Wilderness: I Tame Beasts to Survive

Chapter 424: Chapter 287: Racing Against Time, Part 2

"With the frequent spatial storms in recent years, my brother and the leaders of the other two clans have surmised that the Queen is about to awaken. When she does, the continent is doomed. If there is any truly safe place, it has to be Netherworld City."

"...Starting about five years ago, my brother began planning how to enter either Netherworld City or Night Nether City."

"Our ancestors once lived in Netherworld City, so we know more about it than we do about Night Nether City."

After listening for a while, Han Ning generally understood. Perhaps due to their geographical isolation, the Dark Race didn’t know much about the surface world in recent years. However, they were crystal clear about the Queen’s origins. It was only due to the limits of their power and their environment that they couldn’t break out of the Abyss and reach the surface.

Just as the two were conversing, Qing Dou, who was standing nearby, saw the Dragon Blood People scattered on the ground begin to stir and wake up. The tight furrow in his brow finally eased, and he spoke in a serious tone:

"Speaking of the Queen, I have something very important to tell you."

"Go on," Han Ning said with a nod.

’A moment ago, most of his clansmen had been captured. At such a life-or-death moment, it was perfectly normal for Qing Dou not to have mentioned it.’

’No matter how urgent it was, nothing could be more urgent than his people facing immediate death.’

"After everyone has been moved to Night Nether City, we must speed up our plan. According to the information I’ve obtained from the Five Ancestor Families, the Queen’s Divine Hall is already summoning all the Ancestral Insect Masters. They’re preparing for a massive, bloody sacrificial ritual using Advanced Soul Beasts as offerings. In one month at most, the Queen will fully awaken."

"The scale of this ritual is unprecedented. I’ve heard that it won’t just be the wild Advanced Soul Beasts. All the Insect Masters from most of the Insect Master Families on the Insect Continent, their Contracted Soul Beasts, and even some of the Ancestral Insect Masters themselves will be included in the blood sacrifice."

"She even eats her own direct lineage? Isn’t anyone fighting back?" Han Ning asked, horrified.

’He’d thought the Queen eating Insect Masters was twisted enough, but he never imagined she’d devour the very people who had served at her side for so many years. And what’s more... these Ancestral Insect Masters didn’t seem to have any intention of resisting. This is completely insane.’

"Who says they aren’t? It’s just that for now, this information is only circulating among the highest echelons of the Ancestor Families and hasn’t trickled down. Otherwise... it would probably cause mass chaos," Qing Dou scoffed.

"Then... then how do you know?" Han Ning asked in astonishment.

’He’d actually been wanting to ask this for a while. Qing Dou clearly had his own private sources. He was getting information even faster than the mid-to-high-level members of the Ancestor Families themselves.’

Qing Dou let out a soft sigh and slowly revealed the truth:

"I won’t hide it from you. Over a thousand years ago, my Dragon Blood Race was actually a branch of the Cyan God Armor Family—and a very powerful, direct lineage branch at that."

"It was just that due to a series of internal struggles and the intervention of the Queen’s Divine Hall, our ancestors’ branch was forced to separate from the Cyan God Armor Family. Several hundred years later, they founded our Dragon Blood Race."

"I won’t bore you with all the details. Over these thousand years of development, our Dragon Blood Race never truly severed ties with the Cyan God Armor Family. Hmm... to be precise, we never severed ties with the Second Elder’s branch of the family."

"The current Second Elder of the Cyan God Armor Family is the 15th grandson of their founding ancestor, and a nephew of the Qing Xuan Ancestor. For over a hundred years, he and I have maintained close contact and shared information. Nearly all of my intelligence regarding the Ancestor Families, including news of this blood sacrifice, came from him."

"So... the Second Elder is actually from your ancestral branch?" Han Ning asked.

Qing Dou nodded.

"Correct. The Second Elder’s father is named Cang Yu, the blood brother of the Qing Xuan Ancestor. When the internal conflict broke out, he was serving in the Queen’s Divine Hall as a Priest in service to the Queen. He couldn’t leave the Divine Hall for a hundred years, so he knew nothing about the infighting."

