Chapter 360
Yong Shensi’s face was calm as he slowly stood up. “If that’s the case, there’s no need to continue talking. This Shensi is tired and will leave first.”
Bao Xi stood up silently and followed behind Yong Shensi. Passing by Jia Shensi, his steps hesitated slightly but barely noticeable.
Fu Shensi folded his hands leisurely and watched Yong Shensi storm off in anger. He didn’t notice that the moment Lang Ze finished speaking, Ji Hezhao, sitting beside him, exchanged a quick glance.
The location of the Six Cities meeting was quite far from the Six Cities camp. When Yong Shensi returned to the camp, the sky had completely darkened.
As he stepped into the camp, suddenly a voice came from outside: “Yong Shensi, please wait.”
Yong Shensi straightened his body and calmly turned to look at the visitor. “Qin Shensi, you’re going the wrong way.”
Qin Shensi smiled. “I came specially to see you, Yong Shensi.” Saying this, he waved away the guards beside him.
Yong Shensi paused and nodded slightly at Bao Tan beside him.
Only the two of them remained. Qin Shensi spoke straightforwardly: “We don’t need to beat around the bush.”
“We’ve reached the most critical moment. Beast God City is on the verge of upheaval. That position should be chosen between you and me, but someone reckless barged in.”
Yong Shensi asked, “What do you want?”
“Heiyao.”
Yong Shensi twitched his eyelid. “Heiyao is just a small city. What does it have to do with the peak of the Sacred Mountain? What are you telling me they’re doing?”
Qin Shensi chuckled lightly. “It seems Yong Shensi still doesn’t trust me.”
“Although the Muxiang tribe has Mu Wei as the Great Shensi, they are not one of the Seven Tribes. As long as Mu Wei dies, Muxiang cannot mobilize the guarding force of Beast God City. Moreover, that lowly-blooded servant Muka can never become a Shensi. They don’t even qualify to compete for the next Great Shensi position.”
“As for the Chihu tribe, their glory from over thirty years ago is long gone. Hu Fu only controls a single Songwu city. These two are not worth mentioning before us.”
“The situation between Hongchan and Lingbao had already been settled,” Qin Shensi’s smile tightened, “but at this moment, Heiyao appeared.”
Heiyao’s relation to the Great Shensi position is like Qingchi’s to the Six Cities now—possessing wealth and weapons. Whichever side Heiyao joins will break the current balance.
“Those wanting to swallow Heiyao are never just Hongchan and Lingbao.”
“Don’t forget, Mu Wei personally courted Heiyao, even mobilizing Beast God City’s warriors. The founding of Songwu had Heiyao’s help, and even now they maintain close relations. Today, Heiyao publicly embarrassed us, signaling they might join Muxiang and Chihu at any time.”
“If that happens, it’ll be too late for us to act.”
Yong Shensi said, “You want me to join you in attacking Heiyao.”
“Exactly. Instead of letting Heiyao fall into others’ hands, it’s better for us to join forces and split Heiyao. Then Muxiang and Chihu’s fates are in our hands. They will never have the strength to challenge us again.”
Of course, Qin Shensi was truly worried about the Lingbao warriors.
Hongchan brought 40,000 troops from Jicheng, plus 30,000 horned beastmen from the Haoxiong tribe. In total, there are 70,000 beast warriors.
This force easily overwhelms Heiyao’s 20,000 scattered soldiers and could even trample Beizhou.
But he and Wang only discovered when they arrived at Yan’a that not only were there 50,000 Sacred City warriors brought by Muka, but also 80,000 Lingbao beastmen.
In that case, Hongchan had to be cautious, and the best way to deal with Lingbao was to turn them into allies.
Even if the two tribes resumed fighting later, that was a problem for the future.
Qin Shensi said, “Your one promise can decide our success or failure.”
Yong Shensi gazed distantly at Heiyao’s camp, which was only a faint silhouette, and his expression gradually darkened.
Inside Jicheng Camp
A beastman disguised as a servant pinched his nose, then released his hand after approaching, frowning in disgust: “Haoxiong, Jianhu, and Gehan’s beastmen, listen carefully. Before dawn tomorrow, the Shensi will attack Heiyao. We must kill them all before daylight. Tell those beastmen not to drag the Shensi’s rear!”
Once the temple servant who brought the news left, Hu Hong kicked the slave who was kneeling beside him applying medicine: “Just a lowliest servant in the temple, yet he dares talk to me like that!”
“Don’t mind them. Once the Shensi return to the temple, killing them will be easier than crushing an ant,” Xiong Pan coldly stared at the servant’s retreating back. “What matters is tomorrow’s battle. We must return all the humiliation Heiyao brought us.”
Hu Hong smashed the stone bowl holding the herbs: “Wang Shensi is unreliable. We can’t fully listen to him.”
Hu Hong’s injuries were from their clashes with Heiyao. Nearly fifty days had passed. Every day he used the temple’s healing herbs for divine envoys, but his wounds not only failed to improve but worsened. The wounds continuously oozed foul-smelling yellow-white pus, a stench unbearable even to him.
Xiong Pan patiently looked at the Gehan tribe leader sitting nearby, but he didn’t seem to hear their conversation. His cold, predatory eyes were fixed on the slave Hu Hong had kicked aside.
Next moment, the Gehan leader emitted a strange chuckle, grabbed the slave by the scruff of the neck, and threw him near the fire.
“Master... master, save me... please spare me... ahhh!”
Facing the cold gaze of the Gehan man, the slave screamed in terror, but soon the sharp, painful cries abruptly stopped.
