Orc Priest (12): 

Gu Juntian’s eyes flew wide open after being kissed by Zhou Qinghao.

Zhou Qinghao had always been shy before. Whenever Gu Juntian invited him to sleep together, Zhou Qinghao would always turn into a little rabbit.

If it hadn’t been like that, Gu Juntian wouldn’t have only dared to kiss him now.

He had been afraid of kissing a mouthful of fur!

But today, Zhou Qinghao suddenly became very passionate!

Gu Juntian was overjoyed, and at the same time, more certain than ever that Zhou Qinghao was jealous.

Zhou Qinghao had always liked him. The reason he didn’t accept him before must have been because a priest couldn’t take a partner. Now that he had accepted him, it must be because he was afraid of Gu Juntian being taken away by someone else.

Gu Juntian kissed back, biting Zhou Qinghao’s lips.

He and Zhou Qinghao had grown up together as childhood companions. When he was little, he often turned into a little tiger and burrowed into Zhou Qinghao’s arms.

Their bond was very deep. Even though the original host had been a little cold to Zhou Qinghao in the past two years, as priest and chief, they still interacted the most within the tribe.

And this past month, even more so!

Gu Juntian felt that his pursuit of Zhou Qinghao during this time had been very clear.

In their tribe, if a man chased after a woman like he did all day long, then it was obvious that he liked her.

Just now, he had even confessed to him.

Now, with their deep feelings and mutual affection, for something to happen between them was perfectly normal.

The only problem was that Zhou Qinghao was a priest. If people in the tribe found out they were together, Zhou Qinghao’s position as priest might be questioned.

Thinking of this, Gu Juntian felt a little worried and distracted.

But even while distracted, his movements were practiced, pressing Zhou Qinghao down on the animal hide and kissing him forcefully.

For him, it felt like pure instinct.

At that moment, Zhou Qinghao suddenly sobered.

He would die, the tribe would be destroyed, and the cause of it all was the man he liked—Gu Juntian.

It was with his and his teacher’s help that Gu Juntian became chief.

If Gu Juntian had not been chief, he wouldn’t have had the chance to lead the hippo tribe to ruin.

So, when disaster struck the tribe, both he and his teacher could not escape responsibility.

All these things tangled together in his heart, making him confused, and so he kissed Gu Juntian.

But now, he felt a bit of regret.

His ability to foresee the future must be a gift from the beast god.

Since the beast god valued him so much, he should be serving the beast god faithfully. But what had he done instead?

Here he was, about to get intimate with Gu Juntian.

Such behavior was wrong. A priest should maintain the purity of his body.

Would he still be fit to serve as priest in the future?

For a brief moment, Zhou Qinghao thought about stopping in time.

But just as the thought arose, he heard Gu Juntian’s voice.

“Aqing, I really like you. I like you very much.”

At that moment, Zhou Qinghao wanted to believe him.

In the prophecy he saw, Gu Juntian fell in love with Bai Yutian, and for that, he even dragged the whole tribe to destruction.

But reality had already diverged from prophecy.

In the prophecy, the hippo tribe suffered great losses from a storm, many died, and grief filled the tribe.

But in reality, over the past month, not a single person in the hippo tribe had died.

In the prophecy, Gu Juntian had always been cold toward him. But in reality, Gu Juntian was very passionate about him.

Perhaps the Gu Juntian now had already fallen for him.

If he stayed with Gu Juntian, then when Bai Yutian appeared, Gu Juntian probably wouldn’t fall for Bai Yutian anymore.

Zhou Qinghao ultimately did not reject Gu Juntian’s advances.

Sensing Zhou Qinghao’s brief stiffness, Gu Juntian coaxed him: “Aqing, from now on I’ll hunt more, so you can eat the best meat!”

“Aqing, I’ll only ever love you.”

“Aqing…”

Zhou Qinghao finally spoke: “I like you too.”

“I’ve always liked you.”

“I want to be with you forever.”

