Book 7, Chapter 43: The Desolate Beasts Come Knocking

After defeating the Harpies, the humans finally had an opportunity to take a well-deserved rest.

This was the moment everyone had been waiting for.

The untamed wilderness inhabited by the Beasts was filled with rare resources. During their warpath over to Skywild Plains, no one had any time to properly take advantage of this fact. Now that the dust had settled, however, it was time to reap the rewards.

Even though the Beasts’ counterattack was inevitable, the human soldiers would be quite happy as long as the Beasts didn’t arrive just yet.

More importantly, the current humans were confident like never before.

Even though many loyal soldiers and comrades had died during the battle, the ones who had survived had grown even stronger.

In fact, the overall number of Light Shaking and Spirit Burning Realm cultivators had increased.

The Boundless Sect and the Seven Kingdoms originally had around 12,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators, with 8,000 of them coming from the Boundless Sect. After the battle with the Harpies, however, that number had increased to 13,000, and their Spirit Burning Realm cultivators numbers also increased by a few hundred. The number of Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators, on the other hand, had decreased. Some of them had been killed during the battle, and the human armies had not been able to replenish those numbers yet.

But if they were able to harvest a lot of resources from Beast territory, then new Thought Manifestation Realm and even Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators would appear.

Su Chen’s Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques had been fully disseminated at this point, and Light Shaking Realm cultivators were already becoming common. Soon, even Spirit Burning Realm cultivators would be as numerous as dogs.

However, the Thought Manifestation Realm and Ultimate Emperor Realm were a little different as bloodline-less cultivators still needed external aid to reach that point. One required the Deep Sea Anchor while the other required the consciousness conversion instrument. The Boundless Sect controlled both, which meant that they were the ones who determined who would ultimately reach the apex of human cultivation. Anyone who wanted to become a Thought Manifestation or Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator had to join the Boundless Sect, unless they were a member of a Bloodline Nobility Clan.

The human soldiers began to plunder the Beasts’ territory to their heart’s content after a short respite.

With Sky City under their control, looting resources was even easier.

Every time they plundered a location, they would quickly stow their harvest in Sky City before moving onto the next location. Like a swarm of locusts, they didn’t leave a single blade of grass untouched or a stone unturned. Well, not exactly everything — Su Chen ordered them to leave the immature herbs alone to avoid irreparably destroying the soil and environment.

At the same time, the work of repairing Sky City slowly started up as well.

When the humans had been the ones besieging the city, they had tried to cause as much damage as possible; but now that it had fallen into their hands, they began regretting their destructive acts.

As a result, the entire human race entered an unprecedented period of productivity and growth.

Or they would have, if it wasn’t for the Desolate Beasts’ invasion.

The Desolate Beasts attacked twenty days after the Harpies’ defeat.

Actually, this reaction from the Beasts could be considered a bit slow.

But this was also understandable — every time a Desolate Beast was awakened, they would take a step closer to death. None of them were willing to be awoken easily, even if the Demonic Beasts were the ones waking them.

But they had nonetheless awoken. And now, three of them had arrived on the scene at once.

One creature appeared to be no more than a strange ball of fog, from which faint shadows could be seen fading in and out of view. The Beast’s physical form, however, was unknown.

The second was a giant clam. It towered in the sky like a giant mountain, its shell tightly clamped shut. In fact, it had no way of moving by itself, and it had to rely on the third Desolate Beast to drag it around.

The third Desolate Beast was the most normal-looking out of all three of them.

It was a giant lion. This lion, however, was covered with sleek scales, and its tail was exceptionally long. There was also an additional mouth on its backside that was connected to the mouth on the lion’s head.

As soon as these three Desolate Beasts appeared, the sounds of celebration coming from Sky City instantly died out,replaced by a somber silence.

“So they did come after all, and three of them at once. They seem to be taking us quite seriously,” Li Chongshan sighed.

“That’s not surprising. The Demonic Beasts aren’t exactly idiots. They would never throw themselves at us one by one,” Su Chen replied confidently with a smile.

He was the only one who was still able to laugh in this situation.

“It’s Hidden Cloud, Towering Clam, and White Lion,” Gu Huiming said with a solemn expression.

“They have names? Did you give them those names yourself, or have they had them for a long time?” Su Chen wondered aloud.

Gu Huiming replied, “These names come from The Primordial Will. Oh, The Primordial Will is a collection of ancient records that was transcribed during a time of peace, and it primarily includes details that pertain to Origin Beasts and Desolate Beasts. But because the records are outdated and contain some myths and folklore, its accuracy is low. Even so, we are still able to draw some rough conclusions. Obviously, these three fall within that category.”

Su Chen nodded as he responded, “Understood. So the Illustrious Divine Dynasty recorded down the details of nearly a thousand Desolate Beasts, and the information contained in those records is accurate as long as we can identify the Beasts, right? And the information that we can’t match to any Beasts is useless?”

Gu Huiming’s expression grew a little gloomy. Could you not be so blunt, please?

No matter how many mistakes were in The Primordial Will, its contents were still useful when applicable.

Su Chen said, “Tell me a little bit about their unique points.”

Gu Huiming hurriedly replied, “Even though Hidden Cloud is a Desolate Beast, it lacks a physical form. As such, most attacks against it are useless, with the exception of consciousness skills or Method Power. Not much else is written about its capabilities, but supposedly, it is able to conceal itself and strike without warning. Its speed and attack power are also both quite powerful.

Su Chen neatly summarized these attributes into a single archetype. “So it’s an assassin.”

