149: Chapter 149 Planning Ahead

In the moonlight, the sound of hooves from the Holy Light Cavalry and Murong Xue's low, authoritative commands drifted up from the Training Ground beneath the city wall.

In the side camp, the Light and Shadow Legion, led by Liu Ruyan, practiced stealth in silence. Dark purple spirit energy flickered faintly in the moonlight, and the silver gleam of Phantom Daggers vanished in the shadows as quickly as it appeared.

In the Spirit Garden, Su Mengyao's Power of Nature caused dense vines to spread under the moonlight. The emerald green spirit energy bathed in the moonlight felt like a gentle dream in the savage wilderness.

From the Medical Tent, faint ripples of spirit energy emanated from Hua Jieyu's Savage Beast stone mortar. The speed of her spirit energy recovery, bolstered by her awakened Hundred Herbs Affinity, allowed her Power of Hundred Herbs to slowly recover by half a percent in the moonlight. Her slender fingers moved across the Savage Beast stone mortar, the rhythm of grinding medicinal herbs quiet and gentle in the night breeze.

Zhao Linger ran over from the other end of the city wall, her round eyes shining like two bright ambers in the moonlight.

Beneath her Savage Beast silk short shirt, her petite, devilish figure trembled slightly in the moonlit breeze. Her slender waist, wrapped in the Savage Beast silk, could be grasped in one hand, while the full, perky contours above her waist rose and fell gently beneath the fabric. Strands of hair on her forehead were dampened by sweat, and the continuous coverage of her Spirit Sound Detection left her complexion paler than usual.

"Wang Sheng." Her voice was very low, and her round eyes held a fear never seen before.

"Spirit Sound Detection has picked something up. A spirit energy fluctuation is approaching on the south bank of the Lingxi River. It's not Zhao Mang's people; the frequency of this spirit energy fluctuation is different..."

She took a deep breath. "It's the frequency of the Shadow Clan. A spirit energy fluctuation from a Shadow Clan member above Tier 2 Barbarian General. They are approaching the Bright Tribe from the south bank of the Lingxi River."

"Is it Ying Wuyue?" Liu Ruyan's voice came from the shadows of the city wall, her misty eyes flashing with cold gravity.

"I'm not sure." Zhao Linger's voice trembled slightly in the moonlight. "The frequency of the spirit energy fluctuation is different from the Shadow Clan vanguard; it is deeper, colder, and more ancient. I can be certain it is above Tier 2 Barbarian General, but it doesn't feel like the spirit energy fluctuation of a Barbarian King level."

She looked at Wang Sheng, her round eyes filled with a mix of fear and worry.

In the moonlight, within the savage shadows on the south bank of the Lingxi River, a pair of dark purple vertical pupils lit up slightly. It was not a Barbarian King.

Within two days, Zhao Mang had crossed the river with a thousand men. The moonlight on the Lingxi River paved a long silver bridge across the savage wilderness, extending from the foot of the Bright Tribe's city wall all the way to the shadows of the Savage Beast Forest on the south bank.

The Frost Defense Line shimmered with a pale ice-blue light in the moonlight, and the sound of the Lingxi River flowing beneath the ice was exceptionally clear in the silence of the savage wilderness.

Zhao Linger's Spirit Sound Detection captured the faintest spirit energy fluctuation in the moonlight. It was not from the depths of the Savage Beast Forest, but from the south bank of the Lingxi River. A streak of dark purple spirit energy was moving slowly along the riverbank, winding like a quiet snake in the shadows along the stone road on the south bank.

"He is moving." Her voice was extremely low, and her round eyes were like two of the brightest ambers in the moonlight, but deep within the amber lay a fear never seen before. "Moving east along the south bank, he is not testing us; he is looking for a gap."

Before she could finish, a dull cracking sound came from the center of the Frost Defense Line on the south bank of the Lingxi River.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun turned abruptly on the city wall, her ice-blue pupils constricting suddenly. Her silver-white hair fluttered like snow in the moonlit breeze, and her ice-blue pupils were as cold as deep, icy stars, but at this moment, those icy stars held a terror never seen before.

She had spent the entire night reinforcing the Frost Defense Line with her own hands, freezing the ice on the south bank of the Lingxi River to be three times thicker, making the ice surface as solid as a rock in the moonlight. But at this moment, a dark purple crack split open right in the center of the ice surface. The crack spread from the ice to the river water beneath, and shadow spirit energy seeped out from the crack, winding like a cold, sinister snake beneath the ice, carving out a deadly path.

The Frost Mage's silver-white hair fluttered in the moonlight with a faint ice-blue glow. Her Savage Beast silk mage robe shimmered with a cold, ice-blue luster in the moonlight, clinging to her tall, slender figure and outlining her willow-thin waist even more sharply. The mage robe flowed open, revealing her long legs beneath, as she stood on the city wall with a cold but resolute stride.

Her ice-blue pupils stared intently as fine cracks appeared in the weaker parts of the ice surface. The Frost Defense Line was her pride, and being infiltrated by shadows was the deepest insult to a Frost Mage.

