5 Heartbeat Accelerates

The two locked eyes for a long moment before Banai suddenly snapped out of it. He abruptly released Cang Qian’s hands. “You can stay if you want, but if you try to seduce me like that again, get out!”

With that, Banai turned and stormed back to his room, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

Cang Qian was left utterly confused. She called out to the closed door, “When did I seduce you? You turned around suddenly—I just lost my balance and fell into you, alright?”

Banai didn’t respond. He lay on his bed, staring at his hands, still feeling the softness and warmth of her touch. Suddenly, he noticed his heart racing.

Outside, Cang Qian huffed, realizing he wasn’t going to answer. After a moment’s thought, she decided, “Whatever, as long as I get to stay here.” Then she went off to another room.

…

In the room, Cang Qian opened a novice starter pack the system had given her when she first arrived in the Beast Continent. Inside were ten beauty pills, three bottles of satiety liquid, a dagger sharp enough to cut iron like mud, a crossbow, three sets of clothes, a set of painkillers and bandages, two servings of aardvark meat, and a firestarter.

She examined the items—mostly survival and self-defense tools. But the crossbow came without any bolts. How was she supposed to shoot it?

She rolled her eyes. And those beauty pills—what were they for? Eat them to become beautiful and really seduce Banai into having beast offspring? That was just ridiculous.

After rifling through the package, she tossed everything into the system’s storage space. Then she asked Xiao You to give her an overview of the Beast Continent.

The continent was divided into five major clans: the Divine Beast clan, the Immortal Beast clan, the Spiritual Beast clan, the Essence Beast clan, and the Evil Beast clan.

The Divine Beasts had the highest spiritual power levels, while the Essence Beasts had the lowest.

No matter the clan, the higher the spiritual power level of a male beastman, the harder it was for him to reproduce.

Female beastmen on the continent lacked spiritual power, making it difficult to conceive offspring naturally with high-level males—especially among clans like the Divine Beasts.

To bear young, high-level male beastmen had to burn through their lifelong cultivation and soul to form an embryo, which would then be carried and birthed by a female beastman.

The Divine Beasts lived for ten thousand years; the Immortal and Spiritual Beasts for a thousand; the Essence Beasts for only a few hundred.

Thus, male Divine Beasts typically would not sacrifice their cultivation and soul to conceive offspring before their natural lifespan ended. They preferred to try natural conception with female beastmen.

Besides those four clans, there was a special Evil Beast clan.

…

Apart from the Evil Beast King and his noble beastmen, who were purebred Evil Beasts, the others were corrupted beastmen from the other four clans who had cultivated evil spiritual power, known as Fallen Beastmen.

Purebred Evil Beasts gave birth only to purebreds, unlike the Fallen.

But the Evil Beast clan had no females at all.

To reproduce, they had to capture females from the other three clans to bear their young.

Since the Divine Beasts were too powerful, the Evil Beasts dared not provoke them, instead targeting the other three clans—leading to long-term conflicts over females.

Cang Qian thoughtfully asked, “So if you have a child with a Divine Beast male, do you get more points?”

[System: Naturally. If a player can mate with a Divine Beast male and produce a high-level beast offspring, they receive a hundred million points.]

“A hundred million!!!” Cang Qian exclaimed excitedly. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s find a Divine Beast male right away!”

[System: Don’t get ahead of yourself. To produce a high-level Divine Beast offspring, your own spiritual power level must reach that of the Divine Beasts. Otherwise, even if you conceive, the offspring won’t be high-level.]

Hearing this, Cang Qian’s enthusiasm dimmed. “So I have to cultivate and improve my spiritual power myself.”

[System: Correct. But your immediate priority is to conceive your first child. Once the beast offspring is born, your initial spiritual power level will awaken, and you’ll earn points.]

“I understand.” She sighed. “But my first beast husband holds a grudge against me now. Until I heal his leg, there’s no way he’ll produce offspring with me!”

[System: Then you must work hard. Once your healing ability reaches level two, you can cure Banai’s leg injury.]

[System: Based on your prior interactions, he currently has 20% affection for you, so it’s not all dislike.]

Cang Qian was surprised. “You can detect that? What about the remaining 80%?”

[System: Hatred.]

Cang Qian was speechless.

[System: Don’t be discouraged. His hatred mainly comes from his leg injury. Once you heal him, his affection for you will increase.]

“I understand.” She sighed again. “Then I’ll focus on cultivating my healing ability. Xiao You, please open the level two healing skill scroll for me.”

[System: Understood.]

The contents of the scroll appeared vividly in her mind, guiding her cultivation.

By evening, seeing the sky darken, Cang Qian paused her training.

She was hungry and remembered the two servings of aardvark meat in the storage.

Her eyes gleamed as she planned to cook two stir-fried dishes.

She left her room and went to the kitchen, placing dry wood under the clay stove and using the firestarter to light a fire.

Once the fire was burning, she divided the prepared aardvark meat into two portions.

Spotting green peppers and green beans nearby, she decided to make green pepper stir-fry and green bean stir-fry with meat.

With her plan set, she began cooking.

Soon, the aroma of sizzling meat filled the air.

Banai, resting inside his room, caught the scent and froze briefly before stepping out toward the kitchen.

He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching Cang Qian cook.

He was slightly surprised: this fierce female actually knew how to cook—and so deliciously!

From what Banai knew, the clan leader’s household had dedicated cooks.

So both Cang Qian and Sang Yingying had been raised as noble ladies, never needing to cook.

Yet here she was, chopping and stir-frying with practiced ease—clearly not an amateur.

He looked at the busy little female in the kitchen with curious eyes.

For the first time, Banai found Cang Qian not only beautiful but gentle, lacking any trace of her previous fierceness.

Cang Qian caught sight of Banai standing at the door and smiled gently.

“You smelled the food, didn’t you? Hungry? Just wait a little longer; it’ll be ready soon.”

Fifteen minutes later, Cang Qian placed the two dishes and rice on the living room’s rattan table, handing Banai a pair of chopsticks.

“Try it. Tell me if it’s any good.”

Banai took the chopsticks but didn’t start eating. Instead, he asked, “Why do you know how to cook?”

“Isn’t it normal to know how to cook? Why are you questioning that?” she replied, frustrated.

Banai stared into her eyes. “Cooking is normal, but you’re the clan leader’s granddaughter. It’s not normal for you to cook yourself.”

“Besides, from what I know, the clan leader’s household has people who cook. When have you ever needed to cook personally?”

Cang Qian’s heart skipped a beat. That was true—being the clan leader’s granddaughter was like being part of a noble household; they wouldn’t normally need to cook for themselves.

…

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