Yun Jiuge rolled her eyes at Zi Shang and kept Qiu Senâs body in the Magical Bottomless Bag.
She turned to see Yun City in tatters. At this time, Da Meng and other human-beast hybrids had killed most of the human-beast hybrid puppets.
âMiss Yun, are you alright?â Advisor Jun flapped his wings and flew over.
âIâm fine. Tally the number of casualties and show it to me later,â Yun Jiuge instructed in a heavy voice.
âYes.â Advisor Jun took a look at Aâdai and wanted to talk to him, but he flew away in the end.
âAâdai, come here,â Yun Jiuge shouted for Aâdai to come over.
âOw ow ow! Hungry, hungry, hungry!â Aâdai flew to Yun Jiugeâs side and opened his mouth to yell about his hunger.
âStop with your ow-s. Just talk properly.â Yun Jiuge took out a bottle of Cherry Pills and poured them into Aâdaiâs mouth while she asked, âDo you still recall the past?â
âOw, I remember.â Aâdai chewed the Cherry Pills by the mouthfuls. He then waved his wings at the busy Eagle Clan members in Yun City and said, âThese are my people and I am their prince.â
âIn that case, do you still remember what made you successfully turn into your animal form?â asked Yun Jiuge as she gave Aâdai a bottle of Spiritual Dew.
âI remember. I was passing through a vacant plot of land at that time and discovered a tree glittering with a golden light and a few fragrant fruits growing on it. I changed form after I ate from it. But that golden tree was gone when I went to look for it later.â It was Aâdaiâs biggest secret. He did not even tell Elder Bai. He only spoke of the secret when Yun Jiuge asked him.
âDo you still remember where the tree grew?â Yun Jiuge asked right away.
âI remember. But after the black rain, the place has become Death Swamp, leaving only an empty flat ground,â Aâdai said.
âA flat ground. Donât tell me itâs the Gray Castle?â Yun Jiuge looked at Zi Shang in shock.
âIt should be. No wonder theyâre building a castle there. It must be for the golden tree.â Zi Shangâs eyes lit up.
âWeâve to find the golden tree.â Yun Jiuge had a hunch that as long as she could find that golden tree, there would be hope for restoring her Holy Power.
âThe Gray Castle has tight security. Itâs not so easy to breach it. We must deploy the human-beast hybrids with the Golden Light.â Although Zi Shang was able to break through with force when he turned into his original form, it was too easy to use up the Demonic Power which he had built for so long. It was better to save some up.
âLetâs see how many of them have been killed and wounded first before we decide!â Yun Jiuge and Zi Shang Yu returned to the main hall in the hill.
Advisor Jun soon tallied the casualties. 357 human-beast hybrids were slightly injured, 138 ones were seriously injured and 44 were dead.
These dead and wounded ones were all human-beast hybrids with Golden Light. The ordinary human-beast hybrids were hiding in the plantation without casualties.
âMiss Yun, Lord Yin Shiliâs Yin Yang Qi has run out. If the Gray Castle attacks again, Iâm afraid we canât hold any longer,â Advisor Jun said with grave concern.
âWhat do you think of Ye Ziâs plan to take advantage of this opportunity to fight back against the Gray Castle?â Yun Jiuge asked Advisor Jun for his opinion.
âLord Ye Zi is right. If we cut down weeds without taking out their roots, theyâll grow back again. We must be proactive and attack,â said Advisor Jun, nodding repeatedly. Their human-beast hybrids should have been warlike. Cowering and hiding like ostriches were not keeping with their style.
âThatâs a wise choice,â said Zi Shang, who was very satisfied with Advisor Junâs answer.
âHow many human-beast hybrids do you think would be appropriate to bring?â Yun Jiuge asked Zi Shang.
âA hundred elites would be enough.â Zi Shang had long thought of a good way to deal with the Gray Castle.
