Chapter 554: The First War Drum

"I didn't expect the Golden Mantis Clan to get involved!" Nuo Yifan frowned, muttering to herself.

"The Golden Mantis Clan... is there a problem?" Han Li seemed to detect the anomaly in her tone.

"The Golden Mantis Clan is also a major branch of the Insect Clan, somewhat like our Beast Clan's Eight Great Sacred Clans. They were originally quite far from here, bordering the Divine Elephant Clan and the Falconwing Clan. Those Bone-Mantis Nests are also very distant... Moreover, the scale of this attack is far larger than before. If not for that, we wouldn't need to gather so many clans here," Nuo Yifan explained.

"You mean the Insect Clan's actions this time are somewhat unusual?" Han Li's heart stirred, but his expression remained unchanged as he asked.

"Indeed. Although our Beast Clan and the Insect Clan have deep-seated grievances and have been at war frequently recently, the clashes have mostly been scattered across various regions. A large-scale attack on one location like today has never occurred before," Nuo Yifan nodded, unable to hide the worry on her face.

"So it seems, it is indeed very unusual. Fortunately, you were prepared, or this place would have fallen long ago," Han Li said thoughtfully.

At that moment, the two armies below finally clashed in close combat, engaging in a full-scale battle.

The Storm Bear Clan, tall and sturdy, charged at the forefront. Blood-red marks appeared on their burly bodies, their forms swelling by another third. Wielding giant axes nearly as large as themselves, they swung, sending out massive blood-red axe beams.

Although the Insect Clan army had the advantage in numbers, they could not withstand the charge of these titan-like Storm Bears, suffering heavy casualties.

The Storm Bears led the other Beast Clan warriors behind them, continuously breaking through the Insect Clan army's lines and advancing with unstoppable momentum.

On the other side, the Unicorn Clan's bodies flashed with green light, forming a thick layer of cuticle. Their bodies also enlarged by a size, and the horns on their heads thickened twofold, now adorned with rings of green patterns.

With a series of 'hissing' sounds, beams of cold green light shot from their horns, sweeping toward the Insect Clan army ahead.

These green beams had immense penetrating power; a single beam often pierced through seven or eight Insect Clan members before disappearing.

The Insect Clan members struck by the green light became stiff, as if frozen, standing rigid and motionless.

The Unicorn Clan warriors swung their weapons, easily slaughtering these immobilized Insect Clan members.

Though this clan's method of killing lacked the Storm Bear Clan's ferocious momentum, their advance was no slower.

With the Storm Bear Clan and Unicorn Clan as the vanguard, the Beast Clan army swiftly penetrated deep into the Insect Clan ranks.

Just then, a series of strange chirping sounds arose from within the Insect Clan army. The Insect Clan members in front of the Storm Bears suddenly retreated like a tide, and countless black giant ants emerged from nowhere, surging toward the Storm Bears.

Each of these giant ants was the size of a millstone, their bodies pitch-black and gleaming as if forged from fine iron. Their narrow eyes glowed with a dark green light, densely packed, sending chills down one's spine.

The Storm Bears roared loudly, their giant axes spinning as they sent out even more ferocious axe shadows toward the giant ants.

With a series of 'bang bang bang' sounds like raindrops hitting the ground, the black giant ants were sent flying. However, these ants had extremely hard bodies; though knocked away, few were killed. The injured ants, enraged, charged again.

Countless black giant ants, like waves of black tide, surged forward relentlessly to block the Storm Bears, gathering in greater numbers while also appearing on their flanks.

The Storm Bears roared in fury, but their advance was greatly slowed by these fearless black giant ants.

Meanwhile, the ground in front of the Unicorn Clan churned, and a swarm of earth-yellow scorpions burst forth.

These scorpions were enormous, over a man's height, with bodies entirely crimson. Strangely, their faces bore human-like features, making them exceedingly eerie.

The green beams shot from the Unicorn Clan's horns lost much of their penetrating power against these human-faced giant scorpions, disappearing after piercing just one.

Moreover, the human-faced giant scorpions pierced by the green light stiffened only for a moment before charging at the Unicorn Clan as if nothing had happened.

With the effectiveness of their green beam attacks greatly reduced, the Unicorn Clan's offensive immediately stalled.

In the air, the Netherglow Clan was tightly entangled by the Golden Mantis Clan. Though not defeated, they had no spare hands to assist those below.

The Beast Clan army, which had been advancing with overwhelming momentum, gradually fell into a stalemate, unable to advance or retreat, after the vanguard—Storm Bear, Unicorn, and Netherglow clans—were blocked.

The numerical advantage of the Insect Clan army began to show, and the tide of battle gradually turned in their favor.

On the black platform, the Beast Clan chieftains wore grim expressions.

