However, how can one not overthink things when one hasn't actually seen the person standing alive in front of them?
The worries and panic that had been suppressed for many days erupted at this moment. He wanted to see Ze as soon as possible to confirm that he was really still alive.
——
The battle outside Beast City was now in Beast City's favor. Mu Yi was a divine beast warrior who could control which beastmen would transform into human form and which would not.
The fact that the attacking tribal orcs had managed to hold out this long despite their inability to transform was something Mu Qing had never expected. But no matter how long they held on, they would all die soon.
And those few arrogant priests who awakened their spirit cores, daring to oppose him! Let them know how laughable their supernatural abilities are in the face of absolute power.
With their limbs pinned to the tree by wooden spikes, the intense pain gradually numbed Shan Feng and the others. Mu Qing, seemingly unwilling to let them pass out, manipulated vines to burrow into their wounds, instantly inflicting sharp pain whenever they showed signs of unconsciousness, keeping them awake and aware of the agony.
Ant Wind was the youngest, and by the end, he could no longer be woken up by the pain, and he slumped his little head and completely passed out.
Mu Qing clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, but didn't go all out. These people's spirit cores were all top-grade. After the battle, he would lock them in the dungeon and torture them thoroughly to fully activate their spirit core power. After extracting the spirit cores, their power would be much greater than it is now.
Just as Mu Qing was about to stop, she sensed someone approaching from behind. Turning around, she saw Shen Nong.
His anger, which had subsided somewhat, erupted again at this moment.
The current state of Beast City is all because of this person!
Mu Qing manipulated the vines to launch a barrage of attacks in Shen Nong's direction. He had hands and feet and had caused so much trouble, so let's remove his limbs and see how he can cause any more trouble!
Shen Nong abruptly stopped, dodging Mu Qing's attack. He stared at Mu Qing standing on the city wall, his usually gentle gaze now sharp and piercing.
He wasn't the type to repay evil with kindness. He hadn't retaliated before because he couldn't. Now, his spiritual core was full of energy, even more abundant than before. Since Mu Qing was blocking his way, he would play along to the end.
The vines, brimming with spiritual energy, shot towards Mu Qing like lightning. With three sharp cracks, Mu Qing, caught off guard, had three whip marks on his face.
Mu Qing stood there, stunned, unsure whether to be amazed that Shen Nong had regained her powers or angry that Shen Nong dared to slap him.
Shen Nong wouldn't give the other party a chance to react. He manipulated the vines to attack Mu Qing. At the last moment, Mu Qing finally came to his senses and raised his hand to summon vines to entangle him.
But the moment his vines touched Shen Nong's vines, they disobeyed his commands and avoided him completely.
What's going on?!
Not only Mu Qing, but even Shen Nong found it very strange; this was too bizarre!
Shen Nong quickly calmed down. This recovery of his superpowers was strange in many ways. The energy in his spiritual core was much higher than before, and he didn't know where it came from. He figured that the fact that the other vines didn't dare to touch his vines was also related to the energy in his spiritual core.
If I had to describe it, it would be like the other party's energy is completely subjugated and dares not resist his current energy.
Shen Nong was delighted. He showed no mercy; he had kept track of how many times Mu Qing had whipped him before. Today, he would repay him tenfold!
Mu Qing quickly dodged Shen Nong's vines, but was still whipped. Last time, he exhausted his supernatural power to absorb the lifespans of the so-called priest candidates sent by various tribes. He didn't expect that the priest of the Lei tribe was an awakened supernatural being, so he had no choice but to absorb all the wood-type energy around him.
The other party's ability level was one level lower than his, and the range of wood-type abilities they could absorb was smaller. Logically speaking, Shen Nong shouldn't be able to recover her abilities.
He simply couldn't understand how Shen Nong had regained her powers.
Shen Nong didn't give him a chance to think. Mu Qing's physical strength was quickly depleted, and his movements became slower and slower. In the end, it was almost entirely Shen Nong holding him down and whipping him. Mu Yi noticed the abnormality on the city wall and quickly turned around.
Three enormous snake heads approached the city wall. Shen Nong saw the snake heads, which were large enough to blot out the sky, and for a moment he didn't feel afraid. Instead, he felt that they were very familiar, like a creature he had read about in ancient books. However, he couldn't remember which one it was, because it had been so long and he hadn't looked at them closely.
