Chapter 563: Conspiracy

"Scared? When has this fairy ever been scared! It's just a little... tiny bit stronger than me. Even if I can't eat it right away, I can still cripple it, and if I can't cripple it... besides, isn't Uncle here... right?" Jin Tong's voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, until at the end it was as faint as a mosquito's hum.

"With my current strength, I'm far from a match. If it weren't for the beast race's true spirit king, You Hu, intervening earlier, things would have been troublesome." Han Li sighed and said.

"Uncle, actually... before I encountered it, I only had a vague sense of it, but after this direct confrontation, it has completely locked onto my aura. I'm afraid that unless we escape the Wildlands, it will be able to find me." Jin Tong looked somewhat dejected and spoke slowly.

Han Li shook his head and sighed softly.

This time was different from before. Facing another Gold Devouring Immortal whose strength far surpassed his own, Jin Tong instinctively desired to devour it, but also instinctively feared being devoured by it.

"U... Uncle..." Seeing this, Jin Tong tugged at the corner of Han Li's clothes.

"If that's the case, it's quite troublesome... Not only do we not have all the maps of the nearby area, even if we leave here, we'll just be stumbling around blindly. Even if we had maps of the area, it would be impossible to escape the Wildlands in a short time." Han Li mused.

"Then what should we do?" Jin Tong asked somewhat regretfully.

"Although I temporarily sealed its Nascent Soul, given its cultivation, it won't be long before it returns in full force. When it attacks again, even if I join forces with You Hu, we may not gain any advantage. During this time while it heals and recovers, I need to accelerate my cultivation, see if I can improve my strength a bit more, and at the same time restore the power of my Truth Dharma Wheel as much as possible. That way, we should have some chance of victory." Han Li said with a furrowed brow.

"I knew Uncle would have a plan... About how much chance?" Jin Tong's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

"Ten percent." Han Li held up one finger and said.

"That's nine chances of death and one of life!" Jin Tong's face fell.

"That's being optimistic... Even one in ten is not bad." Han Li said with a wry smile.

"By the way, Uncle, do you have any more treasures like that furnace from before? If you had three or five more, I could eat them quickly, sleep a bit more, and maybe I'd be able to beat it!" Jin Tong first looked dejected, then thought of something and asked.

"Such treasures are hard to come by. Besides, I didn't even have time to examine it before you ate it all up, so I have no idea what kind of treasure it was." Han Li shook his head and said.

"Little Bai, use your dog nose to sniff around and see if there are any good treasures nearby?" Jin Tong, in desperation, turned to the White Jade Pixiu for help.

The latter rolled its eyes upon hearing this, looking displeased.

...

Several months later.

In the hall beneath the waterfall in Dark Star Canyon, dozens of beast-hide chairs were arranged around a bonfire, with seven or eight strange-looking beings of various races sitting scattered among them.

Though few in number, they were all chieftains of the largest tribes in the entire beast race, representing the highest authority besides the True Spirit King.

"Chieftain Qinglin, without waiting for all the tribes to gather, you took the liberty of summoning the king's true body. How do you explain this?" A purple-skinned man with a human body but a yaksha face looked at Nuo Qinglin and asked.

"Chieftain Deng Gui, what explanation do you need? If the Insect Spirit suddenly led a large army into your Night Owl tribe, what would you do?" Nuo Qinglin shot him a cold glance and said.

"Don't blame Chieftain Qinglin. The king was invited by Lord Su Liu." Ulu glanced at the yaksha-faced man and said discontentedly.

"Stop this pointless bickering. The Insect Spirit will surely not let this go. We should discuss how to counterattack next." A woman in white, whose body was nearly transparent like a wisp of mist, said.

Her face was seventy percent similar to a human's, with faint green patterns around her eyelids, making her eyes look very large and shimmering with a captivating, soul-stirring light.

"Chieftain Yin Mei is right. Let's talk about something useful. Chieftain Qinglin, I heard that repelling the Insect Spirit this time had much to do with the help of a human man. Is that true?" A burly man with black spikes all over his body, looking like a wild boar, said.

Despite his rough appearance, his cultivation was the highest among those present.

As soon as he spoke, everyone turned their gazes to Nuo Qinglin.

"That's right. This man previously saved my daughter Yifan and the Xiangjing tribe at Luming Hill and escorted them back to Dark Star Canyon, so I ordered him to stay temporarily in the canyon." Nuo Qinglin hesitated slightly before saying.

"Chieftain Qinglin, are you confused again? How dare you still accept a human?" The purple-skinned man with a yaksha face sneered.

"I have ordered people to keep a close watch on him. He just wants to exchange for some maps of the Wildlands. Once I organize them and hand them over, he can leave immediately." Nuo Qinglin said coldly.

"A Golden Immortal mid-stage cultivator can join forces with the king to repel the Insect Spirit?" The burly boar-like man clasped his hands in front of him and asked doubtfully.

