The tall native warrior spoke incessantly, but Qianye couldn’t understand a word. Judging from his anxious expression and how he was pointing at Zhuji, it was clear that he was talking about the girl. Could it be that the natives had also taken an interest in her?

At this point, the native soldiers had gradually recovered their movement and gone back onto their vantage point on the trees. They aimed their weapons at Qianye while letting out menacing growls.

Qianye glanced about with a sneer. He naturally wouldn’t hold back if these natives tried to snatch Zhuji back from him, nor did he mind sending them to see the people from Stormwind Fury.

The tall warrior noticed the killing intent in Qianye’s eyes. Startled, he took a step back and raised his left hand, gesturing for the native soldiers to lower their weapons.

Zhuji tugged on Qianye at this moment. “He’s asking you not to hurt me, and he also wants to know what you’re here for.”

Qianye was surprised. “You understand their language?”

“A bit, mostly guessing,” Zhuji said as if it were a matter of course.

Qianye was momentarily speechless. The meaning of the native’s words could either be a beseechment or a threat.

Paying no attention to the native warrior, he asked the girl, “You’ve been with them these days?”

“I met some people on the first day. One of them was quite troublesome, he said some strange things to me and wanted me to sleep with him. I didn’t like him, so I refused, of course. But then he wanted to capture me, and I felt annoyed, so I killed all his men. Later on, I met these people who claim they’ve been living here their whole lives.”

“Did they do anything to you?”

Little Zhuji gave the question some serious thought. “That big fellow seems to like me quite a bit. He said so many things I couldn’t understand at first, but for some reason, I started to understand them a bit later on. I don’t hate them, that big man gave me a fruit that looked really delicious, even more so than roasted beast meat. I felt really sleepy after I ate it, and when I woke up, they were already fighting.”

Qianye’s expression softened up quite a bit after hearing this. At least, these natives had no ill-will toward Zhuji. Whatever the little fellow thinks is tasty likely has nothing to do with taste but rather with energy content. These fruits being more delicious to her than beast meat meant that the energy content in them was superior—such a fruit wasn’t easy to find.

Besides, this little fellow was inherently sensitive. She would definitely react if these natives had evil intentions. It would manifest as a feeling of annoyance, which would likely lead her to attack and kill the targets.

The tall warrior heaved a sigh of relief when Qianye’s killing intent subsided. He then gestured for Qianye and Zhuji to follow him.

“He says there are many people like this outside, we can’t win against them. He wants us to follow him and find a way into the core region of the forest.”

Qianye patted the little fellow’s head. “Tell them we’re not leaving.”

“We’re not leaving,” the girl turned about and shouted.

Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Little Zhuji understood a bit of their language, but it turned out that she couldn’t speak a single word. How could the other party understand her when she was speaking the imperial language?

At this moment, the tall warrior fished out a leaf and stuck it on his forehead. Soon, the leaf emitted a barrier of light that covered Qianye and Zhuji. The tall warrior’s voice rang out in Qianye’s consciousness. He was still using his own language, but Qianye could understand him this time.

“Little Zhuji is your daughter? Don’t harm her. There are many damned invaders outside, we have to find a way to circle around them or fight our way out. Only when we reach the depths of the forest can our soldiers obtain the protection of the forest and beat the invaders.”

“No need.”

“They have powerful experts! Additionally, they have isolated us from the power of the forest so that our race cannot use our full power!” the tall warrior said hurriedly.

“Thanks for taking care of Zhuji, I’ll deal with them.” Qianye patted the little fellow’s head and walked out.

“Wait, you can’t take her away!” The tall warrior stopped Qianye.

Qianye shot him a glance. “She’s my daughter, why can’t I take her away? You’ve seen the fate of whoever dares to harm her. Do you want to end up the same?”

The tall warrior replied, “No, you’ve misunderstood. Zhuji is very compatible with our sacred tree, so I hope she can stay behind. It’ll be very beneficial to her growth.”

“Is it related to whatever you fed her?”

“That’s a fruit from our Sacred Tree, it has unbelievable effects in terms of raising one’s strength. Every sacred tree fruit can produce an extraordinary warrior, but the Sacred Tree’s effect on her is much greater than it should be, even more so than the few most powerful experts in the history of our tribe. We believe that she is a child of the Sacred Tree, a deity granted to us by the world.”

So that was the case. Qianye finally understood why these natives treated her so well. It was just that he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at such a belief. Little Zhuji was clearly a descendant of Count Stuka, an arachne who had absorbed Qianye’s blood to mature. In terms of lineage, it could be said that she possessed a part of Qianye’s bloodline. Whichever angle one looked at this matter from, she had nothing to do with the Sacred Tree.

Zhuji’s talents were shocking; she enjoyed a rapid growth phase and was naturally sensitive to energy. It made sense that the fruit of the Sacred Tree would be more effective on her.

