Chapter 163 - Eastern Calamity (Part 3)

Chapter 163: Chapter 156 Eastern Calamity (Part 3)In the Era of the Gods, the seemingly overpowered Bloodthirst skill was actually quite easy to counter, it only required sending a team of divine healers to perform purification skills, which could clear away the negative effects gathered by Bloodthirst, greatly weakening its potency.

But this was only during the Era of the Gods. With the War God’s whereabouts unknown and the Warrior Temple completely collapsed, warriors lost the foundation of their inheritance, and methods to crack their skills were long buried beneath the dust.

The Great Sin Bishop finally couldn’t hold out under the relentless regeneration of the blood beasts and was forced to activate their magic artifacts to escape hastily from the place.

However, the tens of thousands of Gold soldiers stationed at the foot of East Look Mountain weren’t so lucky. The massive blood beasts moved swiftly, and to these low-level soldiers, it was a nightmare.

Piao Miao stood far away at the end of the sky, watching Lu Hong’s performance under the illumination of the fires of East Look Mountain.

The middle-aged man standing beside her laughed, "This time, the Jin Family has really lost face."

"So..." Piao Miao’s eyes were silky, and as she gently caressed the chest of the man beside her with her delicate hands, she spoke softly, "have you made up your mind?"

"Hahaha." The middle-aged man took a half step back, unaffected by Piao Miao’s temptation, "That doesn’t prove anything, I still don’t dare rashly make an alliance with you."

"As long as Craig manages to seize the family’s power, we are willing to freely offer up half of our territory for Friendship Flower; isn’t such sincerity enough?" Piao Miao was not surprised by the man’s rejection and continued her efforts.

"I just don’t want to fight alone," said the middle-aged man calmly.

Piao Miao smiled, "If that’s so, I believe the Clan Leader will show you more to exchange for your valuable friendship, Mr. Hua En."

"Then I’ll wait and see." Hua En nodded, his nose twitching slightly as he frowned at the blood beast rampaging below, "This scent is very familiar, it seems... I’ve encountered it somewhere before."

Sky Wolf Hua En wasn’t one to be taken lightly. As an adherent of the canine species, well... let’s just say he had an acute sense of smell. He picked up on Lu Hong’s scent. Back during the battle at Hope Sea City, Lu Hong had a brief encounter with the clan leader, but the focus at that time was on Lai Li, so he didn’t immediately recall.

The events that took place on East Look Mountain spread across the whole of Friendship Flower overnight, and even the imperial army somehow got wind of the news about the monster rampage.

In the Jin Family’s meeting room, ten family elders sat in a circle, their expressions incredibly grim.

They were supposed to be the most powerful group in Friendship Flower, yet their reputation had kept falling recently, and even the three major families that had sided with them were showing signs of wavering.

"Gentlemen, I’m sure you’ve also heard about what happened on East Look Mountain," the eldest elder spoke with an icy tone, "This is a provocation by the imperial invaders! A provocation to our entire Jin Family!"

"Indeed!" the sixth elder took over, "Starting with the abduction of that wench Xia Lu, quite a few people have secretly been questioning our governance. The reinforcements from the Feng Xi and Chi Lan families were ambushed at every turn, causing a significant impact. I believe that this incident at East Look Mountain was also a premeditated scheme by the empire!"

"I agree," the fourth elder pulled out a stack of documents and threw them onto the round table, "This is the investigation I’ve conducted recently. Each incident points to the emergence of traitors within our family. I believe you all clearly understand their purpose: to suppress the ruling power of everyone present here and to incite internal conflict between us and the other three families we’ve incorporated."

"Have you found these traitors?" the second elder looked over the documents and asked, "How did these people infiltrate our Jin Family? Take, for instance, our operations against the Feng Xi and Chi Lan families—aside from the family’s upper echelon, no one knew about the operation. Yet we were continuously ambushed in the later arrangements, with heavy losses!"

The fourth elder shook his head, "I haven’t been able to figure out who exactly has betrayed the family, but what’s certain is that among those present here, someone has already betrayed us!"

"You’re talking nonsense!" Upon hearing the fourth elder’s assertion, the eighth elder was the first to lose his composure, his bony palm slamming on the round table as he stood up and pointed at the fourth elder, "I think you’re the spy!"

"Heh," the fourth elder sneered, "Why so agitated?"

"Hmph!" The eighth elder realized his own overreaction and sat down discontentedly.

