Beasts of War Descend

Chapter 15: Beasts of War Descend

"Who's trying to welsh on Stone Village?"

The old chief, Shi Yunfeng, held a crystalline Bone Mirror in his hand. His eyes flashed like lightning as his icy gaze swept over the warriors of the great clans. He looked every bit like an enraged old lion.

"A mid-stage Spirit Transformation Realm expert? This is trouble!"

Every expert the old chief glanced at—whether from the five great tribes or some other great clan—felt their hearts tremble and instinctively looked away.

On this wild and barren land stood several powerful human lords, such as Purple Mountain Marquis, Thunder Marquis, Golden Wolf Clan Chief, and even Lord of Luofu Marsh.

In the Great Wilderness, where Ancient Kingdoms stood like forests, only Inscription Realm experts could be enfeoffed as marquises, while those in the Array Formation Realm could be called kings. Even that required them to have rendered unparalleled military service and an exalted Human Emperor to be willing to issue an imperial decree appointing them.

True human lords commanded clouds of battle-hardened generals, ruled over hundreds of millions of subjects, and held domains of incalculable size. Their power was peerless; a single thought from them could set off a storm.

As for figures like Purple Mountain Marquis and Thunder Marquis, they ruled no more than a few million people, at most ten million. They had rendered no unparalleled military service and received no appointment from an Ancient Kingdom Human Emperor. Yet here in the remote Great Wilderness, they presumed to overstep their station, handing out titles left and right and falsely styling themselves lords.

In the eyes of the true lords of the Ancient Kingdoms, they were nothing but a joke. Send down one powerful general with an elite force of a hundred thousand, and their clans would be wiped out.

Thunder Marquis and Golden Wolf Clan Chief were both late-stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators.

Purple Mountain Marquis, hailed as the strongest expert within a radius of fifty thousand li, was merely at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm, having only brushed against the threshold of the Inscription Realm.

The Golden Divine Wolf, similarly hailed as the strongest Sacrificial Spirit within a radius of fifty thousand li, was an ancient Sacrificial Spirit worshipped by the Golden Wolf Tribe for countless years. Its strength was about equal to Purple Mountain Marquis's.

Now that the Mountain Treasure had reappeared deep in the Great Wilderness, the strongest experts of the various great tribes hadn't come in person. Instead, they had sent their own experts to investigate the situation.

With all five tribal chiefs at the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, the Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators within their tribes were naturally prized, each being a clan elder with considerable authority.

Purple Mountain Marquis's uncle, Zishan Shou; the Luofu Marsh elder Jiao Cang; and the Golden Wolf Tribe's greatest warrior, Batu, were all early-stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators.

Although Thunder Marquis's fourth son, Lei Yunkun, was a Cave Heaven Realm cultivator, an early-stage Spirit Transformation Realm old servant had accompanied him. The leaders sent by the five great tribes were all at roughly this level.

As for the other great clans, whose power was far inferior to that of the five tribes, their strongest leaders were at most late-stage Cave Heaven Realm. It was hardly worth mentioning.

The crowd was surveyed from end to end, yet not one person could match the old chief's cultivation.

What's more, the old chief held a Suanni Treasure Mirror, a powerful treasure painstakingly polished from the brow bone of Old Suanni. It added even more weight to his presence.

"A mid-stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator. Not bad."

The leaders of the four great tribes exchanged a knowing glance. They realized that the true strength of this ancient village had finally revealed itself, but inwardly, they felt a little relieved instead.

A mid-stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator was indeed powerful, but the four great tribes weren't pushovers either. Working together, they could still fight him. Besides, he had to protect the clanspeople behind him, so there was still a chance to seize the two supreme arts.

"Heh, old chief, please hear me out..."

Kind-faced Zishan Shou fanned himself with a feather fan, smiling before he even spoke.

"Where'd this blockhead come from? Shut your mouth. I can't even be bothered to look at you."

