Chu Tian saw that the deception was almost complete.
He withdrew his divine soul and released his spiritual sense with a radius of twenty-five kilometers. Within the range of his divine soul, he found no anomalies.
“Old Yang, Ding Ding, come up! We’re setting off… Wei Jin, you lead the Zhongdu Army Guard. Continue forward, a few of us will scout ahead. When you arrive, just clean up the battlefield!”
Chu Tian finished speaking and was about to have Hao set off. Unexpectedly, Wei Jin leaped up as well.
“Xiao Dong, lead the team!” Dong Dong stepped forward and spun the Clawed Mountain Climbing Beast beneath her. “Heng’e Formation, charge…” Without any unnecessary words, at her command, the Zhongdu Army Guard of twenty thousand instantly formed into five columns. The Clawed Mountain Climbing Beasts beneath them moved instantly. With a *swish*, they charged towards Hao. They had no intention of turning, and if Hao hadn’t moved, they would have collided head-on with the leading Dong Dong. Hao squatted down on the sand with all four limbs. With a *swish*, he leaped up.
“Damn it…” Even the deep-voiced Hao let out a sound of helplessness. Dong Dong, leading the twenty thousand, thundered past. She even looked up at Hao and the others, making a fist gesture. Chu Tian smiled. It seemed that his last sentence, telling Wei Jin’s group to clean up the battlefield, had completely ignited the fighting spirit of the Zhongdu Army Guard. As for Dong Dong, Chu Tian truly underestimated her. She commanded the Zhongdu Army Guard with such competence. In fact, Chu Tian didn’t know that for the past three years, Wei Jin had spent most of her time managing Myriad Beast City. As a Captain of the Zhongdu Army Guard and their boss’s wife, and having known them for a long time, her words were equivalent to Wei Jin’s. If it were someone else, these proud individuals might have simply quit. Even their previous attitude towards Chu Tian wasn’t very good.
“Let’s go too! Hao, you need to put in some effort!” Chu Tian said playfully. “Don’t worry, Brother Tian. Not only can I fly now, but even before… those mountain climbing beasts couldn’t outrun me!” Hao flapped his wings, carrying Chu Tian and the others, and turned into a streak of light, directly chasing the now-accelerated twenty-thousand-strong team. In less than an hour, Chu Tian patted Hao’s ear. He slowly stopped, hovering in the sky.
“We’ve arrived!” Chu Tian stared intently below.
“Arrived?” Wei Jin also looked below. The vast expanse of sand dunes, rolling like waves, contained nothing.
“Chu Tian, City Lord of Myriad Beast City, greets the chieftain of the Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast tribe. Please come out for a discussion.” Chu Tian spoke with great courtesy. This was because the Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast tribe was a relatively gentle race, with no known history of wrongdoing. If there were, he would have directly barged in with his club. After Chu Tian’s announcement, only the gentle breeze blew across the desert, with no response from anyone.
“Hmph…” He had intended to show courtesy before resorting to force, but he was met with a closed door, and they simply ignored him.
“Did we come to the wrong place?” Ding Ding frowned. Chu Tian did not answer her. With the system map’s定位, there was no way he could be in the wrong place. Moreover, this was the only area within a thousand-kilometer radius, according to the map, that was not covered by sand. In Chu Tian’s spiritual sense, the sand sea below did not exist. Instead, there was a raised hill shrouded in endless mist. Countless caves dotted the hill. The Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beasts were sleeping soundly in those caves. When he had announced his name earlier, those creatures had merely cocked their heads, rolled over, and continued sleeping. Did they really think their illusion techniques were invincible?
On this hill, Chu Tian quickly located a cave. Inside, there was an extremely large old Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast. Its fur was already turning white. It was the only one that did not immediately fall back asleep after hearing Chu Tian’s words. “It’s you…” His spiritual sense intensified, becoming invasive, and directly locked onto the creature. This old Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast shivered all over and stood up.
“Roar…” Its roar echoed through all the caves on the hill. Those beasts that had ignored Chu Tian all stirred, extending their heads out of their caves, looking at the white tiger floating in the sky with vigilance. Of course, all of this was only visible to Chu Tian.
“Old fellow, are you coming out, or do you want me to force my way in?” Seeing this, Chu Tian’s eyes shone with a sharp, cold light. Beasts were just beasts; they didn’t understand the courtesy of a toast. It was still about speaking with fists.
