Chapter 41: Before the Battle
Within the Diya Tribe, grand and rugged stone structures stood tall. A golden disc, over ten meters in diameter, rested atop a central stone pillar, emitting a faint golden glow in the night.
Inside a large stone house, the area spanned at least several hundred square meters. The walls were adorned with various animal teeth and dried beast heads, while stone basins hung from the four corners, their flames blazing fiercely.
"Gu ba ba ye... (Unknown language)."
A shaman priest, covered in red body paint, wearing a feathered headdress and a beast-tooth piercing through his nose, spread his arms and chanted in a unique rhythm.
"What is he saying?"
"Shut up, be serious."
Molei, who had whispered the question, was glared at by her senior sister. In truth, neither of them wanted to join the Survivor Alliance, but circumstances forced their hand—they had no choice.
Inside the large stone house, a group of indigenous tribes sat in a circle, each with one hand pressed to their chest and eyes closed. Beside the central bonfire, Naji Jia assumed the same posture, his back to the flames, his bare upper body covered in painted patterns.
The shaman priest stood before Naji Jia, holding half a skull in one hand, filled with a red-black liquid that appeared somewhat viscous.
The shaman priest dipped a finger into the dark red liquid and drew a circular pattern on Naji Jia's forehead, resembling an ouroboros symbol.
"Wu tu (Tribal language: Drink, consume, drain)."
The shaman priest handed the half-skull to Naji Jia, who calmly took it, tilted his head back, and drank the viscous liquid.
The moment it touched his lips, Naji Jia nearly spat it out, but he forced down the fishy, sour taste and gulped down the thick liquid.
Strangely, not a single drop of the viscous liquid remained on the inner wall of the skull. The half-skull began to turn gray and eventually crumbled into dust.
Seeing this, the feathered shaman priest froze for a moment, then his lips began to tremble.
"Gu ba ba ye!"
"Gu ba ba ye!!"
Over a hundred tribesmen raised their arms, bowed, and approached Naji Jia, placing their hands on him one by one.
The shaman priest removed his feathered headdress and placed it on Naji Jia's head. Naji Jia immediately received a flood of notifications—his plan was over 80% complete.
...
At the valley base camp, inside a wooden shed beside the insect nest.
Su Xiao looked at the wooden token in his hand. It had been a while since he last used the [Greed Chapter], given his experience of being instantly killed before even meeting the third "Soul Manifestation," who was mysteriously powerful.
The area around the insect nest was lively. Under the moonlight, worker scorpions, resembling mantis-armored creatures, were busy hauling rocks from afar. They dissolved the stones with a reactive liquid and began constructing a rock ceiling over the valley based on the surrounding terrain.
Once completed, the entire valley would be more concealed. The rock ceiling would have over a dozen three-meter-wide light shafts, camouflaged with plants. Unless someone approached the vicinity, the insect nest would remain undetectable.
Su Xiao checked his current bio-energy: 92,500 points. He decided to first cultivate 1,445 Demon Beasts to maximize hunting efficiency.
Minutes later, 1,445 Demon Beasts and 75 Spore Tanks were cultivated. Looking out, the Demon Beasts on the fungal carpet were already taking shape.
Bio-energy remained at 19,652 points. Su Xiao would not use this for now—it was reserved for cultivating Stingers. Baha had already scouted that within the Hornet Faction's territory, dozens of hives of varying sizes were scattered. The largest main hive, over 200 meters tall, was likely where the Hornet Queen, Tamisha, resided.
To wage war against the Hornet Faction, Su Xiao needed at least 150,000 Stingers, requiring 300,000 bio-energy points. At the current pace, it wouldn't take long to accumulate that amount.
300,000 bio-energy equaled 150,000 Stingers or 6,000 Demon Beasts. Under normal circumstances, the former would be slaughtered, but with the War Lord's buff, it was different.
Once the count exceeded 100,000, the War Lord's "Soul Flame Power" would activate, allowing weapons to be imbued with its effect. This energy, converted from stamina, was somewhat similar to demonic power but lower in rank. Even so, the 40 true damage per hit was considerable.
