Assassinating the Cat Clan General

The Cat Clan Territory should lie just beyond that point.

The Cat Clan Territory lay south of the Human Race's territory, not far away-less than ten kilometers.

But within the ash fog, unless their territories collided, these two races separated by less than ten kilometers might never meet.

Lin Shan flew straight in from above. The moment he passed through the barrier, he discovered that the Parchment in his mind had curled up tighter than ever before.

"Perhaps clan fortune suppresses Spectral Objects..." Lin Shan speculated.

After he entered the Cat Clan Territory, the ash fog dispersed, opening up his view. It was spring now, and birdsong and the fragrance of flowers filled the land, with all sorts of small animals running and playing.

The area where he first entered was wilderness. Apart from the marching army, he saw no other members of the Cat Clan.

Lin Shan stopped following the army. He overtook it and sped ahead in the direction it was marching.

Before long, he spotted a city standing in the distance. It covered a vast area, large enough to accommodate at least several hundred thousand residents.

The architecture had a Western Gothic feel. The tallest building rose over ten stories, but the average building stood no more than three stories high.

Lin Shan fixed his gaze on the tallest building. Unless something unexpected was going on, the Cat Clan's leadership lived there.

He hovered a thousand meters above the ground like that, waiting until the Red Moon hung high in the sky.

Lin Shan opened his eyes and looked down at the brightly lit Cat Clan City.

"What energy source are they using... electricity?"

He flew lower to examine a streetlight. It was nothing more than a glass sphere mounted overhead. He had no idea how it worked, yet it emitted light, and he could faintly sense a trace of spirituality within it.

Lin Shan frowned at his surroundings. This was practically a modern town. "Looks like the Cat Clan hasn't wasted these hundred and eighty-odd years. The gap between them and the Human Race is far too great right now..."

"Taking them head-on now would be like smashing an egg against a rock."

"Even if we fight, it can't be now. The Human Race needs time to develop."

After thinking for a while, Lin Shan made his decision.

He approached the tallest building and passed straight through space into it.

The interior was nothing short of a palace, with resplendent gold decorations and glowing glass spheres lining the long corridors.

"Who's there? Who are you?" A startled cry suddenly rang out.

Lin Shan looked ahead. It was a delicate-featured Cat Clan woman in a revealing outfit. Like Lin Shan, she held a lantern, though hers was a specially made glass lantern whose flickering light was particularly beautiful.

Once she saw Lin Shan's face and clothing clearly, the woman opened her mouth to scream.

The next second.

Red light flashed in Lin Shan's eyes. Blood vessels burst throughout the woman's body, and she collapsed, dead.

He stepped over her corpse, walked through her blood, and continued deeper inside.

Only when a golden door appeared ahead did Lin Shan stop. By then, the corridor behind him had been completely stained red with blood.

He teleported straight inside. Rather than the bedchamber Lin Shan had imagined, it was something like an office.

Two people inside were discussing something, utterly unaware of Lin Shan's arrival.

"General, the Human Race's pioneers have been disguising themselves as ordinary soldiers these past few days. When fighting breaks out, our Transcendents can't stop them in time, causing casualties among the Cat Clan. Should we..."

"No. We mustn't touch the pioneers. Killing them would surely destabilize the Human Race's clan fortune and reduce our daily returns. Here's what we'll do: have the soldiers put on Transcendence Armor tomorrow. That will keep them alive."

"Yes, General!"

"By the way, how is the territory's resource recovery coming along?"

"With the Human Race's clan fortune, our territory's resources are replenishing rapidly. We no longer need to risk venturing into the ash fog to extract resources. Their clan fortune is enough to support our development into the next stage. Once our territory expands, we won't have to worry about resources anymore."

"Excellent! Remember, don't harvest too much at once. Give them time to catch their breath."

"Yes!"

Lin Shan watched the two jabber away in a language he couldn't understand.

Both wore flexible armor. One had only just attained transcendence; Lin Shan couldn't gauge the other's strength, which meant he was probably stronger than him.

Having assessed their strength, Lin Shan hesitated no longer. He raised the Red Lantern in his hand and instantly set the newly advanced Cat Clan Transcendent ablaze.

"Ah!"

Before he could even get a scream out, pale red flames burned him to ashes.

Seeing the person he had been speaking with turn into a pile of ashes, the Cat Clan General jerked backward, his spirituality erupting in brilliant blue light.

Blue Butterflies suddenly appeared, fluttering around him. His gaze instantly locked onto Lin Shan's position, and his pupils contracted.

"Human Race?"

Lin Shan didn't reply. He couldn't understand a word, so communication was impossible.

With a slight shift of thought, he tried to ignite the general directly with the Red Lantern. Sensing the supernatural fluctuations, the Cat Clan General mobilized his spirituality to resist. The butterflies on his shoulders began to burn with a sizzling sound.

"A Spectral Object?"

The Cat Clan General's expression darkened. He pointed at Lin Shan, and several Blue Butterflies flapped their wings and flew toward him.

Though Lin Shan didn't know what abilities these butterflies possessed, he certainly couldn't let them get close. Heart light formed a spear, and with a whoosh, it pierced through space, skewering all the butterflies and pinning them to the wall.

The Cat Clan General's face went pale. He was still resisting the Red Lantern's supernatural power, making it difficult to spare any spirituality to continue attacking Lin Shan.

The Red Lantern alone was almost more than he could withstand. His spirituality dwindled steadily, though fortunately, the Red Lantern's supernatural power weakened along with it. If he only had to face the Red Lantern, there would be nothing to fear-but there was also a damned human standing before him!

Once skewered, the Blue Butterflies dissolved into specks of blue light and vanished. Lin Shan directed the Heart Light Spear to turn around and shoot straight at him again.

"Ha!"

Before the spear reached him, he shouted, then smashed straight through the window.

He was trying to escape!

The instant the window shattered, Lin Shan teleported outside and hurled the spear from his hand.

Bang!

The golden spear drove the Cat Clan General, who had fallen outside the window, back into the room and pinned him to the wall. The spear's shaft still trembled from the tremendous force. The general struggled for only a few seconds before his life was extinguished.

The battle ended there. Lin Shan hadn't even used his full strength, let alone Blood Wing's supernatural power.

The main reason was that the Red Lantern was too powerful. Once deprived of spirituality, even the strongest Transcendent would be left like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

The spear dissolved into specks of pale golden light and vanished, and the Cat Clan General's corpse slowly slid down.

Lin Shan used Blood Wing to draw out his blood, then wrote on the wall in Huaxia characters:

"Stop attacking the Human Race, or the Cat Clan will never know peace!"

There were fourteen large characters in all. The Cat Clan had spent so long among the Human Race that he was certain someone among them could read it.

The Human Race needed time now. Though he couldn't help them defeat the Cat Clan on the battlefield, he could infiltrate the Cat Clan and directly assassinate its leaders. This was the true role of every race's top-level power, the equivalent of nuclear deterrence.

He believed this incident would surely make the Cat Clan quiet down for a while and reconsider its strategy.

But the Cat Clan would never relinquish such a juicy piece of meat as the Human Race. Previously, because humans were weak, they had chosen to raise them like livestock and harvest them slowly. Unless something unexpected happened, their next attack might aim to wipe out the race outright.

If they couldn't harvest it slowly, they would swallow it in one bite. That was better than letting their prey gradually grow stronger and turn around to bite them.