The Attack of the Wastrel

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

320,000 people had died.

Just from this one attack, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost.

“These murderous beasts shouldn’t exist in the Lost Lands!” Jiang Qing’s eyes were red as she claimed.

Jiang Xinghai laughed bitterly, “But without these beasts, how would the people in the Lost Lands survive?”

Jiang Qing fell silent. It was true. Due to the effect of the array above, plants did not grow well in the Lost Lands and there was not much to eat. Beast meat was their main source of food. This was also the reason why there were so many Expedition Troops in the city. Their duties were to kill powerful demon beasts and hunt for food.

“Save your energy, the next time the Female Worm comes, it won’t be able to return.” Gu Lingzhi suddenly declared.

Jiang Xinghai suddenly turned to look at her, “Eighth Sister, you have an idea?”

Gu Lingzhi shook her head. Under Jiang Xinghai’s disappointed gaze, she looked at Rong Yuan, “I don’t have an idea but he does.”

Jiang Xinghai’s gaze then fell on Rong Yuan as Rong Yuan stretched out his hand to pat Gu Lingzhi’s head, “You have that much faith in me? I am not omnipotent, what if I don’t have an idea?”

Gu Lingzhi lifted her hand and caught the hand that was messing up her hair and chuckled, “Didn’t you do something with that last confrontation with the Female Worm?”

Sensing that Gu Lingzhi had caught his small actions, Rong Yuan laughed at her fondly. He knew he could not hide his actions from Gu Lingzhi. This also proved that Gu Lingzhi had always been watching his every move. This thought made him feel good about himself and caused him to have the urge to pull her into his embrace in front of everyone and kiss her. What a pity that the timing was inappropriate and he had no choice but to brush off the numerous thoughts that popped into his head. These thoughts manifested in the soft and loving gaze that he had, making the people around him feel as if they were seeing something that they should not be seeing.

Just as the people around them felt like reminding them that it was not the time to flirt, Rong Yuan said, “In my previous attack, I did something that would allow me to sense where the offspring is hiding whenever it is in a hundred meter radius of me.”

“That’s great!” Jiang Qing could not help but clap as his impression of Rong Yuan changed. Now, Rong Yuan was no longer the outsider that caused him to get punished but someone that could help them solve the crisis.

Who knew what kind of reaction Rong Yuan would have if he knew of Jiang Qing’s thoughts now.

With a way to deal with the Insect Beasts, the people of the Forgotten City who initially felt disheartened felt slightly more assured. They split the work to begin preparations.

The corpses that were strewn all over the ground were rotting because of the Corpse Disintegration Liquid and dissolving messily, requiring quite a bit of effort. A few of the officials discussed and decided to just let Gu Lingzhi create a fire and burn the corpses. When only ashes were left, the remaining people who were still alive would then clean up.

Previously, all they faced were small scale attacks and the problems with their teamwork was not obvious. However, when faced with a large scale attack like today, the problems were obvious.

When the beasts attacked, most of them all fought their individual battles or fought together with their own Expedition Troop members. This caused people to be thrown everywhere and there was a lack of teamwork. In some areas, the old and frail that were supposed to be protected in the middle were exposed to the ferocious claws of the beasts.

Initially, they all did things their own way and there weren't many issues. But the Expedition Troops did not all get along, when teams with feuds came across each other, it was only because they wanted to give Guan Yue face that they did not fight.

“I suggest that you gather all those that can still fight and undergo emergency training. We must at least let them know that when facing the beasts they cannot each fight their own. Teamwork is the most important. One person’s strength will never be better than a team.”

Hearing what Rong Yuan said, Guan Yue was slightly hesitant. It was not that he did not realise the flaw when they were fighting the beasts earlier, but most Warriors were all from an Expedition Troop and they were used to moving in their small groups. If they all were to suddenly have to listen to one person’s instructions and work with the other groups, not many would be willing.

“Are you afraid that they wouldn’t agree?” Rong Yuan voiced Guan Yue’s concern and watched him nod his head. Patting his shoulder, he said, “I have a plan to get them to agree.” He then left.

A moment later, Rong Yuan’s voice resounded over the entire wilderness. He used spiritual energy to enhance his voice, allowing every single person to hear him clearly, “Dear friends of the Spirit City, I am Rong Yuan.”

With a brief introduction, Rong Yuan continued, “I believe that today, all of you have experienced fighting with the beast gang and realised the importance of working together. Time is limited and I will shorten what I have to say. I hope that before the next time the beast gang attacks us, I can conduct a simple training exercise. It will include the distribution of groups, dispatching of members and basic formation training. The most important thing is the discipline of groups. I don’t wish to see anyone fighting their own battles and give up protecting the old and frail to escape. Once anything of that sort happens, we will handle it as an act of betrayal to the city.”