Gu Huiming replied, “Yes, you can think of it that way. Towering Clam is immobile, but it can create illusions that bait its opponents into its attacks. Even though it cannot move, its defenses are incredibly strong. It also possesses an illusion pearl within its body. This pearl is a very valuable treasure, and not only can it amplify the power of its illusions, but it also gives the Towering Clam’s illusions the ability to affect reality.”

“An illusion master.” Su Chen frowned.

Even though the name “illusion master” didn’t sound particularly menacing, they were actually incredibly dangerous on a battlefield. A Desolate Beast illusion master in particular would definitely be capable of creating astonishingly powerful illusions.

When humans fought against Desolate Beasts, they relied not only on overwhelming numbers, but also on an impeccable coordination to maximize that advantage.

Illusions could disrupt this unity.

If the human army’s coordination was disrupted, then their formations would collapse and their troops thrown into disarray. At that point, a numerical advantage would be meaningless.

As such, Su Chen immediately recognized that the giant clam would likely pose the biggest threat to them.

Gu Huiming continued his explanation. “The White Lion is a typical Desolate Beast.”

Somehow, Gu Huiming managed to describe the third Desolate Beast in a single, succinct sentence.

A typical Desolate Beast was basically a Beast that was very physically powerful.

They often had giant bodies and incomparable physical strength. Seven or eight out of ten Desolate Beasts fell into this category, which was why they were referred to as “typical.”

The reason why this type of Desolate Beast was so common was because they relied on their powerful bodies to survive.

Of course, the different ways in which they used their bodies was unpredictable, but there were only so many possible variations — they either used their teeth, claws, or tough hide. The golden falcon from earlier had been no exception. Even though it did possess some mastery of wind techniques, it had primarily fought with its physical body.

Even if the White Lion had a few tricks up its sleeve, its reliance on physical strength was indisputable. Since Gu Huiming didn’t know anything specific about its unique abilities, there was no point to describing it any further.

Su Chen immediately understood the logic behind sending these three Desolate Beasts when he heard all three descriptions. “They have a pretty good setup. A meat shield, a long-range attacker, and an assassin. What a great team.”

“The Beasts aren’t completely dumb,” Li Wuyi said, reminding Su Chen of what he had said earlier.

“But they have still underestimated us,” Gu Xinrong chuckled coolly.

The human race had managed to take on a Desolate Beast all on their own. Now, with Sky City under their control and increased high-level cultivators, they were confident that they could defeat three Desolate Beasts.

Su Chen, on the other hand, cautioned, “Maybe not. Since we have Sky City, we have some more options when it comes to strategy. If our opponent is too powerful, then we can always run away. Eventually, they will run out of energy and die.”

This was something that the Desolate Beasts could not prevent. Once they were awakened, they would slowly but surely begin to die.

This was also their greatest flaw.

If their opponent was smart enough, then they could win without even fighting. As long as they avoided fighting for a few days, the Desolate Beasts would eventually die on their own.

This was why the Desolate Beasts had avoided using overwhelming force to defeat their enemies this time. If they awakened seven or eight Beasts, their opponents could simply just run away for a week, causing them to suffer a tremendous loss for little to no gain.

Zhu Xianyao didn’t understand. “Why can’t we run if there are three of them? It would be better to not fight at all.”

Su Chen shook his head. “They might not be able to catch up to us, but they can still invade human territory.

Giving up on fighting would only be done as a last resort.

A Desolate Beast without a target would not allow itself to die meaninglessly. It would almost certainly head for the human borders to wreak havoc. This was also something that Su Chen and the others could not accept.

As such, the humans would avoid this route unless absolutely necessary.

Three Desolate Beasts was a perfect number to deal with the humans and Sky City. Both sides were evenly matched with an equal chance of winning.

Only when the odds of victory were even would both sides be the most willing to fight.

This was why exactly three Desolate Beasts had appeared at once.

“Of course, they might bring along some small fry, like some Sovereigns that managed to escape or the remnants of the Demonic Beast hordes,” Su Chen said with a faint smile as he gazed off into the distance.

The humans had fought against the golden falcon on its own because it had been awakened by the Astrals.

Now, however, Su Chen refused to believe that these three Desolate Beasts would have no support from the Demonic Beasts.

Even if he couldn’t see them, Su Chen knew that they were nearby.

“Right, we almost forgot about the remaining Demonic Beasts.” Gu Qingluo and the others frowned, deep in thought.

Three Desolate Beasts were already quite challenging to deal with. Adding on Demonic Beasts would only increase the pressure.

Su Chen, however, seemed totally unconcerned. “It’s better this way. If they weren’t confident in their victory, why would they even show up? After all, we are also confident that we will win. Don’t forget that our Titan army never revealed themselves in our previous battles against the Beasts.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Su Chen had kept the Titan army a secret for their fight against the Harpies. It wasn’t until they actually attacked Sky City that he had deployed them to capture the Mother Goddess Temple and destroy any support from them.

As such, the Beasts were actually unaware of this trump card.

But now, there was no longer any need to keep it hidden.

With a casual wave of his hand, the Titan army would appear.

“The Towering Clam’s illusion techniques can easily disturb our formations. Thus, the human army will focus on using the God-Sealing Formation to restrict the White Lion. The Towering Clam will be dealt with by the Titan army.”

Because they were puppets, the Titan-Class puppets perfectly countered the Towering Clam. Even though it was powerful, its skills were completely useless against puppets.

“Then what about Hidden Cloud?” Feng Zhuying asked.

“Hidden Cloud?” Su Chen’s mouth quirked up in a confident smile. “Leave it to me.”

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