Chapter 114: Perilous Evolution

Hunting down the fleeing soldiers was as easy as pie. Though the demonspawn warriors fled swiftly, some of their stronger members held the rear, forcing Zhao Jiandu and Song Zining to refrain from targeting the ordinary soldiers at will. While the troops outside the forest suffered limited losses, the fate of the demonspawn forces within the woods was already sealed.

The bulk of this demonspawn army had engaged in battle with the aberrant beast legions inside the forest. Thus, Song Zining did not pursue the scattered soldiers too far, choosing instead to drive away the warriors outside the forest before turning his forces back to fully annihilate the demonspawn units within the forest.

Thanks to the forest’s insulating effect, most of the demonspawn warriors remained unaware that the outside troops had already escaped. When they finally realized something was amiss, they found themselves facing a pincer attack from both the Empire and the aberrant beasts.

Fighting in the woods was already complex, and after eradicating the demonspawn within, they still had to deal with the remaining, non-aligned aberrant beasts. By the time everything was settled, it was already midnight.

Though the initial battle was a success, Song Zining seemed to be in a bad mood. He pulled Zhao Jiandu aside and asked, “Am I really that terrifying now?”

Zhao Jiandu, wearied by the pestering, gave him a look and said, “If you were a demonspawn, and saw Song Zining leading the charge, how would you feel?”

Song Zining suddenly understood, “Got it!”

By common sense, if Song Zining was so confident in victory, he must have been certain of his overwhelming strength to launch such an all-out frontal assault. The demonspawn leaders knew well the power of Song Zining’s domain—though it did not kill, it was top-notch at trapping. Once caught, escape was nearly impossible. And there was also Zhao Jiandu, a killing machine, by his side.

Thus, they made a quick decision: seeing the situation was not in their favor, they turned and fled, leaving behind the troops in the forest. But at least they retained some of their strength, better than staying and fighting to the death only to be wiped out by Song Zining.

After realizing this, Song Zining sighed and shook his head, saying, “Ah, it seems the aberrant beast legions are easier to deal with. At least they don’t run; they just keep attacking.”

Zhao Jiandu noticed a struggling Wing Strike Beast and suddenly had an idea. He picked it up for inspection and handed it to Song Zining, saying, “The aberrant beasts aren’t as easy to handle anymore.”

Song Zining took a look and immediately noticed something unusual. At the base of its feathers, there were dense, hard granules—scales that had yet to fully develop.

Song Zining was well-versed in the known aberrant beasts’ schematics and could confirm that these scales had never appeared before. Moreover, they were growing in the soft and vulnerable abdomen, making the defense significantly stronger. Clearly, if these scales fully developed, their defensive power would greatly increase.

Song Zining plucked a few small scales, pinched them, and frowned, “If these scales fully grow, our heavy machine guns might not be able to penetrate them.”

Zhao Jiandu said, “It didn’t have these scales before. Do you understand what I mean?”

The two exchanged glances, both sensing the worry in each other’s eyes. The evolution of the aberrant beast legions was one thing, but if the six-armed creatures, who were already extremely powerful, also evolved, it wouldn’t be good news.

Song Zining turned his gaze to the corpse of the six-armed creature, and his eyes narrowed. According to past patterns, the weakest six-armed creatures should inhabit the single Sacred Tree Forests.

These forests did not have Sacred Tree Pools, at best, there might be a small puddle, and some even lacked that. Without a pool, there were no islands of the strange, gold-like stones, and thus no thrones.

Six-armed creatures usually fought naked, wielding weapons that were not produced in the forest and which, once damaged, could not be replaced. This was unlike the three Sacred Tree Forests, where the central islands were filled with stone pillars, each of which could be used as a weapon.

But the six-armed creature in front of them wore armor, albeit a simple sleeveless chest plate, which provided better defense than bare skin. Its weapons were more refined and better designed.

This six-armed creature’s combat power was far above that of ordinary members, inferior only to those fully armored commanders. It was no wonder that despite the demonspawn gathering numerous elites, including five or six marquises and a vice-duke, the battle was still intense, with everyone injured.

The vice-duke, likely due to ineffective tactics, was heavily wounded. Upon seeing the Imperial army, he fled without engaging.

“Looks like the battles ahead won’t be easy.”

Zhao Jiandu nodded, his expression serious.

At this moment, in another corner of the New World, Qian Ye stood beside the corpse of a six-armed commander, silently inspecting it with a serious face. Carol approached, her face unnaturally pale.

Qian Ye glanced at her and asked, “Is your injury under control? Do you want to take a couple of days off to recover?”

