Chapter 311 – Refusal

The Gnoll Tribe’s city walls were semi-enclosed, with rolling mountains stretching behind them.

At the edge of the tribe, far from the main residential area, two ore veins with considerable reserves were deeply buried.

Mu Yuan picked up a few pieces of raw ore that had rolled on the ground and examined them briefly.

“It’s Black Iron Stone.”

On the other side was a Red Copper Ore vein.

Both Black Iron Stone and Red Copper Ore were very common tiered materials. The former, in particular, was considered the most widely used foundational material, appearing in equipment forging and the construction of Miracle Buildings.

These two materials had always been procured externally by Tianyuan Territory.

Sometimes, Sophia purchased them on Blue Star; other times, Daisy would buy some when she went to Stone Ridge Town for trade, if the price was right.

Before the fusion of Blue Star, Mu Yuan had stockpiled a certain amount of Black Iron Stone and Red Copper Ore, but the inventory was far from sufficient.

It couldn’t possibly be sufficient.

With Tianyuan Territory’s current scale, various consumptions had surged significantly.

Even though he hadn’t engaged in large-scale territorial infrastructure construction or built additional batches of high-tier Miracle Buildings during this period, the consumption of Black Iron Stone still flowed like water.

They needed to produce arrows, repair damaged armor and weapons, create various tools, and craft new equipment, all of which consumed vast amounts of foundational materials.

Unless he wanted to halt rapid development and construction, resource consumption would always remain high.

“Now, with the Gnoll Tribe’s ‘gift,’ we’ve alleviated the immediate crisis. Otherwise, I would have had to procure materials through the Elven Courtyard’s channels.”

However, the current situation was unstable, and the authorities were also engaged in large-scale infrastructure projects. Outsourcing purchases would come with high premiums and inconvenience.

Being able to mine our own ore was the most suitable solution.

Truly, we now have mines at home.

“Of course, my current situation is also unstable. It’s not the right time to occupy and mine the ore veins. We’ll have to wait a while longer. We can only set up an outpost here after Dolai advances to the Legendary tier. For now, we still need to lay low. However, even while laying low, the Black Iron Stone and Red Copper Ore plundered from the Gnoll Tribe will keep us supplied for some time.”

Mu Yuan immediately dispatched several hundred elite troops to collect the ore.

He stood atop the ore deposit, observing his surroundings.

The Gnolls’ mining tools were varied and crude, with traces of energy Slashes and blasts everywhere—evidence of violent mining. The entire Black Iron Stone vein was pitted and ragged.

Under the Gnolls’ violent mining, both ore veins had suffered significant damage, with their reserves sharply reduced.

What a pain!

“Never mind, never mind. After all, it was obtained for free. Can’t be too greedy.”

…

Apart from these ore deposits, the search team also discovered some fields in a relatively hidden area that were different from ordinary farmland.

These fields were predominantly crimson, and a strong smell of blood assaulted the senses when approaching.

On the blood-colored fields, grotesque limbs and heads were planted. These physical body parts slowly swelled and grew like crops.

This was a Flesh Field.

「Filth Flesh Field」

By planting a small amount of flesh and corpses as seeds, it could continuously grow edible ‘flesh grains.’ These Flesh Fields were likely the true source of food for the Gnoll Tribe.

No maintenance required, extremely high yield, rich in Filth.Yet it was also filled with eerie and chilling strangeness.

From afar, he could see several conjoined human-like creatures writhing about. Surrounding them were scattered remains, gnawed and pitted, and bones strewn everywhere.

The stench of blood and rot mingled together, pungent and nauseating.

Even General Dolai expressed that the things here were revolting.

“Burn it.”

“Burn it thoroughly.”

Mu Yuan turned and left, as blazing flames illuminated the cave behind him.

…

By the time he made his rounds and returned to the tribe, the others had already dismantled most of the place.

They were very efficient, cleaning what needed to be cleaned and hauling what needed to be disposed of into the recycling station—namely, the Sacrificial Black Coffin.

Mu Yuan had brought the Sacrificial Black Coffin along with him.

It was only reasonable for the army to carry the coffin on their expedition.

There were also some individuals (crossed out) dragons acting as firefighters, extinguishing areas engulfed in flames and thick smoke.

In the blink of an eye, only a few of the most prominent structures remained within the Gnoll Tribe.

Blood Pools!

There were three Blood Pools in the tribe. These pools were irregularly circular, with diameters of about twenty to thirty meters, resembling massive cauldrons. Inside, boiling blood and floating crimson chunks churned, making anyone who saw them sick to their stomach.

At the forefront of each Blood Pool stood a blood-colored sculpture over ten meters tall. The sculptures were vaguely humanoid, pointing a single finger toward the sky, though their features were indistinct and unclear.

