Several beastkin noticed Orgal being carried.
Murmurs spread quickly.
"The War Chief is injured."
"He lost a fight?"
"Who did this?"
Eyes turned instinctively toward Cattaleya.
Given her towering fra, dense muscles, and the overwhelming aura she gave off even while relaxed, many beastkin imdiately assud she was responsible. Gorilla beastkin with thick arms and wide chests stared at her with barely restrained eagerness. Rhino beastkin snorted softly, their hooves scraping against the ground as if itching for a challenge.
Cattaleya noticed.
She grinned.
Lin Mu could practically feel her excitent rising, like a blade being slowly drawn from its sheath.
For now, however, no one stepped forward.
The escort continued, weaving through the settlent toward the towering central structure. The apekin who had been guiding them remained calm, clearly accustod to the attention.
They stopped before the massive bone and timber hall.
"This is the Main Nest, the apekin said. "Where the King resides."
Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "King?"
"Yes," the apekin replied, amused.
"Not Patriarch?" Lin Mu asked.
Daoist Chu stroked his beard thoughtfully. "You do not follow the human system."
The apekin snorted. "Why would we? Those titles an little to us."
"Then why call yourselves a sect at all?" Daoist Chu asked. "Why not a kingdom?"
The apekin chuckled, a low rumbling sound. "Because kingdoms bring trouble." He gestured vaguely outward. "If we call ourselves a kingdom, other human kingdoms begin watching us. Counting our lands. asuring our strength. Wondering how to carve us up or how to bind us with treaties."
"And a sect?" Lin Mu asked.
"A sect is expected to mind its own business," the apekin said. "Train. Grow strong. Fight when challenged. But not expand endlessly. It invites less scrutiny."
Lin Mu nodded slowly.
It was a pragmatic decision. Clever, even.
They were brought inside.
The interior of the Main Nest was vast and dim. Thick beams of bone and wood ford the ceiling far above, with openings that allowed shafts of filtered sunlight to fall through. The air slled of earth, resin, and faint traces of blood. Not unpleasant, but unmistakably alive.
There were no ornate decorations. No murals. No incense burners.
Instead, there were trophies of survival. Massive claws embedded into walls. Fangs larger than swords. Hardened hides stretched and used as banners. Everything spoke of struggle, strength, and endurance.
At the center of the hall was a large closed space.
Several powerful presences stirred there.
"The Elder Council awaits," the apekin said.
Lin Mu felt it.
Multiple strong auras, steady and heavy making him think whatever ca next,
this eting would not be a simple formality.
Lin Mu slowed his steps as they approached the massive doors of the Main Nest's inner chamber.
Even before they reached them, the sound leaked through.
It was loud. Crude. Chaotic.
Deep voices overlapped one another, rising and falling like clashing waves. So were sharp and guttural, others booming and rough, carrying the weight of massive chests and thick lungs.
The tone was not calm discussion. It was an argunt, full of snorts, growls, and sharp exclamations that carried an unmistakable edge.
The apekin escort paused, placed one massive hand against the door, and pushed.
CREAK
The doors opened with a heavy creak of bone and timber grinding against one
another.
The noise inside imdiately spilled out.
No one inside looked toward them.
Not a single beastkin spared them a glance.
The argunt continued as if the world beyond the chamber did not exist.
Lin Mu stepped inside with his companions, his gaze sweeping the hall in a calm, asured way. The chamber was even larger than the outer hall, its ceiling supported by enormous rib bones that curved overhead like the inside of a colossal beast's chest. Thick wooden pillars reinforced the structure, so carved with crude symbols, others left raw and scarred.
At the center was a wide open space, while the periter was occupied by massive stone seats arranged in a rough circle.
Nearly every seat was occupied.
The beastkin seated there were all different.
Lin Mu saw a boar beastkin with thick tusks and scarred arms pounding one fist against his knee as he shouted. Across from him, a leopard beastkin leaned forward with narrowed eyes, tail flicking irritably behind him.
A serpent beastkin with dark olive green scales coiled partially around his seat, his forked tongue flickering in agitation. There were wolfkin, hawkkin, apekin, rhino kin, and others whose features blended beast and humanoid forms in ways Lin Mu had only read about before.
They were all arguing.
In their own tongue.
ng Bai leaned closer to Lin Mu and whispered, "What are they saying?"
Lin Mu listened for a mont, then shook his head. "I cannot understand it."
Daoist Chu frowned slightly. "Nor can I."
The voices were not using the common immortal tongue, nor any of the
common beast dialects Lin Mu had encountered. The sounds were rough, filled
with clicks, snarls, and guttural inflections that made them difficult to parse even with immortal perception.
Before ng Bai could comnt further, a ripple passed through the shadows
near the entrance.
A familiar figure stepped forward as if he had always been there.
Elyon erged from the darkness.
The apekin escort stiffened imdiately, nostrils flaring. His eyes snapped toward Elyon, scanning him with sharp intensity.
"... You," the apekin said slowly. "You sll like us."
Elyon offered a small shrug. "That would be because I am."
The apekin's brow furrowed deeply. "Then why were you hidden?"
Elyon's expression remained neutral. "Habit."
Lin Mu understood. Elyon had vanished the mont Little Shrubby sensed pursuit hours ago, positioning himself as a contingency. If things had gone truly wrong, he would have acted from the shadows. That was simply his nature.
ng Bai turned eagerly toward Elyon. "Can you understand them?" Elyon listened intently for a few breaths, his brows drawing together. Then he
sighed.
"No," he admitted. "This dialect is unfamiliar. It shares roots with other beastkin tongues, but it has diverged significantly."
That answer surprised ng Bai.
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