"The Frost Defense Line... has been broken." Her voice was cold, but the ice-blue spirit energy between her fingers trembled slightly in the moonlight.

It was not shattered, but infiltrated. The shadow spirit energy corroded the Frost Defense Line's spirit energy circuits inch by inch from beneath the ice. The ice-blue spirit energy dimmed inch by inch under the dark purple corrosion, like moonlight being swallowed by shadows.

The ice surface of the Lingxi River at the south bank ferry crossing shattered into spiderweb-like cracks, and dark purple water gushed out from the gaps. A figure slowly walked out from the dark purple water... No, not walked out... it was coalescing.

Shadow spirit energy coalesced into a sinister, cold silhouette at the south bank ferry crossing. It was a Shadow Clan warrior.

He was enveloped in dark purple shadow robes, which were covered in dark purple Spirit Runes. The Spirit Runes flickered faintly in the moonlight, like ancient symbols circulating in the cold, sinister shadows.

He was a head taller than an ordinary barbarian warrior, and his figure beneath the shadow robes was tall and cold. Dark purple spirit energy flowed slowly around him like a chilling black mist.

His face was hidden beneath the hood of his shadow robe, revealing only two dark purple vertical pupils. There were no irises in the pupils, only the cold, dark purple unique to the Shadow Clan, flickering in the moonlight like two stars swallowed by shadows.

Barbarian General 3rd Rank.

As the shadow spirit energy circulated around him, the resulting spirit pressure caused all the Savage Beasts within thirty meters of both banks of the Lingxi River to lie on the ground and tremble. The spirit pressure carried an ancient, cold aura from the savage wilderness, which was at least thirty percent stronger than the spirit pressure of a Tier 2 Barbarian General, but what was more critical was that aura...

Within the Barbarian General 3rd Rank shadow spirit pressure, Zhao Linger's Spirit Sound Detection captured a frequency... one she had never sensed on any Shadow Clan member before. It was deeper, colder, and more ancient.

It was a type of shadow spirit energy that could only be nurtured in the depths of the Shadow Realm. It was not the shadow spirit energy of stragglers in the Beast Tide catalyzed by Shadow Crystal Core fragments, but the shadow spirit energy possessed only by the true core warriors of the Shadow Clan, who had cultivated in the depths of the Shadow Realm for who knows how many years.

"Shadow Scout." Zhao Linger's voice trembled slightly in the moonlight, her round eyes reflecting the dark purple vertical pupils from the south bank. "Sent by Ying Wuyue... it's a scout, a Barbarian General 3rd Rank Shadow Scout."

"A scout?" Wang Sheng's voice was calm and cold, his Tier 2 Barbarian General golden spirit energy surging within his body. "It seems we still have a chance to fight."

"Yes." Zhao Linger took a deep breath, her round eyes filled with a mix of fear and determination. "He is looking for the weaknesses in our defense line: the spirit energy circuits of the Frost Defense Line, the distribution of the Nature Traps, the defensive structure of the city wall..."

Wang Sheng slowly clenched his fists. This Shadow Scout could not be allowed to continue his reconnaissance. The Shadow Clan could not be allowed to obtain the complete defense map of the Bright Tribe.

"I will go out and stop him." His voice was brief and firm. "Barbarian General 3rd Rank, I can handle it."

"I'm going too." Murong Xue's voice came from the city wall, her Holy Light Knight silver armor gleaming with a cold light in the moonlight, her brown ponytail fluttering slightly in the moonlit breeze. She held a silver spear in her right hand, the tip shimmering with a white-gold light in the moonlight. "The Holy Light Cavalry is standing by at the South Gate."

"The Light and Shadow Legion will go with you." Liu Ruyan's voice came from the shadows of the city wall, her misty eyes now filled only with cold determination.

"The south bank of the Frost Defense Line has been infiltrated; I can re-freeze and seal the ferry crossing." Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's voice was cold and completely unruffled, her ice-blue pupils like two deep, icy stars in the moonlight.

Shen Xun'er walked onto the city wall, the Moonlight Priestess's moist, almond-shaped eyes holding a smile that contained both tenderness and determination in the moonlight. Her silver-white hair fluttered slightly in the moonlit breeze, and her Savage Beast silk inner robe shimmered with a moon-white glow in the moonlight. The Savage Beast silk clung to her slender waist, outlining its graspable curve even more gracefully. Above her waist, the inner robe opened slowly, the curves of her hips appearing faintly beneath the moon-white Savage Beast silk; the plump and rounded curves shone with a gentle silver luster in the moonlight, and her long legs walked onto the city wall with quiet steps, partially hidden by the inner robe.

The gold-white light of the Moonlight Blessing spread from her body toward the Lingxi River, covering the entire tribe with the gentlest moonlight protection. "I will also go to the north bank of the Lingxi River; I will cover the ferry crossing with Moonlight Blessing. No matter how strong his shadow spirit energy is, he will have to get past me first."

Her voice was gentle but firm. The Moonlight Priestess's Moon God's Protection increased the effect by fifty percent during night battles, and the gold-white light of the Moonlight Blessing formed a gentle moonlight barrier on the tribesmen on the north bank of the Lingxi River.