When they finally reached the outskirts of Beast Gathering City, the first thing they saw wasn’t the magnificent city walls, but a dense horde of Demon Beasts.
"CAW CAW—!"
A flock of Demon Birds, as dense as rising black smoke, circled high in the sky. They watched predatorily for any lone Beastman as valiant warriors of the Eagle Clan battled against them.
anwhile, the wingless Demon Beasts were baring their fangs and claws as they scrambled up the city walls.
BOOM! RUMBLE!
Massive stones were hurled from atop the city walls.
The massive boulders crushed a portion of the Demon Beasts, but thousands upon thousands more took their place, scrambling madly up the wall in an endless, frantic stream.
The hordes of Demon Beasts poured out of the forest in a ceaseless tide. No matter how many they killed, it was impossible to finish them off—it was a maddening and incomprehensible sight.
"ROAR—!"
Even though Ling Hong and his group were well-hidden, the sharp-eyed Demon Beasts soon discovered them. The creatures instantly pounced, and a chaotic lee erupted.
The thick stench of blood soon perated the air, and a sudden gale swept through, carrying the nauseating odor.
This would only attract more of the surrounding Demon Beasts.
"AWOOO!" Ling Hong transford into his beast form and charged bravely into the fight. He single-handedly drew the main assault of the Demon Beasts, ferociously biting several of them to death.
But dozens of Demon Beasts seized the opportunity to pounce, surrounding him completely. From a distance, the Silver Wolf was instantly swallowed by a tide of Demon Beasts!
The teeming Demon Beasts sward over him, piling up into a mound until Ling Hong’s body was completely obscured.
Seeing this, the eyes of several Wolf Beasts turned crimson, and they let out furious, low growls. "Leader!"
They wanted to rush over and help, but they were pinned down by their own opponents and couldn’t break free.
A wave of imnse worry washed over An Jin, and her blood ran cold. The Silver Wolf pattern on her collarbone suddenly blazed with a searing heat!
It was followed by a long howl that seed to pierce the clouds. A tangible wave of Energy swept through the forest, scattering great swaths of leaves into the air.
Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from the gaps in the "black mound" of piled-up Demon Beasts. The Silver Wolf, covered in blood, burst furiously from the tide, crushed the skull of a Demon Beast in its jaws, and devoured it.
"ROAR—!!" The Silver Wolf’s eyes were savage, its fangs dripping with blood. The powerful muscles across its body bulged fiercely as its sharp, black claws extended. Its presence was overwhelmingly terrifying and powerful!
The Demon Beasts were montarily stunned and began to back away, letting out whimpers like frightened kittens.
An Jin’s gaze fell upon the seven beast markings on the Silver Wolf’s forelegs, and her heart flooded with wild joy. ’Ling Hong broke through to the Seventh Rank? At a ti like this?!’
But even so, as more Demon Beasts sward in, the Beastn of the tribe remained hopelessly outnumbered and began to show signs of faltering.
While most of the Demon Beasts were distracted by Ling Hong and the others, Chi Li pulled An Jin to a safe distance and quickly scanned their surroundings.
His gaze soon fell upon an ape-like Demon Beast in the distance. It was the most powerfully built of them all, standing a full seven or eight ters tall, as imposing as a small mountain. "That High Rank Magical Beast is their leader!"
The Advanced Magical Beast had already developed rudintary intelligence. Upon hearing the voice, it instantly shot a cold glare in their direction.
Caught off guard, its eyes t a pair of deep, gilded golden pupils.
"AWOO?" The Advanced Magical Beast’s ferocious, terrifying expression slowly went slack, and its savage gaze beca unfocused and vacant.
As if under so form of control, it let out a long cry. The surrounding Demon Beasts imdiately stopped fighting and bowed their heads to it in submission.
’So this is Chi Li’s spiritual power.’
’—Sothing akin to controlling the minds of n and beasts?’
An Jin was beyond surprised. When she looked again, the fox-like youth’s eyes had returned to their usual pale reddish-gold color. "So this was the thod you ntioned before? This is the first ti I’ve ever seen you use it."
