Chapter 669: Chapter 669: They Are My Family
Su Qinglan was stunned, her heart dropping. "But where could she possibly go? Little Hua is so sensible. If she were going somewhere, she would have definitely told us beforehand."
Seeing Stove panicking so heavily, Su Qinglan immediately tried to soothe him.
"Shush, don’t cry, Stove. Let’s go, we should all go out and find her right now. What if she tripped and fell somewhere? Or what if she accidentally got buried under the heavy snow? We have to find her quickly!"
Stove nodded frantically, wiping his face with a vine, and immediately jumped back out of the window to start tracking her.
Hu Yan looked at Stove’s desperate figure, a deeply worried expression appearing on his face. He stood up from his seat, adjusting his heavy fur coat. "Let’s go. Stove, wait up! I will search for her with you."
"We will come too," Han Jue said, standing up alongside Shi Feng and Rong Ye. "If there are more people scanning the area, it will be much easier to find her before the sun goes down."
Su Qinglan looked around at her husbands, then turned her gaze toward Shi Feng. "Shi Feng, you stay here and look after the cubs. The weather is too cold to take them out."
Shi Feng nodded silently, calm returning to his face. He didn’t mind staying behind at all.
The cubs were always incredibly good around him, and he could handle every single one of them without breaking a sweat.
Whenever a family emergency happened, the task of babysitting almost always fell onto his dependable shoulders.
"Don’t worry, Lan Lan. Keep yourself warm, and leave the little troublemakers to me," Shi Feng said, ushering the curious cubs back toward the fire.
Soon, the house emptied out as everyone rushed into the biting winter cold to search for the missing spiritual plant.
However, none of them could have guessed what was actually happening.
Far outside the boundaries of Dragon Beast City, deep within a towering mountain completely covered in thick, white snow, a strange sight was unfolding.
Hidden from human eyes, a large huddle of many small, magical plants was gathered together. These were not common forest weeds...this was a secret group of rare spiritual plants.
And right in the very center of the huddle, being protected and surrounded by all the others, was none other than little Hua.
"Impudent!"
A stern, booming voice suddenly echoed across the snowy mountain peak, causing the loose snow on the surrounding pine branches to cascade downward.
Little Hua’s delicate green leaves trembled violently from the sheer force of the sound.
In front of her stood an old spiritual plant with thick, gray-green leaves and deep roots anchored firmly into the frozen earth. His aura was so powerful that it completely overshadowed all the other spiritual plants gathered in the clearing.
He was Little Hua’s grandfather.
The old spiritual plant glared down at her, his foliage bristling with rage. "You are saying you have actually fallen for those filthy beastmen?"
Little Hua immediately lowered her leaves, her entire stem bending down toward the snow. She was clearly terrified of his wrath, shrinking back into herself.
"Grandfather..." she whimpered softly.
However, the old spiritual plant was already far too furious to listen to her tiny voice.
"You are still a child!" he thundered, the cold wind whipping around them.
"How could you possibly know whether those beastmen are good or bad? Have you completely forgotten what those vicious creatures have done to our ancestors over the centuries?"
His gray-green leaves rustled violently, making a sharp, angry sound in the chill air.
"They hunt spiritual plants like we are nothing but wild weeds! They capture us, drag us from our homes, and cage us! They force us to produce spiritual essence until our roots wither and dry up! They use every single part of our bodies just to make themselves stronger!" His voice became heavier, dripping with centuries of resentment.
"And even after we die, they do not let us rest in peace. They dry our bodies out, grind us into a fine powder, and consume us! That is what they do!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, his spiritual pressure causing the surrounding snow to swirl in a mini-vortex.
Little Hua was completely stunned by his words. Horrified by the grim description, she immediately and frantically shook her leaves in denial.
"No, Grandfather! It isn’t like that at all! The beastmen I met are very good. The female master is also incredibly sweet and kind to me. Look!"
She stretched her stem out, proudly displaying her vibrant, healthy green color.
"I’ve grown so much! If it wasn’t for Female Master taking care of me every single day, how could I have grown this quickly?"
The old spiritual plant immediately let out a harsh, mocking snort.
"Foolish child!" he barked.
"You grew because your inherent talent is excellent! Your bloodline is pure! What does any of that have to do with a greedy female beastman? You have been completely brainwashed by them!"
Little Hua vigorously shook her head, refusing to back down.
"No! They are really, truly good to me! They always take care of me and keep me warm inside the house. They never force me to condense spiritual drops, and they have never hurt a single one of my leaves!"
Just then, a gentle, sorrowful female voice sounded from the side. "Little Hua."
Little Hua turned her stem around. A beautiful female spiritual plant was looking at her, her leaves drooping with a deeply worried expression. It was her mother.
Her mother let out a soft, heavy sigh that sounded like the rustling of spring grass.
"Little Hua, you are still far too young and naive. The beastmen may be treating you well right now, but that is only because you are still small and haven’t fully matured. They are merely waiting for you to grow. When you become stronger and your spiritual essence becomes richer, they will finally reveal their true, ugly intentions."
"You simply do not understand the bottomless greed of beastmen. They are dangerous, selfish, and they can never be trusted."
Little Hua’s eyes instantly turned red, and tiny translucent droplets of spiritual tears began falling from her leaves, melting into the snow.
"No..." she cried, her voice cracking.
"No... That isn’t true! They are not like that at all!" Her voice became louder, desperate to make them understand.
"How do I explain it to you? They are really good! They treat me like I’m a real part of their family!"
