PNB Chapter 87 Winter Blessing Ceremony
Chapter 87 Winter Blessing Ceremony
The winter snow fell steadily, covering the mountains and forests in a blanket of white. Each peak and forest was draped in snow, the overlapping peaks resembling towering white waves of the sea. After enjoying the snow scenery for two days, Lin Ni felt a little bored. Fortunately, winter days are short and nights are long, so she could just stay in bed a little longer.
A typical winter day for Linni goes like this: After breakfast, she meditates for two hours, then chats and laughs with her partners as they prepare a hearty lunch. After lunch, she practices archery; if it's not snowing heavily, she practices outside, but otherwise, she has to stay home. Yao, who has been spending time with Linni, has become even better at archery than her. When practicing archery gets tiring, Linni gets bored, so she constantly finds things to do: like making masks and gloves—she gives instructions, and Yao and the others do the work. During these boring moments, her partners would pester her to do intimate things, which Linni finds embarrassing, given the large number of people in the house. Then comes dinner, followed by chatting on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) until they fall asleep.
Linni became obsessed with bone broth. She had them put bones in a big pot to simmer before bed, so they could enjoy a long-simmered soup the next morning. Linni herself could drink a large bowl, and each of them could have two more. It warmed their stomachs, and everyone loved it, plus they didn't need to eat as much food. However, not all their partners were with them every day. They would take turns going out to guard the tribe, and every day or two they would go hunting. Whenever there were fewer people at home, that was Linni's busiest time; her partners were never idle!
The snow that had fallen for nine days finally stopped yesterday, and the tenth day of winter was the first day for the people of Han Dong to pray for blessings at the Beast God Monument. Lin Ni got up early and bundled herself up tightly, wearing a hat and mask. Just as she was about to set off, Yao said he wouldn't be going with them. He explained that he was only level three when he came to the Tiger Beast Tribe, but now he was level seven, and he didn't want to arouse suspicion, especially not to attract the attention of the single beastmen who would frantically surround Lin Ni again. But Feng said, "In the Beastman Continent, strength is paramount; being strong is the most important thing! Since you can improve yourself better at the Beast God Monument, then go ahead and participate boldly. If any annoying people come, we'll just drive them away."
Yao hesitated for a moment and glanced at Lin Ni. Bai then reminded him, "Yao's aura isn't as obvious as ours. No one can sense it at all. As long as he covers his forehead, no one will know that he is already a high-level beastman."
Lin Ni gave Bai a thumbs up, found a beige animal hide and tied it to Yao's forehead. It looked even more handsome with his animal hide clothes!
Lin Ni, sitting atop the three-meter-long tiger that Feng had transformed into (a quick online search revealed that tiger length is calculated from head to tail, but this article only considers the length from head to rump), felt incredibly majestic as she arrived at the Beast God Stele. There were already many people there. The flat area on the mountainside beneath the Beast God Stele wasn't particularly large; it could easily accommodate hundreds or even thousands of ordinary modern people, but the tiger-beast tribe members were all very robust, and many still maintained their animal forms, making the nearly one thousand beastmen feel extremely crowded. Lin Ni also noticed that most of the females were wearing various kinds of clothing, while a small number of males wore animal skins. Compared to that, her group's attire seemed rather ordinary. Lin Ni liked this feeling of ordinariness.
A woman, dressed as warmly as Linni, walked towards her. Linni recognized the man beside her as Hui's partner. Linni waved to her: "Hui!"
Hui reached out and took off her hat: "Lin, these clothes you've been thinking of are so warm! Last year I felt unbearably cold, but this year I actually feel a bit hot!"
Linni smiled and said, "I'm glad everyone likes it." She saw many people wearing the same style of clothes that she had worn before, and of course, there were also some different modified versions. Women really do love to dress up.
Hui looked at Lin Ni's face: "And what are you wearing on your face?"
Lin Ni took off her mask, a very simple little thing. She showed it to Hui from both sides: "This is called a mask. Wearing it will prevent cold wind from blowing into your nose and mouth."
Hui nodded: "Your idea is great! It's alright now, but it's really unbearable when the wind is strong. Wearing this should make it much better."
A woman next to them suddenly interjected, "Especially when you're sitting on the back of a flying orc, this mask is really necessary."
Linni looked over and saw Ying, the female who had just come of age the night she joined the Tiger Beast Tribe. She smiled and nodded at her, "Ying, you're absolutely right! I didn't even think of that. You're so clever!"
Ying smiled a little shyly: "It's really smart of you to come up with the idea of face masks!"
Just then, a tall and beautiful woman came over and pulled Ying along: "Ying, what are you saying to this petite woman?"
Lin Ni looked over and saw Zhi, who had said she would wait for Feng. However, Zhi now had three partners. She wasn't wearing similar beautiful clothes as Lin Ni; instead, she was wearing a crimson animal skin draped diagonally across her body and a brown animal skirt.
Seeing Linni looking at her, Zhi deliberately straightened the animal skin on her body and said smugly, "So what if you have a level nine beastman as your partner? You still don't have a fire fox skin to wear. You know, fire foxes are very hard to find!"
Ying said awkwardly to Lin Ni, "Lin, don't mind her, that's just how Zhi talks."
Zhi said loudly and unhappily, "Ying, what's wrong with you? What are you explaining to her about?"
Ying smiled at Lin Ni: "Sorry, let's go collecting together again next spring." After saying that, she quickly pushed Zhi away, who was about to lash out.
Lin Ni smiled and waved to her, "Okay, goodbye!" She guessed that Ying probably wanted to befriend her, but Zhi was clearly still quite hostile towards her, so it was unlikely they would hang out together. However, she didn't really intend to hang out with them anyway. She'd chat with Hui if they got along, and if not, she'd just live her own life. She already had multiple partners at home, and she didn't have enough time to spend with them!
In the short time it took to exchange just a few words, the crowd beneath the stone tablet had grown so large it felt almost overwhelming. At that moment, Yang, the chieftain of the Tiger Beast Tribe, stepped forward, his booming voice echoing throughout the mountain: "Have all the members of the Tiger Beast Tribe arrived?"
The tribespeople present responded in unison: "Here—"