172: Kill the chicken to scare the monkey

"It's time to prepare for the end, Renn. Black spots have already appeared on the plane barrier; this is a precursor to the final collapse of the plane."

Renn and his companions, who had been wandering around the Holy Mountain for two days, were called to a halt by Master Capdo.

Renn looked up and saw that some black spots had indeed appeared on the plane barrier at the horizon. If it weren't for Renn's extraordinary eyesight, he wouldn't have even noticed these tiny dots.

"Half a month has passed already?"

Renn still felt like he hadn't had enough.

Although most of the resources on the Holy Mountain had already been moved, it was impossible to empty everything in just a few days. There were still many things Renn wanted to move back to his territory, but reality no longer allowed it.

"Lord, news has come from the east and south. The Great Elder has been defeated in the east, and those monsters from the east are advancing rapidly. They might reach the Holy Mountain before long."

"In the south, Eagle City was also abandoned by the Eagle Tribe yesterday. Endless swarms of Ratmen are spreading outward."

Fiona reported the latest news to Renn with a heavy expression. For her, both of these reports were extremely distressing.

The Great Elder, who held immense prestige on the Holy Mountain—second only to the Holy Lord—was dead. Meanwhile, the most powerful Eagle Tribe was now being forced to flee by the Ratmen's pursuit.

"It wasn't easy for that Great Elder to hold off the Chaos Demons for so long. He bought a lot of time, allowing the major tribes to carry out their population migrations smoothly."

Although he had never met the Great Elder, Renn still acknowledged this warrior who had sacrificed his life to secure a glimmer of hope for his people.

After realizing there was no hope for their side, the Elder had decisively ordered everyone to submit to Renn while he stayed behind to fight the Chaos Demons to the death. Renn felt somewhat inferior to such boldness.

"Let's go. It's time to leave this place!"

Renn and the others took one last look at the Holy Mountain and then left without looking back. The residents of the Holy Mountain had been led westward by Prague several days ago.

When Renn returned to the Plane Passage, he saw a sea of people near the entrance. There were crowded throngs and massive convoys everywhere.

The Plane Passage, only about a dozen meters wide, had limited capacity and simply could not allow such a large population and so many supplies to pass through quickly.

"Ross, call back all the warriors scattered outside. Except for the essential personnel needed to maintain order nearby, everyone else should withdraw to the territory."

"Cecilia, you and Ariya use your spatial rings to move these nearby supplies back to the territory as quickly as possible. Don't bother taking them to Red River City; just place them nearby once you're through the Plane Passage."

Renn arranged the matters near the Plane Passage. He didn't want to lose any personnel from the Red River Territory just because of greed for these people and supplies.

In half a month, over three hundred thousand people had already migrated. This number was already quite large. It would be a troublesome task later to make these people completely loyal, follow his rules, and become stable vassals of the Red River Territory.

In particular, most of the population migrating this time belonged to the White Wolf Tribe. These tribespeople knew each other well and were too united; it would take a lot of effort to govern them once they reached the Red River Territory.

Renn glanced at the stream of people still gathering in the distance. Among them, the number of people from the Eagle Tribe and the Wind Riding Tribe was starting to increase.

"Renn, the places where space stones and law crystals are born are all near the plane barrier. It's very dangerous to obtain them. Don't bring anyone with strength below Gold Rank. If an accident occurs, those at Silver Rank will surely die."

"I understand!"

"Then it will just be me, Reck, Master Capdo, Ms. Melissa, and Alistair. The few of us will go."

Just as Renn and Kapdo were discussing their next steps to find space stones and law crystals, chaos broke out in the migration queue not far away.

Renn frowned and looked toward the disturbance, calling an Administrator over for questioning.

"What's going on?"

"Lord, it seems a few powerful leaders from the Wind Riding Tribe arrived and wanted to cut the line. They've gotten into a dispute with our people."

"Hmph!"

"They certainly picked a good time to arrive!"

"Master Capdo, let's go take a look!"

Renn led Kapdo to the site of the chaos.

Seeing Renn's arrival, several Magic Wolf Knights hurried to salute. On the other side, the Wind Riding Tribe Chief, who was arguing with an Administrator, immediately realized upon seeing the Magic Wolf Knights' actions that the exceptionally young-looking man before him was the Lord of the White Wolves who controlled the Plane Passage.

"Excellency, Wind Rider pays his respects to you. I am the Chief of the Wind Riding Tribe. I represent the Wind Riding Tribe in submitting to you, and I hope you can lead us away from this world."

The Wind Rider Chief thought that by declaring his submission, Renn would treat him generously based on his value. Treating him well would not only appease the Wind Rider tribespeople but also gain Renn a powerful subordinate.

Any competent ruler would know what to do; as a chief, he understood this logic even better. So, he waited expectantly for Renn to treat him with kind words.

"You don't want to follow my rules?"

Facing the Wind Rider Chief, who was kneeling on one knee to show submission, Renn coldly uttered a sentence that was completely unexpected.

"My Lord, I—!"

The Wind Rider Chief was stunned for a moment, then tried to explain.

"Queue up. That is the rule I set. It applies to everyone. You want to break this rule?"

"The people of the Wind Riding Tribe submitted to me. Do I still need your permission?"

"And you were disrespectful to my people? They represent me. To be disrespectful to them is to be disrespectful to me!"

"Therefore, you deserve to die!"

Renn's successive sentences made the Wind Rider Chief break out in a cold sweat, and the final one made him turn pale with horror.

"My Lord, I..."

Before the Wind Rider Chief could finish his words, he was interrupted by a violent attack.

Renn and Reck coordinated with perfect chemistry. Under their combined strike, the Wind Rider Chief had no power to fight back.

On the other side, Kapdo quickly dealt with another Wind Rider Elder and the group of Wind Riding Tribe experts he had brought with him.

The battle started suddenly and ended just as suddenly.

Before the surrounding crowd could even react, the fight had begun. Several hundred people nearby were caught in the crossfire, resulting in heavy casualties in an instant.

A moment later, the dust settled. The Wind Rider Chief's head was severed, and the last elites of the Wind Riding Tribe were wiped out by the combined efforts of Renn and Kapdo.

"Hang their bodies up. Tell all the migrating tribespeople: this is the consequence of not following the rules!"

Renn had originally wanted an opportunity to establish his authority before these tribespeople. Especially now, as more and more people arrived, the order near the Plane Passage was showing signs of spiraling out of control, and Renn could not easily commit more forces to maintain order.

Only by killing a few significant figures could he suppress this restlessness and let the migrating tribespeople know of his thunderous methods.

Unexpectedly, just when he was feeling drowsy, someone had brought him a pillow.

The Chief of the Wind Riding Tribe—this chicken was big enough, and the deterrent effect was sufficiently good.

As the bodies of the Wind Rider Chief and his subordinates were hung up, the migrating crowd quickly stabilized. Everyone honestly queued up to pass through the Plane Passage.