At this point, Qianye asked, “Many people in your tribe must’ve taken the Sacred Tree fruit?”

The tall warrior shook his head. “The fruit of our Sacred Tree is extremely valuable since only a certain number are produced each year. All the natives, including ours, will gather under the Sacred Tree during harvest season and decide the quota by combat.”

At this point, the tall warrior patted his chest and said proudly, “I’ve eaten a Sacred Tree fruit before! That qualifies me as a holy warrior trainee.”

Those who were able to partake in the Sacred Tree fruit were famed warriors of the native tribes. Hence, the tall warrior was quite proud of himself. But then his momentum deflated as he recalled how he couldn’t even retaliate against Qianye—it wasn’t just him, either; the entire squad of warriors had been knocked down by Qianye.

Letting Zhuji eating a fruit of the Sacred Tree meant that this person wasn’t so bad. Qianye’s expression relaxed once more as he said, “She still needs to leave with me. Thank you for the Sacred Tree fruit. My name is Qianye, and I’ll definitely repay you in the future if there’s a chance.”

“My name is Gado, a holy warrior trainee of the Long Branch Tribe. Since you must take her away, I naturally won’t stop you. But I hope she can witness our tribe’s Prayer Ceremony Sacred Tree, it’ll be beneficial to her.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Gado was delighted by Qianye’s reply. He fished out a leather pouch with three leaves inside, saying, “This is a leaf from the Sacred tree, it’ll allow you to converse with our tribe. Also, as long as it’s within range of the forest, activating the leaf’s energy will let me know that you’re here. Please protect her well.”

Qianye put the leather pouch away carefully. Gado shot a reluctant glance at Zhuji before leaving with his subordinates.

After the group had left, Qianye rubbed the little fellow’s hair and asked, “They’ve never seen you fight, have they?”

“Yeah, they said I’m too small. They’re afraid I’ll get wounded.”

Qianye nodded since that made sense. Gado simply didn’t know just how powerful Little Zhuji was. Otherwise, if he were to let the girl loose, the only ones in Stormwind Fury who could hurt her were people above the champion and viscount level. Gado only needed to support and sneak attack from the sidelines to push back the mercenary squad.

“Come, let’s go home.”

“Home? Do we have a new home?”

“Of course!”

Cheering delightfully, Little Zhuji climbed onto Qianye’s shoulder and took her seat there.

Qianye traveled straight forward and soon arrived at the lockdown battlefront. At this moment, the mercenaries here weren’t in good condition, barely managing to maintain a steady defense. Gado was weaving through the battlefield, dealing grave injuries to all the soldiers in his wake. Instead of leaving, he and his tribesmen had charged into the lockdown in a bid to break Stormwind Fury’s siege.

The addition of this powerful force brought great pressure upon the mercenary side, pushing them back step by step until they could barely maintain the defensive line.

A spirited Gado unleashed a long scream. The invisible soundwaves spread out in all directions, sending all the mercenaries into a daze and even knocking some off their feet. The native soldiers were all stirred—a sheen of hazy light emerged on their bodies as their combat strength increased.

Gado’s roar could weaken the enemies while strengthening his allies. Its effects were so great that the scales immediately tipped in favor of the natives. The mercenaries had fallen back to the isolation belt, and even the woodcutter warriors had picked up their weapons to join the fray.

Native morale was high and their attacks were fierce, reducing their need to evade into the trees or turn back. Many soldiers hiding in the darkness appeared to launch all-out attacks, hoping to route the enemy army in one go. Their aim was to tear through the isolation region and return to the vast Black Grove.

Seeing this scene, Qianye couldn’t help but shake his head. Gado was too naive. With the performance they had displayed before, how could Stormwind Fury not have a backup plan? How could it be so easy to break their defense? Gado was a valiant warrior but not a great general.

As expected, a peal of loud laughter rang out from the Stormwind Fury defense lines. A mercenary clad in black armor walked out of the crowd and shouted, “Those damned natives have finally appeared, attack!”

Numerous flames streaked across the skies, followed by a torrent of battlecries. Countless mercenaries were charging over every direction and looked like they would soon form an encirclement.

Gado was shocked out of his wits. Most of his tribe’s soldiers were with him at the moment. If they were to fall here, his tribe wouldn’t be able to recover for well over a dozen years.

However, a commotion soon appeared among the ranks of the mercenaries. The soldiers who should’ve surrounded the natives’ escape path suddenly came to a halt and charged off in a different direction.

That was because Qianye and Zhuji had appeared.

No one knew Qianye, but everyone recognized Zhuji. This little fellow was the reason they had traveled thousands of kilometers to the Southern Wilderness. It seemed to them that her cute little face was made up of piles of gold coins.

How much could a native warrior be worth compared to her?