The old chief, Shi Yunfeng, impatiently waved a large hand, not caring in the slightest about the other man's unsightly expression. He patted the crystalline Bone Mirror at his waist and said bluntly:

"Go on, then. One sentence: do you want your money or your life?"

Seeing that the old man looked ready to slaughter them all with a single word, the atmosphere instantly chilled.

The weaker tribal experts had already begun sneaking backward. This situation was beyond the reach of little fry like them. Better to save their own skins first.

"Old chief, that's an awfully arrogant thing to say. You can't just slight the four great tribes like that."

Zishan Shou, who had been looking for trouble, narrowed his eyes. His words carried a veiled threat.

"Heh, slight the four great tribes? Today, I'm not just going to slight you. I'm going to strip a layer of skin off every one of you."

Shi Yunfeng gave a cold laugh, acting as though he hadn't caught the threat. He turned and patted Shi Hao on the shoulder. "Little One, summon the village's battle beasts. Let the bastards have it!"

"Wooo~~~"

Shi Hao readily agreed. He took a bone flute from his clothes and blew into it. Its shrill, piercing notes could travel dozens of li in an instant.

"Battle beasts? Could it be that the village's true strength isn't this mid-stage Spirit Transformation Realm old chief, but some other great fiend?"

Jiao Cang, Lei Yunkun, and the others sensed something was wrong and tensed instinctively.

"Screee!"

Just as the experts were on edge, a piercing cry suddenly thundered down from the sky, making many of the weaker cultivators tremble all over.

Everyone instinctively looked up. Four enormous Ancient Demonic Birds—one large and three small—were beating their broad wings at incredible speed, swooping furiously toward Stone Village, covering dozens of zhang in an instant.

All four Ancient Demonic Birds were magnificent blue roc birds, their bodies covered in deep azure feathers. They looked as though they had been cast from bronze and radiated a crushing sense of pressure.

The adult was seventy or eighty zhang long, while even the three smaller fierce birds were more than ten zhang in size. Who else could they be but the Azure Heaven Roc Family, returning from a hunt?

The three young Azure Heaven Rocs had been born only half a year ago, but their mother had fed them so diligently that their bodies had grown at an astonishing rate. Their strength was already comparable to that of late-stage Blood Moving Realm cultivators, and reaching the Cave Heaven Realm was only a matter of time.

"An... an Ancient Relic, an Azure Heaven Roc!"

Someone in the crowd let out a murmur that sounded almost like a dream.

Ancient Relics were terrifying creatures that inherited part of the true blood of ancient ferocious beasts.

The most outstanding among them could rival the human race's top lords once they reached adulthood. In a single night, they could flatten a mighty city or wipe out a large tribe of tens or even hundreds of thousands.

The adult Azure Heaven Roc flying at the front was undoubtedly on par with a true human lord—not a fake lord like Purple Mountain Marquis or Thunder Marquis.

With four powerful Ancient Relics in its possession, Stone Village's foundation was already on par with any lord of an Ancient Kingdom. It lived up to the bearing of a hidden super-clan.

Closer, closer—closer still!

Four pairs of icy roc eyes locked onto the clansmen below. The overwhelming pressure of the Ancient Demonic Birds swept down from the sky. Their riders felt their scalps go numb, and their mounts fared even worse.

The finest of the Mutated Scaled Horses—the Unicorns—managed to hold up. But after the ordinary horses let out a chorus of whinnies, their legs buckled and they collapsed. Many riders were thrown into the dirt, sending the whole crowd into disarray.

"An adult Ancient Relic at the Inscription Realm, plus three Ancient Relic fledglings. We've well and truly kicked an iron plate..."

Jiao Peng, Zishan Shou, and the others, singled out by the Azure Heaven Rocs, turned deathly pale. Their legs went weak, their bodies shook like sieves, and their knees sank little by little toward the ground.

Their hearts were full of bitterness. Your village had an adult Ancient Relic guarding it—why didn't you say so sooner? Were you playing us for fools?

You can't blame us for failing to read the signs of fate!