"Chieftain Qinglin, don't you think it's too coincidental that the Insect Spirit attacked right after he arrived at Dark Star Canyon? It's possible he's a wedge planted by the Insect Spirit, putting on an act to lure us all here and then wipe us out." Deng Gui raised an eyebrow and continued.

This conjecture had little basis, but it was a devastating accusation.

Sure enough, most of the tribal chieftains, including Yin Mei, changed expression slightly and looked at Nuo Qinglin.

"This man is no ordinary Golden Immortal mid-stage cultivator. He has a spirit pet with the aura of a wild true spirit, and he himself seems to have multiple true spirit bloodlines. Do you think the Insect Spirit, given its temperament, would cooperate with someone bearing the true spirit blood of the beast race?" Nuo Qinglin asked calmly, without changing expression.

"What... he has true spirit blood?" Deng Gui said with a look of astonishment.

"If not, why would I have let him set foot in my Dark Star Canyon?" Nuo Qinglin said indifferently, not even looking at him.

"Chieftain Ze Wushi, what do you think?" Yin Mei's body emitted wisps of smoke as she looked at the burly man and asked.

"Since he bears true spirit blood, he can't be a spy for the insect race. But after all, he is human and absolutely cannot be trusted. If we can use him later, we will; if not, we'll send him away as soon as possible." Ze Wushi, who looked like a wild boar, mused.

"After all, he's a Golden Immortal mid-stage cultivator with considerable combat power. It's better not to make an enemy of him at this juncture." Yin Mei agreed.

"Since both the Qingzhi and Mei Yao tribes say so, I have no objections." Deng Gui shrugged, looking unconcerned.

"In that case, then..."

"Hold on..." Before Nuo Qinglin could finish, an old voice interrupted him.

Hearing this, everyone quickly looked toward the seat opposite Ze Wushi.

An old man with white hair and a wrinkled face slowly leaned forward and sat up from his chair.

At first glance, his appearance was exactly like a human's, but upon closer inspection, one could see that around his human face grew a ring of lion heads, each the size of a fist, nine in total.

Earlier, while the others were discussing, he had been leaning back in his chair, most of his body hidden in the shadow of the bonfire, his eyes tightly shut, looking as if he had fallen asleep. Only now did he suddenly wake up.

"Senior Yin Shen, do you have any advice?" Nuo Qinglin frowned slightly and asked.

This man was the previous chieftain of the Hu Shi tribe, of very high seniority. He had originally passed the position to his only son and devoted himself to cultivation, but his son was killed in a conflict with human wasteland-hunting cultivators through a human scheme.

Enraged, he emerged from seclusion and pursued that group of human cultivators for millions of miles, all the way to the northern city wall of Yuanhuang City. After killing the last human cultivator, he returned to his tribe with several hundred human heads, piled them into a mountain of heads before his son's grave, and resumed the position of chieftain.

"You all know that the Insect Spirit's physical prowess surpasses even the king's, and its recovery ability is even greater. This time it attacked suddenly, and not only was Dark Star Canyon unprepared, but the insect race also couldn't mobilize all its forces. But once it recovers its strength and comes with the full insect army, the king's injuries will likely not have healed. How can the few of us withstand that?" Yin Shen asked expressionlessly.

Hearing this, the others either fell silent in thought or looked at each other, but no one could give an answer.

"Chieftain Yin Shen, stop being mysterious. If you have a plan, just say it directly." A withered old woman with snow-white hair, unusually large ears, and a turned-up nose leaned forward and said.

In terms of age and seniority, she was about the same as Yin Shen, and she was the chieftain of the Divine Elephant tribe.

"Senior Yin Shen, if you have a good plan, please speak frankly." Ze Wushi also said.

"Since that human bears true spirit blood, how to maximize its use—I'm sure you all know without me having to say it..." Yin Shen glanced at Nuo Qinglin and said slowly.

"You mean to refine him through blood refinement, extract the true spirit blood essence, and supply it to the king to heal his injuries." Deng Gui's eyes lit up, and he said with a chuckle.

"This absolutely cannot be done. Although he is human, he has done us a favor. How can we act so ungratefully?" Nuo Qinglin frowned and immediately said.

"Ungrateful... Chieftain Qinglin, have you forgotten how your wife perished? What gratitude or righteousness is there to speak of with humans? Are you crazy?" Deng Gui's face turned serious, and he rebuked.

"The survival of a tribe versus the life of one person—how to choose, I'm sure Chieftain Qinglin knows." Ze Wushi turned to look at him and asked coldly.

"He fought alongside the king to repel the Insect Spirit. The king will not agree." Nuo Qinglin sighed inwardly upon hearing this and said noncommittally.

"I wasn't really sleeping just now. I've already communicated with the king, and he agrees to this." Yin Shen smiled and said.

Nuo Qinglin was silent for a long time, then sighed: "In that case, I have no more concerns..."

"Good. Then let's discuss how to surround and kill this man."