"My clan is skilled in bewitchnt, and the spiritual power I cultivate has a similar function."
Chi Li’s face was slightly pale, and his usually beautiful, crimson lips had lost their luster. He rested a hand weakly on her shoulder. "I can’t hold it for much longer. That Demon Beast will wake up any mont. Quick, have the Beastn run for the city while they have the chance!"
Halfway there, the High Rank Magical Beast abruptly awoke with a furious roar.
’He was actually controlled by these weakling Beastn?!’
’Damn them! I’ll devour them! This is an absolute humiliation!!’
Just as the Demon Beasts were about to catch up, a large flock of Eagle Beasts dove down from the sky. One of them, a Golden Eagle, spoke in a human voice, "Hurry and get on! You can’t kill all these Demon Beasts!"
"A huge number of Demon Beasts are besieging the city, so the main gate can’t be opened. We’ll carry you over from the air!"
It was Song Yi!
And the Eagle Beast Warriors from Beast Gathering City!
The arriving flock of eagles, combined with the Eagle Beasts from the Sheng’an Tribe, numbered over a hundred. They all transford, each grabbing a Beastman or a Beast Skin Bag in their talons, and flew swiftly toward the city.
Looking down from high in the air, they could see that a massive crowd of hungry, weakened Beastn had gathered in the city’s grand plaza, which was paved with smooth bluestone.
Upon seeing them arrive with food, the starving Beastn’s eyes burned with a ravenous hunger, making them seem even more desperate and crazed than the previous crocodile swarm.
Song Yi reverted to his human form. He wasn’t in great shape either. He and nurous other Eagle Beasts blocked the surging crowd as he yelled sternly, "Aid from another tribe is here! I understand how desperate you all are, but you must form a line to get food!"
Beast Gathering City had sent out many of its people to ask for help, but only a single tribe had been willing to lend aid.
The Beastn looked at An Jin and her people with gazes full of gratitude and sorrow. In the past, whenever other tribes faced hardship, their city had never hesitated to help. But now that disaster had befallen them, everyone else had abandoned them...
They had all but lost hope, but the arrival of the Sheng’an Tribe gave it back to them.
The once-thriving Beast Gathering City was now filled with the dead and wounded. Less than half of its original Beastman population remained.
They collapsed in every corner of the city’s streets, dragging their weak, dying bodies, clinging to their last breaths as they waited for death to claim them.
They had gnawed away all the wild grass and tree roots in the vicinity.
Many Beastn had already starved to death in the city. Their decaying corpses blocked the roads, not only polluting the air but also attracting Demon Birds to breach the city’s defenses.
Driven by extre hunger, they had been forced to give in to their most primal instincts and eat the corpses of their fallen kin.
This scene of desolation and famine deeply pained the Beastn of the Sheng’an Tribe. The situation was dire. An Jin quickly instructed her people to open the food bags and hand out the ready-to-eat jerky to the starving Beastn.
But it was nowhere near enough.
Driven mad with hunger like wild animals, the thousands of Beastn snatched up all the jerky in an instant!
Forget feeling full, the food was only enough to keep them from starving to death in the imdiate future.
The pain of starvation had robbed the Beastn of their basic reason and ability to think. They even began to complain about why the newcors had brought so little food, grumbling that it wasn’t enough to eat.
Song Yi said coldly, "Without their help, the only thing awaiting you was to starve to death—or to start killing and eating each other before you even died."
The Beastn lowered their heads in sha.
"The city’s water supply is still usable, correct?" An Jin asked, looking at Song Yi.
He nodded.
"I know this food isn’t enough for all of you, but with Demon Beasts surrounding us these days, we could only carry so much on our long journey here."
An Jin’s gaze swept over the crowd. She paused, then her voice rang out, "But we also have a lot of flour and rice! We can make plenty of filling food!"
A Beastman spoke up, his voice strained.
"Is what you say true? Can you really feed us until we’re full?"
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