High winds were for arson; moonless nights were for murder.
Late at night, near the end of Hai Hour.
Ren Ye led every member of the Park District Squad quietly to Hengxi Ridge, halfway up Yaoguang Peak. It was not far from where they had previously lived. A winding stream lay across the mountain ridge, prompting the Spirit Beasts of this area to give it a rather imposing name.
Yaoguang Peak had countless forests and abundant waters. Its towering bulk pierced the clouds, magnificent and imposing, with crags and ravines everywhere. The Lushu Army's mere few hundred Spirit Beast warriors naturally could not occupy and use every part of the mountain.
At night, the area above Hengxi Ridge was where the Lushu Army rested and slept; below it lay a dark, silent landscape, with almost no living creatures to be seen.
The Lushu Army's code was this: if you were willing to follow me, I would share opportunities with you, give you meat, and let you use the collective's strength to enjoy a superior position on the outer peaks. If you were unwilling, then sorry, we were competitors, and I had to teach you what the law of the jungle-ganging up on the outnumbered-meant.
Following this code, they had quickly recruited a group of Remnant Soul Spirit Beasts who liked banding together, establishing an advantage in very little time. But this code had benefits and drawbacks. Its core lay in "recruitment" and "suppression," which meant lavishing favor on that small minority while necessarily suppressing the great majority.
They had to suppress them!
Whenever they had time, they had to kill a batch and bury a batch!
If the leader felt he had secured benefits and consolidated his advantage, then decided to stop calling on everyone to suppress others and instead