…

Gu Juntian promised to be with him forever, so he must not go back on his word.

Zhou Qinghao would give his all to make Gu Juntian love him. If, after all his effort, Gu Juntian still followed the same path as in the prophecy, then he would perish together with him.

Once he figured that out, Zhou Qinghao let go completely.

Gu Juntian could feel his relaxation, and could no longer restrain himself…

Gu Juntian didn’t know how long he had worn Zhou Qinghao out.

He couldn’t help it—he was young, strong, and had been holding back for too long.

Speaking of that, he had to thank the original host. The original host had high standards, looked down on everyone, and left behind no romantic entanglements—wonderful!

Worried that Zhou Qinghao might feel uncomfortable or that others might notice, Gu Juntian was always very gentle, careful not to make noise.

He kept Zhou Qinghao’s mouth sealed with his own, not allowing him to make a sound.

At first, the tribe was busy roasting and eating meat, their noise covering the sounds.

Later, when others returned to their homes, they began doing the same thing as the two of them. With all sorts of sounds rising and falling around them, their quietness only drew less attention.

Still, the situation was incredibly exciting, thrilling beyond words.

Zhou Qinghao’s room had many things. When they finished, Gu Juntian fetched water to clean him up.

By the weak firelight, seeing Zhou Qinghao’s lips so very red, he kissed him again, then held him close, using his spiritual power to heal the wounds on Zhou Qinghao’s lips.

Though his cultivation time was short and his spiritual power limited, it was enough to ease the swelling on Zhou Qinghao’s lips and body.

Lying in Gu Juntian’s arms, Zhou Qinghao felt entirely comfortable.

He hadn’t rested well for two days, and after their struggle just now, he was completely exhausted and drowsy.

Before long, he fell asleep, sleeping soundly through the night.

When he woke up in the morning, Zhou Qinghao felt especially refreshed. But soon, he frowned and became alert—Gu Juntian wasn’t by his side!

Where was Gu Juntian?

Hadn’t Gu Juntian been holding him as they slept?

Just as Zhou Qinghao was thinking this, Gu Juntian sensed movement in the house and opened the door to enter.

Last night, to cultivate, he hadn’t held Zhou Qinghao while he slept. Once Zhou Qinghao was asleep, he had taken his beast form and kept watch at the door while cultivating.

He only changed back to human form when it was close to time for the hunting party to leave.

He tore the leftover cooked meat Zhou Qinghao had made yesterday into strips, put them into a pot made of beast bone, and scraped the black outer skin off water grass roots with bamboo pieces.

Scraped clean like that, the roots weren’t so bitter.

Just as he was busy with that, Gu Juntian sensed movement in the house and went inside.

Seeing Zhou Qinghao awake, Gu Juntian smiled: “Aqing, you’re awake? I’m cooking food. Once it’s ready, you can eat. I have to go out with the hunting party today, so I’ll be leaving soon.”

When Zhou Qinghao sat up and saw the carefully torn meat strips and the cleaned roots in the pot, the unease he felt earlier from not seeing Gu Juntian vanished completely.

Being cared for like this by Gu Juntian felt wonderful.

If this was truly from Gu Juntian’s heart, then it would be even better.

But even if it wasn’t sincere, Zhou Qinghao was willing to believe it for now.

He would be a good partner, so that Gu Juntian would come to love him.

“I’ll miss you,” Zhou Qinghao said, looking at Gu Juntian. “I’ll be waiting for you in the tribe.”

His words were simple, but when Gu Juntian heard them, his whole body brimmed with energy. “I’ll miss you too!”

Zhou Qinghao waiting for him in the tribe! Today he had to catch plenty of game!

Gu Juntian led the hunters out with pride and vigor.

Lately, when Gu Juntian led hunts, he would usually set traps first, then drive prey into them.

This way reduced casualties, since Gu Juntian could predict the prey’s escape routes. They caught a lot of game this way.

Today, after leaving the tribe, the hunters asked as usual: “Chief, where are we hunting today?”

