We Won!
"Who won? Who won?"
Chieftain He still seemed oblivious to the situation, his gaze constantly shifting between the giant ape Beastmen and his own warriors.
Sang Ying found it amusing and asked him, "Can't the clan leader tell which side has fallen out of the circle and which side is still inside?"
The clan chief chuckled, glanced at the still-silent judge, and said meaningfully, "It's not that I dare to admit it because the judge hasn't spoken. What if they say we violated the rules and rule us the loser?"
Upon hearing this, the onlookers, including the Beastmen, snapped out of their astonishment.
The judge appointed by the White Lion Tribe was slightly embarrassed, but still announced the result truthfully.
The facts are clear: even though the White Lion Tribe really wanted to help the Giant Ape Tribe, the Giant Ape Tribe lost too obviously and too quickly this time, leaving them no chance to cheat.
The five Crying Deer Beastmen in the circle were still staring blankly at their own fists, not expecting the competition to end so quickly.
The five giant Beastmen- orcs who had been knocked away were also dazed. When their fellow orcs helped them up, they still didn't understand what had happened.
"What happened? How did it end so quickly? Did you see what just happened?" one of the Beastmen watching asked, full of doubt.
"I don't know," a Beastmen replied, looking completely bewildered. "I only saw a few afterimages fly out, and then the Calling Deer Tribe won!"
The murmurs of discussion quickly spread, and the Beastmen focused all their attention on the five Beastmen from the Calling Deer Tribe, seemingly trying to discern from their blank expressions what force had caused such a strange change in them.
"We won! We won!"
"Waaaaah, we really won!"
After a long moment of stunned silence, the five Crying Deer Beastmen finally came to their senses from the judge's words.
They really won, and they won fair and square, decisively and cleanly!
After this competition, no one should say that the Calling Deer Tribe is weak anymore, since there is the Giant Ape Tribe, which is even weaker than them.
Now that the verdict had been announced, the Beastmen of the Calling Deer Tribe naturally withdrew from the group. They had achieved their goal for this trip, so the entire group of Beastmen relaxed.
Led by Yue, the children stepped forward to present their heroes with wreaths, expressing their joy and gratitude for their victorious return.
This scene was particularly jarring to the defeated giant Beastmen- orcs.
"What's so great about that? It's just that we won this time, not that we got first place. Next time, we'll definitely win it back!" A Qi Ingestion giant ape Beastmen shouted amidst the cheers.
The clan chief, who had initially intended to save face for the other side, immediately stepped in front of his people upon hearing this. "Yes, we're nothing special. We just easily won against you this time and even took your salt stones."
When the chieftain He stepped forward, the Giant Ape Tribe already sensed something was wrong.
As they suspected, the other party brought up the matter of salt stones the very next second.
Only then did the Giant Ape Tribe realize their mistake. They had thought they were going to take advantage of the other side, but they hadn't expected the Calling Deer Tribe to be so well-prepared!
As the leader of this team, Chief Gao of the Giant Ape Tribe was naturally aware of the bet. In fact, before his tribesmen agreed to it, he had specifically arranged for someone to inquire about it.
He thought it was a good thing, which is why he got the warriors to agree. And he also agreed to the Divine Beast Oath.
But now... just thinking about the batch of salt stones he was about to hand over made Gao feel like his heart was about to break.
After much deliberation, he reluctantly swallowed his pride and went to see Chief He in person.
By this time, all the Minglu Beastmen had returned to their camp. The wind and rain outside had nothing to do with them; they were simply enjoying the joy of victory.
It was at this time that the clan chief, Gao, came to visit.
The conflict between the Calling Deer Tribe and the Giant Ape Tribe had been going on for several years, so when the Minglu Beastmen saw that the newcomers were tall, their expressions were not very pleasant.
Chief He understood why the other party had come to see him at this time. He subconsciously glanced at Sang Ying and Yue Tianze. Sang Ying nodded to him, indicating that he should welcome Gao in.
The four of them found a quiet place to stay alone, while the remaining Minglu Beastmen continued their celebration.
However, upon seeing Chief Gao's figure, their celebration seemed to have given up. A group of Beastmen quietly approached the tent where Sang Ying and the others were, hoping to eavesdrop on something.
Unfortunately, the tent was too thick; no sound could get out from inside.
The Beastmen listened for a while, but eventually gave up.
Anyway, they won this time. With the clan leader and those two adults there, they won't suffer any losses.
After convincing themselves like this, the Beastmen quickly returned to the camp where they had lit a campfire and continued the barbecue feast that they hadn't finished earlier.
Inside the tent, however, it was not as lively as the campsite outside; instead, it was deathly silent.
Chief He waited for a long time, but Chief Gao did not speak. Gao shifted restlessly, as if considering how to express his purpose.
Sang Ying, not wanting to waste time on this Beastmen, preemptively asked, "I wonder if Chief Gao has something to say since he's come here so late at night?"
Gao gave a wry smile, "I came here today to discuss something with you regarding the salt stone..."
"What's wrong with the salt? You yourselves agreed to lose to us. We didn't cheat, we won fair and square." Before he could even finish speaking, Chief He jumped up.
Having endured years of frustration to finally get this opportunity, He was naturally unwilling to let it slip away. Besides, their tribe already lacked enough salt stones and was waiting to obtain them from the Giant Ape Tribe to take back with them.
Gao quickly waved his hand. "That's not what I meant. We made Beast God Oath, so of course we wouldn't break it. But, could we discuss this some more? This is half a year's worth of salt for our tribe. If we give it all to you, our tribe will have no salt to eat."
Salt is extremely important to Beastmen. Without salt for a long time, even the strongest warriors will lose their strength and become weak in the limbs.
Chief He's expression softened slightly. They had experienced the same thing before—not having enough salt—and knew the pain it caused.
But this was something their orc Beastmen had fought so hard to win back; wouldn't it be unfair to give it away to the Giant Ape Tribe so easily?
The clan chief glanced cautiously at Sang Ying, trying to glean help from her expression.
Sang Ying saw that Chief He was softening, and finally had no choice but to step forward and say, "The matter of the salt stone is indeed negotiable, but we have a condition."