Before the Conflict

While the Serpent Attack Tribe was gathering the strength of other tribes, Liu Zhi was busy strengthening his own forces.

Although the last battle had ended quickly, it had still exposed some weaknesses in the Skeleton Soldiers. They were nearly invincible against enemies who relied on piercing attacks, but what if they encountered blunt-force damage? After all, the chain maces in their hands had smashed enemy skulls to great effect.

He could enjoy smashing people for a while, and keep enjoying it as long as he kept smashing them—but what about the enemies? Their resources were far better than his. All Liu Zhi had here was wood and stone, and there weren't many materials he could get his hands on. Outside, though, things were different. With enough money, you could find weapons of all kinds everywhere. Sooner or later, they'd come up with all sorts of powerful weapons.

By then, it would be too late to strengthen the Skeleton Soldiers.

So, after spotting the problem, Liu Zhi considered several possible solutions.

Wrapping them in vine fibers as he had before was out of the question. That method couldn't protect against heavy blows; the bones would still break.

What Liu Zhi needed was something like metal, something that would retain its shape even after being struck flat.

In the end, he came up with a possible solution. He wondered if he could hammer the gold he'd collected into gold leaf and layer it over the Skeleton Soldiers' bodies.

To save himself the trouble, Liu Zhi transferred his [Goldware Crafting] skill to a few ordinary skeletons. He trained five Skeleton Goldsmiths and had them apply gold leaf to the Skeleton Soldiers.

Liu Zhi soon found the method worked fairly well, so he began using it on a large scale. For example, he taught ordinary skeletons [Common Tool Crafting], which let him train Skeleton Laborers right away.

The Skeleton Laborers could handle repetitive tasks, such as helping the Skeleton Archers make arrows and polishing obsidian. They could also make simple ropes and traps.

This freed Liu Zhi up, giving him more time to take care of other things.

For example, he could learn to make shields out of strips of wood and branches.

Liu Zhi found that once he learned how to do something, the Skeleton Laborers could pick it up right away. That would greatly speed up the process of outfitting the Undead Army.

About five days later, a new week began. Liu Zhi could already sense that the enemy's first probing attack was on its way.

By then, his Mass Grave had finally spawned this week's new undead.

After five days of effort, the Mass Grave had changed once again. First, Golden Skeletons covered in gold leaf had appeared.

These skeletons weren't generated directly as Skeleton Soldiers. They had to be created by strengthening existing Skeleton Soldiers. Given the Skeleton Goldsmiths' current pace and the available gold, only five Skeleton Soldiers could be converted each week.

The Golden Skeletons had good resistance to blunt-force attacks, and their resistance to piercing attacks hadn't diminished. The only drawback was that they were noticeably slower.

Liu Zhi simply equipped them with the wooden shields he'd just made, along with larger stone chain maces.

Among the undead that had spawned, there were also two more zombies. Liu Zhi specially equipped them with oversized Macuahuitls, making them his final executioners.

With that, Liu Zhi could bring more troops with him. He now had eleven ordinary Skeleton Soldiers (armed with spears and small shields), five Golden Skeletons (armed with chain maces and large shields), five Skeleton Archers (with an unlimited supply of arrows), two powerful Skeleton Soldiers (armed with longswords and trained in swordsmanship), and four zombies (equipped with Leather Armor and Macuahuitls).

With the daily upkeep of the Corpse Soul Naga and the magic needed by the Nether Palace, Liu Zhi had no magic left to bring any more undead into the real world.

"I hope these troops can stand up to the enemy."

As he spoke, Liu Zhi silently laid traps in the cave near the entrance.

By then, Parker and the others had finally confirmed that the troops they'd sent to the Golden City were done for.

The various factions had already gathered. Parker addressed them loudly. "You've all seen it for yourselves. Something really has happened. The demons have been released. This concerns everyone, not just our Serpent Attack Tribe."

Besides Edge of the Deer Eater Tribe and the chief of the Eagle Tribe, Parker's tent now held four more indigenous chiefs, all dressed in completely different styles.

One was an old man whose clothing and decorations were distinctly Inca in style. He carried no weapons, but wore numerous daggers and pouches of medicine.

The remaining three were all men in their prime. They varied in height, but their styles were similar, and it was easy to see traces of Mayan civilization in their clothing.

They didn't say much in response to Parker. They all knew that although half the reason for this gathering was the "demons" in the Golden City, the real prize was the hunting ground in the jungle.

They understood that whoever took the initiative in this battle would claim more territory in the hunting grounds afterward.

Before coming, the three of them had already agreed that their tribes would stand together, whatever Parker and the others said.

The old man with Inca-style clothes spoke up. "How do you plan to fight? I know you have a way into the Golden City, but how many people can we send inside? If we send too many, your method of drawing away the giant serpents won't work as well. If we send too few, they'll just be marching to their deaths."

Hearing this, Parker grew angry. Of course he understood the problem. He had planned to gain control over everyone there, then use dealing with the demons and opening a passage into the Golden City as excuses to lure the giant serpents out one by one and kill them.

He'd already calculated that, with cursed weapons provided by the White-skinned People and the knowledge they had, he could probably get rid of all the giant serpents within ninety days.

Then they could march their army in.

Once the demons inside were killed, the Golden City, made entirely of gold, would belong to the Serpent Attack Tribe.

It would be even better if they could kill off some of the other tribes' able-bodied men in the process.

But after the old man brought it up, Parker naturally couldn't reveal his plan. He asked with a touch of displeasure, "What, do you have a better idea?"

"I do. We can use the passage to the Netherworld and sneak through it. That way, I don't think the demons will notice us coming."

The moment Parker heard that, he sprang to his feet. Like a maddened lion, he pointed at the old man and shouted, "Have you taken so much medicine you still haven't come to your senses? The Netherworld? Why don't you suggest killing everyone here and sending them to the demons as sacrifices?"