A volley from over a hundred thousand Stingers would directly blow up 6,000 Demon Beasts.
Su Xiao's plan was simple: as long as the Stingers could wipe out an entire hive before being annihilated, that was a win. Then, he would bring back the corpses of Hornets and Stingers to the nest, convert them into bio-energy, and within an hour, cultivate a new batch of Stingers to continue attacking the next hive.
In attrition warfare, the insect race was nearly unbeatable, but at a cost. They had a fatal weakness: Jila. If Jila died, the entire insect race would collapse instantly—all insects would go rogue, and the nest would dry up and decompose in no time.
At the current rate, bio-energy would reach 300,000 by noon the next day at the latest. However, from that point on, bio-energy gained through hunting might decrease, as the number of supernatural creatures was not infinite.
Su Xiao divided the 2,000 Demon Beasts into 20 squads of 100 each, plus 4 Spore Tanks responsible for transporting supernatural creature carcasses, achieving maximum efficiency.
With that done, Su Xiao found himself with nothing to do. He decided to channel his mental energy into the [Greed Chapter] and challenge the third Soul Manifestation.
Before him, mist swirled. When it cleared, Su Xiao found himself in a space surrounded by fog walls above and around. Before the mist fully dissipated, he raised a hand to block.
A wide sleeve swept toward him. Su Xiao instinctively leaped back, then found himself spinning through the air.
Bang!
He crashed into the fog wall, which, for some reason, had become extremely hard. This was quite unfriendly.
His bones felt like they were about to shatter. He stood up and saw a soft, beautiful woman in a light red robe.
"Tenth Generation Tianba: Daughter of Qin."
Pale blue text appeared in midair before fading. This time, Su Xiao finally knew his opponent. In fact, he had heard of her deeds from the blind old man in Shenxiang. She was also known as the Strongest Qin.
The Daughter of Qin was not only strong, but her attire had changed since last time. Su Xiao had been instantly killed... defeated last time, catching a glimpse of her dark green sleeves. Now, her clothes were light red.
The Daughter of Qin seemed different from the first two Soul Manifestations. There was more life in her eyes, and her pitch-black pupils were like gems. As for her appearance, Su Xiao ignored it entirely—no matter how beautiful she was, throwing him around hurt just the same.
Su Xiao rolled his stiff shoulders. His attributes were capped at 100 points, with only technique-based abilities unrestricted.
The situation was tricky. As a Tianba, the Daughter of Qin carried no blade or bow; her hands and feet were bare. Yet now, she stood with one foot on the hilt of the Azure Devouring longsword.
She stared at Su Xiao for a moment, then lightly leaped back, landing slowly behind the Azure Devouring longsword. Then, she drew the blade from the ground...
Two seconds later, Su Xiao, sitting in the wooden shed, opened his eyes. Defeating the Daughter of Qin required a prerequisite: taking the Azure Devouring longsword.
He prepared to try again. As the mist surged and he entered the Greed Chapter, he dashed forward, heading straight for the Azure Devouring longsword.
Clang!
The Azure Devouring was drawn. The Daughter of Qin, now holding the blade, looked at Su Xiao. He had been just a step away from seizing it—the key to victory.
Su Xiao raised his arm to block. The next instant, he opened his eyes, having "died" again. If he failed to take the sword, he would lose.
Through repeated attempts, Su Xiao gradually discerned the trick: interrupting the Daughter of Qin's blade-drawing was crucial. Each time he entered the Greed Chapter, he had only one chance.
Unbeknownst to him, a beam of sunlight streamed down from above. He hadn't noticed it. The fight with the Daughter of Qin was oddly engaging. He found that if he didn't go for the sword, she wouldn't approach the Azure Devouring either. The only problem was that she possessed a Lv.52 Melee Combat Grandmaster ability and a Lv.53 Blade Grandmaster ability.
Su Xiao put away the Greed Chapter and looked up at the sunlight filtering through the light shaft. It was already 11 a.m. The insect nest had accumulated 327,520 bio-energy points. Supernatural creatures were scarce across a vast surrounding area. It was time to cultivate Stingers and wage war against the Hornet Queen.