The snake's head in the middle lowered its body, its mouth fully open, spewing out grayish-green mist. Shen Nong instinctively covered her mouth and nose, but she was still a step too slow and felt a little dizzy.
Its left tongue flicked out, revealing fangs, and it lunged forward, trying to wrap its tongue around Shen Nong and devour him.
Just as the slippery tongue was about to wrap around Shen Nong, the snake's right head suddenly let out a scream of extreme pain.
When you look at the snake's head in the middle and on the left, you'll see that the snake's head on the right has been torn off!
Black Panther stood in front of Shen Nong with an absolute protective stance, his muscles taut, the undulating lines of his muscles exuding power, the mysterious golden patterns on his body emitting a faint golden light, and his golden eyes revealing a chilling aura.
Only the Divine Beast Warrior can harm the Divine Beast Warrior.
Ze rarely transforms into his full form in public; he mostly only transforms into his wings, and even then, it's in private. Apart from the Wood Tribe orcs, the other tribes' orcs have no idea that Ze is a divine beast warrior.
The Wood Tribe's affiliated tribes, who were nearly wiped out by Mu Yi, were overjoyed to see a divine beast warrior suddenly appear to help them. This sudden turn of events made them temporarily forget their previous pain. They excitedly pulled the Wood Tribe's beastmen along, saying, "I thought we were doomed. I never expected that the divine beast warriors of Beast City would actually start fighting each other!"
The Wood Tribe orc scratched his head. "That's not the divine beast warrior from Beast City, he's our tribe's chosen one."
!!
The beastmen of the subordinate tribes never expected that the Wood Tribe would also have divine beast warriors!
They couldn't quite describe their feelings at that moment. If an orc warrior were to appear in their tribe, they would definitely tell everyone, letting all the tribes know.
But the Wood Tribe didn't say a single word!
Ze turned to look at Shen Nong, making sure he was not injured, and then leaped towards the two-headed snake.
The opponent was, after all, a divine beast warrior, and even though he was severely injured, he still fought fiercely with Ze. Shen Nong used the vines to stand on the city wall and observed the fight between the two.
He knew Ze was always very skilled, but during this battle, Shen Nong had a feeling that Ze's fighting style had subtly changed. It seemed more decisive than before, with each move deadly, leaving no survivors.
The two-headed snake was no match for Ze's attack and would soon be defeated.
Shen Nong raised his hand and used his supernatural ability to wipe away the slave mark that had been pierced on his forehead. He didn't want Ze to suffer any more.
[Host, that person's supernatural power has weakened. The main system has detected a signal from another system.]
If the system hadn't suddenly spoken, Shen Nong would have almost forgotten about the Beast City High Priest, who was bound like a dumpling by him.
He walked up to Mu Qing and looked down at him.
Mu Qing looked up and met Shen Nong's gaze, letting out a mocking laugh. He had always believed in suppressing others with absolute power; he was the one who suppressed others in the past, but this time he was the one being suppressed.
What a joke.
"Are you from interstellar space?" Shen Nong asked directly.
Although Shen Nong asked a question in return, it also indirectly revealed that he came from interstellar space. Mu Qing wasn't stupid; he understood the implication in Shen Nong's words. He was initially stunned, clearly shocked by this information. Then, after thinking about it, he felt that everything made sense.
He asked in a deep voice, "How did you know?"
Mu Qing couldn't remember where she had exposed herself.
Shen Nong pointed to Mu Qing's burned left cheek, "The slave mark of the interstellar world carries special energy. Even if the shape is destroyed, this energy still exists in the skin. Unless the person dies, the energy will not dissipate."
Upon hearing this, Mu Qing remained silent for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter. The slave mark, even in a different world, remained on his body and could not be erased!
As they were talking, the system received an instruction from its superior and said to Shen Nong, "Host, the main system needs to take him away for inspection."
Before Shen Nong could reply, Mu Qing disappeared from the spot.
"He got off too easy," Shen Nong muttered to herself.
"Priest." The man's deep and magnetic voice rang out. Shen Nong looked up when she heard Ze's voice and saw her unharmed lover standing not far away. All of Shen Nong's depression dissipated, and she rushed into Ze's arms.