“Chief, what kind of traps should we set?”

“Chief…”

Gu Juntian pointed in a direction and led the tribe members there.

As they walked, they came upon a massive dinosaur.

Seeing it, Gu Juntian stopped in his tracks. The strong warrior beside him spoke up: “Brother, that dinosaur is delicious, the meat is especially fragrant…”

Drooling as he looked at it, he still thought they wouldn’t get to eat it.

That kind of dinosaur was too big, not easily startled, and difficult to trap. The only way to catch it was to swarm it and fight head-on.

Perhaps the former chief might have ordered that, but Gu Juntian was always cautious—he wouldn’t do such a thing.

The hunters hoped so too. Though the meat was delicious, fighting such a dinosaur directly meant death for some of them.

If they could avoid it, they didn’t want to die.

They thought Gu Juntian would surely give it up, but then he said: “The main group will wait here. I’ll take a few people and catch that dinosaur!”

As he spoke, Gu Juntian picked out a few from the hunting party.

Those he called were all strong in beast form, including Zhuang.

Zhuang was surprised. “We’re going to catch that dinosaur?”

“Yes, catch it!” Gu Juntian replied, then laid out his plan: “I’ll take the lead attack. You assist when you see the chance. If the dinosaur makes too much commotion, stay back—safety first…”

After arranging everything, Gu Juntian shifted into beast form and charged out.

The others were stunned.

That dinosaur was enormous—by comparison, their chief’s beast form was tiny.

Would his teeth even pierce its hide?

For him to lead the attack—wasn’t that too much?

Though puzzled, seeing Gu Juntian charge ahead, they followed.

By then, Gu Juntian had already leapt onto the dinosaur’s body in beast form.

He poured all his spiritual power into his claws and teeth. His sharp claws pierced into the dinosaur’s skin, anchoring him in place.

Then he bit down, his teeth tearing through the hide.

This kind of dinosaur tasted wonderful, but it was huge—this one weighed forty or fifty tons.

Forty or fifty tons—indeed!

It was thirty meters long and eight meters tall.

Even carnivorous dinosaurs rarely hunted them, and beastmen never did.

They feared little and roamed the forest unbothered.

But now, bitten suddenly, this dinosaur was frightened by the unexpected pain.

It let out a thunderous roar, slamming its massive forelimbs into the ground and thrashing its body, trying to shake off the small creature clinging to it.

But Gu Juntian was like a root dug deep into its body. No matter how it struggled in rage, it couldn’t shake him off, only exhausting itself.

Clinging tight, Gu Juntian bit down again, tearing off a chunk of flesh, enraging it further. Its massive limbs stomped the ground again and again, shaking the earth.

Because of this, aside from Gu Juntian, the other members of the hunting party didn’t dare get close to the dinosaur at all, afraid they might be accidentally trampled into pulp.

Zhuang glanced at the beastman next to him, whose beast form was also a hippopotamus: “That dinosaur is too big. One of its legs is bigger than my beast form… I don’t even dare to go near it.”

“I don’t dare either…”

“Then what about my brother?” Zhuang couldn’t help asking.

“The chief told us safety comes first. Let’s watch for now?”

Just as they were speaking, the massive dinosaur kicked a tree down.

Seeing this, the group became even more reluctant to approach.

Gu Juntian saw the situation and knew that no one could help him.

Of course, he could give up hunting this dinosaur. All he had to do was let go and jump down.

But he remembered—eight years ago, their tribe’s hunting team had luckily come across an injured dinosaur of the same kind. After catching it and bringing it back, the whole tribe said the meat was delicious, and Zhou Qinghao had especially liked it.

Because the original host also loved eating it, Zhou Qinghao had even shared half of his portion with him.

Now, Gu Juntian wanted to capture this dinosaur and let Zhou Qinghao eat to his heart’s content!

Thinking of Zhou Qinghao waiting for him back in the tribe, Gu Juntian refused to let go.

