Divine Beast Creator-Chapter 1256 - 1257: Hidden Hand?

"Why are you dawdling? Hurry up, don’t you usually perform quite well?"

Seeing the man move slowly, his companion next to him urged impatiently. Usually, this man was efficient and decisive, so why was he moving so sluggishly this time? Could it be that damned saintly compassion kicking in?

"Let me tell you, you’re not feeling sympathy for them, are you? If you are, let me warn you, it’ll be us who suffer for it. Even if we don’t act, other countries will. The outcome will be the same regardless, so why overthink it?"

"Better to get it done quickly and clock out—I’m still looking forward to enjoying some Jade Tea Soup later. The payment for this operation is quite generous!"

"Absolutely, the job is effortless and risk-free. Once this thing is fired, I doubt the other side will even have the strength to resist."

Listening to them laugh wantonly, the man sighed lightly and said,

"Won’t such actions provoke the Alliance’s displeasure?"

"What does the Alliance’s displeasure have to do with us? We’re just little soldiers executing orders. If they have a problem, they can look for those who gave the orders,"

his companion said dismissively. In their view, they were merely following instructions. As for the nature of those orders, it was none of their business—so long as the trouble didn’t land on their own heads, they didn’t care what might happen.

After a long inner conflict, the man finally sighed deeply and quickened his movements. Since things had come to this point, there was no choice but to follow through to the end.

"If you’re tired, you can transform into your Eggshell Chicken form and sleep in my arms,"

Later that evening, Feng Yuan gently poked the forehead of Xiao Ji, who was perched on a branch beside him with its claws gripping tightly. He glanced at Feng Yuan, then Xiao Ji let out a low hawk-like cry and shook its head. It didn’t worry that Feng Yuan would leave it to fight alone; after all, even if it transformed and hid in his arms, any movements he made would still wake it.

Xiao Ji simply wanted to help him. While its abilities didn’t allow it to sense distances far away, its nocturnal vision was still effective. At night, spiritual power couldn’t perceive far distances either, especially with the enemy employing detection-blocking techniques.

Seeing Xiao Ji’s determined demeanor, Feng Yuan shook his head with a slight smile and stopped persuading it. Since Xiao Ji wanted to assist him, he’d let it do so. Given its unique status, it wasn’t genuinely afraid of danger—at least, those traces of Breath of Death couldn’t harm it significantly.

"Awake at night instead of resting—what a hassle,"

Yawning, Feng Yuan murmured, feeling weary. The other side seemed to be rotating their shifts, and he couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with that broken equipment. At least for now, there were no signs of devices carrying significant Breath of Death appearing en masse.

Could it be a feint to distract? With this thought, Feng Yuan felt a bit more alert and lightly patted Xiao Ji, saying,

"Follow me, let’s go check on the area nearby."

Confused, Xiao Ji glanced at Feng Yuan, then followed him, hopping down from the tree to land on the grass. After walking a few steps, Xiao Ji realized its movement was too noisy. Feng Yuan frowned slightly, waved his hand, and his body floated into the air as a black, spherical Barrier enveloped him. Agunas quickly drifted over to Feng Yuan’s side.

Poking Xiao Ji on the forehead, Feng Yuan said,

"Transform into your Eggshell Chicken form, so I can carry you. Otherwise, if we’re spotted, it’ll be trouble."

Though puzzled, Xiao Ji saw Feng Yuan wasn’t joking and obediently transformed into Eggshell Chicken form, jumping into Feng Yuan’s arms. Cloaked by the spherical Barrier, Feng Yuan’s figure was entirely concealed. Floating in mid-air further ensured his location couldn’t be detected.

"What are you trying to do..."

Agunas looked at Feng Yuan, perplexed by his actions. Before responding, Feng Yuan observed his surroundings and said,

"I’m wondering if their grand preparations are truly meant for a direct attack here."

Reminded by Feng Yuan’s words, Agunas paused. It had subconsciously overlooked the fact that this wasn’t a preparation for a momentary operation, but a setup initiated one or two days prior. If they genuinely intended to use that weapon, would they leave such obvious traces?