Ze's arms trembled as he tightly wrapped them around Shen Nong's waist, burying his head in the crook of Shen Nong's neck.
Although the Wood Tribe won the battle at Beast City, it was a narrow victory. When the headcount was finally taken, they were half the number of people who had arrived.
Shen Yi and Shen San also suffered from excessive energy consumption and were forced into hibernation. They will not wake up until a year later.
Although the mountain tribe's priests were seriously injured, Mu Qing seemed to have spared their lives and didn't really kill them. At least Shen Nong was able to save them using her supernatural abilities.
After this incident, Shen Nong also deeply understood that things will not go according to your best plan, and there will always be unexpected situations that will disrupt all your plans.
But it seems he stumbled upon the perfect opportunity.
Shen Nong stayed in Beast City for another two days, leaving the problems of the surrounding tribes to Lu Shuang to handle. He was busy compiling statistics on the casualties of each tribe and compensating them according to the number of people killed.
After explaining the meaning of "compensation" to the beastmen, the beastmen of the affiliated tribes were momentarily speechless.
Not to mention them, even the priests didn't react in time.
This is the first time I've ever heard of a subordinate tribe of orcs dying in battle for the main tribe, and the main tribe giving them a lot of compensation.
After Ze returned, he stayed by Shen Nong's side without missing a step. Shen Nong was already used to Ze silently following him, but after Ze returned this time, he felt that something was wrong.
Shen Nong turned his head to look at the tall beastman beside him. He wondered if it was just his imagination, but these past two days, the other party seemed to resemble the Ze from some unknown memory he had seen while he was unconscious, the Ze with a strong aura of killing.
Chapter 121
Mu Qing
When Mu Qing woke up, what he saw when he opened his eyes was a dense cosmic network. He was surrounded by red "smoke" with many silver lights shimmering within it.
The scene was extremely beautiful, but Mu Qing had no heart to appreciate it.
Because at that moment, two electronic voices appeared in his mind.
[Main system: This person's energy is disordered; no system signals can be detected within them.]
[Stripping away energy.]
【yes.】
As the electronic voice announced "Begin peeling away," Mu Qing felt as if his brain had been smashed open, something churning inside. The pain caused Mu Qing to unconsciously roar and scream wildly, "Ahhh!"
It hurts! It hurts so much!
Mu Qing tried to raise her hand to touch it, only to find that she couldn't move at all. The dull pain didn't subside at all, and then a sharper, more piercing pain came from deeper inside. It felt like countless needles were stabbing into her brain, moving rapidly.
Mu Qing was in so much pain he was almost losing consciousness, no longer caring who had done what to him. He was soaked to the bone, his face ashen, like a water ghost who had been submerged for years. Clinging to a sliver of hope, his fingertips trembled violently as he tried to activate his supernatural abilities to alleviate his pain.
A gentle, flowing energy coursed through his limbs and bones, offering some relief. Just as he was about to catch his breath, his supernatural energy suddenly surged violently. It was no longer a gentle flow, but rather like the sharp teeth of a wild beast gnawing at his flesh and veins. Having regained some strength through his supernatural power, Mu Qing dug his nails into his flesh, digging desperately, the pain so intense he wished he could tear away the outer flesh and pull out his veins.
The raging energy quickly subsided, completely subsided. The surging power returned to calm, and this sense of powerlessness suddenly overshadowed the pain.
Mu Qing tried to activate his powers again and again, but no matter how focused he was, his spiritual core did not react at all.
At this moment, the electronic voice sounded again, "Energy stripping successful, currently detecting system signals."
[System signal detected, system ID: 562838; status: forced hibernation.]
[Unbinding system components...]
As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Qing felt as if his brain had been crushed to pieces by a heavy force, and then pulled out by a tremendous suction. At this moment, Mu Qing's brain could no longer control his body. His limbs twitched, his mouth twisted, and his eyes slanted. Finally, after a violent tremor, Mu Qing's eyes bulged, he let out a long, strange cry, and completely lost consciousness.
[Separation successful.]
——
A month has passed since the battle of Beast City.
All the tribes that were previously affiliated with Beast City surrendered immediately after learning that the Wood Tribe had truly defeated Beast City, with their tribal crystals in hand.
It was only then that Shen Nong learned that the High Priest of Beast City had not previously formed an alliance with the various tribes.