These three Blood Pools were exceptionally unique. Earlier, when Deadbone and the others fought fiercely and Dolai unleashed a nuclear blast on the scene, the Blood Pools remained completely unscathed.

Clearly, they were rule-based structures similar to the Root of Filth, Totem Pillars, and Blood Altars.

As Mu Yuan approached, the Lord’s Mark on the back of his hand grew increasingly hot, and a prompt echoed in his ears.

Ding!

Prompt: Smelting Blood Pool discovered. Chosen Lord or Hero units can purify and destroy it.

Prompt: Proceed with destruction?

A pure white light shot into the sky, dispelling the bone-chilling, ominous cold that permeated the surroundings. The lingering wisps of Crimson Mist in the air seemed to thin slightly.

The purification lasted several dozen seconds, and the entire Smelting Blood Pool crumbled, turning to dust particle by particle in the cleansing white light.

At the same time, the radiant glow of the world’s reward slowly descended.

It transformed into four glowing orbs—two blue and two green.

Mu Yuan then repeated the process, purifying the remaining two Blood Pools. The three Blood Pools yielded a total of seven blue-tier treasures.

Among them, four were Excellent-grade Remnant Souls.

Excellent One-Star Remnant Soul ‘Holy Light Priest,’ ‘Minotaur Chieftain.’

Excellent Two-Star Remnant Soul ‘Blazing Twin-Headed Dragon.’

Excellent Three-Star Remnant Soul ‘Blazing Gun Ranger.’

“Not bad.”

Mu Yuan nodded slightly.

Excellent Remnant Souls were not what he needed, but such high-tier Remnant Souls were always in high demand, and their value far exceeded that of ordinary Excellent Materials.

He had no complaints.

Especially the Excellent Three-Star Remnant Soul, which would attract fierce bidding from many powerful Lords.

The only regret was that he was currently in the vast Wilderness. Otherwise, he could have taken these high-tier Remnant Souls to Boulder City for auction.

The remaining three Excellent-tier treasures were equally impressive.

Prompt: You have obtained the item ‘Troop Recruitment Order (Blue).’

Prompt: You have obtained the Miracle Blueprint ‘Iceheart Lotus Platform (Blue).’

Prompt: You have obtained the Miracle Blueprint ‘Advanced Watchtower (Blue).’

——Mu Yuan had once obtained an ordinary Watchtower Blueprint and constructed it around the Shrine in the Serpentfolk Swamp.

However, that Watchtower had been toppled by passing monster hordes during the Crimson Mist disaster month when he was contracting his defenses. At the time, he no longer needed that particular observation area.

“The Advanced Watchtower is an upgraded version of the ordinary Watchtower, providing broader Lord vision along with certain scanning and detection capabilities. Overall, it’s quite good. If I need to establish a stronghold here in the Gnoll Tribe territory, building the Advanced Watchtower in the mining area would allow me to use it as a foundation to construct various defensive structures around it.”

「Iceheart Lotus Platform」

「Description: A cultivation-type Miracle Building that provides benefits including mental focus, elimination of distracting thoughts, and enhanced Comprehension Ability. Long-term cultivation on the Iceheart Lotus Platform can significantly increase one’s Mental Energy, with this enhancement capable of breaking through an individual’s inherent limits.」

Mu Yuan nodded slightly.

“This building can not only assist in cultivation but also aid in major realm Breakthroughs. In the future, I might consider conducting evolution ceremonies within the Iceheart Lotus Platform building to take advantage of its enhancement effects.”

Of course,

both the Iceheart Lotus Platform and the Advanced Watchtower required substantial Materials for construction.

He currently still lacked Outstanding-grade main materials and some Rare-grade construction materials, so he needed to start acquiring them.

As for the remaining Outstanding-grade items…

「Troop Recruitment Order: Can be used on Unit Buildings to perform an additional recruitment. This item can only recruit up to tier 5 troops (Outstanding one-star), with a recruitment quantity of 5 units. If recruiting troops of lower tiers than tier 5, the recruitment quantity triples for each tier lower.」

Mu Yuan contemplated.

If he used it to recruit tier 3 Treants, he could recruit 5×4×4=80 Treants!

This equaled the number of Treants he would normally recruit over eight months.

If he used it to recruit tier 1 Little Skeletons, he could recruit over a thousand of them.

The Treant Legion was scarce in numbers and urgently needed reinforcement, yet over a thousand Little Skeletons was also no small number… Mu Someone was somewhat hesitant about where exactly to use it.

At this moment,

“Lord, we’ve captured two suspicious winged people.”

Asun descended from the sky, carrying a small winged person in each claw.

The two winged people looked utterly defeated.

Soon, Mu Yuan understood the whole story. Judging from the winged people’s hesitant and evasive manner, Asun hadn’t captured the wrong individuals.