Not only did he refuse, but he also attacked the dinosaur with his spiritual power, making it hurt more and more.

The huge dinosaur roared nonstop, ramming its body against nearby trees, trying to knock Gu Juntian off.

Just as it was about to slam into a tree, Gu Juntian leapt forcefully, releasing his claws to shift position. A second later, the tree crashed against the spot he had just left.

The giant tree snapped, and the places where Gu Juntian had clawed and bitten into the dinosaur’s body were torn and bloody.

Suddenly, Gu Juntian realized something.

His body was too small to deal serious damage to such a large dinosaur.

But after being hurt, the dinosaur would thrash endlessly. If it kept this up, sooner or later, it would exhaust itself.

So all he needed to do was persist—keep injuring it, again and again.

Gu Juntian bit down and refused to let go. If the dinosaur tried knocking him off by smashing into trees, he simply shifted positions and bit elsewhere.

Time passed. The dinosaur, full of energy at first, gradually weakened. Even its roars grew faint.

Because of its massive size, this kind of dinosaur had to eat a lot every day, and it moved slowly.

But now, with Gu Juntian biting into it, it hadn’t eaten in a long while. It couldn’t take it anymore.

Realizing it couldn’t shake him off, it stopped stomping and began eating leaves from the trees nearby.

Seeing this, Gu Juntian took the chance to leap onto its head. At the same time, his spiritual power surged directly into the dinosaur’s brain.

Only then did he discover—the dinosaur’s brain was absurdly small compared to its body.

So, the moment his power struck, its brain was destroyed. The dinosaur froze mid-bite, then collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Gu Juntian nimbly jumped away, avoiding a fall, but he was still stunned.

The dinosaur… just died like that?

Gu Juntian found it unbelievable, and so did everyone else.

The hippo tribe’s hunting party had been watching anxiously, afraid Gu Juntian would be thrown off and killed.

But instead, the dinosaur had been bitten all over and couldn’t shake him off.

And now—it was dead.

Dead!

The tribe members gathered around the massive dinosaur, staring at Gu Juntian in shock.

They checked the wounds on its body, even tried biting into its hide themselves, only to find they couldn’t even break through the skin.

Their chief was incredible!

He had actually hunted such a gigantic dinosaur all by himself!

“Chief, you’re amazing!”

“Chief, today we’ll have more meat than we can eat!”

“Chief, do we still need to keep hunting?”

…

Gu Juntian said, “Today’s hunt is over. Cut up this dinosaur, and we’ll take it back to the tribe.”

They had only just set out when they encountered this dinosaur, shortly after dawn.

And now, not much time had passed at all.

Realizing they could return early, the hunters were delighted.

Gu Juntian added, “This dinosaur was captured by me alone. Its bones and hide belong to me.”

The hunters nodded without objection.

Gu Juntian was already thinking about how to use the bones.

Of course, most importantly—he could finally bring Zhou Qinghao a feast of dinosaur meat!

And he could go back early to be with him!

In the hippo tribe, everyone ate together at night. During the day, meals were more casual, depending on how much food there was.

If there was plenty, they ate more. If scarce, they ate less.

As the tribe’s priest, Zhou Qinghao never lacked food. He usually ate in the morning, then again if hungry at noon, and once more with the tribe at night.

But unlike the others, he didn’t feast heavily at night, usually eating lightly.

Today, after eating the breakfast Gu Juntian prepared, he began teaching people how to weave fishing nets.

These tightly woven nets could be used not only for fishing but also to carry things or serve other purposes.

The tribe members were happily weaving when, from afar, they saw the hunting party returning.

“Why are they back so early?” people wondered, and when they saw them carrying huge chunks of meat, they grew even more curious.

“Did they find a dead dinosaur?”

“So much meat!”

“Are we going to eat soon?”

…

The children were especially excited. Some of the older ones even leapt into the water, swimming toward the hunters.

