Chapter 235 - Tiger Seal
Han Wu waved his arm and shattered all of the lances. Even the twenty summoned units crumbled, their fragments scattering like dust in the air.
Tang Xiaohu stared at Han Wu with sharp focus. “You do have some strength. If you hand her over, I’ll make you my personal guard. That’s a privilege no one else could offer you. Don’t make another foolish mistake.”
He reached out to push Han Wu’s arm away and grab Qin Shuang, but Han Wu wouldn’t let him nor would he be swayed by such a small reward. Han Wu tackled Tang Xiaohu and hurled his massive frame several meters away.
The guards panicked, immediately surrounded them, and summoned their strongest force of 300 units. Tang Xiaohu wore the chainmail his father had given him beneath his clothes. Though he looked disheveled after the tackle, his injuries were minor, barely scratching his skin. Two guards hurried to help him up.
“Such insolence! Someone, tear him apart! I want his corpse fed to the dogs!”
The 300 units charged at Han Wu, weapons raised to kill. Without wasting a moment, Han Wu transformed into the Frost Metallion. The temperature around him plummeted to a bone-chilling degree. Anyone close to the Frost Metallion felt the freezing air’s bite. The weaker soldiers turned instantly into ice statues. Han Wu controlled the cold with precision and ensured that no civilians nearby suffered harm.
From afar, Tang Xiaohu’s eyes widened at Han Wu’s transformation. As the Palace Master’s son, he immediately recognized that his foe was using the Nine Martial Castes’ powers. The Light Cavalry’s quality clearly proved just how formidable Han Wu truly was.
“Don’t come any closer! I am the only son of the Palace Master. If you kill me, my father will never...” Tang Xiaohu’s rolls trembled as he begged for his life, a pitiful contrast to the arrogance he’d shown earlier.
Han Wu lifted Qin Shuang onto his back and charged toward Tang Huxiao without hesitation.
“No, please, don’t...” Tang Huxiao tried to flee, but his bulky frame couldn’t outrun Han Wu in his Frost Metallion form.
Han Wu pressed his icy hooves onto Tang Xiaohu’s broad back and slammed him into the ground with such force that a crater formed beneath him. He ignored Tang Xiaohu’s condition and raced toward the palace.
The conlookers quietly celebrated how Han Wu had dealt with Tang Xiaohu.
“Aiyo, aiyo...” Tang Xiaohu’s painful cries echoed from the crater. Thanks to his chainmail, which had absorbed most of the impact, he only sustained some minor injuries and wouldn’t die.
The remaining guards rushed forward to help him out of the crater. Tang Xiaohu’s face was pale, either from the freezing air or sheer humiliation. “Find out who that bastard is and where he comes from! I will make sure they die tonight!”
Meanwhile, Han Wu and Qin Shuang remained unfazed by any threat of retaliation. There was no reason to fear punishment when Tang Xiaohu abused his authority to bully others. Why should Han Wu tolerate that? He had no intention of letting someone like him bully them.
He turned his attention away from what had just happened and instead focused on the empty field stained black with oil. The mountain of corpses had nearly disappeared. The 800 Dark Cursed Bugs left to devour the remains were unusually large. They had eaten so much that they had grown into Lord life forms, though they remained far weaker than proper Lords. In fact, they fell short even compared to Heroic life forms.
Han Wu had to admit that the Dark Cursed Bugs were indeed very weak, but they still held value. Their Life Energy had reached the rank of a Lord, making them rare and valuable sacrificial candidates.
He plucked the dark crystals from their foreheads and then used Sacrifice. All 800 were sacrificed, and their massive Life Energy flowed into the array. Then, three new options appeared before him.
[Option 1: Eternal Altar: Chainsaw Ants. It can summon the Vanguard Chainsaw Ants by investing the corresponding amount of Wood and Food.]
[Option 2: Tiger Seal. Stores a large amount of morale, which can be used on existing Eternal Altars to bypass summoning prerequisites. Usable multiple times.]
[Option 3: Spirit General: Jing Ke. High Lord life form. Infantry caste. Skills: Flowing Gust, Frost Touch, Ten Step Murder. The strongest Infantry unit and assassin. He nearly assassinated an emperor in the past.]
Han Wu dismissed the first option. He already had twelve Eternal Altars, all far stronger than Chainsaw Ants. Choosing that would have been idiotic. The second option, Tiger Seal, would boost his army’s strength, while the third, Spirit General Jing Ke, would enhance his personal power. After more than twenty seconds of thought, he chose the second option.
He collected the Tiger Seal and felt the morale stored within. This morale could replace the prerequisites needed to summon more units from his altars, but the cost varied wildly between units. He ran a rough calculation and was stunned by the disparity.
For example, using the Tiger Seal’s morale, he could summon five million Dark Cursed Bugs, but only two Deeptide Whales, his strongest caste. The difference between 5 million and two was staggering.
Han Wu needed more Dark Cursed Bugs to control the plagues, so he decided to act immediately. He first placed the Tiger Seal into his storage, then called Sun Qingnian to give him a set of instructions. Soon, he received a trade request for 5 million Dark Cursed Bugs from Sun Qingnian. Han Wu then released them all into the empty field, which quickly swarmed with the massive infestation. He ordered the locusts to feast, and they devoured the remaining scraps scattered across the ground.
Since they didn’t have enough food, their overall growth remained slow. Han Wu hoped the palace would send more polluted corpses, as there wasn’t enough sustenance for all his Dark Cursed Bugs. As if the heavens had heard his plea, a battalion soon delivered a large pile of corpses to the field.
The 5 million Dark Cursed Bugs eagerly consumed the fresh supply. Then, one of the officials overseeing the delivery approached Han Wu and handed him a dinner invitation from Luo Wulei. Han Wu knew Luo Wulei held no friendly feelings toward them, so the invitation puzzled him. He suspected it could be a trap and considered refusing. Still, curiosity won out, and he decided to attend the banquet to uncover Luo Wulei’s true intentions.