Chapter 237: Burning the Nest

While the Northern continent was immersed in the cold dark night, very far away, the Western continent had just welcomed a clear winter morning.

The sun had not fully risen yet; a thin layer of mist lingered on the soft snow-covered grass blades, the air was so fresh that taking a breath made the chest feel cool.

A group of young Golden Peafowl clan Sub-Beasts was busy gathering wild fruits and digging wild vegetables along the forest edge, their ringing laughter echoing across a corner. Their shiny golden hair was tied with beautiful cloth ribbons, drooping over their pale yellow feathers, standing out even more amidst the pure white snow color.

A Sub-Beast in the group named Larkspur was reaching out to pick a bunch of ripe fruits when he suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from a dense bush nearby. He thought it was a wild rabbit or a mischievous baby squirrel, curiously stopping his hands, gently parting the branches and leaves to look, and immediately widened his eyes in surprise, almost falling backward.

Lying neatly in the dry leaves was a beastman egg as bright red as dyed cloth, strangely warm, with a bit of unmelted snow still lingering on its shell.

"Everyone, come here and see this!" The Sub-Beast shouted loudly calling the other friends.

The whole group gathered around, everyone ceaselessly exclaiming in admiration; no one dared to affirm what species’ egg this was, only knowing for sure this was a tiny life needing protection.

They quickly hugged the egg back to the tribe, seeking the Chief and Priest to report the matter. The two leaders of the Golden Peafowl tribe examined the egg for a long time, turning it back and forth, even bringing it to their noses to sniff, still unable to recognize which clan’s cub this was. The Priest guessed blindly: "With a shell this red, could it be the Flamingo clan’s child?"

The Chief shook his head: "Flamingos don’t lay round eggs like this; it must be some species from a different group."

Discussing endlessly without a result, they had to order someone to write letters sending to all neighboring tribes to inquire.

The letters took several days to travel, and the answers received were all the same: no one had lost a cub.

The Golden Peafowl Chief had to sigh, deciding: "Since we cannot find its biological parents, our clan will temporarily raise it then; anyway it is a life, we cannot abandon it in the wild forest."

Thus, a small snake that had not even had time to be born began its first life right in the nest of its natural enemy, being incubated and warmed daily in turns by a flock of brilliant Golden Peafowl birds, completely unaware of what they were raising inside that bright red shell.

Day after day, the egg still lay quietly in the warm nest, occasionally vibrating slightly making the Sub-Beasts taking care of it rejoice secretly, thinking it was about to hatch.

Some days when the weather turned cold, the Golden Peafowl beastmen even took turns puffing their feathers to keep it warm all night, even taking the most energy-abundant magic cores to place around the small egg for it to absorb, only wishing the egg would hatch quickly to see what rare bird species inside was so brilliantly colored.

Until one night.

The entire Golden Peafowl tribe sleeping peacefully was suddenly awakened by a terrifying scream tearing through the quiet night.

The Golden Peafowl beastman assigned to guard the red egg that night suddenly flew out of the nest like a shot arrow, his wings flapping wildly, his brilliant tail feathers scorched in patches, flying while screaming tragically echoing across the night sky:

"Fire! Fire! My butt is on fire!"

The whole tribe jumped up in an uproar; people holding water and blankets ran out to put out the fire, everyone dumbfounded not understanding what was happening in the quiet middle of the night. That Golden Peafowl beastman recounted in panic:

"I was incubating the egg when I suddenly felt the egg heat up a bit. I thought it was because the heat from my body warmed the egg, but a moment later I smelled a burning scent. After that, fire suddenly flared up, and my whole nest burned to ashes..."

The Golden Peafowl Chief, who had been constantly searching for the egg, darkened his face and shouted at the beastman: "Then where is the egg?! Where did you throw it?!!!"

The beastman was stunned, trying to remember, then said: "I was too panicked at that time to grab it along, only kicked it out of the fire. But I do not remember where I kicked it down to..."

Having finished speaking, he was immediately ganged up on and beaten by the people in the tribe.

"Damn it, you only know yourself huh?! The nest burned and you only knew to run alone, leaving the cub behind!!!"

"I’ll beat you to death you bastard; a cub’s egg has a thin shell yet you dared to kick it down from up high like that? What if the egg breaks?!"

The beastman knew he was in the wrong, only able to hug his head and endure the beating. The Chief pounded his stick hard on the ground: "Enough! Quickly scatter to find the child! Dawdling any longer and the baby will be in danger!"

Everyone immediately scattered, searching every nearby nook and cranny. In this freezing winter weather, even if that egg falling down did not break, it would freeze to death!

"Larkspur, do you hear any sound?"

Larkspur was busy searching in the grass bushes; hearing his companion ask that, he suddenly stopped his hands, tilting his ear to listen attentively. In the quiet space mixed with the howling wind, he heard a very small crunching sound, like someone chewing something crispy.

The two Sub-Beasts curiously searched in the direction emitting the sound, discovering this chewing sound came from a purple iris bush nearby.

The two looked at each other, raised their torches high, carefully parting the leaves to look. Their gazes shifted from cautious to surprised, their mouths gaping wide open.

Under the flickering torchlight, they saw a completely naked baby Sub-Beast lying on his back on half an eggshell, his two hands holding another eggshell piece, putting it in his mouth biting small bites. Beside the baby were a few small burning fire spots, yet they did not harm the surrounding plants at all.

Seeing light, the baby stopped his actions, slightly tilting his head over. After seeing the two beautiful uncles, the baby’s eyes like two rubies blinked slightly, then he grinned giving the two uncles a toothless smile.

"Oh my Beast God!" Larkspur hurriedly shoved the torch into his friend’s hand, peeled off the animal fur coat on his body wrapping the baby along with the eggshell. The two hurriedly ran towards the tribe, running while shouting loudly: "Found the baby!!!"

---

After the egg fluid was wiped clean, the baby’s true beauty also gradually revealed itself. The old Priest could not help but exclaim in admiration:

"Oh my, the baby is so beautiful. This pupil color and hair color must belong to the Red Snake clan, right?"

The old Chief wondered: "The Snake clans all answered that their families did not have lost cubs. Moreover, this season is not the Snake clan’s breeding season; could it be this child wandered here from the warm lands?"

The old Priest nodded: "That must be it. You just write letters to the Chiefs of the Snake clans, tell them to try asking other Snake clans in the warm lands; who knows, we might find the baby’s family members."

"Alright, tomorrow morning I will write and send it immediately. It is already very late; everyone quickly go back to rest, whatever comes up we will figure out tomorrow."

Having finished speaking, he also yawned widely. He was old, unable to stay up late like the youth. The old Priest used soft clothes woven from down feathers of bird species to dress the little Sub-Beast, then used an animal fur blanket to wrap outside.

He handed the child to Larkspur, saying: "You have found this child twice, proving you and he have destiny. I entrust him to you to take care of."

Larkspur joyfully received the child, gently extending his finger to touch the baby’s nose. The baby extended his hand grasping Larkspur’s finger, grinning widely. A dimple on the baby’s right cheek appeared, making Larkspur’s heart seem to melt.

He gently patted the child, his mouth humming a Golden Peafowl clan lullaby.

The baby yawned once, his eyes slightly closing then opening, gradually falling into a deep sleep...

Northern continent, Finnick in his beast form, was curling himself up taking a midday nap, suddenly feeling the yellow egg in his embrace slightly stir. The boy immediately woke up, turning his head to check.

He only saw the yellow egg in his embrace vibrating very heavily, then tiny cracking lines began to spread across the eggshell.

He panicked and shouted loudly:

"Uncle Draven, Orion is breaking out of the shell!"