The Strongest Beast-Tamer (Transmigration)(GL) - Chapter 26

“Move faster. A slave daring to keep the City Lord waiting this long must be tired of living.”

Yi Xian had changed into clean clothes and was stalling for time, but a beastman behind her shoved her forward like a duck being herded. She stumbled into the City Lord’s residence.

There were no fewer than twenty guards stationed within. Each wore a stern expression and carried an air of violence, completely unlike the beastmen she usually encountered in Guata City. They reeked of bl00d, and Yi Xian could sense a familiarity in that scent.

Lord Lu led the way, the hem of her long cloak fluttering in the wind and tracing a subtle arc. Yi Xian’s gaze followed its movement, and she caught a glimpse of silver nearby.

Lord Yin Bao whispered, “I already sent the cub to find her mother.”

Yi Xian found the phrase “her mother” oddly endearing. She waved at Lord Yin Bao to hide, and with a swoosh, the silver mouse vanished into the grass. No one else seemed to notice it, or perhaps they noticed but deliberately ignored it.

“City Lord, the human slave has arrived.”

“Enter.”

As Yi Xian followed Lord Lu inside, a strong, exotic fragrance greeted her. It reminded her of a scent she had encountered years ago from another race, one that was rich and unusual.
Even after all this time, she had not gotten used to it. Back then, Mott had laughed and teased her for having a picky nose.

Lord Lu bowed first. Yi Xian, however, was gazing boldly toward the figure behind the bone curtain. With a scolding tone, Lord Lu barked, “You dare not kneel before the City Lord?”

Yi Xian replied innocently, “I just didn’t expect the City Lord to be so beautiful.”

Her words sounded rude, yet the person behind the curtain let out a girlish giggle. Yi Xian had spoken half in jest, half in truth. She never expected the City Lord to be a woman, much less a delicate beauty.
She had imagined a large, muscular beastman. Maybe a lion. Maybe a wolf…

Reclining on a chaise, the City Lord had two bare, elegant feet. Her toes were white with a hint of pink, so clean they seemed almost worthy of worship. Compared to other female beastmen, she stood out as a world apart.

Yi Xian could not even bring herself to compare this graceful woman to the brute back home. If Lan Tong had even half her gentleness, Yi Xian would not have minded being bitten a little less.

“Careful. That is a charm spell.”

“…Huh?”

Yi Xian pinched her own arm and realized Lord Lu had slipped away without her noticing. Now, only she and the strange City Lord remained in the room. That overwhelming scent made her feel dizzy.

“I heard from Lu that you were imprisoned in Kus City for certain reasons,” said a soft, syrupy voice by her ear.

“Yes, City Lord.”

Yi Xian did her best to look starstruck and answered blankly. Charm spells often relied on beauty and subtle hypnosis to disarm those with weak wills. If this woman’s magic could shake her resolve even briefly, then her skill was formidable.

The City Lord shifted positions, crossing her legs like twisted ribbons. One hand supported her head as she lazily gazed at Yi Xian. Her green eyes occasionally shifted to vertical pupils, marked by strange symbols. The sight made Yi Xian’s heart pound.

There’s a reason for the saying a seductive fox. She had assumed the City Lord’s beast form was a fox. Using charm magic made sense. But now it was clear, she was a serpent.

“Did you see anything in prison?”

Yi Xian’s heart jolted. No wonder Lord Lu had said nothing after her return from Komo Forest. Yi Xian had assumed that the incident had passed. But it had merely been postponed.

Without hesitation, she replied, “I saw a madwoman. They put me in the same cell with her. She… she was terrifying. She died the next day.”

As she spoke, Yi Xian gave a convincing shiver.

Silence hung in the room. Only the soft sound of something scraping the floor could be heard. Then a snake tail slowly emerged from behind the curtain and circled around Yi Xian’s ankles, testing her nerves.

Yi Xian had spent the entire time mentally bracing herself, but the cold sweat still poured down her back. The icy sensation shot from her feet to the crown of her head. Beauty or not, no one could appreciate such horror up close.

In her past life, this would have been a giant python. Its scales might not have shimmered like this, but a snake was still a snake.

Anyone else from the human race would have fainted by now. But if she so much as twitched, her ruse would be over, and her life could be taken in an instant.