Though Gu Juntian had single-handedly taken down a massive dinosaur, he wasn’t tired. He rushed into the tribe ahead of everyone and said to Zhou Qinghao, “Aqing, I caught a huge dinosaur! You can eat plenty later!”

The night before, things had been rough between them. Normally, Zhou Qinghao would need to watch his diet today.

But Gu Juntian had already treated him last night. He was fine now, without a trace of injury, perfectly able to eat heartily.

Zhou Qinghao had resolved to be a good partner.

Smiling at Gu Juntian, he said, “You’re amazing!”

Hearing this, Gu Juntian puffed up proudly and emphasized, “I caught this dinosaur all by myself!”

Looking at his smug expression, Zhou Qinghao couldn’t help but praise him: “Tian, you’re incredible. How did you manage to capture it?”

Gu Juntian immediately began recounting the story.

As Zhou Qinghao listened, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been dangerous.

In the past, he would have warned Gu Juntian to be more careful. But now, knowing Gu Juntian disliked such nagging, Zhou Qinghao only looked at him with admiration and showered him with praise.

Gu Juntian’s tail practically curled with joy, as if he wanted to rush out and catch another dinosaur.

But catching too many would only waste meat. Today’s dinosaur was already more than enough to feed the whole tribe!

“Brother, brother, we can start dividing the meat!” Zhuang called out.

The dinosaur had already been partly processed before being brought back, so it was ready for portioning.

Gu Juntian oversaw the division, setting aside the best cuts for himself and Zhou Qinghao.

Once that was done, he brought the meat straight to Zhou Qinghao.

Though it was only noon, the tribe’s people, eager to cook, lit fires immediately.

This kind of dinosaur meat was delicious because it was rich in fat.

As it roasted, grease dripped down.

Reluctant to waste it, people would pull the meat away after a while, then lick at the dripping fat.

But Zhou Qinghao didn’t do that.

He cut the meat into smaller pieces, rubbed them against a stone, and then roasted them, letting the oil drip away.

When Gu Juntian saw this, he instantly looked forward to the meal.

He recognized that stone—it was rich in salt.

Their ancestors had once noticed dinosaurs licking this kind of rock and had brought it back.

It was usually treasured like medicinal herbs, kept only by the priest, and given to the sick.

Zhou Qinghao always treated it as a precious treasure. Who would have thought he’d use it for cooking now!

When the meat was done, Gu Juntian tasted it. The saltiness was just right—it was delicious.

“Aqing, how could you bear to use that stone for roasting meat?” he asked.

“This kind of stone might be found again someday. Using a little once in a while is fine,” Zhou Qinghao replied.

Though he treasured it, Bai Yutian had once been shocked that the tribe didn’t eat salt, even saying it could be used to preserve meat.

Bai Yutian had eaten salt every day before.

What Zhou Qinghao considered precious, Bai Yutian didn’t think much of.

More importantly, Zhou Qinghao realized the stone wasn’t as rare as he thought. With effort, they could probably find more.

And if they weren’t careful, the tribe might lose everything anyway. So there was no reason to hoard it uselessly.

In the prophecy, he hadn’t let Bai Yutian know about the salt. But later, when the Sirius tribe massacred them, the stone had been discarded as junk.

So why not use it well now?

With that thought, Zhou Qinghao ground off some powder and mixed it into the porridge prepared for the children.

That day’s porridge was made of meat and waterweed roots, with no vegetables. Zhou Qinghao even had people scrape the roots’ skins.

Now, with added salt, when he tasted it, it was delicious.

He gave the porridge to the children.

They were hungry and dug in eagerly. After the first bite, their eyes went wide, and they cried out in delight as they lunged for more, utterly adorable.

Zhou Qinghao smiled, but thinking of the prophecy and their eventual fate, he felt a pang of sadness.

If only his prophecy were false.

But everything so far had proven it true.

That afternoon, the tribe gathered joyfully, eating meat and dancing afterward.

Gu Juntian, however, looked at Zhou Qinghao and asked, “Aqing, do you want to take a nap?”

He wanted to sleep with him!