"Every hundred years, the Queen’s Divine Hall must select five young, promising Insect Masters from the Five Ancestor Families—ones whose power far surpasses their peers—to serve as Priests in devotion to the Queen for a century."

At this point, a puzzled expression appeared on Qing Dou’s face.

"I don’t really understand it. Logically speaking, after stepping down from their position as Priests, those Insect Masters who served should have become fanatical worshippers of the Queen. And within a certain period, they would become the most powerful figures in their respective Ancestor Families, second only to the Ancestor themselves—in other words, the Grand Elder of the family."

"But... Ancestor Cang Yu vanished two years after returning to the family... When he reappeared, he was already at the ritual helping my great-grandfather transform into one of the Dragon Blood People."

Han Ning asked, "Then doesn’t that make Cang Yu one of the creators of the Dragon Blood Race?"

"You could say that. But the legacy passed down in our clan doesn’t have much information about him. I’m not even sure if he transformed his own bloodline into Dragon Blood. It’s as if he simply vanished from the world."

"In any case, because of this connection through Ancestor Cang Yu, we have remained in very close contact with his descendants."

"We are now at a life-or-death juncture. There’s no longer any point in hiding these things from you. Han Ning, I want to discuss something with you."

"Go ahead." Han Ning had a feeling he already knew what Qing Dou was going to say.

"The reason all Ancestral Insect Masters obey the Queen is because the Queen’s blood flows through their veins."

"Whenever the Queen issues a call, the summons that arises from deep within their bloodline is a Power that most Insect Masters find impossible to resist."

"I’m not speaking metaphorically; this is a literal fact. The Queen’s bloodline has too great an influence on the minds and bodies of the Ancestral Insect Masters. They can hardly resist it. Even we, who have converted our bloodline to Dragon Blood, still have minuscule traces of the Queen’s blood."

"Because the Second Elder’s father was Ancestor Cang Yu, he began secretly modifying his own bloodline over a hundred years ago, gradually converting his Cyan God Armor bloodline into Dragon Blood. As the transformation has progressed in recent years, his appearance has changed drastically. That is why he has gradually withdrawn from public life and no longer appears within the Cyan God Armor Family."

"The matter I want to discuss with you... is about the Second Elder. I want to trade some resources in exchange for spots for the Second Elder, his descendants, and his trusted followers to board the Gray Demon Whale and leave the Insect Continent."

’The Second Elder of the Cyan God Armor Family is undoubtedly one of the top Beast Masters on the Insect Continent. His power is likely on par with Qing Dou’s.’

’If they join... won’t the Dragon Blood faction become too powerful?’

A series of thoughts flashed through Han Ning’s mind.

’The Dragon Blood Elder Council alone was enough to make him wary. If a conflict broke out, even though the humans held absolute control over Grey, they would have a very hard time resisting the might of the Dragon Blood Race.’

’Everyone might be getting along amicably now, but there was no guarantee that harmony would last throughout the voyage.’

’For some time now, Dean Wu and some of the other teachers from the academy had been secretly stressing to him that he must never underestimate the Dragon Blood Race and could not place too much trust in this Alien Race.’

’Seeing Qing Dou’s ruthless side today, Han Ning deeply appreciated his teachers’ foresight.’

’Sage and Zhou Mingkai controlled Grey’s entire operating system. If a conflict really were to erupt, the humans could use the Array to hold off the Dragon Blood People for a while. This was the ace up his sleeve.’

’But now, to add the Second Elder on top of that...’

’Qing Dou’s posture suggested this was less of a discussion and more of an announcement.’

Han Ning glanced at the mild-mannered Qing Dou, and then at the two silent Jade Aurora Dragons behind them. After a moment of thought, he said, "This isn’t a decision I can make alone. I need to go back and discuss it with Sage and Dean Wu before I can give you an answer."

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