"Alright," the eldest elder spoke, "Old Four, continue your investigation into the family traitor, but that’s not the focus today. You’ve all been called here this late to discuss how to deal with the incident at East Look Mountain."

"Eldest elder, I suggest we immediately call back the army from the front line to suppress the blood beast," the ninth elder spoke gravely, "The face of our Jin Family cannot be tarnished!"

"Perhaps we could dispatch a few offerants to go there, saving manpower?" The seventh elder raised an objection, "Although the frontlines have entered a temporary ceasefire, we can’t rashly withdraw our forces for fear of unexpected changes."

"Unexpected changes?" The ninth elder chuckled, "The empire is merely trapped in Baiwang Mountain, and we can annihilate it at any moment."

The fifth elder shook his head and sighed, "Holding back against the empire’s troops was solely to integrate our internal structure, but I never expected that the situation would turn against us now. I wonder if we are, in effect, lifting a rock only to drop it on our own feet?"

The words of the fifth elder clearly touched a sore spot for everyone present. After Xia Lu drove Nono and the others into Baiyun Mountain, the elders sitting here saw the logic behind it. The reason they acceded to Xia Lu’s wishes and did not forcefully order the eradication of the empire’s army was to integrate the Silver White Clan and the clans that wanted to ally with them in the future.

In the face of foreign threats, some things become smoother to handle.

But alas, there had been an unexpected deviation from the plan. Starting with Craig’s death, the Silver White Clan completely shifted from their humble compliance, showing a very hard stance, which forced the elders to make concessions. A series of events followed, and the voices questioning their decisions grew louder, causing the elders’ council’s status to plummet. Now, it seems that the Elder’s decree might have some difficulty mobilizing the three great clans.

"All right." The grand elder interrupted the others’ reflection, "I agree with the ninth elder’s decision to withdraw troops from the frontlines to suppress the Blood Beasts in East Look Mountain."

"But..." The fifth elder had just begun to speak when the sixth elder beside him cut him off.

"Fifth brother, the grand elder’s decision is correct." The sixth elder explained, "Calling forth offerants to solve this cannot erase the impact of our defeat."

The fifth elder was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I... I was just..."

"Lao Wu, I understand your sentiments, but such sacrifices are inevitable. The offerants are strong, yet they are not our kin, and lately, they seem to be getting greedier. If we rely solely on these few people to uphold our family’s rule, it’s only a matter of time before they get poached by others."

"I’ll draft the Elder’s Decree, calling back a hundred thousand elite troops from the frontlines—it must be done in the shortest time possible to eliminate this monster." The second elder took on this task and rose to leave the meeting room.

At the end of the dim corridor, Fake You was standing in a corner with a smile on his face as he watched the others.

The second elder looked at Fake You expressionlessly, not speaking, but just nodding his head.

Receiving the second elder’s response, Fake You bowed to him then turned to leave.

Overnight, East Look Mountain became the focus of all forces in Yuanhua. Everyone was waiting for the Gold Family’s disposal plan, and if they commanded the offerants to quell the situation, it would indicate the absence of the Gold Family’s core strength.

At first glance, this might not illustrate much, but upon careful consideration, it’s exactly as the grand elder said: offerants are always outsiders. If offerants appear frequently in handling family affairs, it indicates the weakness of that family’s internal strength. Other family forces finding it easy to deal with offerants isn’t hard—just a matter of money! We’ll offer double what the Gold Family gives you, and if double isn’t enough, triple!

By dawn, the frontlines had already withdrawn a large number of elite forces. Using teleportation gates without considering resource consumption, they arrived directly at East Look Mountain.

The Bloodthirst that Lu Hong had transformed into perched atop East Look Mountain, its eyes full of bloodlust shone brightly in the faint morning light, for it had spotted yet another batch of blood-meal!

Roar!

The Bloodthirst let out a joyous cry, and a pair of sky-shadowing blood wings stirred up strong winds. Compared to the previous night, its size had doubled.

"All Mages! Attack with full might!"

Under the commander’s orders, seven-colored magic continuously hammered the Bloodthirst, causing bursts of bloody waves upon impact.

Withstanding the firepower of a hundred thousand troops, the Bloodthirst surged forward. Countless mournful cries entered the ears of the Gold soldiers—the unvanquished grievances of the dead.

"Defend!"

Magical shields unfolded layer by layer, tightly guarding the troops. When the Bloodthirst collided with the shields, the Spellcasters spewed blood, and those slightly weaker soldiers had already fainted.

"Attack! Continue the attack!"