The tail slowly slid up her pant leg to her calf. It was ice cold and shockingly refreshing, like a blast of air conditioning in the middle of summer.

Just as Yi Xian considered asking the two voices in her head what her chances were if she fought back, the tail abruptly retracted and coiled around her waist. With a sharp tug, she was yanked behind the curtain toward the chaise.

Now she understood the term beauty serpent. Her upper half was that of a gorgeous woman; her lower half was unmistakably that of a snake.

Yi Xian was pulled so close that she almost bumped into the woman’s extended forked tongue. Beneath the perfume, she smelled a rancid stench unique to serpent beasts.

“Am I beautiful?”

“Beautiful.”

Yi Xian nearly vomited. This is way too extreme!

Apparently satisfied by her dazed expression, the City Lord suddenly lost interest and flung her aside. She returned to her earlier languid posture. “Tell me, did that madwoman say anything to you? Or do anything to you? Did she give you anything unusual? Think carefully. Leave nothing out. If you do…” She smiled sweetly. “I have a courtyard full of younglings who love to eat tender human slaves like you.”

Yi Xian shivered. By “younglings,” she probably meant a horde of serpents.

She pretended to struggle to recall. “Hmm… she was really happy to see me at first. She tricked me into coming over, then touched my head and hand before yelling that I was useless and doomed her to death.”

She spun the tale from the fragments she remembered while half-conscious. “She died the next day. I was still half-asleep when they tossed me into Komo Forest. City Lord, my flesh is tough and tasteless, but I can cook. I’ll roast meat for your younglings.”

Half true, half false. All scrambled.

Yi Xian poured every ounce of her acting into the performance, even as fear clawed at her heart. This place was full of traps. Earlier, she had thought Lan Tong’s beast form looked silly and harmless. What a fool she had been.

Still, the one she truly wanted to curse was that madwoman. All this trouble had begun with her, first Lord Lu and now the City Lord.

What exactly are they looking for?

The snake beauty stood up. Her tail transformed into long legs. She stood well over one and a half meters, at least ten centimeters taller than Yi Xian. In human form, she was a stunning woman with willow brows, crimson lips, a high nose bridge, and glowing green eyes that gave her a mysterious allure.
But in beast form, that allure vanished.

And the threat in her words made Yi Xian want nothing more than to flee.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

The serpent woman paced the room irritably, smashing objects left and right. The sound echoed like a drumbeat. Finally, she remembered Yi Xian, and her eyes turned vertical. “Wretched slave, what are you still standing here for? Get out.”

Yi Xian scurried away.

When the room grew quiet again, a figure emerged from the shadows. The City Lord said, “You saw it. That slave knows nothing, just as Lu said.”

The figure opened a window, watching Yi Xian disappear down the path. “Most so-called coincidences are man-made.”

The City Lord bristled. “You doubt my charm spell?”

“I doubt her. That slave is crucial. Test her again. If she proves useless… then kill her.”

…

Yi Xian could feel eyes watching her again, the same unsettling gaze she had felt on the streets, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.

She had wrongly blamed Qin Rong.

Before she could reach the door, the little one came running at her, stumbling over tiny paws with a fierce howl.

A daughter truly is her mother’s little coat. Even in danger, this little one was the first to come to her rescue. Another moment in that room, and Yi Xian might have suffocated.

She crouched down to catch the cub and was nearly knocked over by its momentum. As she held the furry bundle close, she finally felt alive again.

Lan Tong and Lord Lu stood at the door, speaking in raised voices. When Lan Tong saw Yi Xian carrying the cub, she rushed over. “Did she hurt you?”

Yi Xian eyed her suspiciously. Since when does this brute care about others?

“Well, I felt a little dazed after entering. Not sure what happened.”

Lan Tong frowned, then turned and slammed Lord Lu against the door. “Didn’t I warn you last time? Do you want to try me again?”

Lord Lu raised her hands in surrender. “Lan, this involves that one. Think of the bigger picture. I had no choice. If that thing ends up in human hands… Fine. I hope you understand.”

Lan Tong hesitated, glancing at Yi Xian, who was completely in the dark. She hurled Lord Lu to the ground. Her gaze was icy. “I do not care whose orders they are. She is mine. If you want something, you ask me first.”

A falling-out over a single sentence?

These violent squabbles… Why were they so thrilling?