Hidden in the darkness, Hu Qiao frowned, nodded at his companion, and the two left, leaving behind a shallow mark on the ground quickly covered by wind and snow.
Heiyao Camp
From afar, the Heiyao camp looked like a scatter of campfires, but entering revealed few people inside. Only dry firewood crackled before empty tents.
Hu Qiao ran all the way into the main tent, barely stopping to drink water before quickly repeating Hongchan’s plan to everyone.
“There are too many guards at the two Shensi tents, so we couldn’t get close. But when I delivered medicine to Hu Hong, I overheard this news.”
Since there was nothing else to do, Hu Qiao had already added some extra ingredients to the Haoxiong tribe’s medicine when they were with Hongchan. Hu Hong monopolized the medicine alone; it was no wonder his wounds didn’t heal.
Lang Ze patted Hu Qiao on the shoulder. “Well done.”
Hu Qiao grinned and hurried over to the table lit by an oil lamp.
A map lay on the table. Lang Ze leaned on it. “Everything proceeds according to plan.”
Since he dared to deliberately provoke Hongchan, he had already prepared thoroughly. Now it was just waiting for Hongchan to fall into their trap.
The sky was dark, the cold wind deadly.
The flames and ashes close to the ground trembled lightly, as if something heavy was approaching.
A whistle sounded from the low thicket, instantly spreading across the entire Heiyao camp.
When Chan Wang thought he could sneak into the camp unseen, what he saw instead were fully prepared Heiyao warriors.
At the front stood Xiong Pan, frowning.
Something was wrong... these Heiyao people were different from the ones they had encountered before...
But whatever doubts Xiong Pan had, he could only suppress them for now.
On the vast snowy plains, Hongchan’s army was a black mass, stretching seemingly to the horizon.
The arrow was drawn and had to be released; no one could change what was about to happen.
“Lang Ze!” Chan Wang stood at the front, laughing loudly. “You’re alert and discovered my ambush. But today is destined to be your death day. It’s not too late to kneel and beg for mercy!”
“Ha ha ha!”
When Chan Wang finished speaking, several Hongchan beastmen also laughed.
“The sun is about to rise,” Lang Ze said calmly, “that will be the last light you see.”
The smile on Chan Wang’s face twisted. “You’re surrounded by Hongchan now. How dare you, these ragtag soldiers, fight me!”
“Hongchan warriors! Kill them!”
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
At Chan Wang’s command, countless beastmen charged forward.
Originally at the front, Xiong Pan deliberately slowed down, stopping the Haoxiong beastmen in the middle of the formation.
“Prepare to fight!”
A huge white wolf appeared, instantly overturning a circle of beastmen.
“Lang Ze is there! Charge!”
Chan Wang looked at the imposing white wolf king, eyes filled with vicious determination. Killing him—he must kill him!
Countless red-backed hounds surged toward Lang Ze’s direction.
“Moo!”
Yak warriors charged fiercely, knocking them away from the white wolf.
“Howl!” “Woof!”
Gray wolves and blue dogs tore through the red-backed hounds, guiding other warriors to fight together.
Heiyao’s tactics were successful; soon the corpses of Hongchan men piled in small mountains around them.
But the number of red-backed hounds was too great. Despite all efforts, they couldn’t kill them all.
Chan Wang’s eyes were bloodshot. “They can’t hold! Kill them all!”
Endless beastmen joined the battle from behind Chan Wang. In the chaos, no one noticed Heiyao’s troops had been retreating while fighting, never falling into Hongchan’s encirclement.
When Hongchan thought they had absolute advantage and everyone believed Lang Ze would die there—
Suddenly a loud horn sounded on the battlefield.
“Woooooo~”
As the horn sounded, all Heiyao warriors stopped fighting immediately. Yak warriors led the charge, using their hard horns to tear open a path on the battlefield. Other warriors followed closely. In the blink of an eye, Heiyao warriors escaped the battlefield.
“They won’t get far!” Chan Wang raised his arm high. “Chase! Tear them all apart!”
Then Chan Wang roared angrily, transforming into a huge red-backed hound. He broke through the horned beastmen’s beast forms in front of him like a wildfire, darting out from the back of the formation.
“Howl! Howl! Howl!!”
All Hongchan were excited by the Shensi’s participation. They crowded tightly behind Chan Wang.
Inside Lingbao Camp, West of Heiyao
At this moment, they were also ready.
All horned beastmen gathered before the camp, their eyes constantly following Bao Xi and Bao Tan trailing behind Yong Shensi.
Bao Tan was a little anxious: “Grandpa, we...”
Heiyao’s fierce words were unmatched, but who would have thought they were so weak on the battlefield? If Hongchan caught up with them, all Heiyao would surely be killed. Then the treasure of Beizhou wouldn’t be theirs!
Yong Shensi glanced at the Sacred City camp that remained still and said, “Wait. We’ve already waited so long. What’s a little longer?”
Inside Sacred City Camp
Someone else was also restless.
“Captain!” The deputy guard captain said anxiously, “We were ordered to protect Heiyao City. Now that Heiyao is in trouble, what are you hesitating for? Please go to the tent and ask the divine envoy for orders!”
The guard captain frowned. “Shut up! Don’t you see the situation outside? How many heads do you have? Enough for you to be enemies of two upper cities?”
“We are Sacred City guards!” The deputy guard captain raised his voice sharply. “We swear to the Beast God to protect the Great Shensi to the death! Are you retreating now?”
“How could I retreat!” The guard captain looked toward Jia’s tent, his eyes dark and unreadable. After a long moment, he seemed to make a difficult decision and said sternly, “Return to your positions! Everything follows the divine envoy’s arrangements!”
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