Carol shook her head, “Not necessary. I’m a Thunder Body, and I recover quickly. I’ll just be weak for a few days. I never thought that guy would know how to shoot arrows.” She looked at the six-armed commander, clearly shaken.

Qian Ye picked up a giant bow from the ground. It was indeed massive, over three meters long, and Qian Ye couldn’t hold it upright. He held it horizontally, examining it closely.

The giant bow was crudely made, entirely of the lake island’s gold-stone, with high hardness and elasticity. The bowstring was the same material, wrapped in tree bark fibers. In terms of craftsmanship, any apprentice from any race could do better.

Qian Ye placed the giant bow on the ground, stepped on the spine, and pulled the string with both hands, using his full strength to try to draw it. With a sudden burst of power, the bowstring only opened a little. Qian Ye was surprised; he had already used sixty percent of his strength.

His face flushed, his blood core pulsating, and his burning gold blood started to boil and burn. He unleashed a tremendous force, and with a creak, the bow fully opened, stretching until his arms reached their limit.

Qian Ye released the bow, letting it snap back into place, and exhaled, “Impressive!”

“How much of your strength did you use?” Carol was very curious.

“Ninety percent,” Qian Ye answered honestly.

“So, its strength is far greater than yours?”

“Indeed.”

Qian Ye needed ninety percent of his strength to draw the bow, but during the battle, the six-armed commander shot like lightning, raining arrows down on them. Even with Carol’s speed, she couldn’t avoid being hit. The arrow pierced her, leaving a hole that did not bleed; the edges had crystallized upon impact.

Fortunately, Qian Ye’s Void Flash was the bane of all archers. He seized the opportunity and fired four Origin Bullets, depleting his black feathers, and finally killed the six-armed commander. However, firing three bullets was already his limit, and using four to kill the enemy left him with a hidden injury.

Carol touched the armor on the six-armed commander and frowned, “It wasn’t like this before.”

“We can adapt our tactics and equipment to fight the aberrant beasts. They can do the same.”

“Seems we’ve been lucky until now.”

“Indeed.”

Qian Ye looked around. The forest still echoed with the sounds of battle, and the werewolves and mercenaries were still clearing out the remaining aberrant beasts.

This was, after all, a three Sacred Tree Forest, and the aberrant beast legions were both numerous and formidable. Although Qian Ye and Carol were busy with the six-armed commander, the others were not having an easy time. Fortunately, the clans had invested heavily in Qian Ye, sending strong warriors. After the annexation of Galewind, the number of powerful werewolves under Qian Ye’s command increased, allowing them to defeat the aberrant legions autonomously.

However, this was only possible because the six-armed creatures could not command effectively, and the aberrant legions were disorganized.

Qian Ye felt a faint presence of a four Sacred Tree Forest in the distance. He shook his head, immediately dismissing the idea of attacking it.

Even then, the six-armed general was a narrow victory. Now, with the six-armed creatures clearly evolving, taking that four Sacred Tree Forest would require a heavy price. Qian Ye already had a four Sacred Tree Forest, and it wasn’t a must to capture another.

Qian Ye resolved not to touch the four Sacred Tree Forest until he had a new, powerful ally.

In another corner of the New World, a single Sacred Tree Forest was bustling. Above the forest, the shadows of mountains periodically appeared, and giant trees fell with resounding crashes, indicating intense fighting.

Soon, a roar of laughter erupted from the center of the forest, “A mere six-armed monster, what can you do to me?!”

The voice was rough and arrogant, unmistakably Wei Potian’s.

He stood in the center of the forest, with the Sacred Tree behind him and a dead six-armed creature in front. The creature also wore short armor and had finer weapons. Wei Potian, however, did not know this. His body shone with origin light, and the mountain shadow had not yet dissipated.

At this moment, a group of strong warriors emerged from the forest, surrounding him and praising, “Young Master truly displayed divine might, breaking through in battle. It’s a sight to behold!”

“Congratulations on reaching the seventeenth level, Young Master. The Divine General Threshold is just a step away.”

“In my opinion, Young Master will break through the Divine General Threshold soon!”

The flattery was met with an unexpected silence. These were all strong warriors of the Wei family, or long-time followers, and they knew each other. To say the least, the flattery was too shameless. Even when the King of Qingyang was at the seventeenth level, it took him over half a year to break through. Wei Potian, no matter how he looked, didn’t seem to be at Zhang Boqian’s level.

Unexpectedly, Wei Potian stroked his chin, his eyes flickering, and said, “If I encounter a few more of these, I might really break through the threshold in this New World!”

Everyone was shocked and eagerly asked for the reason. Wei Potian, not hiding anything, explained.