The puppets guarding the Gray Castle mainly operated by relying on Demon Qi. As long as they flew around to draw in the Death Energy near the Gray Castle and turned it into Life Energy, those human-beast hybrid puppets and demons would be greatly limited. They would be able to double the results with less efforts during the attack.
âNot a problem at all to provide 100 elites,â Advisor Jun answered.
âQuickly recruit the candidates. Weâll set off in two hours,â Zi Shang said.
âSo soon?â Yun Jiuge frowned. Two hours were simply not enough for everyone to recover.
âThat demon soul has been wounded by us. Weâve to kill it while itâs still down,â said Zi Shang, who thought two hours were long.
âIâll let them know now.â Advisor Jun turned and flew away at once.
âAâdai, you and Aâhui will go to the Gray Castle to check on the situation. See if you can locate the spot of the golden tree which you found at the time on the way,â Zi Shang called Aâdai over.
âOw!â Aâdai could also see that his people were in a critical situation and obediently went to handle the matter.
âZi Shang, itâs too dangerous with so little time...â Yun Jiuge was going to have a good talk with Zi Shang when the voice of the human-rabbit hybrid clan leader came from outside the door, âMiss Yun, Iâve something to inform you.â
âCome in!â Yun Jiuge could only put aside the matter with Zi Shang first.
The human-rabbit hybrid clan leader came in holding a sike deerâs animal-skin bag in hand.
âMiss Yun, the carrots youâve asked us to plant before have now grown.â The human-rabbit hybrid clan leader placed the animal-skin bag on the table and then took out neatly tied up bunches of carrots from inside.
There were three piles in total. From left to right, the colors were more brightly colored and rosy red than the one before.
âHave these been planted with your blood?â Yun Jiuge pointed to the reddest pile of them all and asked.
âYes, the land here is good, and the harvest is better than I expected,â the human-rabbit hybrid clan leader said.
âIt looks good.â Yun Jiuge picked one up to smell. There was a strong smell of blood inside, and even a trace of Spiritual Energy. To be able to grow Spiritual Energy in a Spirit Restricting Area like the Secret Realm, this blood carrot would be especially useful to Cultivators.
âOf course itâs good. Iâve used my blood to grow them.â The human-rabbit hybrid clan leader repeatedly stressed her hard work. She did not want to make an offering in vain.
âGive me all these blood carrots and Iâll hand over this bottle of Medicinal Pills in exchange with you. There are ten Spiritual Pills inside. Taking it once can let you all evolve once more.â Yun Jiuge took out a bottle of Cherry Pills and put it on the table.
âThank you for your generosity. Iâll send the carrots over immediately.â The human-rabbit hybrid clan leader carefully put the Cherry Pills away.
Their human-rabbit hybrid clan suffered the most casualties during the attack on Yun City this time. Ultimately, it was because their fighting capability was too poor. They would be more secure with this bottle of Spiritual Pills.
After the human-rabbit hybrid clan leader left, Zi Shang picked up a blood carrot to taste. He said, âThe Spirit Energy is extraordinarily strong. If there are Cultivators injured here, this is definitely the most suitable Spiritual Pill.â
âThatâs right, so youâd better eat it. Itâs useful to keep some too.â Yun Jiuge swatted Zi Shangâs hand away and kept all the blood carrots.
âLetâs go over to the human-rabbit hybrid clanâs side and get the rest of the blood carrots. Then weâll select people.â Zi Shang popped the remaining carrot into his mouth.
Yun Jiuge and Zi Shang collected the blood carrots and went to look for Advisor Jun.
Advisor Jun had already gathered 100 elite soldiers. Yun Jiugeâs guards were among them as well as clan leaders and elders from the various clans who had taken the initiative to volunteer for the assignment.
âAll of you, go back to rest and reorganize. Weâll set off in an hourâs time.â Zi Shang waved his hands to dismiss them after he took the head count. The mission to counterattack the Gray Castle was extremely dangerous this time. It was possible to leave and not return. It was good to let them say goodbye to their clan people.
...