and a few of their sects and groups have been openly raiding the [Great Forest] for several months already. Thus, the [Great Forest Sect] plans to concentrate on them."

Bai Qi assessed and found that the [Great Forest Sect] acted with knowledge and wisdom. After all, who, if not the Beastmen, would always keep their word?

"And well, the only other thing I can share is that we will start gathering in a couple of weeks and start moving out in a month or so." Huo Laohu concluded while looking at Bai Qi expectantly.

"I need a week to recuperate to the extent of moving, so, a week, not more." Bai Qi shook his head as he answered the unasked question.

"There was another thing as well, and I hoped that you could..." Huo Laohu started, but Bai Qi shook his head, even before the man-tiger finished talking. Noticing the shaking, Huo Laohu cut what he was asking. After a few moments, he spoke up again, "Then at least allow me to ask them."

"Go ahead, but I doubt that it will be a yes. Still, if it is, I will not interfere."

"Probably you are right, but I have to ask anyway." Huo Laohu nodded to himself before continuing, "Oh, and there is the matter of Kass Shaa'r as well."

"What about him?" Bai Qi had not seen the Lizardman for over three weeks already, as Kass Shaa'r had left on a mission or errand a couple of days before Bai Qi's seclusion.

"Well, there was an incident on the coast, a human-related incident. Kass Shaa'r will be back in a few days, and we will discuss it. So your input would be appreciated."

"Mmm, no problem." Bai Qi nodded before standing up.

"So during this week, without overexerting yourself, what do you require?"

"Hmm, Earth-tier will be over my capacity for mass-production, but common-tier pills are no problem. For the healing ones, I will need..."

___________________________________________________________________

Eight days later, Bai Qi, followed by five Beastmen, approached the teleportation formation near the camp. He had spent seven full days refining pills, and while it was not an easy task, it still served him well. The constant flow of qi and aura and a task he could concentrate on allowed him to smooth the edges on most inner issues.

Pill refining had turned out to be oddly calming for Bai Qi, as he found to his surprise. Today, Bai Qi delivered over three thousand pills of the healing, replenishing, stamina, and nourishment types. Huo Laohu and the elders were truly grateful and offered Bai Qi to take any items, materials, or cores from their storage in thanks.

But Bai Qi declined. Reasons he had many, but the main one was the conversation he had with Huo Laohu just a couple of hours before the offer. From it, he had found that not only the Bai sisters decided to follow after him and that Kass Shaa'r was in trouble...