Chapter 533: The Horns of War

"Toward Renhuang?"

The clan head of the Baimei stepped forward. "I understand! When the deity told us to rely on ourselves, he didn't mean that we would need to live independently of him. He meant that we had to make our way to Renhuang by ourselves!"

The priest held the map in his hands up high. "This is a trial from our god himself! Let us follow in his footsteps and head to the holy city! There, an important task surely awaits us. The success of this pilgrimage will determine the fate of our clan!"

The rest of the Baimei nodded fervently. Although they didn't know what awaited them in Renhuang, they would surely obey an edict from their deity.

The priest continued, "We will surely encounter trial and tribulation along the way. There will be paths we've never gone down, mountains so tall we won't believe we can cross them, oceans and rivers we've never seen, foes we've never encountered.

"We might become injured and lose our resolve, but all this is a trial from our deity. As long as we work together, we can break down these obstacles in our way. These obstacles won't defeat us; we'll only grow stronger as a result."

As the priest gave his speech, the eyes of the Baimei grew ardent.

"Now, we move toward Renhuang, to the holy city of our guardian deity, in search of his continued presence!

The Baimei began their grave and perilous undertaking toward Renhuang. For countless generations, they had been protected in the mountain they made their home—but a few words from Zhang Lie was sufficient to send them packing.

Deep within sura territory, the gathering of kings continued.

The sura kings' faces were ashen. Renhuang had developed a potent poison against the sura, and it had even made a breakthrough in creating mutant half-breeds.

No ordinary sura empire had such innovation.

The monarch of the sun continued, "There are more and more alien races amassing at Renhuang, some of whom possess fighting strength on the level of sura kings themselves. The longer we wait, the more aliens will arrive at Renhuang, and the more unfavorable this war will become for us."

"At the very least, however, we do know of Renhuang's own forces," the monarch of the sky added. He motioned toward the monarch of the moon.

"The vanguard of Renhuang's forces are from a race known as the rock spirits, a powerful nomadic tribe whose exploits were widely known over ten thousand years ago. Even back then, their fighters were on par with sura kings, and they boasted a combined strength equal to that of our sura empires. However, there were no records of their ever waging war against a sura empire, and we don't have a good sense of their abilities."

The monarch of the sea emphasized, "Regardless, we are confident that the rock spirits possessed the ability to raze an ordinary sura kingdom to the ground. According to our ancient records, some sura kingdoms did clash against the rock spirits. The names and identities of those sura kingdoms have been lost to time, but the rock spirits have persisted for over ten millennia.

"Ten thousand years ago, the rock spirits weren't willing to contest the sura, but we don't know what has happened to them since. Their return now, ten thousand years later, might see them a far stronger foe than before."

"The rock spirits possess indomitable bodies of rock, and they can strengthen and upgrade their bodies by consuming rare ores, minerals, and metals. Beloved by the earth, they can regenerate endlessly from dirt and rock as long as their cores aren't broken. Most importantly, their physical defense is extraordinary, and even we have only a select few techniques that can break through it," the monarch of the moon explained.

"According to our records, there were sura kings that had fought against these rock spirits before. They had wounded the rock spirits and pierced their defense at grave expense, only to have that defense regenerate in the blink of an eye," the monarch of the sky concluded.

The gathered sura kings couldn't help but think of two infamous sura kings.

"Like Gaoyuan and Suiyue?"

The monarch of the sea pondered the question for a moment. "Their regenerative abilities are unlikely to be on par with Gaoyuan's. Closer to Suiyue, I would think."

The sura kings nodded. Gaoyuan was truly disgusting.

The monarch of the sun warned, "Their regenerative abilities might be weaker than Goayuan's, but it'll be almost as hard to kill them as it would be to kill Gaoyuan. Remember: as long as you don't break their cores, these rock spirits can regenerate endlessly."

"Furthermore, Renhuang boasts three other alien races. Two of them tend to remain behind to guard the city, and won't participate in the battle. The race that will assuredly do so is the crag eagles, but we don't know much about them," the monarch of the moon began.

The crag eagles were indigenous to Mt. Wanren, and they rarely traveled beyond its boundaries. There were at least tens of thousands of races in the sura realm, and even the sura couldn't keep extensive records on each.

The monarch of the moon continued, "Our records suggest that the crag eagles were known for their speed. They used to be a stronger race, but were gravely weakened by some calamity or another. They should no longer be at their heyday, but for some reason, they seem to have developed new abilities.

"The crag eagles have been reported to be able to control flocks of avian lifeforms, even superior-grade ones. Dealing with these crag eagles will involve destroying the flocks that they control, as well."

In some sense, the crag eagles were avian summoners.

The monarch of the sea nodded. "The crag eagles will be invaluable scouts in the battle to come. We must kill every bird we see in the region."

The sura kings' faces were pale. They thought that the human half-breeds would be Renhuang's trump card, but Renhuang seemed to boast force after force.

They had the Yeluo poison, the half-breed mutants, strong and versatile alien races, some of whom had recently gained new powers and others of whom had revived from millennia of slumber...

Some perceptive sura kings asked the natural follow-up question, "Why would such strong races submit to Renhuang?"

The rock spirits had had the ability to fight a sura empire in their heyday, and the crag eagles had gained a powerful new ability. Both races would have done very well for themselves as independent entities, but they had chosen to submit to Renhuang instead.

Why would they be willing to do so? What had the governor of Renhuang offered them?

The monarch of the sun's face turned serious. "This is the third and most important point of our discussion: be wary of the governor of Renhuang, Zhang Lie."

The monarch of the moon said, "Based on our scouts' reports, it was he who took down the monarch of stars. He can fight on our level. These reports might be exaggerated, but we believe that none of you will be able to take him on. If you encounter him, don't try to oppose him. Report back to us immediately, and allow the five of us to take him on at once."

The sura kings all sucked in a deep breath. All five sura monarchs would challenge him simultaneously?

The monarch of the sun repeated, "Renhuang is a grave threat that has to be eradicated at any cost. With the poison that they've developed against us, they surely will continue their aggression.

We have only two routes ahead of us: to cower and hide, or to mobilize our true strength. Let us strike fear in the hearts of all who live in the sura realm. Let them tremble in the face of our majesty!"

The five sura monarchs stood up simultaneously. "The sura will live on for eternity!"

The sura kings lowered their heads and prayed, "May the asura guide us!"

They faced not the five sura monarchs, but rather the statue of the asura behind them. Their fervent prayers ended the gathering of kings and marked the beginning of a great war...