By the time Qianye returned to the holy land, yet another Attawa tribe had arrived. The remainder were fairly distant, so it would take two weeks or more for them to arrive. And that was because they could exchange messages between mother trees; it would take even longer otherwise.
The Mamon clan brought an entire three thousand warriors, almost every adult male and female in the tribe. They were even thinking about bringing older children along. According to a senior tribe member, less than a thousand of the children and elderly stayed behind.
This was a complete mobilization. Reportedly, the other tribes were doing the same.
The elders who had stayed behind were nearing the end of their lives. They would be able to take care of the children until they were mature, then this new generation would be in charge of taking care of the younger ones.
There were four tribes gathered at the holy land at this point, so the place was starting to feel a bit packed. Several clearings were full of tents. Qianye suddenly smelled blood as he walked through the area.
It wasn’t the decaying smell of blood from the wounded but fresh blood.
Following this smell, Qianye entered a small stone hut and saw two Attawa lying on the bed. One was an old man, while the other was a strong, healthy adult. Some elderly medics were busy dripping some herbal fluid into the wounds on their chest. The medicinal fluid seemed to have miraculous effects, allowing the flesh to grow back and close at a visible rate.
Qianye, however, could see that this medicinal fluid was extremely tyrannical. While its healing properties were mediocre, the medicine could draw upon the Attawa’s own life force to produce the healing effect. The amount of vitality burned was out of proportion compared to the healing achieved, draining around ten times more than the healing.
The only thing good about it was its speed. The young adult was fit for combat in less than an hour.
However, the old man didn’t have much life force left to begin with. It looked like he would die any moment.
Qianye dragged one of the doctors over and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Crystal transplant?”
The doctor pointed at the strong warrior. “Aya did not have a crystal, but old man Mula has one, so we transplanted the crystal to Aya. That way, he can contribute in battle.”
This so-called contribution was just self-detonation.
It was easy to see how long that old man who had just lost his crystal would live.
Qianye didn’t tell them to stop. It was no use since they had already completed the transfer. He simply hastened toward the great hall and sought out the Monroe elder on the upper floor. “Why do you transplant crystals?”
The elder led Qianye to the window and pointed at the tribal soldiers below. “Warriors from every tribe will be coming. As a guardian tribe, the Monroe must perform in the defense of the holy mountain.”
“The Monroe tribe has sacrificed enough.”
The elder said calmly, “We are the first and last line of defense for the holy land. We make the most sacrifices, and we gain the most accomplishments. We will fight to the last man, woman, and child against invaders. That is our duty and our faith.”
The elder was insistent no matter what Qianye said. In truth, he already knew that most transplantation processes had probably been completed at this point.
Looking at the Attawa around the holy land, Qianye sighed. “Maybe we should give up on the holy mountain.”
“Impossible.”
“The holy land is attached to the holy peak. I’ve already gone through the layer of clouds and reached the peak. I know what is up there. We can take those things away first and return to capture the place later.”
As Qianye saw it, the only thing important up there were the trees that could produce mirage moon origin power. He had already extracted a portion of it into the Book of Darkness. The mirage moon origin power could be added directly onto his daybreak origin power, so the entire conversion process didn’t even take a single day. He would only need to go up to the peak one more time in order to extract all of the tree sap.
It would take hundreds of years for the trees to produce more sap.
What Qianye was worried about was actually people discovering the mirage moon origin power. The three supremes had probably seen the power of the mirage moon origin power following their fight with Andruil. Qianye was worried that a great genius might figure out the cultivation method from those trees.
Evernight had no shortage of geniuses like Anwen, and it was Andruil who had managed to develop this origin power, gaining himself the Lord of Evernight t.i.tle.
There was no telling how long it would take for the next Andruil to appear, but the survival of the Attawa was at hand.
That was why Qianye wanted to leave with the Attawa and let Evernight take over the holy land. In this manner, the tables would turn in a different direction. The dark races wouldn’t be able to return for a while after occupying the peak, and that would give Qianye time to contend with them.
Most importantly, Qianye was growing stronger over time after obtaining the mirage moon origin power. His daybreak origin power had reached rank-twenty-two, only one step away from the heavenly monarch rank. Now that his Venus Dawn foundation was solid, his evernight side was no longer being restrained. He was improving sharply and would soon reach the great dark monarch realm.
All he needed was some time, and he was even confident that he could hold his own against the Eternal Flame.
Surprisingly, the elder would not agree to leave the holy land no matter how Qianye persuaded them. They were h.e.l.l-bent on protecting the place even if it meant their death.
Their only reason was, “This is our faith.”
Qianye had met both Rex and Andruil; he even took the time to learn the Attawa’s legends and history.
He found out that the Attawa’s history and intelligence were born of Andruil and Rex’s secret guidance. The belief that they had to defend the holy peak and destroy the black demons had been embedded deeply in their minds. He also discovered that the natives’ simplicity, frugality, and love of nature were also implanted.
Diligence and frugality were virtues in a world short on resources, but there was no need for the Attawa to be so in this bountiful world. On the contrary, it clipped their ability to progress as a society. Their love for nature also stopped them from making and using tools, especially anything related to ma.s.s production. This kept them frozen in a primitive state.
Qianye had already guessed Andruil’s motives. Only primitive tribes would cling firmly to their beliefs.
The Attawa’s real mission was to stop the Evernight experts and prevent them from obtaining the darkness origins.
These natives should’ve been the favored children of this world, yet their fate had been altered by Rex and Andruil. They ultimately became weapons to target the council’s experts. They would never realize that the holy mountain they were protecting was simply an existence from a different world.
Qianye felt somewhat hesitant, thinking whether or not he should tell them the truth. However, the unadulterated gleam in the elder’s eyes taught Qianye what conviction truly meant.