Chapter 438: The Invaders Approach

No, there had to be a problem! Even if the sura king were otherwise occupied with his blood fetish, what about the bloodwinged riders? Surely they would have returned bearing news!

The bloodwinged riders were the elite forces of Xuechi, and the elder could hardly envision them losing against any enemy.

However, the riders had all likewise turned into fertilizer for the wood spirits, and even their mounts had all been cooked and eaten.

A sura scout rushed into the palace. "Elder, I have urgent news! The enemy forces have slaughtered our army and are heading straight for the palace. They'll arrive within two hours!"

The elder hurriedly asked, "Are there any news about the sura king?"

The scout shook his head. "None of the sura who headed toward Xueju have returned."

The elder's face fell as he grumbled, "Where have you gone, your highness? If you don't return quickly, your kingdom will be no more!"

Taking a deep breath, he announced, "We can't wait for our king's return any longer. We have to save ourselves."

"But elder, if Xuechi's army isn't enough to stop their invasion, won't the guards of the capital fare worse?"

"Indeed, we can't rely on the sura troops alone." The elder knew that their opponent possessed a frightening potion with a particularly debilitating effect against the sura. "We'll release all the creatures in the capital's arena."

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"All of them—including that monster?!"

The elder snorted. "Our opponent has a strange potion that can suppress the strength of the sura just by getting a drop on your skin. If not for the potion, would our forces have been defeated?"

"But that beast's far too frightening! Even his highness wasn't confident that he would be able to control it, and since he's no longer around..."

The elder laughed, showing his teeth. "Good—even better! Let those invaders get a taste of it."

"But if if we lose control of it, the millions of sura in the capital will all perish!"

The elder shook his head. "With our strength alone, we can't defend the capital. We'll need the creatures from the arena. We must delay the invaders until our king returns!"

Another sura scout rushed into the room. "The invasion force is here!"

"They've arrived sooner than expected. I order you to release all the creatures in the arena. Find a way to direct them toward the invasion forces. I'll try to delay them from the top of the city walls." The elder strode off intently.

Zhang Lie sat on the leader of the rock giants' shoulder as his forces progressed toward the capital of Xuechi. A gigantic city came within sight, not too different from Renhuang—or, rather, from the capital of Xueju that had now become Renhuang.

Zhang Lie yawned. He hadn't needed to participate in any of the fights at all; all he did was direct the troops. With the Yeluo's potions, the sura were no match for Renhuang's troops, and the battle quickly terminated.

The sura forces left behind a large quantity of weapons and material supplies after each and every defeat, and the rock giants had grown into something truly incredible upon consuming all that quality metal. By now, except for the leader of the rock giants, all the other rock giants had sharp, thorny protrusions growing from their bodies like porcupines.

Zhang Lie asked the leader of the rock giants, "Why is it that your entire tribe seems to have evolved but you?"

The rock giant grumbled, "What do you mean, I haven't evolved? Don't you see the metallic sheen on my body?"

"Honestly, I can't really tell."

The rock giant sighed. "My first evolution took quite a lot of energy and resources, so I'll need even more to achieve a second evolution. We rock giants aren't like bugs who can metamorphosize at will."

"Can your tribe return to their original appearance?"

"They'll gradually return to that form if they don't consume anything for a prolonged period of time," Yu Huantian replied, landing on the rock giant's head.

Within the rock forest, the rock spirits had been forced to hibernate for prolonged periods of time, and their bodies had all returned to their basal rock form.

"Get off my head, little bird!" The rock giant tried to capture Yu Huantian, who darted agilely away.

Zhang Lie huffed. "So your transformation is just becoming fat?"

The rock giant shook its head. "We grow stronger with every transformation as well, but other species don't get stronger when they become fat."

As they chatted, they approached the sura capital. Zhang Lie encouraged everyone, "Once we destroy this capital, this raid will be over!"

"Yes, Governor!" the troops chorused.

Zhang Lie noticed an old sura making his way to the top of the city walls.

"Invaders, why do you attack the kingdom of Xuechi? What have the sura done to you?" the Xuechi elder called out.

"We come from Renhuang!" the rock giant boomed back.

Yu Huantian shouted angrily, "You're asking us how we've offended you? It's because of you that our celebration in Renhuang was interrupted halfway through!"

The elder of Xuechi clearly didn't know what city Renhuang was, nor how it connected to the sura king's raid against the humans who had killed Xueju.

To his knowledge, the humans surely couldn't be leading such a huge and varied group of forces; the humans in their ranks were surely nothing but cannon fodder or emergency food.

The elder of Xuechi infused genetic energy into his voice and shouted, "I don't know what exactly happened, but I'll apologize on behalf of Xuechi."

Yu Huantian snorted and likewise infused genetic energy into his voice. He called back, "If apologies were meaningful, what's the point of having fists?"

Upon seeing that the invaders were unwilling to back down, the elder changed his tact. "I don't know where you came from, but don't forget that this is a sura kingdom, the territory of a sura king! Once our king returns, you'll all be dead!"

Yu Huantian called back, "Do you really not know? Your king was the one who attacked Renhuang!"

Li Feng laughed coldly. "And if you're still unaware, let me inform you that your so-called king has already been killed by the governor of Renhuang."

Upon hearing that pronouncement, the sura fighters in the city began to chatter to each other.

"His highness is dead?"

"No wonder we haven't seen him even though the kingdom's in peril!"

"In that case, who's going to stop these invaders?!"