"Are you suspecting..."

"A feint to distract. That weapon only requires a single launcher; it shouldn’t take this long to prepare—unless they’ve switched to a different weapon,"

Feng Yuan said coldly as he gazed at the forest under the night sky. Would Nierlat switch weapons? It wasn’t impossible, but precautions for attacks at other locations were still necessary.

Agunas looked toward where the soldiers were stationed, saying,

"What if they’re planning a double assault? I suspect they’ve long known you’d catch on to their intentions but have kept quiet all this time..."

"Hmm... It’s indeed a problem,"

Feng Yuan said as he cast a wary glance in the soldiers’ direction. However, the more pressing task was determining if anything else was lurking nearby. Great Xia’s soldiers feared sparking a war and refrained from entering the enemy’s territory—but Feng Yuan didn’t care about that. Even if Nierlat was present, it wouldn’t easily see through his disguise.

Still... for added caution... With this thought, Feng Yuan looked up at the sky, deliberated, then abandoned the idea. It wasn’t the right time for Eclipse to appear—but...

The air grew increasingly oppressive. Agunas watched Feng Yuan in shock and uncertainty, not expecting him to actually summon Yognot. Yes, he had just activated the Space Gate to awaken and bring forth Yognot—its colossal body directly crushed a massive swath of forest within Great Xia’s borders.

More concerning than the destroyed forest was Yognot’s innate terrifying weather-altering ability. Though it was already the height of summer, Yognot’s appearance caused the air temperature to rise noticeably—even during nightfall. If it were daytime, the heat might escalate to unbearable levels very quickly.

"Yognot? Great Xia truly dares,"

From beside Nierlat, a young man sneered. Nierlat gazed silently at the night sky. The young man sighed, saying,

"I apologize; doing this puts you in a difficult position, but..."

"It’s fine. Since this was my proposal, I naturally don’t regret it. As for him, I do rather admire him,"

Nierlat said as it stared resolutely forward. It understood clearly: if not for its suggestion, Xingchan might not have involved itself in this operation. Was this the feeling it had when making its choice back then? Nierlat didn’t fully understand, but it knew that a decision made was a decision not to be regretted.

The young man had tried persuading it multiple times, but how could one sway a Nierlat that had already resolved itself? Sighing, the young man softly said,

"If... we fail..."

"Xingchan will be destroyed by Great Xia’s retaliation, so retreat is not an option."

Nierlat spoke calmly. Regret? Perhaps not. It knew that to the young man and to itself, Xingchan was incredibly important. Even their shared promise to find a beautiful place to live in seclusion had hinged upon Xingchan. Now... ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Thinking of the self-serving motives of various nations, Nierlat sneered. At least Xingchan’s intentions were apparent—but the motives of the other nations couldn’t be discerned. Their State-protecting Divine Beasts might not even know their true agendas—especially Quine...

The actions of that nation had always unnerved Nierlat. Ruthless even to its own, it was impossible to predict their goals. Madmen were always terrifying, exceeding the limits of ordinary imagination.

"As expected..."

Spotting a group of soldiers hidden in the mountains, Feng Yuan was unsurprised. If he hadn’t suspected this possibility beforehand, why would he be investigating here? But he hadn’t expected them to hide in such a location—he had assumed they’d choose lowland areas for better concealment, yet here they were, closer to the mountain summit.

"These soldiers must be the ones preparing to fire the Breath of Death,"

swishing its tail, Agunas said. And the reasoning? The nearby preparations of Breath of Death were a clear indicator, along with the firing launchers. It was evident that those openly visible elements weren’t handling the task—so what were they responsible for? Additionally, how had they managed to keep this operation secret?

Agunas didn’t believe the secrecy of such a large-scale collaboration between nations could be foolproof. Yet even Feng Yuan had been deceived initially... of course, perhaps it was because he hadn’t bothered to get intel from Great Xia, considering he couldn’t be bothered to ask.