Rong Yuan’s words were not simple, he did not disguise what he was thinking at all and said everything as it was. The crowd fell silent for a second before bursting out. Most did not agree with Rong Yuan’s plan.

Distributing groups? Dispatching members?

What a joke, was he going to split the Expedition Troops up? After they have been fighting together for so long? Of course it would be more assuring to fight amongst their own people. Who knew if they would be backstabbed when working with other groups? If they died because of that, who were they going to blame?

Hearing all sorts of refutes, Rong Yuan who had already expected this, chuckled, “Of course, you can choose not to accept my arrangement. However, the next time the beasts attack, it will be difficult for me to say that I will help.”

Guan Yue’s eyes bulged. He had not expected this when Rong Yuan said he had a plan. At a time like this, it was a condition that was extremely hard to reject. Afraid that their hatred would be stronger than his condition, Rong Yuan added another line, “Even if you all do make it to the Spirit City, without the recommendation of Lingzhi and I, I am afraid that you all won’t be allowed to enter.”

Cruel, really cruel!

Guan Yue was utterly convinced. Only Rong Yuan, who was not afraid of any consequences would dare to use a method like this, that built on hatred to force people to give in.

Seeing how everyone was glaring at him in disbelief, Rong Yuan then gave them a concession’, “Of course, I won’t be so cruel as to make you all work with the team that you hate. Later on, when we are distributing the groups, members from the same Expedition Troop can request to all be in the same group. Even if someone is arranged to be split from your own Expedition Troop, you don’t have to worry about getting sacrificed as a scapegoat by people you are not familiar with when the critical period comes. If any such selfish behaviour occurs, the culprit will pay. Anyone who reports it will be rewarded with a talisman that can be activated without spiritual energy. The strength of the talisman is equivalent to a Martial Teacher.”

Everyone stopped breathing for a moment when they heard this. They wondered if they had heard wrongly.

A talisman that could be activated without spiritual energy? That was an extremely precious treasure! Only very few merchants sold something like that, and the starting price would make anyone take a few steps back. Even Guan Yue was not willing to buy something so extravagant. Of course, it was not like he even needed something like that.

But to Silver Warriors who had an average cultivation, it was a different story. Although Silver Warriors were technically of the same level as a Martial Teacher, their way of fighting was very different. No matter how powerful a fighter was, they could only fight the opponent in front of them. A Martial Teacher on the other hand, could use spiritual energy to expand their vision to fight and was much more energized than a fighter. At the critical juncture, this talisman could be life-saving! Of course, a few were already praying that the group they were separated into would have one or two of those idiots for them to report and exchange for the talisman.

Seeing how his people were so easily convinced by Rong Yuan, Guan Yue silently acknowledged his decision. Chuckling bitterly to himself, he shook his head. Luckily Rong Yuan was on his side. If his bewitching ways were to be used to do evil deeds, who knew how many people would fall into his trap.

Thinking back to the first time they met and how he had wanted to be hostile towards Rong Yuan made him shiver in fear. Thankfully he had stopped himself and not done something that he would severely regret.

Rong Yuan nodded his head in satisfaction as the calls of disagreement got drowned out by their greed for the talisman. Looking at Gu Lingzhi, she waved back. In front of her, stood a strong and muscular looking man in a bright silver armour.

This man was Bian Cheng.

Bian Cheng was completely under Gu Lingzhi’s control and with a shift of her will, he immediately understood why Gu Lingzhi let him out. Without needing any other guidance, a long chain of orders flew out of Bian Cheng’s mouth. 𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

“To train a good troop of soldiers, a few years are necessary. But if we are dealing with simple-minded beasts, a few days or weeks may be sufficient. First, we should group the remaining people we have into groups and let the Amethyst Class Warriors take charge. The groups will then...”

Bian Cheng was a Marshal previously. He certainly knew what he was doing when it came down to troop formation. He was especially skilled when it came to utilising people. With just a few simple questions he had come up with a specific training plan. When these plans and splitting the groups were done, he could then hand it over to the individual leaders to carry out his orders.

Time was of the essence and they had to distribute the fighters as quickly as possible. After that, they had to train. Bian Cheng had created different training plans to deal with beasts that were the most powerful or the highest in numbers. It was then passed on to the team leaders.

On this plot of land that had just been stained a reddish-brown from fresh blood, ‘walls’ made of mud and metal were constructed quickly by Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan to the best of their abilities. The previous one had been almost completely destroyed by the trampling of the beasts. Tapping on their previous experience, the wall they built this time was more solid and sturdy.