…

Over half an hour earlier, two powerful winged individuals from the Winged Guard had noticed the major commotion here.

They quietly approached and observed from a distance.

A few minutes ago, the two Winged Guard members who had slowly crept closer couldn’t restrain themselves. “The battle seems to have ended. Let’s sneak up for a closer look. After all, the Queen ordered us to keep a close watch on the Gnoll Tribe, and we still don’t know what exactly happened. We can’t report to the Queen while stammering and unclear about the situation, can we?”

The other winged person agreed, “You’re right, brother. We’ll just quietly circle around to the side of the City Walls and take a few glances. Nothing will surely happen. Even if we do encounter danger, with our capabilities, if we can’t win, can’t we at least escape?”

They were, after all, the winged race!

The race most skilled at flying, dominating the high skies!

Once, they were the kings of the heavens.

Several dozen seconds later,Staring at the enormous bird head beside them, the two Winged-People fell into despair.

They couldn’t outfly it, truly couldn’t outfly it!

…

Mu Yuan didn’t make things difficult for these two lowly third-tier Winged-People.

If he were in their position, he would definitely send scouts to investigate such a situation. But being caught due to inferior skills was rather embarrassing.

He said, “Take a message to your Queen. We intend to eliminate the three major claws of the Jackalwere Overlord. This tribe is the first. The remaining two tribes both possess abundant resources. If your Queen is interested, we can each subdue one tribe and occupy one resource site each.”

Dealing with them alone would be quite strenuous.

They could manage it, but not within today.

If the Queen was willing to cooperate and quickly eliminate the Jackalwere Overlord’s claws and spies, it would be most appropriate.

The other two large tribes likely contained rich mineral resources and Filth that could be purified. Both tribes held considerable value, but Mu Yuan was willing to give them up as long as it served the greater strategic needs.

However,

Several hours later, after Mu Yuan and the others had returned to their territory, news came from the Winged-People Kingdom.

The Queen had rejected the proposal.

……

“How naive, utterly naive.”

In the palace, the Queen shook her head and sighed as she listened to the Winged Guard’s report. “Even at our peak, our Winged-People Kingdom was no match for the Jackalwere Overlord, let alone now.”

“Although the large tribes under the Jackalwere’s command could be easily conquered if a Legendary Realm expert were to strike, destroying such a tribe would only enrage the Jackalwere Overlord and draw their attention!”

She never expected this human force to be so radical.

How dare they?!

Such actions wouldn’t even come close to crippling the Jackalwere Overlord.

Not worth it! Absolutely not worth it!

Under these circumstances, she couldn’t help but want to distance the Winged-People Kingdom as much as possible from this human force, let alone cooperate with them to eliminate monster tribes.

She did covet the resource-rich Treasure Lands occupied by the monster tribes;

Over the years, the Winged-People Kingdom’s resources had become increasingly scarce… This was why their number of powerful experts hadn’t increased despite their efforts to recuperate;

Yet, even so…

“To survive in the Eternal World, one must first possess wisdom and understand the importance of patience. Only then can one survive in the gaps between powerful overlords.”

“Acting on momentary impulses is useless. Too many seemingly brilliant civilizations have perished in the long river of history precisely because they didn’t know how to conceal their capabilities and bide their time.”

“In this region, there were once forces stronger than our Winged-People Kingdom. They have long since vanished, while we still endure. This is the Dao of survival.”

The Queen looked at the young Winged-People before her who were clamoring to fight. “When the Jackalwere Overlord truly turns their gaze here, it will be the end of the human force. This time, at most, won’t exceed two months. Perhaps only one month.”

She also felt somewhat regretful.

She sighed regretfully.

……

“What are the Winged-People Kingdom thinking? Don’t they want an opportunity to weaken the Monster Overlord? And we’re taking the front line!”

Dolai was furious. It couldn’t understand.

It decided to remove the Winged-People from its friend list.

“Well, it’s not entirely unexpected. About fifty-fifty.”

Mu Yuan pondered.The Winged-People Kingdom had its own considerations; they had their strategic approach.

From the Winged-People Kingdom’s perspective, cooperation was risky; yet maintaining the status quo would only lead to continuous decline, until one day they would perish with little resistance in the face of disaster.

Mu Yuan did not want to pin his hopes for survival on the enemy’s lack of attention.

He wanted to take control of his own future.

Eliminating the Jackal Tribe would serve two purposes: first, it would yield abundant resources; second, it would buy time—for them, cutting off one of the Monster Overlord’s eyes would effectively gain them time. He could seize the initiative.

If the Winged-People Kingdom did not join the battle, dealing with the remaining two large tribes would require implementing the remaining 122 contingency plans.

(End of Chapter)