“You say you are the City Lord of Myriad Beast City?” A hoarse voice, ethereal and indistinct, reached everyone’s ears. Seeing that the other party had spoken, Chu Tian waved his hand. A Myriad Beast Seal rapidly enlarged in the air, releasing its terrifying pressure.
“I am the new City Lord, Chu Tian. I wish to borrow twenty thousand Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beasts from the Chieftain to serve as mounts for my Zhongdu Army Guard. Please accommodate us!” Chu Tian revealed the Myriad Beast Seal and stated his intentions clearly. Including Hao, everyone inwardly thought: Amazing, asking for twenty thousand Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beasts right off the bat. And directly telling them they would be used as mounts! You really are asking for the moon. The Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast tribe only had over fifty thousand members, didn’t they? Furthermore, Chu Tian’s tone wasn’t like he was borrowing them; it was a direct request for accommodation, essentially telling them: Whether you agree or not, you must agree.
“Hmph… New City Lord? Your Myriad Beast City Lords are one more arrogant than the last! A hundred years ago, a young man named Wei Du came to negotiate with me, wanting to borrow a thousand of my kin, and he tried to persuade me with all sorts of good promises. I didn’t even agree to him. A hundred years have passed, and you, a young brat, are here to rob me? Asking for twenty thousand of my kin right off the bat, do you think our Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beast tribe is easy to bully?” The other party’s tone was clearly filled with anger. However, this was not what Chu Tian cared about. What could their anger do? He was indeed robbing them. What he cared about was the information in the other party’s words. He turned to Wei Jin and asked, “Your father came here a hundred years ago?” The latter also looked puzzled upon hearing this. Seeing Chu Tian ask him, Wei Jin could only shake his head and say, “A hundred years ago, Father should have just taken over the position of City Lord. At that time, the Zhongdu Army Guard indeed had a thousand people, and it was the core force Father was beginning to cultivate.” So that’s how it is. It seemed he and Old Wei had thought of the same thing. To have a strong army, one cannot just run on the ground. Controlling the sky is the true ace troop.
“That young man, is your father dead? Why wasn’t the position of City Lord of Myriad Beast City passed on to you? Instead, it was given to this person surnamed Chu? If it were you coming to talk to me, perhaps I would have considered the friendship with that young man Wei Du and sent a member of my tribe to be your mount for a few years.” The old fellow below clearly heard Chu Tian and Wei Jin’s conversation.
“Haha… Old fellow, aren’t you afraid that if my Myriad Beast Seal smashes down, it’ll turn you into meat paste?” Chu Tian was amused to the point of laughter. He was actually using a divisive tactic. Truly, the older one lives, the more foolish one can become.
“Hehe… little fellow, you have quite a temper. The Myriad Beast Seal is useful against other beast tribes, but against me, hehe… I can only tell you, that young man Wei Du tried it back then too. Why don’t you give it a try? After you’ve tried, hurry back and sleep. Our Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting tribe doesn’t want to make enemies; we just want to live in peace. Don’t let your human ambitions contaminate us!” Chu Tian could tell from his words that they were indeed different from other beast tribes. They truly did not want conflict and just wanted to live their lives peacefully. Moreover, the Purple Lightning Cloud-Splitting Beasts bore a striking resemblance to the auspicious Qilin in Chinese legends. Their majestic appearance was also one of the reasons Chu Tian had set his sights on them. If there was any difference between them and the Qilin, it was that they had purple fur, while the Qilin had scales, and they lacked horns on their heads. After hearing the other party’s words, Chu Tian felt a pang of reluctance to disturb their peaceful lives. He rapidly scanned the system map in his mind, looking for another flying species to serve as mounts for the Zhongdu Army Guard. However, after reviewing it, he found no suitable candidates. Moreover, he was primarily drawn to their ability to create large-scale illusions, which was an indispensable part of his next plan. However, his forceful approach was like plunging a sharp knife into cotton; the other party did not resist strongly but instead expressed a desire to avoid conflict, leaving Chu Tian in a dilemma. Although Chu Tian was not a good person, he couldn’t be an imperialist, could he? Forcing others at gunpoint to join the fight, what difference would that make from the beasts of the Serpent Kingdom that oppressed China in the past? If the other party had been more aggressive, Chu Tian would have surely drawn his weapon and proceeded with a forceful suppression… What to do?
“Chu Tian…” Suddenly, a rather unfamiliar voice sounded in his mind.