"Send a message to the Shaman Bear chieftain, tell him to act," Nuo Qinglin frowned and ordered solemnly.

A nearby Netherglow Clan member acknowledged, and with a flicker, vanished from the spot.

Before long, at a certain point on the Beast Clan front lines, a figure wrapped in a red robe shot out. With a wave of his hands, three gray orbs flew out and appeared above the Insect Clan army.

As he chanted incantations, the gray orbs shattered with a flash.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Three earth-shattering sounds echoed, causing the entire battlefield to tremble violently. Three massive, mountain-like figures abruptly descended from the sky, crashing into the midst of the Insect Clan army.

Countless black giant ants and human-faced giant scorpions were crushed beneath them, their bodies shattered into pulp.

Han Li looked up and saw three gray-skinned giants, each a thousand zhang tall, with bare upper bodies and lower bodies wrapped in skirts stitched from countless beast hides. They wielded enormous spiked clubs, swinging them back and forth at the Insect Clan army.

These gray-skinned giants were exceedingly ugly, their massive faces almost featureless except for a single huge vertical eye on their foreheads. Instead of a nose, there were just two round holes for nostrils.

Below the nostrils was completely empty, with no mouth for eating.

The spiked clubs, seemingly carved from mountain peaks, swung in their hands like giant stone rollers, rumbling across the Insect Clan army's positions, crushing everything—rocks, trees, and Insect Clan members alike—into powder.

After the giant ants' bodies shattered, large amounts of glowing green fluid spilled out, pooling together like streams spreading across the ground. Wherever they flowed, the earth was corroded, emitting white smoke.

After a moment of chaos, the black giant ants regrouped and launched another frenzied assault, quickly surrounding the three cyclopean giants.

Countless ants climbed layer upon layer, soon covering half the giants' bodies. Baring their jagged mouths, they bit into the giants, with fluorescent green liquid seeping from their mouths, corroding and cutting through the giants' skin.

The cyclopean giants shook violently and slapped at the ants, trying to dislodge them, but these little creatures were stubborn and impossible to shake off.

Just then, a resounding horn call rang out, followed by earth-shaking battle cries!

Rows of centaur warriors—with upper bodies like humans and lower bodies like zebras—appeared at the rear of the Beast Clan army. Each held a large green vine bow, drawing half-foot-long green arrows from quivers at their sides and nocking them.

Their movements were exceptionally uniform, all aiming at the high sky. As they drew their bowstrings, green light gathered from all directions, condensing into a green vortex at the arrowheads.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

A series of sounds cut through the air as countless green arrows flew into the sky, forming a rain of green arrows that poured down upon the Insect Clan army.

The cyclopean giants' skin was naturally extremely tough. After being tormented by the ants' corrosive green liquid for a while, only red spots appeared. When the arrows struck them, they merely made clinking sounds without causing any harm.

But the black giant ants clinging to them were not so tough; each arrow that hit them caused them to explode.

On another front, over a thousand Beast Clan beasts, each a hundred zhang tall, covered in thick earth-yellow armor, charged into the Insect Clan army with brutal force. On each side of their heads were two massive, beam-like horns pointing forward, gleaming with cold light.

The Insect Clan was clearly at a disadvantage in physique and strength. The front line of human-faced scorpions was directly trampled into dust, and their formation was pushed back dozens of li.

But soon, the Diamond Spider and Gray Toad Clan armies from the rear reinforced them, and the two sides became locked in a stalemate.

"As the saying goes, 'The first鼓 raises spirits, the second flags, the third exhausts.' Your Beast Clan may seem more imposing, but ultimately, you cannot sustain it. The Insect Clan army far outnumbers yours. If things continue like this, you will lose," Han Li said slowly, observing the battle.

"Senior Li, it's too early to say that now. Our Beast Clan's first war drum has yet to sound," Nuo Yifan replied, her expression unchanged.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

As her words fell, a series of dull drumbeats that seemed to strike at the heart began to echo.

Then, strange chanting sounds started coming from all over the battlefield.

The language of the chants was not the common tongue of the Beast Clan, nor the common language of the Immortal Realm, but Han Li felt a vague sense of familiarity.

"This seems to be some kind of true spirit language..." After listening for a while, he suddenly understood.

Han Li looked around and saw that across the battlefield, whether among the Storm Bear, Unicorn, or Netherglow clans, there were several special figures clad in gray robes within each army.

Their physiques varied, but their attire was almost identical. Each held a black wooden staff of unknown material, surrounded by many Beast Clan warriors, dancing and gesticulating.

The strange true spirit language chants came from their mouths.

Though only a small group of people, their voices carried a peculiar penetrating power, resounding across the entire battlefield, filling the surroundings with an indescribably strange atmosphere.